And the cat gets another bath

Hi Natty!  What's up?  Are you still in Covidland, or are you back home?  Please keep safe wherever you are.  Yeah, I had to give Floofy another bath today.  The kittens really did a number on her and gave her a most stubborn fungal infection, which turned the fur on her chest and legs dark.  I have medicine for it and at times she seems like she improved, but it's a see-saw battle and today I decide to give her a bath to help clean her up.  Giving the cat a bath the last time was exhausting, but today I was mentally and emotionally prepared for it.  I was ready to chase the cat all over the bathroom while stooping and scrubbing away.  I was half-naked, loosely clothed and ready for bathroom warfare, and I muscled my way over the cat while remaining as gentle as a kitten to my precious pussycat.  If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything!  Well it didn't make the labor easier, just tolerable.

Are you hungry?  My mother makes the best "sambal belacan" which is a hot sauce made of fresh hot peppers and "belacan" (fermented shrimp paste) plus other ingredients.  It's the best in the country and so very tasty, but the caveat is that it's very hot and spicy and you have to eat it while it's still fresh.  So I designed today's menu so Mom's "sambal belacan" provides the main flavor: fried noodles for lunch, and steak and onions with steamed rice for dinner.  I recently discovered a trick with beef, namely if you cook it long enough it becomes tender.  Of course you need a tenderizer which I won't mention here, but to the locals it should be obvious.  The downside is that the meat is always well done, but the advantage is that even the gristle and tendons become gelatinous and very tasty.  Which is great for me, since I can't afford beef tenderloin and sirloin.

Hi Natty

 How are you feeling today?  I hope you are keeping safe and healthy.  I'm just kicking back and relaxing and still eating my dinner, after just praying the sunset prayer.  I made curry pups again, which is a convenient fix after cutting the grass.  I can shower while the curry pups cool on the rack, then eat them in my bedroom/office while waiting for sunset and watching TV.  The natives are restless here today.  This had been a fairly green zone until now.  Apparently somebody in the neighboring state decided to break quarantine and open shop, and next thing you know 10 people here are infected, I suppose after a family member decided to eat at that shop.  The government has been quick to chase after and lock down on infected clusters, they are efficient at that I must say.  But of course, anything can happen.  Anyway, I have one more curry pup to swallow, while doing wardrobe with Mary Unknown7 next.  I love you!

Collective intelligence

How are you, Natty?  Those are awesome shades.  I hope you are keeping safe while working, and maintaining your social distance.  Yeah, fame is a prison.  Your advantage is that you can make money, but I am not allowed to ask.  I'm sorry you have to work under such hazardous conditions, so please do your best to keep the virus at bay.  I've always thought that the flu virus is a collective intelligence, like the Borg from Star Trek.  Some ants got into my mother's sugar jar this morning.  These are the tiny ants about a tenth of an inch long, which I fondly call "death ants".  I told my Mom that once these ants know where she keeps her sugar, they're going to keep coming back.  I kept my sugar in a jar in the kitchen before, and the ants managed to get inside even the lid was on tight and I kept moving the jar.  Finally, I kept the jar in the cooler.  The flu virus has been around probably longer than humans, and had many mutations.  I believe the primary target of the flu virus is the lungs, and it gets there by infecting either the sinus cavity or the throat.  I haven't had the flu in years, by the Mercy of Allah.  I know that the best time to defeat the flu is in its earliest stage, which is a feeling almost an emotion, of infection of the sinus cavity or the throat.  If you were to procrastinate and let the infection advance, then you would be overwhelmed.  The key is to not be overwhelmed.  I noticed that the flu takes advantage of my situation, like when I'm cutting the grass, like when I'm busy commuting, like when I don't have any medicine available.  Hm.  A virus is a very small thing.  One solitary virus can't do much harm, but it sure can be blown to great distances by a gust of wind.  So it makes sense that the coronavirus is already everywhere.  I'm not sure if the coronavirus is a mutation of the flu virus, but I'm absolutely certain that its target is the lungs.  Therefore the first infection would be the sinus cavity or the throat, and the best reaction is to not get overwhelmed, therefore social distancing.  Being a predator, the virus would target the weak, or perhaps even choose carriers that have access to the weak.

