summer plans

daljit might be able to go to savannah with polly!! and maddie can definitely go to kona. And polly might go to london & manchester with daljit & darshana & her family in august. and marie-claire said they could have another show at the coffehaus anytime they were ready.

it's going to be the best summer ever!!

ok, now what?

polly was still excited about winning the talent show on saturday but when she woke up on sunday her first thought was ok, now what? are they still gonna practice? it's summer now. that means no school & tofu hotdogs & lemonade. every summer polly spends 2 weeks at her grandma's in savannah & 2 weeks with her other grandma who she calls lola in kona.

looking at the stars from underneath the tree ...

when polly thought about it later, there was really no question they wouldn't win the talent show. but it sure was scary at the time! they went on last, which was a relief because they got to check out the competition, not that there was any, not really.

some boys rode their bmx & did tricks & there was a breakdancer & a magician & a boy on a unicycle & some girls lips synched to harajuku girls & danced around. the only other musical act was a string quartet. the applause was mild & polite until polly & her friends came onstage & showed their school how to rock.

polly had a great time singing blitzkrieg bop & then after they announced the polycarbons as the winners they had to play another song, just like papa said they would & they played krafty by new order. all the kids rushed to the front of the gym & danced & polly could see everybody looking at her like they'd never really seen her before. they won a hundred dollar gift certificate to a pizza place & a trophy.

daljit said we should keep the trophy at polly's house because that's where they practice. but polly said daljit should keep the trophy because there wouldn't even be a band without her, this whole adventure being her idea & all.

pretend practice

all 3 girls got to spend the nite at polly's house last nite because today is the big show. they didn't stay up late because it was a school nite, but they did get to watch half of the lost finale which papa had tivo'd. daljit & darshana had already downloaded it on their ipods & watched it twice. maddie had never watched lost & didn't know what the big deal was. polly's still upset that libby got shot b/c she feels bad for hurley.

before they went to bed papa made them practice one more time but he called it a pretend practice. he made all the girls sit on the couch & imagine they were playing their songs together. polly thought her part was easiest because all she had to do was imagine she was singing. it was pretty easy to follow along because she could watch maddie nodding her head & tapping the coffee table. daljit & darshana did chord changes & looked like they were playing air guitar. the only problem was sometimes the girls would look at each other & then everybody would start laughing. but papa wouldn't let them quit until they had gone through both songs twice.

he called it visualization & said it was important.

powerpoint

daljit has been working on a powerpoint slideshow they can project for the talent show & she asked polly if she wanted to help. polly wanted slides that said vegan pride & stop eating animals, while daljit wanted slides that promoted the band like maybe they could start a myspace page or a blog. she keeps thinking ahead instead of focusing on what's in front of her. they still have to win the talent show.

but even polly had to admit she was feeling kinda confident & not scared after the coffeehouse gig. polly thinks singing in front of other people isn't such a big deal now & it's also kinda fun.

vegan days

daljit was right about converting maddie to vegetarianism it was easy. her favourite food was chicken nuggets & once the girls fed her veggie chicken nuggets it was easy for maddie to give up meat. maddie thought meat was kinda gross in the first place. but maddie says she can't imagine giving up cheese & ice cream & going vegan like polly.

polly says it's not hard & she shoud try having a vegan day. just one day out of the week where you don't any animal products. it's pretty easy & good for you & good for all the animals too!

the coffeehaus, part2

on friday the girls played blitzkrieg bop, krafty by new order & i just wanna have something to do. basically they played every song they knew. then they played if she knew what she wants with marie-claire on lead & maddie doing backups & everybody liked that song too. polly had so much fun she even remembered to say we're the polycarbons, thank you when they went off stage & everybody cheered. the girls were so excited & polly couldn't stop jumping up & down & hugging everybody.

later that nite in bed polly couldn't sleep so she stayed up thinking about singing & how much fun it was & the other songs she wanted to sing. performance is about sharing your music, papa told her. if you like something then you want to share it because other people will like it too.

happy birthday gemini

happy birthday to all you geminis.

polly doesn't have a twin sister but thinks that might be ok if she liked to do the stuff that polly likes to do & if she were a vegetarian, or even better, a vegan.

some famous gemini-sians nicole kidman, angelina jolie, natalie portman, johnny depp, marilyn monroe & morgan freeman!

