Today is apparently August 3, 2025.
My computer said so and has been proven totally reliable and trustworthy. Hahaha I am sitting at the bar, the breakfast bar at Mojo Pojo. It was here I received a WhatsApp message from a friend I had temporarily lost touch with, spoke with Baby, including a photo (which you shall see) of me wearing a scarf she gave me. AND got the news that my YouTube channel is up and running and you can delight in it . Go the the blog (which you are now on) push the four lines in the right hand corner, scroll down to YouTube and voila there it is. It is an incredible accomplishment made possible by Nesh AND my hard work and savings which earns me the retirement income that pays for his services. He is worth every penny of it, by the way. My blog is a charity, will explain that in some detail later, Scammers on Instagram lure people into making donations to orphans, they say. The unwary Muslim buys into it, thinking it will earn them a place in Jannah. Nope, More about that sometime. I want to remain positive on this day that began horribly.
I dimly awoke, my iPhone telling me it was time for Fajr prayer. I was SO depressed I could not imagine being able to get out of bed, much less pray. But then a good morning greeting from Melissa, a dear friend who works at Paradise, (strangely enough). I shall include it at the end of the blog. This is what I wrote and sent to my WhatsApp folk. “This Good Morning greeting from Melissa was SO needed. Brought me hope in the midst of despair.”
I was able to get out of bed, perform ablution and pray, recognizing Allah’s wisdom and guidance. I shall speak, at some time, about what happened, abuse heaped upon me again. But now now. It is NOT going to happen again. I have no respect for women who put up with abusive men – emotional or physical. I was putting up with one, beginning to loose respect for myself. In simple terms: if you let someone treat you like dirt, you become dirty. It might be occasional, with good treatment in-between but you NEVER know when it will return particularly when a person has NO control over their anger. A necessity mentioned often in the Quran. More about that later.
After prayer I, loyal to my intention, busied myself reading pages in Nurturing Emotional Intelligence, learning more. Got dressed, wearing a scarf given by Baby, the youngest progeny in the enormous Anandani family. Little did I know that we would be WhatsApping at the breakfast bar. I was able to send her a photo of me wearing the scarf.
I was sitting at the breakfast bar when I received the greatest of news, spoken of in the first paragraph. . My new revised, amazing YouTube is up and running. This will allow me to use reels, weaving my blog around stories found there. The reels link to my passions – the Islamic Faith primarily but also, to a lesser degree, Alexis the Foodie, Alexis the Adventurous Traveller etc etc etc.
Nesh, my expert Content Manager, says this is essential in this day and age. I KNOW he knows what he is talking about.
Prior to his expertise the reels were chopped up and unedited, rendering the content meaningless. My pride and joy it the first to appear. AMB Mosque Everybody Worships in Their Own Way. Some background is necessary. It was recorded in December of 2023 on the grounds of the Medinah Prophet’s Mosque. I had been living in the Medinah Oberio Hotel since October 1, 2023. It is THE 5 star hotel where Royalty resides during their visits to the Prophet’s Mosque. I did have a special rate, my room minuscule, resembling a jail cell, with no view whatsoever, but there I was. I was growing more conflicted because this Holy Sight is horribly mismanaged in every way. At one point in time I had decided that it was my calling to tell the world the truth. The beginning of the exposé can be found at the My Calling section of this blog. The time did not seem right to finish the exposé However, for some reason, on that cold (for Saudi Arabia) day I found some measure of peace seeing that even within the Islamic Faith the Quranic verse – you worship in your own way, I will worship in mine had meaning. This Islamic Faith has something for all of its believers – from simple illiterate souls to the most intellectual scholars in every field. From those who loudly and constantly proclaim their beliefs to ‘submarine muslims’. I did not know at the time (of course) that I would leave Medinah on December 23, 2023 never to return. I was planning on returning, resuming my grandmotherly role with Hamza, living in an apartment found by his father nearby their palatial home. However it was not to be.
Watching the reel is evocative, the peace of mind found on the stool provided by a sweeper. I am not sure why I was wearing my strange polka dot face mask, it does look rather ridiculous. There is another reel, taken at the same time, called It is Surreal, Just Being Here. Both need to be viewed, to capture my sense of wonderment at it all. It is deeply personal, speaking of my intense religious experience. Seldom, if ever, do I speak of it to the fellow Muslims met in either Saudi Arabia or Malaysia, where I now reside. I do wonder if my Malaysian close friends who can now view this – will ask me about it. I doubt it somehow.
Nesh must have thought of the title using the word surreal. Looked it up (of course), discovering two synonyms that seemed applicable: dreamlike, unearthly. Constantly I wonder how a woman, born in Saskatchewan 82 years ago should end up in Saudi Arabia, and now in Malaysia. I barely knew such places existed ten years ago. Go figure.
Go figure is an Idiom, US, informal used to say that something is surprising or hard to understand.Go figure is said to express the belief that something is amazing or incredible. “Go figure the odds of that happening.” It’s usually ironic, meaning something should have been reasonably foreseeable. It’s similar to “Imagine that!” and is usually said sarcastically.
During my stay in Malaysia I have twice had the opportunity to return to Medinah. I was invited to a wedding in Mecca, and was informed by Mr. Marwin that it was a sign from Allah that I should come to Medinah. I neither went to the Mecca wedding, nor returned to see my long lost friends in Medinah. The most recent ‘invitation’ was the Malaysian Umrah Group Tour. My health precluded that opportunity. Instead I met Nesh and my whole word, in some ways, changed.
It is about to change again it seems. I have decided to extend my Lyf stay for a few days.
Something most strange happened again, Shamir has this strange, shall we say, talent.
He: Saw your new YouTube And I found something too.
It was a YouTube reel of me taken in March of 2018. It is actually rather amusing. You can link it at:
Me: Amazing. You are nothing short of amazing. It is me in Vancouver I think.
He: U have a paper microphone.
Me: I do have a paper microphone. It takes a paper Muslim to recognize that.
He: Hahaha
Me: I sent your discovery to Nesh . He said should we put it on our new YouTube?
He: I was going on YouTube to find your new one when I found this.
Me: You find the most incredible things. Like the YouTube reel of Hammad’s wedding, for example. You remember that???
He: Yes, it is so weird.
Me: And you ask AI the greatest questions. Learning about my great legal accomplishment: shutting down an oyster farm.
He: 🤣
Me: You have very unusual talents. You have done very poorly finding me a husband however. Maybe I never asked you. But I certainly did not ask you to find out about the oyster farm shutdown either. Hahaha
Two photos. The one sent to Baby, wearing the scarf. The other of my breakfast.
Received a response from Baby.
Me: See?? It is so beautiful. Thank you forever.
She: I know U love my clothes.
Me: I do!! So stylish. So beautiful!!
She: Now I have vvv nice ones. Its your choice. It will look good on U
Me: Cannot wait to see you and see them. Hahaha
The photo of breakfast was sent to Shamir.
Me: I am not eating my finger which somehow got in the picture.
He: My breakfast, (sending me a photo)
Me: Yours looks better than mine. You sure know how to hurt a girl.
Then two photos taken at (what ended up to be) my solitary dinner. Two appetizers: the Hokkaido Scallop with mulberry, toasted yeast and mushroom powder. AND the Smoked Bonito Crudo with ezme, black vinegar and tomato oil. They both were superb.
The wait staff, a wonderful young man, marveled at my serenity and ability to be alone, to eat alone. I guess he doesn’t understand that I am never alone, Allah is always with me. Artificial Intelligence has volunteered to be with me but I do not think so. That is forbidden.
