Back from the neighborhood grocery store. Just learned that they never close on holidays and that they've been open 24/7 since September.

Aubrey took a late lunch in the dining room. We are going to the neighborhood grocery store in a while to buy food supplies for the rest of the weekend.

Lunch at home alone.

Granddaughters still resting upstairs and wallowing in their long weekend.

The October leaf falls off my planner.

When a female stranger comes to me and asks me for gayuma, I flatly refuse to help her on several counts:

--She is almost always the other woman
--She has a hopeless crush on someone she does not deserve to have
--She is disrupting her own karma
--She is essentially a lazy bitch
--I would never give a female any kind of magic to entrap or endanger members of my own gender.

I have observed that when a male counsels a male and when a female counsels a female, there is a marked absence, if not a significant decrease, of transference. 

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are motionless and still in the reverent silence of the sky.

When supervisors schedule frequent meetings, it is because:

--they are never on top of things.
--they delegate work rather than do it themselves.
--they do not trust their subordinates.
--they resort to micromanagement in order to be in control.
--they like putting their subordinates on the spot and embarrassing them in public.

Aubrey went to sleep 6:00 PM and woke up 10:30 PM. Bought her a foot-long hot dog sandwich at the burger stand.

A light drizzle on Cubao.

Dinner at home with Angelique and J. They are off later to meet up with friends and ask them to fill in Aubrey's last two questionnaires at one of their favorite coffee shops.

My sister Alice sent four bottled candles for our family altar this evening. Will light them on All Souls Day.

Your Messenger message:

"Hi Tony. Question: Why do spirits or dead persons still become attached to places or houses? Is it because of unresolved feelings?"

My reply:

Hello ___________!

When persons die, they do not cease to exist. They simply move from temporal time to eternal time. Their spirits appear "attached" to places they frequented or loved being in when they were still in their corporal state. As a general rule they do so without disrupting the living and without making themselves visible.

Spirits can be "in the light" while being in such physical spaces, for "heaven" is not up there in the clouds, it is really a merging of worlds of existence, including the spiritual and the physical.

Thus, banishing them from their former homes because of your fear of the unknown is essentially an act of cruelty.

If I may say so, from everything I have observed, it is the living who almost always have "unresolved feelings", not the deceased, for the deceased, in eternal time, have full knowledge and acceptance of life and death that are as yet typically inaccessible to the living.

One-hour, mid-afternoon nap.

Write without being published. Paint without exhibiting. Before everyone else knows it, your entire oeuvre will be more immense in magnitude and in depth than everyone else's, and the world will not be able to contain your works.

Tony Perez's Art of War: Know this, that the more they ignore you, the more they envy you, for they realize at last that they can never catch up with you.

Went to the center with Chito. Lots of people stocking up on groceries.

"What is spoken flies, what is written never dies."

--F.E. Higgins

Every lover advances to his beloved to make himself known but duly retreats and carries on with his life when he is not received well or ignored.

Good morning, Cubao!

Raise your arms and feel Sky Father's cool embrace.

Now both granddaughters are off school for the holy days.

A Cubao Cocktail. Feeling woozy.

Thinking of going jalan-jalan tomorrow just to watch people at the Araneta Center Busport.

Angelique, Aubrey, J., and I visited my sisters Remi,  Alice, and Sylvia and my brother-in-law Rey at Alice's apartment.

Koala bear charms for Angelique's and Aubrey's Pandora bracelets, and, of course, chocolate candy bars.

DVDs for me!

Surprise Visit

My youngest sister, Sylvia, and my brother-in-law Rey arrived from Sydney for a brief vacation and stopped by our house this evening. They, two friends, and my elder sisters Remi and Alice took dinner at M.'s cafe.

I had dinner with Aubrey at home, though, because there was so much food on our table.

Now waiting for Angelique to arrive from college.

Picked up a medieval fantasy at Book Sale before meeting up with a friend at the Cubao Leaky Cauldron a few days ago . Been reading it before napping in the daytime and sleeping at night.

One-hour, mid-afternoon nap.

Your Messenger message:

"Good afternoon, sir!

