Category: Diary

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Well.. they’re not in-laws yet.  But what should I call them?  mother-in-law-in-waiting?  I dunno.  There’s no real name for your boyfriends’ parents, is there?

But they invited me over for dinner.  He might be grounded, but they let me come visit.  They…  didn’t go anywhere, so it was just dinner – we couldn’t spend any time together alone.

That’s alright, I suppose.  Really it is.

He apologized to me.

I’m still not entirely sure he knew what for, but his parents said they’d raised him to be more respectful of both religions and women, and he failed with both with one joke.  I told them that I wouldn’t really have minded if it weren’t for the place.  They understood, but their point stood.  And… they weren’t wrong, really.  I told them about the pastor’s visit and they said that was very nice of him.

They’ve had bad experiences with Christians, but that impressed them.  A little, anyway.

Anyway, they made a nice, light Chinese dish, and it was delicious, as usual.  Lots of vegetables and rice and a light umami sauce.

Grace looked so confused.  We were talking about things that she didn’t understand.  But eventually she just tore into her food, sneaking bites of beef to Lily (the dog), and…  it was nice.

They’re starting to look at houses now that the prices are going down.  His father isn’t sure he can get a loan – that’s really tightened up – but he’s going to try.  That’s good.  They need a house.

Okay!!!  I got home a little late, and it’s late!  So goodnight!  Marie says goodnight too!!!  And cat doesn’t care.  She made that clear.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Well, the fallout from Easter Sunday is mostly over.  Jack’s still grounded.  He will be for a while.  But we’re still talking over text and in our group chat, so… I guess it’ll be okay.  I told our gorup chat what he did (after warning him, of course).  They all fell over laughing.

It was funny.  I never said otherwise.  In fact, it was so funny I had to leave the sanctuary and whooped it up in the hallway.  Any other time I woulda thought it was the best thing ever.  After everyone stopped typing “HAHAHAHAHAHA” into the group chat, it calked down a bit, but now everyone likes him.  Haha!!!

Anyway, enough about that, I suppose.

Beth’s in a bit of trouble, too.  But not the really bad kind.  Just the “learning experience” kind.  She spent some time with her mentor today over at the lab, and they had her help run an experiment.

She completely messed the experiment up.  It’s a complete loss.  They have to start from scratch.

But they were smart and gave her an experiment that they didn’t have to work too hard to replicate.  She’s still pretty upset, but it’s a learning experience, and Dave just told her you don’t know what not to do until you do it and it fails.  So no one has any sympathy for her, but her mentor isn’t all that upset about it.  When Sabby asked her what she learned from it, she said she learned that she doesn’t know all that much about science, and the importance of experimental protocols.

None of us but Dave know that “experimental protocols” are, but Beth thinks they’re really important now.  She’s probably right.

It was a really nice day today!  Really nice!  Dave grilled tonight!  We pigged out.  It was a good night.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And the honeymoon’s over!

Well… figuratively, anyway.

Jack and I had a long talk tonight.  He’s grounded, but they’re letting him chat with me online, anyway.  They seem to like me, so they don’t want to get in our way too much.  Jack did enough of that himself!

He’s…  not doing too great.

He thought he lost me.

Well, he didn’t.  If he keeps that kind of thing up then we’ll have some problems, but he didn’t.  So I told him that.  I told him that I chose him from the beginning, I’m sticking with him, and if he does that again we’re going to have some problems.

I’m still not entirely sure he knows what he did wrong.  See, he wasn’t raised with church.  He rarely goes to church.  He doesn’t understand church.  And, well, I haven’t always been the best role model, either.  I mean, remember what I did at the beginning, getting caught checking a waifu game, and rocking out to babymetal?  I don’t think he realized that people go there for a reason, and that people like to hear what the pastor has to say.

(sometimes I don’t understand why, but that’s still what church is for).

After a little while I think I finally got through to him a little bit.

But I don’t think he’s going to go to church with me again for a while.

And truthfully…  I’m okay with that.  He’s welcome, but if that’s how it has to be for now, then, well, that’s how it has to be.

I told him it was an immature joke.

