Title: The Diary Project
Warnings: Respect the rating.
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
IMPORTANT NOTE; READ FIRST: This is only Yamato's half of the story. Reading this document in its entirety will only give you half the story. You must read Taichi's half as well for this story to make sense. "Sparkle Itamashii" is writing Taichi's half of the story- it has the same title as this half.
Day 1 - Saturday
So here we are. Another year, another Journal. It's currently Saturday, the day after my birthday and I'm sitting on the lounge writing this before everybody else wakes up. (Dad threw a party for me last night so there's people asleep in my bedroom.) It wasn't exactly the wildest 18th birthday I've been to but it was fun. Dad, TK and Mimi got in the kitchen and made a whole lot of food. We had pizza, sticky rice, octopus and apple bunnies. Tai's mum sent over some meal which I think Izzy was the only one to touch, though Takashi may have tried it. That could've been why he was making all that fuss. His bowels were probably protesting.
My dad is cruel. I suspect it was his idea to decorate my birthday cake as a piano since I've been practically begging him for months to buy me a keyboard. He probably thought it was really funny to see me trying not to look crestfallen while blowing out my candles when he knew perfectly well there was a real one which he was going to present to me five minutes later. If I wasn't so happy about the piano I'd probably put things in next weeks dinner.
And this is the point at which I say 'I have a piano.' A piano. My very own piano. Well...a keyboard, but it's still very piano like. I'm absolutely over the moon.
We set it up on the table and Takashi started showing me all the nifty things that thing could do. I highly suspect dad took him along when he bought it which is something to be grateful for. Poor old dad isn't much into music. I think he'd have preferred I stuck with the harmonica and done concerts for grandma instead. At least I now have head phones and midi connections for my computer to all my instruments so dad doesn't have to listen to all my noise, (thank you very much to the guys and Izzy for that). Izzy said he'd set it all up for me sometime today.
All the boys slept over and by the sounds of it somebody is getting up so I'll leave this here for the moment. It was bad enough Taichi finding out TK gives me journals, I don't want anyone knowing I actually write in them.
X X X
Stupid Taichi. Maybe I could be thankful it was only him, but I think not. He's going to be giving me crap about this for ages.
If he'd just stayed in the doorway instead of wandering over to the other lounge, then he wouldn't have seen the journal tucked between the cushions. One second he was sleepily mumbling at me to come back to bed the next he's trying to get his hands on my book to find out if I'd actually been writing in it.
Blast Taichi. I hate the bugger sometimes. He always has to rile me up. I hope his arm bothers him all day and his boss gets angry at him because he can't lift equipment. The guys are going to be thrilled when they see my black eye. I'm going to have get Sora or Mimi to help me fix it for Fridays gig.
Four years I've managed to prevent him from noticing I write a journal and he finds out at the point at which I'm finally beginning to enjoy writing in it. I know I really shouldn't get that upset over him criticising me for it. I knew he wouldn't understand. He is Taichi after all. But what I don't get is how he can think me writing music is cool but find me recording my thoughts a complete joke. It's not that different. I would've thought he'd find poetry, which is emotion, more detestable than he would the thoughts and activities I write down in my journal. Maybe it's the fact that you're confiding in something that makes it unappealing.
Anyway, I'm not about to quit just because he thinks it's stupid. He can go jump in the pond for all I care. The one down in the park is convenient enough.
He's in the shower now so I think I'll get up and make breakfast before he gets out. At least I know food will be a good distraction.
Day 2 - Sunday.
Akira woke me up with a phone call this morning. He just got back from his trip up North. Apparently there's a live band thing going on in the next town up. He said it wasn't likely that it would do any good, but he signed us up as the replacement band just in case. So there's a very minor possibility of our band playing in front of a larger crowd than we've ever done before.
It'd be so cool if it happened. Playing at the local place is awesome and we do get good crowds, but I've been dying to play on a proper stage again. We haven't done it for a while.
I was meaning to go through and play all our songs today but I got distracted by the piano. Izzy set all my midi stuff up yesterday and all I want to do is play with it. I'm definitely getting the others over sometime this week so we can record our songs onto my computer. I can fiddle around with them then and maybe I can fix that problem we've been having with DT.
Had sushi for dinner with Taichi. We went down to the park to eat like we usually do. I think we need to find some place new to sit though. At least while it's still summer anyway. Parents and their kids hang around until 7 o'clock at night and it's really annoying having them running around screaming while you're trying to hold a conversation. Especially when the person you're talking to decides to get up and join in.
Can't be bothered writing more. I think I will play my guitar for a bit.
Day 3 - Monday
You know, sometimes I really wonder why I chose to work in a bookstore. Books really aren't my thing. Sure I read them, but not enough that I wish to be surrounded by the things for entire bloody days. It's about as smart as Taichi working in a computer store. Though he seems to know more about electronics than some of the idiot's he has to serve. Some people don't even have the sense to plug it in.
