Hi! Sorry it's been a while. My school started after break, and then just closed temporarily because of COVID, so I'm feeling kind of down.
@Peregrine, I've never knitted mittens! It sounds hard. Right now I'm trying to get into embroidery; someone gave us some sashiko kits that are pretty easy, so I've been working on one of those.
@Bobcat, I have noticed that a lot of banned books are banned because of LGBTQIA+ content, which is really sad. But I also have a list of good middle grade books with LGBTQIA+ protagonists if you want recommendations! Also, it would be really cool if you got your book published. When I was nine I wanted to win the Newbery medal before I turned 15...................yeah that's not going to happen.
I've never had an azuki bean cake, but I looked it up and it looks delicious! Yesterday was my half birthday so my mom made a rolled carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was really good.
That's all I have for now. I can't wait for spring to come. It hasn't been snowing lately where I live, so I'm kind of sick of the dry, cold weather.
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submitted by Lupine, Ravenclaw common room (January 28, 2022 - 12:28 pm)
Hi! Lately I've been working on Telemann's viola concerto in g major. It's actually surprisingly easy, to be honest (although I haven't really looked at the third movement, which might be harder). I feel like allegro is a bit too fast for the Allegro, though. There's this beautiful slightly wistful undertone at times that I want to preserve. The melodies are gorgeous, though, no matter how you play it.
Vibrato is going quite well; I can do it fairly fast and use it in my playing pretty easily.
I actually just made up the whole idea of "azuki bean cake" and didn't think it was actually a thing! The inspiration was that at some shave ice stands in Hawaii you can get things like haupia ice cream and azuki beans at the bottom of your cup, and it's super good.
I'll take your list of books, @Lupine! And I've never had carrot cake. What does it taste like?
I love embroidery! Mostly I do creative embroidery. I haven't done much in a while, but it's fun.
Oh, and my teacher says that after we've gone through all the movements of the Telemann (there are four and we've looked at two) I can do Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor (JS Bach) on violin!!! I'm super excited. I love BWV 1043 so much. I might audition for orchestra on both violin and viola next time, so that will be nice to have.
You've said what types of music you like, but what specific things do you enjoy in music? For instance, I tend to like things that have a thicker texture and lots of counterpoint, which is probably why I like baroque music a lot. Or, if you like high or low pitches better. I like both a lot.
(jokingly) I want to know who decided that on the viola versus the violin, which it's harder to do vibrato on because your hand is stretched more, you have to use more vibrato. And you're like, does that make intonation easier/do you get less of a pitch variation? And that's a no. A full-on no. On a viola you just have more spots to put the wrong note. I know this is just how physics works, I'm joking XD Seriously, I love the viola. It's a wonderful instrument. But it's a bit harder.
@Lupine, I too would love to win the Newberry medal before I turn fifteen, but I sincerely doubt that's going to happen as well XD
And @Peregrine, *oof* about the yarn running out. It sounds like really nice yarn, too. I've been knitting and crocheting hats and scarfs to donate. One of them is... perhaps too big for pretty much anyone, but I'm decreasing furiously and trying to make it look like a fashion statement XD I just hope people get to choose their hats and whoever gets it isn't severely humiliated... It's a warm hat that covers the neck and ears, though, so I'm going to donate it for utilitarian purposes. And I haven't mentioned that it's bright red.
Bye for now!
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submitted by Blackfooted Bobcat, age Violincats, Violist and Books (January 29, 2022 - 9:44 pm)
I think I looked up azuki bean cakes and it gave me something called adzuki bean cakes which seems like it's just a red bean cake? So I'm not sure if it's the same thing xD
The Bach double is so fun! It's also really hard. I haven't played it as a duet successfully.
In classical music, at least if I'm playing the music, I like both fast and slow pieces. It kind of depends on my mood. Fast pieces are harder but more fun, and slow pieces sound more melodic and you can add a lot of vibrato. I think that on a violin low pitches sound better--in my orchestra music I keep having to shift into like 100th position and it's terrifying. Also I really like how cellos sound: they're so deep and dramatic. I wish I could play the cello.
I think I've tried playing a viola only once...my friend had a random viola sitting around and she figured that since I could play violin I could attempt to play the viola. For one thing it hadn't been played in years and was REALLY out of tune, and also seemed gigantic to me. (It was a full size viola and I was used to playing on a 1/2 size violin xD). But I definitely believe it's harder, especially since you have to stretch a lot more.
My favorite LGBTQ+ books are Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World and George by Alex Gino.
