After the season of heat, the lonely will joyfully walk in the rain.

Religion is not only a function of comfortable traditions, it is also a function of comfortable habits.

Spirits speak through the most unlikely mediums.

In the midst of drought, prepare for the terrible thunderstorm.

The spirit guide said that he will work for me but not for other people.

Remember this: You can curse others, but you cannot curse yourself, for your Higher Self immediately nullifies it.

A talisman with rays of light shines and guides your way through darkness. Visualize the rays extending through ether.

When in danger, visualize the rays as sharp, long spikes.

Be thankful for sunshine, because it is the sun that propels all magical spells related to life.

Whenever an election campaign vehicle playing loud music passes along P. Tuazon Boulevard, I sometimes think that it is a funeral cortege on the way to a cemetery.

One talisman has a figure with wings. The wings can be sent to fly like a bird's and attack enemies.

Another talisman also has a figure with wings. The wings can be sent to fly like a butterfly's and bless friends.

Good morning Cubao!

The day after one's birthday always feels like a worker's Monday.

On Messenger with W. He found me another good deal in Singapore for something that I like VERY much.

The aging actress will end up like two of her predecessors, both women who quickly became undesirable and whose idea of generating publicity was being involved in scandalous affairs.

Dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, my sister Alice, J., S., and R. We had food delivered. Angelique and Aubrey bought a fabulous Mango Bravo cake. Didn't bother to take photos, since it was my celebration.

When sneezing alone in your room, do not sneeze from your chest. Sneeze from your lungs. Visualize yourself sneezing out all the negative energy from your lungs.

Nth replay of Garage Sale Mystery: All That Glitters on DIVA, and I still couldn't not watch it again.

Off to a day with family.

Woke up to touching messages from JR, AA, and RS.

I didn't know how much I meant to them, and I thank them for their loving and kind thoughts.

Good morning, Cubao!

It was Sweet 60
then a Serene 61
and then a Solitary 62
a Stunning 63
a Superb 64
and now a Suave 65!

The secret is to alternate the sedate with the scintillating.

Everyone will continue to believe in Santa Claus as long as they continue to believe in door-to-door delivery.

One hunts for a mausoleum or a grave as one hunts for a house of the living.

Everyone is stunned speechless for at least ten seconds when I face them with my gold-dusted moustache.

I have been experimenting with my waxed, Graciano-Lopez-Jaena moustache and beard. Two days ago I sprinkled gold dust on the tips of my moustache. Yesterday I sprinkled gold dust on the lower end of my beard. (The gold dust is applied while the wax is still wet and sticky.) I prefer the former, it makes me look like the wizard that I am.

Unfortunately the gold dust needs special lighting to show up in photographs!

Death

is your twin
and you journeyed together
sharing one bed


It is life

that speaks in shadows
yet you think it a spectre
and you run away

Good morning, Cubao!

A cool night, a sunny morning.

Waters rise because the deceased are always outnumbering the living.

Pacing is a form of rhythm, but so is stillness.

I love diamonds, rubies, emeralds, opals, pearls, amber, alexandrite, jade, amethysts, and garnets only, and in that particular order.

Fire opal earrings arrived, and I am wearing them until my granddaughter Angelique asks for them. I am poorer by thousands, but the earrings are exquisite. Though they are tiny, oval studs, they look fabulous even from afar, blazing like embers in a dying bonfire.

Dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and S.

To cook is to feed the hungry. It is, therefore, a form of karma.

Good cooking begins with knowing how to eat.

All the way from my youth to middle age, everyone who met me for the first time, especially foreigners, assumed that I loved cooking. They were shocked whenever I told them that I couldn't fry an egg. I remember three, among them Jim Callahan, who insisted that I was lying and that I was a good cook but didn't want others to know it.

At 64 going on 65 I became challenged to learn cooking to feed my family. There really was no other choice, since I don't want to have any kind of servant in the house. I find that I am enjoying cooking immensely. What is most surprising to me is that, unlike in my writing and in my painting, I avoid innovations and fusions. I love Filipino dishes the way they are cooked traditionally, and I am unable to appreciate the slightest deviation from the classic recipes.

Lunch at home with Aubrey and S. Angelique arrived from university; she had lunch on campus.

This evening we are replicating R.'s sinigang na liempo. And hoping that we succeed.

Relocated our orgonite pieces: one muffin in each corner of the ground floor, one pyramid in each corner of the upper floor, and two discs on the farthest corners of the roof deck.

Wearing Elizabeth Taylor's Passion for Men.

People's belief that it is rude to ask someone (maybe especially a woman) his age only teaches children that aging is to be loathed. Advertising and the media then blindly follow.

In my experience aging marks an ascendance in power, magical or otherwise.

Once I have learned everything I can from something, I move on to something else.

Thinking of doing another creativity workshop for Children in Conflict With The Law (CICL) with a totally new syllabus. Hoping that Kay will be willing to assist me this time around.

I predict that the most overused sentence of 2016 will be "That's what I'm talking about".

The world of art is not what people say it should be, but what artists themselves make it simply by being artists and not saying a single word.

Your wife is the source of answers to all of your questions. Why come to me and ask me why she treats you the way she does?

It is because, from Day 1, you have been desiring that life should conform to what you want and not the other way around, and you were hoping that I could make that happen for you.

Good morning, Cubao!

Last night was chilly. I actually slept under a blanket.

Dinner at home with Aubrey and S. Both did some cooking.

Angelique and J. had dinner out.

The best way to get rid of undesirable group members is to convince them to walk away from you without their knowing that it is you, in fact, who are driving them away.

I recall that the late temple priest Ah Hok, who lived in Chinatown, taught me many years ago that there is only one way to arrange images of gods and goddesses on a Tao altar, which is to have them all in one row and on the same level, with the most important figures favoring the center and the left side.

Very often, when people say that something is "dramatic", they actually mean "theatrical".

Other times, when they refer to an incident as "drama", they actually mean "melodrama".

It is a wise idea to avoid every student who is a bad reflection of yourself.

