Sorry this took so long *facepalm* I've been really busy, with one music camp, the 4H fair, and auditions coming up. I did well at the fair, though. I'll probably post the drawing I did for the art category on the art thread.

I’d say my hair looks awesome, but I kind of need a haircut XD I like having it longer (it’s roughly chin-length) but it needs more layering at this length, since what was done was done for shorter hair. But your hair sounds like it’s in a hairstyle that I absolutely adore. Unfortunately I don’t think my face is long enough for it the way I'd want it to be, but I can always make characters with it instead >:D 

Gnome romp :D That’s fun. When I hadn’t written much music, I had a lot of trouble getting things to actually sound moody or sad. I like to think I’ve accomplished that now. (Granted, I still haven’t actually written down much music that isn't lost. I got a free computer program, though, and it's SO MUCH EASIER. And I love being able to listen back to it.) I usually don’t have a genre in mind, but I have one that is very much baroque period-esque and another that’s very much in the late romantic period style (that one's pretty moody XD) That’s about as specific as I get. Nothing wrong with genres though :D

I actually don’t like the picturing that I did ToT I’m working on another one, which will hopefully be better. I might still post the old one but it’s BAD. I should have it done eventually, hopefully. I have a lot of stuff to get ready for auditions. 

The poem I wrote most recently was a joke. So I saw a game show where a contestant didn’t know the answer to a question, so they wrote “farewell cruel world”. I improved upon it: 

"Farewell cruel world, for I have not

The answers for which you have sought -

My brain's spurned garden, drowned in rot."

It's not supposed to be good, just funny :D 

I actually think Lupine’s description of rpgs is pretty good. Just know: EVERYTHING’S A MIMIC! Also, don’t do what one of the people in a campaign I’m in did. So a npc was killed by a monster of some sort at the beginning of the game and locked in a room. When we found the key, this person went to the chair the dead person was, pulled him off, and sat on the chair. Guess what? Mimic :D At the same time, someone else several damage from punching a painting on the wall as hard as possible to see if it was a portal. It was not XD

What are your favorite book covers? You don't have to like the book, just the cover.

I'll stop here :D 

Lupine: I'm going to try to post your picturing soon but the photo won't upload right now >:(((

I finally posted the picture, should you care. Assuming it actually shows up.

Another music camp begins today. I'll tell you how it goes. Also I should be getting a specific stuffed animal while we're in the area!!! probably write more later whether you want it or not XD 

GAH I'm sorry it took me so long to post T_T school started a couple weeks ago so I have been very busy, but the first few weeks are always a whirlwild so I should be able to remember to post more often in the future! Since I've missed a lot of time and I like making lists, I'm going to structure this post in a list format. ^_^

1. Thank you so much for the picturing!!! I responded in the picturings thread but it was *also* a bit late so I'm not sure you saw it. Honestly I love the picturings that my CB name inspires--they're always dreamy and full of lavender colors. I love the dress and the bag and the little lupine belt...Thank you! I need to do one of you sometime (I think I did a little doodle of you and Peregrine once but I'm not sure where it is). 

2.  How was music camp? I think I was at a music camp at about the same time as you, actually. My mom and I went to a fiddle/traditional music camp in northern California. It had classes on Scandinavian fiddling, songwriting, Middle Eastern violin (which is SO different from western violin--it's really cool but I only took an hour-long class so I understood none of it), jazz improv...the people were mostly 50-60 but everyone was super nice. I'll probably go back next year. (also: stuffed animal? what is it?? as someone whose brother has approximately 100,000,000 stuffed animals I am intrigued.)

3. Have you started school, and if so (almost definitely so since it's the middle of September but who knows) how is it going? 

4. I decided not to do youth orchestra this year, just because I wanted a break, and I've been sort of sporadically going to taiko drum sessions in my town instead. It's almost all adults except for me, which feels a bit weird, but the drumming is really interesting.

5. I started taking Japanese this year! For the second time technically, but I've forgotten everything so I'm starting over in the beginner class. Do you know any Japanese?

