Had two paintings framed. Toto drove for me.

Angelique and Aubrey came down to lunch in the dining room.

Yakult delivery.

An early lunch at home alone.

September 1, 2022:

Happy 7th anniversary to M.'s cafe!

Good morning, Cubao!

The night's dreams spill over into morning coffee cups.

You with four syllables in your name: Continue to compartmentalize. Compartmentalization is one of the 32 defense mechanisms, but it helps you survive.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Ordered tapsilog from the cafe for a bedtime snack later. I usually have the egg runny, with chili garlic sauce and Thai sriracha sauce.

Dinner at home with Angelique; Aubrey preparing for her night shift.

Painted two sides of an atypical canvas black.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Construction lines are done. Will commence layering next.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Had our holiday placemats washed at the compound laundry.

Slept nine hours last night, like the Vampire Marius in his crypt.

Good morning, Cubao!

The rain  strews crystal chips on the city streets.

Good night, Cubao!

Dispel the plotting of thieves by lighting incense in your house.

You with seven syllables in your name: The type of people who were attracted to you in the past are no longer so. At your age, just be yourself without expecting anything from anyone.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Dinner at home with Angelique; Aubrey preparing for her night shift.

Worked another half hour on construction lines.

Forty winks.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Good morning, Cubao!

The day is a stroll through an enchanted forest.

Good night, Cubao!

Fairy lights change colors along the rainbow spectrum.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with five syllables in your name: Value what you have. Avoid living in the context of what you want but still don't have.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Staggered dinnertimes.

One-hour, late afternoon nap.

Angelique and Jazz arrived from their long weekend in Baler.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

A heavy breakfast, as in The Color Purple.

A law textbook arrived for Angelique.

Two-hour, morning nap,.

Aubrey arrived from her long-weekend sleepover.

One-hour, noon nap.

A late lunch alone; Aubrey sleeping in preparation for her night shift.

Bought two kilos red dragon fruit at the stand across the street.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Sorry, no visitors allowed. Three paintings remain exposed in the studio area.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is lined with white fondant.

A glass of brandy, celebrating the passage of Hungry Ghosts Month.

Good night, Cubao!

Lighted bedroom windows glow like semi-precious stones through the veil of rain.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with seven syllables in your name: Sometimes the choice is between having a happy family and having a successful career. Do not be fixated on past triumphs. Love those who are around you now.

Rainy evening in Cubao.

Dinner at home alone.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Looking back now, I didn't know that he would take his own life, and I wonder if I could have saved him.

Primed the sides of an atypical canvas for Painting #12 for my next exhibit.

This painting begins today, August 28, 2022.

Always prevent yourself from getting rid of your money.

Went to D.'s store and bought a ream of ziggurats.

Worked half an hour on seventeenth glaze.

Painting #11 for my next exhibit is finished (August 19 - 28, 2022).

Three more paintings to go!

Ready to commence Painting #12, but I think I'll save that for tomorrow and take the rest of the day off. 

Worked half an hour on sixteenth glaze.

Lunch at home alone.

While your insecure colleagues are trying their best to have fun or pretending to have fun, seclude yourself and work on your masterpieces. The payoffs are delicious.

Facebook has never bothered to correct "8)", which always comes out as a smiley wearing sunglasses.

Do not retire by living off your savings or continuing to work through your dying day.

Retire by receiving annuity for life from the company you worked for.

Good morning, Cubao!

Happiness is a set of glass canisters filled with different varieties of coffee.

Parents praise their children and call them industrious when they go into private business selling things, not realizing that that kind of income never lasts unless they sell things into their old age, and that they are actually teaching their children to not prepare for retirement.

Never favor an income that depends on supply and demand. In the end, either there will be no supply or there will be no demand.

The werewolf crossed the street to the takoyaki stand.

Watched the U.S.A.'s 2022 Fistful of Vengeance (1:36:10), a sequel to Wu Assassins. In this movie the group of protagonists are in Bangkok to avenge the murder of Jenny, a sister of a member of their group. In the meantime the Wu Assassin, who is in their group, is being targeted for abduction by Pan Gu, allegedly the first man, who seeks to unite him with his female counterpart and thus reassemble Yin and Yang--reversing the theory of fragmentation.

The movie is shot like a video game. It is essentially a series of chases and fight scenes. The cast is competent but suffers from a B-grade screenplay and stilted, B-grade dialogue peppered with a lot of "fuck" and "shit", as though those words make everything look masculine and cool. The kissing and sex scenes are abrupt and actually unwarranted, and seem to have been conveniently inserted, albeit at the wrong moments. The production's saving grace is that it looks expensive and has a lot of interesting, multi-angle shots, including drone shots. The fight routines, unfortunately, are old hat.

Very few productions succeed in presenting a mix of talismanic magic, shamanism, and martial arts, because you can't really tell whether the fighters win of their own valor or by being saved at the last minute by deus-ex-machina supernaturalism. At best, this is entertainment for nine-year-olds who couldn't care less about cinema as art and are easily pleased with brainless, visual spectacle.

Good night, Cubao!

Your side table should accommodate all of the things you need at night.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with six syllables in your name: Do not overvalue youth. Also value maturity, which you tend to overlook when you are too frequently in the company of young people. 