A jeweler is delivering the pair of tiny, oval, faceted, fire opal stud earrings tomorrow. Angelique doesn't want them now, but I know that she will when she grows older. In the meantime I shall wear them, hoping that they won't mind that I wasn't born in October and bring me misfortune, as opals are known to do.

This morning Angelique had Kichiro Mayuzumi shorn for the quarter.

An ABS-CBN broadcaster read a message from a listener complaining that, during the Easter break, none of the channels showed movies like The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and King of Kings anymore. The broadcaster heartily agreed. Why didn't he tell THE TRUTH, which is that such movies were shown on GMA7? (And that one can actually buy the DVDs and watch them everyday if one wants.)

The lesson: Never announce that something is out of stock if it is readily available in your neighbor's store.

To enjoy the chore of reorganizing and streamlining things in your house, know that it is neither daily nor seasonal but comes in waves.

Political and religious biases are among the dread diseases that are terminal but not contagious.

House windows are the best places to look out into the world and contemplate one's dreams.

Lunch at home with S.

Angelique and Aubrey are having lunch out.

Sometimes I wonder why zombies are enjoyable to others. They are, to me, metaphors of diseases and epidemics in society. Should we shoot down the victims to avoid contagion or should we go directly to the root of the problem and stop the disease/epidemic itself?

Continuing to eliminate stuff from my piles of notes and miscellaneous papers. Destroying my diaries last week was a big relief. I have realized that hard-copy drives such trunkfuls of manuscripts may be valuable to oneself but perplexing trash to others after one has passed away.

The rule of thumb should be to throw out everything that exists only because of the memories associated with it. They are your memories and no one else's, and should remain in your heart and nowhere else.

Every group reunion, after it is over, is followed by a deunion.

True humility is always self-taught and self-imposed. When it is not, it is called humiliation.

Still savoring the delicacies in More Strange Tales from China.

Caught an episode of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders on AXN last night. Stayed with it because it was set in Mumbai.

Bright morning sunshine casting shadows of trees like Spanish lace on the driveway.

Good morning, Cubao!

Monday, Monday

Home way after dusk.

Dinner with Angelique, Aubrey, and S.

S. is still working on an oil painting project that I commissioned him to do.

The office where I met G. and Z. looks so different from what it does on weekdays. This time around I saw two spirits: one a middle-aged woman who used to live there; she was either a relative who was treated like a maid or a relative who was physically and verbally abused in her lifetime. The spirit of her son is also there; he has a bad, right eye on the astral realm because he was hit on that spot during a brawl.

Spent the  entire afternoon and a good part of the evening with G. and Z. in their office. They are helping me move forward with big things, and on a Sunday at that. I hope that I was able to help them somewhat in return.

We are not yet done, but I look forward tor completing major stuff within the coming week.

Gout is of the element fire, and so are you punished with fire.

The big boss is at the end of his rope.

Know that, sometimes, you cannot trust even yourself.

Drapes are dust-catchers. In a country that has no winter time, you can always do without them.

All beauty is relative, and so is all kindness.

I will not name her here, but I shall be very surprised if this contestant on The Voice 10 doesn't win the competition. She is a 2016 Barbra Streisand!

Supernatural's "Safe House" episode is so far my favorite on AXN, because of its metaphysical treatment of time.

He is a prime example of how the public can idolize you one day and take you down the next. As of this moment he continues to live in complete bewilderment, still trying to please others. He has yet to learn how to finally live for himself.

Beginning to appreciate Red Hot Design on fyi,.

Wondering which to go for first: a third Bruce Lee figure on-line or a commissioned oil painting by an artist I admire.

One should never demand perfection of the imperfect.

Watched a short feature on FOX News channel titled Rivals of Jesus, about Apollonius of Tyana and Simon Magus. They were briefly mentioned in our classes on the New Testament at Maryhill School of Theology. As articulated in the feature, they must have been very important figures to have been retained in ancient documents.

Good morning, Cubao!

Mellow, Easter Sunday sunshine!

A young man came to me for healing because of rashes that broke out around his mouth from time to time. Even his dermatologist couldn't explain it, and prescribed traditional, topical treatment. I didn't give him any unguents. I scanned him and saw that the rashes were caused by an allergy to cup noodles/instant noodles. I told him to delete those from his diet immediately.

Black Saturday of feel-cozy replays: Garage Sale Mystery, Atlantis, Good Witch.

Never do groceries alone. If you have to do so, then, upon arriving home, there should be at least one family member who sees you putting stuff on the shelves, in the ref, and in the freezer. That way no one forgets what you've bought, and nothing goes languishing and expired.

Wearing Kiehl's Original Musk Oil.

Both J.G. and I swear that it is a philtre that attracts people of your choice to yourself.

The story I was told is that the founder of Kiehl's or one of his relatives discovered the recipe for this ancient scent inside a piece of antique furniture.

Did groceries. Took S. along.

Also canvased tools at the center and was pleasantly surprised that laser levels are available here.

Wanted to send S. home in a cab and then window shop and explore stores I'd never been to alone, but it was Great-Gatsby-summer hot and I decided to just go home.

Flamboyance is becoming only to artists, not to politicians or religious leaders.

Tried to Add-Friend Google+ Followers to my facebook account but they Ignored my Friend Requests because, on facebook, I use a different name. Some of them are now asking me to send them Friend Requests again, but I can't do that. Once you Ignore a Friend Request, facebook disables the sender from sending another.

They can't Add-Friend me either. I don't have an Add Friend toggle (and can't be bothered to keep fiddling with my privacy settings), bwahahahahahaha!

Besides, that account is only to keep me in touch with all of my relatives. My Google+ Pages are more complete.

The story of Moses in popular storytelling is quite spectacular, yet its ending seems an example of a hard-working employee deprived, in the end, of his retirement pay. Quite sad, but then again we don't have his HR record. He did a superlative job, if you ask me, having to supervise all of those atchays and keeping his cool.

Our Sky Cable bill arrived with a message that it will soon increase its charges because it is adding on a new channel. Not a sports or a religious channel, I hope.

Deciding between doing minor groceries today and lolling about at home.

