Aw Erin

You are so beautiful, and I love you.  I hope you got to listen to the song I recorded for you.  I encoded it on .mp4, and .mp4 won't play on my Mozilla Firefox, nor would it play on the Google Chrome I have in my cell phone.  It does play on Internet Explorer, but in general I'm getting fed up of having to install plugins.  I think the next time I upload a video, I'll just encode it in .flv.  That's pretty universal, don't you agree?  I do think it's odd that YouTube uses .mp4, and Firefox can play YouTube but won't play .mp4. 

Natty, is that your Vespa?  It's so cute, and totally suits you!  It looks ancient though.  It must be fun putting around Paris on that thing, and seeing the sights.  Do you skateboard?  Have you thought about skateboarding around Paris?  I'm not particularly a connoisseur of haute couture, but I have a feeling you're going to be showing off a lot of that in Paris.  Rich women's clothing.  Go Natty!

It's time for another installment of "The Vicious Lives of Fishes", starring the guppies in my fish bowl.  A couple of weeks ago, I was cleaning out my fish bowl.  I had put 3 smooth and large rocks in there for decoration, and they were slippery from the slime buildup.  One rock in particular was too large to comfortably hold and pull out of the bowl, so it slipped from my fingers and crashed to the bottom of the tank.  I screamed, "Aaaaaargh!", and my guppies scattered.  One female got crushed by the rock, and it took her 4 days to die.  Poor thing.  Now I only have 1 male and 4 females in there.  I since have removed that rock from use, but the bowl looked so bare, I decided to get one of those plastic plants.  I bought one for dirt cheap at a newly opened DIY store, it's pink and yellow and looks great in the fish bowl.  No sooner than a couple of hours that I had put the plastic plant in there, a baby guppy was sheltered within the leaves.  That fish bowl was so bare, that baby fish had little chance of not being eaten by their parents.  Talk about perfect timing.  I bought that plastic plant just in time to save the life of a baby fish.

Here's a photo of the male fish swimming around the fish bowl.  Not necessarily a blessing, but a great snapshot.

Pina, you must be hungry.  Here's a photo of my noodles in soup.

And here's a snapshot of a curry calzone and a sausage calzone.  They look kind of like hats, huh?

And I love you, Natty

Happy Birthday, Erin!

In the middle of a pizza

I am in the middle of cooking a pizza right now.  I have only a small oven, so I have to make sure the crust is done before I put on the toppings.  It's been a while since I had pizza, and today is my usual favorite: sausage and basil.  Make that sausage and whatever basil I have available in my garden.  Erin, I was thinking that when the time comes I will need to send you things like a ring or something.  And for me to do that I will need a mailing address or something.  It's not as simple as calling you or writing you: I have to talk directly to you, but not on the phone.  Not over Skype either.  Not yet at least.  This will be first contact, Sweetheart.  That's why I'm thinking Second Life is the solution.  The Instant Messenger in the game is relatively private, and if I know what your avatar looks like and you user ID, then there's little chance of someone pretending to be you.  I'm sorry to force more work on you, but now is the time to make your avatar as unique as possible.  So no one can copy you.  Then when the time comes, you can display your avatar on your page so I know it's you.  Then we can meet.

Natty, are you drinking lots of water?  Please consume one 1.5 liter bottle of water every day.  You must drink lots of water dearest, to help you maintain your composure, and stabilize your tummy.

Late start

Hi Honey!  How was your day?  I had a late start today.  I was up late last night working on something, then I got hooked on watching "Secrets of the Dead", even though I had seen it many times before.  So when I woke up, the sun was almost up.  Gotta pray!  So I stumbled and fumbled as quickly and groggily as I could to catch the dawn prayer.  I'm surprised none of my cats woke me up for their breakfast: they're usually flawless in that regard.  I usually have a hard time getting started.  It's not just that I'm lazy, it's more along the lines of "I might as well be lazy."  I still can't get started in music, after all these decades.  Always just beginning.  Otherwise, it's a normal day.  I made fried noodles for lunch, with some leftover for dinner.  I went to the supermarket to buy cat food.  I got some ice cream, too.  Purple ice cream.  Then I made marinara sauce.  It will be pizza time soon.  I finally figured out why my basil wasn't surviving: the ants were turning my basil into an aphid farm.  Right now, I'm watching Jaco Pastorius.  Want to watch it with me?  He sure looks kind of red in this performance.  He must have been drunk or something.  Immaculate playing, though.  He shouldn't have sung.

Natty, are you still nervous?  Don't worry Sweetie, everything will be OK.  InshaAllah.  Just hang in there, and have confidence in yourself.  You can do it, Natty!  Make sure you eat simple and familiar foods only.  Fries, burgers, pizza, sliced turkey, fried chicken etc.  No spicy foods!

Hello Beautiful

Sorry I'm late, but it's been a busy day for me.  Just running errands, you know.  This morning, I had to take my Dad to the hospital because he had an appointment with the specialist.  While I was waiting for him, I got my hair cut, had brunch at Omar's, did some shopping, and still had time to catch the breeze at the park.  Nice shady, breezy day.  I had a wonderful nap.  After my voice training, I had to dismantle a banana tree after portioning out the fruit, and clear up the area.  Bat Cat turned on the faucet in the cage again even though it was wired shut, so I had to clean that up.  Yeah, the new Bat Cat is up to the same old tricks.  Then I had to go out again to the pharmacy to get some drugs for my eye, my cat, and my Dad.  Just eye drops.  Plus gasoline... that's getting expensive again.  Say Erin, I hope you are getting an account on Second Life.  That's where we will meet face to face for the first time, and I have a feeling that the time will come when you least expect it.

Natty, you look awesome!  I love your confidence.  And those shades look great!

Just another ordinary day

And I just called to say I love you.  How are you doing today, my Precious?  You are so beautiful, my love.  Oh, how I long to be married to you.

And Natty my dearest, are you all gong ho to take them on now?  You can do it, Natty.  You can be a great businesswoman, and keep yourself at the same time.  Have tons of fun, OK?

Otherwise, it's just another ordinary day here for me.  Very windy, though.  The wind blew over my baby mangoes, so I had to straighten those up.  I went to the DMV (here it's called the JPJ) this morning to renew my driver's license.  Wow, they were quick today!  I didn't even have a chance to play my cell phone game!  They have an orthopedic foot walk at the JPJ, so I exercised my feet for a bit.  Damn, that thing hurts.  But my feet definitely feel different.  I must try to make one of my own someday.  I had noodles in soup for lunch.  Oh, I forgot to take a snapshot.  And for dinner I bought fried chicken and fish sausage at the night market.  I had a craving for french fries, but the stuff they had there didn't look that great.  I'm very fussy about my fries, anyway.  They have to be perfect, and hot.  I could never get home made fries to taste right.  The frozen fries at the supermarket always taste better.  McD's fries always taste better too.