This diary entry is part 5 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 23 - May 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

So today was hot and humid.  I mean, soupy hot and humid.  The weather was clear and hazy, and..  hot!!!

But not anymore!  Storms are coming!!!  And they’ll be here soon!  I already let Marie out, so let it storm!!!

Liz is over tonight.  Beth is over at Crystal’s house with Diana, so it’s just Liz and I.  I don’t mind.  I’m supposed to be grounded, but…  I’m not sure what I’m grounded from.  I can have Liz over, I really don’t go out with friends and do lots of stuff… I can’t really see Jack but we talk a lot online, so…  nothing really changed.  I guess it’s just the principle of the thing.

Anyway, the booms are coming closer.  Liz seems a little nervous, I might have to be her big teddy bear tonight.  I don’t mind.  She was my little china doll a couple days ago.

I love Liz.  Did I tell you that?  I do.  She and I aren’t really alike in some ways, we are in others, but we’ve been there for each other ever since we met a couple of years ago.  Remember when she was so upset at her parents and that led to them kind of informally adopting me?  Her home life got at least a little better after that.  And remember how I accompanied her at her concert?  She really appreciated that.  And how I wouldn’t have met Jack if it weren’t for her?  She’s always been really understanding when it came to my spending time with Jack.  I wonder why everyone’s so understanding, actually.  Maybe it’s a Chinese thing.  But we’re always there for each other and she’s my best friend.  And I’ll have other friends and half-sisters and friends of half-sisters and all sorts of things, but she’ll always be, if not my best friend, one of my best friends.  She’s like a sister I get to choose, and those are the best kinds.  Don’t you think.

Oh crap, that boom was loud.  Liz whimpered a little.  She’s a little bit afraid of storms, especially big ones like this one.  I guess I need to go do my teddy bear duties now.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 4 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 23 - May 2023

Hi! It’s me! Darth Lily!

Haha!!!

Apparently today is May 4th, Which, because 4th sounds like force, is Star Wars day!

I watched Star Wars with the family a while ago.

It’s an okay movie.  But I don’t understand why people nerd out about it so much.

Darth Vader is scary though!

David was running around swinging a wooden stick like a lightsaber and going “buzz buzz”.  He wanted to have a lightsaber war with me but I just looked at him.  He went off to find Beth.

She wasn’t any more up to it.

Dave took pity on him and they were clanking and buzzing all over the house, until Sabby told them to cut it out.

It’s getting warm now!  And it looks like no storms tonight after all.  Aww.  But considering one down south that’s dropping baseballs, well, may be better off.  Hail isn’t anything to mess with!!!

Oh! I didn’t tell you!  The car started!!!  We had to run it at a certain RPM so that it would seat the rings, but now it’s fine!  We just have to break it in a little.  I whooped when it started!!!

And now I know how an engine works.  Way, way too well, actually.  It was fun.  I kind of enjoyed it.  I don’t think I want to do it again.  Dave said that’s fine, at least I got the experience.  Being a mechanic isn’t for me!  But at least I’ll know when some mechanic’s trying to cheat me because I’m pretty.

I’m not an airhead!!!

I don’t know too many airheads.

Well, one, anyway.

Even cat-girl… she’s, ummm…  cat-girl, but she’s pretty smart.  She just really like to, well, use her body for things, and I guess she does pretty well with it.  I mean, after all, we hire her, right?  She said she has one of those, well, accounts.  I told her I didn’t want to know.  She said I could probably make a lot of money.  I told her I already make plenty of money, and besides, I’m seventeen, what is she trying to imply?  She hasn’t brought it up again.  Cat-girl is cat-girl, but she’s also an employee, so…  have to be careful.  Or so they tell me.

Speaking of money…  the shop is still doing well.  But not quite as well as it was.  I guess we’re a bit of a victim of the economic downturn too.  But people still stop by in the morning on the way to work, and Mother’s Day is coming up too, and we’re doing pretty brisk business with cake orders and stuff.  So, it could be worse.  We’re doing alright.  But Sabby and I are having lots of talks about where to take the business next.  Guess we’ll see.

Alright.  Bedtime. Marie’s whining and wants to go out before bed.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 3 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 23 - May 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

I guess I’m feeling a little better.  I’m still pretty down but life goes on, I guess.  It happens.

We got the engine mostly connected back up today, just a little more work to do.  But it’s not too hard.  Just a lot of getting idirty and tightening bolts and plugging in pluggy things.  I practiced a lot today, though I guess my heart wasn’t in it, I still have to do it.  Went to classes with Beth, stopped over at the shop (Katie gave me a big hug), and went to the doctor.  Yeah, Sabby got me an emergency appointment and, well…  no babies happening now.