Dinner at home alone.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Bertod is now watering the plants in the roof deck, side balcony, front balcony, and ground floor gardens.

Worked half an hour on fifteenth glaze.

Worked half an hour on fourteenth glaze.

Worked half an hour on thirteenth glaze.

Lunch at home alone.

Looks like a long, painting weekend for me. Wondering if I get to finish Painting #11.

In my heaven, only my family is there. No multitude of souls I neither know nor care about, no winged angels chanting like cicadas, no saints in Renaissance robes, no fluffy clouds covering our feet.

Home alone for the long weekend!

Angelique and Jazz are at a beach resort in the south and Aubrey at a two-night sleepover with coworkers.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun blazes like a giant sunflower.

Good night, Cubao!

Gnomes love cold showers that energize their bodies.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with four syllables in your name: Ask yourself if you are happy and content. Do not convince yourself that you are happy and content. First go with the truth and accept it. And then make changes as you see fit.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Jazz; Aubrey preparing for her night shift.

Worked an hour on twelfth glaze.

Swung by the neighborhood grocery.

Never reflex. Instead, REFLECT.

Staggered lunchtimes.

Happy Birthday to my sister Alice!

Oh noooooooo!

The curator for my exhibit opened a new gallery at Shangri-la Plaza and wants me to hold my exhibit there rather than in his main gallery on P. Tuazon Boulevard.

And there I was bragging to friends that there are three art galleries in our neighborhood, all of them within walking distance from my house. 

Today is the last day of 2022 Hungry Ghosts Month.

Good morning, Cubao!

Sunlight invades even the most shaded bedroom windows. 

Watched the U.S.A.'s 2022 Umma (1:22:45), about a Korean-American woman named Amanda who left her abusive mother after their family migrated to America. After the mother dies, an uncle traces Amanda's whereabouts and drops off her mother's ashes and belongings at her farmhouse. Amanda herself has a daughter. Both undergo apparent hauntings and possessions by the deceased.

Quite strange that Taiwan's 2022 Incantation is also about a mother, a daughter, hauntings, and possession, and that, in both movies, the mother-daughter relationships verge on the dysfunctional, if not neurotic. Both are cases of folie a deux (madness of two), a clinical psychological term describing an intense paranoia shared by two persons. In Incantation a curse implanted in the subconscious could very well explain the negative karma that befalls the mother and her daughter. In Umma it is possible to conceive of the hauntings and possession as metaphorical projections of an Asian-American's subliminal guilt for turning her back on her cultural identity; I would not be surprised if all Asian-Americans undergo this at some point in their lives.  

This is not a vanity movie. Sandra Oh is a fine actress, regardless of who produces her movies. The problem is that fine actresses should never be given horror movies as vehicles for their acting. For starters, fear is the easiest emotion to convey; even supporting performers, bit players, and extras can be adept at it. The world has yet to know what a serious performer Sandra Oh is, and she should be given real roles that she can sink her teeth in.

One-hour, deep tissue massage.

Good night, Cubao!

The birds lie in woven hammocks hanging from the branches of the dragon tree.

One Message for One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with eight syllables in your name: Look around and observe your business competitors. Do you have items that they don't have? What exactly is your target market and who would you really like to reach?

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Your Messenger mesage:

"Good evening, Sir Tony.

" "This is related to my question several weeks ago: "What should be done to the offering after tomorrow, the last day of the Hungry Ghost Month? "What is the proper way to dispose of the food and cleanse/reuse their containers? "Thanks once again for your time and efforts. Stay strong and healthy! ~

My reply:

Hello __________!

I give the food and candy to street children and the poor.

If your containers re reusable, just wash them.

Staggered dinnertimes.

Tomorrow is the last day of Hungry Ghosts Month.

Worked half an hour on eleventh glaze.

Worked half an hour on tenth glaze.

Worked half an hour on ninth glaze.

After the storm has passed the sun comes out, and it is Great-Gatsby-summer hot again, whatever month it may be.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Good morning, Cubao!

A conversation with your house enables you to know what it wants to get done.

Watched Taiwan's 2022 Incantation (1:51:05). A mother recently recovered from a curse for breaking the rules of a Yunnan cult takes custody of her little girl from a foster home. She documents their life with a video camera. Strange things soon begin to happen.

The movie is terrifying despite its deliberately Brechtian, alienating, Blair Witch Project format and its series of flashbacks and flashbacks preceding flashbacks. It verges on the surreal, and is the equivalent of a nightmare. The viewer has no idea what will happen next. The unseen threats are diabolic and terrifying. You fear for the main characters--the mother and her child and the other victims--and ultimately for yourself, since you are repeatedly shown the sigil and are also subjected to its accompanying incantation.

The scenes are put together well and masterfully directed. For starters, this is the kind of movie that is difficult to act in, especially for a child pretending not to be acting in a movie. Many of the "videotaped" scenes, however, are not convincing--they are comprised of multiple camera set-ups that entailed multiple lighting set-ups, and some shots, especially close-ups of faces, are taken from unlikely and evidently-edited-in angles. The temple, cult altars, cult statues, cult offerings, and cult props are nonetheless very convincing.

