The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[StarWarsGirl]

You are very talented, I hope your hand heals quickly. That will be so exciting to teach yourself a new instrument!

I wanted to learn in middle school, but didn't realize that we had one available and didn't want my parents to pay more; they already had bought me a violin and a piano. When my grandmother was alive, my mom wasn't on speaking terms with her mother. Now that my grandmother has been gone for almost five years, my mom asked for the violin and the viola.

You play violin? I have my grandpa's violin, but it's in a sad state. The bow needs to be rehaired, the bridge has fallen out and at least 2 of the strings are broken. If I played, I might be able to justify the excuse to get it fixed up, but I only learned the basics, which I've forgotten now, though I really liked learning it. Sounds horrible when you are first learning, but it's fun.

Used to. Started in 5th grade, gave it up after freshman year of high school. I think that I've had this ligament issue for a while and we just didn't know what it was. When I initially popped it, I felt the pain in my wrist, and even now, that's where the pain was. I think my arm was swollen for years and years because my left arm was larger in diameter than my right. Also, my shoulder didn't move properly. Since the surgery, my arm is no longer swollen (when I got my splint adjusted, they had to trim it down and said the swelling had gone down) and my shoulder is moving properly. The doctor I went to see really didn't look for a problem beyond my wrist. Should've gone to the one who did my surgery, who, according to my primary care doctor, is one of the best in the state. Doctor thinks I can go back to playing violin, and I intend to do so. The tricky thing about viola will be learning to read alto clef. I can do it in a pinch because middle C is, well, in the middle, but I don't read it as fluently as I read treble and bass clef.

Surprisingly, both the violin and viola had no broken strings, though, at least in the case of the violin, I have a set of strings (that E string is really sensitive, as is the A string). There's an extra bridge for the violin. There are also two mutes for them (thankfully I knew what they were; my mom was confused). We only have the viola bow, and it needs to be rehaired, so I grabbed my violin's bow.

I also play piano and sing.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

View attachment 113947

I have a migraine so I think a NAP is in order.

Sympathy like. Hopefully the nap helped. I usually drink a chai tea (no other kind of tea works), take two Excedrin, and lie down when that happens. Sucks, though; migraines can be pretty painful.

 

[Songbird76]

I wanted to learn in middle school, but didn't realize that we had one available and didn't want my parents to pay more; they already had bought me a violin and a piano. When my grandmother was alive, my mom wasn't on speaking terms with her mother. Now that my grandmother has been gone for almost five years, my mom asked for the violin and the viola.

Used to. Started in 5th grade, gave it up after freshman year of high school. I think that I've had this ligament issue for a while and we just didn't know what it was. When I initially popped it, I felt the pain in my wrist, and even now, that's where the pain was. I think my arm was swollen for years and years because my left arm was larger in diameter than my right. Also, my shoulder didn't move properly. Since the surgery, my arm is no longer swollen (when I got my splint adjusted, they had to trim it down and said the swelling had gone down) and my shoulder is moving properly. The doctor I went to see really didn't look for a problem beyond my wrist. Should've gone to the one who did my surgery, who, according to my primary care doctor, is one of the best in the state. Doctor thinks I can go back to playing violin, and I intend to do so. The tricky thing about viola will be learning to read alto clef. I can do it in a pinch because middle C is, well, in the middle, but I don't read it as fluently as I read treble and bass clef.

Surprisingly, both the violin and viola had no broken strings, though, at least in the case of the violin, I have a set of strings (that E string is really sensitive, as is the A string). There's an extra bridge for the violin. There are also two mutes for them (thankfully I knew what they were; my mom was confused). We only have the viola bow, and it needs to be rehaired, so I grabbed my violin's bow.

I also play piano and sing.

I had a hard time with viola because it was just a bit too big for me to comfortably hold. The bass was murder on my wrists. We had to learn the basics of each instrument and I was soooo glad to be done with bass. And Clarinet...the thumb rest was a fraction too low and I couldn't get my fingers to cover the holes if my thumb was under the thumb rest, but then if I put it above the rest, the whole thing slid. I did fine with every instrument but bass, viola, and clarinet. And I could do the clarinet if I used someone else's. I suspect you'll get used to reading alto clef. I had never done sight reading before college, but once I was in a choir where it was the standard practice to just hand out the music and sing, I learned REALLY fast. Once you have done it a few times, you'll get the hang of it, especially if you have a lot of musical experience like you do.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I had a hard time with viola because it was just a bit too big for me to comfortably hold. The bass was murder on my wrists. We had to learn the basics of each instrument and I was soooo glad to be done with bass. And Clarinet...the thumb rest was a fraction too low and I couldn't get my fingers to cover the holes if my thumb was under the thumb rest, but then if I put it above the rest, the whole thing slid. I did fine with every instrument but bass, viola, and clarinet. And I could do the clarinet if I used someone else's. I suspect you'll get used to reading alto clef. I had never done sight reading before college, but once I was in a choir where it was the standard practice to just hand out the music and sing, I learned REALLY fast. Once you have done it a few times, you'll get the hang of it, especially if you have a lot of musical experience like you do.

