Chat thread! :D

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Chat thread! :D

Chat thread! :D

submitted by Lupine@BB&Peregrine, age 14,she/her, Platform 9 and 3/4
(October 13, 2021 - 7:40 pm)
submitted by toooooooooooooooop
(May 10, 2022 - 8:19 am)
submitted by toooop
(May 11, 2022 - 7:38 pm)
submitted by toppppppppppp
(May 14, 2022 - 7:54 pm)

I'm going to try to post soon! On my phone right now and I cannot type very well lol

submitted by Lupine
(May 16, 2022 - 8:24 pm)

I will try to post soon too!

submitted by Peregrine
(May 17, 2022 - 11:11 am)

I read our comments that were in the April issue of Cricket.  That's so funny they were all from our chat thread.  Thank you to whoever gathers and edits the Letterbox posts for coming up with the word I was looking for: hemiolas.

Lupine, that is so wonderful you get to travel to and play in Washington D.C.!  I've heard about the Kennedy Center, but don't know much else about it.  My dad says it is a performing arts center and that holds programs for different orchestras to come and play at it.  I looked up photos, and it looks fancy.  I'm excited for you!

I really liked your idea of getting words from a word generator and writing a story for each of them.  I might try that sometime when I am in the mood for writing stories and don't know what to write.  Some of the words you mentioned sounded pretty and as if they would make interesting stories.  i would love to hear what you came up with for the words, if you are comfortable with sharing.

Reading The Hobbit in Chinese was definitely lofty.  So lofty I only
made it to the little one sentence blurb that's on the cover to peak
your interest.  I might try to push farther, but the Chinese dictionary
had to go back to the library so it may be a while.  So for now I am
reading A Midsummer Night's Dream.  I've been studying Chinese for a long time, but not regularly so I am not very advanced.

I wish you all the best on your story and fitting it in to the word limit, Bobcat.  I love the idea of moss being the magic source of the world.  Your story sounds like quite an epic, and fitting it into 5,500 words sounds really hard.  There is so much to explain and describe in a story, especially in one set in a world of your own making.  Word limits are usually a challenge for me.  I constantly blow right past and way beyond them.  I've only submitted a story to the Cricket League contest once because I have a hard time writing my story ideas in 350 words.

I cut myself pretty well on my left hand, so I may not be able to play violin for a couple days.  Definitely not today, though I might try anyways because I really want to be able to play.  I will still practice, I just may not be able to actually play.

Thank you for the natto suggestion.  I think we may have eaten all the natto, so it may be a while before we can get more.

Say hello to Dulce and her kittens for me!  I love her name.  Did you name the kittens?   

Also, one last thing, good luck on BWV 1041!  I'm working on the Allemande of Bach's Partita II in D Minor.  It isn't too hard note wise, but getting the feeling and musicality I want is what I am working on.

submitted by Peregrine, Helm's Deep
(May 20, 2022 - 11:25 am)

BWV 1041 is going pretty well, way better than I would have expected, and my teacher wasn't like "that's way too hard" or anything as I had expected she would, so that's nice. I hope it's ready in time for auditions. In any case, it's so fun to play and I love it. Next week I'm bringing my violin to lessons because of a summer camp I'm doing so if we have time I might be able to work on that a bit, which would be fun. 

Anyway, I'm actually going to two music summer camps this summer! It would have been three if it wasn't for the other one being expensive and the fact that I would have to sleep over for a week, but it looked really good :( I'm excited, except for on one I'm doing violin (for the other one I'm doing viola because my teacher said the viola person was really great) and I put that I had been playing for almost a year, which is true. But even though I said I had been playing viola for longer and the orchestra I was in and such, they gave me ridiculously easy music. We're sorting it out at the moment. And then I got something that has a lot of shifting (finally, something in fifth position!), so I'm confused.

I hope your cut is healing, @Peregrine! That must be awful. I must ask, though, how do you practice without playing?

Oh, about natto, the last time my dad was at the Asian store there wasn't any O_o We're probably the only people who ever eat it here, so I'm scared they got rid of it completely. I really hope not. It makes such a good breakfast (if you like it of course XD).

And I changed the story. It's not in the moss world anymore - that was too complex. I also changed the plot to focus on the ice sprites because that's what I'm most interested in. I also got clearance from the library to do 800-900 words, which still isn't great but is much better. Anyway, it's about a curse on the main characters' home that is threatening their parents' graves. (Well that got dark.) But anyway, I'm definitely too attatched to the characters. Especially Bracken. I spent way too long on character design for fir appearance, and it's not even super cool or complex XD Aaaah though, fe's great. Once it's finished, would you be willing to read the story and give feedback? I want to make it extra good because it's going to get published (!!!!)

