| January, 2034<<< | All Entries | >>>March, 2034 |
It's still cold, but Flip-Flop and Flip-Flam think winter should be DONE. Lilja-auncle let the bunnies out to play, but they sniffed at the snow and then hopped back inside and tried to go in Flower-gram's SWEATER. Beethoven likes the snow and ran off to play, so a bunch of kittens took him to the park and played chase and tug of war with a stick and fetch. Sahara tried to tease him by pretending to throw the stick, but he figured it out and got his REVENGE by pushing her into a snowdrift. Then they both had snow inside their coats so we had to go back and have warm soup with the bunnies and grams.
I found a really useful word today. I was reading a book about a girl who went to a secret school to learn magic baking because that's really cool, and she said some people at her school were SNOGGING. I didn't know that word so I asked Nico, because I was sitting on him to read. He's really comfy to sit on. He said it means grown up kissing. I think that's a really good word because it sounds like something yucky, not something nice. I'm going to use that word a lot when I talk about teenagers. Nico laughed at me a lot, but he gave me hugs too. He's a really nice teenager.
This week Hebichi and I fiddled for the Elegant Siamese Society! I wasn't very nervous because it's people I know: VV-gram and Lilja and Annabelle and Max, and Secret and her mom and her grams and her auncle Joshua, and some of VV-gram's friends and their kids Momiya and Anastasia and Logan and Frida. They don't all have points, but VV-gram says it's OK to wear fancy gloves and fancy boots and PRETEND. We had to learn some different pieces because all the ones we know are really LIVELY for parties with wild dancing and pirates, but we pirated some VIOLIN music that's good for fiddling, like "Craba Yaba" and "Sunrise Archipelago", and some pieces from Vivaldi, who composed violin music a really long time ago, and 1 piece that Dragon-mom composed that was good for 2 fiddlers. It's from a game called LONGEST ORBIT. It's a really scary game but maybe I'll play it someday. It has really good music!
We practiced 3 times and Dragon-mom helped us, so when we played for the Elegant Siamese Society we did really good. I was worried we would mess up the part where we have to trade who's playing, but we didn't. We did it just right! When we were done, the Elegant Siameses clapped and threw flowers to us, and we did really fancy BOWS and it was really cool! Then we got to sit with them and drink fizzy juice and eat little sandwiches and talk about all kinds of music stuff and we felt really elegant too. It was a really good afternoon.
I dreamed I went to the valley with the giant turkeys, but it was all snowy so I rode a SNOWMOBILE up and the turkeys couldn't catch me. On the other side of the pass, there were lots more trees so I had to go slow, but I found a TRAIL with signs and went all the way down to the bottom of the wide valley. It was all white and foggy and a little bit spooky but I didn't smell any monsters, so I kept following the signs all the way to a hill with a circle of big standing-up rocks around the top. The fog went inside the circle, so it wasn't a magic place, but I thought it might be special so I didn't go in. There were more snowmobile tracks but I couldn't tell much about them because snowmobile tracks are MESSY. Riding the snowmobile was really fun and I wanted to try it in the awake world, but my parents said MAYBE.
Then I dreamed I went there again, but somebody was sitting on top of the hill with a fire and it was Cally-auncle! She was making hot juice for lots of people because after I got there, the Exploration Club came, and then Simoun and Sahara in their flying Mars boat with Max and Annabelle and Pounce-auncle on SNOWSHOES. We sat together on top of the hill and Cally got out a book about stars and used it to teach us DANCING SPIDER HIEROGLYPHS. I thought they were pictograms but they aren't because lots of them are for sounds but some are whole words. It was really cool! I tried to teach Spin and Hebichi and Faun but I couldn't remember it enough so I'm going to try to take them with me next time I go.