One of my spirit guides said to me that major changes in life occur every 16 years, not 12 as other people think.

Watched The Ten Commandments dubbed in Tagalog on GMA 7 last night. I love GMA 7 for dubbing many foreign movies for Filipino audiences. It is the next best thing to educational travel.

Loved The Ten Commandments as a child, but, as an adult, couldn't help but note the stagy production. Best acting for me was by Yul Brynner, who has a face as unique as Ingrid Bergman's and, sadly, there will be none other like it. As for Charlton Heston, he was a complete ham. I couldn't stand the way he kept floating through scenes with outstretched arms like a fashion model in a caftan. His final coiffeur, based on Michelangelo's statue, was also a scream.

Heaven is the complete absence of stress in the living state.

Bought a pack of Korean dumplings at Wei Wei Farmers Market.

In Metro Manila, going on vacation is a temporary escape from devils' traffic.

The sky over Cubao is white and overcast, like a giant shell ascended from the sea.

Good morning, Cubao!

Turned on the TV as soon as I woke up and watched a BBC documentary on Van der Eyck's The Descent, a most exquisite painting.

Lunch and dinner today were at M.'s cafe, but the granddaughters cooked themselves noodles later in the evening.

Watched a replay of Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser on HBO. As entertaining as a theme-park ride with a series of dei ex machinae rather than cleverness saving the characters from precarious situations. All of the backgrounds are matted as for video games, and there are many instances in which the players are all in the foreground, making for a two-dimensional effect. There are two saving graces: the first is Brendan Fraser himself, the second clear evidence that a feature movie can be made with minimalist casting, as in a painter's use of a restricted palette. This is one of those movies that prove that post-production costs are bigger than the rest of the expenses combined.

Your Messenger message:

"What do you do in a Good Friday like today"


My reply:

Nothing unusual. I have come to believe that every day of the year is just about the same. There are no special occasions to honor God, Nature, and your ancestors; you can do that whenever you want. I suppose, it's like Christmas ham. I don't wait until Christmas to buy it.

I lit lamps and joss sticks at our altar, but that is all.

I performed no magical ritual, if that is what you mean. As you can see, it is 3:28 PM and I am merely on-line.

Caught another episode of NCIS New Orleans on FOX. Love those Mardi Gras necklaces--I have some myself, and can wear seven at a time, though three at a time best shows off the beads. Synchronistically, The Princess and the Frog was playing on FOX Family Movies. Both are set in New Orleans.

Lit paraffin oil lamps and joss sticks.

I have a quirk. I tend to snack more in the heat, and have little appetite in the cold.

When a city elects a king, it will not only take on the taste and fashion sense of that king, it will also be converted to the religion of that king.

Dragons represent not ferocity but cosmic wisdom.

Sometimes the only way to be happy is to make someone else happy.

On NatGeo last night. Caught a feature on the facial reconstruction of the skull of a Galilean who lived during the time of Jesus Christ. Then went to History Channel and watched a semi-documentary on the mysteries of the deep on In Search of Ancient Aliens.

Good morning, Cubao!

Bright sunshine like faceted topaz.

The jalu-jalo stand was open today, and so we had some this afternoon.

Dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and S. We went FDS.

It was quite hot today. After the sun set, the pavement smelled like baked concrete.

Still glued to BBC.

Two cups of E2's Dragon Well tea. It has a very light, delicate flavor.

The leaves are flat and look, indeed, like elongated scales.

Maundy Thursday affair with NatGeo. Watched a documentary on the Chachapoya, or Cloud People, of Peru, and then, on Bible Secrets and Mysteries Revealed, the facial reconstruction of a 6,000-year-old hunter who lived in the Judean desert on or about the time of Jacob and Esau. Loved that there were leather sandals, woven kilts and sashes with tassels, carved wooden bowls, and reed mats even then.

Now I want to reread my book titled The Man in the Ice.

We thought the burger stand wouldn't have the usual crowd, but it does.

M.'s cafe is open day and night all the way through Sunday. A good marketing strategy.

Wearing Elizabeth Taylor's Passion for Men.

The kundiman is dying, if not already dead. Note that in the U.S., The Voice has a coach for country music; as a matter of fact all other coaches specialize in genres indigenous to the U.S. In the Philippines there are no such categories for Philippine music; everyone believes that to be "world class" is to imitate what foreigners are doing.

Young Filipinos are actually ASHAMED of the kundiman, because Filipino singers express the same attitude.

When I was a child Maundy Thursday was a day so still you could actually cut a chunk from the stillness, eat it, sit down, and hear the earth rotating beneath your body. Today, in Cubao, I hear the P.A. system at Samson College of Science and Technology over the compound fence (some kind of training or orientation session seems to be going on there); people in the streets are walking about as usual, laughing and conversing; music is playing from radios and TV sets; and, even on P. Tuazon Boulevard, there is at least one vehicle passing by every second.

In our neighborhood no one sponsors pabasas anymore. A shame, really, because I love going to sleep with the chanting of pabasas in the air. I love the sound the way I love the haunting, melodic, simultaneous calls to mosque. No one buys woven palm fronds anymore; I recall that I used to buy dozens, bedeck our windows with them, and arrange some in vases, but I myself no longer do that because they are too rustic and end up as dust-catchers. We have no senakulos that go on and on from sunset through sunrise. We have no spectacular Easter parades. My children and grandchildren never had any of these in their childhood, yet I am glad that I did. As a playwright, all of these were what convinced me of the strong correlation between religion and theater.

When a country's theater dies--literary theater, not commercial, stage entertainment--so do its religions.

And so I sit in front of my computer screen, recording these thoughts and waiting to see what happens next.

Good morning, Cubao!

Bright and sunny again!

The morning sits like a golden kettle on a stove.

Still glued to BBC.

Reading More Strange Tales from China in between.

E2 visited. We had avocado and banana fruit shakes at M.'s cafe. Gave him my Batman oil pastel painting, three books on magic, a Chinese water clock, an enchanted rainmaker, and a miniature statuette of the Chinese God of Happiness.

A long time ago E2 asked S. to make him a pastel oil portrait of Gandalf The White, based on a movie still, and S. was able to finish it in time for E2's visit.