"I've been wanting to ask you about this yesterday. The other night I dreamed of huge waves crashing in the shore in our place. Just by looking at the waves, we didn't panic but the waves were really gigantic. As far as I can recall, we were having a picnic. Having these dreams of oceans or seas/waves are not new to me. My elders said that having these dreams are omen of future misfortunes or problems or even death, and it's not unusual to me. What made it weird was when I overheard my students' conversations yesterday in the morning about their dreams on the night before of Tsunami and huge waves. I'm quite surprised to know that five of us have the same dream and one said that I was on the event. Then later that morning, I read the news about the earthquake in Cotabato. Could it be a sign for the incident yesterday? Or if not, what does it mean?

"*what does it mean to me and to my students?"


My reply:

Hello ____________!

Unless you are psychic, those dreams are not precognitive.

Dream images of gigantic waves and tsunami indicate that the dreamers are undergoing emotional upheavals in their lives in the present time. They should assess their personal situations and see the cause or causes of these emotional disturbances. I\On the other hand, in your case and in the case of your students, it might merely be a reflection of the subconscious dread you've all been feeling as a result of the earthquakes.

If you are the owner of a castle, a school, a dojo, a restaurant, or a house, you have every right in the world to bar entrance to people you do not like, as you have every right to not invite them to your parties.

Aubrey took a late lunch.

Saw Angelique off to college.

Second layer of varnish on _Tiger Lilies (Portrait of Genevieve Asenjo)_.

What is the point of Posting "Friends Made on This Day" if the other person won't allow it to be Posted on his Wall?

Lunch at home with Angelique. Today is her last day of classes before the holy days.

Vernissage: _Tiger Lilies (Portrait of Genevieve Asenjo)_

Patayin ang mga aranya
Huwag sindihan ang mga lampara
Sa ibabaw ng mga sulatan
Ayaw kong isiping nasilaw ka lang,
Di mo ako tiningnan nang patag
Ang puso mo at malinaw ang mata

Mamahalin kita sa mahabang dilim
Doon hintayin ang pagputok ng araw
Sabay nating masdan, sabay tayo masilaw
Hanggang mabulag sa lahat ng hugis ng
Katotohanan, lahat ng anyong kalupitan
Sa liwanag ng Kalikasan

Paano kita masisilaw
Kung naroon ako sa iyong likuran
At doon ako mamamalagi
At doon ka iibigin, sa iyong likuran
Hanggang mamatay ang araw
Hanggang dumilim na naman

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are sheaves of poems as yet unwritten in lovers' minds.

Into the Halloween holy days, and into unholy nights of brandy and sangria.

Angelique arrived from college and dinner out.

Aubrey took her dinner. We are now waiting for Angelique to arrive from college.

One-hour, late afternoon nap.

Took an early dinner, then tuned in to the news.

Sometimes the best partnerships are those between residents of neighboring galaxies.

Something that is meant to be will always happen against all odds, even if superior forces try their best to prevent it.

One-hour, noon nap.

Chito dropped by from work to take lunch before proceeding to Mandaluyong.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

I advise every young writer never to turn his back on English--or any universal language, for that matter--for there will always come a time when he will feel that his own country is too small for him, and, for many writers, that feeling comes a little too late to write in English from the heart.

Good morning, Cubao!

Every cloud contains a glass bowl filled with paper slips of promises you made from your childhood to the present time.

Waiting while hungry is always a bad situation for everyone, and one has to keep oneself in control.

Things go faster, never slower, with patience and with basic trust.

It's Jay's birthday, and I just know that the celebration in M.'s cafe will go on through dawn. 

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Don't just be witty. Be tangibly productive as well.

Most people who "practice" magic are only under the illusion that they practice magic, but none of their "magic" really works.

The older must have more patience than the younger.

Seattle's Best Coffee's 2020 planner won't be out until next week, but the branch manager very kindly showed me its prototype: it is bigger (meaning that you can't transfer unused pages from last year's planner to it) and apparently less expensive (I will need only 15 stickers to claim one as opposed to the 18 last year).

Back from a meeting and a photo session at the Cubao Leaky Cauldron.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is a writer's whiteboard.

