if she knew what she wants

when marie-claire picked up polly from school yesterday she was carrying a guitar case that had a bunch of stickers on it. it was a kinda sunny almost spring day so she took polly to the park so she could listen to her play guitar.

on the train marie-claire handed her some lyrics on a piece of paper & told her to listen to this song she had on her ipod. the song was called if she knew what she wants by a group called the bangles & polly thought it was nice but kinda sad. after the song was over marie-claire asked if she could sing it & polly said uh huh. papa says polly has something called perfect pitch when it comes to singing. polly doesn't know what that is but she does know she only has to hear a song once & then she can sing it real good.

when they got to the park they sat on a bench & marie-claire said we should sing it here in the park while i play guitar so you can get some practice singing in public for your band. polly was a little shy but she said ok. marie-claire sang the harmonies & back up & played the guitar really well. she tapped her foot & told polly to watch her foot & follow the beat. that was hard because polly likes to close her eyes when she sings. marie-claire said when she was in high school she was in a band & they played this song alot.

polly had alot of fun singing with marie-claire & people kept walking by & dropping money in the guitar case!! they made $36!! the third time they sang it there was a crowd of people listening & when they finshed they all clapped & smiled & some german tourists wanted to take her picture.

polly was fine with all the people watching her when she was singing but once she stopped she got scared & shy again. that's what happens all the time when you're in a band, marie-claire said as she put her guitar away.

then she took polly to the coffehaus & made her a soy hot chocolate & an avocado hummus & tomato sandwich.

sky cries polly

the problem for polly is all the cool band names are already taken. like the spice girls or moby or fatboy slim or air or le tigre or delerium (mama's favourite band) or sky cries mary (mama's favourite other band).

maddie said we could call ourselves sky cries polly. but daljit said that music is good for yoga class or if you're a fairy princess but we're not fairy princesses, we're rock n'roll warrior princesses.

what's wrong with a fairy princess, polly wanted to ask. but there's no talking to daljit when she starts going on about rock & roll.

now we have a posse

every day polly meets daljit, darshana & maddie for lunch. it's nice having 3 best friends. they have a special table that they sit at. they also meet at recess & try to hang out in the halls between class. maddie said now we have a posse & that's pretty cool & we can tell everybody we're in a band.

they talk about everything except when they're actually going to practice.

the sisters of mass destruction

that's what daljit wants to call the band. they haven't even had one practice & she's already thinking about who to invite to their cd release party & designing logos.

maddie wants to call them the ladykillers because her favourite band is the killers. polly doesn't like either of those names & thinks they sound too mean.

darshana says we could all change our name to polly & be the pollys like the donnas or the ramones.

but polly likes being the only polly.

somebody told me

maddie emailed back & said polly had a pretty singing voice. she attached this mp3 by the killers & said it was her favourite song & could polly maybe learn it? polly said yeah, probably & googled the lyrics.

bridge over troubled water

polly felt sad after maddie's lunch & didn't know what to do.

she told mama about it & mama said there wasn't much she could do except try & be the best friend she could. so polly emailed this mp3 to maddie. she sung it for grandma once & grandma said made her cry but in a good way.

lunch at maddie's

maddie invited polly, daljit & darshana over to her house for lunch. maddie lives in a big apartment on the upper west side. a nice housekeeper named rosa made them vegie burgers & root beer floats. for polly she had vanilla soy ice cream called soy dream which she had gotten special for her. rosa even showed her the label so polly could make sure it was vegan. it tasted pretty good.

it was after 2 and maddie's mama was still asleep, which polly found odd. that's because she's a drunk, maddie said. it's better when she's asleep because at least she's not yelling at anybody. then they went to maddie's room & she played the drums for them & she was really good.

suddenly polly heard a lady swearing & yelling at maddie to be quiet. the lady called maddie a little brat. you dudes better go now, maddie said. she looked embarassed & a little sad.

they waited in the lobby with the doorman until daljit & darshana's sister devyani could pick them up.