The ending is not a sad one, it is a most unhappy one. It seems that both in Norway (cf. Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts) and in Asia, the sins of the father are visited upon his children. And yes, I watched this movie through the very last scene, the scene that irreversibly draws the audience in.

Loved those reversing ferris wheel and train illusions!

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

Good night, Cubao!

The travelers' inn has many bronze braziers/

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with five syllables in your name: You do not have to be a reader in order to be a writer. What you need is to isolate yourself more often, especially from friends who like having fun. 

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Staggered dinnertimes.

This is a particularly unwieldy, if not altogether difficult, Hungry Ghosts Month because the god who rules the year abhors skulls, skeletons, and ghosts--and so he has been in reclusion. He will reemerge the day after the last day of Hungry Ghosts Month.

Women tend to get fat as they grow older when they feel that they are no longer considered important. It's their subconscious way of declaring that they are still "big". 

Worked half an hour on eighth glaze.

Angelique and Jazz are off to a birthday lunch for Jazz at his house.

Worked half an hour on seventh glaze.

Staggered lunchtimes.

People rescue animals but not the homeless, because the homeless give no assurance of loyalty. 

Why do we call brief blackouts as brownouts and not grayouts?

And it's Cloudy's birthday (2021) too!

Happy Birthday to my eldest grandson, Jazz!

Good morning, Cubao!

Do not leave a legacy of disasters to the youth.

Good night, Cubao!

Pixies bathe in tiny waterfalls and lakes created by the rain.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with nine syllables in your name: You dreamt about me, that is why you sent me a Friend Request today. But, do you remember what I told you in your dream?

Dinner at home with Angelique and Jazz; Aubrey preparing for her night shift.

Worked an hour on sixth glaze.

Worked an hour on fifth glaze.

A dark, wet day in Cubao due to the storm in the north.

Lighted our Turkish lamps. They glow like colorful stars that descended to Earth.

An early lunch at home alone.

Good morning, Cubao!

The rain adorns spider webs with crystal beads.

 Watched the U.S.A.'s 2021 Ghostbusters: Afterlife  (2:03:04), which gives closure to the Ghostbusters quartet and nostalgically brings us full circle to the beginning. It was great to see the original cast in cameo roles. What it failed to accomplish, however, was weave in the third, all-female, Ghostbusters movie.

The opening sequences were as boring as Shyamalan's Signs; a third into the movie and nothing is still happening except for the apparently heritage-conservation unearthing of old Ghostbusters props and gizmos. The adolescent characters are too offbeat for young audiences to identify with, especially when they unbelievably mouth exposition about the ghosts and the overall, semi-mythological situation that serves as their context. The possession of the mother and the science teacher is awkward, and the ending is mawkish and contrived. Though the climax is as spectacular as in previous Ghostbusters movies, there are no crowds bearing witness to the destruction of the ghosts and providing justification for the existence of ghostbusters to "save the world". Indeed, in this movie, all the ghostbusters really saved was a small farming town.   

I believe that the problem with all four Ghostbusters movies is that each one of them seems to have been conceived backwards, i.e. from a colorfully explosive climax all the way back to the beginning, with a lot of compressed scenes worked into the last quarter of an hour. Very formulaic yet also very Procrustean. I wonder if the characters and plots could have been more dynamic had they been allowed to develop in chronological sequence.

The werewolf crossed the street to the takoyaki stand.

Good night, Cubao!

The gnomes count and recount the gold coins in their leather satchels.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with six syllables in your name: Never give up on a dream that's been shelved for years. Energy reverses and transforms, and you will find yourself realizing what you used to wish so fervently for. 

Angelique and Jazz arrived from dinner out.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come gain: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Staggered dinnertimes.

Worked half an hour on fourth glaze.

Angelique and Jazz went to Ali Mall to claim Angelique's NBI clearance for employment.

Worked half an hour on third glaze.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Good morning, Cubao!

In order to get things done, stick to the agenda of the day.

Feed the hungry if you will, but do not feel obliged to cater to their other whims.

Watched all 16 episodes of South Korea's 2021 Sell Your Haunted House. Daebak Realty exorcises vengeful spirits from haunted houses and helps their clients resell the houses at good prices. At the same time, two scammers con their own clients by fabricating ghosts and selling the clients contraptions designed to drive them away, and a gang of wicked real estate dealers oppresses poor people and forces them to abandon their homes to give way to redevelopment projects.

The paths of all three groups cross each other.

This is an entertaining screening with supernatural subject matter. It is promoted as a horror comedy but it really is not, though there are light moments in some of the episodes. Among the haunted establishments featured are a commercial building, an art museum, an apartment unit, a PC cafe and a sauna, a house, and a parking lot. The second half of the series is devoted to the characters, ambulant spirits, and the resolution of subplots. The props are interesting, though they verge on the fantastic and require a bigger amount of suspension of disbelief. The actors' performances, however, were outstanding.

The movie imparts indirect messages: that assistance should be extended not only to spirits but to the living whom they leave behind, and that all encounters with spirits are directly and phenomenologically correlated with the psychics' past, perhaps due to the defense mechanism projection.

