'Rithmetic

I went to apply for admission to the nursing program at Linn-Benton Community College today, and found out at the last minute that the old requirement (placement - testing into Math 95 or higher) had been replaced by PASSING Math 95 or PLACING higher, so I had to run and sign in at the math lab, and pray that I could place into Math 97, then drive from Albany to Corvallis, to the other campus, where the math lab had an opening today, take the placement test, sweating dromedaries the whole time, get my score, find I had been deemed fit to enroll in Math 97 (huzzah!), and then stagger home to Kathe, who said incredulously, "You had a hard time getting into Bonehead Math?"

Well, yes, actually, I did, and the fact that she would have breezed through it is not really relevant. It happens that I have never succeeded in advancing into the esoteric realms of the quadratic equation. This may be an appalling gap in my education, and possibly sign of some serious moral weakness, but elementary algebra is already more mathematics than a registered nurse actually needs.

Kathe has, over the years, promised to teach me calculus. Maybe this incident will inspire her to try again, though I'd probably beg off, pleading my studies, if I should actually get admitted to the program this time.

Last time, I was ranked 149th in line for one of the 50 seats, meaning that if the entire class had flunked out, and been replaced by students who flunked out . . . I would have been the last one called.

As for what happens this time, we'll just have to see.