Alright, that's all for now! I promise that my next response will be more timely. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Glad you posted! I'd reply in Japanese but CB rules :P also i don’t know all the specialized vocabulary I’ll be using so I guess that’s for the better XD I’m learning too. I actually knew more Hawaiian and such (like, Hawai’i-specific phrases and stuff) before I started studying. My dad barely knows any Japanese so I’m actually way better than him XD Where are you learning Japanese? It sounds like you might have more Japanese stuff in your area than me. We actually found a small Japanese school, which is shocking itself, but it’s at least an hour away.

Orchestra (the easier one) is tonight. Apparently I'm concertmaster :DDDD It's superb. I get to choose all the bowings. I have POWER MWA HA HA! (although I have to use the bowings too so I won’t be choosing horrible ones XD I guess that would also make me less of a good candidate for good seats in the future too) And I'm actually principal viola in the other orchestra - the harder one! I was not expecting that at all.  Granted, there's only one other viola, but he was the principal last year, so. (Also that orchestra is so small this year. The only brass we have is one trumpet. I can see the horror on your face. I can’t actually, and even if I could I probably wouldn’t know what the expression meant, but *shrugs* ) I don’t know which one I’m more excited about. I was so scared to go into the orchestra place, especially for the easier one because I had no idea where I would be and there was some chance of me being concertmaster but I was also sure I wouldn’t be and it’s the easier orchestra anyway. And then the director was at the table and she was like “you’re concertmaster” and it was awesome. And then it happened again (but for principal viola)! I hope this isn’t, like, bragging, but it’s great.

Also are you going to keep playing even though you took a break from orchestra? It’s fine if you aren’t, I’m just curious. Also it’s soooo cool that you do taiko. 

I’m typing this on Google Docs (actually on computer keyboard, which maybe is a bad idea since I still have stuff tonight but eh it’s working) and it keeps turning my emoticons into emojis >:((( Emojis are bad and I will fight you on this. Alright, roll for initiative >:D (not really I’m just joking. I will have to tell you about my DnD character, though. I adore him/whatever pronouns I choose (although he probably will use he/him because I’m using him during DnD and I’m not out there and I have no idea how queer-friendly this place is. That being said one of the players sometimes wears an aro ring, but I’ve yet to ask him about this. I must do that someday.))

Also maybe you have thoughts on this or can just relate or something but I legitimately have no idea if people see me as white or Japanese and I cannot stand it. Especially because if they think of me as one or the other it kind of makes things different in a way? I'm not sure how to explain it and I'm bad at social stuff but. In the past I think they tended to see me as Japanese, but I think I might look more white now and it’s honestly… like, somebody made a racist joke at the other Asian person in the group and I just… I don’t know how to deal with this helppp. it’s honestly been far worse than if it had just been at me. Especially because I’ve always been an easy target so i’m kind of used to it. although it could just be that I’m both more queer and more disabled now, so people see those more? I mean I’m usually pretty visibly autistic (that or very obviously ADHD, if I can talk well). Idk. It’s like I’m in a grey space between Asian passing and white passing and I cannot stand it. I’m also kind of having an identity crisis because I don’t know how to describe myself because of that and the fact that my family’s been in Hawai’i for generations so that culture is just as prevalent as Japanese so that’s also (not) fun.

And yes the stuffie! I haven’t decided on a name or pronouns yet, but maybe Calendula Jasper or Jasper Chrysanthemum? (Jasper because of tiger iron. I might find a better-fitting stone later, since that’s a bit of a stretch, but I think jasper sounds nice.) They’re a Jellycat Bashful Tiger. The Bashfuls are a line of Jellycats. There are a lot of colors of bunnies, but there are also other ones, like a Bashful Dragon and a Bashful Zebra and a Bashful Mouse (retired) and a Bashful Raccoon (possibly retired?). That’s one of their most important lines, I’d say. That and the Fuddlewuddles, like the Fuddlewuddle Lion (King of the Cuddles) or Donkey or Dragon (a fluffy fire breather). and maybe the Little Legs, like the Little Snake (hissing everyone good morning!) or the Little Tiger (one day I’ll be THIS big!) or the Little Pig (Snuffles and truffles for all!), but I don’t think they’ve been around as long. I haven’t fact checked any of this btw. (also yes I can memorize this but I can’t memorize skip counting or history or anything deal with it) 

