Category: Diary

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Everyone’s here!!!

I went to pick them up from Houston at around 2 PM, and they were pretty much dead on their feet.  We got all their luggage into the car and herded them all in, and they seemed torn between seeing all the sights and sleeping.  Sabby was with me (we had enough room, but barely) and all the girls chatting in the back in Japanese kind of unnerved her a bit.  They were saying things like “the roads are so wide” and “look at the cows!”.  Nothing Sabby really needed to know about.  We got them home, and they were so tired we just gave them some snacks, and then pulled out the futons and let them sleep for a little while.  They woke up a little later and we all just sat around chatting.  Their English isn’t very good so Dave, David, and Sabby were having a heck of a time communicating.  While my Japanese isn’t perfect it’s better than theirs, and my English is better than the girls’, so I ended up translating.  It was kind of fun.

I think they’re overwhelmed.  Poor girls.

They’re kind of wide awake right now because it’s around morning their time, so we’re going to spend a little time chatting and playing games.  As I thought, they’re not huge on the girl piles, so they’re just going to sleep in their futons.  I don’t mind.  It’s all about cuddling, not forcing.  They did say the futons are pretty comfy, and Marie and Cat are insisting on cuddling with them, so there’s a bit of cuddling going on.  I think Marie really likes Mariko.  Maybe she smells like rice?  I don’t know.  I can’t read Marie’s mind.

They kind of cooed over David, which both seemed to make him really happy and really embarrassed all at the same time.  They said something like “He looks like an anime little brother!” and I fell over laughing.  He… kinda does, actually.  He even scratches his head.

I’m going to have them try to get some sleep tonight.  We have a lot planned tomorrow.  The girls are going to come over and we’re going to try to practice.  It’ll be different with an audience.  And Yuki’s going to come over too to meet them.  I told them they get five minutes to fangirl, and then they’d better treat her like anyone else.  They laughed, but I just gave them a death glare, and then they agreed.  I told Yuki that’s what I told them, and she said that’s fine, she’ll even sign an autograph if they ask.

Yuki’s pretty nice, all told.  Being an idol traumatized her but she didn’t really mind being an idol, it was the industry and fans that she got disgusted with.

Beth’s in with us tonight.  The rest of the girls didn’t come over tonight, I told them the aidols would be really jet-lagged and it was best to let them sleep.  They agreed.  We’ll make up for it tomorrow.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

The aidols are coming tomorrow!!!  They’re already on their way to the airport!!!  They sent me a photo and they’re having the best time, I guess they’re on the train with all their luggage, and it’s pretty heavy, but…  they’ll figure it out.  Actually… I wonder how we’ll fit all their luggage AND them into the car.  Maybe Sabby will need to come with me after all, and take another car.  Hah!

They’ll arrive at about 2 PM but it’ll be like midnight for them, so probably we’ll just take them for lunch/dinner and let them rest for a while.  Jet lag sucks!!!  But it’s part of life I guess.

I need to think of fun stuff to do.  They definitely want to visit a Wal-mart.  Everyone seems to want to visit Wal-Marts.  What’s the big deal about Wal-Mart anyway???  It’s just a store.

Sabby made them a bunch of treats.  That was nice of her.

Anyway, I guess I should get some sleep.  It’ll be a fun couple of weeks!  And I told David if he gets another eyeful I’m not protecting him from their fists!!!

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Ai and the aidols are coming in a couple of days!!! I can’t wait!!! It’ll be so much fun!!!  Sabby’s been on a cleaning kick the past couple of days and we were all roped into it.  The place is pretty spotless.  We found some futons (Japanese futons don’t necessarily have frames) so we set them all out (assuming they won’t want to make piles and I think that’s a pretty safe assumption).  I’m going to drive to Houston myself to pick them up because there won’t be enough room for all of them in the car if anyone else comes along.  But I’m pretty good at driving and fully licensed now so it shouldn’t be a problem.  We don’t have a guest room so they’ll stay in my room but it’ll be fine.  I’ll take the big car with all the seating.

