Letter to Erin 20160304

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

Hi there, o beautiful one!  O gorgeous one!  I'm sitting here today in a hospital ward, keeping my Dad company as he recovers from eye surgery.  It's just after the sunset prayer, and I have to be here all night.  So, thank Allah for portable computers.

I wanted to say something about interest, or rather the consumption of.  The consumption of interest is forbidden by the Qur'an.  But the Prophet (peace be on him) did not define what was interest before he passed away.  He knew that everyone would have their fingers tainted to a certain extent with usury after his time.  This is not to OK interest just because it is a condition of modern times.  The Qur'an encompasses all of time.

Let's just regard interest that is compounded on itself.  The problem with interest on interest is that the world is finite, but the interest is infinite.  That is how the richest got richer, and control the earth, because there will never be enough value in the world to pay for interest that accumulates on itself.  The poor will default on their loans, and human law will punish them.  What about a country with massive debts?  How would you punish a country that defaults on massive debts?  If you were the lender, how would you get your money back?  Enslave the entire country?  Wage war?  Probably a leader who is wealthy would know how to save a debt-ridden country.  Unless of course, he is in business partnership with the lenders.

And of course, some will argue that what's worth doing is worth doing for money, and that the poor are also able to consume interest, and they wouldn't want to give it up either.  Isn't it all too late or too futile?  What is the solution?  Only the individual can provide a solution, by being an individual who forsakes the consumption of interest.  Give the profit made from interest to the poor- don't give to the wealthy! 

Oh dearest, I've written another rambling letter.  I hope you had lots of fun on your birthday, and that you are taking proper care of yourself.  I want you to know that I love you with all my heart, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20160303

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

Happy Birthday, Erin!  My beloved Golden Heart, I love you with all my heart.  You are my wife inshaAllah, and I need you.  I pray you have the most confidence you've ever had in your life, I pray that people will treat you as preciously as I regard you, I pray that no harm or unhappiness ever befall you.  Ya Allah, please protect my Erin.  I want you to know Erin, that I would wait for you no matter how old we get, because I will marry you inshaAllah.  Please have faith in Allah, and in our love.  Meanwhile, please enjoy your success, have fun, and look after your precious self.

Your birthday pizza is eggplant and tofu.  Delicious!

Letter to Erin 20160302

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

Hey there!  How's it going?  How are you?  I just finished my dinner.  It was a huge bowl of vermicelli soup, Tom Yam flavored.  Tom Yam, as you know, is a hot sour Thai seasoning which is very common around these here parts.  Everywhere you look here, you will see restaurants serving Tom Yam.  I don't know about you, but I don't like to experiment with restaurants that serve stuff I already know.  Yeah, I know there are different recipes out there.  When we go out to eat together inshaAllah, if we're not going to one of my regular joints, I would try to experiment with atmosphere and hope for the best about the cooking.  It must not be the same way in New York, but it must be hell to be halal.  It's always best to cook my own food, because I'm not likely to poison myself.  Plus I get huge, man-sized servings, I eat what I feel like eating, and I save money.

I love you, I need you, and I wish you were with me.  But we must be patient, right?  I want you to take good care of yourself, like treasure, for you are so valuable to me.  Please don't overwork, please pray, and try not to drink those funny tasting beverages.

Letter to Erin 20160301

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

Hi Beautiful!  Hi Gorgeous!  How are you today?  I pray that everything is going well for you.  It's been a busy morning for me.  Whenever I have have an active morning, it always makes me useless in the evening.  Plus I struggle through voice training.  Hey but life isn't supposed to be perfect.

Hm, I can smell flowers somewhere.  Anyway, I went to renew the road tax on my Dad's motorcycle.  In Malaysia, the DMV is called the JPJ, because of translation.  The tax itself is only RM2, but the insurance is expensive.  I want to teach you how to drive a motorcycle, if you didn't already know.  It should be fun, and I get to put my arms around you.  I also payed my phone bill and bought some groceries.  Among other things.  Floofy had been rolling around in her daughter's pee, so I had to give her a bath.  I can't have my snuggle kitty smelling of fermented pee.  By 4 pm, I was out of action.  I find that a more efficient day is to get active after the noon prayer.  That way, I can get all sorts of things done right up to 10 pm.  I guess I'm just not a morning person.