Hated clarinet. Could not figure out how to get any sound out of it. I'm too petite for the bass. I have big hands, though, so I suspect I won't have trouble with the viola.

I was always fantastic at sight reading. My piano teacher used to laugh at me because I would sight read through what I didn't want to practice, and she could tell, but it was still good because I sight read well. Still do. Worked out well for being in chorus. And orchestra. When I was in middle school, we had an audition-only orchestra. I was the only person in it who was not taking private lessons, and I was a first violin my second year. Credit it to sight reading. Just learning the new clef will be a challenge.

 

[Cesar R M]

My grandfather stopped by today to give us my great-great grandfather's violin and viola. My great great grandfather was in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The violin and viola are each over 100 years old. Sad because all I could do today was tune them, play the strings with no fingering using my violin's bow, and pluck "Twinkle twinkle little star" as if they were guitars. But once my hand heals, going to teach myself viola.

even if you dont, you will have a beautiful antique!

 

[Songbird76]

Hated clarinet. Could not figure out how to get any sound out of it. I'm too petite for the bass. I have big hands, though, so I suspect I won't have trouble with the viola.

I was always fantastic at sight reading. My piano teacher used to laugh at me because I would sight read through what I didn't want to practice, and she could tell, but it was still good because I sight read well. Still do. Worked out well for being in chorus. And orchestra. When I was in middle school, we had an audition-only orchestra. I was the only person in it who was not taking private lessons, and I was a first violin my second year. Credit it to sight reading. Just learning the new clef will be a challenge.

I'm still not a fast sight reader with an instrument, but I can sight sing better than my choir director can play the parts on the piano. He's not a pianist, but he can do the basic chords. But when we're learning new music, I usually have to correct a few things that he plays incorrectly. He's really good about letting me do that, though. Our previous director had no problem with playing the parts, but I suspect she was half deaf as she didn't hear that what some people were singing was not what she played and she would get angry if I said we were singing something incorrectly, so I learned to just go with whatever the others were singing and I just wrote the changes into my music. Then we got the new director and confused him with a bunch of parts that were not at all the same as what was written. He hears sooooo much more, but sight reading is not his forté (he's a percussionist), so he trusts me on that. We've improved so much since he started directing us! He does so much more with dynamics, with technique, with breathing, etc. Our last director was pretty much a "stand in front and wave arms" kind of director, and she expected everyone to just be able to sing the music....well, I'm the only trained musician in there, so that's not going to happen. You can't take people with no training and expect them to be able to perform at a professional level the first time they see the music. It's just not a realistic expectation!

 

[donaldtoo]

That was the style in the 80s...google mall bangs and you'll see. The tall, foofy bangs.

I used to refer to those as "hair dams"...!

 

[Goofyernmost]

I worked at a movie theatre in the food court. A family of four could easily spend $100 on tickets and if they bought any overpriced food and that was ten years ago.

Note: Never have movie theatre popcorn in the morning.

I have another... never have popcorn at a drive-in movie at the first movie of the season. That would be after it was closed from September to April. You can decide on your own the reason why.

Spoiler

To ease the thought, it was at least very cold most of that time since the snack bars are not heated.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Not sure a leash will be enough for @MR FERRET ; may I suggest that you also use a harness as well, as I'm sure he "pulls" on the leash, making him more difficult to control on his daily constitutional.

Side note here: Back when one of my brothers was 2-3 years old, my mother said he'd just take off if she didn't keep her eye on him, when they were out to a store. He had absolutely no fear whatsoever, and no common sense either. So she finally bought a child's harness and leash (no, I'm not kidding; nowadays she'd probably be arrested for some sort of child abuse, by putting an overactive toddler in a harness, so he wouldn't get lost, or worse, in a crowd . . . ).

We had to have one of those for my kid sister as well. If not she would disappear in nanoseconds. I'm sure it was scaring but so is getting hit by a car or abducted. Lesser of the evils. I think sometimes we have to think about the alternatives before we judge the situations.

 

[Songbird76]

I used to refer to those as "hair dams"...!

My 8th grade Algebra teacher told us they were to catch all the things that went over our heads.

 

[donaldtoo]

Thanks!
But, actually, I ended up leavin' a little after 3p. I was already way ahead on my design project and have enough vacation days (I just usually like to leave a large cushion of 'em - when I talked to our Office Manager, I had more than I thought) to burn.
All good...!

 

[Goofyernmost]

I'm sure my Mom in her own way, thought if she didn't co operate, it wouldn't happen. Like you say things work out for the best.