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submitted by Lupine, The Burrow (February 4, 2022 - 12:59 pm)
As I have mentioned elsewhere, we're leaving to go visit family in Hawaii. I won't be able to post for a few days. So I'm topping this so it doesn't get lost!
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submitted by Blackfooted TOPcat (February 5, 2022 - 10:32 am)
This girl in my class is really sad because she feels like her friends weren't including her, and they were just ignoring her. Some people think she's just being dramatic. I've heard from all her friends that she was not including another one of their friends. They are SO right, but a lot of people are on the girl's side. I don't think the girl was being dramtic though, and whenever I tell my friends they think I'm on her side. It's been a ruff week. First sixteen students were sent to the Head of Middle School's office (Our Princeable just sighns papers and stuff, The head of Middle School and the Head Of Lower School do the talking) on Monday. Then some kid went missing during a game of hide and seek. Luckily we found him before the end of the day. that was on Wensday. Then on Thursday people were yelling at me because I gave an honest review on there science projects, and they said I was being mean. Now today. Honestly, our class is a wreak
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submitted by Cleo, age 11, Alexandria, Va (February 11, 2022 - 3:46 pm)
@Lupine, I was on Maui most of the time, except for a brief stay on Oahu. I agree that cellos are beautiful instruments, but they're also significantly more expensive, so that's a no XD I tend to prefer fast movements because they are harder and I like to push myself, but you can get very different feelings from slow music as well.
While we were in Hawaii, we went to a friends of the library bookstore and the Japanese section was huge. Unfortunately it was either really-easy books or full-on adult books with tons of kanji, but I did choose a few of the picture books. I also recently found out that there are Japanese translations of the Magic Tree House series, and when I was little I loved those, so I ordered the first two. (And it was like 18 dollars, so I better get use out of them -) Unfortunately there are almost no Japanese people where I live, so finding any resources is hard.
@Lupine, didn't you say you were learning Japanese? How long have you been studying? @Peregrine, I think you said you were learning Mandarin; how is that going? (If I'm remembering wrong just ignore this.)
And the azuki bean cake was just a cake with azuki beans in it. And lots of modifications to make it lighter, of course : )
Uuum that's all I can think of. Bye for now!
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submitted by Blackfooted Bobcat (February 23, 2022 - 4:08 pm)
That sounds really fun! I haven't been to either of those islands. That library sounds really cool. I'm impressed that you can read books in Japanese! I'm...sort of learning Japanese, just on an app cause they stopped teaching it at my school, and so far I can mostly just say greetings and variations on "that is a *insert noun*." Mostly I'm learning Spanish, I'm in the third year of it at my school. I got the first Harry Potter book in Spanish and am attempting to read it.
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submitted by Lupine, age she/her, The Lovegood House (February 27, 2022 - 9:51 pm)
First off: YOUR SCHOOL USED TO TEACH JAPANESE??? What is this wonderfulness? And second, I know (some) Spanish too! Actually, I can understand a lot more than I can speak. I used to be studying it, but then I stopped for some reason and I'm not very good anymore. My mom was actually a bilingual education teacher in Spanish, so I had someone to talk to more than I do now. (My dad can speak a little Japanese, but not much. And my grandma lives in Hawaii, while I live in the Midwest. My grandma is really good though. She only spoke Japanese until she was three, but says she has forgotten a lot because she doesn't use it as much as English. She's really good though.)
I don't think I could read Harry Potter in Japanese XD Or Spanish. But that's really cool! I wish we could talk in different languages on the CB, it would be really cool to pracitce with you. (Admins, I'm not complaining! I'm still so greatful for the CB, and I don't want to give you too much more work :D)
Reading books in a different language is a really good way to learn more, both because you learn a lot more vocabulary and you get the grammar more ingrained in you. The only problem is that getting all those books is really expensive.
And yes, you're a Harry Potter fan! I knew this about you, I could have brought it up XD I honestly haven't reread the books in a while, but my favorites are the first three. I think Prisoner of Azkaban is the best written, and I think the seventh had a lot of issues with plot and character agency. But as I said, it's been a while. I honestly didn't like the fifth through seventh as much because they got much more edgy and romancey, which is a tendency in more YA books and why I don't tend to like them. There are a lot of good YA books, but I just don't like the conventions for the assumed audience, so I usually read (and write) middle grade.
Here's a question, Lupine: Would you rather go to Hawaii or Japan? I went to Japan once and it was amazing. I probably knew as much Japanese as you knew now, but luckily my grandma was there. That was a long time ago, though. But oh my gosh the food. Even the McDonalds were better! There was a lot of walking, though.
