Series: 27 - September 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And OMG did it hail last night!!!

Some big bad storm came in from the north and dropped softballs on us!!!

It was awful!!!  THUMP!! BANG!!! CRASH!!!

That crash…  was our cars’ back windows.

Awwww.

Thankfully the main car was spared because it has the kind of back window that’s vertical, but everything had dents and… awww.  And the power went out last night too, so I couldn’t post!!! We got out the flashlights and candles and…  read, and stuff.  Until it was time to go to bed.  Then… we went to bed.  The power came back on sometime during the night. The good news is after the last power outage Dave had a thinky moment and got some beefy power cells.  So we had enough power for phones and emergency lights too.  Yay!!!

So today was calling insurance and trying to find a place that could replace the windshields, which was a problem because everyone else was too!  It looks like it might be a week or two before they can fix it!  Dave went to the hardware store and got some plastic sheets and taped them over, so at least there’s that.  I guess I can drive it but it’s awful!!!

Liz’s car was damaged too… everyone’s car was damaged!  Awww!!!!

Oh well.  That happens in Texas sometimes.  Remember the tornado last year?

Some people went door to door offering to fix our roof, and Dave told them to buzz off.  Apparently those kinds of people are scammers.  But it does look like our roof does need some repairs, so Dave’s been calling the insurance company for that, too.

So that’s been our day.  Sabby took me and Liz to school and back so I didn’t have to drive a car with broken windows.  I bought her a milkshake.  She seems to consider that a somewhat fair trade.

Okay, well…  I guess that’s the big news right now.  Lily gets hit by monster hail!  Film at 11!

Time for bed.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

My car still isn’t fixed.  Awww.  But the window repair people did say they could come out early next week – they have the windows, they just need to find the time to come out.  They have a lot of business right now.  Awwww.

There’s a lot of damaged cars and windows and roofs around the neighborhood.  It’s not like snowpocalypse where you hear lots of chainsaws and stuff, though there is a bit of that because of the winds that came with it, just a lot of tarps over cars, etc.  I guess that’s what happens.

So Yuki, Sabby, cat-girl, and I have been negotiating about her job and what she is supposed to do.  We all went down to the shop and just talked it out.  Yuki suggested maybe we have some small karaoke rooms, but Sabby shot that down because she doesn’t think it’d be profitable, and she’s probably right.  I suggested we set up a few tables and chairs, and put up a stage like in Akihabara, and everyone could dress in maid costumes and sing and dance to idol songs.  Cat-girl wasn’t dead-set against it, but none of the girls know how to sing and dance, and she thinks it’d be a bit humiliating.  She’s probably right.  So what we eventually came up with, is that we’re going to turn it into a maid cafe, but Yuki will sing and dance and idol all over the place (we’ll schedule times and stuff) and otherwise the girls will do everything they used to, except they’ll say “irasshaimase goshujinsama” and be a little simpy.  We could all live with that, and cat-girl didn’t think it’d be a problem with the other girls.  We’ll have to have the servers wear the maid outfits too, though.  The costumes are pretty enough, but consistency is key.  And maybe we can have a cosplay night every week or so where the girls can let loose.  Cat-girl really liked that idea!

And of course if any of the girls want to learn to idol, Yuki can teach them.

Basically it’s a part time job for nearly everyone so no one has huge expectations, but it should be pretty fun.  I imagine all we’ll have to do to advertise is tell a couple of the Japanese tourists that somehow make their way over, and it’ll be all over Japan by the end of the day.  Hahah!!!

Yuki is really concerned about people getting out of hand, but I told her that all we expect from her is to sing and dance and do idol-like stuff, but all the lies and stuff that an idol is expected to do?  This is the US.  We don’t do that.  She seemed relieved.  If she’s not having fun it’s not worth doing.

I talked to Sabby on the way home.  She still has a few reservations, but she saw how popular the maid cafes were in Japan, and she thinks it could be a success if we market it correctly.  I mean, not like they’d market it in Japan.  This is Texas.  And at least it’s better than a bikini bar.

So we pretty much have to remodel the front end of the store, but we’ve made so much, it shouldn’t be a problem.  Just have to find the time to do it and shut the store down for a week or so while we do it.  Aww.

I think it’s kind of fun, though.  I’m trying to source some Japanese treats, I think it’d be cool to have some of those for sale too.  And Sabby seems interested in learning how to make some Japanese treats, like mochi, daifuku, and crepes.  Yum!!!

Okay.  Enough of that I suppose.

I didn’t go to church on Sunday.  I’m a bit scared to, to be honest.  No one’s pushing me, though.  That’s nice.

Maybe if I’d prayed the hail wouldn’t have hit.  No, bad me.  Don’t think like that.  That’s too much pressure.  Even when… that… happened… I wasn’t really the one praying.  I don’t think.  I’m so confused.

Anyway…  guess I should go to bed.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

It’s Wednesday!!!

A pretty boring Wednesday, I guess.

At least it’s not hailing!!!

Yuki’s over tonight.  Liz has a lesson or something, so it’s just me and Yuki.  She seems to like coming over, I think she gets lonely.  Her host family is nice but they don’t do a lot of things with her, they’re older so they just kind of keep to themselves.  I think they like that she’s going out more.  We watched some anime, and played some youtubes of her performing and I asked her what she was thinking about when she was on stage.  She said that she really doesn’t think about anything other than just doing her performance and not messing up too much.