I hope you are not overworking.  Everything becomes work when you get older, whether that be good or bad.  I like to laze around and watch TV.  I want my girl.  I love you and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20160229

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

Hi there, Princess!  Hey there, Darling!  How are you feeling today?  Are you having lots of fun?  I hope you are trying to slow down and giving your heart a break, after all the recent activity.  I think of you all the time, because you are MY girl.  I love you and I need you.

I spent my birthday doing the usual things.  I cleaned my Mom's bedroom in the morning, then she cooked lunch for me.  Thanks Mom!  My Dad asked me if I'm doing anything special for my birthday, I said I'll be doing the things I usually enjoy doing.  Which is enjoying my home, hanging out in my favorite space, watching TV, making music, and enjoying good food.  Alhamdulillah.  I want my girl.  I ate that roast chicken for dinner that my parents gave me.  No I didn't eat the whole chicken, I still have the drumsticks and thighs left.  The kittens had a feast along with me, except ----.  She doesn't seem to like anything other than cat food or raw food.  I have lots of snacks for my TV watching tonight.  I've been eating the expensive English chocolate lately.  The taste is superior of course, but the texture is not snappy.  It has some snap to it, but like cooking chocolate.  I guess that chocolate is snappy when it's thin.  This gives me hope that I can get a good flavor out of cooking chocolate, I just need to try harder.  Oh, so much to do.  Plus I need to laze around.  I'm going to set up for practicing bass now.

Letter to Erin 20160228

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

Hello there, my love!  My love!  I love you and I need you.  You are the light in my life, and I love you with all my heart.  I never told you when my birthday is.  Well, today I am 50 years old.  Yeah yeah, I know.  I have the same birthday as Bugsy Siegel.  We're exactly 60 years apart.  I didn't know that until recently though.  I've already outlived him, and I don't own a gun.  When I was younger, I always wondered why many astrologers were upset with me.  I happen to know, or rather many astrologers knew me.  I don't know if you remember who Jeane Dixon was, but one day before she died, in her last horoscope for Pisces, she gave me such an intense verbal thrashing, telling me to lighten up or something like that.  I know it was a general horoscope, but it sure seemed very personal.  If you believe in that astrology garbage.  Hey, I think I'm rather easy-going.  Anyway, I quit reading horoscopes 9 years ago.

I still qualify for government welfare so I just received a payment, and bought myself a wireless keyboard and mouse set, and a new 2.1 speaker system.  So right now, I'm writing this letter on my back!  Yeah it's lazy, but it's not as easy as it sounds.  I also programmed the mouse as a remote control to advance to the next video on Shadowplay TV.  Finally!  I needed new monitors to mix music with.  This new system I got is only 26 watts but it's USB powered, so that's not bad.  Especially for 5V USB.  And they sound great.

I've been having a craving for eggplant lately, so for dinner I had steak with an eggplant and tofu stir fry.  It was great!  I must do that again.  Plus my parents gave me a roast chicken for my birthday.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  You wanna join me for my birthday dinner, Sweetie?

Letter to Erin 20160227

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

Hello Beautiful!  Hi Gorgeous!  How's my precious girl today?  I pray you are feeling great and having lots of fun.  Please remember to look after yourself properly, and maintain your prayers.  Things may be exciting and out of control right now, but that's all the more reason not to do drugs and alcohol, and increase the pressure on your heart.  Your precious heart.  God is in control, so pray if you need assurance.  Sure it's not the same as being high, but you don't really know what "high" is.  Pray if you need assurance.  And always know that I love you and I need you.

I have crawled into my cave, and I aim to stay in here for a while.  But I had to go out for snacks.  I can't be a hermit without snacks!  I had a craving for potato chips, but the closest supermarket didn't have any potato chips!  Do you believe that?  So I had to go all the way downtown to get my snacks.  I found this big bag of sour cream and onion chips, with Tamil writing on it.  Made in India, imported by Thailand!  I also got myself a big bar of chocolate, English chocolate.  Fruit and nut.  And some blackcurrant chews.  Now if you will please excuse me, I'm going to lie back and watch TV and eat junk food.