Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Beth had a surprise birthday party today!!!

My job was to keep her busy.

So she and I had a sister spa day.

I took her to the spa and we had a massage and all that good stuff… and then she came home and, well… got surprised.

Girl burst into tears and started blubbering about how much she loved everyone.

Her best friends came over, but also her singing teacher, my other sisters, Jack and family, Anathema and Joe, and Emiko and family came over too!!!

(i haven’t seen Emiko in a while so it was nice to catch up)

She had a very big chocolate cake and lots of presents.  Lots of books as well, but Sabby also told her she’s getting good enough that she can perform something at the shop soon!

She had a really good time.  She says she doesn’t feel any different now that she’s seventeen (on Monday) but that she’d better get cracking on finding a boyfriend.  Dave looked a little sick at that, and she just smirked.  She knew what she did!!!

In other news, Miki’s coworker wanted to chat with me about how to practice to get better.  Apparently Miki has been showing the video of me performing that Schumann concerto to everyone who’ll watch, and they’re really impressed.  They all seem to be of the opinion that while they’re more famous and better at being idols, that I’m by far the better musician.  I don’t know if they’re right, but I guess they might be?  So I just told her to practice a lot, find people who can teach her what she doesn’t know, and be sure to take breaks.

Japanese people can be very bad at taking breaks, sometimes.

I’m actually a little surprised she’d ask.  Apparently, while they get training, most of what they do is “sink or swim” – they get taught basic strength training and the things they need to be idols, but not so much the things they need to excel at being idols, or the things that might help them springboard their career.  They’re on their own for that.  The Japanese idol industry isn’t… great… sometimes.

All the girls are over now, we’re full of chocolate cake and are whittling down what’s left (it was a big cake, Sabby had baker make it and spared no expense), and everyone’s kinda rubbing their belly and in a sugar haze.  Anathema has the night off (last night was the big concert night so tonight’s more laid back), so she’s here too and giving makeup and beauty tips to Beth.  I guess that’s her present.  She’s darn good at it, though, and all the girls are listening very, very intently.

Sugar hazes are the best kind of haze to be in, I guess.

Whoever Beth eventually ends up with is going to be a very lucky guy.

This…  might be the last birthday I get to celebrate with Beth for a few years.

I…  I…  oh damn it.  Damn it all.

Love you all!!! ❤️