Letter to Erin 20160522

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

Well, hi hi hi to you too.  It would be awesome if life were just fun and laughs, but right now it's time to get serious.  Don't you be concerned about what I have to do, right now you need to pay attention to your career.  Accept it or not, right now you are at the top of your game.  So right now, you need to regard and behave that others are wanting your position.  You need to have absolute confidence as to who your allies and enemies are, and what tasks are of priority.  Did you inspect your finances like I told you?  I want and need you to keep safe, and take care of yourself.  I love you and I need you.

Let's discuss the nature of jealousy.  I told this story before, and it's time to tell it again.  I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the rejected.

In the Qur'an chapter 5 verses 27-31 tells the story about the two sons of Adam who presented a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one and not the other.  Said the latter, "Be sure I will kill you."  "Surely," said the former, "Allah does accept the sacrifice of those who are righteous."

28.  "If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against you to kill you, for I do fear Allah, the Cherisher of the worlds."

29.  "For me, I intend to let you draw on yourself my sin as well as yours, for you will be among the companions of the fire, and that is the reward of those who do wrong."

30.  The soul of the other led him to the murder of his brother: he murdered him, and became one of the lost ones.

31.  Then Allah sent a raven who scratched the ground to show him how to hide the shame of his brother.  "Woe is me," said he.  "Was I not even  able to be as this raven, and hide the shame of my brother?"  Then he became full of regrets.

You see that jealousy is a spiritual problem.  People feel the way the feel, and they act because they can't help it, because that's how they feel.  That's their excuse, anyway.  But it's an excuse that's not acceptable to God.  But what do we do in the meanwhile?  Let them get away with their shit?  I don't think I'm as elevated as the righteous brother in the above story.  If I had loved ones to protect, I wouldn't let them do whatever they pleased.  But even that, sometimes my hands are tied.  No revenge, only patience.  From Allah is our origin, and to Allah is our return.

I had to finish off that thick generic curry I made, so I heated it up and added the rest of my Mom's "sambal belacan" (hot red pepper condiment) which I also had to use up.  Then I made my bread nuggets to go with it.  Dinner was a heaping helpful of fried calamari.  Want some?

Letter to Erin 20160521

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

Hi, Coach Crowley!  Now don't you use the word "bubble" about your home.  I need you to be optimistic.  There might be some guy over here giving his life to build your house.  I suggest you call it your "mini home".  I spent the evening dismantling all that debris I showed you, making the pieces small enough to fit in my fire pit, to burn when the next big storm comes.  It's a trip watching the fire burn right in the middle of a heavy rainstorm.  There were huge storm clouds gathering right when I went outside to break down the trash.  It came from the north, then it went east then south and west.  The storm went around us.  It's almost as if God were playing a joke.  I'm sure it's not funny to the rice farmers, who still don't have enough water to start the next crop and have been in that position for the past 6 months.

Isn't it a trip to see Gisele go near psycho in that VS angels in Venice video?  And to see Ed Razek's face, it's as if a chill crept up his spine.  Maybe she did have jet lag.  I don't know.  Ana-Beatriz is so much prettier than Gisele.  So is Adriana.  Gisele looks like a McDonald's burger.  That's not a bad thing: a McDonald's burger is a beautiful thing to people who love burgers.

You on the other hand, look like an All-American Sweetheart.  A beautiful girl who loves football, basketball, baseball, and hockey, and you have a heart of gold.  I love you with all my heart, and I need you.  I didn't do much cooking today.  Just leftovers for lunch, and a pizza for dinner.  I didn't go anywhere either, other than to the mosque for Friday Prayer, and to buy drinking water.  You can drink water out of the faucet, but it doesn't taste good.  I'm so used to filtered water.  Those industrial sized water filters generate better tasting water than home water filters.  They take better care of them too, and I'm so used to the flavor of well-filtered water.  My parents buy a couple of cartons of 1.5 liter bottles of drinking water at a time.  We're going to have to keep about 10 full bottles at a time of those big bottles in your house.  InshaAllah.