My Act This Easter

Like a protagonist in a Paul Auster novel I, with the help of S. and E2, started tearing up the contents of one box of diaries (volumes dated 1996 - 2011). As the pages flew by I caught glimpses of the places I'd been to, the stories I wrote, the people I met, the things I bought, the premieres and gallery openings I attended, the workshops I led, sketches, ideas for novels and plays, and my innermost thoughts. It was an act of catharsis.

The idea to do this became firm in my mind when, after my daughter-in-law Ivy's funeral in July, I looked at the tombstones in the cemetery and realized that all of those people who passed away have nothing but their names, their dates of birth, and their dates of death to be remembered by. Who was I, then, I asked myself, to hope to be remembered more than they, and what right had I to even try?

In a way I am glad that I won't leave any of those diaries behind for other people to read after I'm gone. As it is I already caught E2 absorbed in reading passages and using an un-torn page to wrap one of the items I gave him, and I didn't like the feeling!

Looking forward to a lunch with T. and K. Still don't know when and where it will be.

Cubao, hopefully. Bwahahahahahahaha!

Lunch at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and S.

Never settle for having only a brilliant mind.

How you physically look to others should be brilliant as well. This entails your body, the food you eat, your habits, your wardrobe, your hairstyle, and your jewelry. Yes, even your cologne. I believe that it keeps you alive longer.

Posting this because I recently learned that an old professor suddenly passed away. He was one of my readers at UST Publishing House. He had a sharp mind and was himself an incisive writer. He was, to me anyway, rather dowdy, if not shabby, and didn't seem to care how he looked like.

is wearing Kiehl's (pronounced Keels) Original Musk Oil.

I love it whenever people refer to inanimate objects with the Tagalog pronoun "siya", as in "Mas maigi siyang gamitin". It seems to convey a deep respect for all Creation, the belief that spirit pervades all things, and that we meaningfully interact not only with our fellow human beings but with Nature and all other matter as well.

Tony Perez's Art of War: The best weapon of all is having a good source of income, a successful career, amazing talent, a beautiful house, a stunning wardrobe, and, most of all, a loving family.

It is always what you make yourself, not what others make you, that counts.

Never accept a student who has too many teachers for his own good.

Sometimes, what you find along the way is not what God or Nature placed there for you, but what your enemies dropped there to distract you, as Atalanta was distracted by the golden apples.

Contemplate something big, like a giant tree or a mountain.

Contemplate something small, like an ant tracing its way home.

Contemplate something old, like a precious antique.

Contemplate something new, like a modern painting in a gallery.

Like being surrounded with too many doors to enter or too many roads to take, having too many choices for anything at all is a bad thing. No matter what you finally decide to choose, you will always feel dissatisfied and uncontent.

In all mythology, the ideal number of choices has always been three.

Good morning, Cubao!

Another bright and sunny day!

Sumptuous dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, my sister Alice, J., S., and Remelly.

Wondering if I will succeed in cooking sinigang na liempo that way in the future. It's a complete meal: it has protein, it has vegetables, it has soup.

Will be glued to BBC the entire night.

Cooking is something you must do not because you need to feed your family but because you love your family.

Christine Bellen, author of the famous Mga Kuwento Ni Lola Basyang series, visited. Took her to lunch at M.'s cafe. Gave her my acrylic painting titled Waiting for Halloween, my green witch head candle holder, a pair of anthropomorphic clay figures from Palawan, a mama-oh necklace from Ifugao, an antique bead necklace with kendi beads, a bead necklace by a famous bead maker in Ubud, Bali, an authentic Yakan xylophone purchased during a Spirit Quest in Zamboanga many years ago, my miniature busts of Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, my big, antique, Maranao sarimanok, a three-ink-bottle rack with bottles engraved "Dove's Blood", "Dragon's Blood", and "Nightshade", a dip pen with a carved, wooden handle from Pendemonium of Iowa, hardbound, coffee table books, and a carved, wooden Santo Nino de Cebu. We have too many interests in common, whew! Strangely, our ground floor STILL looks crowded.

Lunch with S. at M.'s cafe.

The granddaughters are doing FDS.

Every year I invite a social medium Follower or Friend, someone I've never actually met before except on-line, to a cup of coffee at the Cubao Hogwarts Express Station. Sometimes, though, they get terribly frightened because they think I'm propositioning them.

Destructiveness is not an indication of anger or hatred.

It is an indication of boredom, as it was for Hedda Gabler in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.

If I were in ancient China as Judge Dee was, this would be the right time to carry around a folding fan inside my sleeve.

Filipinos are intelligent Cash Cab contestants. Once they've won all that money and the host offers them "double or nothing", they decline and exit the cab with the money they already have as soon as possible. That is because they watched "double or nothing" on TV the first time around and saw how the contestants LOST. All it takes is ONE loss for everyone else to back off smartly.

Whenever someone loses, Cash Cab is NOT the cab that pays you money. It is the cab that disappoints you. Like all other cabs.

Watched two successive features on Bible Secrets and Mysteries Revealed on NatGeo last night, certainly a refreshing change from all those reruns of Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, and the like, all of which have horrible production design.

Tuesday, Tuesday

Good morning, Cubao!

Overcast sky, like a sheet of rice paper.

Night Classes

4:30 AM.

Dream, and live within your dream.

More progress on More Strange Tales from China.

Dinner with Angelique and S. at home.

Aubrey arrived from passing school group requirements and dinner out with her friends.

Everyone at home.

A Monday night of contentment.

Threw out more stuff from the studio.

C.B. is scheduled to visit me tomorrow afternoon. Am planning to pass on to her my big sarimanok or my big Santo Nino, perhaps my big pagdiwata canoe, a dip pen, a Chinese inkstone, a painting, and some books.

When H. came to visit me yesterday she reminded me that, roughly between 2004 and 2010, my weight dropped considerably. I became Stephen-King THIN. Everyone thought it was because I'd gotten hospitalized, but, really, it was because I was painting non-stop and must have held at least three exhibits within that time frame.

