Congratulations

 I don't normally click on your tagged photos, Natty.  I guess that would be obtuse of me, but it's not as if I never do so.  So I looked at them today, and behold: "Oh, she's doing her masters at USC!  That's why she's in Venice Beach!"  I'm very unhappy that you chose to risk your life pursuing your masters at the global epicenter of a pandemic when you could have done the same in Vancouver.  From a spiritual perspective, it doesn't really matter where you are, if God sticks you with the disease then it's going to happen.  So all that aside, congratulations on furthering your education.  You are doing something I could never have dreamed of doing, due to the path I have taken in life.  I am sure you will be excellent, so please make us prouder of you than we already are, study hard and get the best results.

The target

 Hi Natty!  How are you, my love?  I hope you are keeping safe and healthy.  I read in the news that US Covid cases are out of control, so I would much rather you keep in Canada.  If you have to work there, then I guess America needs you somehow so please stay on your guard.  Try to isolate yourself away from other people.  I discovered something today: pushups are so much more difficult with a cat in your face.  I was gasping for air, and straining for each next pushup!  Lily was the culprit here.  Lily and Bro are the 2 abandoned kittens I found in my mother's yard last Ramadan.  They are pretty much grown up now, and they are heavy cats because I feed them well.  They have spent their entire lives together so they are very close to each other, and love each other very much.  I try to separate them from sleeping together.  This is an issue because they are cooped up inside, and Lily should be going into heat at any time now, if not already and I can't detect it.  I suppose a solution is to have Lily spayed but even so, I don't want to see them copulate.  Would you?  And I want Bro to mate with Lookie, Floofy's daughter.  I want her to have kittens, and extend Floofy's bloodline.

I recently received a hot tip that Bro is actually a very valuable kitty, and both humans and creatures are out to get him.  Sigh.  There's always something.  So to protect him, I have to keep him locked up.  He's going to be a strong cat when he's fully grown, because I take good care of him.  But a fully grown male cat always indoors...  So be it.  We'll see what happens.  Strong as he may be, he won't be stronger than a bullet, a speeding car, or a python.  Ya Allah, please heal and protect all my kitties.  Please give them long, happy lives and dignified deaths.

Friday

 Hi Natty!  What's going on?  Shopping?  I wish I could go shopping, but I never seem to have money to do a satisfying shopping spree.  I placed my very first online order the other day, I thought I would give it a try.  I'm generally the "get what you need from what's closest by" kind of guy, but I'll have to say that there are a lot of nice goodies online.  I don't expect much, though.  I bought a USB condenser microphone for Mary, I'm expecting to receive some cheapo crap.  I didn't pay that much, it is my first online order after all.  Otherwise, there's not much going on over here other than the usual.  Lunch was scrambled eggs and fried eggplant with sliced bread, then I had to attend the Friday prayer.  Dinner was white rice with chicken fried in basil and sesame seeds.  Super simple stuff.  My tummy has been very pleased with me lately, because even my experiments have been simple.  I hope your tummy is happy with you too.

I'm sorry

 I'm sorry about all the waiting, Natty.  I know it's no consolation, but I tired to warn you about this.  No, I don't know how much longer you're going to have to wait.  I beg you to please forgive me, and to please trust me.  Allah will bring us together somehow, inshaAllah.  So please be patient and pray.  I know it's no consolation, but I have been waiting much much longer than you for us.  I know it's no consolation, but even if you had never known me, you would still have to do a lot of waiting.  I am really and truly sorry about this, and there's nothing I can do except wait along with you and pray.  You are so beautiful, and I love you with all of my heart.  Please forgive me.

Me:  Are you sure you like this outfit?  It looks kind of white trashy.

Mary Unknown7:  I think it's a nice change, and it makes me laugh.  I do like it.

Me:  I'm sorry I didn't have a photo of a trailer park for your backdrop.  I'll get a stock photo from Google.

The factory of endorsement

 Hi Natty!  How are you doing today?  Oh, those young girls are jealous of you!  Well what to do, it's tough being number one.  You are number one in my heart, Natty.  You are MY girl, not them.  I love you with all of my heart.  I will marry you, inshaAllah.  Don't worry about being friends with everybody.  That's impossible.  Just be.  OK?