I wonder if someone will say “sharekoube”.  I won’t be able to stop giggling if they do… haha.

So tomorrow other than school we’ll probably have a lot of baking to do and such, because of course we need to make sure they have lots of treats.  Sabby really shines when it comes to having guests.

Otherwise… pretty boring day.  It’s been kind of chilly, aww.  But I keep remembering when it was 105 and how much we wanted days like this, so…  I don’t complain too much.  We’re all brainstorming to figure out things to do with the aidols, but Sabby says they’ll just be happy to be here and see the sights, and… well, she’s probably right.  The biggest challenge will be… they’re not really good at English.  But maybe they can use the time to practice.

Yuki really wants to meet them to.. It should be interesting to see how they all get along.

Gotta go…

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Today was boring.  Not just boring, but boringly boring.  Soooo boring.

But boring is good, I suppose.  The alternative can be worse.  Right?

I’m kinda missing Japan today.  I don’t know why.  It’s weird because I don’t have too many memories of it, but I kinda wish I was there right now.  It’d be nice to see Tokyo on Christmas.  Maybe someday I’ll be able to.  I have to submit my application for Meiji University at some point.  I’ve been putting it off, but I should do it soon.  I wonder if I’ll have to take entrance exams.  I know Japanese students do.  In some ways that doesn’t seem fair, but it beats our system where they take anyone with money and a pulse, and sometimes the money and pulse are optional.

Maybe have some KFC..

That’s kinda weird.  But Japan doesn’t always make sense.  Nor should it.

I asked David what he thought of Japan.  He said it had some fun places and the girls are cute, but it was too hot.  I… can’t really argue with that.  It was pretty hot when we went there.  Awww.  Maybe next year will be better.  He did like the food, though.  Japan does have some pretty tasty food, though it’s not very rich by western standards.  They seem to prefer light.  ichi ni san shi go ha n!!!  Hahaha!!!

Rice is a side dish!!!

Okay, umm… nothing going on I guess.  The aidols hop their flight on Saturday!  We’ll pick them up from the airport in the morning!!!

I asked how they could afford it, and basically they said their parents weren’t going to turn down a chance to send them to America for a few weeks.  Wonder what that means.  Haha!!!  They can be a bit rowdy… for Japanese girls, anyway.

I should say “sharekoube” one night and see if anyone gets a giggle fit.  Haha!!!

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

The aidols are really looking forward to coming to Texas!!!  They bought their swimsuits and sent me a pic. All I can say is… Rebecca would think they’re really conservative, David will probably blow a gasket, and for me, that’s about right.  They’re cute!!!  About the level of a rom-com anime beach scene, which… I guess, makes sense!!!  They all have Japanese builds – you know, pretty slender, narrow hips, not a large bust…  so there’s not a lot to work with, but Japanese swimsuit manufacturers know that, so they work with what they have.

Well, that’s probably too much talk about their swimsuits.  Hah!  I might go buy another one for myself.  Sabby would kill me if I bought one like Rebecca wears, but I think I’d like one that shows just a little more skin.  Just a little, eensy, bit…

Hey, I’m 18 now!  I can if I want! …  but Sabby will still yell at me.

Maybe I should buy a Japanese school one just for a joke… if they actually make one in my size.  I’ve been thinking about buying some of those color-coded indoor slippers like they have in anime… if they make them.  I never know what’s true and what isn’t in anime.

Otherwise… a pretty cool, but nice, day.  Dave’s been talking about getting a new car but we’re trying to talk him out of it, the interest rates are really high right now and they’re far too expensive.  We think we’ve succeeded, but you know Dave…  if he does, maybe I’ll get his old one.  I mean, I like my car, but his is nice too.  Oh, speaking of which, I have to change the oil soon.  Glad I know how to do that.