Oil painting is unhealthy. Rectified turpentine can actually kill you.

I dread going back to painting again, but I have to do three big ones to replace the existing  art in M.'s cafe. As a matter of fact I plan to change the paintings there at least once a year.

I just might decide to do this set in acrylic.

"There's been a load of compromisin'/
On the road to my horizon/
But I'm gonna be where the lights are shinin' on me/"

It is highly advantageous to own the wand by which one's enemies perish by fire.

Brought the torogan upstairs and re-stacked the big canvases in the studio.

Alex of Russia. Cross the miles and come.

The word "atchay" refers to:

1) Uncivic-minded citizens who think only of themselves and not of the nation as a whole.

2) Yes, also servants (actual domestic servants or corporate boot-lickers)--because anyone who willingly submits himself to being someone else's servant is the very person responsible for violations of human rights. There will be no masters if there are no slaves.

Poverty is not an excuse for being someone else's servant.

Everyone is rich or everyone is poor. It is one thing or the other.

But, if you ask me, everyone is rich.

Only atchays think that they cannot be rich enough.

I have observed that, nine times out of ten, people who come to a card reading are losers in life. The best thing really is not to tell their "fortune"--it is to pound common sense, logic, and the motive to act right into their minds.

It is the only way they will be thankful to you afterward.

Apologies to everyone who tried, but I do not accept spontaneous, unplanned, visits.

Improve everything you can on your own. Never wait for people to notice what is wrong, to criticize, or to complain. Never wait for things to get worse. Never wait for other people either to pay for what needs to get done or get blamed for not doing it.

It's called initiative. It's called conscience. It's called not-thinking-like-an-atchay.

When someone comes to you and asks what you see in his/her future, do NOT tell him/her what you see. First, you have no right to intervene in anyone's future. Second, he/she has no right to know--it is not only unnecessary, it also interferes with his/her karma. Third, and most important of all, he/she will only get addicted to asking for readings about his/her future, which is a sure sign of laziness and psychological indolence.

Instead, advise the person regarding the CONCRETE STEPS and HARD WORK that he/she needs to do IN THE PRESENT--including the time that he/she is wasting asking you for a reading.

Good morning, Cubao!

I love the sunrise when it lights up the city from one side and casts long, silver shadows.

H. to Moi: You look naked with those shorts on.

Moi to H.: That's the point.

S. arrived after a hip-hop dance rehearsal.

Deep-tissue massage. Then H. dropped by with a box of my favorite brownies. Took her to taste the sisig at M.'s cafe, afterward we hung out in the living room through 8:30 PM. Gave her a lot of stuff. Unfortunately she lives in a just-comfortably-sized studio, and I couldn't give her bigger stuff.

Tony Perez's Art of War: Let your enemies believe that you are still interested in the same things they know you to be interested in. Do not let on that you have moved on to other things.

In their attempts to feverishly compete with your old self, they will suddenly discover that they are only feverishly competing with themselves.

If you see it in a hotel or other commercial establishment, do not make the mistake of buying the same for your house.

Two more Bruce Lee figures were offered to W. and me but were exorbitantly priced. I passed on those and will wait for more realistic prices to emerge in the market.

Back from the center. Some shopping, groceries, and then lunch out with the granddaughters.

Was prepared for the usual thing to happen, which is, while rolling the cart through the supermarket, my granddaughters remember things they want to buy.

The only way to stop flaggelants and self-crucifiers from hurting themselves is for OTHER churches to intervene.

Slept eight hours last night. A slow morning, I am creeping into it and not rushing my day.

R. is teaching Aubrey, S., and I. how to cook pork sinigang Tuesday evening. in the meantime I might take the granddaughters out to lunch and shop for a few things.

Sometimes I like liking things like "normal" persons, meaning that, when I like something, I simply like it and need not analyze why I like it.

The best job of all is that in which one is a creator, not an administrator.

The former can exist by itself. The latter cannot exist without the former.

Good morning, Cubao!

Bright and sunny again. Both granddaughters home for the weekend and for Easter break.

So glad I stayed home the whole day today, because I'd been out every day of the week this week.

Ryan and Peachie have gotten me hooked on Human Nature's black bath soap for men and pure strength black shampoo. I now swear by these products.

Dinner with Aubrey at M.'s cafe. Angelique and J; are attending a fiesta and S. went home for the weekend.

Caught another episode of NCIS: New Orleans on FOX. I like this series. Because it is set in New Orleans,

I never go to albularyos and maestros whose houses, lifestyles, and financial situations I wouldn't want to have. Such people only try to ask me for money.

Never sacrifice your comfort and well-being for stress. It isn't worth it. In the long run you will find that the money you are making will only be spent on medication or hospitalization.

Finally caught an episode of the new The X-Files on FOX. It was great seeing Mulder and Scully again, and at their current, chronological ages, too, but the series seems to have different writing, different direction, and different production design. This episode had a man in a Creature from the Lagoon suit and too much humor, which I know David Duchovny not only enjoys but especially prefers. It came across as a hodgepodge of Grimm, Supernatural, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I miss the dark, oddly-lighted sequences of the original series, and the one, unique thing that other such TV shows do not have: the extraterrestrial connection.

We had pizza for dinner last night, and so we had leftover pizza for lunch today. That always happens to us whenever we have pizza because it is a VERY BAD idea to order LESS pizza than everyone can eat, and it is a lot safer to order more.

And actually, a Thumbnail is not a thumbnail. It is a miniature, or reduced-in-size, FINISHED photo.

Why isn't "Shared a link ON your Timeline" right?

I have always believed that "Shared a link TO your Timeline" is WRONG.

The correct, full phrase being "Shared a link WITH YOU ON your Timeline".

As a result I hear people say things like "Don't be selfish. Share your candy to your brother".

Good morning, Cubao!

Bright and sunny!

Aubrey is on her school break now, and Angelique has her last exam day at university today.

The host of Sony Channel's Minute to Win It reminds me so much of M.

The reason you have insomnia is that your day was not satisfactory, and you subconsciously wish either to revise the day in your mind or try to do more and more to compensate for it.