Meeting tomorrow with a writer who might be in Portrait #5 of my Contemporary Filipino Writers Series, at the Cubao Leaky Cauldron. Will have to finish four more paintings for Maryhill School of Theology before I commence that portrait, though.

I feel that I will be painting through all of the holidays this year, all the way from Halloween to New Year's Eve.

Spicy buffalo wings and saffron rice from M.'s cafe.

Aubrey made two batches of fried Oreos this afternoon. I forgot to take a photo of them. She created the batter out of the pancake mix that Margie Logarta gave us. 

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Brought some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

After I graduated from university I desired to be a full-time artist but prevented myself from being so. I saw that that journey would be rough and circuitous and possibly on a dead-end road. I worked and slaved, instead, for 36 years in an office that would provide me, upon my retirement, monthly annuity for the rest of my life. Such an annuity would pay all of my bills, feed my family, cover us when we are sick, repair our house, send my grandchildren through undergraduate school and graduate school, and even allow me to go shopping at any time.

The 36 years are over.

Now I am retired.

Now, I am also a full-time artist.

Thanks to all the friends who dropped by today, Aubrey needs only two more questionnaires--out of 20--to be filled up, and I think that we can find two neighbors to do that tomorrow.

Lunch at home alone. Everyone still asleep on the upper floor.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a golden mug of piping-hot coffee.

Dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and J.

Our weekend begins at last.

Brought one of Aubrey's school questionnaires to Glenn at Jade Pacific, and picked it up after he was done filling it in.

An early lunch at home with Aubrey.

1:30 PM meeting with Nancy of the Embassy's HR at the Cubao Leaky Cauldron. Gave her a set of crystal quartz spears from Brazil, and, of course, she gave me something that I'd long been waiting for.

3:00 PM meeting with Glenn, also at the Cubao Leaky Cauldron.

Met Angelique and J. at Shopwise as they were about to do groceries.

Glenn and I proceeded to the house, where we stayed until 5:15 PM.

Lunch at home with Aubrey.

The Halloween atchays are alive again.

Your Messenger message:

"Good Day Sir Tony! I just want to ask po, are you expert in seeing and talking to ghost?

"I am a student from ________________ po and we were doing some horror segment for our school requirement. We would like to know if we can reach you out in this subject of ours?"


My reply:

I'm sorry, you seem to be mixed-up about certain things in life. Seeing and conversing with ghosts have nothing to do with horror.

Your Messenger message:

"Saan po kayo pwede puntahan?"


My reply:

Huwag mo akong puntahan.

Your Messenger message:

"sir pahelp

"tungkol sa gayuma

"tatay naggagayuma po ba kayo

"please help me"


My reply:

No. I won't.

Saw Angelique off to college.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a flower vendor's cart.

On every Spirit Quest, the first thing we determine is how sincere the participants are. If we detect that they are there merely out of curiosity, out of a desire to know our methods because they are doing research on us, or out of want for entertainment, we abort the Quest immediately and leave.

A shredded beef and vegetable dish and unsweetened pineapple juice at M.'s cafe.

Angelique arrived from college and dinner out.

Bought medicine and three flavors of Strepsils for Angelique.

Dinner at home alone.

Brought some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

Aubrey arrived from university. We bought snack food at one of the hawkers' stands.

One-hour, mid-afternoon nap.

E. visited. We discussed three projects.

Chito arrived from work and had lunch with E. before proceeding to Mandaluyong.

Your Messenger message:

"Sir bka nmn po pedeng humingi ng tulong sa inyo pang financial alam kopo na ndi mopoko ka anu ano pero nagmamakaawa poko sau 17 years old poko na babae eh sir voucher lng po nagpapa aral saken sa college of _____________________ eh dami pong projects na ndi kona magawa tas ung pambaon wla po mhrap lng po kse kme stroke papo lola ko totoo po sinsbi ko sir eh ung iba kopong tita wala nmng pake sken ung dady kopo kse nag aadik eh umiiwas poko kaht konti lng sir please parang awa mo napo nahhya npoko sa gngwa ko kinakapalan kona po mukha ko ang hrap po kse mapgltan sa klase na wlang maipasang project tas pag nsa klase ang hrap magutom kse wlang baon sir please ngaun po wala pokong makain eh parang awa mo napo ndi nmn poko.masamang tao kesa gumawa ng msama ganito nlng po gngwa ko

"Kahit konti lng po sir

"Isesend poko sau mga project once na nag abot kpo sir

"Sir please parang awa mo napo"


My reply:

Hindi.