I haven't written lots about Rose-auncle because she doesn't play with us very much. She's always busy with grown-up school and her grown-up friends. I think she missed being friends with grownups when it was just her and Clover doing explores in the Dreamlands. Today I went over to the Gram House to look for my snowflake hat and nobody was home except Rose-auncle who was in the middle of the floor like she fell over. I got really worried and ran to sniff her, and she made a ZOMBIE NOISE. I said, "Oh NO! Did your brain get eaten?" She said, "I submitted my THESIS so I don't have any more brain." A thesis is like a research project except it takes a grownup a whole year to do it, and it can't be looking up things people already know. It has to be something NEW, so the WHOLE WORLD is smarter. Rose-auncle's thesis is about history and how people think about history and the Dreamlands. I read 1 page of it and I looked up all the words I didn't know and I still didn't understand it. I think Rose-auncle has a powerful brain like Big Sam. I said, "Did you get a good mark?" but she doesn't know because it takes a MONTH for people to read it, and then she has to answer a lot of questions so they know she really learned everything and didn't make it up or copy from somebody else. I wouldn't like that. I would worry for a whole month and get too NERVOUS to answer the questions. Rose-auncle is lots braver than me.
When the grams came back, we got everybody else to come over and sing the Powerful Brain song to Rose-auncle and then we got plates and plates of sushi from Beuatiful Sushi so she didn't have to eat our brains. Clover said it was OK if her mom needed her brain to eat, but sushi is yummier.
When I'm more grown up, I'm going to try reading Rose-auncle's thesis again because I want to know about the Dreamlands.
This week we fiddled for Max and Annabelle's school class. Max and Annabelle wanted us to, so Dragon-mom talked to the teachers and set it up. Then Bina's little sister Lottie told Bina about it and they wanted to help so we had to practice some pieces for fiddle and TRUMPET. That was really fun! And when we ran over after school and played for a whole class of little kids before they went home to lunch, that was really fun too. The kids sang a little bit when they knew the words and lots of them danced really cute and some of them danced really silly and everybody liked it. Some of them said they want to tell their big siblings to play with us and be a BAND. That sounds really fun but we're not as good as people in real bands. Maybe we can do that when we're grown up.
I took Hebichi and Spin to learn about dancing spider Hieroglyphs on my snowmobile. 3 people on a snowmobile is tricky, so the person on the back fell off a lot, and sometimes we got too rowdy and made the snowmobile FALL OVER, but we just fell in the snow so nobody got hurt and it was really funny. Hebichi was the best at driving the snowmobile because he got to drive one on vacation once, but we're all good. It's like riding a dragonfly. We got to the hill with the stones and gave Cally the extra firewood we brought so everybody could be warm and have toasty juice. We needed more juice because I brought 2 new people and Sahara and Simoun brought their friend Ouma and Pixie brought Faun and everybody wanted to get warmed up inside, even the ultra-modern people. Then Cara asked if she could bring Poli and Spin wanted to bring Jean and Blond Dmitry and Dmitri thought that was a good idea, but Cally looked at all the kids and said "This class is FULL". She's the teacher, so she gets to decide.
It was still a really fun class even though dancing spider hieroglyphs are really COMPLICATED. When you put them together, sometimes you have to change them so the spiders are dancing more GRACEFULLY. It's like how in Japanese a ka turns into a ga when it's in the middle of a word, but there are lots more rules. We all took lots of notes except Max and Annabelle. They're too young to learn complicated stuff like this, but they like snuggling by Maa-uu and being part of our group. After our brains got filled up, I took people on snowmobile rides and Dmitri and Humboldt were really sad they didn't have any snowmobiles. I think it's because Maa-uu and Explorobot couldn't ride with them so snowmobiles aren't good for the Exploration Club.
Max and Annabelle and I were reading comics and eating a snack when Clover came in and did a PIRACY on our sandwiches. Max shrieked and Annabelle said, "No pirate little kids! Pirate big kids! Pirate grownups!" but Clover said, "I not pirate for fun, I pirate because I got NO TUNA!" That didn't make it OK, so she said, "This tuna give me ENERGY" and leapt into the kitchen. She couldn't make more tuna sandwiches because the tuna was ALL GONE, but she could make peanut butter and honey sandwiches with slices of apple inside to make them CRUNCHY. I never thought of putting apple in a sandwich, so she didn't just give us more sandwiches, she gave us IDEAS. Then it was OK and we all sat on her and read like that and put honey kisses on her ears.