Relax and lower your standard for yourself.

Spent an afternoon clearing Ivy's dresser of contents. It was my mother's old dresser. Discovered a lot of jewelry, including many that I'd given her in the past, among them a huge, oval, water opal pendant set in 14k yellow gold.

I showed the dresser to my eldest sister from Sydney, when she was here, and she agreed with me that it is time to dispose of it. Giving it to D.

Also giving S. my mother's/later Ivy's wooden sculpture of the Holy Family. S. wants it, and I can't find a proper place for it in the house. It is better off going to someone who will love it. This is an original sculpture by Arturo Suarez, who must have passed away already because he was an old man at the time he made this piece, and that was 25 years ago.

If you want to know how your child organizes his thoughts, look at the way he takes school notes in his notebooks.

As the universe expands, traditionalist beliefs cave in.

When you complain about the service of an atchay, the atchay will make it a point to make his  service worse rather than improve it.

Every discipline is comprised of theory and practice. Magic is no exception.

Tony Perez's Art of War: Allow your enemies to believe that they have won over you. After a certain period of time, take off the veil of invisibility and show them that it is really you who has won over them, perhaps even tenfold.

Enemies are always flabbergasted when they see that their victory is not only an illusion but that their defeat is also RETROACTIVE.

Yesterday evening during a consultation, a student asked me whether I ever used magic to get back at other people.

My answer was, of course. Not doing so would be like mastering jeet kune do and not using it when attacked.

He asked me if I were not incurring karma that way.

My answer was, not at all. I ALWAYS WAIT FOR THE OTHER PERSON TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE, AND WHAT HE DOES ENTAILS A CERTAIN CONSEQUENCE, OR SEQUENCE OF EVENTS. Therefore, whatever I do would be my self-defense and HIS karma.

Good morning, Cubao!

Bright and sunny again!

It's Aubrey's last day of the school year before the long break.

In Cubao, the cicadas start singing as soon as the sun sets. The tree branches turn a deep olive, like dark lace, and the fruit bats scribble wild sentences across the lavender sky. Sometimes I smell the perfumed smoke of dried leaves set to fire at the feet of acacias, but it is only a memory of evenings from my childhood in San Fernando, Pampanga.

I am beginning to enjoy sunset, twilight, and dusk all over again, now that I am calm and centered in my captain's cabin bedroom and not fighting for survival in devils' traffic, attempting to get home alive.

Hoping to stay home the whole day tomorrow for a change, though I still owe MTRCB a report for the month of March.

Back from the center. Bought everything I planned to buy. Met SS at The Cubao Leaky Cauldron.

Went home and hung out with SS. Mango shakes at M.'s cafe.

SS leaves for _______ very soon.

As I predicted, I need to go to the center again. Must buy another clothes rack for the laundry room and a dozen chrome hangers.

It is all right to count your blessings, because more and even more will come.

Finished reading Strange Tales from China. Now reading More Strange Tales from China, its companion volume, also collected by Pu Sung-Ling, translated by Herbert A. Giles, and published by Graham Brash of Singapore.

I bought this in 1990 and, again, set it aside to read and enjoy upon my retirement, and I am now doing exactly that.

My old jeweler from Bulacan called. She is still having made that special item I ordered six months ago. Her smith is having difficulty because of the most unusual pattern.

As I grow steadily and irreversibly insane, I desire the 1/6 figures of Johnny Depp, particularly from Pirates of the Caribbean and Sleepy Hollow.

Tony Perez's Art of War: When your social media accounts are closed to the public, people go bananas trying to get in.

Tony Perez's Art of War: Be aware of the people who cannot stand your success and your happiness, and who envy and begrudge you for them. They follow you, they monitor your life, and they watch your every move. They typically stay in the background, but some of them are disguised as your fans.

Move forward and progress against all odds, especially because of them. Pretend to be completely ignorant of their existence. Like forking a queen in chess, you improve your status while increasing their suffering.

Good morning, Cubao!

Bright, white sunshine--the kind I used to see when I was in grade school!

Before I retired, every day began with waking to the alarm clock at 4:30 AM, taking a morning shower, getting dressed for work, getting on two trains, spending a full day at work, then going home on two trains again, taking an evening shower, and going to bed. I was nothing more than a clockwork orange.

Now, every day is a new adventure that I can plan and shape whichever way I want to. I give my full attention to my family and do only the things I like doing.

This is how I want to live the rest of my life, and this is how I want to die, with the additional wish that I hope it happens peacefully and in my sleep.

I prefer waiting for my family rather than have them wait for me. Whenever they wait for me I feel VERY uncomfortable because, when rushing, I tend to forget important things.

Because they are invisible, the winds are referred to idiomatically as "the wind", but in fact, in the Philippines there are seven winds.

Black propaganda is never a good idea because every human being is programmed to do good. Anything negative therefore redounds on its propagators.

Weekly business and marketing meeting with M. He has minor personnel problems. He also wants to open a take-out counter. OMG I can't believe I have to work one hour a week!

His name is the equivalent of Alex. He lives in Russia. He wants to reach out to me but is not allowed to do so.

He who preaches about life should not, in doing so, drive himself to death.

Isn't it ironic that people who are slaves to fundamentalist groups post pornography on other people's walls?

Lunch with S. at home. Angelique had a free day at university and Aubrey a half day at school due to exams. They are now off to big, fat burgers for lunch at the center!

L. finally showed us her opals but neither Angelique nor I wanted any of them. They are too small. The fire opals were really interesting, though. They actually look enchanted.

Asked L. to bring me her ruby collection next. She has some (including big ones from India!), and I want Aubrey to see them.

I look out of my window on this sultry day and thank God for the Philippine summer. I recall being buffeted by the cold wind on an island off Olongapo two years ago and wishing that all of it would stop, that I could take off my shirt and walk through the crisp forest for as long as I liked, and that I could lie down on the grass with a glass of iced lemonade while listening to the humming of air-conditioners behind the cottages,

Take on the heat because it makes you loving, friendly, and effusive, because it dries your laundry quickly, because it enables you to varnish your paintings any time you want, because you can walk anywhere without having to duck under awnings and umbrellas, because it offers a cornucopia of tropical fruits and delights such as jalu-jalo after jalan-jalan, and, let us face it, because sweating can be healthy.

