Almost mid-February, and all day it’s been snowing. Now tomorrow the sun might shine. The first few snowstorms of the year are welcome, those later, not. I am so looking forward to spring, which for me has become increasingly more magical.

And maybe this year I will get time off. It isn’t easy, listening to Pete talk about his upcoming retirement benefits, which include 45 weeks of sick leave pay. I hear this and I think, wow, if I’d been hired at the college, I would not now be a cling on.

I keep such thoughts at bay by working hard. Today I got the rest of the 48 boxes of books that came from the Kodiak Public Library unpacked. There were two volunteers who got a lot done because they were extremely focused. Most of the fiction is now in bins – what remains is the nonfiction. Pretty good considering the books came in on Saturday.

Pete went and got additional children’s books from Machetanz Elementary today, and tomorrow Dan will get additional books when he does a Title Wave run.

Math – square roots, radicals, exponents. I still don’t get it. The information is second nature to the teacher, so he goes along at a fair clip – I can give the correct answers, but as of yet I have no concept of the big picture. But if I get this, then we can move on to Algebra, so this is incentive for me.

Algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus – I have a long, long ways to go. I wish that I had been motivated to learn math when I was in my 20s. What I needed, and what I did not have, was what I have now, a tutor.

I guess that I have to look at it this way. Our whole lives, we are presented with the opportunity to learn new things. It does not matter what age we are when we learn what we learn – it is a process. Me, I’m using the left side of my brain, which has atrophied because I have not used it. The right side of my brain has gotten a life-long workout.

I guess we favor one side, and when we get the desired results, just keep using it. Some might use both sides of their brain, but I have not been one of these people.

During my lessons I often feel like going off on poetic flights of fancy. Skye, my math tutor, keeps me in check by staying on task. And I go along with this because this is what left brain learning is all about.

Now Pete is very left brained, and as far as I can tell, he isn’t interested in using the right side of his brain. For example, you’d never catch him taking an art class. Then again, he is very musically inclined – I don’t know what side of the brain supports this particular interest.

Another ramble here. Too tired to do much this evening – going to call it good and hope tomorrow night that I can get more done.

Next: 42. 2/11/26: Word Quota