I haven’t heard much from that Texan Tinkerer guy since he moved up north.  He even deleted most of his YouTube videos.  I wonder why.  Maybe I should send him a message.

Anyway…  guess I should go to bed.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Well, first thing’s first.  We did have a practice today.  It didn’t really go well.  But I didn’t expect it to.  I was trying to keep a good rhythm going, Crystal is very much not used to playing with other people and still has to think about the chords, Beth was trying to sing and ended up, well, not, and well, you know how they say in church “Make a joyful noise?”  We ended up dialing the amps way down because the neighbor dogs were starting to howl, and Marie wasn’t all that happy either.

Crystal was really discouraged after, but I told her that this is part of a band, getting to know how the other plays, and sometimes you’re just not as good together as you think you are alone.  I told her to keep practicing.

Beth was a little discouraged too for other reasons.  She’s not a bad singer, but she doesn’t know how to listen.  But she doesn’t really know how to listen in everyday life too, so it’s a skill she needs to learn.  As for me, it was interesting.  I have experience accompanying, so I kind of want to follow, but as a drummer, my job is to keep things on an even keel and provide a solid rhythm for them to follow.  I have to get used to that.  I don’t really drive the melody or harmony or anything, but I keep the rhythm going.  If they lag or lead, I can’t try to adapt to them, I just have to keep whaling at a good beat and let them recover themselves.

So there’s that.

We’ll get together again next week.  Maybe Ai and friends will be there to give us an audience.  They’re Japanese, so they probably won’t tell us directly we suck.  Probably something like “well, you’re trying your best”.

Liz came over and played her violin too.  I’m not sure if she really wants to be a member, but she seemed to have fun, and she’s about as professional as I am, and maybe the band needs that.

Crystal really didn’t do too badly for as long as she’s been playing, though.  She really does have potential.  And a lot of drive, too.

A couple of boys walking by stopped and looked.  That was funny.  Crystal got flustered.  She, umm… really needs to lose the rocker attitude and keep that finger down…

Crystal’s lyrics are really good though.  We all kind of gushed over them, and Beth really likes singing them.  Even the ones that are a little edgy.

So, after all that, we had a birthday party for Sabby tonight.  All the girls from the shop came over too, even Katie and cat-girl.  Baker made a nice and very decadent cake (she used company resources and we paid for her time but I approved that and told Sabby to shut up when she protested – it’s part my company too and she deserves it).  There weren’t any letters or professions of love, but we got her nice presents and all told her how much she means to us.  Even cat-girl who said that she’s put up with far more from her than she probably should have, and bowed Japanese-style.  I wonder where she picked that up.

Aftewards she went up to take a bath but not in the “Sabby’s pissed” way but in the “someone got me a nice bath product and darn well I’m gonna use it” kinda way.  Dave followed her up, and the rest of us finished the cake and played party games.  Katie brought her kid, too, so everyone was cooing over her.  Katie’s coming back to work soon but we have to figure out child care.

Eventually everyone left and, well, here I am.  It was a pretty good night, and it’s nice to have something to do on Sunday that’s not listening to someone talk about things I don’t understand.

Okay!

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

I spent the day with Jack today.  Yesterday was a girl’s night, and tomorrow the “band” is coming over and we’re going to “practice” – though as bad as we are, it might end up being more of a K-on style tea party, but we’ll try anyway.

I really did appreciate how he took care of me on our camping trip.  I… really don’t know how to tell him how much I appreciate it.  Even spending some, umm, special time with him doesn’t really seem like enough.  It’s not like I didn’t think he loved me before that, I thought that he did, but this time he showed me and… honestly, I’m not sure what to do with it.  When I was out with him today, I was actually kind of giggly and blushy, to the point that he asked what was wrong with me.  I…  what could I say?  “I’m really in love with you right now?”

Well… that’s about all I could say, so I did.

