Letter to Erin 20150706

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

Hi there, rich girl!  All this materialism that's going on is important to you and your friends, and I don't mind at all providing for you, because it is my responsibility to do so as a good Muslim husband.  I am not a rich man, and it is of concern to people that my wife be so materialistic in this Islamic context.  My poverty is your wealth.  Does this seem like a paradox to you?  But Allah is the One Who sets the balance.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was administrator of wartime booty and political leader, so a tremendous amount of valuables went through his hands.  But he lived an austere life, and this was a problem to some of his wives, because they had live poor as well.  Once he had to exile himself from his wives for about a month because of their material demands.  This incident became mentioned in Qur'an, in gist: do they care more about the valuables of this life over the hereafter?  Over God?

I'm not a prophet.  I'm not a politician.  I am a musician.  But I understand the politics of our marriage: I cannot force you to live in poverty as I do, and I must provide for you adequately and give you a house.  I've been in music business long enough to brush off what people say, but this time the concern is if you care more about materialism over the afterlife.  I am a servant of Allah, and to care more about materialism over the afterlife is anti Islamic.  Sure you can have your wealth, and sure it is my job to provide for you.  But the afterlife is more important.  Did you know that?  Do you accept that?  Do you understand your position as my wife?

This paradox of materialism belongs to my wife, not to me.  I already know of what I seek in a wife.  You are my wife inshaAllah, and with Allah as my Witness, I am sincere when I say that I love you and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150705

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

Hello there, my beautiful Erin.  How are you feeling today, Sweetheart?  It is a surreal day here today.  The rain lingered on from yesterday, and at times alternated with the sunshine like a giant low frequency strobe light.  At times, it was raining in bright sunlight.  I was about half an hour away from finishing voice training, when God shut me down with a bolt of lightning which tripped my fuse box while I was singing "Top Of The World."  When The Boss says "Stop now", then I stop.  I did play the drums for about half an hour before the Asr prayer- the drums don't need electricity.  The sky was gloomy, while I pounded out Qur'an rhythms.  It's cleared up a little now as I write to you, but still a little cloudy.  I don't believe I'll get rained on when I go to the mosque inshaAllah.

I saw the movie "The Sandlot" this morning before dawn.  It's a cute movie, and I found it on YouTube so it was vignetted (to deter mass copying, I assume).  I hate young boys though, so I didn't get as much enjoyment out of the movie as you would.  I know I have make an exception for my own son(s) and be nice, but if the kid isn't mine then I really don't want anything to do with them.

None of my own cooking today for breaking fast.  My food has been given to me.  I have a murtabak (pan fried flat bread folded over and stuffed with chicken, egg, potato, onion, and what not), some chocolate cake, a date, and iced tea.  Quite a tasty spread, but I am hungry.  I pray you are eating properly and getting sufficient rest.  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150704

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

Hi Erin!  Ah, it's a lovely day today.  The temperature is nice and cool, and I am at my happiest (as happy can be) when the temperature is perfect, when I'm neither sweating nor freezing.  The perfect feeling.  What is the "perfect feeling"?  What can the "perfect feeling" be to someone who doesn't know what happiness is?  Right now, here in Malaysia, is after the rain.  A glimpse of happiness from the One most Gracious, most Merciful.

I just downloaded some pdf novels.  The stuff I grew up with.  What was that?  Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Enid Blyton's Famous Five, "Mystery of" series, "of Adventure" series, and Malory Towers.  Oh dear, I grew up on girly books.  I wanted to be one of the girls in Malory Towers!  If I had been, I would never have left, and everybody there would have gotten pregnant.  Except the teachers.  Well, Sherlock Holmes is kind of macho, don't you think?  He didn't bend steel bars with his teeth, though.

I let Bob Cat loose after a night in the cage.  He didn't have that many ear mites.  Boy, that cat is strong.  He wrestled out of his restraining collar through sheer brute strength.  I had to pin him down with my entire weight in order to clean his ears.  At times I thought he would lift me up and throw me.  He doesn't like anything in his ears.  Plus, he probably doesn't know his own strength, which is why he shreds his ears over a few ear mites.

It's raining again!  I probably won't go to the mosque tonight if this rain keeps up.  I hope you are taking care of your health, and getting plenty of beauty rest.  You are my girl, Erin.  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150703

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

Hi Erin!  How are you feeling today, my beloved?  Are you being optimistic for me?  Please maintain your prayers as well.  I seem to be back on schedule right now, and am writing this letter while I wait to break my fast.  I just paid my bills so I'm broke, so I have a humble meal: sausage calzone without cheese, breadsticks, banana bread, red sugar water, and a date.  But you are more than welcome to share my food.  Because I love you, and I need you.