**News Flash**  Right as I had finished writing this letter for today and was about to start on something else, the rain started to pour.  So I ran outside and tried to light that fire, but all I got was soaked.  So I changed my clothes, grabbed an umbrella and tried again and again, but everything was wet.  Eventually, I got some dry kindling that was in the shade of my house and set that on fire.  I spent most of the night  fanning the flames until the whole thing caught on fire, just in time before the rain really started to pour.  In the background, my TV was playing Tony Franklin's version of "The Rain Song" on fretless bass.

Qur'an 20160521

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

18.  The Jews and the Christians say, "We are sons of Allah, and God's beloved."  Say, "Why then does God punish you for your sins?  No, you are but men, of the men God has created.  God forgives whom God pleases and God punishes whom God pleases, and to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is in between, and unto God is the final goal."

(The Repast 5:18)
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Letter to Erin 20160520

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

Gluten free, huh?  You poor little sweetheart.  Come here, let me give you a hug.  I have to have my bread, darling.  I still have my voracious appetite, so I have to have man sized portions.  So salads, huh?  I loathe salads, but I will make them for you.  I used to make countless salads of all types when I worked in a restaurant.  Have to please the ladies, I guess.  And they certainly scoffed down copious amounts of the stuff.  I do need to get my salad dressing chops back, I've gotten rusty in that area.  That's because the dressing is usually the most expensive part of the salad.

That photo of you in Brazil looks almost post-apocalyptic.  Have you ever seen the movie, "The Road Warrior?"  That's the movie that made Mel Gibson famous.  Are you involved with the Olympic games there?  It must be convenient to use all the facilities they built for the last football-you-play-with-your-feet World Cup.  Very expensive.  Just like the Olympic games.  They must have every Brazilian involved in paying the mortgage.  Have you seen the ruins in Sochi?  I'm not attracted to Brazilian women.  I prefer blondes.  You.  But if you were to ask me which Brazilian model is the prettiest, I would vote for Ana-Beatriz Barros.  I posted a video of the old VS models in Venice.  Listen to what those women say.  I don't think they're kidding.

Ya Allah, please protect my beloved Erin.  I love you, my darling Erin.  And I need you.  Are you hungry?  For lunch, I had some store-bought curry that I had to use up, so I fried up some bread to go with it.  I don't like bread sticks anymore.  I don't like the texture.  The shape of bread is what influences the texture inside.  So instead of sticks, I made mini pizza shapes.  But the air inside ballooned the dough, and made it extra yummy.  Dinner was fried flat noodles with cockles.  A local standard, so I didn't include a recipe.  I believe the key is simplicity, and to let the cockles carry the flavor.  Delicious.  You must try some.

Letter to Erin 20160519

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

Hello, my beautiful Erin!  How's the view, Boss Model?  Are you sharing the wealth?  Please make sure you keep some for yourself so you can live well.  Don't give it all away.  I give my heart to take care of you as best as I can, so please look after yourself.  You are my love, I love you and I need you.

Today has been a trial of patience for me.  All petty stuff though, so I have no reason to flip out.  I'm trying to clear out all the junk around your house inshaAllah but I can't burn, so that frustrates me.  I'll always be an outlaw, even when I'm trying as hard as I can to be halal.  Rain clouds have been thick the past few days, but very little rain.  Hm.  Anyway, after the night prayer it started to rain and I was able to burn whatever was in my fire pit down, so there was no point in my grumbling.  Another 5 more loads then I can begin accumulating debris again.

