Undergraduate / Stanford Roommate Letter- My Wide Expanse of Passion [3]

Prompt: Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate-and us-know you better.

Hi future roomie,
I'm a Scorpio. Many websites such as the reliable and fact-based "astrology-online" describe Scorpios as intense, tranquil, self-controlling, and reserved. This does not describe me at all, which makes sense because I do not believe in astrology one bit. On the contrary, I am breezy, energetic, and, once I get over my brief shyness, outgoing. I have interests all over the place. I love playing sports and am always on the edge of my seat watching them. I don't know much about any sport besides soccer, but I enjoy watching and playing all of them! I'm big on nature and being eco-friendly so if you don't recycle, we'll have to change that. If you do, we can start a campaign to get our dorm area to compost! My love of nature and animals is wide yet unfortunately stops at spiders. And snakes. I cannot stand either. Other bugs also scare me. My squeamish nature about bugs shows a whole other side of my personality: a girly girl. I love clothes, I love makeup (only if it's eco-friendly!), and I love style. I was born in Finland so I might bring some Marimekko colorful bed covers and home furnishings to spice up our living arrangement. Because of all these different things, no stereotype seems to fit me. I am a jock because of my passion for sports. I'm a tree-hugger because of my passion for nature. I'm a princess because of my passion f or all things pink. However, all the different sides of me are united by one thing: passion. I used to be shy, but that does not apply to me anymore. Instead, I am passionate, if sometimes a little too much, about all of my interests. Passion is the one and online quality astrology-online. got right about me.

With love (and passion!),
your future roomie

i feel like it might be in between serious and funny, but that's kinda my nature so I guess it shows who I am? I know it's too long, I'll cut it down. Any advice on what to take out?

Undergraduate / "math dates" - Stanford Intellectual Vitality Prompt Asymptote [4]

My mom and I used to have math dates: we sat on the floor with coffee and chocolate and had a white board propped up against the kitchen table. In sixth grade, math was my favorite subject because it always had a definite answer. The day I read about asymptotes changed my reasoning. In analytical geometry, some graphs have curves that get closer to a line, the asymptote. As it approaches infinity, the distance between the line and curve gets closer to zero, but never equals it. Now, this may seem like a simple concept now, but as a ten year old used to answers such as "x=19" or "the graph is a parabola," the concept of asymptotes was hard to understand.

My mom explained to me that "It goes from, for example, 1/8 to 1/16 to 1/32 to 1/64 and so on, but never to zero"

I incessantly refused the whole idea. "The lines intersect at one point, they have too! If the graph with a horizontal asymptote is at, for example, y=9 trillion, hasn't the curve touched the line yet?"

My mom always told me, "no, the distance is just a very very small number."

After throwing a small fit and having a few reoccurring nightmares about this mathematical concept, I accepted it-although I never quite understood it. I learned the information, took the test, got an A. But while sitting in calculus my freshman year, I was again plagued by the infinite nature of an asymptote. It's similar to the idea of outer space-when does it ever end? When does the asymptote end--or intersect that line? I took to googling asymptotic theory and using real world asymptotic behavior to try to find that intersection. As hard as I tried, I could not disprove my mother's words: "the distance never becomes zero." However, that elementary math lesson that I never quite understood spurred research that led to more learning. I am now at peace with the idea of the asymptote and no longer have nightmares about where it all ends.

Help me with grammar and making it shorter!! And any other criticism is very welcome. Thanks!