Math major to English teacher to seminary student to doctoral studies to who knows? (or where'd the title come from?)

In college when I’d tell people that I had a math major and a double-minor in chemistry and theology, I got a lot of funny looks. Apparently that isn’t the typical combination. Then I went on to teach English as a Second Language in Ukraine. And I hated English in high school. And except for the correspondence TESL class I’d never taken an education class. And now I go to Seminary. Usually I say that this is all God’s way of making me well-rounded. :)

And I loved all of it. And all of it challenged and delighted me (even if I know that I am definitely not supposed to study math or teach English for the rest of my life.) And what has delighted me most is seeing how the skills that I’ve learned in doing random things have come back to be helpful later on. The math major endeared me to the headmaster (also the math teacher) at my school in Ukraine. And even now I periodically tutor people in math (mostly for the GRE exams). Doing so helps me to remember the part about math that I love: having this great puzzle that needs fixing – and the delight of being able to know if I got it right. Now I just study languages. It’s close. Although the problems to be solved are slightly more fuzzy. As for the english teaching part: Even if I don’t love English, I love teaching. And after two years of teaching, I have more teaching experience than most people I know who want to teach at the post-high level. And teaching only gets better (although less of a challenging puzzle) when everyone listening to me speaks English fluently. :)

As far as figuring out how things fit. My brain tends not to be very linear. I think in terms of connections. Think of most ways of thinking as a bunch of points in a straight line. Most of us like to have each of the dots next to each other connected to the one closest to it, with maybe a few extra lines in between. Mine’s more like having most of the points in the line connected to as many other points as they possibly can, and not necessarily the ones next to them. And that explanation alone gives you a slight clue of how muddled can get at times. but it's okay. i just want to know as much as i can - and make as many connections as I can. and hopefully along the way i can share it with others.

To sum it all up: all of it has been good. and i look forward to the next pieces of the puzzle of my life - and the surprises along the way. and all the other ways in which the things along the way have prepared me for what's next.