Basket Case

My Dear Fellows & Dear Princess,

I've had a pretty laid back day today. Oh all right, let's be honest, I farted about. At work, me and Lemon just talked about movies and family members. I recently loaned her the documentary "Next Goal Wins" about the American Samoan soccer team.

"Is that a woman or a man on the team?" she asked me.

I told her that I thought the player was fa'afafine - a man who had been raised as a woman. "Oh not that again!" she said. Clearly I had touched a nerve.

"There was a big article in the paper about it too. It is so not a thing in Samoa. We DON'T raise boys as girls and vice-versa. It's just made up."

That was me educated. I thought it was a Samoan thing.

"We're no more accepting or progressive than any other culture," she went on. "Some families are cool with LGBT, some are not. So it's not like little boys who are gay are raised as girls, just some parents are okay with it. But my dad's family were very against it."

It turns out that on her father's side, she has a gay cousin. "And he went to his dad's funeral in full-on drag, even though he would never have done that while his dad was alive." 

She knows this because she gets on really well with him. "The only thing I don't get is why he gave himself such a ghetto name," she told me. "I was saying to my cousin, Loquecia, what sort of a name is that to give yourself? That's so ghetto."

"You wouldn't understand," said Loquecia, pointing at herself. "Look at me. Seriously. Look at me. Now look at you." 

Loquecia made a "square" symbol with her hands. "Look. At. You."

"All right, all right, bloody rude," Lemon replied.

So that was quite an illuminating chat. Lemon and I made sure to hit <enter> every now and again so it looked like we were doing stuff. 

Then we both went back to singular farting about. I looked aimlessly into space. Then Smock came over and said, "Oooh, you look like you're thinking hard."

In fact I was thinking about Xmas presents, but I winged it and told her I was pondering some work shit. 

Totally bought it. I'm like this consummate liar.

When I got in, I continued the theme of the day by having a big nap. And then after dinner, I had a big chat with the Princess. I love my fortnightly chat with the Princess. Talking with her makes time fly, and I know that we could talk about anything comfortably. We both commented on it. When the two of us are in full flow* the next thing you know it is two hours later. In fact, we could easily have gone another hour.

It's funny you know. I always thought that it was partially the drink that allowed us to talk like that, Princess. Now I realise we are both like this all the time. Sober as well. That's kind of scary.

S.

* And if were to use the phrase "in full flow" while talking to the Princess, that would send her off on a tangent that could keep us going for at least 20 minutes.