My current job role may involve political activism (of a kind...i couldn't think of way of writing it without giving away exactly what my job entails for those of you who don't know me) but that isn't where my heart lies...
My heart lies in the hard sciences, the physics, and astrophysics of the world, and, most especially in the language of science itself...mathematics...
At school, i was the typical maths geek, didn't have much social interaction with most people....the people who i did have the interaction tendined to be at the opposite end of the scale....If any of you ever watched the amazing TV series by Judd Apatow, Freaks & Geeks, i was the person who fitted in perfectly in both groups.
I still have a signed statement from the head of MEG (OCRs predescesor) congratulating me on taking my maths GCSE 2 years early, and managing to get 112% - which only 3 people in the country got that year...This may sound fucked up, especially for a maths exam, but, being the sad geek i was, i acgtually corrected one of the questions so sas to ensure that an answer was logicially permitted.
After this high flying start, i actually started my my maths & further maths a-levels while i was doing the rest of my gcses, 2 teachers, one who knew exactly how to encourage people to get on with stuff and learn, and the other, who was a miserable old bitch, who didn't really know maths that well, and was happy to admit she had never ever left the county of lincolnshire...By the time i'd done the rest of my gcses, i had done 8 out of the 12 modules needed for the 2 a-levels, and had got 97%+ in 6 of them (the other 2 were stats, which i hated, so didn't bother with), which meant that i hardly had any work to do on that side, so, spent a hell of a lot of time just disappearing off to various places around the country...
On the physics side, i wasn't anywhere near as good as i was at maths, but iduring my a-levels, i had the good fortune of having the most inspirational teacher i have ever had...Even though, i found out something about him that disgusted me...he became the president (or whatever they call it) of voice "the union" or the scabby fuckers as i like to know them...
When it was time to apply to uni, i knew that i was going to be going to manchester, whatever...a city i love that i have my roots in, and is still my spiritual heartland, so there was no way i couldn't go there, the only difficulty was deciding what subject to do...I should by all rights have chosen maths, but coz i couldn't stand Miss *****, i decided to do physics w. astrophysics...Ok. I lie, it wasn't just because i hated her, i set her a basic maths test - one that a lot of people know why it doesn't work properly, and if she'd managed tog et the solution by the time my UCAS form had to be in, i would have done maths, it took her six months in the end to work out what the problem was...If any of you qwould like to see how simple it is, here is a link http://math-fail.com/2011/09/21.html
So, in september 2000, off i toddled to manchester university, and i started as i meant to go on, drinking smoking, not turning up, not doing anything, no wonder i was kicked out at the end of my second year (even though i still blame brian fucking cox for that), and that was the end of my connection with maths & science...
Why have i wrote all this?? because, i really want to start up on maths again, am trying to find a sample gcse paper, to see if i can still do it, and then maybe work my way up through the pure maths & mechanics A-Levels, and, then, i want to do an OU Maths degree, only problem is the money...I don't think i'lll be able to get a student loan to do it, as i'm still paying off my one from ten years ago, so does anyone have any suggestions at all of to how i can do it, because i still feel an intimate link to maths, and, i feel at my most relaxed when reading through maths stuff...
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