I managed to acquire a copy of the movie, "The Sandlot".  I haven't watched it yet, but you can bet that I will.  No I'm not a gambling man, so let me rephrase that: I will watch it inshaAllah.  My most favorite movie of all time and all space, that I can watch over and over again without getting bored is a Doris Day flick from 1948 called "My Dream Is Yours".  Oh, I love that movie!  Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.

Bob Cat has ear mites.  He's been scratching his ears so passionately, that his left ear is bleeding!  So I put one of those restraining collars on him, and locked him up in the cage.  What a nuisance.  Not only do I have to doctor a cut ear, I have to get rid of the ear mites completely, otherwise he'll rip his ears off.  Looks like Bobby is going to be a prisoner for a while.  To protect him from himself.

Letter to Erin 20150702

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

Hey there, pouty girl!  Please don't be blue, because you're my girl and I love you.  I have to make sure that I can provide for you before I marry you, you know that.  I will marry you inshaAllah.  So instead of being melancholy, give me a big smile and pray that Allah will grant me wealth enough to buy your ring and build your house and give you a stable and happy married life soon.

I woke up a little later than usual this morning at 2 am.  I was busy processing lemongrass for my Mom last evening, and I barely had time to cook my noodles for dinner.  I just paid my bills, so I have few options for the menu right now.  My banana bread turned out as expected, nothing abnormal.  It tastes as you would expect.  Banana + bread = banana bread.  For today's predawn meal, it's fried rice with mushrooms.  It's pretty humble right now, so forgive me if I am unable to make a portion for you, but you are welcome to share my meal anyway.  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150701

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

Wow, it's not even 1 am yet.  I'm waking up earlier and earlier: mind you, I won't go back to sleep until after the dawn prayer.  At least I have all this time on my hands.  I didn't get a chance to write to you before breaking fast.  I was doing some burning and I wanted to finish what I started, so it was 7 pm when I got done.  What to do with all this time?  After I finish this letter, I'm going to put on a pot of coffee.  I have a lot of bananas, so I'm going to try to make banana cake.  I want to do more browsing at Google Play.  After much waiting around at the public library, I managed to get the apps I requested installed.  King of Fighters 2012 cost me 1.17G bytes, but it's an awesome game.  Oh, don't bother installing that mini flashlight app if your smart phone doesn't have an LED screen.  I have one of the cheapest smart phones on the market.  I didn't set out to buy a smart phone: I just wanted a phone that could play mp3s.  I found out after the fact that my phone ran the latest version of Android.  That is the gist of a fun smart phone: the ability to run Android well, and a lot of RAM.  So to me my phone is more of a computer than a phone, after all, I don't have any friends.  It's something to watch a movie on while I make banana bread.  I only have movies on my phone that I am able to watch over and over again.

Now that you're a big old movie star, please carry yourself as a queen, because you are my queen, and I love you so.  All those other girls look like men, don't they?  Be mysterious, and wear lots of nice suits for me for I find that very sexy.  Most of all, get plenty of rest.  Hang on to your heart.  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150630

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

Hello Erin.  How are you feeling today, my dearest?  Yeah it's a little serious today, but otherwise I'm doing OK.  I pray you are healthy and confident.  I want nothing but the best for you, for I love you so, and I need you.

Right now I'm watching "Watergate- 784 Days That Changed America".  I hate politics, and I have no desire nor intention not even responsibility to run for public office.  Let someone else have that job.  It's just my thinking that since that was the way Nixon ran his business, it means that he had always run his business that way, and it would be unlikely that he was the only president who ran his business that way.  One cannot be successful in politics without a gang to back you up.  But it's old news, right?  Can old news be breaking news?  The same thing over and over again?

I never got around to making marinara sauce and mayo today.  I was more interested in installing the apps that Google denied me while allowing the installation of other apps.  I did so by finding a WiFi hotspot.  I succeeded in installing "Lara Croft: Relic Run".  It's basically a "Super Mario Bros" type of game, but Mario is much prettier in this game.  I hadn't begun to play yet but I knew there were many pagan influences, from the many ankhs needed for Lara to resurrect.  Now one can have such blind faith in human superiority to dismiss all religions as equal.  Everyone wants to be God.  I know that Islam is superior to all other religions, and I don't need to convince that to unbelievers because I don't care about the faith, or lack thereof, of unbelievers.  What I do care about is how I interact with these attempts to sway away from God.  They don't do much to influence me, but what about children?  There is so much more than what can be seen and touched that cannot simply be dismissed because there is no cash on the table, or compliance to agenda.