It was quite intriguing that the issues in this movie were actually serious ones, but were shrouded in tongue-in-cheek treatments.  

Good night, Cubao!

The night sends you more messages than the day does.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year.

You with four syllables in your name: Continue to develop your abilities, but be astute enough to seek only teachers who are not only genuine but who are also trustworthy.

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Staggered dinnertimes.

Worked half an hour on second glaze.

Back home from lunch at the center with family.

 Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is tented with white satin.

Staggered dinnertimes.

Worked half an hour on first glaze.

 Worked half an hour on second layer.

Worked half an hour on first layer.

Angelique and Jazz are off to an early celebration of Jazz's birthday at his house.

Lunch at home with Angelique.

Good morning, Cubao!

After the rain, sundrops fall from the sky.

The werewolf crossed the street to the takoyaki stand.

Good night, Cubao!

The guests of the travelers' inn watch a horror movie before going to bed.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with five syllables in your name: Never let your friends get in the way of your art. 

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Staggered dinnertimes.

One-hour, afternoon nap.

What is the point of having children lie and declare that they are 18 or 21 years old in order to open an account if they're going to have that account anyway?

Angelique came down to lunch in the dining room.

Worked an hour on construction lines of Painting #12 for my next exhibit. This painting begins today, August 19, 2022. Sorry, no visitors allowed.

Let's hope this isn't another haunted painting.

An early lunch at home alone.

Good morning, Cubao!

Sunbeams sail across the sky in golden kayaks.

Good night, Cubao!

Night fairies light bottled candles on their windowsills.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with five syllables in your name: Detoxify yourself not only from food and drink but also from other people.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Your Messenger message:

"Hi Sir Tony, meron po ba tayong mga books or articles we can read about elementals? Medyo vague pa din po kasi sa akin ang existence nila.

"Napaisip din po ako dahil sa comment nyo na they have no souls and they fade. I thought they were first made before us humans and they protect the earth, the surroundings.

"Please correct me po if im wrong."

My reply:

Hello ______!

I don't keep a bibliography of sources. Many such sources do exist, however. You can probably Google-search some of them. Unfortunately, many of these are untrustworthy, and so one needs to exercise discernment when encountering them.

The elements did exist before humans. Therefore, so did elementals, which are best perceived as PERSONIFICATIONS of the elements. (Thus you have Ghob, King of Earth, Paralda, King of Air, Djinn, King of Fire, and Nichsah, King of Water, and under them gnomes [earth elementals], sylphs [air elementals], salamanders [fire elementals], and undines [water elementals]. Names differ depending on which culture you are focused on, and they therefore have Asian and Philippine equivalents.

It is unfortunate that comic books and horror movies have overtaken our concepts of what elementals are, how they live, and what they can do.

All elementals, however, are lower spirits, and we are above them all. That is why they don't have souls, and we do.

Staggered dinnertimes.

Worked half an hour on fourteenth glaze.

This haunted painting is done (July 19 - August 18, 2022).

Will show this to students who come to my 4:30 AM class. A prize to whoever can describe it accurately upon waking up.

Lunch at home with Angelique.

Your Messenger message:

"Dear Sir Tony,

"May I ask for your kind advise or thoughts on the.significance of the following po. Thank you very much. "1. I always smell seawater or feel sea breeze inside the house or in the veranda everytime my partner encounters some trouble, is sick or in some kind of danger whenever we are apart. His work sometimes entail him working in the marine sector.This happened about 4-5 times already. He usually became safe in all incidents except for the time that he became sick after looking after all the other people who had gotten sick on board. (Pre-Pandemic days) "Sometimes specific Yung what I smell before or after the seawater smell... like burnt engine or crudo when the boat They were on encountered engine trouble. "Am I suppose to do something immediately after I smell the seawater? "2. Recurring dreams themes or dreams that I vividly remember "/since childhood there is a recurring dream theme of fleeing our home because of a presence. I usually float or fly or run but always end up going back to the home to 'defend' it. "/Memorable characters or scenes that sometimes repeat: "▪︎A speaking golden fiery lion/werelion circling the house but unable to enter. "▪︎I see the sky darkening because of a migration of aswangs (thousands...they were afraid of something) as seen from our streetcorner. I go back to the house and realize a small swarm had followed me from the migration. They are hovering above the garden. I realize they were trying to get through an invisible dome encasing our home and garden. I didn't even know there was a dome. They end up just peering in the small gap of the dome which I didn't even know was there. They did not seem menacing. They seemed frightened and just wanted to take refuge. "▪︎I am in an oriental temple.. in a red hall of some sort. I am in a swordfight with several imperial looking guards or warriors. I am able to fend them off. There is one warrior though that was able to strike me with a.flaming sword to my chest at napaluhod ako. i didn't feel any pain and I was just holding the sword. Then my departed father appeared and told me to get up. I got up and just took out the sword, extinguished the flame and the warrior guard retreated. "I am not sure if I was from the temple or if they were guards or invaders. "3. Incidents ▪︎ I have a memory of my maternal grandmother accompanying me to the outdoor bathroom and back to just the door leading into the house. "There was just once I remember her putting me to sleep. I found out when I was in grade school or 1st year high school that she died before I was born. I only found out she had died na pala because I wondered about it and asked my brother nasaan na siya. I am named after her nga pala po. "▪︎my mother never talked about a departed sister (my aunt)... nor have I seen any photo of her. I am shocked to see her picture 70 years after her passing and it was like looking at me at a particular age. My second name is that aunt's name. "▪︎2021 Holy Week, we did some backyard camping... I woke up hearing strange clicking or low screeching sound. I was too sleepy and slept back. I dreamt in a dream in a dream. There was very big bird attacking the tent and eventually was going to strike at my partner. I screamed 'Hindi!!!!' Then it came from me instead. Nasalo ko sya and i was able to break the bird. Somehow the long beak was able to pierce through my chest pero no pain. I just took it out and flung the bird out of the tent. I was so mad. My partner woke me up in that dream. Then I awoke for real also because he woke me up. "Strangely though he heard the screeching sound of the bird. Not in a dream. "Later that week I was surprised to see the Same bird in my dream as a drawing in a book that I was tasked to ship out to Pangasinan the following week. "All those dreams felt so real po and I felt so tired upon waking up. "Apologies po for the multiple short narratives. I" appreciate your reading through them po. "Thank you for kind patience to read the above."

