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Reunion thread! Hey
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Reunion thread! Hey
Reunion thread! Hey everybody! Valentine's Day is coming up in less than a week. Some of you already know this, but if you don't, February 14 is a day for old CBers to come back and say hi. I know I'm a little early, but I wanted to make sure there was a centralized place for old CBers to pop up so that we're not spread across eight threads in all corners of the CB. I'll post a longer, more personal hello once this gets posted, but I wanted to leave the intro pretty short so that we don't all have to scroll through it.
Also, just so it's clear: I'm the one posting this thread, but it isn't my thread! It's just a centralized place for CBers new, old, and somewhere in between to reunite. Feel free to add your own hello's, no matter if you're a visiting or current CBer. See you on Valentine's Day! :)
~Starseeker
submitted by Starseeker, age 204 moons, Class of 2022
(February 8, 2022 - 9:59 pm)
(February 8, 2022 - 9:59 pm)
Hi, Over the Rainbow! I know you don't know me. I joined in March of 2020. I had a question though about the guitar and songwriting.
I play the violin, but I have wanted to learn a second instrument for a long time. Guitar (in the bluegrass/folk/fiddle genre) is one of the ones that stayed on my instruments to learn list over the years. I'm interested in songwriting too. I was wondering if you had any tips for
starting the guitar and beginning songwriting?
(February 14, 2022 - 12:53 pm)
Hey Peregrine! Nice to meet you! I think my biggest tip for starting the guitar would be to learn to play by playing things you actually like. That way you'll be motivated not only by the nebulous goal of learning an instrument, but by being able to play your favorite music. Learn the basic open chord shapes, and then make a list of songs you love that you want to be able to play. Then start learning to play them! There are lots of websites that have lead sheets for almost any song you can think of, and if you're interested in more than just chords (learning to fingerpick, etc), guitar tab (a common notation method) is pretty intuitive.
As for songwriting, if you learn to play songs you like in a style you're interested in, you'll eventually have a repetoire of chords and techniques that you can pull out when you're writing your own music! My other tip would just be to listen to a ton of music to figure out what you like when it comes to instrumentation, melody, and lyrics. And then write a bunch of unselfconsciously bad songs--eventually the good stuff will come.
(February 15, 2022 - 5:27 pm)
Thank you, OtR! Your tips make a lot of sense. I had tried to start learning guitar, but I had this mindset of you have to stick to the book and the book's songs were not something that interested me. I'm going to take your tips and learn songs I like and listen to more music! I'm going to experiment with songwriting too.
You might be interested to Berklee College's five week summer intensive in Boston. I've never gone, but I thought I would mention it just in case you wanted to look in to it. I know they have songwriting classes as part of the intensive.
I also wanted to say I think throwing pottery sounds like a really fun hobby.
Wishing you the best in releasing an album! I hope to see you next Valentine's reunion.
(February 16, 2022 - 12:14 pm)
Hi, OtR! I remember you. It's wonderful that the friends you made in middle school are still with you today. You have a lot of very cool interests! Do you write your own lyrics too? I have to write lyrics for work sometimes, and it's very hard because I have zero sense of rhythm hahaha. Becoming an editor sounds like a wonderful dream. I have a number of very good editor friends and colleagues, so if you ever need any advice on this, don't hesitate to drop me a line. Take care!
(February 15, 2022 - 12:41 am)
Ruby! It's so great to hear from you and to know that you're doing so well--congrats on your upcoming gradutation! Your translation work sounds awesome as well. Yes, I write my own lyrics--it sort of spun naturally out of my inclination towards poetry, but I find that the contraints of the verse-chorus structure combined with the relative lack of expectations for what a lyric "should" be (as opposed to all the high-minded ideas we have about poetry) to be incredibly freeing. But I get that it's hard, especially if you're translating someone else's words!
It's very cool that you have editor friends! Maybe I'll talk to you about that sometime :)
Thanks for stopping by!
(February 15, 2022 - 5:35 pm)
Hi! We were never on at the same time, but I've heard great things about you. All of your interests sound amazing- pottery? editing? releasing an album? If you ever do and it's not under your real name, I'd love to hear it. I also enjoy folk music, and by far my favorite singer-songwriter is Gregory Alan Isakov (credit to Luna-Starr for finding out about him). I'm even going to a concert of his! I also really like the Lumineers, the Crane Wives, Chris Thile, the Oh Hellos, and I'm trying to get into older stuff as well. Idk if any of these are ones you like/know, but just in case :) I've also found that people who listen to punk are generally cool, though I've yet to listen to much of it.
