What is my Jeopardy! audition?
(/nerd)

It was pretty painless, honestly. There were 15 people in my group--half of whom were lawyers or in law school, unsurprisingly. I did do some studying for the 50-question test, but nothing I studied actually came up--it really wasn't bad. I think I got 44 or 45 out of 50 correct. They did talk to us about the buzzer--there's a person offstage who activates the buzzers once Alex has finished reading the question, and a light comes on alerting you about the activation. (And you get locked out for a short time if you buzz in early.) We got to do a mock game in groups of three, where we played a few categories with the buzzers and had an interview. As Mark predicted, they asked me to sing a little. (I sang the beginning of "Voi lo sapete".) I have to say, the producer-types running the auditions were totally my kind of people. Fast-talking, funny, snarky but not mean... a lot like the costume and makeup people I've worked with.

They've selected 2500 people from the online tests, and 400 of those will be called to be on the show. So I may or may not hear back sometime within the next 18 months. The funny thing about all this is, I'm not doing this for the money (though it would pay for a few coachings, hmm?). I'm doing it because it's the Nerd Olympics. Bragging rights for the rest of my effing life. Seriously. That, and it's been my dream since elementary school.

There was a bit of travel drama (maintenance on the Metro track that almost made me late), but otherwise the rest of the trip went well. We had dinner with Mark's friends in Maryland (their four-year-old son is adorable and precocious), and had brunch Sunday with my aunt and her boyfriend. We visited the National Cathedral before we left--among the four of us only my aunt had been there before, and it was really incredible. (They just finished a parking garage under the cathedral...it's really an engineering marvel.) A quick trip to IKEA (oxymoron)--where we bought matching nightstands, since Mark was fed up with my tossing my expensive eyeglasses onto the floor every night--and we headed home.

On the way home we had a pretty intense discussion (read: I cried and stuff)--Mark's feeling kind of down about his career, and wants to make a really big change. He's not sure yet whether that involves going back to school for something or another... But honestly, I'm getting really tired of living in flux. I've backed out of several commitments over the last eight months because I thought we would be moving. And I have a possible teaching opportunity--which would pay significantly more than my office job--that would involve being available locally at least until the end of the year, and I can't commit to that, even though Mark might end up going to law school or something. This is very frustrating. And I know it's difficult to change careers--and that rejection sucks--but I deal with this stuff ALL THE TIME with my singing. So maybe I'm just used to it, and I need to cut Mark some slack because he doesn't have my thick skin. (Seriously, he was rejected for one job, and he was all upset about it. Sorry boo, you'd never cut it as an opera singer...) Anyway, I'll do my best to help him find his new calling--and whatever he decides, we'll work on it all together.

Sweater news: slow but steady progress. I'm finally up to those 72 short rows, in any case...