basic trig

in middle and high school i couldn't be bothered to learn simple trigonometry, because it's really hard for me to learn anything if i don't see why it's cool or if i don't see how it's useful.

if anyone had taken the opportunity to show me how trig dovetails with my natural love of map navigation and the ability to calculate elevation or actual distance to travel with just my orienteering compass and a calculator, i would have been all over that stuff.

as it is now, i am nearly fifty years old and only just now practicing basic trig because - what? i can use my clinometer to figure out where i am? i can calculate distances if i can solve triangles?

and it doesn't take me a whole lot of thinking to realize cases in which i might have different legs or angles and i found myself thinking: i bet if i knew some basic trigonometry i could just do the math and save myself some time in the field.

*sigh*

so that's what i'm doing today.

and baking cookies.

and maybe bread.

and then later i'll run a 5k while wearing my pack.

yay!