We showcase our houses so that others will be inspired and draw on honest means to do the same, not so that others will commit crimes and steal money.

It is the only way toward a beautiful neighborhood, a beautiful city, and a beautiful country.

Fate dictates who should be with you and who should not if, when you are available, others are not, and if, when they are available, you are not.

Watched Love by Design for the third time two nights ago, and then Lethal Seduction last night, both on DIVA. The first is a typical DIVA romance, the kind that is pleasurable to watch (in this case because of the fashion interiors and the rustic, Romanian scenes), the kind you can leave to make a phone call or take a little snack and then go back to without really missing anything.

The second was a strange concoction. It seems to have been written for Brian Gosling 15 years too late, and the female villain comes across as auditioning for the role of Queen Pasiphae in a future remake of the Atlantis series. I was disturbed that its creators didn't quite realize that ALL of the characters were basically unpleasant, and so, it was most difficult to sympathize with any one of them. Is this a spoof on community dysfunction?

Like Love by Design, this seems to have been shot for decorative viewing, which is fine especially if one turns on the TV one last time before drifting off to sleep. The time-lapse cityscapes were nice the first three times, and then superfluous and boring. But what I really couldn't take were those Finding Nemo transition shots!

I will re-view Love by Design at any time.

I remember at least two Assistant Cultural Affairs Officers whose office management strategy was to hold "confidential" conversations with employees, elicit gripes against other employees, and then go on to those other employees and do the same.

Fortunately, it is part of diverse Philippine culture for underdogs to generously share information among friends and enemies alike, and so, this was one management strategy that just did not and will never work.

Were these officers actually trained to do that? The same quirk is not only apparent but also rampant in TV shows on fashion, modeling, cooking, racing, and house construction, in which participants are encouraged to bitch against one another, as though nothing can be entertaining without it.

In all fairness to such TV shows, there are two that consistently nourish HIGH ESTEEM AND RESPECT for ALL of their participants, be they winners or losers:  American Ninja Warrior and The Voice.

I wish that people would stop saying "F___ you!", "F___ that!", "What the f___!", and the like. I have always considered the sex act not only as sacred but also as pleasurable, and I cannot comprehend how it is used in anger, as a casual expletive, as a verbal missile, or as a curse.

Linguists should trace its origin, like the origin of "Crap". Is it British? Is it American? It is certainly not Asian It is in the English language). It could be the equivalent of saying "Rape you!", which would then fall in with people raised on warrior mentality. It is, I am sure, frequently used by people who subconsciously advocate human trafficking and pornography. Like Uncle Tom's Simon Legree.

It is not, I hope, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Buddhist. It would be horrifying if that were so.

Good morning, Cubao!

Slept nine hours last night.

It's Wednesday, Wednesday again.

For some reason, this is a week that finds me outside the house almost every day.

Marble, to me, will always be a semi-precious stone.

Your Messenger message:

"Good morning Sir Tony,
"This is my bestfriend's house here in Cebu. They are just renting the unit since november last year. I've been to the house once pa lang and I thought there's more presence here than the family of my friend. I just want to hear your insights sir smile emoticon

"Have a nice day Sir!"


My reply:

Hello ___________!

First of all, there are spirits everywhere. Second, there are more spirits on earth than human beings in living, corporal bodies, because most human spirits prefer to stay and guide their loved ones as they go through their travails.

I am not posting the photos because someone else might recognize them. The interiors are quite distinct and unmistakable. smile emoticon

The most interesting things I saw, if you can pardon me for seeing them, were scenes of abuse, mostly of older people to younger people. I saw one girl in particular--and I hope she is not your best friend but a previous inhabitant or someone farther in the past--being beaten up and dragged down the stairs. That bedroom with the cushion on the floor was also used a lot for sexual activity.

I hope I am wrong.

Even if I am wrong, please tell your friend to have the staircase repainted light blue.


Your follow-on message:

"yung sister ng bestfriend ko Sir nakakarining ng heavy breathing for the past few months. Tapos they've been hearing the toys of their baby na umaandar sa taas. Den last night lang, yung sister na nakakarinig nung heavy breathing eh nilamig ng sobra, parang lalagnatin and while they were contacting their mom sa states through skype palagi dawng nawawala ang signal when they are about to pray the rosary. 1st time."


My reply:

The girl was heard weeping at night by an elemental, specifically a cafre, and now the cafre wants her to be its friend. It should be greeted and its presence acknowledged aloud, and then asked to reside in a piece of jewelry (the stone must be real--precious or semi-precious--not fancy) that the girl can wear for protection and success (due to the aid of the cafre).

This is not a unique case or situation.

I find it so strange that many fundamentalist Christian messages and poster slogans can actually be traced to the original works and writings of Osho.

Marble slabs arrived. A production number. Resting before restoring all the stuff to the tops of my writing table and our ancestral altar.

Marble is HEAVY.

Took a bus from Cubao to Makati this morning. The trip took one and a half hours through devils' traffic. That was REALLY FAST!

Took a taxi on the way back: 45 minutes through devils' traffic and a fine drizzle. Miraculous,

Good morning, Cubao!

Cool breeze sailing through the district.

Two important things happening tomorrow, and I need to set my alarm cock.

"I need to set my alarm clock" should never be in my vocabulary, now that I've retired, but there are times when it can't be helped.

The Tiny House, ground-floor work station was an excellent idea. It is being used by the granddaughters. It has privacy, good lighting, and good ventilation.

In a real Haring Bakal initiation, you can only be given seven blows at one time, because each blow is hard enough to impair or kill you.

You then come back the following year for another seven blows, until you accumulate a minimum number of 49.

The blows will leave bruises on your body that will last two weeks.