Floofy is my favorite kitty I suppose, because I love all my kitties.  But Floofy is the only one I allow into my bedroom, so I guess that's why she's my favorite.  She's a fat cat, but I love fat cats.  Fat cats are cute, but fat humans are not.  So I give her cat food whenever she asks for it.  This afternoon, she was asking for food and eating it over and over again, so I gave it to her.  Then she asked to leave the room.  I watched her: she puked out all the food I gave her in front of her daughters, and they ate it all up.  Bleah!  Is that what you would call generous?  Hey Floofy, I don't want your kittens to get as bloated as you, so I give them a set amount of food!  So I suppose the solution is to get all of them bloated.  But what if they all puke?

Food.  I had to use up the rest of that scad fillet, so I made the same dish as 2 days ago, but with a variation.  So it's like a brick of Ramen with thick curry sauce and scad, with vegetables and a side of sauteed onions, garlic and mustard green stems.  Looks good.  Tasted good, alhamdulillah.  Dinner was pizza.  I didn't take a photo of that.

Qur'an 20160519

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

17.  In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary.  Say, "Who then has the least power against Allah if God's Will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother and all, everyone that is on the earth?  For to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between.  God creates what God pleases.  For Allah has power over all things."

(The Repast 5:17)
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Letter to Erin 20160518

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

Say, what do they serve at "The Famous Cock" anyway?  It must be some kind of public house.  Not to be confused with the bookstore called "The Camus Fock".  Do they allow women in there?  I was hoping it would be a place that serves exotic foods.  It can't be that they serve...  No!  Don't serve that stuff to my sweet, innocent Erin!  I love her and I need her!

I found a video on YouTube where in Vietnam, some men eat dog penis to increase thier virility.  No, I didn't actually see them eat dog penis.  There was just this one vendor boasting that men can eat dog penis and become better men.  Doesn't that seem like a contradiction to you?  That a man eat penis to become a better man?  My boy cats are giving me trouble lately.  Bob Cat got his gums all red somehow.  He doesn't eat cat food very often, but he's not thin, so he must catch his food.  But cat food is good for cat teeth.  I've seen cats with serious mouth diseases before, so I pray that he doesn't get worse, but for now it looks like simple gingivitis.  I'm going to have to douse his gums with rubbing alcohol whenever I see him until his condition improves.  Then Bat Cat is sensitive to moisture.  It's been raining lately, and he like to dig around in the mud and scrub, probably looking for game.  He's a mud cat, which is great but he attracts fungus.  So I have to feed him anti fungal pills.  Have you ever tried to feed a cat a pill?

I spent the evening cutting grass.  Grass sure grows quickly around here.  It seems like I'm always cutting grass.  Now that the rain has returned, the clover is growing again.  I like clover.  I want the clover to take over the whole yard, at my little house and at your house inshaAllah, because clover grows short and it hampers the growth of other grasses.  So I cut the grass until it's right at clover level, so the clover will dominate.  But the clover needs to be watered.  After I finished cutting grass, the whole sky was dark with rain clouds.  And I saw about 500 cranes flying in from the west, against the wind.

I made a batch of dough this morning.  I put up my dough recipe for you and for others to see.  It's a simple dough, made from flour, water, yeast, salt, and oil.  The greedy cat was nosing around me while I made the dough, licking her lips.  Dough has to be made regularly if you want to get good at it.  Dough is subject to environmental conditions.  For example, in Malaysia I always use water at room temperature even on cold days, but in USA I always make sure the water is at 110 degrees in winter.  Some people like to control water content to control the quality of the dough, but I find it easier to control the flour content and keep the water amount constant.  I used to make the dough hard so it would last longer, but nowadays I make it soft then I freeze it, and defrost a portion whenever I need it.  Lunch was noodles in shrimp head broth.  Very tasty.  Want some?

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Please allow me to say something to Antonia.

Hey there!  I must say that you looked great at Cannes.  I think you look your best when dressed formally.  Plus your face looks much more relaxed nowadays.  Do you have a camera?  Can you take a photo of your camera?  The only camera I have is on my cell phone, and it's crummy.  Be cool, Antonia.  Please make a donation of a minimum of one Euro to a worthwhile charity.