I was right. I started journaling “Reflections at Sea” on the 29th of March and only managed to finish it two months later, on the 24th of May. I hate how I can't finish an entry in one go anymore. And there are so many things I want to talk about. Like why I had to leave the city again just a week after returning from my sister’s place. I mean, I spoke of my departure in the previous post but never truly explained the reason. Ugh.. I miss being useless and unemployed and having all the free time in the world.
Two months ago..
March 27th (2024)
Me: “Nigga.”
Lancelot: “Yes, lil baka.”
Me: “I'll be gone for 3 months.”
Lancelot: “What are you talking about?”
Me: “I'll be joining a program on another island.”
Lancelot: “What kind of program?????”
Me: “A wife-in-training program.”
Lancelot: “What.”
Me: “It's a 3-month transformational programme for women. I leave this Sunday.”
Lancelot: “????? Since when do you know that?”
Me: “Few days ago.”
Lancelot: “But you still have the internet so it doesn't change much.”
Me: “I will be busy 🙁 I was looking forward to watching Eurovision with you but I guess that's kaputt now 😞”
Lancelot: “But you are not busy all the time?????”
Me: “No, ofc not. The time I won't be busy is the time I sleep.”
Lancelot: “Baka. Are you kidding.”
Me: “Sadly, no. Hopefully, I'll find more free time.”
Later that evening, Lancelot and I spoke on the phone, and he wanted clarifications about the program.
“It’s as the name says. They'd teach us how to cook and a bunch of other things. I think it's time I finally learn how to cook because I want to be a housewife..” I mused.
“That’s great. You'll finally know how to cook rice," came his favourite quip.
“Shut up,” I told him in mild annoyance. He never misses an opportunity to tease me about my supposed inability to cook rice when it's absolutely easy for me even without a rice cooker. I even know how to make a fire on my own!
“So, like, what happens after? Do you pay to join?” he asked.
“Nah, it's free because if anything, we'll be providing services to others. Like, taking care of kids, cooking, cleaning, knitting, sewing, etc.. The women who excel the most, perhaps the top 10, will be rewarded.”
“What kind of reward?”
“I don't know yet, but the bachelors who sponsor the program, who are also in search of wives, will dine with the top performers by the end of the event. If a pair gets along, then they can date afterwards, I guess, and marry each other.”
“What? Is this even real?” he questioned dubiously.
“Yeah, and I intend to be among the top 10.”
He was silent for a moment. Then, unable to contain myself any longer, I burst into laughter and confessed: “I'm just messing with you. My sister has requested my assistance around the house because she's going to work again."
“Fuck you,” he uttered, laughing indignantly. “Honestly, what is wrong with you? Please tell me, it's very important.”
“I'll be a nanny and a maid, baka.”
“But you hate it there.”
“Yeah, but we owe our sister so much.. And besides, everything's free. Rent, food, electricity, wi-fi... I'll also be paid so there's that, at least.”
“And it'll be for three months?”
“More or less.”
“The thing with the bachelors, though.. How did you come up with that? It's actually a good idea for a reality TV,” he said, chuckling, somewhat impressed.
“I know right! It prolly has something to do with the game I was playing, the one I showed you.”
When the new year began, I decided to learn German again after quickly giving up on it last 2022. Once I felt like I had sufficient foundation to read something interesting outside Duolingo, I played an interactive story game and set the language to German. For those who don't know, games like this allow users make decisions at various points in the story, influencing the direction and outcome of the plot. Usually, I find its content and dialogues rather cringeworthy, so to amuse myself, I named the protagonists after Lancelot and me. In addition to that, I chose appearances that resembled ours..
The one I chose was a tale of a royal romance, very cliché: a bunch of girls competing for the prince’s heart. So I guess playing that influenced my spontaneous creativity with the “wife-in-training” program idea.
When I showed Lancelot screenshots of the game with our names on it, he went all: “Wtf. How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“The names.”
“I know right? I think it's a sign that we are meant to be.”
“They also look a bit like us, what the fuck.”
“It's because I created that. I own the app.”
Now I almost wish I were truly enrolled in a Wife-In-Training Programme!
Here's a screenshot of the game, by the way. Our actual names are altered, of course, for this diary entry. But I'm telling you, changing the names to our own is so droll 😂 Especially that the prince I've picked almost truly resembles Lancelot.
Oh, but the number of times I giggled and cringed… Haha!