My reply:

Hello ____!

1. Your precognitive ability to sense trouble via smell is called clairalience. For the most part you cannot really do anything when the signals come, except perhaps caution your partner to be extra careful at work.

2. Your recurrent dreams are anxiety dreams. They tell me either that you think too highly of yourself or that you are unable to get along well with your peers. This seems more of a personality issue than a psychic one.

3. Your maternal grandmother is one of your spirit guides.

4. It is possible that you are the reincarnation of your deceased aunt. You should be able to learn more about this through regression.

5. The dream about the bird is about the confrontation of your Shadow. Both you and your partner heard the screeching sound most probably because it was the hypnogogic transmutation of an actual sound in the environment. The appearance of the bird was shrouded, via your memory recall, with an image of that very book illustration you saw in the past. 

I am unable to give you further details because you are better off consulting an older psychic OF YOUR OWN GENDER. Since 2015, the year I retired, I have stopped handling women, and I never will handle women again.

 

Good morning , Cubao!

The pixies hang their laundry to dry while gossiping out the neighborhood.

The 7-11 branch across EDSA, on the corner of P. Tuazon Boulevard, shut down during the pandemic. There are other establishments there--Seaoil and Barriotic among them--and I wonder how they are doing.

In the 1950s that area was a shopping complex called Argo. Di Marks Pizza, a book store, and a bar were located there and, years later, a rock band hangout named Club Dredd, a photography shop, an antique furniture store run by Erlinda Lagman of Baguio City, and a funeral parlor. It seems that all went bankrupt and shut down. The urban legend was that the area was cursed.

Still waiting to see what happens next.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

Good night, Cubao!

The birds turn on their night lights on the branches of the dragon tree.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with two syllables in your name: So far you've been living for others. Now consider living for yourself.

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Staggered dinnertimes.

One-hour, late afternoon nap.

Worked half an hour on thirteenth glaze.

Triumph holds its head high during the victory parade. After that, it dwindles away into oblivion.

Worked half an hour on twelfth glaze.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Your Messenger message:

"Hi mr. Tony Perez.... good am po. I would like to ask if paano po cocounterin ang psychic magic or to be specific telepathy or mind reading po. Please reply po thx."

My reply:

Hello _____!

You need to undergo a tuob, or else smudge yourself with sage over three days.

Good morning, Cubao!

The soldiers of the sun march across the sky bearing golden banners.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

Actually the U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines is also the U.S. Ambassador to Palau. Before I retired a number of Cultural Affairs employees in Palau were sent to Manila to be trained under us. Alas, none of us in Manila were ever sent to Palau.

Good night, Cubao!

The good caregivers surround you with sources of comfort.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with two syllables in your name: Sometimes an obsession with food and food presentation is the Shadow's way of distracting the Ego from thinking about sexual matters.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Staggered dinnertimes.

My Faux Han Dynasty Hair Accesories

Left and Center: White horsehair, wood, and brass T'boli hair accessories. I wore one of these to Komisyon Sa Wikang Filipino's Dangal Ng Panitikan awarding ceremony.

Right: Fil-Hispanic, tortoiseshell comb with 10K rose gold crown

My faux Han dynasty hair accessories are a result of my being an avid wuxia fan. Yes, I wear all of them. At least, for as long as I have any hair left.

Right: Facsimile of man's hair accessory from _Word of Honor_

Second to Left: Actually a hair accessory given by someone as a gift to Angelique or Aubrey when they were small.

Three on the Right: Moon flowers in three stages of blossoming

Peonies

Pearls

Left: A pair of mountain jade chopsticks

Two in Center: Blue cloissone

Crescent moon and rabbit. (I am a Metal Rabbit,)

Two on the left: Swords

Second to Right: Kiki the Witch's Delivery Services

Right: Soju bottle

Three on the left: Hawthorn berries

Assorted sticks

More assorted sticks

Solid brass

These look more Elizabethan than Chinese.

I actually gave two, titanium filigree hair accessories to Ian Lomongo's partner, when they visited me from Siquijor some weeks ago.

