I take a test today but I’m up before the sun and the birds this morning studying, cramming more into my brain and actually laughing my um off.
Um, “I hate statistics.” Um, “If I study for that long with that much focus, I’ll surely lose the data. Focus overload brought on by stress.” That’s the conclusion you draw when you’re mapping a course through a territory foreign. You cringe and fret but parts of you are surprised at how the hours melt away and not one ounce of you complained. Okay, the um part of me did.
I ran in the direction of what I previously hated (ignorantly) and found that I waken on the morning of a test with quartiles dancing through my head and images of data sets and bell curves, skewness and histograms, yawning and saying out loud “a quartile is…the class width is determined by….empirical rule states that 68% of the data…” and I realize something. It’s pouring out of my brain and onto a conscious screen in my own words with images depicting their meaning. I’m humming with that energy inevitable. The stuff of jiving enjoyment. I mean, more specifically, the supremely best kind of energy without having sex (the best sex, of course). I like it this much? I don’t think we could’ve predicted this. This is one of those random acts of good energy it seems.
I’m the relationship, psychology, human behavior, spiritual, history and language woman, right?
It turns out there may be more to me than even that.
But we can pretty much guarantee that 68% of the data lies within 1 standard deviation of the mean, when working with symmetric distribution. Of course. And symmetry is great stuff.
Barring any pesky outliers (or ants stalking – Scorpio’s minor prediction for the week already fulfilled), I predict I’ll keep loving statistics since it makes my brain sing. And it probably won’t make a difference if I get a good grade on the first test or not. I’m enjoying it too much to stress.
But a nap is inevitable.
J. Ruth Kelly 
I hope so strongly that Statistics makes my brain sing, but I’m not holding my breath! (LOL) I have somehow managed to avoid it for as long as I possibly could and left it for my very last class- like that candied cherry on top my psych degree cupcake. I’ll know who to whine to, should I find myself flailing about, my brain grinding like a rusty buzz-saw. 😉
It’s a big surprise to me, this loving statistics thing. But my course schedule is so stacked with demands right now, I’m wishing I could’ve known to defer this to a time when I’m not having to work through so many learning curves at once. Re-learning study, re-learning my health within this constraint, re-learning parenting as a student (things change dramatically-my kids are kicking up the backlash of “we want mommmmy!!!”) etc. etc. So, my brain sings but my body is griping and whining!