He countered that I thought it was funny.

I countered back that I can be immature too, but not in church.

He told me he didn’t think I took it that seriously.

I told him I sometimes didn’t, but they’re like my family in some ways, and they’re how I found Dave and Sabby, and how Crystal got help several times, and how Beth found her mentor, and other things besides.

I wonder if he realized all the stuff they’ve done for me, even though I’m not always the most grateful.

Well, he’d better.

But he hasn’t lost me.

I’m still going to marry that clown someday.  And we’ll have lots of kids, and they’ll do what Jack did and he’ll understand then.

Anyway… I think we’re okay.  he’s still grounded, though.  We’re not going on dates for a few weeks.  Sigh.  I’ll miss him.

Maybe he’ll get some time off for good behavior.

Anyway, gotta run.

BTW speaking of mentor, Beth spent the day with her mentor.  She learned a lot, I hear.  Like how to write grant papers and where the best coffee on campus is.  You know, the important things!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

So…  today was unexpected.

I said very little to Sabby today as well.  She seemed to want to talk but I didn’t.  Was I right to run out of the room laughing like I did?  No, of course not.  It was rude and disrespectful.  I know that.  But it was also not something I could help.  Jack was real instigator.  Sorry, Jack.  But it’s true.  He didn’t have to say that.  It was really funny, obviously it was, but he didn’t have to say that, and honestly, he shouldn’t have.  Or at least he should have waited.

I still love him but he deserved his grounding.

But that’s not the interesting thing that happened today.

The pastor stopped by, around dinnertime.

Sabby seemed a bit flustered – she wasn’t expecting him, and the house is a little bit cluttered.  He didn’t seem to care about all that, though.  He wanted to talk to me and Sabby.

I was a little nervous.  I was afraid he was going to scold me.

He didn’t, though.

He told Sabby he hoped she wasn’t too mad at me.

I was, honestly, surprised.  Sabby seemed a little annoyed, but after all, it’s the pastor…  she at least heard him out.

He said that church is supposed to be our family, not a place where everyone takes everything seriously and can’t have any fun.  He said he wished that I had chosen a slightly different time to get the giggles, but that it gave him a chance to finally tell that priest and rabbi joke, and it was the most exciting Easter he ever had.

Sabby countered that I was very disrespectful and that I embarrassed her a great deal, and that Jack’s comment was completely inappropriate.

The pastor didn’t actually know what Jack said.  So Sabby told him.

He snickered just a bit, and that just annoyed Sabby further.

“I understand, Sabrina”, he said – he always uses her full name for some reason.  “But maybe you could stand to have your pride punctured a bit.”

Sabby looked like she was going to blow up… then deflated.

“Don’t do that again,” she said to me.

“I wasn’t planning on doing it the first time,” I retorted.

“Be yourself”, the pastor said to me.  “If that means I have to come up with a joke on Easter Sunday… well… I guess I’ll manage.  Don’t do it on purpose, though.  Alright?”

I nodded.

“We’re family,” he said.  “Sometimes with family, you take the bad along with the good.”  He patted me on the shoulder and ruffled my hair a little bit.  Then he stood up and took his leave.

After the door closed, Sabby looked at me, an unreadable expression on her face.

“I was a little hard on you.”

“You were.”

“You deserved it.”

“Maybe a little.  Not that much.”

She sighed.  “Maybe not that much.”

She moved over to me and gave me a big hug.

“If Jack does that again you won’t be allowed to see him until you’re thirty.”

“If Jack does that again, that’s a very real possibility.”

“Don’t be too hard on him.  He’s a boy.”

I sighed.  “He is.  But he knows what’s important to me.  He should know better.”

“Boys sometimes do things even though they know better.”

“I guess”, I said, a little dejected.  I hadn’t talked to much to Jack today.  I know he got in big trouble and I didn’t want to make it worse.  Truth is, his parents have been very tolerant of our being together, much moreso than most parents would, and Jack really messed that up.  I don’t know whether I want to pile on, or just let his mother have the final word.  Maybe we should talk about it a little, anyway.