Your Messenger message:

"Hi Sir Tony! Kamusta po?
"I just want to ask if what are these for? After seeing this posted on a door, I remember you. hehe"

My reply:

This is a protective talisman, or "panipas" in Visayan, as you can see the word written on the sheet; "tagaliwas" or "pang-iwas" in Bahasa Philippines. The upright figure in the center with divided triangles is the sinturon, or belt, of Haring Bakal, a.k.a. Tadtad in Mindanao--and Pulahanes in the Visayas, where you are.

It is quite strange that it is exposed, though it is probably typically sealed in that Chinese "lai see" envelope. The talisman has nothing to do with being Chinese, though. The owner used it only because it is red, a protective color and also the color of Haring Bakal belts, vests, and kerchiefs.

The spelling of "TENET" as TINIT" is another clue that the origin of this talisman is Visayan.

If the owner of the house is a Haring Bakal practitioner, he is also probably a member of the volunteer group Guardians.

Bought new drawer handles for my writing desk, in preparation for the arrival of the Spring Rose marble slab this week. S. is installing them now.

Your Messenger message:

"Hi, sir. If you could also help me interpret this, I will greatly appreciate it.
P.S. I don't know if I did the scrying right. Hehe"

My reply:

Sometimes, when one aims one's arrow at the heart, it hits, instead, the liver.

Back from jalan-jalan at Araneta Center.

Went and did groceries too--bought a lot of food we haven't tried before, though Mahalia Jackson.

S. went to have his entry to an art competition notarized.

And now it is time to go jalan-jalan at the center.

It is amusing to me that I had previous co-workers who lorded it over their colleagues and subordinates and threw their weight around, but that now that I am retired, I look back and see them as absolute nobodies.

Death is a passing cloud. It coagulates, it screens off the sun, and it changes shape in the wind before it moves on and dissipates.

A young man from Russia and a young man from Taiwan (Tai-yuan, get it?) will attempt to contact me. They have been consistently dreaming of the starship and extraterrestrials.

If, in your moments of solitude, you hear the wind howling and rooftops rattling, it is because it will soon be so.

The movement of your body heals you and keeps you well.

Study your movements and your favorite postures. You may need to change those drastically.

Hilarious as it may sound, there are times when a man needs to move like a woman, and a woman, like a man.

When you build an aquarium, construct it well, fill it with water, and revise it if it displeases you. Contemplate it in the daytime and at night. ONLY AFTER SOME TIME should you decide to put fish in it, for it is the aquarium, not you, that will decide which types of fish to place there.

Never begin by telling yourself that you want some goldfish, or some moon fish, or some angel fish, or some guppies. It never works out that way.

Never forget the joy of doing things with your hands.

A prodigious memory cancels the power of deletion.

Books are reread whenever you want them to be.

TV programs are replayed without your permission.

Actually, the god of metal lives in the core of the earth.

If the distance between your home and your work is long, make it therapeutic rather than stressful.

Detach yourself from everything you see.

Laugh at the world.

No one can steal an identity that they are unsure of, because it seems unreal.

Like mine, bwahahahahahahahaha!

Learn how to pamper yourself on a low budget, or without even spending anything.

One's insanity is highly satisfying when he allows himself to be criticized, and then allows his brilliance to put those critics to shame.

The self-righteous classroom teacher eats her own words.

Colonial mentality is an invention not of the colonist but of the colonized, because even the minds of slaves are free.

He now lives in a mystical place where the spirits bless him, his wife, and their child.

Question: When a spirit guide converses with you, does it do so in its language or in yours?

Answer: Both. If its language is unfamiliar to you, you hear both languages at the same time, because the messages that come through are simultaneously filtered by your psyche.

Elementals, for example, speak a language that does not sound like it is comprised of distinct words, but, when one hears it, one also has an intuitive comprehension of it.

This is the one that converses.

Good morning, Cubao!

Bright and sunny!

It is a Monday for the world outside my hermitage.

Caught May the Best House Win on 2nd Avenue. Watch this show if you still don't know what "bitchy" is.

Dinner with S. at M.'s cafe.

Angelique and Aubrey ordered via FDS.

Aubrey had a mango shake with us, though.

Re-viewed Way of the Dragon, written, directed, and acted in by Bruce Lee himself. He was also its fight master. I did so because my 1/4 Enterbay Way of the Dragon arrived yesterday.

This is probably the only movie in which Bruce Lee shows us his sense of humor. Since he was the director, he had carte blanche to laugh at himself. It is set in Rome and most probably began as a single-scene idea: the showdown in the colosseum, around which the rest of the story seems to have been built. A lot of exteriors were actually shot in Rome, but I suspect that most of the sequences, especially the interiors and the backyard scenes, were shot in Hong Kong.

The fight scenes are still fantastic, of course, but the entire production is rather stagy--it is comprised of entrances and exits. As a matter of fact, most scenes begin and end with people literally going through doors. (The director WAS a Drama/Theater major, after all.)

My favorite villain, Wei Ping Ao (of Fist of Fury) is in this movie too.

Love that kitten, which kept the highly-contrived colosseum scene interesting.

Just one little thing: I really don't think those wooden darts work.

I keep postponing my trip to Lucky Chinatown because everything I ever want from there are in the chinoisserie stores in Farmers Plaza, Ali Mall, and Shopwise Araneta Center.

Your Messenger message:

"Hello sir! " I had a dream last thursday night that I was with my younger brother, we are in a company and I entered in an office where there is a man who is wearing corporate dress( caucasian looking) and he gave me a document and asked me to sign on it by giving me a black pen but i picked the blue pen instead of black and he placed a stamp on the paper.what does it mean?"


My reply:

Hello ___________!

You seem to have omitted many emotion-loaded details. Given the scanty information that I have to go on, I perceive this as a dream about sibling rivalry. You might be in competition with your brother, whether it is conscious on your part or not.

That you did not follow instructions regarding the black pen means that you do not care what kind of success you get, as long as you can outwardly show your brother that you are a success.

Your Messenger message:

"Hello sir what does it mean by dreaming a rainbow?"


My reply:

Hello _____!

I am unable to interpret your dream because you omitted the most important element, the dream NARRATIVE. The psyche is not a painter, it is a storyteller.

If you remember what the dream narrative was, send it to me.