I think this has gotten long enough XD I wish you luck on your language learning journey!
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submitted by Blackfooted Bobcat (March 2, 2022 - 3:05 pm)
Yes, it taught Japanese as a once-a-week elective for a while, and I took it last year (over Zoom, so it didn't work super well) but the teacher left so now it's gone :( I don't have the motivation to learn it on the app, since it's not very fun and it doesn't work as well as learning with an actual teacher. It's cool that you speak a little Spanish too! I love the Spanish language, it's really fun to speak.
I definitely understand not liking the later HP books as much, since the romance bothered me too. Especially in the 6th book, which I think is really well written & interesting but got kind of ruined by the whole Ron/Hermione/Lavender drama. I read a lot of YA sci-fi for a while because my friends were really into it, but I eventually got fed up with the subplot of every single one being romance, so now I also just read middle grade. Middle grade books are awesome! They're very underappreciated in my opinion. They're kind of dismissed as "for younger kids", but they can have really important and relevant topics, and are usually really well written and creative. Anyway I'll stop now cause I could rant about that for ages.
Hawaii or Japan is a really tough choice! I LOVE Hawaii, and we're going there for spring break actually so I'm excited for that! One of my best friends moved there around six years ago, so we get to stay with her family. But Japan would be amazing (mostly because of the food) and because I've only travelled within the U.S. and Canada so going to a different continent would be really exciting. I also just love traditional Japanese stuff.
This is off-topic, but (and feel free to disagree with me) white & non-Japanese people who are obsessed with anime, manga, and other Japanese stuff annoy me. I personally dislike anime & manga because I think they're sometimes racist (even the ones made IN JAPAN often have blonde haired blue-eyed protagonists), body-shaming (everyone's skinny), and sexist. I love Japanese culture, but I love stuff like the food, the holidays, and the language. So anime-obsessed white people are kind of saying, to me, that they're more Japanese than me because they're into Japanese pop culture? Anyway I just wanted to rant because I don't really have many Japanese friends xD If you're into anime or manga I totally respect that, feel free to disagree.
This got incredibly long, so sorry to the admins! Posting now :)
(January 25, 2022 - 2:47 pm)
Hi! Sorry it's been a while. My school started after break, and then just closed temporarily because of COVID, so I'm feeling kind of down.
@Peregrine, I've never knitted mittens! It sounds hard. Right now I'm trying to get into embroidery; someone gave us some sashiko kits that are pretty easy, so I've been working on one of those.
@Bobcat, I have noticed that a lot of banned books are banned because of LGBTQIA+ content, which is really sad. But I also have a list of good middle grade books with LGBTQIA+ protagonists if you want recommendations! Also, it would be really cool if you got your book published. When I was nine I wanted to win the Newbery medal before I turned 15...................yeah that's not going to happen.
I've never had an azuki bean cake, but I looked it up and it looks delicious! Yesterday was my half birthday so my mom made a rolled carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was really good.
That's all I have for now. I can't wait for spring to come. It hasn't been snowing lately where I live, so I'm kind of sick of the dry, cold weather.
(January 28, 2022 - 12:28 pm)
Hi! Lately I've been working on Telemann's viola concerto in g major. It's actually surprisingly easy, to be honest (although I haven't really looked at the third movement, which might be harder). I feel like allegro is a bit too fast for the Allegro, though. There's this beautiful slightly wistful undertone at times that I want to preserve. The melodies are gorgeous, though, no matter how you play it.
Vibrato is going quite well; I can do it fairly fast and use it in my playing pretty easily.
I actually just made up the whole idea of "azuki bean cake" and didn't think it was actually a thing! The inspiration was that at some shave ice stands in Hawaii you can get things like haupia ice cream and azuki beans at the bottom of your cup, and it's super good.
I'll take your list of books, @Lupine! And I've never had carrot cake. What does it taste like?
I love embroidery! Mostly I do creative embroidery. I haven't done much in a while, but it's fun.
Oh, and my teacher says that after we've gone through all the movements of the Telemann (there are four and we've looked at two) I can do Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor (JS Bach) on violin!!! I'm super excited. I love BWV 1043 so much. I might audition for orchestra on both violin and viola next time, so that will be nice to have.
You've said what types of music you like, but what specific things do you enjoy in music? For instance, I tend to like things that have a thicker texture and lots of counterpoint, which is probably why I like baroque music a lot. Or, if you like high or low pitches better. I like both a lot.
