hello from Oz :)

Hi, I'm Esther (obviously) and um…I'm Caleb's sister. :D

Botheration, I'm not quite sure how to introduce myself. Help!!

I'm a seventeen-year-old homeschool graduate and I love animals and music and a whole lot of other things. :) I love Jesus and I want to live my life to please Him. I really enjoy children's ministry, too!

Well, that's a little bit about me…if you're feeling friendly, please say hi, because I don't want to be on a thread all by my lonely self. :)

Hi!!!!!!!! Nice to see you on here!!! My dad is from Australia. So I'm half Australian. Or if you want me to change it I could say it this way "half Ozian" :-)

WELCOME TO THE MEMVERSE FORUMS, Esther! Great to have you on here! I'm 17 as well, and really enjoy music and love Christ!

Yo! I'm the infamous ninja Ataru! You can call me my username, or Sammy, or Sam, or Whats-Yer-Name, or Mista Ninja! I'm 15, and I like music( but I'd rather listen than play). Who do you like to listen to?

@His Servant I and Leah, Hello!! YAY, more seventeen-year-olds! Seventeen is the most exciting age ever, in my opinion. :) Well, so far. I haven't been eighteen yet. :)

@Bethany - awesome!! Guess what, I'm half American: I'm an American born Chinese Australian! Hi5!! :)

@Ataru - infamous?? Oh dear! :D My favourite musicians are Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Lang Lang, Gil Shaham, Sound Forth, Mac Lynch and a lot more! :) How about you?

Awesome to meet you all!! What are some of your hobbies, and do you guys have any pets? :D

My hobbies are writing (long) letters, riding bikes, playing piano, talking with friends and finding good quotes :)

And no, we don't have any pets…

BTW, my name is Bethany, so you can call me that, if you like :D

@Bethany…haha, I think I will! :D

Finding good quotes is so inspiring…except there are so many good ones I always forget them! :( What are some of your favourites?

Oh wait, I should probably go to the Quotes thread for that, right? Okay then. :D

btw, are there any photography-lovers here? Because I'm one!

Welcome to memverse!!!! I love photography!!!!!! :)

Oh yes he is quite in-famous lol! :) JK

cool!! Do you do it a lot? What sort of camera do you have?

BTW, I like your profile pic. :) Is that your cat? I just got a new cat yesterday!! It was sort of an accident…he's a stray nobody wants, and he was at my piano teacher's house, and they were trying to get rid of him, so I took him home! I called him Andantino - Andy for short. :D He is sooo absolutely adorable. I'm just trying to get him to make friends with Allegretto, my other cat!

I listen to tobyMac, Casting Crowns, and Tenth Avenue North mostly. I also listen to Lindsey Stirling every once in a while, her dubstep is amazing!

Okay…haha…I don't know what most of those are, but that's nice! :D

Welcome to Memverse!!! :)

Hi Esther…
Welcome to Memverse!!! Hope you enjoy all our "interesting" conversations!

I agree with all your musician likes… but I'm not sure who Matt Lynch is, and I'm not really a fan of Lang Lang!!!! But I'll try not to say anything!!! J/K

Thanks Emily and Jordan! :)

Mac Lynch has arranged hymns for two pianos and orchestra; we've listened to the recordings on his 'Journey' CD and they are aweeeessssoommmme!! Well, I think so anyway. :) Apparently he sings, too, but I haven't listened to him sing.

We've been fans of Lang Lang ever since Caleb got to meet him in a masterclass! That was pretty exciting. :D Did you know that he has to have four bodyguards everywhere he goes?! O.o Haha, say anything you like; it would be interesting to hear your views!!

I'll have to look Mac Lynch up… Anything with piano and orchestra is awesome!

Well, if Caleb met him in a masterclass, I should be careful!!!! haha j/k
For one thing, I think it's a good thing cause he's getting a lot of Asians interested in classical music and the piano… However, I think he can take away from the music visually with all his movement!!! And I think he tends to mess with the tempo a bit too much!!!

Four bodyguards?!?!?! Either he's paranoid, or he's trying to be a rockstar!!! OR BOTH!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHA!!!!!!! I'm just kidding!!! (And you'll see I do that a lot!)

Haha…I must say I agree with you on the 'too-much-movement' thing!! But I don't usually watch him, just listen, so that doesn't bother me. :) I haven't noticed the tempo changes, though. But maybe that's because I like to add too much rubato. :\ (Or maybe sometimes it's just not keeping consistent timing. But rubato sounds better. :D)

Yes, it's pretty crazy!! Well…seeing that you've already used 'just kidding' four times in two posts…

Rubato is a very important thing, I think… But it can go overboard!!!! Have you heard his recording of the 1st Chopin piano concerto? The last movement is what I'm talking about with the tempo changes… Just try conducting it sometime!!! ;)

I did?!?!?!?!?

Oh yeah… this is a weird question… What does OZ stand for??? I know you live in Austraila, but I've never seen that one before!

whoops….sorry, no. Only three. :)

No, I haven't heard it! I don't think so, anyway…and I haven't conducted it, either. Actually, I've never conducted anything (besides a little student string orchestra.) It would be scary!

OZ is just short for Australia! :) But if you say you're an Aussie, that's spelt…well, Aussie. Not ozzie. :D

Hmmmmm… Sounds like it's kinda a funny way to abbreviate it!

Australians abbreviate e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

mozzie = mosquito
barbie = barbeque (weird, I know. We're still not used to that one!!)
fam = family
rellies = relatives
arvo = afternoon

et cetera… :D

Welcome to memverse, Esther! I really like photography as well, but I don't do it as much as I would like.

