Letter to Erin 20150901

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

Hi Erin!  How is the most beautiful girl in the world feeling today?  I pray you are taking your position as Boss Model seriously.  Because you are MY girl, and I don't want people treating you like a victim.  It's just another average day for me.  Another average day in the life of an average squirt.  I'll admit that I'm a squirt.  When we get together for full body contact sports inshaAllah, I'll show you.  I love you, and I need you.

I finally have enough peppers to harvest, so for dinner tonight it's pepper steak on rice.  Super hot and yummy.  I don't believe there's anything wrong with eating meat as long as it's halal.  Protein helps build and form muscle, and I don't want you to be too thin.  Moderation is the key.  I wouldn't want you to get fat either.  Now Floofy is a fat cat.  But that's OK because fat cats are cute, but fat humans are not.  The body you had for the SI swimsuit shoot was SEXY.  Granted sometimes you just don't feel good, and I don't mean to be insensitive or rude.  I'm just trying to express what I like, and perhaps you would know what the limits are so you don't lose energy, health, and self esteem.  Aaaaa!  Forget it!  I'll just compensate by becoming obese!

Lunch was a couple of "pekasam" fish and garlic potatoes.  Floofy in her infinite wisdom expressed that she didn't like my breath by eating some cat food, licking her butt, then breathing into my face.  Cat thinks she knows it all.  I'm broke and alone right now, so I'm certainly not going to gargle with mouthwash after every meal just to please a cat.  I'm not out to please humans either, because I already know who I want to marry.  When we are married, I promise you I will always have economy sized bottles of Listerine around to keep my breath minty fresh inshaAllah.

While it is undeniable how beautiful you are, what is more important to me is your Islam.  You don't have to be an extremist, just do the best you can with what Allah has given you.  Your piety will amplify your beauty, and I want people to recognize you for your goodness over your sexiness.

Letter to Erin 20150831

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

Hi Erin!  How is the most beautiful girl in the world feeling today?  You are MY girl, and that makes you the most beautiful girl in the world to me.  You have my solemn promise that I will marry you inshaAllah, and mashaAllah if I have any power, then that also makes you Boss Model.  I love you, and I need you.

Bob Cat's shoulder is much better today.  The swelling has gone down, and he's walking effortlessly.  Apparently the actual cut was to his right armpit, and it affected his entire shoulder.  What a crafty foe he has.  While he was locked up overnight recuperating, his enemy came and muttered threats at him.  But my Bobby seems A OK today.  What a fast healer.  Alhamdulillah.

Tomorrow is Independence Day for Malaysia.  I plan to just stay home, and cut grass in the evening if it doesn't rain.  This morning I went to the Sunday market.  I don't normally go because I usually clean my parents' bedroom, but I postponed that to the evening.  I bought some prawn croquettes, and some salted fish.  Actually the fish is marinated in some sort of tamarind salt mix.  It's called "pekasam" in the local lingo, and the fish is a common freshwater fish called "puyu", which you would see the locals fishing for in the drainage ditches.  It's best as a crispy fry.  Folks generally eat it with steamed rice, but I prefer it as a snack.  It's the closest thing I can get to blue cheese around here.  I'll bet it would even go great on a salad as a substitute to blue cheese.  But I don't gamble.

Letter to Erin 20150830

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

Hello there, my beautiful Erin.  Are you feeling safe and secure?  I'll do my best to help protect you, but don't forget that Allah is the Best to protect.  You are MY girl, and I love you very much.  And I need you.

It seems that my Bob Cat wasn't able to beat that other cat, the brownish-black striped cat with a stubby tail.  This time he got nailed in the shoulder, and it's all swollen.  I had to ice it down, and keep Bobby in prison for a while.  I suppose he was afraid of that other cat when he allowed it to eat from his cat food.  Don't worry Bobby.  We'll get him, inshaAllah.  He's always getting nailed, or perhaps he shouldn't get nailed at all so I don't notice it.  That's the problem with being a fighter: beat one cat, and another cat comes along.  Maybe he'll become a smarter fighter with experience.  He used to get hurt in the foot repeatedly, he got punched in the eye once, and this shoulder injury is new.  What would you do if you had a son who is a natural fighter?  Would you imprison him, or back him up?  Well, Bobby is in prison right now for his own protection.  He got hurt.

I went downtown this morning to pay bills and get a haircut.  They were having drills for a local Independence Day parade, but I had stuff to do so I didn't watch.  I went to one of my usual eateries for flat bread and curry, but they were closed.  So I had breakfast at KFC instead.  I don't think you would recognize the breakfast menu at a KFC here.  Rice with almost everything.  It was as if they were competing with McDonald's and catering to the local palate at the same time.  I didn't want rice.  I would have preferred two breasts, but you know how these places get militant about their breakfast menu.  Thus I had a something of a chicken and egg sandwich.  Small.  Expensive.

Letter to Erin 20150829

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

EEYOW!!  EEYOOO!!  EEYOW!!  EEYOOO!!  EEYOW!!  EEYOOO!!  EEYOW!!  EEYOOO!! 

