No photos have been taken, which is bad.

Very Bad is that physics is making me feel stupid. See, physics (at this basic level) really aren't that hard. What *is* hard is the whacky algebra that our book insists on using. They have tons of derived formulas that are really confusing. Our instructor doesn't want us to use those formulas, we just use the basic, but we still use the book to get homework problems from, which means trying to use the sample problems (that are worked out) is a nightmare. In class, the problems she creates for us are understandable, and solvable, and I can follow along (or answer her) just fine. For the HW, I usually have at the very least *some* idea on what to do, but today I have one problem that is just going to sit there and make me want to yell.

R says I get belligerent when I ask him for help. I am not upset with him, but with the problems and with the poor instructional materials, and I think he misunderstands where my anger is directed. This seems to be a common misunderstanding between the two of us; when I worked in crappy jobs & would complain to him, he always thought I was mad at him. When I was excited about something, he would misunderstand that excitement and think I was upset. I usually think I express myself fairly well, but obviously something needs to change there. I'll think about it more, but I have no idea what to do. I can't just be quiet all the time!