Honeymoon phase.

MATH 247 (also known as Calculus) and I have a very tense, love-hate relationship. Given the fact that I've been up all night (literally all night) taking coughing up fluids, helping friends with personal problems, and taking care of a sick boyfriend, I'm going to keep this brief.

Reasons why I like Calculus:

1. My professor is awesome. Really, she is.

2. The labs are easy.

3. My professor made me realize how much I liked math in the first place. For those of you who don't know, I was a math whiz as a kid -- I won quite a few tournaments in school and outside of school. When I got into middle school, I got very sick and basically had to learn three years of math based on instinct and a textbook. It made everything after that a lot harder. Add to that a really mean teacher for two years, and I just didn't want to be anywhere near math again.

4. There is, in the academic world, nothing better than taking on a difficult problem and solving it. Do it one day. It's fantastic.

5. I feel this wonderful sense of balance for the first time in college. Taking a math course (that isn't a dumb one: no offense, statiticians) and knowing that I can relate it in some way to language and what I ultimately want to do is pretty nice.

6. It's forcing me to study. I'm flexing mental muscles I forgot I had.

7. It's lighting a fire under my butt to get myself onto a schedule of work -- for reasons which you can see below.

Reasons why I feel Calculus must die a slow, painful death:

1. It's an 8 AM class, four times a week. NO.

2. Prior to this, I hadn't taken a math class in three years.

3. The homework isn't collected, which means I slacked off, didn't do them for unit 1, and got a 68 on the first exam.

4. I got a 68 on the first exam.

5. It's making me realize how much I don't know and don't remember.

6. It will most likely be the class that destroys my GPA.

7. I GOT A 68 ON THE FIRST EXAM HOLY CRAP PANIC ATTACK.

8. Graphing calculators aren't allowed on the exams, but I know I'll need a graphing calculator for damn near every other math course in the CS sequence.

9. ...68. Ouch.