Another day, Annabelle and Max and Secret were coloring together when Clover said, "This my Secret now" and carried her away by the back of her dress. Annabelle and Max said, "Dmitri, HELP! Samuel, HELP!" so we all ran to get Secret back from Clover. Secret thought being pirated was really FUNNY and laughed so much she couldn't help, and Clover was TOO STRONG for the rest of us. We thought maybe Clover was going to get to keep Secret, but then Rei and Humboldt came back and helped us and we TICKLED UP A STORM. When Secret's mommmy came to get her, we could give her back and told her how we worked REALLY HARD to save her, and we got lots of kisses.
When we went to Game Night, Clover played the Piracy card 5 TIMES in one game of Hexplore and 3 times in another, and then she played Whirlpool Chess that has Pirates instead of Knights. She didn't win any of those games, but she made lots of people say "ARGH".
It was a really PIRATICAL week for Clover. It made her mom laugh and laugh.
We had more snow, but then it got bright and sunny so the snow was beautifully white and it looked really nice outside, but when we ran to play, it was FREEZING. The ultra-modern kids were OK, but kittens had to put on really thick sweaters and coats and boots and gloves so it was hard to run and jump. We got tired really quick and wanted to go in when the ultra-modern kids were still having fun, and it was really FRUSTRATING. Max went to Shriek City and Dragon-mom had to bring her back. We went inside really grouchy, but after a while everybody else came in and played with us. Their paws were really COLD!
Rose-auncle played with us a lot this week, but she spent lots of time with Clover too. Clover is really grown-up and brave, but I think she missed her mom when Rose was busy with her thesis. When Sahara and I got up to get water in the middle of the night, we saw Clover sleeping with her face squished in Rose's tummy fur. It was really cute.
I dreamed I was walking in the forest and I smelled MAGIC so I went to see what was happening. There was a boy practicing the kind of magic that uses a MAGIC STICK and MAGIC WORDS. I think he was the same age as Rei and Cara and he had a cool black robe and big SPECTACLES that were black around the edges. He was using one spell to make sticks fly up into the sky and then trying to zap with a clobbering spell. He was trying really hard, but he still wasn't doing very good. I said I could help him by throwing the sticks so he didn't have to change spells and he said that would be a big help, so we tried it that way and he got a lot better at clobbering the sticks. Then I tried using magic singing to hide the sticks or make them fly different so it was harder but he kept trying. He was really determined to get good with clobbering magic so he could fight mean people who wanted to wreck his school and OPPRESS everybody. He was really brave. When he got tired, we sat and talked about stuff and he was really nice even though he's lots older than me. It started getting cold, so I tried putting my arms around him and singing the Staying Warm Inside Song to him, and it made us BOTH warm. I was proud I helped my new friend, but not everybody liked that.
A girl with the same kind of black robe and magic stick ran out of the forest yelling about how nobody could cuddle her sweetheart except her. Then another girl ran in and said he was HER sweetheart. They looked at each other really mean, but then they looked at ME. The girl with brown hair tried to zap me with clobbering spells, but the girl with black hair tried to zap me with FIRE spells. I squished down flat so they missed me but then bushes were on fire and it was really bad! The boy jumped on me so the mean girls wouldn't zap me, and then I ran away with him so they wouldn't zap him by accident. We ran until we found Simoun and Sahara making snow monsters and I hid behind them because I thought the mean girls could follow my trail. My big sisters were ready to bite anybody who picks on me, but the mean girls didn't show up. The nice boy said they probably started fighting each other even though they're supposed to be friends and looked really sad. He told us how they both want him to be just their sweetheart and get mad at anybody else who seems too nice to him. Sahara and Simoun said that was terrible and somebody needed to bite those girls, so we all had to go back to find them. The girls weren't there but it looked like they had a big fight and lots of bushes and trees were burning. We had to sing the Fire Go Out Song so there wasn't a forest fire. I think it's really bad to start a forest fire, even if forest fires happen on their own.
