Letter to Julia 20111008

Wha... I need winter gear? How is Germany in winter? I hope you will show me the countryside. I love cheese! I need to start a fine cheese collection. That means I need a cellar, or an extra large freezer! And an extra large cooler! I wonder how the customs here would react to cheese. However, I don't think I would get there in time for the first snowfall, my beloved. Please be patient, and pray. Hey, who says I'm going to Germany? You temptress! Remember that I need a certain amount of wealth, my OWN wealth, which comes directly from Allah, for us to get married. What can happen, does happen. InsyaAllah! So please be patient, and pray. I still don't know your ring size, by the way. Is it 7? I don't know! We'll just have to go shopping for a ring together. We'll do all our shopping together, insyaAllah. You can help me buy clothes, and I want to see you in a nice business suit. Then you can follow me to the music store, and hold the boombox while I test musical instruments.

I escorted my parents to the hospital this morning. Like I told you, my Mom is going in for surgery, so I think I will be quite occupied while she is recovering. I'm still chopping up those branches I told you about into kindle for the bonfire. Everything is still wet, I tried to light it today but it wouldn't burn. The grass has gotten so long from all that rain. Oh Julia, there is a pair of black fantails hanging out at the back of the house! Oh, pretty birds, pretty birds!

Ah, the simple things. Like love and happiness, huh? Mundane it is or could be, but I must be somewhat more normal than I figured. I certainly don't ask to hasten the evil in preference to the good, simply for the sake of disbelief and cynicism. I don't want it to flood! I have all that trash to burn! Ya Allah, please have mercy on Julia and I. Please make our path to You easy. and grant us stability and happiness together in this life, as well as the next life.

Letter to Julia 20111006

Of course, I still have some traveling left to do. Do you recall my telling you so? I still have to complete my Hajj workload, then I have to go to Salt Lake City to keep my promise with the mysterious piano player. Then, there is you. Once we are married, I absolutely won't have you travel alone. Wherever you wish to go, then I will have to accompany you, so please don't make it too often and unpredictable, for you will have countless people hanging on a string, if Allah perfects my plan. Then, there is my journey to get you. I may go to either America or Germany to find you. I don't know which country yet. Most likely Germany, because I should meet your parents, plus you should have a stronger network there to keep an eye on me because I will be traveling alone. However, I don't speak a word of German other than the stuff I learned from reading all those war comics as a kid. I certainly don't want to go to New York City, because I hate the city in general, and I feel that I would despise New York City. I think of America because I have to go to Salt Lake City anyway. I don't know which country to go right now! What is important is that you make yourself easy for me to find. If you are difficult for me to find, then there can be no marriage between us. PLEASE DON'T FORGET THAT. Also, please prepare a chaperone for your journey to married bliss (insyaAllah), I suggest she be your maid-of-honor. More details to come as the clock ticks. Of course, you could always come to me, but I don't expect you to.

Oh, it's been raining again. I have a lot of vegetation to burn. I had to prune off huge, heavy branches of the tall mango and amra trees in my yard, because people were taking fruit without asking. Certainly, I can't eat all of that fruit, so I have no problem in giving it away, or even selling it. But I'm shy, so I don't go knocking on doors to give away fruit, so I eat what I can, and let the amra fall to the ground for the chickens to eat. No one seems to sell or buy amra, but I might have the nerve to sell ripe mangos by the side of the road someday. Maybe. Anyway, I chopped off the limbs that were hanging over the road, broke them down, and arranged them neatly into a bonfire stack to be burned when it dries up. Hey, it looks almost like a flower arrangement! It must be all those flower arrangement videos I've been watching from Martha Stewart Weddings. Too bad I've gotten too manly-looking to wear a wedding dress. **sigh**

Letter to Julia 20111005

Do remember though my love, that the goal is to slow down, and try to appreciate our love and life together, and do the best we can with what Allah gives us. Just because your workload increases after we unite doesn't mean you have to go to them in order to work with them. You must take whoever is willing to come to you, and we must live within our means. This is a time-consuming process, so we must practise it now. We must make like a tree and take root, to create some stability in our lives, not simply for ourselves, but for our children. This is another reason why I don't like big houses: good help is so hard to find. I want to be able to maintain the house with my own strength if I'm forced to, which is usually the case with this thing called "life". And I'm lazy enough as it is.

Qur'an 20110905

108. Say, "This is my way. I do invite unto Allah on evidence clear as the seeing with one's eyes, I and whoever follows me. Glory to Allah! And never will I join gods with Allah!"

Joseph 12:108
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This is my way. I do invite unto Allah on evidence clear as the seeing with one's eyes, I and whoever follows me. Glory to Allah! And never will I join gods with Allah!

