Category: Diary

This diary entry is part 6 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 19 - January 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And it’s FRIDAY!!!

 I did payroll today and did all the financial stuff.  That’s my job!!!  Sabby double checks me but I have software that helps and she mostly just leaves me to it.  I just put in their hours and out pops paychecks!  It even handles direct deposit!  It’s great!!!  But we’ll have taxes to do for last year now!!!  We’re going to hire a real accountant for that!!!

Gotta give forms to everyone so they can file theirs, and send witholdings, and all that fun stuff!  It’s complicated!!!  But nothing we can’t handle.

I learned a lot at school!!!

But other than that…  Ai’s back home, and she’s happy to be home!!!  But she loved Texas too!  I mean, who doesn’t?  We’ve got a lot to love!  We’ve got.. BBQ and pizza and horses and cowgirl hats and boots and…  Clint, apparently!!!  haha!!!  She’s kinda heartbroken!  But that’s alright, they’ll figure it out, or not.  At least she got a kiss out of it!

Oh and she’s going to get a dog!!!  Turns out Hiroshi wants one too!  So they’re going to get a nice dog.  Maybe a shiba inu?  They’re cool dogs, and very smart too.  Or should I say, much smart very dog wow.

Jack and Crystal and Diana and Liz are back at school now, and next Monday I’m supposed to start doing some school stuff, though my ACC classes don’t start until like the 17th.  But right now, it’s Friday!

Honestly, though, I wanted a quiet Friday.  So Beth is up in her room with her friends, and Liz is over, but we’re just kinda taking it easy.  No big girl-pile tonight.  I’m just not in the mood.  I’m not depressed or anything like that, I’m just… well, we’ve done so much stuff over the past couple of weeks.  Christmas, New Years, Ai, all that stuff..  running around, getting presents, eating food, working at the shop…  just so much stuff.  I…  I’m just not in the mood.

I love my friends.  I do!  But…  I’m tired.

Liz can snuggle with me though if she wants.  She can always snuggle with me.  She’s my BFF.  I love her.

Okay, time for bed!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 4 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 19 - January 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Holidays are NOISY!!!

And it doesn’t feel as noisy anymore.

I like not noisy sometimes.

Ai is on her way back to Japan.  I don’t know if she’s made it yet, but she did say she safely got to the airport, so she’s on her way.  I’m sure she’s happy to be home.  I’ll miss her, but I know how it feels to want to be back home, too…  so I’m sure she’ll be happy to be there.  She said she’s going to ask for a dog.  I don’t know if she’ll get one, but can’t hurt to ask, right?  She loved Marie.  Not even Liz gets along with Marie that well.

Actually, Marie seems to miss her.  She’s a bit mopey.  I took her for a long walk today and she perked up a bit, but I can tell she misses her.  Awww.  Poor Marie.  But she’ll get over it, we all do, and we’ll throw the toy and give her treats until she forgets all about Ai!

… that’s kind of how humans work, too.  Aww.

Otherwise, it’s just a boringly boring day.  The holidays are winding up, and school will start soon, and…  back to the grind, I suppose.  It was fun while it lasted, right?  It was fun.

Dave’s birthday is coming up!  I always have the hardest time figuring out what to get him!!!

But I have some ideas…

Okay!  Short post today!  But that happens on boringly boring days!  Like today!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 3 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 19 - January 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

It’s 2023, and it’s quiet.  Ai is in Houston having fun with Emiko and Aika and Mika – she leaves tomorrow.  She said they took her to the beach at Galveston, and on the way back they had a nice dinner downtown.  That seems like a nice time.  She said it wasn’t as nice a beach as in Japan, but the water is warmer!!!

So I renamed my site last night! It’s Lily’s Amazing Life now!!!  Truth is, when I started this diary over a year ago, I just picked something available.  I didn’t like it much, but it worked!  But I thought about it, and after having another sore thinker, I thought it’d work better with a new name!

So I gave it one!!!

Setting it up with CDN and SSL and all that was tricky, though!  I don’t swear often!  I swore!!!  Awwww!!!!  Bad me!  Hahaha!!!

But it’s okay!  It’s done!!!  And my life is amazing?  Who else do you know that had cookies picked up by a military helicopter???

I might redo the site itself soon too, or at least update it, but that’s for later.  Maybe next week.

