Your Messenger message:

"What do you make of people who keep calling on the phone to chat (hour-long!) even when you make it clear you don't welcome the phonecalls? I feel guilty for not calling back but resent the imposition and demand on my time and attention."

My reply:

"I'd just ignore and not call back. Never be a slave to technology. It should serve you, not the other way around. It is really the caller's problem, not yours. If they ask you later why you didn't call back, just say, "One of my rules is to ignore all phone calls." That way THEY follow YOU.

"I am even more brash than that. When unexpected guests knock on my door I myself open the door and tell them, 'I'm sorry, I'm not expecting you. I'm working on a painting in progress and I can't let anyone in.' I feel absolutely no guilt in doing so. Only I can choose whom to entertain.

"One of my problems is that most people see me as sweet, fatherly, approachable, and easily manipulatable. I am not. There was a time when a woman, a stranger, knocked on our door and insisted on using our ground-floor bathroom. I, of course, refused, and advised her to go to a restaurant or to the barangay hall. She then said, 'Dito na 'ko iihi sa may pintuan mo.' I yelled, 'Subukan mong gawin iyan! Sasabuyan kita ng tubig-kanal!' She slunk away.

"I love making my dark side pop out like a jack-in-the-box to atchays. The expressions on their faces are precious and, unfortunately due to lack of time, I could never actually photograph them."