The cigar is just a fashion accessory, folks!  She doesn't smoke!

You first

Yeah, long distance relationships can suck more than long distance travel.  But what to do?  I don't want to marry any other girl.  I want to marry you, Natty.  InshaAllah, I'm not going to abandon you.

I had a pizza for dinner today, extra extra thick crust.  Want some?  I'm sure you will find great pizza where you're at right now.  Which also happens to be the Land of Parties.  Everybody knows that partying can kill, but they risk their lives anyway for the sake of society and fun.  Partying is especially dangerous now as you know.  One is more likely than anywhere else to get a lethal dosage of the virus at a party, more than enough to overwhelm any PPE.  Please don't party.

I visited a 90 something bachelor today.  Or widower, I don't know which.  Widower, I guess.  A 90 something bachelor is ridiculous, right?  Right...  He lives alone in a small studio apartment about 25 by 10 feet, just a bedroom and bathroom, no kitchen.  There's just a bed and a chair, and no TV.

There are some beautiful avatars and avatar art in Second Life.  I think I will post a picture occasionally of the ones that interest me.  I generally only look at one thread, not just for the great pictures but also the engrossing drama.  Things have been quiet lately, though.  Sigh.

Adventures in tater tots

Hi Natty!  How are you?  Aw don't you feel lonely my darling, I'm always with you and I always think about you.  Don't you know that I've given the rest of my life to you?  I love you with all of my heart.  So don't you worry about a thing, everything will work out just fantastic for us inshaAllah.  Please be patient and pray.  You're probably caught up in the whirlwind of our business of marriage, and it's hard to do it alone.  Tell me about it!  I'm an emotional wreck!  Patience is truly from Allah.

Are you hungry?  Please remember that as my wife inshaAllah, you are automatically a professional endorser of food products.  This may or may not have any emotional value to you, but be aware that other people go insane over it.  This may be something you need to discuss with your agent, so you don't miss out on the bucks.  My project for this month is beef and potatoes on a small budget, namely my budget.  The food that crossed my mind today is tater tots.  You can't find tater tots anywhere here.  Tater tots is an American phenomenon.  It's basically precooked  potatoes plus flour mixed into dough, shaped into tater tots then fried.  I don't think it's wise to get creative with that concept, because the human brain may not find anything other than what is perceived as school lunch to be palatable.  But I had some leftover curry pup stuffing, which is basically precooked potatoes with onions and meat (in this case chicken) mixed with curry spices, which turned out kind of bland as curry pups, so I turned them into tater tots.  It worked out to be too exotic for tater tots, but not a failure.  Next time, I'll make it as close to school lunch as possible.

Upgrade to bland

Hi Natty!  How are you?  You must be living it up as a glamorous supermodel.  Please have tons of fun!  But always be vigilant about protecting your good health, OK?  There's not much going on over here with me other than the usual.  Even the menu is bland: eggs and baked beans for lunch, chicken nuggets and fries for dinner, and no snacks.  Seems like a downgrade, huh?  But my tummy is very happy, so what may seem like a downgrade is actually an upgrade from another perspective.  My food project for this month is beef and potatoes, using average quality ingredients.  Tonight I made home fries.  It was OK.  Frozen fries are better, but my home fries wasn't a failure.

Free food

Hi Natty!  What's going on?  I hope you are having tons of fun, and keeping safe and healthy.  It's Sunday here, and I'm usually busy all day Sunday.  In the evening however, as I was running errands the restaurant at the corner gave me some free food.  Someone threw a moving banquet, and I got some free food.  Alhamdulillah!

Bihun goreng (fried rice vermicelli):

Rendang (spicy savory beef):

Lemang (glutenous rice grilled in bamboo)

Not to be confused with "siamang":

No, we don't eat bush meat here!