David kind of misses Ai too.  I think he had a little crush!  Well… I guess that’s normal.  It wasn’t returned, though.  He didn’t seem to like it when she kissed Clint, but he didn’t make a big deal.  I guess he knew that’s all it was, and besides, he has two girlfriends anyway.  Right?

Kid’s a player.  Sigh.

Break’s almost over.  Back to school soon.  Aww.

Okay!  Time to brush hair and walk Marie and avoid Cat!  Hahaha!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 2 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 19 - January 2023

HI! It’s me! Lily!!!

Ai’s in Houston!!!  Awww.

So this morning we helped Ai pack, and then we threw her a goodbye pizza party!!!  She never had American pizza, so we got a few different varieties, and some soda, and pigged out!!!

OMG it was good!!!

Oh, and we invited a few people.  Jack, Grace, and Clint.  Jack and Grace because, well, Jack, and he brought Clint so he could (ahem) say goodbye to Ai properly.  And Grace because, well, she’s Grace and everyone loves her.  And she likes Ai and pizza, so it all worked out.

Ai likes Hawaiian pizza.  She says the other kinds are good, but that’s her favorite.  I told her that that’s a contentious topic in America.  She shrugged.  “Some gaijin don’t like sushi either.  Their loss.”, she said matter-of-factly.  You’ve never seen such a face of bliss as when Ai sunk her teeth into a piece of Hawaiian pizza.

Honestly, I couldn’t argue.  We all have different tastes.

So she gave Clint a (rather long and slightly scandalous) goodbye kiss and told him to keep writing her or else, and he laughed, and said he would, and gave her a much less scandalous but surprisingly affectionate headpat.  That always makes her giggle, and swoon a bit.  She gave Grace a hug and kiss on the cheek, and Grace cried a little.  But she’s five, she’ll cry at anything, so I told Ai to not feel too bad about it.  And Jack bowed and said it was really nice to meet her.  She gave Marie a few scratches too, and said she was serious about wanting a dog when she got home.  Marie happily licked her face in return.

Ai sniffled a little, and we packed all her stuff into the car, and Dave, Ai, and I drove to Houston.  It was Dave today because he took the day off (New Years Day celebrated), Sabby wanted to work at the store, and Sabby doesn’t want me driving that long by myself.  On the way I asked Ai if she enjoyed her trip.

She thought for a bit about what to say, and then said “Yes, I enjoyed it very much.  Texas is a beautiful place, there are many things to do, people are very friendly, and…  and I’ll miss it here.  A lot.  But Japan is home, and I will be glad to arrive back home, with my parents and my brother.  I love how you celebrate Christmas, and I’ll always remember New Years, and… and…  I know we will see each other again, but even if I don’t, I’ll miss you.”  And she sniffled and wiped her eyes.

Awww.

She said she’d miss Clint too and was really happy to meet him.  She doesn’t know if it will last – in fact, she expects it won’t because Austin to Japan is a long long way away…  but no Japanese boy would have kissed her like he did, and that will always be a good memory.  Her parents might not be happy, so she might not tell them.  You don’t tell them either!!! All of you!!! Keep it to yourself!!!  Hahaah!!!

She even says she’ll miss David, strangely enough.  I asked her why.  She said, because he was honest.  That surprised me, but I guess I can see it.  For all the drama he caused, he was honest about it.  She said Hiroshi is a lot more reserved and she’s not always sure what he’s thinking, but she knows what David is thinking.  Hmm.

Even if it’s about her body.  Sigh.

She respects that kind of forthrightness.  It beats tatemae and honne.  She’d rather he didn’t, but she still respects it.

I think I’m going back to Japan this year.  I have to.  I have to.  It’s… it’s home too, you know?  It’s where my birth mother is from, and my aunt and my cousins and…  and I can’t stay away.  But next time I think I’ll just stay in Saitama or Tokyo and not go traipsing all over the country.  That was fun but it was exhausting.

Anyway, eventually we showed up to Emiko’s house.  She’s going to stay a day there, and then Emiko will take her to the airport.  It’s not just because it’s more convenient, but Emiko wanted a little time with her too, and Ai thought that was perfectly fair.  I wonder what they’ll do tomorrow – I’m sure there’s lots of stuff to see in Houston.  And Aika and Mika should have a little time with their cousin as well.