We woke up in the middle of the night and Simoun and Sahara cuddled me and we talked about how any people who want to can do kisses unless they made promises that they wouldn't like when Zora and Zsuzsy were snogging friends, and it isn't anybody else's business even if they want to kiss somebody. People in Starfall are lots smarter about that, and cats are lots smarter about that, so we'll never be mean and rude like those girls.
In the morning, I kissed all my family and friends a whole bunch and didn't care if anybody else didn't like that.
Today is VALENTINE DAY when everybody gives cards to the people they like and people with snogging friends go on dates. I made a lot of heart-shaped cards and gave them to all my parents and siblings and cousins and auncles and friends and teachers and people at my zoo. It was a lot of cards! I got a lot of cards too and it made me really happy. Sometimes lots of people put their names on one card for somebody, like the people at my zoo, but that's OK too. I put all the cards I got on the walls in my closet so I can look at them all and think about how many people love me and how I have to be really nice so they keep loving me.
I thought about the boy I met in the forest and the girls who wanted him to be their sweetheart, and I think those girls were being really SELFISH. They each wanted to be the only one to give him love, instead of wanting him to have lots of love. Maybe their hearts are TOO SMALL.
There was a dance party for kids at the neighborhood center so we could dance with our friends. It was really pink and red, because those are Valentine colors, so I wore a red sweater and a pink bow on my neck. Spin and Blond Dmitry and Jeanne came to dance with us, and then we went to their neighborhood center to dance with people there, and it was really fun. I was so busy dancing I didn't think about how my Dmitri and Jeanne danced together a whole bunch, and when I asked if they did any snogging, Dmitri put his tail way up and wouldn't say and everybody said I was TOO NOSY. I almost got mad but I had too much fun dancing with Hebichi and Spin and Blond Dmitry and Faun and Bina and everybody and they were all really pretty for the party and it was really great and now I'm writing about it and then I'm going to SLEEP. I have a big pile of cards for people in the Dreamlands that I'm going to use for a pillow.
When my parents said MAYBE I could do snowmobile rides in the Awake World, I thought they meant in a long time when I'm a teenager, but they didn't. They talked to the teachers at school and to Rose-auncle, and now Rose-auncle is teaching all the kids at school to drive snowmobiles! On Wednesday, she taught everybody in Poli's level and they did really good so on Thursday she taught everybody in Rei and Cara's level and today she taught Humboldt and everybody in his level, and they're still doing really good so next week she'll teach Dmitri's level and Sahara and Simoun's level and if they're good responsible drivers, she'll teach my level. I think I'll do really good because I did snowmobiling in the Dreamlands, but I had to go slow or FALL OFF a lot so getting taught by a grownup will help me go really FAST.
Simoun and Dmitri and I made a big soup out of sausage and red and white and orange beans and tomatoes and ginger and spinch, and cheesy bread with soft garlic, and everybody said it was really good. We all like being able to feed people we love.
We had lots of Dancing Spider Hieroglyphics classes this week. 1 time Edward-gram and Pounce-auncle and Nessie-auncle and Dragon-mom came to watch and make sure we weren't learning anything weird or scary, but we weren't, so it was OK. 1 time everybody's brains were going all over, so we stopped studying and did snowmobile rides and explored the big valley some more. We didn't find any people, but the river is really pretty and there are tracks from REALLY BIG animals who aren't mastodons or mammoths. Another time, there was a BLIZZARD but we sang the It's No Fun For Snow Spirits In Here song and then it was like we were in a BUBBLE with white all around. We made the fires bigger and snuggled together and talked about what it means when the spiders dance UPSIDE DOWN. Sometimes it means they're saying what they don't really mean, that's called IRONY, but sometimes it means they're saying like what if, that's called HYPOTHETICAL, or sometimes it's a METAPHOR. It was a little bit scary because of all the snow and we couldn't see, but we were all warm together and that was nice.
I think I already wrote about all the stuff that happened this week. There was lots of snow and snowmobiles and cards and leftover spinch bean soup. It was a good week.
