I’ve just concluded my first semester at technical university pursuing math and physics undergraduate degrees after a palm reader suggested this as a potentially more fulfilling career path for me than art.

When I graduated from high school and community college six years ago, I was certain that I would never want to return to academics. However, since starting school, I am pleasantly surprised to discover that I fit in perfectly! I’ve never felt more at ease and confident in my career direction before.

Are you as surprised as I am?

I enjoy my classes, and often seek additional learning resources outside of class. It feels like a long period of frustration and confusion is finally at a close.

Even still, this was the hardest semester I’ve ever had. The following are two projects that I worked on.

Red Tide Research Project

Much of my work this semester went to my technical writing class. The bulk of the class involved group work, organizing 1-3 group meetings a week, all awhile researching an approved topic. Our topic was red tide.

Red tide is a kind of microorganism that proliferates so rapidly that it turns seawaters red. It is a kind of harmful algae bloom that produces dangerous toxins that can affect respiratory and nervous systems.

When red tide is in bloom, the toxins it creates become airborne via sea spray. If inhaled, these toxins cause respiratory problems. If fish that have been contaminated with red tide are accidentally ingested, these toxins can cause Paralytic Shellfish Posioning, and can be fatal.

Of course, humans aren’t the only animals affected by red tide. It can cause massive fish kills, also kill marine mammals and birds, and can devastate any ecosystem in its wake.

When red tide affects an area, beaches are closed. It disrupts an area’s economy by negatively affecting tourism, fishing, and recreational industries. Red tide is a complex problem that negatively impacts public health, the ecosystem, and local economies.

My goal with this project as team leader was to create a report that would be useful: something that could even be referenced by people working on addressing red tide.

Depression compelled me to seek help in the form of a retreat. My art career pursuits were leaving me unfulfilled and unmotivated for life, so I brought my sketchbook deep into a Georgian forest in search of clarity and confidence.

In-between encounters with beautiful people, I heard that the hostel manager was offering palm readings and that she was very good. Having had an experience with a psychic before who was very bad, I decided to give her a shot with an open mind.

Putting my sketchbook in my bag, I went into the reading, her eyes penetrated into mine while she held my hands, measuring lengths of my fingers, feelings the strength and limberness of various features, all while speaking. It was shocking how she knew me, while I had never met her before. I felt so exposed. Some of her statements were so on point, so personal, and I was so in need of hearing them, that at multiple points I almost burst into tears.

While I did not ask her any specific questions, in the middle of the reading, she said I was a creative and artistic person captivated by beauty… but that pursuing an art career would only be a struggle for me. She went on to say that while that was the case, that I had an unconventional mind and actually had a gift for math and physics.

When the reading ended, I wrote what she had said into my sketchbook, and that part stuck in my head like something that didn’t sit well.

“Ugh. Math and physics… Why?”