the coffeehaus

today was maybe the most exciting day of polly's life, but she didn't know it when she woke up. polly had to go to school & almost forgot that her band was playing at the coffehaus tonite until she remembered daljit. school was a blur as polly spent the day worrying she would forget the lyrics or maybe everyboy had been lying to her & she really wasn't a good singer. by the time school was over she wanted to call the whole thing off even though polly knew it was too late. she felt like she was on a runaway train that wasn't going to stop until it crashed in the station.

at the coffehaus papa & marie-claire had set up a stage in the window & there were already people waiting to hear them play. polly recognized some kids from school & some of mama's students from the ashram. marie-claire let the girls hide in the tiny office until they had finished the sound check. she came & got them when they were ready.

marie-claire looked at the girls & said take a good look at each other because you'll be different people after this is over & you step off that stage. polly didn't think it was possible to be even more scared, but then marie-claire proved her wrong.

the coffeehaus was filled with pepole, some polly knew, some she didn't. she saw mama & papa in the back smiling at her. everybody was looking at her.

she watched daljit plug in her guitar, then looked at darshana, who nodded, then back at maddie behind the drums, who smiled. then polly looked back at daljit & nodded at her & daljit started playing the opening chords to blitzkrieg bop. and somewhere between those notes & maddie playing the drums something happened to polly that she didn't understand. it was like the music filled her up & made her feel like she was 10 feet tall. she started singing & suddenly she didn't care about the people, all she wanted to do was sing...

performance, part2

last nite papa said it's not enough to sing the song, you have to perform it. that means you have to dance & smile & nod your head & jump up & down at the guitar solos & look like you're having a good time. the more fun you have, the more fun the audience will have. papa said another trick was if polly acts likes she's not scared, the audience won't think she's scared. so it's ok to be scared on the inside, just don't show it & pretty soon it will go away...

performance

when marie-claire picked up polly from school today she wanted to talk to all the girls at once. she told polly, daljit, darshana & mads that they were going to have their first gig this friday at the coffeehaus!!!

daljit immediately started texting everyone she knew while marie-claire was still telling them about it.

marie-claire said she'd talked to papa & it would be good practice for them & they only had to play the 2 songs they were planning to play for the talent show & then if they felt comfortable they could play some more songs.

it all happened so fast polly didn't have time ot think about it & be afraid & everybody else was happy & excited so polly decided she should be happy & excited too.

thungry

when darshana & daljit's sister, devyani, AKA dish, met polly she said she loved her because she was so skinny. that's a funny reason to love somebody, polly thought. then she asked if she could see polly's stomach. that was weird too. daljit says dish is daft, which is english for weird. she never eats her dinner. if you watch her, she just moves the food around & takes 2 or 3 little bites. & she goes to the gym twice a day, 7 days a week. polly thinks dish is beautiful like a princess but daljit says dish stands in front of the mirror & cries & says she's a fat cow.

dish says when she's hungry she's thungry which is a cross between thin & hungry. because she thinks when somebody's hungry they lose weight & get thinner.

when polly told mama about dish she got really sad & said it sounds like dish has something called an eating disorder & she needs to see a doctor.

then she made some veggie chicken nuggets for polly & watched her eat them.

mama mia, here we go again...

polly made mama her favourite breakfast which was vegan waffles with pecans & maple syrup & green tea with soy milk & honey. she tried not to make too big a mess in the kitchen but that was hard because she spilled the waffle batter everywhere. polly also made her a card that had an om & a lotus which mama likes a lot. polly wondered why there isn't a daughter's day & mama laughed & said everyday is daughter's day.

it sure doesn't feel that way to polly.

happy mother's day from polly !!

the school of rock

instead of practice today papa had the girls watch a dvd called the school of rock. it was pretty funny. polly liked watching all the kids come together & form a band. after the video the girls were so inspired that they decided to practice anyways. so they played blitzkrieg bop & krafty & papa said they sounded tight & they were ready for the talent show but that didn't mean they were allowed to slack off or get cocky, they still have to practice some more.

easier & easier

papa talked to polly a long time about performance, which he said is different than singing. he agreed that it was scary & understood how polly didn't want to disappoint all her friends & was afraid of looking silly in front of the whole school. papa said it's only scary the first time & then it gets easier & easier just like swimming, snowboarding, ice skating & roller blading & all the stuff polly does well. papa also said polly's the leader of the band & if she's scared daljit & darshana & maddie will get scared too. so she as to be brave for them. polly understood that & said she'd try her best.

