@Lupine, I would love to read said story that you talked about if you ever write it! And I will always be happy to let you talk a lot about your characters, because I certainly have XD I hope that I haven't talked too much about Kalili Pumaqhawa.

Thinking of which, I'm finally getting my internal and external conflicts to work together a bit better, and am starting further outlining. Next time I'm totally not going to write 13,000 words and then realize that there are a ton of issues and rewrite it. You know. Totally. *is lying*

Also, the Meditation from Thais is so beautiful, I wish I could hear you play it! 

And HILO WHAT THE -!!!!! My dad is from Hilo! I have family there! What are the chances???? That's so cool. *tail flicks excitedly* 

I think I'll stop here. I might post again later. 

Three comments from this thread got into the April Cricket, one from each of us! I looked for them and they're all on the first page of the thread. :D

@Blackfooted Bobcat, that's funny that your dad is from Hilo! Maybe I saw one of your family members without realizing it...it's not that large of a town. That would be weird. 

Right now I'm working on some short stories, just for practice. I went to a random word generator and clicked until I found ten words that I liked, and I'm going to try to do ten stories, each based off one word. I've done about one and a half, for "reflect" and "house;" they're only a couple pages long. My other words are silk, spine, threshold, outfit, protest, story, moon, tune, and eagle. It's pretty fun!

My orchestra concert is coming up in May, and the conductor told us that next year we're going to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.! I've never even heard of it but I assume it's fancy. That means I definitely have to practice my music a LOT next year. During our last concert I had a coughing fit in the middle of a piece (I inhaled too hard and then choked), so hopefully that won't happen again...

Yes, finding a plot that sustains you through the whole story, especially long ones, is hard.  That is why I have never finished any long stories.  I usually can think of an ending and a beginning, but finding a middle that doesn't sag is a challenge for me.

I enjoy hearing you talk about Kalili Pumaqhawa.  I haven't been bored by reading about your stories.  So, talk away when you feel like it!

I found an easy to use Chinese dictionary, and a copy of The Hobbit in Chinese!  My library has the rest of the Lord of the Rings series too!  I am very excited.  They are way above my Chinese reading level, but I have good sources of help.  So I am going to dive in and see what happens.  

I ate natto for the first time a couple weeks ago.  The gluey texture threw me off at first, but I gave it a try and actually didin't mind it.  I was eating it in a wrap, and when I put it in with all the other toppings I couldn't really taste it.  I heard it has really good probiotics.  It was fun to try it!

The mittens were a dark mulberry purple.  I found the pattern for free on a website.  Free patterns are great.

I am now knitting a cranberry red poncho.  It consists of two big rectangles which I will sew together.  It could get boring because it is row after row of stockenette stitch, but I listen to music while I am knitting.  I call this type of knitting "social knitting" because I can talk and listen to music and audiobooks while I knit the project and I don't loose track of rows or knit wrong stitches.

I hope you had a a great trip to Hawaii, Lupine!  I really like purple sweet potatos, I might have to try the pie you and your friend made.  I hope you have recovered from COVID, and that it wasn't severe.

I'm glad you found a piece to play for your recital.  Your are welcome for the suggestions!  Meditation from Thais is really pretty.  I keep meaning to revisit it.

I have to post this quick.  Read you again!

I'll post later, but I just posted a long thing and I can't sit still any longer XD

Ach, it's been a really long time!!! I'm sorry, I've been really busy. 

Did I say we were fostering a mom cat and kittens? They're so sweet. The mom is so sweet and cuddly that we named her Dolce.

@Peregrine, that's a really lofty goal! I hope it goes well. I don't think I could read The Hobbit in Japanese XD

And I totally didn't just start working on BWV 1041 on the side despite it being way above my level. Toooootally. It's less hard than I would have expected, though. I can actually play the first page at a reasonable tempo. We'll see how it goes.