And yes, the kittens are Vivace (the rascal, who is black-and-white); Presto (who is big (for a kitten) and squishy and cuddly and not into trying new things); Adagio (who is well-rounded and kind of everything); and Andante (who is the smallest and very smart). Adagio, Presto, and Andante are all or mostly black. 

I only have four keys left in my fifth position book, so I'm going to try to get them done in four weeks. It will probably be more like five or six, but I'm going to do my best. The current etude is pretty easy, luckily. The last one was surprisingly hard and took two weeks. Although I've been working on the same Wohlfahrt etude for longer than a month XD 

Also, Bach's second partita??? That's awesome! I wish you luck.

Alright, this is really long (sorry Admins) so I'll stop here. I'm glad this thread is still going!

submitted by Blackfooted Bobcat
(May 27, 2022 - 1:26 pm)
submitted by Top please!
(May 31, 2022 - 9:28 pm)

Hello! I am out of town right now (my summer break started a few weeks ago) so I haven't been able to post! Are either of you on summer break yet?

Peregrine, I'm sorry you cut your hand! I hope that it's healed by now. Hand injuries are the worst because you kind of need your hands for everything :P

Blackfooted Bobcat, your story sounds so cool!! I would love to read it when you're ready! (If it isn't too late.) When is it going to be published? 

I am actually in Ireland right now (!!), which is really cool because I've never been on an international flight before and I've always wanted to come here. So far I have been to 6 bookstores and seen 12 cats ^_^ which means that it is a successful trip. The bookstores are cool because they have all kinds of British/Irish middle grade books that you don't really see in the US. We got to hear a lot of live Celtic fiddling music, which had been fun. I might want to write a story about a selkie when we get back, because they're one of my favorite mythical creatures & they're from Ireland. 

That's all for now. I'll try to post again soon!

(also I've been meaning to ask this: what are your pronouns, if you want to share? I feel like I knew at some point but then forgot because I don't have to use them very often. Mine are she/her.)

submitted by Lupine , Ireland
(June 4, 2022 - 4:41 pm)
submitted by Top!
(June 12, 2022 - 3:42 pm)
submitted by top
(June 17, 2022 - 2:54 pm)
submitted by Top
(June 23, 2022 - 3:49 pm)
submitted by top
(June 27, 2022 - 6:56 pm)
submitted by top!
(July 7, 2022 - 12:32 pm)

Sorry I haven't posted in so long! I was busy with the first summer camp and then I just forgot to post. 

The summer camp went well enough. In the chamber group, though, I read "newcomer's lunch" as "necromancer's lunch" and then the second violin (I was the first violin) started making jokes about wanting to see Beethoven's skeleton playing the piano, with a bad wig and finger bones flying around. It's not as funny when I'm writing it out but... that gives you a good idea of the kind of group we were.

And Ireland?? That's so cool! Your trip sounds like a good one - bookstores and cats? 

As for pronouns, you probably saw that on random thoughts/things?

I have more or less abandoned the story to be honest... but I'm working on a few others. If I get them written I'll talk about them XD

Also we adopted Vivace!!!!!!!!!! He's so sweet :D

And we also found a Japanese school a bit less than an hour from here! I think I might go to it (it meets every Sunday). It's probably every Japanese person in a three-hour radius XD But anyway, I am also a little worried because I'm probably going to be the only multiracial person there. I still don't know how there's a big enough Japanese population here to have a Japanese school, though. I've never actually been around Japanese people outside of Hawaii, actually...  

Also I also saw a book recommended on here that turns out it's super racist, and luckily I only read reviews of it, but nonetheless one part got to me. So it was about a Korean/white person, and the white-passing brother was described as having brown hair that wasn't quite black and not having eyes that were *slur here* and even though I know if it's including a literal slur it's not something I should be thinking about, I'm still having a minor identity crisis. Because I have had my eyes described as that slur but they're not technically that, and my hair is brown-black, so now I'm even less sure what people see me as??? And apparently the main character was Asian passing but had green eyes and I've always wanted green eyes so now I'm wanting green eyes and hating my almost-black eyes and ahhhh (sorry if I'm being too ranty but any advice would be appreciated) 

I'm in a very weird place between not wanting to be Japanese at all because it makes people be jerks sometimes and wishing I was fully Japanese because it's a big part of me but this "in between" thing is kind of awful.

And I think I'll stop here! Sorry for the rants you're just the only person I know who might understand.

submitted by Blackfooted Bobcat, age Violincats, Violist and Books
(July 7, 2022 - 12:55 pm)