It’s funny.  When you really like someone, you want to be around them, you want to make them happy… but when you really love someone, you’ll do almost anything to make them happy.  It’s actually scary how much power someone has over you when you feel that way about them.  There are limits to what I’d do, of course…  but those limits… sometimes they just feel like suggestions and I want to toss them out the window if it just means he’ll look at me that way.  It’s not that I didn’t feel that way before, but…  it’s different now.  It’s scary how different it is.

But he won’t take advantage of it.  He never has.  I don’t think it’d even occur to him.

Sometimes I wish he would.  But I’m glad he doesn’t.

Anyway, it was a really nice day, so we just went for a walk, and then we went for dinner.  He doesn’t really find all these really adventurous things to do anymore, and I don’t really mind.  There’s only so many fun places we can go, and it’s just nice spending some time with him.  This time we didn’t take Grace.  I love Grace.  Everyone loves Grace.  But I wanted some Jack time.  We didn’t go back to his place.  I really wanted to, but we both thought in my state of mind I might… take it too far.   So we didn’t.  I miss him that way, but…  maybe it’s for the best.

We haven’t gone to the waterpark in a while, though.  Maybe we can swing it when Ai and friends are over.  I told them to bring their swimsuits, just in case.  I asked them if they had those school swimsuits like in anime.  They said not exactly, but something close.  I said bring real swimsuits.  They laughed.

I also asked Ai to make sure they know about our customs regarding showers, etc.  I don’t really want a repeat of what happened last time Ai visited, where David got an eyeful and ended up asking some really awkward questions.  Now there will be five girls, and David’s, well…  getting a bit ramped up.  He knows better, but still, I’d rather avoid accidents.  In Japan girls will bathe together and all that stuff.  That would just be awkward here.  I know we make girl-piles but at least we’re all clothed!!!

Turns out that school uniforms are a little like the ones in anime, but not exactly.  The skirts are longer and more conservative in real life.  The colors are more drab and less flashy.  They don’t get as much accessorizing.  Japanese school admins are strict.  But anime?  Lie?  Never!!!

Anyway…  I’m kind of not looking forward to tomorrow.  I’m a little afraid of what we’re going to sound like.  It’s not going to be pretty.

Oh!  Sabby’s birthday is tomorrow too!  We’ll just have a little party after dinner.  She doesn’t really like it when we make a huge deal out of it, but she’s not getting away without anything.  Especially after that stunt they pulled for me…

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

I like Friday nights!!!

Yesterday I went over to the concert hall to talk to the conductor.  We talked about what piece to play, and I decided on Saint-Saens’ concerto #2.  He thought it was a good choice – it’s difficult but not so difficult I can’t play it, or at least learn it. He showed me a couple of the stickier spots.  I came home and found the sheet music online, and then I practiced so much I lost track of time.  I guess it’s back to all sorts of practice!  Aww.  Though I’ll need to take a break around Christmas time.

But I didn’t write because by the time Sabby told me to stop and go to bed, it was late, so I went to bed.

Anyway, most of the girls are over tonight.  We had lots of pizza and chocolate, and we’re about to brush each others’ hair.  Not a whole lot to talk about, everything’s pretty normal right now.  For once.

Ai’s break starts Dec. 18th, so she’ll be coming here with her friends around that day.  It’s in about a week!  Yay!!!  They’ll be staying until after New Years, so lots of fun will be had!!!  Yuki’s really looking forward to spending some time with the Aidols, they seem to get along well in video chats.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And it was a pretty quiet day.

I like quiet days.

There are some days when all sorts of fun stuff happens, and some days when all sorts of not fun stuff happens, and then days like this, where not too much happens.  And that’s fine.  We need those kinds of days.  It was really nice outside today, so there’s that.

You know, I don’t really understand it when people get jealous of me.  I know I’ve said it before.  Yes, a lot of good things happened to me, I guess.  I don’t need to worry about how to pay for college, at least.  I have some skills that have gained me a little…  I don’t know what to call it.  Notoriety?  I’ve got all the friends and family a girl could possibly want, and I keep finding more.  My stomach is full, my mind is full, my heart is full.