New story time! It's a short story, unfortunately, because I'm probably going to get it published in a kid/teen newspaper my library has. So I'm trying to keep it under 5,500 words. I'm working on finalizing plans at the moment, but am not quite sure how I should break it up (because it will probably take multiple issues). I'm way too attatched to the main character, Bracken, though XD

Um, that's all I have to say. I might post another thing later, but I just really wanted to get this out. 

My CAPTCHA says "pgacw", which is very close to "pgace", which is "Ploys, Guards, and Criminal Escapes"! That's cool!

Hello! Sorry it's been a while.

Your new story sounds cool, Blackfooted Bobcat! Keeping stories inside word limits is really hard...I've submitted stuff to the Cricket League contest a few times and I always have a hard time limiting my ideas to 300 words. 5,500 isn't too bad though.

It's so fun that you're fostering kittens! Are you going to be able to keep them, or are you taking care of them until they can find a real home? Dolce is a great name for a cat. 

@Peregrine, I love hearing about your knitting projects! The way you describe the colors makes me wish I could see them. I like your definition of "social knitting" (I think that's the only kind that I have the capability to do anyway). And I can't believe you can read the Hobbit in Chinese! That's so cool! How long have you been studying the language?

The other day in orchestra, BOTH of the people who sit in the first stand were absent, and because I'm in the stand behind them, I had to act as the concertmaster...it was kind of terrible, especially because I don't know the music that well (in my defense it's hard) and the conductor got kind of annoyed (not at me, but at our section in general) because we can't play very well without the real concertmaster xD But it was okay. 

Um, in other news, I cut my hair. It used to be all the way down to my
waist and I got it cut to a little above shoulder length. It feels
really nice!

That's all for now. See ya!

It's funny that you cut your hair because I'm growing mine out. It's a bit below shoulder length at the moment. I'm going to have it be as long as I can have it be without being unmanageable. So maybe waist-length. I like being able to play around with it and do braids and stuff.

Oh, and I didn't even say that technically, per-issue, it has to be 500 words or less 0_o This is not going to go well, especially because it's fantasy and the premise requires a bit of extra worldbuilding. It's about a quest to bargain with the Queen of the Ice Sprites to stop a cold front from coming in and to stop the ice sprites from destroying the red moss, the moss of heat and health (moss is the magic source in this world). So I might have to figure something else out. The problem is I’m used to novel-sized stories, or at least novellas.

I'm very annoyed at my Telemann viola concerto right now because it's so incredibly easy (you can look up the sheet music if you want) and I want something better to audition with. If I can get the BWV 1041 into shape I might even be able to get into the Youth Symphany, but that's a big if. As I've said, it's a huge jump, and it's probably going to be way harder at tempo. Next year I'm going to audition on violin because the parts are much more interesting. Which is sad because I love viola a lot, but I want to push myself. If I wanted to stay a.) in my current orchestra and b.) on viola I wouldn't have to audition, but I would even if I was not going to because it's another chance to practice performing. I would love to be concertmaster, though :D It would be hard, but more experience is better, right?

And we're only keeping the kittens until they find a new home :( Dolce as well.

In orchestra I’m supposed to think up an interesting fact about myself and I can’t think of anything. But I do remember that one of the people’s interesting fact was that they’ve been to a hotwheels show. Apparently there were cars driving around on a stage, but they didn’t bring in any dirt. Also, one of them crushed a giant anatomically incorrect dinosaur that breathed fire. It’s not as funny when I’m writing it down, but oh my gosh, it was hilarious when the person was telling us about it XD I should probably do something about writing, anyway. I just can’t think of what to say. 

Also, Peregrine, I wouldn’t have thought about putting natto in a wrap. I usually eat it with rice. If you have the courage, I would suggest trying a bit plain with rice. I think it’s really good, but it’s fine if you don’t :D (About something I said earlier, it was only the juxtaposition of the people being so obsessed with anime and stuff and then teasing natto that was annoying.)

This is really long so I’m going to stop here. Thanks for reading thorugh all this, Admins!