I’m not really angry with him or anything.  But… Sabby was right.  His mother was right too.  That was disrespectful.  I’m not really religious, and I know Jack isn’t either.  But most people in that room were, and…  and we should respect that.

Sabby went back to making dinner, and I… I just kind of sat in my room and thought for a while.  I love Jack.  I still want to marry him someday.  But… but that’s the first time I’d ever seen him actually be immature.  And I don’t really like it.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And Sabby is PISSED.

Partly at me, but.. well, let me tell you the story.

So this morning we got up at stupid-o’clock, showered and got into our nice spring clothes (Beth was super cranky).  Jack came over along with one of his parents (the other stayed with Grace because it was too early for her), and, well, we went to services.

The church is oriented so that the sun comes through a big stained glass window in the morning, so in the middle of the service the building just exploded into light.  It was really pretty, I have to say that.  A lot of people gasped.

The pastor proclaimed “He is risen!”

And Jack whispered in my ear, “Me too”.

I… got a giggle fit.  I couldn’t help it.  I started snickering, then finally got up from the pew, ran out, and burst out laughing as soon as the door closed into the sanctuary.  I just sat there for a whole five minutes giggling.  Then, when I finally got myself together, I walked back in.

The pastor stopped what he was saying, looked at me, and said “I know another good one, Lily…  a priest and a rabbi walked into a bar”, and he proceeded to tell a slightly off-color but admittedly funny joke.

I was beet red. I sat back down in my seat and glared at Jack, who at least had the decency to look ashamed.

I was embarrassed throughout the rest of the service.

After the service, we went outside, and Sabby rounded on me.  “What was that about, Lily?”

“Ummm.. Jack said something funny to me.”

“And what, pray tell, was so funny that you ran out of the sanctuary and started whooping laughing?”

“You heard that?”

“The whole sanctuary did.  Now what was so funny?”

I looked at Jack helplessly.  “Ummm..  the pastor said ‘He is risen'”

Jack spoke up.  Bless him.  “And I whispered ‘me too’ in her ear”.  He turned as red as I was in the sanctuary.

Sabby frowned.  Jack’s mother frowned harder.  “Come here,” she said to Jack, and, well…  I didn’t quite make out what they were saying because Sabby was laying into me, but he was getting it.  Hard.

“At… at least I ran out of the sanctuary,” I said.  “I couldn’t help it.”

She sighed.  “No, Jack started that.  Maybe.. maybe it’s best if you don’t come to church anymore,” she said.  “You just don’t take it seriously.”

I looked at her.  “You wanted me to go.  I didn’t want to go.  I go because of you, and because they’re family in a way.  Now you’re embarrassed of me?”

“Yes, Lily, I am.  You embarrassed me.” She looked over at Jack.  “I think he’ll be lucky if he’s ungrounded before he turns 18.”

He waved at me meekly and got spun around to get told off some more.

And we went home.

‘I haven’t said another word to Sabby all day.  Not one.  I didn’t ask Jack to do that!  I couldn’t help it that it was so funny!  He shouldn’t have, but he did, and now she’s blaming me and telling me I embarrassed her?  Well I embarrassed me too!!!  She’s not being fair!  It’s not like I really want to go to church!  I do it because I respect her!!!

And now she doesn’t respect me.

Jack’s grounded.  We’re not going to see each other for a little while, I guess.  It’s not just because of his joke, it’s… well… because of what he implied.  In church, too!!!

Figures.  It’s all a mess now.

Love you all.  Maybe you still respect me, anyway.

I guess.

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

This will be really short because I don’t have a lot of time.  We’re going to sunrise services tomorrow (seriously, who came up with THAT idea?) so we have to be up at, as Dave puts it, stupid o’clock.  But we went shopping today for Easter dinner – it’ll be a feast!  I like feasts!!!  I asked Sabby if we’re going to roast the bunny.  She didn’t think it was funny.

Well, I did!

And HEB was crowded!  All sorts of people buying food for tomorrow!!!

Jack’s coming along too.  He grumbled a bit, but I told him he gets to see me in my pretty spring dress, and that was enough.  Hey, if I have to, my boyfriend can be there with me, right?