Saw Aubrey off to university early this morning.

Angelique took an early lunch.

Saw Angelique off to college.

Lunch at home alone.

Still doing some house cleaning.

I have many Filipino writer friends who live abroad but I cannot paint portraits of any of them--it would be most cruel. Years ago I did make a huge portrait for a friend who lives in the U.S.A. The shipping company required us to document the work and then obtain a clearance from the National Museum of the Philippines for exportation of art, Gallery Frames had to construct a heavy, wooden crate to ensconce the portrait in, and total expenses ran up to more than a thousand USD.

I paint on cradled canvases only, which are, essentially, wooden boxes that cannot be disassembled. I no longer paint on pieces of unstretched canvas fabric that can be rolled and placed in cylinders for shipping.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is the canvas on which a boy paints his biggest dream.

A tuna and vegetable dish and unsweetened pineapple juice at M.s' cafe.

Your Messenger message:

"Dear Tito Tony,

"I found these orbs on my feed just now...

"I had just deleted some photos a while ago so I know these weren’t taken by my phone while in my pocket or anything like that...

"What do you think they are?

Sorry to disturb you, Tito

"Thank you again."

My reply:

Hello __________!

There is nothing to fear about orbs showing up in photos. They are elementals in the vicinity. They usually fly about when their peace is disturbed, such as when, for example, there is loud drumming, an explosion, fireworks, a noisy parade, fire, or anything like those. Do not read additional, supernatural meanings in them.

I suspect that those photos were taken accidentally and got uploaded along with everything you uploaded.

Dinner at home alone.

Angelique arrived from college.

Saw Angelique off to college.

Chito dropped by after work to have lunch before proceeding to Mandaluyong.

Impatiently waiting for my model for Jesus Christ to lose weight and achieve that slim, muscular figure I want.

Eight more portraits to go for my Portraits Of 12 Contemporary Filipino Writers series.

Wondering who my next victim--I mean, model--will be.

Lunch at home with Angelique and J. Aubrey at university.

The clouds are white bolsters strewn across the sky.

Good morning, Cubao!

Slept nine hours last night.

Whenever you feel that you are being unduly punished, ask your spirit guides why. The answer will come to you in a dream.

It is time, once again, to watch a horror movie every night for an entire week.

A mage will always look upon an excellent apprentice as his adopted son.

Tony Perez's Art of War: When someone unjustly accuses you of something and discriminates against you for it, allow him the freedom to do so. Then, when he least expects it, hurl twice the amount of discrimination in his face, and do it in public for good measure.

It was always difficult for me to live as a playwright. Whenever I was deep into writing a play, I would talk aloud to myself, taking on the thinking, speech, movements, behavior, and preferences of my characters, and carry these forth into my everyday life. It was extremely discombobulating to my co-workers and students.

A teacher will not hesitate to withhold information from a skeptical student.

A hungry student will not learn as much as you want him to.

It is not necessary to kill something that you can effectively drive away.

In mathematical problems there are absolute givens. In life many givens are not absolute and can be completely changed.

It is justified apprehension that keeps us away from many opportunities and friendships that come our way, which is why defying such apprehensions is called taking risks.

There are four cardinal directions and four quarter directions, which is why we are always coming from eight possible places and going to eight other, possible places at any given time.

A salmon belly and vegetable dish and unsweetened pineapple juice at M.'s cafe.

Lots of male patrons. The cafe was the Admiral Benbow Inn tonight.

Tomorrow is a brief rest day from painting. Will probably clean the house a bit and do my laundry.

G. is scheduled to come on Saturday and select one of the 36 Wands. The Wand Warriors are increasing. 

Dinner at home alone.

Asked Lennoel to bring some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

Angelique and J. arrived from college with take-home food for dinner, then Aubrey arrived from university with take-home food for dinner.

My kid scout grandson

Photo from Vanessa

Washed 22 brushes and four palette knives.

