Thursday, June 18, 2009

math, math, math

this article is interesting - it's mostly about how to stop yourself from staring at disfigured people. honestly, it may be common, but it's not something i've ever had a problem with. i think i'm pretty skilled at not staring at disfigured people, actually. but one of the methods they mention is mentally doing "a simple math problem" to re-engage the higher-thinking cortex (instead of the emotional, hormone-releasing part of the brain, the amygdala). and that's a technique i use all the time to keep from crying in public! i summon up my cortex by doing simple division, usually, like dividing by fives or threes. fives and threes work the best for me, for some reason. they're so businesslike. i find odd numbers less emotional than even numbers. okay, i'll stop now, before you begin to think i am a bit of an autistic savant and can't stop staring at me the next time we run into each other.

6 comments:

charlotte said...

oh my god, that is something i've always prided myself on! it's probably partly because the giant warehouse where i used to attend school had this kid who would stand in the hallway and tell everyone the weather, and you couldn't leave until he had finished telling you. he wasn't physically disfigured, but still.

there was also a class for kids with down syndrome to learn to make fried food. hmmm.

Liz Woodbury said...

1. but will you try my method the next time you feel you're about to burst into tears at a socially unacceptable moment?

and

2. why couldn't the kids without down syndrome also learn to make fried food??

charlotte said...

of COURSE!

yeah, and why encourage people who are very likely to be overweight/obese to cook fried food?

Artemis said...

I always though odd numbers were less emotional than evens too

Liz Woodbury said...

freak!

Mary said...

sorry - I think that odd numbers are more nuanced than even & less normal & jolly , might even make me weepy if I thought too much about them: the sorrows of seven, the throes of three...

gulp