I said it before and I'll say it again: I *hate* math.

The idea is that I am supposed to be, at least in my friends' estimations, a knowledge archivist (I hate the term "walking encyclopedia"). Had I known I suck at math, I wouldn't have taken College Algebra (a.k.a. Math 11) for the fourth, and by god, *fourth*, time.

I can just imagine the scenario come November 9: a college junior entering the hallowed halls of the HS building, armed with "College Algebra and Trigonometry" by Louis Leithold and "Modern College Algebra" by Elbridge Vance, and telling my professor, "Yes, sir, it's me again. Rimorin."

I really don't get it. I mean, I can pull off easy 1.5's in courses that would make other people quake in their slippers (yup, UPians like me don't really wear shoes to school), like theory courses. Math, some people take to without effort and pass, leaving Prof. Rimando choking on his cigarette by the time he's done lecturing on his Math 1 course, which should be aptly entitled, "Society and Mathematics." I'd gladly give up my hair to pass Math, but after taking it four times, I suppose that the value of my hair now proves to be irrelevant and value-less in the market of 3's or 4's. I am, as far as I'm concerned, a hot commodity when sold as a card-carrying member of Five Star.

My last Math teacher, Mr. Aurelio delos Reyes V (I wonder what happened to the last four of his kind), wore this shirt that said, "Think Differentially."  Unlike other people, I *do* understand Trekkie lingo used in courses like discrete mathematics and quantum physics, but the hell I know about them when they start using numbers. Anyway, the mantra for that course (which was, by the way, Math 33) was, "People who do mathematics learn mathematics." To me, that was faulty logic - and I got a 3 in Philo 1. You learn mathematics not by doing it: you learn it by making your knuckles bleed from proving every equation, from 0+0=0 to the many mathematical problems in songs like "Ocho Ocho," "Pamela Wan" and "Pito-Pito." By the time you're done bleeding you get a 5.

Don't get me wrong: math is very important, but I don't like it. Much like my big brother, who scoffs at the beauty of Max Weber and John Stuart Mill.

The funny thing is I never used any, and I mean ANY, mathematical axiom or postulate in my life save for the trichotomy law.

So screw math.