(jokingly) I want to know who decided that on the viola versus the violin, which it's harder to do vibrato on because your hand is stretched more, you have to use more vibrato. And you're like, does that make intonation easier/do you get less of a pitch variation? And that's a no. A full-on no. On a viola you just have more spots to put the wrong note. I know this is just how physics works, I'm joking XD Seriously, I love the viola. It's a wonderful instrument. But it's a bit harder.
@Lupine, I too would love to win the Newberry medal before I turn fifteen, but I sincerely doubt that's going to happen as well XD
And @Peregrine, *oof* about the yarn running out. It sounds like really nice yarn, too. I've been knitting and crocheting hats and scarfs to donate. One of them is... perhaps too big for pretty much anyone, but I'm decreasing furiously and trying to make it look like a fashion statement XD I just hope people get to choose their hats and whoever gets it isn't severely humiliated... It's a warm hat that covers the neck and ears, though, so I'm going to donate it for utilitarian purposes. And I haven't mentioned that it's bright red.
Bye for now!
(January 29, 2022 - 9:44 pm)
I think I looked up azuki bean cakes and it gave me something called adzuki bean cakes which seems like it's just a red bean cake? So I'm not sure if it's the same thing xD
The Bach double is so fun! It's also really hard. I haven't played it as a duet successfully.
In classical music, at least if I'm playing the music, I like both fast and slow pieces. It kind of depends on my mood. Fast pieces are harder but more fun, and slow pieces sound more melodic and you can add a lot of vibrato. I think that on a violin low pitches sound better--in my orchestra music I keep having to shift into like 100th position and it's terrifying. Also I really like how cellos sound: they're so deep and dramatic. I wish I could play the cello.
I think I've tried playing a viola only once...my friend had a random viola sitting around and she figured that since I could play violin I could attempt to play the viola. For one thing it hadn't been played in years and was REALLY out of tune, and also seemed gigantic to me. (It was a full size viola and I was used to playing on a 1/2 size violin xD). But I definitely believe it's harder, especially since you have to stretch a lot more.
My favorite LGBTQ+ books are Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World and George by Alex Gino.
(February 4, 2022 - 12:59 pm)
As I have mentioned elsewhere, we're leaving to go visit family in Hawaii. I won't be able to post for a few days. So I'm topping this so it doesn't get lost!
(February 5, 2022 - 10:32 am)
Ooh, have fun! Which island are you going to?
(February 5, 2022 - 1:37 pm)
Have you guys made 81 posts just talking among yourselves?
(February 8, 2022 - 8:59 pm)
Apparently so xD
(February 8, 2022 - 11:12 pm)
This girl in my class is really sad because she feels like her friends weren't including her, and they were just ignoring her. Some people think she's just being dramatic. I've heard from all her friends that she was not including another one of their friends. They are SO right, but a lot of people are on the girl's side. I don't think the girl was being dramtic though, and whenever I tell my friends they think I'm on her side. It's been a ruff week. First sixteen students were sent to the Head of Middle School's office (Our Princeable just sighns papers and stuff, The head of Middle School and the Head Of Lower School do the talking) on Monday. Then some kid went missing during a game of hide and seek. Luckily we found him before the end of the day. that was on Wensday. Then on Thursday people were yelling at me because I gave an honest review on there science projects, and they said I was being mean. Now today. Honestly, our class is a wreak
(February 11, 2022 - 3:46 pm)
(February 22, 2022 - 11:51 am)
(February 22, 2022 - 6:41 pm)
@Lupine, I was on Maui most of the time, except for a brief stay on Oahu. I agree that cellos are beautiful instruments, but they're also significantly more expensive, so that's a no XD I tend to prefer fast movements because they are harder and I like to push myself, but you can get very different feelings from slow music as well.
While we were in Hawaii, we went to a friends of the library bookstore and the Japanese section was huge. Unfortunately it was either really-easy books or full-on adult books with tons of kanji, but I did choose a few of the picture books. I also recently found out that there are Japanese translations of the Magic Tree House series, and when I was little I loved those, so I ordered the first two. (And it was like 18 dollars, so I better get use out of them -) Unfortunately there are almost no Japanese people where I live, so finding any resources is hard.
@Lupine, didn't you say you were learning Japanese? How long have you been studying? @Peregrine, I think you said you were learning Mandarin; how is that going? (If I'm remembering wrong just ignore this.)
And the azuki bean cake was just a cake with azuki beans in it. And lots of modifications to make it lighter, of course : )
Uuum that's all I can think of. Bye for now!