(February 15, 2022 - 9:19 am)
Nice to meet you, Azalea! Very cool that you're into folk. I've never heard of Gregory Alan Isakov--I'll have to check him out. If you're looking to get into older stuff, my favorite folk singer of all time (honestly, favorite singer of all time, period), is Joni Mitchell. Can't recommend her enough. Start with her album Blue if you've never listened before.
(And if you ever feel like giving punk a try, my fave band is Sleater-Kinney, which I also can't recommend enough.)
(February 15, 2022 - 5:39 pm)
Sorry this is so late!! I LOVE Joni Mitchell!!! I'm really bad at genres so I wasn't sure if she counted as folk. I also like Tracy Chapman a lot. I just listened to a Sleater-Kinney song and it was very good, thanks for the rec!
(February 20, 2022 - 3:00 pm)
Happy Valentine's day everyone! It's great to see everyone filtering in for the reunion!
For those who don't know me, I'm Micearenice. I joined the CB back in October of 2015, going on 7 years ago. It blows my mind that so much time has passed! I was twelve then, and I just turned 19. I'm in college now--something I used to dread with every fiber of my being because I didn't want to move away from home--but I'm pleased to report that college is actually pretty fun and laid back...The paperwork and applications were by far the worst part. It gets much better after that.
I've learned a lot over my freshman year--more outside the classroom than in it. I'm currently studying entomology and working in a lab where I get to identify insects under a microscope for hours at a time. Also, last summer I got into ant keeping and had a collection of about 20 ant colonies. I even discovered an extremely rare species of ant living in our forest--Proceratium, which only eats spider eggs.
Back during my days on the CB, I was a huge fan of Warriors and Wings of Fire roleplays as well as ski lodges. I spent four years writing two ski lodges and have since self-published both of them with Blurb. I was also obsessed with Kyngdom, and it is still one of my favorite stories of all time.
I've been writing more these days and have written a couple of children's stories as well as a novella, and I'm working on a new fantasy novel. It's slow going as usual, but I'd like to get some things published and start earning some passive income from my writing.
Anyway, it's great to see everyone again. I'm excited to see who all pops in tomorrow.
Chip says "Paotd." He's happy to be back too and somewhat excited about his extended vocabulary.
(February 13, 2022 - 5:07 pm)
You've self-published books? *eyes get all big and sparkly* and you want to actually publish books?! That is so cool...
(February 13, 2022 - 7:30 pm)
Hi Periwinkle! Thank you! Self-publishing is a fun and rewarding process for any project. Print-on-demand services like the one I used let you just load up your writing/illustrations and then order (and/or sell) them at any time, and they print it for you and you get to see your work in official physical form. It is a magical experience! Here is a picture of the two I've done.
(February 15, 2022 - 11:07 pm)
They look so cool and professional! I want to do that someday!
(February 17, 2022 - 5:32 pm)
Wow, discovering a rare species of ant in your forest sounds so cool!
(February 14, 2022 - 12:56 pm)
Hi, Micearenice! I don't know if you remember me, but I remember seeing you around. It's wonderful to see that you're doing so well for yourself now. Entomology is fascinating! What do you want to do with your degree?
Also, congrats on your writing! Self-publishing is awesome, and my fingers are crossed for you that your new novel will go well.
(February 15, 2022 - 12:43 am)
Hi Ruby! It is so good to hear from you! Of course I remember you. I've outgrown the CB, but I haven't outgrown my awe and admiration for the legendary older CBers who came before. You shaped the CB into the place that came to shape me for so many years, and have impacted me in more ways than can be expressed.
Unfortunately I'm still hazy in terms of what I want to do with my degree, but through working at a lab I've determined some of the things I don't want to do, like pursue a doctorate or heavy research. I am really into animal husbandry/rearing, so I think it would be fun if I could find a sort of "insect zoo" niche.
Your job as a translator sounds really cool. I would love to know more languages than just English, and I was thinking about starting to learn Japanese this year as one of my New Year's resolutions.
Congratulations on your upcoming college graduation, and best of luck with all your current and future endeavors!
(February 16, 2022 - 12:03 am)