The Child of Tennis - Yukimura

It's funny, how these things happen. My mother called today wanting to spend the New Years with us.....around five days too late. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry or just hang up. I told her she'd missed the date and that Minoru was out with her friends anyway, grabbing some freedom days before the next term starts. I hope mother's been eating. But if she's forgotten what day it is, I doubt it. Scientists! Never know what to do with them! Still haven't heard from father. I might just march down to his office and shake him. Or chuck tennis balls at him.

But I've been managing to get some free time, since Minoru's out with friends and filming is on hiatus while everyone returns from holidays. Spent some time with my plants, and I painted some landscapes. I went out to Tokyo street centre and did some paintings of the urban scene and some temples. It was lovely, though I had to ignore the people there, since they wouldn't stand in one place for me!

I had some time to think to myself though, and I've been tossing around ideas for that little miracle of mine. Tell me Echizen, does your father ever enter competitions with magazines and newspapers to win things or go places? Or would you or someone close to you?

-Seiichi

Someone out there really doesn't like me this week....I arrived back home and eight of my flowers have died. Or. are close to death, but I may have to kill them to put them out of their misery, since there's no way they're going to recover again.

...I can regrow them and replant them and make them better than they were before, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt to see them go. It's like seeing pets or children die, especially after I dedicated so much time to keeping them alive.

...I need a new gardener who knows what the fuck they're doing. Excuse me while I go play tennis against the wall until the wall or my racket breaks.

Somebody kill me now. I've been training from five in the morning to seven at night, while only stopping to eat lunch. What is wrong with me? *flops bonelessly onto bed*

In other words, Atobe, you'd better be ready for Kaminaga to place an order for a tonne of new plants. I went to go and see him yesterday and we managed to wrack up four sides of A4 sheets worth of improvements to be made in both England and your Japan estate. Good luck with that.

And I love my fans, I really do, but please, if you know anybody who is a rabid fan, can you ask them to not send me lingerie? It's mortifying, pretty disgusting if they've been used and I'm not going to keep them. I'd prefer a letter or an email.

~Yukimura

It was quite tragic. Over the last eight weeks, a huge amount of weeds built up in my garden and my tomatoes had the nerve to die on me. But thanks to Saeki-kun, I managed to replace them with some lovely begonias, in a shade I haven't seen before.

And does anyone know how to keep birds away from plants without hurting them? Most of the fruits on my strawberry plants were damaged by birds, though the plant itself still survives.

I am on a quest to try and convince Sanada to get one of these, but he is quite stubbornly traditional and refuses to give in, despite me bribing him with ginseng oolong tea.

And also, I got a sponsor request by Nike, so I'll be jetting off to America in a week to take part in a photo shoot and formalise the contract with them. It should be pretty fun. I believe that Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are all sponsored by Nike as well, so I'll be doing a photoshoot with them, most likely.

~Yukimura