So Ai’s at Emiko’s right now.  I miss her.  A lot.  She’s family, y’know?  I mean, Dave and Sabby and Beth and David are family, but Emiko and Ai and her parents and Hiroshi… they’re also family.  Just like Robert and his wife and Rebecca.. though I don’t know them.  I hope they’re family too.  I mean not just actual family, but…  real family.

I have a lot of family.  So much more than I had when I was found by the side of the road in 2020.  I…  maybe it was a fair trade after all.  My memories, for all the people I love.  Maybe it’s a fair trade.  I’m not sure I ever want my memories back if it means I have to give them up.

And you all as well!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 1 of 28 in Lily's diary dated 19 - January 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

It’s a new year!!!

And this morning everyone was conked out.  We all went to bed around 1 AM after watching all the fireworks, and woke up this morning very late.  I didn’t even run, it was that late.  Turns out Ai likes the girl-piles (she says we’re soft and smell nice – see, that’s what I’m saying!) but Jack and Grace went home after midnight.  Grace was already conked out, but she had a good time.

Allison’s mother picked her up this morning.  I guess she had a good New Years too, she looked bleary.  Hahaha!!!

Diana and Crystal went home a bit later, and now it’s just Ai, Beth, and me – and David, of course.  Sabby’s tired.  The shop’s closed today.  She thinks everyone deserves a break after how hectic the holiday season was.  We did very well.  Very well.

Oh, speaking of the shop, did I tell you cat-girl got in trouble?  It was partly our fault.  She decided to wear a… very revealing… costume for new years while holding the sign outside.

Girl caused a couple of accidents.

After the second one, the police very nicely and professionally told her she was causing a public nuisance and that she’d better get indoors and put on something a little less…. distracting.

We’re not gonna fire her, but Sabby sat her down before the shop closed yesterday and told her in no uncertain terms that she’d better be a little more professional – that she understands that she brings in a lot of business and we appreciate that, but that we can’t have people suing us for causing accidents on the main street.

She was unhappy but she understood.

Sabby told her that because the holiday season is over and it’s getting cold out, she’s not to stand outside with a sign anymore, but she can wear fun costumes while dooting if she wants, as long as the costumes are only a little sexy.

She perked up a little.  Sabby even offered to compromise and put a sign on the windows while she’s working saying “See our cosplay cashiers!!!”.

Truthfully, it seems like a gimmick, but I can’t deny that that girl sells stuff.

So otherwise, we’re spending a pretty quiet day today after the party.  Ai leaves in a couple of days, so we’re just kind of taking it easy.  Ai really liked the party last night, she says that Japanese don’t have those kinds of parties, and it was really fun.  Oh, did I tell you?  She got her kiss!!!!!!

It was her first kiss, and she was floating after.  Hahaha!!!  She knows she probably won’t see him again, but she did get his contact info, and they’re going to keep talking, so who knows!!!

Truthfully, that’s probably too wide a gulf, but let the girl have her vacation romance!!!

The funny thing?

He gave her a headpat too!!!

Hahaha!!!!

I think she liked that more!!!!

Okay!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 32 of 32 in Lily's diary dated 18 - December 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

It’s NEW YEARS EVE!!!

WOOO!!!!

*fwoooooooooo*

(Is that the sound of one of those whistles?)

All the girls are here!  All the boys are here!!! EVERYONE’S here!!!  Jack and Grace! Liz! Even Allison!!!  We’ve got cookies and cakes and snacks and…  Jack even brought a male friend and Ai’s making eyes at him!!!

Well, Japanese style, so it’s a lowered head and blushing.  His name is Clint, he’s a coworker of Jack’s, and he’s, well, cute enough to be Ai’s vacation romance. Hahaha!!!

Hahaha!!! I think we found Ai’s vacation romance!!!

Liz brought her male friend too!!!  He’s not a boyfriend yet but she’s really into him, so that might be happening.

There’s gonna be a lotta kissing!!!

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Well, except for Allison, Grace, and David.  They’re playing legos. David brought out his big ol’ box o’ legos and they’re just having a blast.  Katie is here too and is playing with Grace.  She seems a little sad for some reason.  She seems to get that way when there are children around,.

So we’re just chatting and, well, there’s some flirting going on, and sparkling cider and egg nog being drank.  All in all, a nice, quiet party.

Well, except for one thing.  Crystal’s weebing out.

