I am currently failing Algebra 2.

Would it be sinful to conceal my grade from my parents until I improve it (that is if I can...)?

I'm not trying as hard as I can in that class, but I am not intentionally failing it either, or not trying at all. I just don't understand math that well.

Just a side thought, public schools are truly from Hell. I was walking around my school the other day, and on the plaque commemorating the founding of the school there is the Masonic compass and square. Also the biggest contributors to the school were local Freemasons.

I was also told that an essay of mine was unacceptable because I called Luther a "depraved lunatic" and I wrote that his "errors" spread mainly because of the printing press (the essay was on the topic of the printing press). Apparently it is in the curriculum that Luther was not in error, because I got many eyebrows raised when I read that aloud. (And all my classmates called me a weird religious fanatic)  :rolleyes:

Yes, you should tell your parents. Especially if you find the math to be difficult as perhaps they can find a tutor for you. There is still plenty of time to pass the course if you commit to do so now and get the help you need.

Yes, you should tell your parents. Especially if you find the math to be difficult as perhaps they can find a tutor for you. There is still plenty of time to pass the course if you commit to do so now and get the help you need.

My father tutors me, since he is really good at math (I think that his job requires it). I think that I will pass the class, which is why I am not sure whether or not I want to cause a big panic over my current grade. I'm going to ask my teacher for help as well. I have not been doing well in math ever since the third grade, I guess that it is just in my personality. I tend to daydream about music during my math class, even when I try to pay attention.  

(But I do know that if I actually tried my best I would have an A or a B)

SJT said:

A world with nothing but dreamy, artistic "right-brainers" would be a real drag too.

That is me.  I notice the left-brainers are engineers and accountants but you did not give my group any career choices.  What are we to become?  Wal-Mart greeters?

I'm trying to figure out how a 33 year-old right-brainer who has never been employed gets a job in the current economic climate.  It's a toughie.  I have three years of credits at UCLA as an English Major, which is next to useless.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, SJT.  That actually touches me.  CM wrote me a letter too -- I hope you won't get offended that I bring it up, CM, but he suggested that I go off to some desolate no-man's-land and work in a trade-goods store among Inuit Eskimos.  This was presented with a flawless poker face.  I can't tell if he has the driest sense of humor of all time or if he is serious.  There's one way to get rid of a pesky BoDer!

The job that I was planning to have was "studying Catholic theology, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and hoping to live through the Chastisement."  That is, I wasn't going to get a job at all, since I am frugal and live on peanuts and don't need to.  I'm by no means rich, but my parents paid off most of this house for very little, and then the neighborhood became this big luxury spot and the value went way up.

What has set me off on a quest to find a job is that I think my family's money is kind of tainted.  I don't want to splash what my mom did for a living all over the website, but she taught in the public education system, and it is as you say.  Like her, I am a born teacher, and would certainly have been a literature professor if I hadn't tried to be a famous writer myself.  Now I find classic literature immoral.  

In some ways I am lucky.  It would have been awful to have converted at 33 if I was working as a professor or something, because I would have had to quit.  At least now I know what to avoid.  

Have you thought about volunteering time with elderly, children, sick, etc.? This might at least give you a clue about what you want to do with yourself. I think you could be good with people; you are a relentless salesman and could have a career in that field if you were selling a worthy product.

Yeah, I thought of volunteering at a local VII hospital, but that was before I learned about the tainted money supply so now I'd like to at least make minimum wage.  Another problem is the ethical considerations that might crop up with the elderly, giving them antidepressants or other drugs.

I have considered going to school to be an EMT, but yet again another problem!  I am very slender, and when I say slender, I mean you ain't seen anything like this.  Jimmy Stewart is considered ropy; I am beyond ropy, I am like an alien. So super-heavy physical labor may not be in the cards, as much as I like to show my lack of pretentiousness by getting down and dirty.

"Tour guide is another possibilty for you. You like history, you like to talk, you keep flexible hours..."

That might be a good one.  I actually thought about that, strangely enough.  I like to talk, but there are times I get morose and can barely lift my head ( come to think of it, I only like to talk about what interests me, which was movies and literature at one time, and is now religion -- I have a severe one-track mind ).  Well, I'll just have to fight through it.  No more excuses.  If I could find something like that I'd apply.

"How about criminology? That may sound off-beat to you but you have some of the qualities of a good detective, or maybe counselor for juvenile delinquents or adult criminals."

I am worried that the police force is too corrupt.  My dad is a lawyer so some of that is definitely in my blood.  But Masonry has MAJOR inroads into the justice system.  So many judges are Masons. I thought of going to stenography school and then realized I wanted nothing to do with the "justice" system.  What if they decide to rig a case and ask me to doctor the files or something like that?

The crux of the dilemma is that I just want a simple, honest job, something like working in a hotel or being a store clerk, but those are the hardest kind to get at 33 with no resume.  I applied at a local hotel and when I told them I had no resume, though I was trying to be bubbly and confident and ingratiating, they acted as if I came down from outer space.  If I weren't Catholic I'd lie and say that I'm 22 or so, since I'm one of those eternally boyish looking Polocks.

AUGH!!! Everything I try seems to come up snake-eyes.  Like I was going to drive a taxi, and then I was told that the dispatcher will give you lists of prostitutes and drug-dealers in case someone asks, that the taxi-driving field is totally immoral.  

I'm sure that one day soon someone will take pity on me, though -- this is my "walk on water" test.  I have to believe.  Otherwise a job known as "Homeless Street Prophet" is awaiting me.

I am worried that the police force is too corrupt.  My dad is a lawyer so some of that is definitely in my blood.  But Masonry has MAJOR inroads into the justice system.  So many judges are Masons. I thought of going to stenography school and then realized I wanted nothing to do with the "justice" system.  What if they decide to rig a case and ask me to doctor the files or something like that?

There you go again! Worried about getting "tainted" because of the presence of some corrupt cops (try outside of LA, at least!) and Masons. Don't let those people box you in. Get in there and fight the good fight. Invest those talents God gave you; don't bury them in the backyard.

Justice system full of Masons? There's one less Mason there if you take his place.

AUGH!!! Everything I try seems to come up snake-eyes.  Like I was going to drive a taxi, and then I was told that the dispatcher will give you lists of prostitutes and drug-dealers in case someone asks, that the taxi-driving field is totally immoral.

Here I agree. Some professions are just a little "much too much" for a practicing Catholic.  

Otherwise a job known as "Homeless Street Prophet" is awaiting me.

Then if that's your decision, get started already! Just do it! I knew a man who as a twenty-something abandoned his middle-class family, fashioned a cross out of some oak beams, and wandered through the streets dragging the cross and talking about the Faith. (There's a whole story behind that but it's 3:48 AM so...)