The way she put it is “you know the rules but you’re teenagers and I’m not going to be a grandmother before my time.”

Sigh.  Oh well.  I hear it helps with zits.

I kind of argued saying we didn’t do anything that would be a really high risk, but I kind of knew how stupid it was when it came out of my mouth.  I mean, after all.

Oh well.

Ai’s gushing about Golden Week.  Apparently she went to fireworks with the guy she’s interested in, and he held her hand and gave her a headpat.  I don’t know what it is about Japanese girls and headpats, but it seemed to mean a lot to her.

I told Rebecca and her friends about all the goings on on the groupchat, and she was kind of quiet.  They seem impressed that I can rebuild an engine though.  She’s really not the type to get her perfectly manicured hands dirty.  I think Britni might, though.

Anyway… life goes on, I suppose.  Life always goes on.

I don’t know what it is about the weather this year, but more storms tomorrow.  At this rate, the drought will be gone!  Wow!!!

Liz is over tonight.  It’s a school night so no games or fun, but she thought I needed a little Chinese doll to hug tonight… and darned if she’s not right.  I’d usually get a smack for that, but she knows how I’m feeling, so she’s going with it tonight.

Okay, bedtime.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 2 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 23 - May 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Maybe…  maybe it’s that time of the month.  Maybe it’s all the events that happened over the past few days.  Maybe…  maybe a lot of things.  But I’ve been depressed today.

I’m not usually depressed.  I’m a pretty happy girl!  But I’m pretty depressed right now.  I don’t really feel like doing anything.  I just want to sit here and be a lily-vegetable.  Maybe a hamster would find me tasty?

But life… it kinda sucks right now.

Ai doesn’t think so, though.  It’s golden week in Japan and they’re having a good time!  She’s told me about all the fun stuff they’re doing, like fireworks and festivals.  She gorged herself on takoyaki.  Don’t blame her, it’s pretty good.

Beth gave me a hug today.  She told me that after seeing the last couple of days…  she’s not sure she wants a boyfriend.  She still has that guy she likes and she’s still dating him, but she doesn’t want Dave and Sabby as angry with her as they were with me. I don’t blame her.  I don’t want that either.

Jack and I need to have a long talk.  I’m not leaving him!  Perish the thought!  But… we still need to have a long talk.  But I’m waiting until I’m not depressed.  I’m in no mood for that kind of discussion right now.

Even if I’m depressed, life goes on, though, I guess.  We got the engine back in the car.  We’ll put all the stuff back on it over the next couple of days, then see if it starts!

And I have a rehearsal with the orchestra leader in a couple of weeks, so… no time for depression I guess.  Practicing to be done.

Okay.  The wall’s not going to stare at itself.

Love you all!!! ❤

… but not really loving me all that much right now.

This diary entry is part 1 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 23 - May 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And boy, what an awful day.

First of all, Sabby read my diary last night, and I got another long talk, but for a different reason.  She was upset because I said that I was afraid that they’d, well… drop me.  You know, annul the adoption.  Or just kick me out.  She and Dave sat me down and told me that no matter how much I screw up that will never, ever happen.  Dave said that he was so angry with me because I’m his daughter, and no daughter of his is going to behave that irresponsibly and get away with it.

Sometimes I feel like I’m easily thrown away, I guess.  Because, well… I was.  Twice.

But it’s always nice to hear them say it.

So…  things are settling down a bit.  Jack said his parents had a long talk with him too, and…  well, they see things a bit differently, but told him that if he ever does get me pregnant he’d damn well better see it through, and they’re not going to bail him out.  Actually, his parents have been pretty consistent about that.  They were nice about it, but…  they’ve always been pretty clear about where the line is.  We didn’t cross it, but… too close, I guess.

And I was getting a little uncomfortable too…

Anyway, I’m still grounded, but I guess things are okay now.  Dave and Sabby didn’t apologize, but they did say they were probably a little hard on me.  Seems to be a pattern lately.  But I guess it’s because they care about me.  That’s something, I suppose.

Anyway, after all that, we went to classes, and this evening we got a lot farther putting the engine together.  It’s almost ready to put back in the car.

It was a rough weekend, though.  I’m fighting off a bit of depression, too. Maybe it’s just, well… you know.  But maybe it’s… events, too.  Sigh.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 28 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 22 - April 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And I’ve got some adulty stuff to talk about tonight, so if you’re not adulty, please go watch Disney or something.