Worked half an hour on eleventh glaze.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Brought Aubrey's bed linen to the compound laundry.

A sunny day in Cubao.

Good morning, Cubao!

The fruit vendor pushes his cart through the neighborhood streets.

The werewolf crossed the street to the takoyaki stand.

Good night, Cubao!

When the day starts dissolving at the edges, the night rushes in.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of the Year

You with six syllables in your name: Do not be disheartened by the dreams you were unable to make reality. Instead, consider the possibility of changing your dreams completely, in light of your present situation.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and Jazz.

Watched all eight episodes of Thailand's School Tales: The Series. I have always admired Thai storytellers for their originality and their fertile imagination, and I continue to do so. 

This series is comprised of eight stories set in middle schools, the characters students, teachers, and staff members. The eight stories are: 

--"7AM ," in which classroom subjects mysteriously appear on a blackboard, and any student who comes without the corresponding textbook dies.

--"Vengeful Spell," in which a senior student casts curses on her classmates and places it in a box of curses for other students to find.

--"Beautiful," about a beauty potion available online, with a grisly term of agreement for its users. This seems to be a spinoff and an interpolation of a similar story from an earlier Thai horror anthology.

--"The Book of Corpses," about a student who committed suicide after recording her suffering in a journal--to me the worst episode because of many non-sequiturs, among them the unlikely location of a rest room directly above a library circulation desk, a rest room door that locks from the outside rather than from the inside, a student being trapped for three months inside a rest room that has windows with glass jalousies that can either be smashed or taken down, and a highly unlikely bullying situation.

--"Headless Teacher," a horror comedy about two boys who play detective when their ogress teacher is murdered and beheaded.

--"Lunch," about a boy who plays self-righteous vlogger to expose the soup ingredients used by a cafeteria cook. This episode is the best of the lot. Watching it, one cannot predict exactly how it will end. On top of everything, the actor who plays the protagonist, Kong--Tonhon Tantivejakul--does his acting homework, internalizes his character successfully, and delivers the most truthful and the most sensitive performance of all. Here is one Thai actor to watch out for.

--"Curse," about a bullied student who encounters a ghost nurse in an abandoned infirmary and wishes his tormentors dead.

--"A Walk in School," about two boys who roam their school at night with a video camera to debunk all the ghost stories they ever heard of.

There is, however, too much bullying in this series, as though there are no other interesting ways to generate conflict in the stories. It also retains a lot of 20th-century horror movie conventions such as excessive screaming, exploring in the dark, and running away from ghosts who always manage to catch up.

It is unfortunate, indeed, that many adolescent issues in movies are ultimately boring, and I am afraid that they will remain so for the next 50 years.  

One-hour, afternoon nap.

Rainy Monday afternoon.

Sitting in the small loggia beside a big candle with three wicks lit. It's like a portable fireplace that keeps me warm.

Back from jalan-jalan at Farmers Market. Sent some money to my younger son Chito and bought kimchi, sausages, and pickled cucumber at the Korean grocery.

An early lunch at home alone.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are made of ice.

I am certain that, when my parents were my age and still alive, there were nights like this in which they looked at their hands and marveled at the passage of time. At 71 my hands bear the history of physical work and household chores, as my parents' hands also bore them.

When I look at my hands I am happy to have lived long enough, to be retired, and to be living only for myself, for my children, and for my grandchildren.

The only things uncertain now are how many more novels and plays these hands will write, and how many more paintings they will create.

Good night, Cubao!

The gnomes love taking night tours on floating vehicles.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with four syllables in your name: Your career is a dangerous one. Learn to discern who your potential enemies are. Because, they exist.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day as come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Angelique and Jazz are off to attend a birthday dinner.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.;

Staggered dinnertimes.

One-hour, afternoon nap.

The grandchildren are back home from a Sunday out.

"Looks like one hell of a party."

Shared from Kris Publuske, January 2012.

Shared from James Pegg, November 2012.

The gods and goddesses are ten steps ahead of you, but they do not control the entire future.

Worked half an hour on tenth glaze.

Lunch at home alone.

A cup of coffee in the small loggia.

The painting I am currently working on for my next exhibit is positively haunted. It prevents me from working on it from time to time. When I am in the process of painting it--I am still on its ninth glaze--it tells me what to paint, not what I planned to paint. 

Home alone. The grandchildren are off to spend a morning in Gateway and have lunch out.

Your Messenger message:

"Hello Sir Tony. Good Morning. May gusto po sana akong e ask because matagal na po ito sa aking isipan.

"Kasi na observe ko po na parang may pattern na every 2 to 3 years po ay may nangyayari na kamalasan sa life ko. 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2022. Hindi sya normal na malas. Parang may kakaiba. Pero yung malas ay hindi sa financial aspect but sa career. At yun ang nag dudulot ng matinding emotional and mental challenge sakin. Career talaga ang affected sir at everytime na nag o-occur ito, mas nakikita ko ang mga tao na talagang andiyan sa lowest ko. But na observe ko rin na after 2 to 3 months, ay sobrang swerte ng life ko. "Kasi merong nangyari sakin last March but from May hanggang ngayon ay sobrang gaan ng feeling ko at maraming blessings ang dumating. "I don't know if parang cycle ito or parang way ng universe para sabihin sakin na every 2 to 3 years, ay need ko mag rest - physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Or curse ba ito. Idk sir pero na expect ko na may mang yayari na naman sa 2025. Pini prepare ko na self ko, sir. "What are your thoughts on this, Sir? And ano po ang ma a-advice niyo kasi nakaka drain talaga na every 2 to 3 years ay may ganitong drama sa life, Sir. "Maraming maraming Salamat, Sir Tony. "

My reply:

Hello _____!