A lot of their actions came from a different time. A time when parents were the law and they recognized it as their responsibility to stop people from "going astray". (I know that sounds a lot like the current political climate in this country.)

My mother was a little like that, but, it was directed more at her grandchildren then her children (of course, that might have been because we were perfect angels (as far as she knew) . I remember when my youngest daughter moved in with her future husband and invited us all to Thanksgiving dinner. My Mother steadfastly refused to go because they were "living in sin" and she didn't approve. I simply said to her... Mom, you have two choices. The first is that you can stand your ground and all you are going to do is alienate your grandchild or you can accept that what they do is their business and is no reflection on you. The only thing that first thing will do is make it so you lose what might be a great relationship with a person that is very much a part of your family. Ask yourself how many years you still have left to enjoy your family and decide if being stubborn will be worth the loss. God's not going to hold you responsible for things that they do. She went and it was never mentioned again.

 

[betty rose]

What are you doing still here?? You are supposed to be getting some rest before your trip!! Please please please take care of yourself!!

I admit, I'm addicted to being on here, because everyone is so nice. Hubby had to go back to work, and I spend the time he is doing work on here. All of you are the best friends ever! I've got good neighbor's too. But they both have to work! And they are retirement age. Things are changing in the world. I want to be able to do Disney for the family.

 

[Goofyernmost]

My hair is very thick, lots of volume but it is very wavy. The length pulls the funky waves out. When it shorter I need to straighten it and if it is humid that doesn't last long before it is wavy again. Mine is longer now than it should be but in summer it is pulled up anyhow. Soon much of it will be gone again.

Can we please stop talking about having a lot of thick, wavy hair. It's kinda hurting my feelings.

 

[donaldtoo]

My 8th grade Algebra teacher told us they were to catch all the things that went over our heads.

Yep, and it's not like a lot of dudes from the 80's were much different...!!!

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Thanks for the laugh, on top deck you can sometimes feel the deck listing only a little, but the ball certainly moves!

We had a good laugh trying to play billiards on top deck. The balls all stayed on one side of the table.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I actually wonder if the removal of the benches is not just a smart way to force people to the stores. But also.. theres so few benches that they might cause fights during fireworks/parades.
not to mention.. there are some really dumb people that would fall or hit themselves on them :/

It's not a smart way, because if I'm tired and my feet hurt and I need to sit down, the very last place I am going to be heading is to stand and walk around in a store. I'm headed back to the hotel were I can sit and relax. There is absolutely no incentive to stop and shop. So I don't think it is that unless they are more dense then I imagine. I think the other reasons are quite feasible. People really are impossible.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

I'm a bit ashamed to admit I've never seen Cassablanca. We did arscenic and old lace in my high school one year...I was one of the old ladies, but I don't remember which one. We were in the middle of the scene where the bad guy is coming in through the window and our set crashed. Hilarious. No one was hurt.

The only Casablanca I've ever seen is in GMR.

 

[betty rose]

A lot of their actions came from a different time. A time when parents were the law and they recognized it as their responsibility to stop people from "going astray". (I know that sounds a lot like the current political climate in this country.)

My mother was a little like that, but, it was directed more at her grandchildren then her children (of course, that might have been because we were perfect angels (as far as she knew) . I remember when my youngest daughter moved in with her future husband and invited us all to Thanksgiving dinner. My Mother steadfastly refused to go because they were "living in sin" and she didn't approve. I simply said to her... Mom, you have two choices. The first is that you can stand your ground and all you are going to do is alienate your grandchild or you can accept that what they do is their business and is no reflection on you. The only thing that first thing will do is make it so you lose what might be a great relationship with a person that is very much a part of your family. Ask yourself how many years you still have left to enjoy your family and decide if being stubborn will be worth the loss. God's not going to hold you responsible for things that they do. She went and it was never mentioned again.

DD lived with her current husband before she got married, I didn't think it was right, but thankfully I kept my mouth shut. I learned from my Mom, not to interfere. I'm so glad that this lesson wasn't lost on me. Things change, even if we don't approve of the changes. We know enough to let the kids make their own path. I'm glad all has worked out for our family, funny SIL was from Indiana too. We got along like we have been family forever. Mom was never accepting of In Laws, I understand now, as FIL was a very horrible person. Hit his son with his fists and hit him with a wrench. His Mom was wonderful, the sweetest person ever alive. I loved her, unlike my Mom. She was approachable and loving. She became my "Mom". We loved doing things together, when her husband passed. And had a very strong bond. I still remember her on her birthday, and say "hello" and I love you! I remember Mom too, but it's not the same. Funny how life turns out. It's all worked out wonderful for me. I had a very fun and loving Mom in my MIL.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Sympathy like! A nap is definitely in order! Feel better!

Thanks, a nap helped.Tomorrow my daughter's class has a song performance at a local festival. If I don't hear Schoolhouse Rocks songs again for awhile....I'm good.