Ack!  I'm not bothered with cooking today, but I have to feed myself.  I've been on a simple streak lately, and I don't think that's about to change anytime soon because I like it too much.  Even my complex recipes are becoming simpler.  Lunch was just white rice with a couple of sunny side up eggs and green beans, with hot sauce.  No soy sauce.  I cooked my dinner in the evening after killing stumps with a hoe.  Swinging that hoe sure kicks up a lot of rock shrapnel.  I had to go put the goggles on.  Dinner was eggplant and beef Sloppy Joe.  All that was in the Sloppy Joe was eggplant, ground beef, salt, pepper, and a little ketchup for color.  It worked though, so alhamdulillah.  I ate it with a loaf of underdog sliced bread that I bought at the sundry shop.  I also bought some banana cake.  I like banana cake.  I think you would like it, too.  I did however make some salsa in the morning.  That was quite complex, I guess.  Roasted hot peppers, fresh onion, cilantro, tomatoes, lime, salt and pepper.  The only flavor of corn chips they had at the supermarket was curry flavor.  I couldn't taste the curry past the salsa, though.

Rice salad

 Hi Natty!  How are you feeling today, my love?  Please try to keep calm, just relax and enjoy the ride OK?  I hope you are keeping yourself safe and healthy.  I was driving home from the gas station yesterday, when I noticed this guy sitting alone at the side of the road, selling produce.  I knew instantly that it was home grown produce because of the shape of the eggplant: factory farm eggplant is always perfectly straight and shiny.  So I turned back and checked on the prices.  I went home with over 3 kilos of produce for RM5.  I love home grown produce!  I bought tomatoes, eggplant, and large hot peppers.  And the guy threw almost a kilo of green beans in my bag.

I'm not really attracted to fresh greens because I hate salads, but the girls loved my salads when I was forced to make them at the pizza joint.  My mother told me to just fry the green beans.  I bit into one just to taste what it was like raw.  It wasn't bad.  Tasted refreshing, like jicama.  When I fried the green beans, it was only for about 20 seconds because I didn't want to lose the snap and the flavor of jicama.

The locals are absolutely hooked on steamed white rice with mixed entrées.  I find this eating to be extremely tedious and laborious, because each entrée can be complex and messy, and has to be prepared and seasoned individually.  So if you were to have 5 entrées on the table to go with your rice, that would take at least 3 hours and a stroke to prepare, not to mention the time and labor of eating and cleaning up.   I thought perhaps I could simplify the entrées then serve them on white rice like a salad, with a salad dressing.  So I fried the eggplant in chilli powder and salt, the chicken in salt, pepper and sesame seeds, and the green beans with just salt, put them together with the rice like a salad, and used the hot sauce I made this morning as the salad dressing.  I got the entire task done in about half an hour, including steaming the rice.  I'm happy to report that it was a success.  Dinner was filling and refreshing, with a lingering taste of fresh, clean water.  I think you would like this, Natty.  You can even use Italian or Ranch dressing, and it would taste great.

Someone kept shooting Mary Unknown7's avatar today, so she wasn't able to be on stage at the karaoke joint.  The stream was unaffected though, so I doubt anyone outside of Second Life would have noticed the disturbance.  We went back to the karaoke joint an hour later and the varmint had cleared out, so Mary was able to sing and dance onstage again, and show off her new boots.

You can leave your boots on

 Hi Natty!  Wow, those are nice boots.  You look awesome.  You're so beautiful my love, and I love you with all of my heart.  And I suppose those are your mother's boots in the next picture?  Are you still wearing your mother's clothes?  I guess a girl can't have too many clothes.  You should try to guess how much apparel Mary Unknown7 has.  I have a question: shouldn't you have a cowboy hat to go with those boots?  Please do me a favor then.  If you can only afford one hat, then make it a black hat.  If you can afford many hats then that's fine, but at least have one black hat.  That's because Shadowplay is a black hat band, thus we are a black hat family.  I suppose Mary's next outfit is set.  She only has one pair of Western boots though, and they have high heels.  I'll see if I can buy another pair for her before before I meet her for our wardrobe session.