Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Girl Can't Count...

Okay. I swear I was on the math team in junior high and high school, back in the day when we weren't allowed to use calculators. I even took calculus during my senior year in high school. Calculus, people!

But when I read a challenge in Paper Crafts' Stamp It Card Challenge magazine to stamp one image seven times, this was the first card I made:


It wasn't until I stamped the last fish that it dawned on me that 4+3+1=8, not 7.

And I felt stupid.

Of course, when I was in high school and suffering a serious case of obsessive-compulsive perfectionism, I would NEVER have shared such a bone-headed mistake with ANYONE. I took stuff like this far too seriously back then.

Now, two days before I turn 47, it seems perfectly entertaining to share it with the entire interwebs.

Because if there's one thing that I've learned in just-shy-of-47 years, it's that we ALL make mistakes, and it's far better to laugh about them than to be embarrassed or ashamed. Besides, it's a fun card and whoever gets it will have no idea that it has the "wrong" number of fish on it.

And by the way, all that calculus leaked out of my head while I was in graduate school reading Ulysses and Beowulf and everything Chaucer ever wrote. These days, I wouldn't know a differential equation if it bit me on the tushy. But ask me about stream of consciousness, the importance of litotes in Anglo-Saxon verse, and how we know Chaucer wasn't anti-Semitic sometime.

That stuff's never going to go away.

Which goes to show absolutely nothing of value except we can remember the most useless information if we find it fascinating enough.

Can you tell it's been a weird day?

Early birthday fishes to me!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Pond Life
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey Ink
accessories: gridded acrylic block because those fish don't line themselves up, you know! 

11 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. It is a great card and I think 8 is the new 7 !!!

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  3. LOL - Lucky for you its a fabulous [perfectly balanced of course] card! Happy early bday!!

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  4. Technically, you did stamp the one image 7 times.
    Happy Birthday! I love your cards and the reasoning behind what makes them right!

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  5. Oh, I remember calculus but only the taking it part not all the information. I even had a slide rule (the ancient calculator). The card, as someone said previously, is perfectly balanced so why not use 8 fishes. You can call it creative license.

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  6. The front fish is leading the other seven in wishing you a happy birthday. An orchestra conductor leads and the musicians follow. Whatever. Seven, eight, nine fish they all say "Happy Birthday to You." Great card.

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  7. This is a toughie for me. Needs some thought....thinking. hmm. Maybe I'll just thoroughly enjoy yours.

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  8. Oh, but the card wouldn't work with seven fish! I think this is great!

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  9. Don't mind the extra fish! It is a lovely card. I post what I think an eyesore on my blog too. If I meant to make it my creative diary, why shouldn't I post it to remind myself to avoid the same mistake? I agree that it is much better that we laugh about them than to be ashamed. Have a happy birthday!

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  10. Maybe girl can't count, but girl sure can make lovely cards! By the way, I'm another English major who loved math and took through Calculus II--and now couldn't do a derivative to save my life. Happy birthday to you tomorrow!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!