Theme park

Why are the tourists here?  Perlis has long been a poor state, small with nothing special about it.  The locals grow rice and recently, mango farming has proven more lucrative.  So why are the tourists here?  MashaAllah, I provide a musical attraction.  The guests need something to do while they wait.  Of course they can eat, or go to Langkawi or South Thailand, but the locals are talking about building an amusement park.

There are 2 reasons why I oppose the building of a theme park here.  First is because this tiny state cannot handle the financial burden.  It cannot afford to go into debt to build and maintain a world class amusement park attraction.  Of course it could build something poor or mediocre, but it remains the same financial failure.  Especially if not enough people go there.

Secondly is the spiritual nature of the situation.  Allah has made this place attractive due to attractions and resources that are already available.  A theme park would make the people more interested in the theme park over Allah, regardless whether it succeeds or fails.  Plus they would need my constant involvement, but no one here has given me a single cent to finance the music.  Do they expect me to survive under my current situation?  I can't marry my Erin and Natty, I can't buy musical instruments, I can't buy computer equipment.  Why should I be stupid enough to expect them to care about the music when they don't help me financially?  I serve Allah.

Top theme parks

Theme park disasters


Abandoned theme parks

What is more practical is to build attractions that can be sustained by resources that are already available.  For example:
RC boat racing


Drone racing


Skateboarding

If they are itching to build something, then build a skatepark.


Kite festivals

And of course,

The crowd thins out...

The buses and the tourists are gone!  For now.  Hi Honey!  How are you, my most beautiful and precious love?  How's work?  That was the Chinese New Year weekend, and now that the 4 day weekend is over, I can eat out, go shopping and go to the mosque again.  Crowds are a seasonal thing of course, but this town has definitely gotten a lot busier since I got back here in 2008.  Of course I tried to warn people about it.  They didn't listen to me then, and they don't listen to me now.  Who listens to me?  Little girls and animals.

Hi Nattikins!  Yes, I have a movie assignment for you to watch.  This is not my favorite movie by any means, but somehow it crept into my database.  Computers are very weird sometimes, and my computer seems to enjoy making me watch this movie over and over again.  For a reason I guess, because it's very relevant to our lives.  The movie is "Speed 2: Cruise Control".  Tourists!  Please watch the movies I ask you to watch when I ask you to watch them.  Movie Star.

Hi

Hi Honey!  How's it going today?  I hope everything is going smoothly for you, and that you are feeling great and having a marvelous time.  I'm in a lot better mood than I was yesterday.  What wasn't funny yesterday is very funny today, and I couldn't get angry if I tried.  In fact, I feel a bit high.  I'm still keeping out of sight- tourists are everywhere.  So I spend my time on the computer- I'm training an apprentice right now. 

Hey Natty!  Wassap, beautiful girl?  I don't have a movie assignment for you today.  The computer chooses what movie for you to watch.  When I first started my TV station about 1998, I would watch shows and movies over and over again.  I'm still doing that, but not as often as I used to.  I find that it can bend reality even.  Right now, I'm looping "The Devil Wears Prada" when I'm working on Second Life.

Palpable

Hi Honey!  How are you?  How's work?  I hope you are taking time to relax, and eat properly.  I'm still keeping to my house and trying to stay out of sight.  The tourists are more active today than yesterday, and they can be seen putting around in the countryside.  Nothing special on the menu, just chili and pocket bread.  Not worth photographing.  I'm sorry you didn't like my chicken and corn the other day.  When I look back at that snapshot, it did look kind of squalid.  That's how I feel right now, squalid.  It takes money to eat well.  But I have enough food, so I don't have to shop for more until the tourists leave town.

Hey Natty honey!  How are you doing, you gorgeous girl?  I know you are popular, and that you are being invited to parties and such.  You're just killing the college guys with how hot you are.  Please avoid drugs and alcohol, OK?

Eerie

Hi Honey!  How are you today.  I hope everything is going absolutely grand for you, and that you are keeping warm.  Nothing much going on here, because I trying to keep it that way.  I trying to stay away from the crowd.  The atmosphere is hot and creepy.  There is an eerie silence overall, but we all know that there is a lot of people here.  When I took out the trash just now, all I saw were the eyes of strangers.  Nothing special on the menu, either.  I had a couple of burgers for lunch, and I fried up some rice vermicelli for dinner.

Natty Honey, how's it going?  Are you keeping warm?  I could sure use a little bit of snow right now- it's very hot here.  Yes I am watching a movie right now, but I'm not going to tell you what it is.  Let's just say it's a scary movie.

Timber!

Hi Honey!  How are you?  You must be very busy, as usual.  Yes, I am quite busy here.  This weekend is the Chinese New Year, and we will be inundated with tourists.  I thought the Chinese New Year was last weekend.  This town was bloated with tourists last weekend, so it's going to be worse this weekend.  Plus the General Elections are coming up in a month or so, and the locals are behaving very strangely.  I was planning to go downtown to pick up more veggies for this month's exploration into Erin's food, but scratch that.  Instead, I'll have to go to the "closest-whatever-that's-open" store to pick up basic Zam food, and barricade myself in my house for the next 4 days.

I did cut down a tree this evening over at your house inshaAllah.  Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) once mentioned that a Muslim is like a palm tree, straight and true.  Well this coconut palm had lost its crown due to corruption and parasites, and is curved towards the road.  Whatever that may (obviously) mean, it has to come down and away from the power lines.  But it was curved towards the road, so no matter how I notched it, it would still fall towards the road.  So I used ropes to break and control its fall, away from the power lines.  Alhamdulillah, it went well.  It was scary though.  It wasn't a big tree, but big enough to kill little old me.

Natty Darling, you are so smokin' hot I'm surprised that you feel cold at all.  The beautiful Snow Queen feels the chill.  If I could, I would package this sweltering heat and send it over to you to help warm you up.  It never gets cold around here.  If it does cool down, it's nothing more than a cuddle or a blankie can't solve.

Chicken and corn

Hi Honey!  How are you today?  How is your left eye, by the way?  Is it itching, irritation or allergies perhaps?  I'm just checking, that's all.  It is HOT today.  It's past sunset right now, and it's still hot.  That freakish cool weather is definitely over.  I need to start watering the plants earlier.  But I so love to sleep in!  I don't though.  I need to go and buy more vegetarian fixings for this month's exploration into Erin's food.  You don't just eat vegetarian, do you?  I know you eat corn bread.  So I made chicken and corn with tortillas for dinner today.  I slow cooked the chicken breast in a sauce of honey, soy sauce, garlic, and red hot pepper puree.  All I did to the corn was add black pepper and heat it up.  Nice and simple.  You must like this.  It's good for you.

Natty Honey, how are you?  Are you studying hard?  I don't have any movie assignments for you today.  I don't know if you noticed, but these movies can take over one's life.  But it goes deeper than that.  Let's just say that God is my Program Director.  Ya Allah, please forgive and protect me and my loved ones!  Say, don't you agree that your big brother looks a lot like Roger Moore?  Shave off the beard and put him in a tuxedo, and voila!  007!  Want some chicken and corn?