papa will figure it all out

when papa called polly finally told him that she & daljit had formed a band.

papa was really happy & asked a whole lot of questions that polly didn’t know the answer to. like what kind of guitars did daljit & darshana have? and what kind of amps? (polly didn't know what an amp was). and how long has maddie been playing the drums? and can anyone else sing besides polly?

polly got tired of saying i dunno & then papa said just hang out & have fun until i get back & i'll figure it out.

then he said he wanted to talk to mama & he must have said something funny because when polly handed the phone to her mama started laughing & couldn't stop.

clickitty cat

polly hasn't talked to clickitty in a long time so she made an effort to talk to him last night.

click said it was ok because she was busy with real friends that breathe air. polly told click all about the band & how she was afraid to sing in front of people. click said it would be ok because you'll practice a lot & it will get easier & easier. it's not like you have to sing in front of the whole school tomorrow, he said. plus papa will help, this is what he does for a living.

polly said you're my best friend, click. except for daljit & darshana & maddie. click said i'm not really real poll... but i'll always be here for you.

but polly was already asleep & didn't hear him.

polly made a new friend today

well that girl maddie is alright after all.

daljit, darshana, polly & madison had lunch & polly got to talk to her. madison isn't a big bully or mean at all. in fact she's really nice and funny! she doesn't like the spice girls but she does like le tigre & M.I.A. & the movie whale rider & those are some of polly's favourites. she even apologized for saying polly ate rabbit food. then she said polly kinda looked like the girl in whale rider & polly decided she was ok.

madison said she liked to be called maddie because anytime somebody calls her madison she thinks she's in trouble. she was wearing black fingernail polish & had blue streaks in her hair. maddie said she could put pink streaks in polly's hair if she wanted. polly said she'd think about it, maybe.

happy birthday aries

happy birthday to all you ariesians.

here's polly dressed as aries, the god of war.

polly says war stinks. her favourite part of this outfit is the sandals.

some famous aries people are: sarah michelle gellar, victoria beckham, akira kurosawa, billie holiday, francis ford coppola, marlon brando, sir elton john, catherine keener, eric idle, hugo weaving, jennifer esposito, lori petty, sean bean, tim curry & leonard da vinci.

madison

polly got an email from daljit saying she'd found a drummer for their band, madison, which for polly is the worst drummer they could ever get.

madison is a year older but still in polly's class & a big bully. she's always getting in trouble for wearing black eyeliner or black nail polish or drawing tattoos on her arms or dying her hair blue. the only time she ever talked to polly was in the cafeteria when polly was eating a salad plain because they only had ranch dressing & madison laughed & said she was eating rabbit food. after that polly stayed far away from her.

polly thinks madison is mean & she's not even a vegetarian, which is what she emailed to daljit. but daljit emailed back & said madison is sorry she said polly ate rabbit food & wants to be her friend. daljit also said madison acts up because her father is in jail for insider training & that would make anyone a little grumpy. madison can play the drums and she has her own drum kit now that her brother's in college & the only meat she likes is chicken nuggets so she can be easily converted to vegie.

maybe, polly thought.

mama is always telling polly to give people a chance, so that's just what she'll have to do.

halava krishna

on friday when marie-claire picked polly up from school they got on the train & went to the hare krishna temple for their free vegetarian lunch. marie-claire said it was free because it's a gift to the community. there were a lot of homeless people there & that scared polly a little but marie-claire said it was ok.

and the food was really good! polly had a salad with tahini & brown rice with some kinda spicy tomato potato chick pea cauliflower stew. for desert she had something called halava which was toasted farina with pineapples & almonds.

marie-claire neglected to mention that halava is made with ghee which is clarified butter so technically it wasn't vegan because she wanted polly to try it. polly said it was the best taste she ever did taste.

there were lots of hare krishnas there who smiled & bowed to polly but nobody talked to her or tried to recruit them.