Yes, such things happen to everyone, though not everyone notices the pattern, for it does not occur with the same intensity for everyone.

You need to have a tuob, at least once a year.

If not, and if you have a Chinese friend, ask him to accompany you to a Chinese temple and have a kue-un every three years.

Good morning, Cubao!

The day is a box of assorted bonbons.

 Ended 11:00 PM.

Good night, Cubao!

Always rest for ten days after recovering from fever.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with four syllables in your name: You are the reincarnation of a popular movie director. Controo your temper and be wary of road accidents.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

A brief rainfall on Cubao.

Staggered dinnertimes.

Lunch at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and Jazz.

Good morning, Cubao!

Watch the district from your tower parapet.

Watched South Korea's 2019 The Divine Fury (2:03:01). A boy loses faith in God because his policeman father dies in an accident despite his fervent prayers. He grows up to be a mixed martial artist, develops stigmata--and eventually becomes an exorcist's assistant.

The movie is interesting in that it breaks the usual Christian stereotypes. The first half is as slow and as balletic as the U.S.A.'s The Rite, but the second half somehow dwindles into action-type resolutions. I also couldn't buy the Dark Bishop concept, that Satanic altar, that Aquaman costume, and that hand burning with white fire. 

Good night, Cubao!

The night gnomes tuck in sleepers in the travelers' inn.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with six syllables in your name: Strive for perfection, but do not let your series of successes get to your head. Value humility and you will be even more successful.

Angelique and Jazz came down to a later dinner in the dining room.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then snuggling in bed with a Netflix movie.

Staggered dinnertimes.

Swung by the neighborhood grocery.

This entire month you will see images of the Hungry Ghosts in light projections, in shadows, on the barks of trees, on images formed by branches and leaves, and in everyday items.

Yes, you may take photos of them.

One-hour, early afternoon nap.

Your Messenger message:

"Hello, sir Tony.

"I’ve read a couple of your works when i was a student and only now upon following you here in Fb did i know your spiritual and mystic practice. Your posts and insights resonate with me as an informal student of Kabbalah/Jewish Mysticism and World Religions. "If you have time, i’d like to ask your opinion on this matter: "i’ve been a tarot reader for over 5 years now and those whose cards i’ve read thankfully find my readings accurate. It has proven helpful also as a psychotherapeutic approach to some fellow mental health sufferers. Some often tell me to charge a fee for this. But i find this rather odd and unsuitable with my practice since i see this as freely given 'gift' which i neither peddle nor promote actively. Some of my tarot reader friends meanwhile said that i am being taken advantaged of because there is no kind of equivalent exchange. "What are your thoughts on this? Should mystics/spiritual people charge a fee for their gifts? If one charges a fee, does it not 'degrade' the spirituality of the gift? (like Simony). Lastly, what is your advice to people on the path of mysticism who, for one reason or another, practice majority of their lives without a mentor? "Maraming salamat po. May The Infinite bless you."

My reply:

Hello ____!

I myself never charge anything for consultations and oracle readings, but that is because I had jobs that paid well and now a regular, retirement pension that allows me and my family to live well. If you do not have these, and if you are a good Tarot reader, it is all right to charge money for your services, but know that I secretly laugh at such circus clowns. Be forewarned though, that most of the people who will come to you are riff-raff, the curious, the frivolous, the lazy who expect magic to do all of the work for them, the unintelligent and the unsophisticated, and pedestrians who will expect you to be a spectacle and be told only what they want to hear. You may be spiritual, but 99% of your clients won't be. In other words, you'll be "catering to the masses" in order to survive. In the end. they will drag you down to being a psychic slut, and you won't even know what hit you. I'd hardly call that a satisfying occupation, especially if you'll have to do that through your old age and the end of your life. My advice, therefore, is for you to get a normal job that offers annuity upon retirement. That way, you will never be at the financial mercy of your clientele.

As to having a mentor, that is not necessary. All one needs in any kind of life is common sense.

Today is the Festival of Hungry Ghosts.

Your Messenger message:

"Hi, Sir Tony. Hope all is well with you. I need your insights on so many things so I hope you’ll bear with me and thank you in advance for help.

"Fist off, my mother who recently passed away. I only dreamt of her twice but quite significant. The first one I was still in Manila and I told my friends na hindi pa sya nagparamdam sa akin and that morning before I woke up dreaming of her. In my dream we were riding a convertible and on our way crossing a long bridge in a beautiful sunrise. She was beside me and I told her how beautiful the sunrise is and that I should take a picture of us but then I said, oh you can’t be seen in the pic because you’re already dead. Then I woke up.