See, ever since she met Ai, she’s been kind of treating her a bit like an anime character.  Nothing terrible or too inappropriate, but she’s been speaking some pidgin anime Japanese (some of it’s a little rude) and just making a bit of a pain of herself.  It’s not to the level of “cut that out”, but it makes Ai a bit uncomfortable.  I might have to take her aside.  But Ai can take care of herself, so I’m not worrying about it too much.

I mean, Ai handled David really well, I’m sure she can deal with Crystal.

Okay!!!  I’m going back to chatting and eating chocolate stuffs!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 31 of 32 in Lily's diary dated 18 - December 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

So this morning we had no idea what we were going to do!  I had my run, and Ai and Beth took Marie for a walk.  Ai and Marie are getting along great!  I’d almost send her back with Ai, they get along so well!

I mean I like Marie, but I think she’ll be sad when Ai leaves.  Oh well.

So we had a few options today.  I asked her if there was anything that she would feel bad she missed out on if she left Texas not having done it.  She said, a Rodeo.  I said…  it’s not the right season for rodeos.  I looked it up, and… yeah.  It’s not.  Aww.  No rodeos.

She was disappointed.

She said she’d heard there were some bats on a bridge here she wanted to see.

I said it was the wrong season and all the bats were hibernating.

Awww.

So we thought and we thought and we thought some more, we thought and we thought till our thinkers were sore!!!

It’s hard to think with a sore thinker!!!

Then I had an idea!

An awful idea!

I had a terrible, awful idea!

… actually, it was pretty good.

I asked if she wanted to go to a game place.  There’s one over on 183 that I went to with Jack once and it was fun.

She said that sounded like fun.

So we went!!!

She said it reminded her of Akihabara, a little!!!

She’d never done bowling, so we bowled for a bit – we’re both not very good, but we had fun.  There were all sorts of games, too, and she had fun playing them all.  There were even one or two in Japanese language!!!

So after that we got some lunch and went back to the house.  Diana and Crystal and Liz came over, and we all spent the evening playing games and watching movies and doing fun things!!!  Ai made a Japanese dinner for everyone!!!

Well, fun for girls, anyway.  David just retreated to his game.  Don’t blame the kid.

Now we’re going to make a girl-pile!  All of us!  Even Ai wants to try!!!

I told her she doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want, and she said she’d try and if she didn’t like it she’d go to the couch.

So…. GIRL-PILE!!!!

Hahaahah!!!!!!

I hope she doesn’t mind that one of us snores… not saying who!!!

Okay!!!  Time for bed!!!  But first we’re going to brush each others’ hair!!!  I haven’t brushed Ai’s yet here, and it’s so black and thick, like Liz’s!  We’ll make it all shiny!!!

Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve and we’re having a big party!!!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 30 of 32 in Lily's diary dated 18 - December 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Ai wanted a break today.

She said she really liked all the stuff we’ve been doing and it’s been loads of fun and she loves America, but she’s been going all over the place and is tired.  So she just wants a day where we don’t do anything big.

I think that’s a fair request.  I had a couple of those in Japan as well.

It was a very nice day, though.  Mild temperatures, and the air smelled really good.  So we did just that.  I took my run and we let her sleep in.  After that, we had breakfast and we just watched Youtube videos.  It was fun!!!  I showed her some interesting things from japan that she didn’t know about – like the Seto Ohashi bridge – now she wants to see it!  And also a fun channel called “Jet Lag the game” where a couple of teams chased each other around the world.  After that we went over to Sabby’s shop to see how it was going there.  Ai was amazed that I was a part owner.  I just shrugged and said “I had it, and Sabby’s a good baker, so it fit.”  She tried some of Sabby’s cookies and said they absolutely were as good as I said.

The store was less busy than before Christmas, but we switched to some new years product, and it was still flying off the shelves.  Katie and the others were doing a good job, Sabby and the baker were busy, so after trying the product, we went to get lunch.  We went to a place called Hat Creek, over near the stadium, and OMG was it busy.  They have a playground, and it was full of children.  Running around, hopping, climbing stuff, playing tag…  I’m going to have to take Grace there someday, she’ll love it!  So she got herself a burger – she said it was really good.  Mine was good too.

Some guy gave his name as Dr. Evil – the Texan Tinkerer guy was there too!!!  But I just said hi, introduced Ai to him and his friends, and moved on.  But not before he greeted her in Japanese!  I didn’t know he could speak Japanese!  He’s almost as good as me!!! Hahaha!!!

