MATH WARM UP ACTIVITIES

activities

(activity) any specific behavior; “they avoided all recreational activity”
The condition in which things are happening or being done
Busy or vigorous action or movement
(activity) action: the state of being active; “his sphere of activity”; “he is out of action”
A thing that a person or group does or has done
(activity) bodily process: an organic process that takes place in the body; “respiratory activity”

warm up

become more friendly or open; “She warmed up after we had lunch together”
run until the normal working temperature is reached; “We warmed up the car for a few minutes”
exercising in preparation for strenuous activity

math

Mathematics
MATH is an American Improv/experimental band formed in Woodstock, New York in the mid 90s. The band’s shifting personnel has included members of various other bands, most notably Billy Riker and Joey Eppard of 3 and Dave Bodie of Time of Orchids and Kayo Dot.
mathematics: a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement
In Welsh mythology, Math fab Mathonwy, also called Math ap Mathonwy (Math, son of Mathonwy) was a king of Gwynedd who needed to rest his feet in the lap of a virgin unless he was at war, or he would die. The story of Math is the fourth book of The Four Branches of the Mabinogi.

Week 4: Hands and mice

Something about 52 weeks or 365 days tends to cause one to want to talk about one’s secrets, so I guess you have to bear with me talking more about feelings and things that happened and less about technique….

So, I didn’t have hand problems, even though I’ve spent a lot of time in front of the computer. Until one day in high school, when I realize that I’d put altogether too much strain on the muscles after carrying my lunch around by gripping the package. I backed off on some things, and it seemed to be OK.

When I was in college, I had some really awful periods when my wrist problems flared up. It was really depressing because I was working a degree in math and computer science, so I was not only faced with having to adjust my routine, but the possibility that my chosen career path would be taken from me. And the problem is, I realized that most of my goofing-off activities were also involving the computer keyboard or my guitar. I wondered what would happen. Would I have to give up the career I wanted and probably several other alternative careers because of my wrists?

I remember the point that scared the crap out of me being a weekend. It was sunny and warm out and school had just started. And I realized that my hand was not just feeling a little off, it was *twitching*. Now I was scared.

And what I really wanted most of all to talk to the girl I was dating at the time. Really bad. Except that she didn’t pick up. Eventually, she called me and our conversation started with her saying "Now, don’t get mad, but…" and ending with me getting mad, which really didn’t help me dealing with the palatable problem that my hands were twitching and I was worried I might have to give up a good sized percentage of the things I loved to do.

The main wisdom time has given me was that I should have just told her that I wanted nothing to do with her ever again at that point. But you have to remember that, no matter how brash I may seem, deep down inside, I’m always fearing that I’ll end up alone.

Anyways…. the hands. So, I ended up giving up video games. It turns out that if I cut the three things that gave my hands stress (hacking, guitar, and games) down to two, everything was fine. And giving video games up was a lot easeier than trying to give up my guitar at that time. And I wore wrist braces for a while while I slept.

I’ve ended up being functionally ambidextrous (or, in my terms "ambimousetrous") so I mouse with my left hand at work and my right hand at home. And you’ll notice if you watch me make a pinch pot or stir a pot, I’ll move clockwise for a while and then all of the sudden I’ll switch directions as I switch primary hands.

The girl in question dropped me a "no hard feelings" note on flickr lately. I thought about writing back, but I think it’s probably better if I didn’t. In the end, I found that I liked the version of her personality that was there when she was surpressing things because she was a catholic high school kid, which surprised the fuck out of me and is probably just unfair to her.

Strobist details: I bounced my Sunpak digital flash off of the ceiling with a full CTB gel taped over the front. And I put my MS-1 with a Congo Blue filter over about 75% of the front of the flash right next to the caps lock key.

Two – Yin and Yang

I have decided I am going to work my way through the Waldorf Math curriculum by myself. I will be doing activities starting with First Grade and moving through the curriculum at a speed that works for me

The first block in a Waldorf math curriculum is a Quality of Numbers block. In this block a teacher would guide students through the exploration of "one-ness", "two-ness" and the qualities of numbers up to 7, 10 or 12. Students look for examples in their lives of things that come in that number and cosmic "meanings" of those numbers are brought to the student in an age appropriate manner. I chose to explore 0 through 10 and create a Main Lesson Book page for each number.

If one is Everything/All then Two is like a cell splitting in mitosis. It is dynamic compared to One’s all encompasing stability. Two is pairs and opposites.

Two is the ancient symbol of yin and yang. It is darkness and light, moist and dry, cool and warm, living and dying all swirling around each other to create the myriad things. To create creation! One is, two creates.