Liz told me to buzz off, though.

Hahaha!!!

She gets cranky when you mess with her sleep!!!

Beth and I did go to Emiko’s place for a little while today. She had a pretty good time.  Emiko had some Japanese food, and they got to know Beth a little.  But we couldn’t spend a lot of time because it’s a long drive, and, as I mentioned, we had stuff to do.

Anyway…

Love you all!!! ❤

HI! It’s me! Lily!

And it rained more today!

A LOT more!!!

It rained so much fish were drowning!

Hahaha!!!

It was a frog-strangler!!!

But the rain is mostly gone now and tomorrow should be really nice.  Maybe the grass will grow more.  Dave will have to go out with his string thingy and chop weeds down.  He doesn’t really like doing yard work, but he says that comes with the suburban life, so…  yard work it is.

But maybe he’ll wait till Sunday so the grass will dry out a bit.

He’s smart that way.

The rain was kind of nice – it wasn’t like yesterday with lots of booms and cracks and rumbles, it was just rain today mostly.  Just all day.  Awww.  Marie liked it though!  A whole bunch of new smells!!!  The rest of us were kind of blah.  I took Beth to classes today and…  people here can’t drive in the rain!!!  I can’t let Beth drive because her license needs someone over 21, so I drove.  Caaaaarefulllllyyyy!!!  I also went to see the accountant – it was also boring.  I just handed him a bunch of papers, receipts, etc., and he asked a lot of questions. I think he was a little upset because I’m a teenager, but…  he got over it.  Sabby was there to, and she used her patented #3 glare.  I guess he had to!  He’ll be submitting them next week.  Aww.

Other than that, it was a mostly boring day.  I went over to Liz’s tonight and I’m sleeping over.  Beth has the girls over too.  Liz is a bit chatty tonight – she’s usually pretty quiet but she seems like she’s in a good mood.  Maybe it’s because she’s getting regularly kissed by her boyfriend!!!  Hahaha!!!

But tonight it’s about pizza and chocolate and board games and best friends.

Which is what it’s all about anyway, don’t you think?

Beth and I are going to Houston tomorrow to see Emiko.

Okay!  It’s nearly bedtime, and hair needs brushing!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

HI! It’s me! Lily!

And we got MORE rain!  Rain!  And booms!  And rain!  And more booms!  Marie got her little feet wet when we took her on a walk!

And I got wet when running!  Awww!!!

It’s not common to get this much rain, but we did!!!  And it’s a good rain too!  The kind that will make grass and trees and flowers happy!!!

Sabby’s doing Easter baking!!!  And she’s really going nuts, as she usually does!  And this time she has baker to help!!!  And she gets to sell the excess!!! So she’s happy!  But it’s amazing all the stuff she can make!!!

The store is closed on Sunday, but she told the cat-girls to tone it down for this week.  They’re supposed to wear pretty spring dresses.  Apparently cat-girl was pouting, until Sabby told her she can wear bunny ears.  That made her happy again.

I don’t understand cat-girl.  She only seems to be happy when she’s dressed up – or, more often than not, undressed-up.

But as with everything, cat-girl turned it up to 11.  She put on a little frilly cap, and a pretty spring dress, and stockings and patent leather shoes, and was skipping around the shop humming to herself.  It was cute, I have to admit.  And, of course, bunny ears.

Cat-girl’s not a bad person.  She’s got a big heart.  But she’s…  I dunno.  A little strange sometimes.

Cat-girl wanted live bunnies.  That’s where Sabby drew the line.  And it’s pretty clear why.  Live animals and food don’t mix.

Anime-girl likes her skintight outfits, but she said it was nice to wear something loose and breezy once in a while.

Everything’s humming along.

I have an appointment with the accountant tomorrow to do our business taxes.  I’m not looking forward to that!  I’m good at payroll, but taxes are best left to a professional.  Awww.  An expensive professional.

