Mary wants to join a band episode 5: Don't make a Superband

 

Hi Natty!  Do you like the flowers?  Those are henna flowers.  The pods you see grow to be fruit that the ancients use to crush and make dye, not just for clothes but also for hair and temporary tattoos.  A very fragrant flower.  How are you feeling, my love?  How is the Public Eye treating you?  You seem a bit nervous.  Try to relax and enjoy the process.  Have fun with it.  At the same time, be focused and don't allow others to sway you off topic with their own agendas.  Don't worry Honey, you're going to do absolutely great!  I don't really pay much mind to the Public Eye.  It hasn't really given much of a shit about me, and the feeling is mutual.  I don't even shower for the Public Eye anymore.  I only shower for my wife, dammit!  Well also for my mother, and I always shower before Mary Unknown7 shows up for her voice session.  People try to influence me on how to conduct Mary's business.  Take for example Covet: the Public Eye seems to be of the opinion that Mohini Dey would be the best bass player for the band:

It's a sound concept.  Mohini would definitely be able to tackle math rock, and her Hindi style would bring huge dimension to the music.  But let's face it folks, Covet is Yvette Young's band.  Yvette is the star of that band.  If she accepts Mary Unknown7 in her band, then Mary would just be there to sing lead, then dance and look pretty during the instrumentals.  Having Mohini as the bass player would turn Covet into a superband, but is that right?  Would Van Halen sound like Van Halen with Victor Wooten on bass?  Would Metallica sound like Metallica with Les Claypool on bass?  And what would be Mohini's motivation to stick with the band?  I get the feeling she would probably be like Bill Bruford looking for a better Yes.  What Yvette really needs is help with songwriting and lyrics, to create a huge catalog of songs before that hit comes.  Because when that hit does come, then the band is going to need all those songs and they better be good.  This is the typical pressure on the star, you can see it in bands like Nirvana and early Pink Floyd.  Being a superband doesn't mean good songs.  "Sunshine of your love" by Cream is probably the tackiest and gayest song I have ever heard in my life.  Anyway, I would recommend sticking with loyalty.  A bass player who loves Yvette for her music, and would put heart and soul into the band.  Someone who doesn't blow off rehearsals and gigs.  If Mohini could do that, then that would still be up to Yvette.

Here's another nice snapshot from the How does your avatar look today ? thread:

The Garden

 

Hi Natty Honey!  How are you today?  I hope everything is OK and you are having a great time.  I decided to give my new cell phone camera a try, and take some snapshots of some flowers in the garden.  The camera is so much better than my other phone, but it doesn't have macro so I can't really get close up shots.  The flower above is the horseradish bean or "munggai".  The locals use it to make curry.  I tried to use it once just to try it out, and it hurt my tummy.  I guess I should stick to tradition and make curry.  It tastes like horseradish, and is hot like horseradish, so of course it would hurt tummies.

There's a giant black cat watching over Mary Unknown7!  Sounds like the story of my life, and Mary's too I guess.  That cat is too big to lock up in the kitty litter room while I make my dinner.  I had liver (spleen) in tamarind sauce for dinner, a local recipe, to go with my tortillas and scrambled eggs.  Even though it's a local favorite, I only first tried it a few months ago when my mother ordered some takeout from a restaurant run by relatives.  The meat was so tender and the sauce was perfect for it, I had to try it again but the next time I did, the liver was hard as a rock.  It occurs to me that the first time I tried the dish, they used spleen by mistake (probably from shopping at the same Australian beef freezer at the supermarket as I do then seeing the low price, thinking it was liver).  Spleen can be cooked well done, and remain tender and chewy.  Liver becomes hard when overcooked.

Monday

 

Hi Natty!  How are you feeling today?  I hope all is well with you, and you are relaxing and taking life easy.  It's Monday over here.  I did laundry in the morning.  My brother gave me a used washer, so any day can be laundry day now.  A step towards smelling better!  Not that I really care while I'm still alone.  I made ramen for lunch.  I love ramen!  I didn't have any yuba bean curd to put in there, it's been selling out everywhere I try to buy it.  I didn't have to cook dinner though.  My Mom paid for dinner that I bought at the night market.  Thanks Mom!   It's just the usual, rice with fried chicken and soy milk to drink.  Which gave me extra time to patch holes in my polyester khakis that I wear for dirty work.  Polyester lasts practically forever, it's the thread that holds it pants together that dies first.  The holes were at the side, so I used plain cloth thread for that ( I suck at sewing).  But for the crotch I had to use fishing line.  Works wonders!  Next I have to do wardrobe with Mary Unknown7, then I'll check out some games I downloaded after that.  You have a good day, Honey!  I love you!

