Letter to Erin 20150616

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

Hi Erin, dearest heart.  How are you feeling today, my beloved?  Did you buy yourself some nice suits for work?  If you did, I want to see you wear them.  I love a beautiful woman in a beautiful suit.  I want to see YOU wearing beautiful suits.  That would be such a turn on!

I'm still bumming out over my kitty, but otherwise it's just another everyday day for me here.  In the morning, I drove over to a government agriculture research and development institute to show them my mango plants, and the guy there confirmed that my mangoes were 100% harumanis.  I got lost trying to find the place: it was way out in the sticks and I almost wound up in the next state, putting around slowly on my motorcycle so as to not harm the baby mangoes in my basket.  But I got home in time for a nap before the mid day prayer, so I didn't fall into a coma during voice training.  It was too wet in the evening to do any grass cutting, so I just spent some time with my baby mangoes.

Dinner is steak and potatoes!  I threw some cubed potatoes, garlic, onions, hot peppers, and coriander seeds into a small wok then fried them up in super hot oil until the garlic and onions turned black.  I ate that with sliced steak.  Quite yummy, if I may say so.  Would you like some?  No kissy kissy!   Garlic breath!  Stainless steel absorbs garlic, so we'll have to suck on steel spoons before any kissy kissy.  Mwah!  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150615

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

Are you mad at me again?  You probably have good reason, and I don't blame you.  I still can't afford to buy you a ring, and to build your house.  Please forgive me, and be patient with me.  I have no choice but to live for Allah.  It's because of this music, you see.  Whatever happens, please know that you are my girl, and I love you, and I need you.  I want to marry you.

---- has always been the runt of the family.  She was always the last to get to a nipple and needed help to get there, and going into heat gave her such a hammering each time.  But she managed to grow up into a beautiful little kitty, a little waif girl.  Yesterday evening, she was eating normally and had lots of energy.  Then this morning, Sunday at 5:30 am, she didn't want to eat her breakfast.  She was in heat all week so I didn't think too much of it.  Then at 8 am, I noticed she had trouble breathing.  I found it was serious: she had pneumonia.  To fall ill on a weekend around here is death for a cat, because the vet is closed.  And there was nothing I could do, but watch her die.  She drew her last breath at 10 am.  It happened so quickly, she was still so soft and beautiful when she died.  There was no fever, no stuffed nose, nothing but a swift pneumonia.  There was so much water in her lungs Erin, it was pouring out.  It were as if she had drowned.  Which is perplexing to me, because she spent her whole life indoors, and my house is warm and dry.  I buried her by a banana tree at your house inshaAllah.  When I went to pick her body up to put her down into her grave, she was lying in a puddle of water.  Poor little kitty, I loved her so much.  From Allah is our origin, and to Allah is our return.  I hate losing a cat.  It's one of the worst feelings on earth.  4 days before Ramadan. 

There are no coincidences, so you may be wondering what Allah means by this.  I think I know.

Letter to Erin 20150614

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

Hi Erin!  How are you feeling today, my beloved?  I pray you are feeling healthy and happy, and having a great time.  Just be sure to maintain your prayers.  Nothing much going on today for me.  It rained a lot in the morning, so I wasn't able to go out as I had planned.  I wanted to buy more flour.  Lunch wasn't all that special.  I had to finish off those small won ton skins, so I just stuffed them with the rest of the fish balls, since my paste didn't work too well.  The rained stopped in the evening, so after the Asr prayer I was able to cut grass over at your house inshaAllah.  I went out after, to get gasoline and I bought fried noodles for dinner.  Yeah, I don't feel like cooking.  But also I won't be eating out much during Ramadan, which starts next Thursday.  Right now, I'm going to just relax.  My legs are tired.  Wish you were here with me.  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150613

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

What, you're mad at me again?  Because I complained about doing a little house cleaning?  I'll admit that I loathe house cleaning, but I'll do some.  I like a clean house, but I hate house cleaning.  That's not hypocrisy- it's laziness.  You have no idea how many tasks I have on my plate, plus I need to relax, so I am able to work.  The day will come when I will have to focus on studio work, and I won't be able to do much of anything else.  Right now, I don't have the musical instruments and studio equipment, plus the means of duplication and printing.  But when Allah grants me thus inshaAllah, I'm going to be trapped inside the studio.

