Hello, Alexandra.

I also struggle with the math thing. My secret to success is practicing until I'm miserable, but these things also help:

1. Read layman books about mathematical history, theory, and research. It ignites enthusiasm. I recommend James Glieck's [sp?] book Chaos, and his book The Information. He has a talent for weaving compelling narratives around the science.

2. Learn a little bit of programming. While coding is frustrating in its own right, I find that it forces me to think mathematically. I can't leave steps out. I'm learning Python right now, and it's a good introductory language (I'm told).

3. Explain it to your cat. I'm only mostly kidding. I've found that tutoring lower-level math has helped my skills in calculus and statistics. Learning to walk through the problems in a coherent way, so that a moody sixth-grader can understand it, is tremendously helpful.

I'd love to work together on exploring mathematical concepts. If you'd like to collaborate, hit me up sometime.

Also: if you like HPMOR, you should read Luminosity. It is a rationality-driven version of Twilight that's actually really good.