Math Gimp

Garrrrgggh!  I cannot type on a laptop without hitting the... what the hell is that area called?  Mouse thingee.  I end up cutting entire sections out of my papers, throwing the cursor halfway up the page and becoming a curser myself.

The rest of the class is reading As I Lay Dying.  I took my counselor's advice and read the Wikipedia entry first so I could pick up on the important stuff more easily and the plot horrified me.  Why are all the "Great American Novels" so depressing?

Last night Ant and I hit Blockbuster to find Unforgiven for him to watch with Chris's dad, as per his request.  They didn't have it so we got something else and while we were at the counter, Ant saw this cheat code book that he wanted to get the last time we were there.  It was $7.99.

"Ahhh, Jenny can I?"

"Sure."

He pulls out eight dollars and hands over the book.  The cashier rings him up and says, "8.61."  Ant is searching through his change and I say, "The sign says all game books are on clearance for 75% off."

"Oh," she says.  "Let me get the calculator."

Ant giggles.  "It's calculator time!"

The cashier says, "75% of 7.99 is... six dollars?  That can't be right..."

"No, that's right." I said.  "Ten percent of eight dollars is 80 cents, 8 times 7 is 56, so 5.60, plus the five percent is half of .80, so 40 cents, so 5.60 plus .40 is 6.00 off."

"Works for me," said the cashier.

Ant put most of his money away and we walked out.

"Huh?  Huh?" I asked, grinning.

"Thank you," Ant said.  "I'm going to call you Math Jenny."


Today I saved him more money when I gave him a coupon for his latest craft love.  I know it as gimp, the people at JoAnn call it "craft string."  When we left he said he was going to call me "Coupon Jenny."

"I thought I was Math Jenny."

"No, you're Coupon Jenny.  I'm Math Anthony."

"Yeah, let's go look at your math workbook," I said.  "Then we'll see if you're really Math Anthony."


I would like to take a moment to point out that I learned both of those skills from Mom.  In any other situation I can't do percentages, but involve a sale and I'm a math wizard.  Thanks, Ma!  :D