Wow

 

Wow, rock climbing.  Natty, you're incredible.  You're so strong.  And so brave.  I would never be able to do that.  I don't seek danger anymore, because my work is already dangerous.  Rock and Roll is a dangerous business, so it's a good thing that I've never been married and I don't have kids.  I guess it's a good thing you are so strong and brave, but please don't put yourself in danger just for fun.  I love you.  I do all I can so you would have an easy life.  Please don't fall and die or hurt yourself.

My brand new piece of shit phone

 

Hi Natty!  How are you today?  I hope you are guarding your health and keeping safe.  Are you having fun?  I'm having fun with my new cell phone I bought online.  Buying stuff online is somewhat of a gamble since you don't always get what you pay for, as opposed to buying it at a brick and mortar store where you pay for what you get.  Plus since I can only afford a cheap phone, I had to do a lot of studying and make the most educated wager.  It goes without saying that the cell phone market is saturated, so you can't trust name brands that are dirt cheap.  Hell, you can't trust buying anything online.  So I went with getting what I pay for as long as I didn't pay too much.  Not the cheapest, but the next step up.

I got a really nicely built phone.  There is no name brand, just a model number: s20.  Sure enough, it's a clone of the Samsung with the quad camera array in front, but in reality it only has 2 cameras: front and back.  But the quality is better than my old piece of shit phone, so great!  The box claimed it had 8 Gb RAM with 64 Gb storage, but really it only has 8 Gb storage but the RAM is at least 4 Gb because it plays all the latest games smoothly!  It doesn't like the older games though, like Angry Birds etc.  I have to say that these anonymous developers have found a way to trick Andriod into reporting false amounts of memory.  The battery only lasts a couple of hours on a full charge with heavy play.  It's not a phone either because it doesn't have a sim card receptacle but that's OK, I never intended to use it as a phone anyway.  But I love portable computers, and as such I'm very pleased with what I got for what I spent.  I'm not good at placing the screen protector on, it has many bubbles, a couple of specks of dust, and a cat hair.  Oh well.  Alhamdulillah!  Here's a snapshot of my brand new piece of shit phone taken with the camera on my old piece of shit phone.  But it's not actually a piece of shit.  It's quite nice.

The horny toad

 

Hi Natty!  How ya doin' Honey?  I pray that all is well for you over there, and you're having a great time.  It's Friday over here, and it's hot again.  I woke up to find Adolf Kitler mounting his sister Lily under the kitchen counter.  I thought, "Hey, I made sure she wasn't in heat before I put them in the same room together!"  Lily would fight him off when she isn't in heat.  It turned out that Lily was busy cornering a house gecko (a favorite snack of hers) when Adolf took the opportunity to hump her while she was hunkered down under the kitchen counter.  Lookie however is in heat, and Adolf goes for her as well.  Right now, Lookie is at that stage where she doesn't hiss him away, but she has the restraining collar on (it's always whenever she's in heat that she gives herself a bad poodle cut).  I suppose I could release the collar and I will need the kittens eventually, but right now 3 cats is enough.  It doesn't stop Adolf though, but he can't mount her from the top so he tries to do the deed while they are both on their side.  This position is something humans often use.  Use your imagination.

Maty's avatar sure has long legs.  This is the first time I really noticed that.  It's probably just the outfit.

Business as usual

 

Hi Natty1  What's going on?  How's business?  Are they making you wear what they want you to wear to class, or do you get to choose your own style?  I do hope you are keeping your distance from other people.  Don't get breathed on!  I want you to know that I love you with all of my heart.  So don't you worry about a thing, everything is going to work out just fantastic for us inshaAllah.

It's business as usual for me over here.  The weather is hot, which makes me automatically grumpy.  But it cools down quite nicely at 4 am, which wants me to stay in bed!  I went to the supermarket to get some groceries.  I wanted to make ramen for lunch (I love ramen!) but 2 eggs in the tray I bought were cracked, so I had rice with eggs instead.  Dinner was a whole kilo of home fries, and I made liver (spleen) in tamarind sauce to go with it.  That's a good local recipe.  Even if you hated liver, I think you would like liver in tamarind sauce.  The afternoon was tough.  It was so hot, and Mary's voice made me want to faint.  But we've done this routine for years already, and she seems to be coping OK without AC.  I wish I could afford AC.  Anyway, I have a couple more tasks to do then I'm going to play this game I found on Google Play Store.  Hey, it's my job to play video games!  Entertainment!