evergleam83, Rac, and I all spent some time outdoors taking pictures under the pretty cherry blossom trees today. The weather was warm and breezy, blowing the pale petals around, and we got some really good shots. We'll be turning the film in on Monday morning, which means we'll have it back by Tuesday.

On Buffy night, Aster is planning to cook for us from the Aphrodesiac cookbook, and we'll have Buffy night as usual... only we'll be trading pictures and heading to Heather's for a scan-fest afterwards, so I can post oodles of lovely pictures spanning the theater formal, our trip to DC, our day today, and Spring Fling. Expect a major update of my gallery around Wednesday. :) I'm all excited.

Yesterday, we all went to Baltimore to see an Orioles game, but it was more about spending time with the gang. Rac, Heather, and I (and recently, Aster) really have formed a family unit between us, and it felt good to go and have a night out with the people that mean so much to you. The ballpark was gorgeous under the floodlights, and Rac thought that the players looked like tiny figurines from our nosebleed seats. The park wasn't very full, so we all snuck down to the lower deck and watched the last three innings from excellent seats.

Dinner was good- we went to California Pizza Kitchen and I had tomato-basil pizza (mmm... basil) and sampled Mike's wine. I can't wait until I turn 21 if only so I can have a good glass of wine with dinner (and the occasional margarita).

All in all, it was a good thing. I've been spending a lot of quality time with my friends lately, and it really makes me feel that much closer to them.

Sidenote... I am reprising my role as Joan of Arc... my choir is doing Leonard Bernstein's The Lark, and Margie figured I was a natural choice for the spoken interludes. Now, explain to me how this school insists on placing me, the fiesty redhead witch, in the role of god-fearing virgin saint, but they cast someone who's obviously a virgin in the role of the head whore in Threepenny Opera?? *Le sigh* At any rate, the concert is Sunday night at 7 pm in Baker Chapel here at McDaniel. I think it's free.

I finally did something right in the French Translation Class from Hell!

All semester, I'd been suffering at the hands of legal and financial translations that left my test scores suffering and me scratching my head.

We're finally in my areas of expertise: literature and song. The assignment was to translate a given song from French into English, and then re-write it so that it retains the same rhyme scheme as the French version.

I forgot all about it until a half hour before class. I scrambled to get it done and showed up at class five minutes late because of it.

Naturally, the professor called on me first because I was late. I cringed and read my translation. The class was silent. I was sure I was gonna get whaled on. But instead, Madame Motard-Noar just said, "Well, everybody, put away your translations. It's not going to get better than that." She said that there was really no point in even passing out the official translation, that mine was better.

I was dumbstruck. Really, somebody up there is looking out for me.

We moved on to the next item, and that was that.

... so.

I had a creepily accurate psychic reading tonight. It was by the same woman, Tessa Everson, who gave me a reading last year and predicted a deepened involvement with foreign language and a "serious nosedive" between my significant other and I around our two year mark.

Tonight, my question was about career path. She said that that was very interesting, as she saw I had a very split path... on one hand, family is pulling me towards something very medical, but my heart is in the arts, particularly in those involving the voice. She said she saw me as a singer with a smaller interest in acting.

I said that was interesting-- my mother has always pressured me to be a doctor, but I'm a singer.

She said that she saw a very unique mix in my future work: that I would begin with classical music but only have a short career with it, although it will influence the music that I later perform. She said that she doesn't foresee a big shot into stardom, but more of a "zigzag" as I develop, and that's in part because strong relationship ties will hold me back (which I can completely see happening).

She also mentioned that later in life, I will lend my voice to some sort of activism, but not to completely discount any scientific bent: I will need knowledge of the body/anatomy in a future job. I will also teach at one point, although not in a "constrained environment." But she kept coming back to the word "voice," which I thought was interesting because it's a word that thouroughly defines me. She told me to look for singing opportunities this summer, because they will be potent if I look for them. Also, she mentioned the coming January as a big month of opportunity for me.

So... I'll hopefully get a reading next year, and see how good this one was. I don't know- her husband strikes me as kind of iffy, but something about this woman just seems genuine face to face. It's hard to tell if it's only because I want to believe that she's not a fake.

I spent some time this year researching methods that so-called "psychics" (John Edwards, for instance) use to trick audiences (Cold/Hot readings, etc), and there were only a few instances where I could see these techniques possibly being put into play (Tessa and her husband Jeff have a mind reading show that is really worth seeing). Besides, these two were obviously not wired or communicating in any other way (with the possible exeption of speech-pattern signals, but I didn't hear any when I was specifically listening for them).

A good part of the act could be explained (object-guessing could be ordered, for instance), but there's no way I can tell that she'd be able to know the history behind the object or the name of a random person. She guessed exact names, even strange spellings. I'm trying to be a skeptic and failing. I think that Heather thinks I'm a doof, but honestly, I've mulled some of this stuff over during the year since I saw their last show, and it still baffles me.

Or maybe I'm just under the thrall of pretty black Jesus. :)

[ETA: I forgot about the part where she said I'd make a great ad exec. Dude, I could be the female Brian Kinney!]

Christina
(French)

~ meaning ~
Christian

~ motivation ~
Strives to do their best

~ character ~
Are confident with what they do

~ feelings ~
Likes to be included

~ intelligence ~
Has an alert mind

~ spiritual ~
Believes in themselves

~ nature ~
Does not like leaving things unfinished

~ inherent ~
You are a natural leader


From here.