I'm having chicken wings tonight.  Wanna join me for dinner, Sweetheart?  Squid freezes up well, so I'll just save it for later.  Maybe fried calamari.  Right now it's time to make a batch of dough.  I like making my dough hard lately.  So it would be ready to use in 3 days.  I don't work in a restaurant anymore, so I don't have to feed any patrons.  Right now I'm watching "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes"- the old one, from 1969 I think.  Snake Plissken looks so young and clean cut!  Wanna snuggle up to a movie?  I love you Erin, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150612

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

Gag!  Seafood stinks.  Even when you buy it fresh and you smell it and there's no smell, when you open up the guts, it reeks.  It's because of all the things they eat, and ferments in the stomach.  Crabs and shellfish don't smell so bad.  Big fish is generally easier to deal with, because you can pull out the guts easier.  But squid?  There's no other way but to rip and shred out the guts, especially if you want to save the liver and the eggs.  And the ink sac- for something so small, it makes a huge, black mess.  Cuttlefish is stinkier than regular squid, but it has more meat.  The squid family is mostly made out of water, so it shrinks like mad.  Today cuttlefish was on sale, so I had to process that today.  I still have the scent on my fingers 3 hours later, after doing gardening, after driving around looking for cooking gas, after taking a shower.  the good thing is that the cats hate the smell of squid, and they totally leave me alone.  You wanna gut these cuttlefish?  Oh, I have to do it?  AND do the house cleaning?

I didn't want to go to the market this morning, but I had to waste some time before the stores opened so I could buy a new regulator.  SO I got the cuttlefish, some tofu, and some won tons.  So for dinner, it's going to be fried won tons.  The won ton skins are small though, so it's going to be a pain to shape them.  I think I'll blend the stuffing today.  The blend turned out really tasty, but the won tons were too small and tedious.  The best approach was to spread the paste on then fold it over, but frying it up created a lot of splatter.  Tasty, though.  Want some?

I must say it's already getting weird (er than usual), and it's even Ramadan yet.  Well, alhamdulillah.  You take sweet care of yourself, Sweetie.  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150611

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

Hi Erin!  Dahlink!  I'm sorry if I didn't talk all that much yesterday.  Actually, I don't talk much at all usually.  Believe it or not, I talk most to you over everyone else.  Well today I had to get my cesspool cleaned out, so I was thinking about that all day yesterday.  It was just too damned full, and it hadn't been emptied in years.  I went to the toilet more than usual, in anticipation.  So now that it's all cleaned out, I went to the toilet more than usual to check it out.  It's like getting a new car, you just want to keep driving it.  Well, it doesn't have that new car smell.  Actually, it doesn't smell of anything at all.

I was checking out the truck that they used to clean the cesspool, and it occurred to me that the hose that sucks the shit up has a limited length.  The old cesspools at your house inshaAllah are way over on the southwest corner of the house, at least 20 meters away from the driveway.  There's no way that hose runs for 20 meters.  We're going to have to dig a new sewage container system on the northwest corner of the house.  To dig it on the opposite side of the house is right next to the street- it depends where you want your master bathroom.  I'm going to put your bathroom on the west side of the house in my plan, inshaAllah.

Then came dinner time, I was about to cook when I had to change the gas cylinder.  Then my gas regulator refused to work.  Well, there it is.  Of course I had to empty out the cesspool AND buy a new cooking gas regulator right before the fasting month.  It makes complete sense.  There's no such thing as coincidence.  People who believe in coincidences do not think that there could be a mini Mandelbrot 10000 magnifications away.  Or so.  Anyway Erin Sweetie, you are MY girl, and I love you with all my heart.  And I need you.  Apologies for the mundane old sewage talk.

Letter to Erin 20150610

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

Hi Erin.  How are you today, my beloved sweetheart?  I'm just hanging out here with my cats, and dealing with the mundane as best as I can.  ---- is still in heat, and howling her her heart away.  There's nothing all that special on the menu from what I'm making.  My Mom gave me some of her famous bamboo shoot sweet pickle, and I'm having that for dinner with rice and chicken.  I pray you are taking sweet loving care of yourself in my absence, for I wish to be with you always.  Please maintain your prayers.  I love you, and I need you.