Letter to Julia 20111003

Hi Gorgeous! Have you been staying busy? I'm sure you have. Just make sure you take good care of yourself, and maintain your prayers. I was thinking about how unlike a scenester I am, or ever was. When I was a young musician, of course I would make the efforts and pains to socialize and attend parties, in the name of music business. Like any immature idiot, I thought I was somewhat special for doing so. I would try to start up a band with anybody God put in my path, just for the sake of having a band, and playing out. There was never any method per se, and I would just write any song that came to my fingers, and instantly gave it for the band to play. But at the end of the workday at 2 or 3am, I would always wind up alone in my apartment. Now, I am exhausted of trying to party and socialize and being who I'm not for the sake of music business. Becoming a drummer is most useful for writing music, because I can complete entire songs in my head just by tapping out beats, and humming the melody in secret, while weeding out my chilli patch. Well, that's not necessarily my creative protocol. Just as long as I'm left alone with the means to produce music. I'm a crummy politician, huh? I'm vague as hell, huh? I'm also much older than most active musicians, but alhamdulillah (praise Allah), I'm still alive. I'm certainly a much different scenester than I was 20 years ago. So, what is the type of scene I am in now?

Well, I'm far from done, because I have a spiritual agenda to please Allah with music, and I am not allowed to quit. So, what is the type of scene I am in now? I don't know! Let's just say that I want to be happy, with my sweetie. I can tell you what the makeup of the audience of my live shows are/should be. I have absolutely no intention or desire to tour, so for concerts here in Perlis, the audience must be divided into 3 sections. Section one is for single females 13 and over, section two is for married couples with/or children under the age of 13, and section three is for single males 13 and over.

Letter to Julia 20111001

Damn bloodsuckers! It's not just mosquitos, but they also come in smaller sizes and shapes. That's one disadvantage of an equatorial location: because it's teeming with life, there are also many bugs here. Even the plants can reach out and grab or sting you. You are a supermodel. Yes you are, and your business commitments will probably double after we get married insyaAllah, plus your privacy will decrease because of who you marry. Do you feel like you're dragging a tree of spotlights under your jacket focused on you wherever you go, even now? At least out here in a village in the Malaysian countryside, there is less human activity, or less humans rather. The Matrix has us, Julia! My point is that you must protect the beauty that Allah gave you, which is another expense. Plus, you must try to cover your skin at all times is possible: I mean, please don't run around the house in just your Victoria's Secret lingerie.

I don't know how much free time I will have next week, because my Mom is going in for surgery so I have have to look after my parents. Cook and clean for them, you know. Please be patient with me. I do love you, my sweet Julia. You are my girl.

Letter to Julia 201109029

What? You haven't seen Sailor Moon yet? Sailor Moon is a true modern Japanese classic, her influence transcends mere anime and manga! The anime is for the girl, and the manga is for the woman (if I am allowed to say so myself). The manga is a solitary labor of anguish for Naoko-sensei, while the anime is obviously a community effort. I think the SMSS manga is the worst manga, while the SMSS anime is the best anime. Strange, huh? So is Sailor Moon. I have all 5 seasons (1. SM, 2. SMR, 3. SMS, 4. SMSS, 5. SailorStars) of anime which unhappily I can't watch with you over the internet, but you can read the manga on Mangafox or something. My favorite character is Hotaru-chan! Chibiusa is unfortunately a pagan, which is odd because Naoko-sensei is a Christian.

I'm watching Iron Chef right now- chef Sakai is working on salmon. Ah, I miss salmon. Salmon tastes great raw, and the skin is awesome when cooked until crispy. I started watching Iron Chef when someone wrote on a Sailor Moon chat that Naoko-sensei was once a judge, but I never found her there. I haven't watched every battle, though. You should watch that show, too. It's basically a cook-off, but one can learn a lot. Don't use high heat unless you know what you're doing! Patience my beloved, patience!

It's been raining again over here, ever since my last letter. God had mercy on my village, and it wasn't a continuous downpour. So, we are not quite on the edge of massive flooding. So much water lately. This is beyond the point of weather distortion, this is almost a new norm. Which would be OK I suppose, but this state doesn't seem to drain all this water quickly enough. Weather distortion means change in the motion of this planet. I'll try to explain more about that when the right time comes. Anyway, this last rainfall spawned countless mosquitos. No, I wasn't able to kill them all with my forefinger. There were too many, and they were too aggressive. So, I had to clean up the yard while holding a coil of mosquito incense. Damn bloodsuckers! I hope I don't have to go around everywhere with a can of bug spray holstered on my waist.

P.S. I love you.