Today was highly uneventful if you exclude Taichi being harassed by some weird lady just before lunch. He was looking like he does when he's about to punch me in the head; shoulders all bunched up, gritting his teeth and grinding out his words. I don't know what she was arguing with him about, something to do with pricing, but somebody was in danger of being maimed so I intervened and dragged him off to lunch.
As always, food was like flipping a switch and he was laughing about the incident two hamburgers and fifteen minutes later. We wandered around window shopping for the last fifteen minutes of lunch before heading back to our respective workplaces and prepared for another afternoon of boredom.
I told Taichi about the possibility of the gig Saturday week but he didn't seem to be as enthused as I thought he would. I rather like it when he gets excited, even though he tends to do it a lot, and I thought he'd have something more to say than 'That's great, Yama.'
Yutaka sent me some lyrics for a new song. They're quite good. Could do with some rewording. He said he hadn't really put it to music yet but he probably has some idea of how it should go. I'll have to get him to sing it to the other guys. He's got a killer voice, just doesn't like showing it off that much since he feels like he's supposed to be just the rhythm. I should give him dad's Carpenter cd's.
Made Onigiri this afternoon so dad can take it for lunch tomorrow. Turned out better than last time, my fillings weren't poking out the side. I only made eight and I had two of them for dinner because I couldn't be bothered making more food when dad wasn't coming home to eat it. I'm still deciding whether or not I should test something new on TK tomorrow night. I don't know whether he's up for food experimentation. He's been really picky with what he eats lately.
Strange boy. I'll have to ask him. Maybe mum has inserted her dieting ideas into his brain. That would be tragic.
Day 4 - Tuesday
I just got back from dropping TK home. I'm actually quite glad to get rid of him, he was in a right mood this afternoon. He sat around looking unhappy for the entire evening, wouldn't eat his dinner, didn't want to watch a movie and barely said goodbye before he slammed the car door and moped into the apartment building. I don't know what's bothering him but he's being ridiculous. I know from experience that acting that way doesn't get you anything but a punch in the face. Taichi's done it to me enough times to make me realise it's stupid.
Makes me wonder what's bothering him so much though. Whatever it is must be pretty bad. TK is just not the kind of person to get moody. I had to stop myself from snapping back at him like I do at Taichi. He was being completely unreasonable.
We had band practice this afternoon over at Yutaka's house. I wanted to get him to sing the lyrics he sent me so I went early but Akira was already there so I'll have to ask another time.
I think we're on the verge of a major disagreement. Takashi didn't look extremely pleased with the line up for Friday nights gig and he'll probably ring and tell me so later tonight. He has a thing about playing songs that are technically difficult, which is cool, I've nothing against that. I'm all for improving. It's just that a lot of the stuff we do play tends to be more about getting the song across and playing it well in that respect rather than showing off.
Both Yutaka and Akira don't mind what they play as long as it sounds good and I suppose it's just that, because Takashi is playing the piano, he nearly always tends to get stuck with some sort of baseline that follows mine. He can add whatever he likes to it but sometimes there's not a great deal you can do to a song before it begins to degenerate rather than improve.
I wonder if I can convince Akira to let us play "Middle Man". Yutaka got really enthusiastic about that one. I'll have to suggest it on Thursday.
Dad just came in the door so I think I'll go reheat his dinner. I wish he'd get home in time to eat with TK sometimes. It'd be a lot nicer. I mean, it's great doing the brother thing with TK but it'd be really cool if we could just do the family thing occasionally. Even if it's just one parent and the both of us.
Day 5 - Wednesday
I think I short circuited my brain at work today. I was so completely bored I was ready to tear out of there and never go back by the time my lunch hour came around. Taichi took pity on me during my deranged state and forced Sushi down my throat before dragging me to the park to hang out.
It was cool. I relaxed pretty much straight away so the 20 or so minutes that we spent laying spread out on the grass in the sun were absolute heaven. There was some weird bird making an awful racket and you could hear the kids on the swing set over at the playground, but it wasn't that hard to deal with since Taichi, lying next to me, was breathing loud enough to drown out anything else.
The afternoon went quickly after that. I shelved a few books, wrote out some order forms, stood at the front desk for fifteen minutes and then May was nice enough to let me hide in the backroom and unpack boxes of kids toys.
I found a fluffy beany baby that'd be an absolutely perfect gift for Tai. I'm betting next time he wanders in he'll pick it up and point it out. If he does, I'll buy it. I've been looking for something stupid to get him.
Taichi drove me home and I wish he could've come in but his parents prefer he goes home early on days he has the car. It's their's, I suppose so it makes sense they'd want to know Taichi isn't out doing wild things in it but you'd think they'd have a little more leniency where driving to and from work is concerned. They know he's going to be with me and I'm a perfectly responsible teenage boy. If that isn't too much of an oxymoron.