polly said mama would like this place & marie-claire smiled & said mama & auntie serena used to go here all the time when they were in college.

i'm still in love with emily kane

that's polly's favourite song by art brut.

she googled emily kane to find out if she was a real person but all the sites were about art brut.

marie-claire!

when school was finally over polly was super surprised to see mama & marie-claire waiting for her! she didn't even know she was back from sedona!

marie-claire said she got back this morning & could pick her up from school everyday until papa came back. mama kissed polly & said be good & mind marie-claire, then had to hop back into the cab & go to the ashram.

marie-claire took polly to the coffeehaus & made her a soy hot chocolate, an avocado lettuce & tomato sandwich & a vegan rice crispy treat for dessert. they sat by the window & she told polly all about sedona. marie-claire said there were lots of cowboys & indians & rattlesnakes & scorpions & horses & beautiful sunsets & it gets really cold in the desert at night. and she said she missed polly. polly said she missed her too.

polly told her how daljit wants to start a band & wants her to sing & the talent show at school. marie-claire siad she was in a band once & you have to practice alot if you want to be any good & maybe you guys can play at the coffeehaus. maybe, polly said. polly's still not sure she wants to do this.

then marie-claire played formed a band by art brut which is a cool song but kinda silly.

tofu vindaloo

daljit & her twin sister darshana got electric guitars for christmas & want to start a band.

they both play the violin so they say learning guitar is no big deal.

and ever since daljit heard an mp3 of polly singing ain't no mountain high enough for grandma, she's said polly will be the lead singer.

polly was hoping daljit would forget about it but today they said there was going to be a talent show at school in three months! at lunch daljit said we have to get moving on the band. polly loves to sing but not in front of other people so she isn't quite sure how she's going to do this. daljit said she'll be the manager & take care of everything, and polly's papa will help because he knows alot about music. they need to find a drummer but first they need to decide what song to play.

polly suggested surfing on a rocket by air because she already knows the words & likes that song but daljit said no that song's kinda girly & we need a song that rocks. then daljit said we should play i just want something to do by the ramones because it's fast & loud & easy to learn.

polly said ok but i don't wanna sing about eating chicken vindaloo, it will have to be tofu vindaloo.

a one way ticket to heck & back

papa has to go to seattle to produce a friend's album. he's going to be gone for 17 whole days!

that's a long time!

the record label is paying for his hotel & meals & airplane but papa says it's not enough time & he's gonna be really busy. he told mama it was a one way ticket to hell & back, which is a song by the darkness he likes. don't say "h", polly said. polly doesn't like swearing. papa laughed & said you're absolutely right scout, it's a one way ticket to heck & back.

polly is going to miss papa. he said she can call & email anytime but it's not the same. who is going to pick her up after school? mama has to work at the ashram & so does auntie serena. grandma is in charleston. it's a big deal to pick up polly from school, mama has to bring them in & they have to get photographed & fingerprinted.

ok.. mama just told polly she can go home with daljt until they can figure out who will pick her up. that will be fun.

the polar bear coat

here's polly in her new fur coat. she calls it her polar bear coat. it's not real fur but it keeps her just as warm as a polar bear. marie-claire gave it to her. on marie-claire it's a jacket.

mama said polly could have it but they had to shorten the sleeves & dry clean it because it smelled like cigarettes.

lime green is polly's favourite colour except for red & pink.

polly thinks a lime green polar bear would look really cool.

polly wrote a haiku for you!

polly loves to write haikius.

they don't have to rhyme but they're still called poems.

all you have to do is count out the syllables & you can write a haiku about anything.

polly counts the syllables on her fingers.

this one's about veganism:

dairy, eggs not good!
RGBH dangerous,
hens crammed in cages...

is it tomorrow yet?

sometimes polly wakes up in the middle of the night & can't get back to sleep. she lies in bed awake & wonders if it's tomorrow yet. polly likes tomorrow because that's when she can get up & do stuff. that's more fun than lying in bed not sleeping.