“Too much?”, I asked.

She sighed.  “Being an idol is weird, if you make a mistake, it just makes them like you more.  Sometimes I made a minor mistake on purpose just to be cute.” she sighed.  “You know idols where special innerwear so that they don’t show their pantsu, right?”  She blushed.  “I forgot mine once.  That wasn’t intentional.”

I giggled.  “Well that’s fanservice.”

“I guess”, she said.  “Now twenty thousand of my closest friends know what my pantsu look like.  At least it was clean.”

I giggled a little.  Then I told her how I lost my top at the waterpark.  It was her turn to giggle.  “You didn’t have as much of an audience, but… I can imagine the look on those boys’ face…” she fell over giggling.  “And you’ve got so much… more…”  She squealed with laughter for a few moments, then recovered and sat up again. “I guess everyone has those moments.”

She was quiet for a moment.

“You know, I really would have liked to perform actual music…  I mean, idol music is music, but… not… music.”  She said this wistfully.

‘”Like this?”, I asked, and showed her the video of when I performed that Schumann concerto with an orchestra.

She watched it carefully, then when it was over, said “I am so jealous!”

“You’re jealous of me?” I asked incredulously.  “You’ve got an entire country full of fans.  You’ve sold out Tokyo Dome and Budokan.  You’re… jealous of me??”

She actually sniffled.  “I did all those things,” she said quietly.  “But none of them really meant anything.  I just sang silly songs and danced around and acted cute, and people ate it up.  But did that really require talent?  What you did requires talent”, she said sadly.

I guess so.  I’d never thought of it that way.  Maybe I didn’t sell out HEB Center, or anything like that, but it took a lot of work and it was really fun and not everyone can do it.  She can’t do it.  She’s a little more talented than some idols, she had some training, but…  she can’t do what I did.

Awww.

That actually makes me a little sad, if I’m being honest about it.  I guess everyone has a dream, and sometimes even the people who look like they’re living their dream really aren’t.  Or maybe they are but somewhere along the line they got another dream.

“So… what do you really want to do?”, I asked.

She…  just kind of froze and looked lost.  “I thought… I wanted to be an idol.  And now I was…  and then I hated it.  Would I hate doing anything else I wanted to do?”

“Maybe…  or maybe you haven’t found what gives you life yet.”

Maybe… maybe I haven’t either, if I’m being honest.  I like the stuff I do…  but…  how will that turn out?

Is life about doing what you love?  Or loving what you do?

“Why don’t you take some music lessons then?” I asked.  “I know you took some training as an idol.  Is there anything you’d want to do, like that?”

“I wish I could sing,” she said.  “Like… really sing.  You know, like the singers who do the anime openings.  They’re so good,” she gushed.  “I was never that good.”

Then she played an anime opening for me, and…  she’s right.  That lady can really, really sing.

“Beth’s taking voice lessons,” I said.  “Maybe you can see if you can work with her teacher?”

I guess she’s going to think about it.

An idol.  Jealous of me.

Amazing.

Anyway, I guess it’s bedtime.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

So…  it’s been a day, I guess. Thursdays are usually boring.  This one kinda wasn’t.

So… good news.  The glass repair people found a slot, and they were able to repair the glass in my car.  So it’s drivable.  I still need to get it to a body shop to get all the hail dents undented, but that can wait for a while.

The bad news.  Well… remember how I was telling you about those roofers?  Well, one came over today that wouldn’t take no for an answer.  Dave told them no.  A few minutes later they were on the roof and starting to remove shingles.

Well…  Dave’s a second amendment guy…  about twenty seconds later, which was all it took to get into his safe, he had them on the ground and the police on their way.

This is Texas. You don’t do things like that here.

The police came…  gave Dave a bit of crap but he knew his rights, and they took the roofers away – but not until getting their info so he could sue them for the further damage they caused to the roof.  He’ll be lucky to get a penny, I guess, but it’s the principle of the thing, right?

So now he *really* has to call a roofer though.  Sigh.

Why do people do stupid things like that?  Especially in Texas?

Otherwise, you know, the usual.  Studying, practicing, all that fun stuff.  Thursdays really are boring most of the time.

Love you all!!! ❤️

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

I didn’t write yesterday because we were having too much fun!!!

Usually we all stay in and do stuff, but last night all the girls and me went out!!!  We had a girl’s night out!!! We dressed up and went to the game place and to get frozen treats and there’s a place in Austin that sells Japanese treats!!!  And after that we went to a movie!!!  It was lots of fun!!!

After that we came home but it was late so we just pretty much immediately made a girl pile and conked out.

I don’t know why we don’t do that more often.  I mean, we’re girls, right?  We like shopping!!!

Today was a little boring.  The girls stayed over, but we didn’t have anything we really wanted to do, so we just watched youtube and anime and played games and told stories.  It’s fun telling stories, and Crystal’s really good at it.

I wanted to go on a date with Jack tonight but he hired a tutor!  Can you believe it?  Jack!  He’s really taking his studies seriously now!  But…  we still should find time to go on dates, I think.  Well, I’ve been bugging him about it, so I can’t really complain, I guess.  And I’ve got my sisters so it’s not like I’m really lonely…  still… I miss him.

Anyway, I guess I should go.

Love you all!!! ❤️