I love Jellycats so much but they’re so expensive ToT The tiger was a pretty normal size (I don’t remember the numbers, but it’s the Medium size) and it’s 25 dollars. A bit more on the official website because Jellycat is a British company. I’ve been taking the tiger everywhere though. sorry to my old shark stuffie i used to take everywhere :(

This is long, sorry. hopefully I’ll be posting again soon since I didn’t answer all of your questions. Sorry about how long this is, Admins!  

Hi!

I'm learning Japanese at my town's university, because my high school has a dual enrollment program where you can take university classes. So I get to speak in extremely basic Japanese to 20-something-year-olds with bad accents for an hour every day. It's pretty fun though. I don't know a whole lot yet, just how to introduce myself and tell time and write in hiragana. 

When you said you know a lot of Hawaiian, did you mean Hawaiian like the language or Hawaiian-specific phrases in Japanese? I really want to learn Hawaiian, but a) I'm not Hawaiian so it feels kind of appropriative since it's an indigenous language? and b) I would have nowhere to use it :| Also I don't have anywhere to learn it xD but it's so pretty!

Ahh, congrats on getting concertmaster and principal viola!! That's so exciting. Being concertmaster is an equal mix of being terrified and also feeling very fancy. I bet you'll do great!

I'm still playing violin, and it's fun to be able to focus on other stuff besides orchestra music. I'm learning Corelli's La Folia, and one of my friends found some Lord of the Rings duets for us to learn so I've been doing that too. I'm going to do orchestra next year though.

On the topic of being read as white or Japanese...I often have that insecurity too. This is probably going to turn into an unecessarily long-winded story, but the other day at school someone was saying that my voice sounds a lot like one of my friend's voices, and someone else--another half-Asian kid, I might add--said, "their voices don't sound similar because *friend's name* is Asian and *my name* is white." And I was like...hEh??? First, not all Asians have the same voice (though there is sometimes a certain tone I notice in Asian Americans--maybe it's from learning an Asian language at home?). Also...did he actually think I was white? Maybe he just meant that my friend is full Asian and I'm half white? I don't think I look white, and when I told my friend about it later they said "how could anyone look at you and think you're white?" 

I definitely have moments where I make a joke about being Asian and then think "wait, do the other people even realize I'm Asian? Or did that joke sound super weird coming from a white person?" And my family's been in the U.S. for like a century, so nobody speaks Japanese or anything. All of my friends who are Asian celebrate Asian holidays and speak their heritage language with their parents and sometimes visit their family in Asia...it feels weird not to have any of that. I often wonder how full Asians feel about mixed Asians. Do they see us as Asian, or are we like a separate thing to them?  The mixed experience is such a fun time, and I could go on, but I'll stop here. I totally get what you mean though. 

Ahh Jellycats! (switches topic completely) I have a really old Jellycat cat who's probably discontinued since I've had him since I was a baby. He is very floppy and has a long tail. If you look up "bunglie jellycat cat" you can see what he looks like. 

To close, I noticed that in a previous post you asked about my favorite book covers and somehow I didn't answer that question even though it's like my favorite question! Some of my favorites are Lalani of the Distant Sea, Prairie Lotus, and Where the Lost Ones Go (the last two of which are about half-Asians, I swear I didn't do that on purpose). Because I am That Person, I also have favorite cover illustrators: Matt Rockefeller, Yuta Onoda, and Celia Krampen. What are your favorites? 

Have a post almost ready :D

Glad you answered quick! Sorry i didn’t return the favor. also I loved the drawings you just posted on the art thread :) You're such a good artist :D

There's a few things I want to clarify. i don't know that much Hawaiian, though i did used to know more actual hawaiian words. the things i know are more like things that people use in hawai'i that are like a mix of different languages or english but specific to  Hawai'i. it's mostly not actual hawaiian so much as stuff that people use in Hawai'i. Also I probably still appear autistic most of the time when I can talk and am just blurting out random things now that I think about it and I think my voice is weird and such, but ah well. 