Waiting for Angelique to arrive from college and Aubrey from university.

Two-hour, late afternoon nap.

Done with Portrait #4 in my series of 12 portraits of contemporary Filipino writers.

The next I am doing is Painting #13 for Maryhill School of Theology.

_Tiger Lilies (portrait of Genevieve Asenjo)_

Tiger Lilies (Portrait of Genevieve Asenjo)
Oil on cradled canvas
4' x 5'
October 10 - 23, 2019

Saw Angelique off to college.

Worked half an hour on thirty-fifth glaze. This painting is finished.

Chito arrived from work and is taking lunch now before proceeding to Mandaluyong.

Worked half an hour on thirty-fourth glaze.

Lit the paraffin oil lamps on our family altar.

Lunch at home with Angelique.

When both the student and the teacher are ready, they meet apparently accidentally but deliberately engineered by their spirit guides.

Worked an hour on thirty-third glaze.

You are bipolar if you think and feel a certain way in the morning and then think and feel the opposite in the evening.

Saw Aubrey off to university.

Your Messenger message:

"Sir Tony. We have something in our attic. I feel like it's an elemental but I have no one to cofirm that it is. I tried talking to it and it doesn't speak any language. It just makes sort of makes noises like an animal I guess. Then I leave milk or honey sometimes then it stops making noises. What do think? Elemental? House brownie?

"Sorry if I asked. Ang hirap kasi sometimes I doubt myself when it comes to whats around me."


My reply:

Hello _________!

Do the milk and honey get consumed? If they do, then there's an animal in your attic, which happens a lot in countries where there is winter time.

Read the short story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling.

Elementals typically don't hole up in attics. They roam round the house as the residents do.

I am 200% there only for students who are 100% there.

Happy Birthday to my elder son Nelson!

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a bank of spotlights shining on the world's stage.

We are not on the energy grid, but that only means that the secret, invisible, shadow headquarters are in places that are not on the grid and, like our country, Siberia is one of them. So is the Ayers Rock, in the center of Australia.

Angelique arrived from college and bought take-home food for her dinner.

If the father is named Conrad, do not name the son Darnoc, otherwise he will grow up to be the exact opposite of his father.

Aubrey arrived from college and dinner out.

Worked an hour on thirty-second glaze.

Calling it a day for painting. Must wait for this glaze to dry.

Dinner at home alone.

Asked Jerome to bring some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

Waiting for Angelique to arrive from college and Aubrey from university.

Worked half an hour on thirty-first glaze.

Back from jalan-jalan at the center. Paid our water bill.

Saw a beautiful creche but controlled myself from buying it right then and there.

Thought of a banana split, then decided to buy Vigan empanadas and puto bumbong at the Christmas bazaar for the family instead.

Worked half an hour on thirtieth glaze.

Worked half an hour on twenty-ninth glaze.

Saw Angelique off to college.

A quiet afternoon in Cubao.

Worked an hour on twenty-eighth glaze.

Lunch at home with Angelique.

Must go jalan-jalan at the center in a while. Yet another distraction from my painting, but there it is.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are clusters of magnifying lenses suspended from the sky.

I swear by M.'s cafe's spicy buffalo wings and our next-door neighbor's home-deep-fried chicken. The next time the Spirit Questors have an after-noon lunch at home, I will make it a point to order those.

Angelique and J. arrived from college with take-home food for their dinner.

Work in Progress

Tiger Lilies (Portrait of Genevieve Asenjo)
Oil,on cradled canvas
4' x 5'
October 10, 2019 -

Been working on this eleven days already and I am FAR from done.

Worked half an hour on twenty-seventh glaze.

Aubrey arrived from university and we bought snack food from the hawkers' stands.

Worked an hour on twenty-sixth glaze.

Worked half an hour on twenty-fifth glaze.

Rain.

Worked half an hour on twenty-fourth glaze.

Lunch at home with Angelique.

Going back to the studio to paint again in a few.

Worked an hour on twenty-third glaze.

Worked an hour on twenty-second glaze.

Worked an hour on twenty-first glaze.

Your e-mail message:

"Hi Tony,

"I hope all is well! 

"Found your email online. May I know if you have an office to do a session? My mother recently passed and we need some answers. 