I…  got in trouble.  Dave is mad at me.  Dave has never been mad at me.  So… let’s start from the beginning.

I was late.

Late for what?  Well.. .you know.  Late.  Miss Flo isn’t on time.  My monthly visitor got stuck at the konbini and is starting at the pizza displays.  However you want to put it… I’m late  Or at least I was.

Now, let’s get one thing out of the way.  I’m not… you know.  Pregnant.  I went and got a test, and… it’s negative.  I’m told these things happen sometimes.  That’s not why I’m in trouble.

I’m in trouble because I didn’t tell Sabby I was getting the test, and, well, she found the test.  She was cleaning my bathroom and found it in the trash.

And… oh my God.

No one expects the Sabby inquisition.

She yelled at me, Dave yelled at me, everyone yelled at me for being irresponsible and for getting myself in this situation in the first place and if I really was then they’d wring my neck and reanimate my body so I could have the body and wring my neck again, and Dave told me he told me not in his house and I’d better not be giving him grandkids before my time and he doesn’t care how much money I have and how successful I am, we don’t do that.

I was crying hysterically at that point and told them Jack never, well… put tab A in slot B and the risks were very low, but..  but not zero and I was scared too, and…

and Dave just walked up the stairs and slammed the door to his room.

Sabby followed him up, but not before giving me the most disappointed look she’s ever given me.

I’ve never felt so alone.  Well, I have, but not recently.  But it’s close.

I actually called up Katie and told her.  She was very comforting.  She said that I’m probably just late, but if I’m not, then we can have a baby shower together, and…  and I broke down again.

She felt really bad.

I didn’t even write last night.  I just went to bed crying.  Sabby came in a little later, told me she’s still disappointed in me, and then let me cry on her chest.

She has a lot of chest to cry on.

This morning, well..  Flo finally visited.

I cried with relief.

Dave sat me down and had a very long talk with me.  I told him everything Jack and I did (editing for father, of course) and that we were following everyone’s rules.  He said, if I feel like there’s a risk of being pregnant, the rules aren’t good enough, and he’s going to have a talk with Jack’s parents.

Jack didn’t even know.

I didn’t even tell him.

Well, he does now.

I don’t know if I’m going to get to see Jack again before we’re married.

I’m pretty sure we’re never going to do, well, that again until we’re married.

That was scary.  Very, very scary.

I’m the one who’s grounded now.  And Sabby said it’s not even because of all the stuff we did, it’s because I wasn’t really honest with her and didn’t tell her what was going on, and that that’s not the kind of thing you mess around with and keep secret from your parents.

Jack…  knows better than to say too much about it.  He just said he’s glad I’m not, he’s not really to be a dad, but if I were then he’d do the right thing.  That makes me feel a little better… but it doesn’t.  He would.  I know he would.  But neither of us are old enough to know what the right thing is.  As proven by, well, me getting in over my head.

Dave’s still pretty angry with me, but he seems to be getting over it.  If that happens again, though…  they might rethink the whole adoption thing, I think.  They didn’t say that… but I think.

That would be worse than anything.

Jack’s parents aren’t angry.  They knew what was going on, and Dave was pretty upset with them about it.  I heard him saying pretty loudly into his phone something like “Jack’s not the one who’d be spending nine months carrying a baby and..” and that’s all I heard.  He’s right, I guess.  He’s not. 

I… ummm…  I guess I’m going to bed now.

Chocolate’s not gonna fix this.

Love you all…

This diary entry is part 26 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 22 - April 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

We got the heads on!!!

Doing engine work isn’t really that hard.  It just means you have to be really careful and have insane attention to detail.  We stuck on the head gasket and stuck the heads in, and had to torque down the bolts in a very specific order using a special tool that goes “click”.  Now I understand why Dave keeps saying “click” when he tightens a bolt!  Hahaha!  That always seemed silly!!!

Well, it’s still silly, but at least it makes sense now.

It stormed quite a bit last night!  Boom!  Flash!  Haha!  But we got a bit of rain, and that’s always nice.  We can always use the rain, especially in Central Texas!!!  It’s always feast or famine here!  Well, flood or drought  You get the idea.  They got a lot of hail up north!!!

Grace invited me to her party officially!!! It’s this weekend!  She’ll be six!!!  She’s getting to be a big girl now!!!  She’ll get lots of presents because everyone loves Grace!!!