Anyway, after that, we came back home, and Ai took a nap to sleep off her burger.  Don’t blame her.  The best burgers make you sleepy.  Haha!!!

So after Sabby came home, she made a nice dinner, and we just sat around talking.  It was nice.

David mostly stopped being awkward around Ai, thankfully.  I think it helped that she stopped him in the hallway and told him that she didn’t mind too much that he got a good look at her, but he needs to not think much about it, and certainly not try to do it again.  He got the message.  And for her part, she’s locking the door from now on.

All’s well that ends well.

So Ai’s on the couch sleeping.  She told me that it was a nice, quiet day, just like she wanted, and tomorrow we can do whatever.

I don’t blame her.  Sometimes you just need a quiet day.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 29 of 32 in Lily's diary dated 18 - December 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And Ai and I went to ride horses today!

And…  well…  related to that…  well, let’s start from the beginning?

This morning David apologized to me.  Well… it wasn’t a perfect apology, but it was an apology.  He told me that I’m really his sister and that he should have asked his mother rather than me.

I told him I was actually flattered that he came to me, but teaching him about those things really wasn’t my place, and that could make Sabby mad at me.

He nodded.

And I also told him that I could have handled it differently but that his question shocked me and I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just dragged him to Sabby and let her deal with it.  But I could have done better.

Kid gave me a hug.

Awwwww.

I also told him that he’d better be careful with his “girlfriends” or pretty much everyone would be hunting him down.

He nodded and ran off to play a game.

David’s gonna David.

So Ai and I went to ride horses!!!  Liz came along too!!!

It was so much fun!!!

But first we had to get Ai the right outfit!  So we took her to a boot store!  We got her a pretty pair of boots, and a fancy cowgirl hat, and everything!  By the time we were done, you’d think she was a Texan!  A small, Japanese Texan!  She looked at herself in the mirror, and didn’t recognize herself.  Then she took a selfie to send back to her parents!

So we went to a ranch where they had horses to ride!  They gave each of us a gentle horse, and…  I knew how to ride already!!!  I didn’t know I could ride, but I knew!!!  So I explained to the horse teacher person that I think I knew how to ride, and that I’d lost my memory, he called someone over.  He said “See how well she can ride and if she’s good get her a better horse!”

So I rode perfectly, and they got me a better horse!!!

I mean, the other horse was nice, but he was a beginner horse.  This horse was a little more…  spirited!!! So I jumped on and soon I was riding him all over the field!!!  He was having fun too, you could tell!  Ai and Liz just kind of sat there on their horse and watched me kick up dust!!!

Eventually I pulled up the reins and stopped back in front of them, and patted my horse.  Liz just said “I didn’t know you could ride like that!”

“Neither did I!”, I said.  I rode around a bit more while Ai and Liz got their lessons, and then we trotted out to harass some cows they had on hand to play cowboy/cowgirl.  It was fun!

Well, not for the cows, but we were driving them to better pasture anyway, so everyone wins.

Afterwards, I helped brush my horse down, and he seemed quite happy to let me.  Spirited is one thing, but he knows a good thing when he has it!

So let’s see.  I found out I can do martial arts (kinda), I can play piano, and now I can ride a horse!  What else can I do?

I guess I’ll find out.

Ai was…  what’s that phrase?  On cloud nine.  She was so happy.  She said that she’s always wanted to ride a horse, but Japan is so crowded there’s no good place!  I know, I was there… just buildings and buildings and buildings….  But in Texas we’ve got loads of room!!!  She loved her horse too!  When she was helped off, she patted him on the neck and told him he was a good horse.  He whinnied but she gave him a sugar cube and all was well.

Liz and Ai were babbling like a brook all the way home!  They had so much fun!!!

And she has boots and a hat too!!!

She seemed to feel bad that we were spending so much to show her a good time, and I said “Well, I did stay at your house when I was in Japan, and…  I’ll be back, and you can buy me stuff while I’m there.”  She nodded enthusiastically, and did another selfie.  Who taught her duckface?  Hahaha!!!

She has a few more days here, and I’m not sure what we’re going to do.  We’ve thought about taking a trip up to Dallas, taking a day trip to Houston (but we might do that before she leaves), going to the coast (but the Texas coast isn’t very nice, honestly), going downtown… lots of stuff to do.  I guess we should give her some options and let her decide.

Love you all!!! ❤