"Thank you very much!"

My reply:

Hello __________!

Yes, we can do that. I will take one or two Spirit Questors along with me. You should have a quiet venue for this.

Before anything else, though, think about the matter carefully. 

Sometimes questions are best left unanswered, because that is part of everyone's karma--the deceased's and the bereaved's.

Good morning Cubao!

The clouds are ice sculptures in the buffet halls of the sky.

Why is there so much fuss over rest rooms when, over the years, Starbucks and Seattle's Best have had only ONE rest room each and everyone uses it whether they like it or not?

Spaghetti and unsweetened pineapple juice at M.'s cafe.

Aubrey and R. arrived from university and dinner out. Aubrey staying overnight at a classmate's.

Worked an hour on twentieth glaze anyway.

Dinner at home with Angelique.

Waiting for Aubrey to come home from university.

Brought some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

Calling it a day for painting. Must wait for this glaze to dry. Will work on twentieth glaze tomorrow.

Worked an hour on nineteenth glaze.

Worked an hour on eighteenth glaze.

Worked an hour and a half on seventeenth glaze.

Chito arrived from work to have lunch before proceeding to Mandaluyong.

Worked an hour on sixteenth glaze.

Only riffraff need to go out of their way to interview you. Everyone else will do their homework prodigiously online.

Lunch at home with Angelique. Aubrey proctoring admission exams at university.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is tie-dyed with the colors of sunrise.

A student who speaks English only and a student who speaks Tagalog only will never know everything I know.

The Spirit Questors still exist, but it became a HIGHLY EXCLUSIVE group in 2009. Its membership is kept at 36 and below, 36 being the maximum number of the group The Wands.

The Spirit Questors are now on their 13th year.

A good mage will intimidate his students initially, to see how far their courage and their determination will take them.

Inebriation is an altered state of consciousness, and, in altered states of consciousness, thoughts flow like water in a raging river. 

Do not stock up on too many bottles of ink, because a single bottle of ink can seem to last forever.

One of the values of religion is teaching respect, except that it really does not when it feels threatened by the presence of other religions.

Planning your life can be close work, like satin stitch embroidery.

It is better to follow a teacher of magic whose thinking is original and limitless rather than a teacher of magic who borrows ideas from other teachers of magic. The former is a primary source, the latter, a secondary source.

In Philippine magic there are two kinds of brightness, or sources of divine light: Liwanag Na Nagmumula Sa Itaas (Brightness That Comes From Above) and Liwanag Na Nagmumula Sa Ilalim (Brightness That Comes From Below).

The middle class is usually the happiest. While they know how to spend, they also know how to save.

Preventing someone from eating a good meal is one of the biggest acts of cruelty in this world.

Love life and love being alive, but do not overextend yourself.

Be still and the world around you also will.

When feeling down, recall the enchanted afternoons you experienced in your childhood, when the sun was mellow and the night still far away.

Sometimes you have no choice but to surrender yourself to time and to its circumstances.

It is safest to be unassuming in the company of the humble and in the company of the arrogant.

When you are assigned to be a cogwheel, be an efficient one.

No one can go on a treasure hunt all by himself.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

It's 2:09 AM and customers are still carousing and singing on videoke at M.'s cafe. Lively Saturday night to Sunday dawn.

Sat with Aubrey while she took a late dinner.

Asked Jerome to bring some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

Aubrey arrived from university.

Worked half an hour on fifteenth glaze.

Angelique and J. arrived from college and dinner out.

Worked half an hour on fourteenth glaze.

Afternoon meeting with A. He is now Keeper of The Wand of Iboku.

It seems that old high school graduates have no fighting chance of getting employed, because priority is given to K-12 graduates. Most unfortunate atchay mentality, because many of those old graduates are more qualified than many of the new ones.

Worked an hour on thirteenth glaze while Aubrey took a late lunch in the dining room.

An early lunch at home alone.

Worked half an hour on twelfth glaze.

Chito arrived from work and took lunch in the dining room before proceeding to Mandaluyong.

Where there's a will there are ten ways.

Fairy laundry hangs in crisscross clotheslines across the sky.

Good morning, Cubao!