And all at the low, low cost of all of my memories and apparently personality from before the age of fourteen.

And I still don’t know if it was worth the price.

So don’t be jealous of me.  I don’t like it when people are jealous of me.  Heck, I should be jealous of them!  They have something I’m like 99.999 percent sure I’ll never get back and it’s gone forever.  Was it a good trade?  Maybe it even was.  But that’s not important.  It doesn’t matter if it was a good trade.

So here I am.  I’m playing all the cards I’m dealt.  I’ve been dealt some good cards over the past four years.  And before that?  Ummm…

I’m going to the concert hall in the next couple of days to take a tour and have a conversation with the conductor.  He gave me a few pieces to listen to, and there’s one that really struck me.  I think I’ll choose that one.  But I’ll tell you which one it is later.  It’s beautiful and not awful technically.  Musically, it’s really hard, but I think I’m up for it.  And I have to learn how to use the sostenuto pedal.  Awww.

I think he would have let me choose whatever, but I really like this one.

I wish I could play Rachmaninoff’s third concerto, but that one’s going to be beyond my reach for a very long time.  I’m good.  I’m not anywhere near that good.

I’ll give you a hint.  It’s a well-known composer, but not a famous one.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And I have NEWS!!!

Okay, so remember that thing I did this spring, where I played a piano concerto with a high school orchestra?

Well, a real orchestra wants me to do a concert with them!!!!

HUUHHHHHH?????

So I guess someone saw me playing on YouTube, and then found out my story – you know, lost memories, all that – and thought that would make a really great pull for their orchestra.  You know, girl with no memories before 14 plays concert-level piano… 

I had a talk with the conductor earlier today, he even came over and listened to me play a little.  He wants to do it, and I have a few months to practice.  OMG.  We’re going to talk about what piece to perform and all that.  It can’t be anything too difficult because, well, I’m not really a pro, but we have a few doable ideas to toss around.  Not every piece is horrifically complex.  It pays too, but honestly, it’s not a lot of money, and I have plenty, so I’ll find a good unselfish use to put it to.  No way could I command the salary of a real pro.  But that’s alright.  I know how this works.  It’s partly my story they’re selling, I just have to not suck.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

And that kind of experience can’t hurt me getting into a good college too, right???

It won’t hurt, anyway, I guess.

So I guess it’s back to practice, practice, practice.  Sabby’s already facepalming, but she knows I need to do it.  And maybe it’ll be a good example for Crystal, too.

I told Liz and Yuki… Liz isn’t at all surprised, but Yuki…  she really seems to look up to me.  She started calling me senpai.  I had to put a stop to that, but, still…  a famous Japanese idol… looking up to me.  Not gonna lie, it makes me feel pretty good.

Oh, and speaking of Liz… she has a recital coming up too, her last one before college, and she wants me to accompany her too.  And I promised to accompany Beth…  it’s gonna be a busy few months.  But I don’t have to do any more practice than usual until we all decide which pieces we’re going to play.  Liz is looking at something pretty difficult, so…  oh well.  We’ll deal.

And most of that can wait till after Christmas.

OMG the aidols are hilarious.  They are so looking forward to coming to Texas, we were all on a video call and they started trying to speak Japanese with a Texan accent, and, well… it didn’t work.  But it didn’t last too long either, they only got out a few sentences before they collapsed in giggles.  My Japanese isn’t fluent, but it’s good enough we can talk fairly well.  Their English isn’t great… but then most Japanese peoples’ English isn’t good at all.  Even though they get years of lessons.  Go fig.

Am… I going to be a professional musician?

This keeps up, and maybe whether I want to or not.

I’m taking all the girls Christmas shopping this weekend.  That should be lots of fun.  Of course they’re paying for their own stuff, but I’ll be the taxi.  I don’t mind.  I love shopping with them.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Sharekoube…