Stupidity with vehicles tends to happen more often when he's hanging out with all of his soccer mates. Stupidity full stop happens more often when his soccer mates are involved. They get all rowdy and excited and decide it's a good idea to do daring things which usually result in somebody doing something potentially dangerous. Like playing chicken on busy roadways or sticking forks in Mr. Tamohachi's yard.
Anyway, I could've done with the company tonight. Dad didn't get home until really late so I had dinner cooked way too early. I sat around hungry for a couple of hours before reheating part of it for myself and leaving the rest in the fridge.
I suppose I could sulk about it but it really would be rather pointless. It's not like he doesn't care, he just forgets or work gets busy. I get frustrated every time it happens and it's really annoying when he doesn't manage to phone, but you know, it's kinda normal now so sulking would be purposeful and manipulative. Useful sometimes but mostly just really annoying.
I don't get how he can not manage one day a week though. It's just one day out of an entire week. A couple of hours out of one day every week. It's not like you have to think too hard to remember it. It's at the exact same time, it doesn't change. You'd think he could at least reserve those hours and say 'I'm not going to have anything else on right here because I need to eat dinner with my son. You know, that thing that lives in my house, makes messes and doesn't wash the towels.'
Anyway, I'm over it. It doesn't matter. I don't care. He can make me breakfast in the morning or buy me a new shirt or something. Correction, give me money to buy a new shirt. I'd rather see him on the other side of the table chowing down on something I cooked but you know, a shirt is always good.
It is well passed bedtime now so I'm going to get some sleep. I would much prefer to stay up and fiddle around with my keyboard. (Dad is forgiven. I love the keyboard.) But unfortunately sleep is a necessity. I'm so tired I'm getting the urge to prank Taichi on his mobile. He'd kill me for it but I'd find it hilarious. Maybe I'll leave him a message so he can find it in the morning.
Day 6 - Thursday
TK is being an absolute pain. I'm inclined to give him a good kick up the arse and tell him to resolve whatever problem he's got going on instead of brooding like he is but I think I'd end up flat on my back with an absolutely outrage little blond kid cutting off my air.
He's volatile...like:
"Hey TK, did you have a good day?"
"Shut up, Matt. You don't know anything." (Note: This response is illogical.)
"Are you OK?"
"Just shut up, I don't want to talk about it."
I've been wracking my brains all afternoon trying to figure out what could be wrong but I don't think my head was ever designed for working out other people's problems. If TK weren't acting so weird I probably wouldn't have done more than wonder about what was wrong for a minute or two. Things tend to resolve themselves without my help as I never realise that something is going on until well after it's all over and done with.
My guess is it's something to do with Daisuke as TK was asking me questions about him over dinner. But everything to do with TK somehow ends up including Kari so I'd bet my socks she's in on this somehow and hopefully the one doing the calming down.
Any further than the people involved and I'm basically sitting in the dark without a clue as to what's going on and I don't even know whether this problem occurred somewhat recently or whether it happened weeks ago and is just resolving.
Whatever it is, if it goes on for much longer I'll have to ask Taichi what's if he knows anything about it. You'd think he'd be worse than me about keeping track of things but it turns out he's quite good at it. Better than me at any rate and quite informative despite the fact that he's not trying to be.
Day 7 - Friday
I have five minutes before Akira arrives to pick me up and I'm going to be diligent for once and write my Journal entry before I go off to the gig.
Takashi thankfully decided not to complain about this weeks songs so practice went rather smoothly except for the fact that Akira suddenly developed an incorrect chord change in 'Ever as Always.'
We've been playing it perfectly for weeks now and we were supposed to be playing it at the gig tonight but we ended up deciding to switch back to DT instead because no matter how Akira tried to play that phrase he couldn't get that little bit right.
There's not much you can do when your unlucky enough to have an off day. Sometimes the music just doesn't want to be played and the only way to get it right again is to give the song a bit of a rest. He'll probably be able to play it fine tomorrow, but for now it's best just to leave it out.
I'm off to the gig now, Akira just pranked me so he must be waiting out the front. I wonder if I can convince him to pick up Taichi, I think I promised him a lift.
X X X
It's really late and my writings wonky and I'm going to write about all of it tomorrow anyway but I just wanted to record the fact that Akira is awesome and so is his dad. But Taichi's a bastard and can rot in hell. Why is he not answering his phone?
Notes: We're not trying to confuse you, each entry is written daily and afterwards compressed into weeks.
IMPORTANT NOTE; PLEASE READ: This is only Yamato's half of the story. Reading this document in its entirety will only give you half the story. You must read Taichi's half as well for this story to make sense. "Sparkle Itamashii" is writing Taichi's half of the story- it has the same title as this half.
To read this story as it is supposed to be read, please switch to Sparkle Itamashii's page and read the corresponding chapter of "The Diary Project" there as well. (or if you found her page first, please proceed to the next chapter on her page.)