Being Bright in a Dim World

In the fourth or fifth grade, a classmate brought it to the teacher’s attention that the product of 9×1 through 9×10 results in a number with digits that add up to 9. The teacher was so amazed that she spent several minutes explaining the phenomenon to us, praising the student who discovered it. I don’t recall exactly when I noticed the pattern myself, but I believe it was the first time I saw a times table that went up to 9. This was the first time I realized, “hey, I might be smarter than my teacher.”

I was a very well-behaved young boy, accepting teacher authority without question. My (first) run-in with illogical feminism was in 5th grade, when the teacher insisted that girls and boys are 100% equal – including equal performance in athletics. We were “forced” to integrate our lunchtime games, something we had been doing since preschool without being told. In the midst of this foray into gender equality, the teacher set up several special rules that only applied to the girls to give them an advantage.

Daily Frustration

It’s been a few months since I stopped taking zombie pills. I was never able to tell what impact they were having when I was emotionally dejuiced, but it’s more obvious now. There are highs and lows, but mostly it’s frustration over things I have no control over – and probably shouldn’t be bothered by in the first place.

I woke up to a parking ticket yesterday morning. Every time I get used to the 2nd and 4th Tuesday street-sweeping schedule, something upsets my schedule and makes me forget about it. That something was spending all day Monday in Downtown LA on several hours of sleep, then passing out for 14 hours not even knowing what day it was. The fact that you have to provide your own stamp to mail in a parking ticket is insult to injury. But this doesn’t frustrate me. I’m not happy that I’m out $30 bucks, constituting a solid percentage of my total savings-through-frugality this month. I don’t get frustrated by the normal shit. I know plenty of people who act indignant: “How DARE those fucking cops give ME a ticket for parking illegally! This is total bullshit!” Streets gotta be sweeped or go to shit, I understand this.