Diana and Crystal do Easter.  None of my other friends do.  Ai’s Japanese, so not Christian.  Rebecca is…  umm…  secular, though I think Robert goes to church like twice a year, and maybe Easter is one of those days.  Liz is Chinese.  Emiko… I never actually asked her.  She’s very respectful of Japanese religion, obviously, but I’m not sure what she actually believes.  But it’s okay.  We do what we do, and they do what they do.  And we do Easter.

Okay!  Goodnight!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

We got some booms this morning!

And we’re getting more booms tonight!

Boom boom!  hahaah!!!

But it’s okay.  We need the rain.

Beth seems a lot happier.  And she’s starting voice lessons too!!!  She seems to like them!!!  Her voice is really untrained but she can carry a tune.  That’s good!  I catch her singing along to Babymetal sometimes.  “Namida koborete mo…”  She doesn’t sound like Su-metal, but not many people do, I guess.

We added Jack into our group chat.  The rest of the girls didn’t mind.  I told them he was pretty cool, but not to post pictures of bikinis!  I think Rebecca turned red!  haha!  She can blush!!!  They all tell me how hot he is.  They always say that!  Remember when Beth met him and she squeaked and ran up the stairs?  He looks like a k-pop star!! Haha!!! I guess I’m lucky.  But he thinks he’s lucky too, and isn’t that the best way to be?

Beth’s been chatting with her boy every night!  I think she’s really besotted!  Yay Beth!  But I told her that he shouldn’t get in the way of her studies.  She just looked at me like I grew a third head, then reminded me that nothing can get in the way of her studies.  Oops.  Silly me.

This weekend I’m going to see Emiko!  And Beth’s coming along!  Yaay!!

Marie needs a walk!!!  And I should while it’s dry!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Well…  Dang.  It looks like Sabby took me seriously after all.  I kinda knew she would eventually, she just takes things a bit personally sometimes.

She put some feelers out to her network at church, she wanted to see if anyone else had a similar thing to deal with.  They didn’t, but apparently there’s some kind of scientist over at UT Austin there, and she agreed to come over and talk to Beth and see what could be done.

So, tonight she came over.

Beth and her talked.  A lot.  Beth asked a bunch of questions about science and physics and all sorts of stuff, and the scientist had a bunch of answers.  At the end of it, she agreed to take Beth under her wing.  Beth is now “officially” an apprentice.  It’s not like the middle ages, where there was a formal apprenticing agreement, but she made Beth promise to do what she says (when it comes to science, of course) and in return she’ll take her to classes with her sometimes and let her help run experiments, that kind of thing.

Beth was over the moon.

She cautioned Beth that science is boring sometimes, but she’ll make sure Beth learns a lot.

I’ve never seen Beth so happy.  She’ll have to figure out how to work around classes, though, she still needs to do that and Sabby wouldn’t hear otherwise.

I asked the scientist if she knew anything about what had happened at the Pickle labs, you know, with my previous adoptive parents.  I didn’t forget about that!  She said that she’d heard some rumblings about some kind of accident in a top-secret area, but since it’s top-secret, she didn’t know too much other than that it happened.

I asked her if she could find out anything.

She said it’s top-secret so she doesn’t even dare ask.

But that’s something, right?

I’m happy for Beth!!!

I’m not jealous, either.  I don’t think I’d find that fun.  And besides, I have that business I co-own with Sabby.  You know, the cookie place that has turned into a Japanese tourism hotspot?  We’ve got one or two Japanese tourists coming around a month now!  It’s weird!!!  But they love cat-girl!!!  And they buy a lot of cookies!  Especially after baker started putting cute animal faces on them!!!

We had one Japanese girl come by dressed as a Japanese school girl!  We told her it was a great costume!  She said it wasn’t a costume, she really is a Japanese schoolgirl!  I asked her why she wore her uniform into a store in Round Rock, then.

She blushed, and said that while it’s her uniform, it’s not her uniform here, so it doubles as cosplay!

Can’t argue with that, I guess.

Some photos of our business turned up on Japanese Twitter, and now all the Japanese people are saying things like “kawaii!” and “I want to eat!” and “cat-girl is so cute!”.  That’s kinda cool, amongst all the hamsters!

Okay!

Love you all!!! ❤