I went to a very small all-girls Catholic high school in Mississippi that had only 250 students in the entire school. My sophomore year, I really wanted to take this "Intro to Pascal Programming" course, the only course on computer programming offered at the school at the time. But it conflicted with Algebra 2. On a whim, I decided to devote a weekend to doing nothing but answering every question in every chapter of the algebra book. Hey, at least I find constructive ways to deal with my frustrations. But yes, I have way too much energy.

The one weekend turned into roughly five weekends, but I was determined to take that programming class before it was too late to catch up. Finally, the day came when I proudly walked into the Algebra 2 classroom, handed the unsuspecting teacher the notebook, and said, "I’m finished. I can either take the programming course or stay here and be bored for the rest of the year. It’s your call."

I got an "A" in the programming course that year.