I…  I’m worried a little about something.  But I don’t really want to say.  I…

Umm…  I guess we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Love you all!!! ❤

 

This diary entry is part 25 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 22 - April 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And storms are coming!!!  I can see the flashes!!!  We’re getting a light show!!!

But that’s okay.  We need the rain.

We don’t have much room in the garage though, and we can’t move the car already in there because it doesn’t have an engine, so I just hope we don’t get hailed on!!!  That’d suck!!!  They really got it up north!!!

Well, weather’s gonna weather, I guess.

So the heads arrived today!!!  Yaayy!!!  We spent a part of the day getting the crank and pistons in.  It’s not *hard*, really.  We just put some bearings on with a bit of assembly oil, make sure they’re fit right, and then just fit the crank on and torque down the caps!!!  It’s pretty easy!  Just not something you can get away with messing up.  But we did it!

Then we flipped the engine over and put the pistons in!  We had to put the rings on (and there’s a certain way to do it), then there’s a tool called a ring compressor you put on the piston, and just tap it in!!!  Then you put a bearing on the rod, and torque that down too!  It’s not hard either!  It’s just something you can’t mess up!!!

But it’s fine.  We did it.  Everything’s good.  The crank spins and the pistons piston and everything’s cool!

We’ll put the heads on soon, and then we have to make sure everything’s all lined up!!!

Dave told me he’s proud of me for doing this.  I told him he didn’t give me much choice.  He said that’s true, but I did it anyway, and I’m doing a really good job, and he wants me to learn how to do this stuff so I don’t think it’s hard.  Plus mechanics like to take advantage of pretty girls like me and now they won’t be able to.

I won’t lie – I blushed a little when he called me pretty.  I mean I don’t like him that way, obviously, but every girl likes a compliment if the man giving the compliment actually means it.  Right?

And even if I did like him that way – which I don’t, I wouldn’t like him that way because I also love Sabby and I’m not an idiot or a jerk.

And I got Jack, who’s plenty for me.

And he’s my father.

ANYWAY, that’s done.  I did some practicing too, I have to memorize the concerto and know it backwards and forwards, and that’s hard because there are a lot of notes!  A lot of notes!  Especially towards the end!!!

But it’s not about the notes – it’s how they fit together.  So I can manage.

Okay!  I hear rumblies and I should let Marie out to do her business before we get pounded!  I wish dogs used litter boxes like cats!  But their stuff smells, so maybe better they don’t!  Haha!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Even if you’re silly-billies!  And you are!  Hahah!!!

This diary entry is part 24 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 22 - April 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And I had so much to do today!!!  It was so busy!!!

First of all, the block came back from the machinist!!!

They said they didn’t have to do much, they just resurfaced the mating surface with the head and rehoned the bores.  Everything was within spec otherwise.  They told us we were REALLY lucky.  So we got the block back on the engine stand, and now comes the hard part – putting the crank back in, and the pistons, and stuff.  We probably won’t get much into that until the weekend.  It’s kind of exacting work and too many other things to do.

The heads are still on order and should arrive in a couple of days.

So there’s that.

I also started practicing that piece in earnest.  It’s not too hard but there’s a lot of notes!!!  My teacher thinks I can do it but I’m going to need special lessons and a lot of practice!!!  I won’t say every day how much I practiced because that’s boring, but I have a rehearsal with the orchestra leader in a couple of weeks!!!  So I need to practice a LOT!!! I bet they’ll get tired of it!!!

Liz also has her recital coming up too and wants me to accompany her again!  I said yes, but I’ve got a lot going on, so we’ll have to find time where we can.  She said she’d pick something that didn’t need too much work on my part.  She’s such a good girl!!!

Hmm, what else.  I haven’t been spending a lot of time at the shop, I’ve got so much going on, but Sabby’s got it covered.  We actually are hiring the second baker now!!! Yay!!!  We’re looking for someone good at baking, but also making sandwiches and stuff.  Everything’s humming along!!!  Cat-girl and the Cosplay Crew are doing their thing, we’ve got even more Japanese tourists showing up and taking lots of pictures and buying lots of stuff, and…  it’s a little weird, actually.  How are they even finding us???

I guess never understimate the resourcefullness of Japanese people when it comes to sweets or cute things, right?

And, of course, Marie is being Marie.  Sniffing everything and wanting to sleep with me all the time.  It’s cute.

Maybe severe storms tomorrow!!! Awww!!!

Oh and we’re starting to plan the Japan trip too!  But more about that later.

Okay!

Love you all!!! ❤