The first rule of mass media

Hi Natty!  How are you today?  Aw, don't you worry about a thing my precious love, everything is going to work out just great for us inshaAllah.  Everybody is busy being excited right now, so please try to stay out of sight and away from people.  So from what recently happened, it goes to prove that people believe in what they want to believe.  So if one told them what they want to hear, then it becomes the truth for them.  And if one continued to tell them what they desire, then one would become the object of their desire.  They would follow him, believe in him and become his followers.  They would follow him and go to the extreme for him because they believe he is the truth.  Unless the real truth becomes a problem, then he instead becomes the object of their blame.

I have no followers, because I am not a leader nor a prophet.  Rather, this morning I had to go to the government pharmacy and wait along with the rest of the rabble for my mother's drugs.  After that, I went to the market and saw that fish prices were too much for me to afford.  In the evening I cut the grass by the side of the road, and for dinner I had a cheeseburger.

Qur'an 20210111

 In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

20.  Say, "I do no more than invoke my Lord, and I join not with God anything."

21.  Say, "It is not in my power to cause you harm, or to bring you to right conduct."

22.  Say, "No one can deliver me from Allah, nor should I find refuge except in God."

23.  Mine is only to convey what I receive from Allah and God's messages.  For any that disobey Allah and God's messenger, for them is hell: they shall dwell therein forever.

24.  At length, when they see that which they are promised, then will they know who it is that is weakest in helper, and least important in numbers.

25.  Say, "I know not whether that which you are promised is near, or whether my Lord will appoint for it a distant term."

The Jinns 67:20-25

Somewhere over the rainbow

 Hi Natty!  How are you, my love?  My, these are exciting times right?  I hope you are coping well and keeping yourself safe.  Just hang on to me, I'm not going to abandon you inshaAllah.  I love you!  It's just another average day over here, so when each day is crazy, it's really just the same old day.  I try to make like a tree and stay put, and work towards building a house and life with my wife inshaAllah.  Somewhere over the rainbow.

Qur'an 20210110

 In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

1.  Say, "It has been revealed to me that a company of jinns listened.  They said, 'We have heard a wonderful recital!'"

The Jinns 67:1

Summertime

 Hi Natty!  How are you?  I hope you are healthy and keeping safe.  How's life in lovely Venice Beach?  I saw a recent video of the place when it was cold and foggy out, and it looked like they really cleaned up the area.  I wonder what they did with all the homeless.  Anyway the New Year brings summertime to this place, and the wind becomes violent plus it gets ridiculously hot.  Sure enough, the wind is powerful right now.  It hasn't gotten ridiculously hot, though.  Rather it's very cool, and last night it was cold.  Well, I can't complain.  I loathe hot weather, so alhamdulillah.

I made fried rice again today.  Yesterday I forgot to put my steamed rice in the cooler, but today I didn't forget.  Fried rice is best made with rice that has been sitting in the fridge overnight.  Yesterday I used chicken and broccoli, but today I used crispy anchovies and cauliflower.  I had plenty of anchovy bouillon, but I had no soy sauce.  Even though I put fresh basil, anchovies and green hot chilli peppers in there, this turned out to be the whitest fried rice I ever made in my life.  It was successful in flavor though, better than yesterday.  So alhamdulillah.

Buy! Buy! Buy!

 

Hi Natty!  How are you today, my love?  How's life in beautiful and clean Los Angeles?  I hope you are keeping safe and healthy, and practicing social distancing.  I had to sit away from the crowd, right on the edge of the ditch, when I went to buy "nasi lemak" for my mother this morning.  They were taking a long time making that stuff and honestly, I won't wait for "nasi lemak" if it were not for my Mom.  I would just go eat something else.  At least she bought me 3.

Today is Friday, and I had to got to the mosque for the Friday prayer.  Fridays are tough for me, because I have to climb over the crowd and get back to the studio as quickly as possible for Mary Unknown7's singing session.  Mary is usually there waiting for me but sometimes she's late too, she's "late because I'm late".  So we don't arrive at the karaoke joint until up to half an hour late some Fridays, and Mary has to sing cold.  Fridays are tough for both of us.  It turned out that I didn't spend any money today, other than the buck I put in the donation jar at the mosque.  I made fried rice in the evening.  My key to fried rice is that it should be light and refreshing, so when you make fried rice don't weigh it down with heavy flavors and oils.  I chose a stock photo that best represents this approach.  There are so many BAD versions of fried rice out there!

Treat or annoyance?

 Hi Natty!  How are you today?  I hope you are happy and well.  The weather here has been so comfortable lately, that I just want to indulge in sleep.  Dream all the time!  But no, I didn't do that.  I had a busy morning, I vacuum cleaned my mother's house then went to the supermarket for her.  I got back in time to make my lunch: ramen!  I love ramen!  I don't think you would love ramen as much as I do, so we're going to have to figure something out about that for our lunches together.  I also had time to make a batch of cat food.  Oh my God!  Fish prices have skyrocketed since I started making cat food out of mackerel and rice!  No problem, I have a backup plan that should please the cats just as much.  I won't tell!  I cut the grass in the evening.  It needed cutting after all that wet weather, it was attracting snakes.  I had a simple dinner to save time, just scrambled egg sandwiches with fries.  My boiled potatoes got waterlogged in the cooler, and I didn't notice that when I added the corn starch!  So I got frustrated, and piled out the corn starch to overwhelm the water.  If you didn't already know, corn starch and water makes oobleck.  Plus in my passion I mangled my fries that they became potato balls instead of fries, and when you deep fry oobleck it becomes hard.  So I ended up with potato balls with a crunchy coat, kind of like potato M&M's but not sweet.  I suppose some people might find that to be a great idea, but I just found it annoying.