(February 23, 2022 - 4:08 pm)
That sounds really fun! I haven't been to either of those islands. That library sounds really cool. I'm impressed that you can read books in Japanese! I'm...sort of learning Japanese, just on an app cause they stopped teaching it at my school, and so far I can mostly just say greetings and variations on "that is a *insert noun*." Mostly I'm learning Spanish, I'm in the third year of it at my school. I got the first Harry Potter book in Spanish and am attempting to read it.
(February 27, 2022 - 9:51 pm)
First off: YOUR SCHOOL USED TO TEACH JAPANESE??? What is this wonderfulness? And second, I know (some) Spanish too! Actually, I can understand a lot more than I can speak. I used to be studying it, but then I stopped for some reason and I'm not very good anymore. My mom was actually a bilingual education teacher in Spanish, so I had someone to talk to more than I do now. (My dad can speak a little Japanese, but not much. And my grandma lives in Hawaii, while I live in the Midwest. My grandma is really good though. She only spoke Japanese until she was three, but says she has forgotten a lot because she doesn't use it as much as English. She's really good though.)
I don't think I could read Harry Potter in Japanese XD Or Spanish. But that's really cool! I wish we could talk in different languages on the CB, it would be really cool to pracitce with you. (Admins, I'm not complaining! I'm still so greatful for the CB, and I don't want to give you too much more work :D)
Reading books in a different language is a really good way to learn more, both because you learn a lot more vocabulary and you get the grammar more ingrained in you. The only problem is that getting all those books is really expensive.
And yes, you're a Harry Potter fan! I knew this about you, I could have brought it up XD I honestly haven't reread the books in a while, but my favorites are the first three. I think Prisoner of Azkaban is the best written, and I think the seventh had a lot of issues with plot and character agency. But as I said, it's been a while. I honestly didn't like the fifth through seventh as much because they got much more edgy and romancey, which is a tendency in more YA books and why I don't tend to like them. There are a lot of good YA books, but I just don't like the conventions for the assumed audience, so I usually read (and write) middle grade.
Here's a question, Lupine: Would you rather go to Hawaii or Japan? I went to Japan once and it was amazing. I probably knew as much Japanese as you knew now, but luckily my grandma was there. That was a long time ago, though. But oh my gosh the food. Even the McDonalds were better! There was a lot of walking, though.
I think this has gotten long enough XD I wish you luck on your language learning journey!
(March 2, 2022 - 3:05 pm)
Yes, it taught Japanese as a once-a-week elective for a while, and I took it last year (over Zoom, so it didn't work super well) but the teacher left so now it's gone :( I don't have the motivation to learn it on the app, since it's not very fun and it doesn't work as well as learning with an actual teacher. It's cool that you speak a little Spanish too! I love the Spanish language, it's really fun to speak.
I definitely understand not liking the later HP books as much, since the romance bothered me too. Especially in the 6th book, which I think is really well written & interesting but got kind of ruined by the whole Ron/Hermione/Lavender drama. I read a lot of YA sci-fi for a while because my friends were really into it, but I eventually got fed up with the subplot of every single one being romance, so now I also just read middle grade. Middle grade books are awesome! They're very underappreciated in my opinion. They're kind of dismissed as "for younger kids", but they can have really important and relevant topics, and are usually really well written and creative. Anyway I'll stop now cause I could rant about that for ages.
Hawaii or Japan is a really tough choice! I LOVE Hawaii, and we're going there for spring break actually so I'm excited for that! One of my best friends moved there around six years ago, so we get to stay with her family. But Japan would be amazing (mostly because of the food) and because I've only travelled within the U.S. and Canada so going to a different continent would be really exciting. I also just love traditional Japanese stuff.
This is off-topic, but (and feel free to disagree with me) white & non-Japanese people who are obsessed with anime, manga, and other Japanese stuff annoy me. I personally dislike anime & manga because I think they're sometimes racist (even the ones made IN JAPAN often have blonde haired blue-eyed protagonists), body-shaming (everyone's skinny), and sexist. I love Japanese culture, but I love stuff like the food, the holidays, and the language. So anime-obsessed white people are kind of saying, to me, that they're more Japanese than me because they're into Japanese pop culture? Anyway I just wanted to rant because I don't really have many Japanese friends xD If you're into anime or manga I totally respect that, feel free to disagree.
This got incredibly long, so sorry to the admins! Posting now :)
(March 2, 2022 - 11:27 pm)