I was WRONG. I forgot to write about how lots of kids in our level and other levels who play music wanted to play together like a band. 17 kids talked to me and Hebichi and Bina, and that was TOO MANY. We talked and talked and we couldn't decide what to do so the teachers had to think about it. I think we're going to have a band class for the next season. If we do, Hebichi and Bina and I will all take it. Singing together with lots of people is fun, so I think playing music together with lots of people will be fun too. Maybe we'll be an ORCHESTRA.
There was so much talking about orchestras that we didn't get our ACT together so we just fiddled for my siblings and Hebichi's sibling and some grownups. It was really fun anyway and Toka gave us lots of ice cream cookies and hugs. All my siblings gave us hugs too, but they especially hugged Hebichi because they give me hugs every day.
Rose-auncle taught Dmitri's level and the twins' level to ride snowmobiles and they were really good, so she taught my level. Faun and Hebichi and I did really good because of dream practicing, but everybody was good at riding the snowmobiles. Now we know what to do when the treads slip and how to drive over soft snow and lots of tricky stuff. Not everybody was good at being responsible, though, and some people tried to fight with snowmobiles and sticks or jump off hills. I felt bad that kids in the lower levels aren't going to get to learn, but Rose-auncle gets to decide who is old enough for her to teach them snowmobiling.
Spin and Jean and Blond Dmitry didn't get to learn, because they don't go to our school, so when they came over to play they asked and asked Rose-auncle to teach them, and she said she would if they gave her... She did a long DRAMATIC PAUSE and said, "Hamburgers". Everybody laughed, but they got her 4 hamburgers with cheese and pickles and that was enough for her to teach all 3 of them and Nico. Lots of other people were there to watch and help, and Hebichi's little sibling Toka said, "Sammle, drive me! Onna SNOW BIKE!" I made them hold on really tight, and didn't drive too fast, but maybe I should have driven faster because they yelled and JUMPED OFF. I squacked but they were OK because they went into a really big snowdrift. Their dads ran and got them and Spin's dog Sonny helped by making snow go all over, and they got in trouble because it was really scary. They said, "I'm sorry I scared you, Sammle! Don't cry! I like you! You're my SWEETHEART!" Then I got embarrassed even though Toka's a little kid. I said, "Do you know what that means?" They said, "Yeah! It means I LOVE you and when we get grownup, we're gonna get MARRIED together like Daddy and Poppy!" I got even more embarrassed, but I got lots of Toka-hugs because they're really nice. I think when they grow up, they'll have LOTS of sweethearts.
There was an ice skating party in Dragon-mayor's city and a masquillion people were there. It wasn't a party with the whole city like at New Year, but it was for everybody who likes ice skating, so my whole family went and had a lot of fun. It's funny to see dragons ice skating, but it was really cute too, and Hebichi and Bobtail Dragon did a really good dance that made everybody clap. The sphinx was there too, but she isn't good at ice skating because sphinxes are from DESERTS and she didn't want to use magic. Zsuzsy had to help her and that was really cute too. I think it made people think the sphinx is less cool but less scary and more nice. Lots of people thought Zsuzsy was really pretty in her ice skating dress, and they were RIGHT. It was a good party and there was lots of warm juice after people were done skating. I was really TIRED so I curled up beside Dragon-mayor and listened to people talk about important stuff like how kittens are really CUTE.
Another day we did ice skating in the Awake World, but it was just some kittens calling all their friends and siblings and cousins and everybody to go ice skating with them, not a party for a whole city, and we didn't have any sphinxes or any dragons except Hebichi, but it was really fun anyway. Rose-auncle skated really good, but so did VV-gram. Everybody thought they were really cool and gave them lots of treats and rubbed under their chins so they purred a lot. They're really great cats.
We did more dancing spider classes in the Dreamlands and nothing weird happened. It was regular classes except on a hill in the Dreamlands. I can read a little tiny bit of the star book now!
This week had lots of fun winter stuff, but I want it to be spring now. I had enough snow and ultramodern kids going outside when I stay inside and not riding my bike. I sat with the bunnies and sang the No More Winter song, but I don't think it helped.
| January, 2034<<< | All Entries | >>>March, 2034 |