Also can I say thank you for being so respectful of Hawaii? A lot of people see it as like… tourist destination nothing else, and only know about the very stereotypical touristy image. And even though I technically live in the Midwest now, Hawai’i is very much my home. (Also incidentally I think my literal 80-something-year-old grandma (who lives there) is more supportive of queer people than my parents so that’s… interesting. At the very least, it’s mostly just that she doesn’t really get it, but I think she’d be willing to learn and that’s really the thing.)

Also La Folia is so fun! I haven’t played it but my teacher had me consider it. I like Corelli. I wouldn’t say that he’s a favorite in general, but you know, he was only one of the most important figures in violin history, so *shrugs* I also haven’t listened to the best recordings of his music, sometimes even technically. And I have an annoyingly good ear for intonation - if something’s like half a tick off on a detailed tuner it registers as bad - so that complicates it. (Annoyingly that doesn’t always translate to getting my intonation right in playing >:((( and it makes listening to live music and such really annoying.)

Anyway I think that once I finish up Winter, which shouldn’t take too long (though I think I’ll be doing the second and third movements too), I’m going to be doing something more Romantic to prepare for harder stuff. Baroque music is so fun though, and you basically get a free liscence for doing fun embellishments and stuff that you just don’t get in romantic music.

I don’t actually know if I really look Japanese or white. Honestly, I don’t know what I look like. I think it also depends on the lighting, because sometimes my skin looks darker than other times. I don’t think that anyone would be surprised about people thinking I’m white, but people always seem to be able to tell. I don’t think I look fully Asian, but at the same time, i don’t look white. So even the few things I can find about being white passing aren’t true. Like, I’m not scared of wearing Japanese stuff because people would be like “cultural appropriation”, I’m afraid of anime fans and worse. But at the same time, I think some people have been surprised. And as I said, people probably think of me more for being queer and disabled now, and both of those things are so stereotypically white as well. It’s also hard to tell because I’m always with my (white) mom so they might be like “well I guess they must be white then??”.

I also get what you mean about feeling disconnected from Japan. I’m not certain on exact times but my family has probably been in Hawai’i more than a century (at the very least three generations on my grandma’s side, but I think more than that). So it’s definitely not like if you went to Japan and talked to the people there. Even for my dad. For instance, I think in Hawai’i manju is usually baked and really flaky, and in Japan it’s usually steamed, and my dad didn’t know it was usually steamed. And I don’t even think we know where we’re from in Japan, honestly. I’m glad I still have a lot of the culture things, though. 

Also being concertmaster is awesome so far. Alas, none of the music we’re playing has a solo…

but there’s this chamber music program not too far from us (our area is kind of nowhere but has really good music stuff) that I did a music camp for. The music is pretty easy so I wasn’t going to do it, but then they were like “hey we need violas” and I was like okay. There’s actually another reason but I’ll get to that later. Anyway, apparently they actually changed the music we were going to play so that I’d get (coincidentally) Vivaldi Winter 2nd movement as a solo. Only transposed up to one sharp XD (I’m bad at actual key names) I’m probably having way too much fun with embellishments and stuff and I added a repeat; hopefully I don’t get shut down XD also it was funny because at the end everyone played something together and the conductor was like “try to match the violas’ energy!” But I watched the other person and I don’t think they were doing too much. It was mostly me just, like, sfvortzando-ing the loud notes and just almost not playing the quiet ones and all that. I’ve gotten far too good at being in orchestra sections that have to be pushed hard to do any dynamics at all :’P Anyway, the other reason is that one of the people running the chamber music is Japanese and she actually came and sat with me and we ended up having a conversation in Japanese and it was awesome. 

Had trouble finding bunglie jellycat in the Jellycat “retired” section. Is it jellycat bunglie striped cat or the bunglie kitty? also do you know what year it was retired?

This is probably good place stop. I wanted to write about one of the books I’m writing but it would get too long. Next time :D