papa said you always do scout.

polly has a haiku for you!

this one's about singing:

sing fun and easy

not in front of people though

hard and scary yes?

just as i got broody, you got moody (in an english country garden)

this morning polly woke up with a stomach ache but she didn't feel sick or want to stay home from school. polly told mama she felt like she was hungry but she wasn't. mama asked her if she was worried about anything & polly said no I don't think so mama.

on the way to school they stopped at the coffeehaus & got a soy hot chocolate with peppermint because mama said it would help settle her stomach. then mama asked if she was worried about the talent show & polly said maybe. mama said she doesn't have to do it if she doesn't want to but polly said that's not true she has to. daljit & darshana & maddie are counting on her. and daljit told everyone in school that they're a real band & they sound good.

mama asked what exactly is polly afraid of & polly said everybody will be looking at her when she sings. then mama asked if polly's afraid when she helps mama teache yoga at the ashram & polly said no but that's different.

mama said if you really think about it it's not...

polly wrote a haiku for you!

this one's about going to bed:

sleep hard & boring.

stay awake & think of stuff.

close eyes? still awake!

the tv people

yesterday the tv people came to polly's house & to film their show about where musicians & djs live. there was a sound guy & a camera lady & a producer who was also a lady. they filmed papa while he showed them around the loft. papa gave them a tour & showed them his turntables & his computer & his record collection. they filmed polly's bedroom & mama & papa's sleeping loft & mama's altar in her yoga corner. for some reason they even wanted to know what was in the frigerator. mostly soy milk & fresh vegetables & some leftover chinese food. luckily polly had spent most of saturday cleaning up her room.

the tv people came in the morning & polly was still wearing her red chinese pjs which are her favourite pjs. polly put on her rollerblades & they filmed her skating backwards around the loft. the producer said polly was really cute but polly didn't like her because she kept talking about polly like she wasn't even there or couldn't hear.

they stayed about 2 hours & polly was glad when they finally left.

meaters

polly calls meat eaters meaters. she doesn't think they're bad people, she's just glad she's not one of them. maddie eats chicken nuggets. and grandma eats lots of meat, she says she'll eat anything on god's green earth except possibly snails & eels. polly says that's good news for the snails & eels, but she would never say that to grandma because that's not very respectful. polly's other grandma who she calls lola eats meat too & so do all her aunties & uncles & cousins. the last time she was in kona they roasted a whole pig & that made polly cry.

I want to ride on a white horse…

polly says goldfrapp's real name is alison & she's from bath which is a city in england not what you do with soap & shampoo & a rubber ducky.

telling a story with a song

yesterday marie-claire told polly when she's singing pretend she's just telling a story but instead of telling it she's singing it. and pretend she's telling the story to her best friends. marie-claire said you won't be afraid of the audience if you pretend they're all your friends. polly though that kinda made sense. more sense than don't sing the song, let the song sing you!

polly's still trying to figure that one out.

polly has a joke for you!

knock knock...

who's there?

blaine…

blaine who?

don't blaine me, i didn't vote for him.

(didn't say it was funny)

hello lampost, whatcha knowing?

today marie-claire taught polly both harmonies for feeling groovy. they practiced it in the park. polly likes the song because it sounds pretty & happy. marie-claire played her guitar & they traded off singing the melody which was fun.

and people kept dropping money into the guitar case! polly doesn't understand why but she likes it. they made $26 whole dollars & a buncha change & some subway tokens. marie-claire split it with her & polly gave it to mama to pay for polly's new nokia cell phone which is already loaded with pictures of all her friends & mama & papa. on friday she wants a picture of brooklyn the horse.

polly wants to teach madison the harmonies for feeling groovy.

tv time!

polly has to clean up her room because the house is going to be on tv! papa said the show is about where musicians & djs live & it will be good for his career. polly has to put away all her stuffed animals & clothes & dollies & comic books & boxes of broken crayons & magic markers & shoes & stacks of song lyrics she printed off google.

mama said it would be nice to see the floor in polly's room, just this once. polly said she can shove everything under the bed & then there'd be plenty of room!

mama said maybe she better help her after all.

zero hour, nine am…

the talent show is in 25 days! papa says they are in pretty good shape but don't get cocky you still have to practice every day. he also said marie-claire is going to work with polly some more to get her confident about singing in front of people. polly's not scared because it doesn't seem real yet.

25 days is a long time...