I try and do Photography on a consistent basis. :) it's gets kinda hard though when I don't have much to take pictures of. :) I have a DLS camera (or at least I think that's what they r called :)) lol my specific camera is a Nikon D3100. :) aw! I love cats. :) yes that's my cat/kitten Arwen and you'll probably see Eowyn soon too. :) lol

Welcome Esther! I like your profile pic. :) I'm 17 too! :D

Yes, the Strangs "jk" so much it's hard to tell when they aren't kidding. :P jk :P It's even worse when you meet them in person. They don't acknowledge that they're kidding, they just do it. :P

What?!?!?!?! We are worse in person???? J/K

@Carissa - nice to meet you!! :) @Danielle…ooh, nice!! They're called DSLRs :) :) Do your cats like each other?

@Carissa AND Danielle :D What sort of things do you like taking photos of? Landscape or people or flowers or…?

@Madi - wow, ANOTHER 17-year-old!! We should start a club or something! lol :D Oh dear, it's a bit scary talking to people that make jokes all the time with a straight face, because they say things and you're looking at them like…were you serious or was I supposed to laugh…?!?! Haha!

Thank you!! Caleb took it; we're both into photography, so we have fun taking photos of each other! :D I like yours, too!

Actually we already kind of have one :P
Yeah, that's just how they are!! see…there he goes again. :P
Thanks!

do you really??

btw just read your 'introduce yourself' post!! :) I love how you put Scripture all through it! I'm 5'2" too!! What are you planning to study in college?

EDIT - this was supposed to be in reply to Madi…I don't generally have conversations with myself… :D

I'm 17 too… We really need to start this club thing!!!

cool! Yes, before anybody turns eighteen! :D

Actually, looking at the Birthday post, we have a few months at least…unless there are more seventeen-year-olds that I don't know about…

I think Eden said your birthday is in August… Bummer… That makes me the youngest 17 year old!!

um…no, you're not…Leah is turning eighteen next March! Isn't your birthday September 25?

And besides, seventeen is awesome, so why be in a hurry. :D

Yep… it's the 25th…

17 is pretty good… I'm not really in a hurry! But it would be nice to be alb to vote! ;)

Hmm… I really should check these introduction threads more often. I mean, it's total spy stuff and all.

Hi Esther! It's nice to "meet" you. :)
I'm looking forward to getting to know you on here and I'd love it if you added me on G+ as well. ;)
I'm Jordan and Eden's little sister.

snickers

And regarding Madi's accusation.
Well, yes. It's true.

In fact, someone told me that 80% of what I say isn't true! (Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing…) I'm also very believable, so if you are a gullible person, we will be very good friends. ;)

Hi Bethany!!

Um… little and older, right? I can sympathise. :D

Actually, I'm glad Caleb's taller than me…I'd be a bit worried if he wasn't! :P

Looking forward to getting to know you, too!! I don't have Google Plus anymore, sorry…I decided it took up too much time. :D (Don't ask me what I'm doing on the Memverse forums… :D)

woah!! Eighty percent?!

Me, gullible?!?! No way!! Well, as long as you remember to put J/K after everything that isn't true. :D

Yep, but oh! so much more mature then both of them put together! :P

Oh, I see. Yeah, well, I have a hard time reading (reading in general) everything (whether in forums or on social networking), so that actually keeps me from taking up too much time! :D

Yeah my cats are sisters that play all the time. The thing I take pictures of most often are flowers. :) but I like taking pictures of other thing too. :) what about you?

@Esther: I enjoy taking pictures of flowers the most. Though I do enjoy landscapes and people. But I am not that great at photography. BTW: I am 5'1 3/4"…almost as tall as you.

Wow! Yall' r short!! JK :) :) JK!!!!! I'm a little taller than 5'6. :) lol

@Danielle…aw, that's sweet about your cats. :) I'm STILL trying to reconcile my two pussies! I love taking photos of people and animals; my friends call me 'the tourist' because I'm always carrying a camera! :D

And yes, I'm fun size!! :D

@Carissa - practice makes perfect! :) Congratulations on being nearly as tall as me! :D But you never know…I might be 5'2 3/4"…5 feet 2 inches was only an estimation! :D

Have either of you heard of Institute of Photographic Studies (IPS)? Their photography workshops are really good! I went to a week-long one last year that was sort of an Australian version of the IPS - not exactly the same, but extremely similar. It was very very fun and I learned so much! If you ever get a chance, you should definitely go!

Hmmmm. Do they come to America? :) I wish I could show you some of my pictures. :) do you have a shutterfly account??
Edit- or snapfish?

Haha…they're only in America!! My older sister went to one when some of the photography tutors flew from USA. After that, the Aussies started their own! :)

I want to see your pictures, too!! No, I'm afraid I don't have a shutterfly or snapfish account. :\ I haven't even heard of them before!

Oh they are really cool you can make stuff with your pictures like, books, blankets, mugs, cups, t-shirts, mouse pads, pillowcases, etc. they r really cool you should check em out!

http://www.shutterfly.com/?esch=1

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/welcome

I like shutterfly better. :) snapfish is ok. The only reason I signed up there is because you get 50 free 4x6 prints. IDK if they deliver to OZ though. :) lol

:D I'm planning on studying music!
LOL…I'd understand if you had conversations with yourself. ;) Sometimes you are the best most understanding person to talk to. :P

Esther, I tend to say, "Dynamite comes in small packages!" When people try to refute that, I tell them, "The smaller the package, the bigger the dynamite!"

@Danielle: Yes, I am short :D I'm going to be the shortest in my family :(

@Esther: For us who who are short those 1/4 inches make a lot of difference…don't they :D No, I have not heard of that. I should check it out. You can see some of my pictures on my blog: rosieposiesplace.blogspot.com But I did edit some of them.

5'2" was an estimate for me too! I'm probably 5'1 3/4" :P