OOC: Please feel free to continue to post in the thread after this, but I did want to try and move it to a wrap because I'd like to start a new class thread sometime after the new year. Since there are a lot of classes being posted, I'm not really going to give grades or deduct for individuals not attending. But I will be giving house points for attendance (+2), participation (+5) and homework (up to +5). I'll submit those points on 12/30, which should give everyone enough time to post.

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Myrni saw that the class session was coming to an end and so from her place at her desk where she had been most of the time for students to come and conference with her if they needed help, she took her wand and lazily wrote the instructions for the homework assignment on the board.

HOMEWORK (to get house points):
-For those who are ambitious, you can do an entire post with detail about how your character did the project/presented the information.
-Post an excerpt from the essay your character would submits (one good paragraph "in their words" would be enough)
-Create and post at least one graphic/visual aide your character designed as part of the project
Obviously, anything above and beyond will be given more points for the extra effort.

Finished writing, she stowed her wand away and patiently waited for the period to end so that she could send her students off.

In many ways, this is a bit of the chicken and the egg question.  Did the egg hatch the chicken first or did the chicken lay the egg first?  Do we have the arithmantic fortunes because of the name we were given or was the name chosen for us one of the first impacts our predetermined fortunes had on us?  In the muggle world, such a question would be considered philosophical but it is rather curious. 

It's interesting to ponder whether a different name would have given me a different fortune.  Of course, for any of us, we may only be able to speculate.  I admit, that in my case, I'm not entirely sure what my name's supposed to be.  My first and middle name are a given - I don't think there's really any reason to question either.  However, technically, I am not a Schlagenweit though I continue to carry the name since it's what I'm used to.  And, I don't know any alternatives.  Do our fortunes care?  Presumably not - I was already eight when I learned that my stepfather was not my father and I wasn't a Schlagenweit.  I don't expect to ever learn my real surname and I don't expect my stepfather would appreciate if I started going by my mother's name.  And, aside from the immediate family, no one in our family knows of that particular family secret.  So, in other words, your guess is as good as mine when it comes to what my name - or arithmantic fortune - is supposed to be. 

Which, raises an interesting question.  If names change, do our fortunes change as well?  And, again, we're back to the chicken and the egg question.  Is our name changing in response to our numbers and fortunes changing?  Or, do our fortunes change in response to our names changing? 

Over this past summer, I was riding in the mountains back at home and came across this transformation.  While I was pondering this change of identities and fortunes, my thoughts flickered back to the picture.  I know it's a muggle picture but I think it helps express the changes of fortunes wrapped up in when one's identity changes.