Slept nine hours last night.

Worked half an hour on eleventh glaze.

Dinner at home with Aubrey; Angelique still at college and having dinner out later.

Asked Jerome to bring some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

Back from the center. Met G. for coffee and brought him up to speed with the Spirit Questors' previous workshop by giving him the same exercises. We found the perfect motel to do this. I didn't care what other people thought.   

Worked half an hour on tenth glaze.

Now off to a meeting at the center.

Worked an hour on ninth glaze.

Chito arrived from work and took lunch before proceeding to Mandaluyong.

Aubrey arrived from university and took lunch.

Good morning, Cubao!

The god of the sun is the god of magic.

A shredded pork and vegetable dish and unsweetened pineapple juice at M.'s cafe.

An interesting suspense movie was playing, but I couldn't stay that long to watch all of it.

I have always wondered how Facebook chooses the few Friends I should poke.

Dinner at home with Angelique.

Aubrey arrived from university and dinner out.

Asked Jerome to bring some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

Worked an hour on eighth glaze.

Angelique arrived from college.

Watched the College of Saint Benilde's production of Ang Dakilang Teatro ng Daigdig, a merged staging of Pedro Calderon de la Barca's El gran teatro del mundo and my one-act play "Hoy, Boyet...", directed by Nonon Padilla. Very clever merging, very clever staging--and well-performed by a highly competent cast. Nonon reminded me after the show that "Hoy, Boyet..." is 51 years old.

Assistant production manager Sam picked me up from Cubao to watch the show and brought me home afterward. The driver knew all the best shortcuts from my house to Saint Benilde and back, and I got home well before dusk.

An early lunch at home with Angelique.

Tempted to glaze, but desisted. I used to sneak in painting sessions while being dressed and waiting to be picked up--and ruined two good pairs of pants that way.

Would have slept nine or eleven hours, but I need to get ready to be picked up and brought to the theater.

Losing a painting day, unless I can do a few glazes when I come back home.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are white pirates' ships laden with barrels of treasure.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

Gave the compound security guard a cheeseburger. He's wearing  low-cut socks inside his black, leather shoes.

Asked Michael to bring some food over to M.'s cafe staff.

Dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and J.

Swung by the neighborhood grocery to buy Mongkut, the granddaughters, and J. some chocolate candy.

One-hour, early evening nap.

Worked an hour on seventh glaze.

Your Messenger message:

"Dear Sir,
"It has been a year since I messaged you. I have been working for a project for almost five years now and I am only the one left of the original team. "After five years of devoting my life for the project, I feel drained and depressed. It doesn’t help that the one I started the work with left. "Now I am out of solutions. A part of me says, 'leave' but a part wants me to stay because of the steady income that my family really needs right now. I also take account that my new fellow workers seem excited and positive. But then again, it has been five years for me. "The problem is that emotionally and physically, I feel I can’t go on. "But again, I am uncertain of the future and feel anxious to what may happen if I leave. "Is it wise for me now to leave? I remember that two years ago, you advise me not to. "Thank you very much for your time. "Thanks to FB, I not only admire your written works now but also your paintings. "God bless."

My reply:

Hello ______________!

If you notice, I myself leave a particular field of interest once I feel that I'm no longer learning anything from it. At different times in my life I worked as a TV writer, an illustrator, an adjunct lecturer, a magazine columnist, a newspaper columnist, a portrait artist, a movie writer, a playwright, a painter, a lyricist, a photographer, a fiber artist, and heaven knows what else. I did keep one, full-time job, and that was to have, like you, a steady income for my family.

Here then, is the lesson: keep the job that pays your bills and that will provide you a hefty pension upon retirement. AT THE SAME TIME, set aside some time to engage in something totally different and totally enjoyable. It is possible to live more than one life simultaneously.

Worked an hour on sixth glaze.

Chito arrived from work and took a late lunch before proceeding to Mandaluyong.

Bottled goodies from Vanessa.

Worked an hour on fifth glaze.

Lunch at home with Angelique.

A sunny day in Cubao.

Some people fear death, others pain, others poverty. She fears silence. She says that she values it, but, when it is there, she becomes terrified.

Photos from Nonon Padilla