Did I mention that I'm setting up an indoor grill today?  I have this wok with a heavy glass lid that used to belong to my Mom.  So I picked a couple of bunches of "pandan" leaves (commonly used to intensify the sweetness of cakes), chopped them up and put them at the bottom of the wok, then placed a round grill on top of them, set the fire to low, put the cover on then left it to warm up.  I'm grilling a fish!
 
EEYOW!!  EEYOOO!!  EEYOW!!  EYOOO!!  EEYOW!!  EEYOOO!!  EEYOW!!  EEYOOO!! 

Oh dear, the cats are going berserk.  I had removed the head and the tail of the scad I bought the other day, also I had eaten some of the meat as sashimi which left plenty of room for the stuffing.  I had some dessicated coconut in the freezer which I had fried up with chilli puree and lime juice.  I refried it with garlic, more chilli paste, and kaffir lime leaves.  I stuffed the fish with it plus the roe and liver, and now it's on the stove top cooking away.  I'll enjoy it after the sunset prayer inshaAllah.  Come and share it with me!  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150828

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

**sniffle**  I got the sniffles again.  All the recent weather distortion is definitely not normal, and my body is struggling to adjust.  It's not the indoors atmosphere either, because the sneezing intensifies when I go outside.  And I can hear my parents sneezing more than usual next door.  I'm writing today's letter later than usual because I had to take the time to drain my sinus cavity.  Yeah it's gross, but I am responsible to Allah for protecting the music, in this case my voice.  Aaaa! I made the eggs, but I forgot to put it in my "chicken and egg" sandwiches!  **sniffle**

What's causing this weather distortion anyway?  Of course Allah controls the weather, by changing conditions on the earth to affect the state of the atmosphere.  Volcanic eruptions, meteors, earthquakes, etc.  Oh yeah, God created humans as well: pollution, bombs, depletion of natural resources, etc.  The intense cannonade of World War One caused the freezing swamp that was France.  Could it be that the spin of the earth on its axis is changing direction oh so slightly?  Right now prayer times are still the same and synchronized with the sun, as far as I can see.  But when the spin changes direction, of course there will be weather distortion.  Even oh so slightly.  We're all so so fragile.  But why would the spin of the earth on its axis change direction?  Come on humans, guess!

Whoops, I'm rambling.  I'll shut up now.  **sniffle**  I going to lay my bed down now, and relax.  Play "Lair Defense".  I have the feeling that travel is going to be very hard on me now that my voice has advanced: I've become a super sensitive chick singer diva.  Good thing I'm a "Man in a Box".  When we are married, please don't force travel on me.  Please?  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150827

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

Hi Erin, my beloved!  How is the most beautiful girl in the world feeling today?  You are MY girl, Erin.  Mine, mine, MINE.  Oh, it's just another average day for me.  Just another average day in the average life of yet another average Joe.  I've been getting the dates of these letters wrong lately.  Duh.  I'm a senile old man.  It's all the same old day, anyway.

It did clear up somewhat in the evening, enough for me to cut the grass over at your house inshaAllah.  There was also a group of banana trees behind my house that was attracting thick vines, and that was bothering me so I chopped all that down.  I also got rid of a spiny palm that was growing right at the neighbor's fence.  Once all that got down, it immediately started to rain.  Heavily.  The whole village was enveloped in a grey, thick fog.  Like London in winter.  Well, not that cold.  I didn't see any ravens, though.

I didn't feel like cooking anything for dinner, but I couldn't go out because it was pouring.  So I finished off the leftover chili.  Cold.  I didn't feel like cooking.  But it wasn't enough, because I was ravenous for some reason.  I had a leftover steak in the freezer, so I had to heat that up.  Good thing it was already cooked.  I guess this means I don't have anything special cooked up to share with you.  But I would have shared my cold chili and steak with you if you had been here.  You're such a sweetheart, Erin.  I love you, and I need you.

Letter to Erin 20150826

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

Hi Erin!  How are you feeling today, my darling?  It' s been raining again today, so I just stayed in and watched TV in the evening since I couldn't do any grass cutting.  I did see a large black bird enjoying some food on the lawn of your house inshaAllah.  It was unlikely to be a raven here in Malaysia, but it was definitely bigger than a crow and it has been cold around here lately.  I remember ravens being plentiful when I was still in Arizona, and they were there all year long.  Fascinating birds.  I've always wanted a baby raven.

The morning was clear and dry, and my Mom wanted me to get her some onions, and she treated me to a fish at the Tuesday market.  That's where I usually get my beef.  But today I score a medium large scad, and it was fresh and cold, so I knew it would great to eat.  I had been craving sashimi lately.  There are better fish for sashimi, but this scad was so fresh and the size was perfect for sashimi, because the huge scad taste very strong while the small ones are tasteless.  Hardtail scad is best for grilling, but I took out half the meat and marinated it in squid sauce and lime juice.  Squid sauce?  A common Siamese condiment, very salty on flavor.  The lime juice is very potent, so it effective cooked the fish meat, so my sashimi was very palatable.  I'll probably grill the rest.  I think I'll try to set up an indoors grill- no charcoal!

But how are you doing, Sweetheart?  I hope you are relaxed and happy.  You are my girl, and I love you and I need you.