"The second one was a few nights ago. This is kinda weird I felt I was half awake. I heard noises and voices first in the background then I saw her in laying down on the bed and it was floating, water was around her and eventually she became Helen Mirren who sat on a wooden box and the water was ankle deep.

"I kept seeing numbers before she died, 555,444,111,1111,1212,1010,etc. i thought that would end upon her death but it still continues to this day unconsciously. Second, Cherie Gil. We bonded when Anton Juan invited her to be one of the casts in Bayanbayanan in Chicago. Since Anton has classes in Indiana during the day and only came to Chicago in the evenings for rehearsals, I somehow became the hostess for her during her stay for about 3 weeks. We continued to be in touch through Facebook and saw each other in Manila and NY. Anyway, when she decided to settle to NY lately for good, I didn’t pry on why because I knew somehow that she was frustrated with her last soap at GMA through Irma. I only communicated in her public posts. When she announced this middle of July that she’s undergoing chemo, i also deliberately just commented on her public posts and not privately because I don’t want to barrage her of her condition. I know cancer patients only want their peace and quite and whatever energy’s left will be reserve to their innermost circle and I don’t know the extent of her sickness. So I opted to give her that space of me not adding nor wanting to pry on her. I was shocked if her demise. I thought it was early in the process and became a little guilty of why I didn’t reach out privately. That night, I dreamt of her. She was going in a building and was helped by men mostly including John Arcilla. I was looking at them from behind then she looked back to where I was at but by that time I was already a few steps away from her gaze.

"Thirdly I dreamt of two of my uncles. The first one who’s the husband of my favorite aunt who died almost 20 years ago and when my cousin gathered and asked us about memories of her dad I said I feared him when we were young. I was reprimanded when he asked me to buy a vinegar and came home late but never laid his hand on me. He was just a strong presence. Not the malambing kind. Then perhaps a week after that, I dream of him. Very much a mid shot kind of distance. Can’t remember the content of the dream but the distance was prominent. This other one is the late husband of my other aunt. He’s a very kind guy, always smiling, gracious to us even when we were rowdy as a kid. He died maybe 3 years ago and yesterday I woke up from a dream about him. A cousin posted a tiktok on him showing his joke on how to dress a hunchback and he burst into a song. The one that will make you laugh.

"My apologies for the length. And thank you so much again for your wisdom. God bless you sir.

My reply:

Hello _____!

1. Deceased parents appear in dreams only to children who need to see them. If you don't dream of them, other siblings do, but it has nothing to do with how the deceased feel toward you. Your brief dream about your mother indicates that both of you know that you are well off without her presence.

2. The second, brief dream has the same message. In ancient times, the deceased were placed on rafts that were then either set on fire or pushed away into the sea. It is the same principle behind Pagdiwata, when offerings are placed in small boats and set on the water. I believe that, in this part of the dream, the water is shallow and the wooden box is unable to float away because you are always consciously holding your mother back with your thoughts. Helen Mirren appears because the image of your mother having to float away would be painful to you.

I would not pay attention to the recurring number series. They are reflections of an obsessive-compulsive mind. Your subconscious presents them to you in a synchronistic manner--a pattern--only to give you the assurance that your life is structured well and that you have nothing to be insecure about.

The succeeding dream about Cherie Gil is connected to the previous ones and has the same message. Cherie is your mother in this dream, again disguised by your psyche. You knew that she was ill but denied yourself this reality. In terms of your mother, did you also know that she was ill, and did this make you feel guilt? Cherie/your mother, however, shows/show you that everything is all right with her/them and, like Pagdiwata boats, it is also all right to see them drift away.

3. Your uncles in the third dream represent your being torn between two values or two decisions--either at present or as a reminder that you are too often in this predicament. The Tiktok ending of that dream indicates that your psyche is telling you that everything is all right but that you frequently tend to overthink matters.

3.

Your Messenger message:

"Hello sir Tony. I have been your follower since your Google pages days. I apologise for the unsolicited message.

"Here is my question: "A little backstory. I have been told once by a medium/psychic that my grandfather (who is no longer with us, who was also a healer in our province) did something or gave me a guardian. I have not seen the said guardian, or don't know If I should believe it, but consider myself lucky in a way that I survive accidents relatively unharmed. "Is this true? Do I have a guardian? If so, what should I do to enhance my relationship with it, should I even do it at all? What does it look like, what is it. "Thank you for your time sir."

My reply:

Hello _____!

Everyone has at least one spirit guide, whether that guide is in the astral realm or living on the physical plane. They could even be pets or power animals.

Unfortunately, too many people keep asking me the question, "How do I meet my spirit guide?"

My answers are:

1) You need to undergo a battery of exercises before being able to do that, and these cannot be executed online.

2) If you haven't met your guides by now, it is possible that you were not meant to.

Good morning, Cubao!

The children and the pets gather in the breakfast room.

Watched the U.S.A.'s 2009 Inkheart (1:45:43). Produced ten years after The Mummy (1999), it may have been an attempt to revive Brendan Fraser's unique popularity. In this movie he is Mortimer Folchart, a silvertongue, a person with abilities to read aloud from a book and summon characters forth. More than a half-hour through the movie, however, we still do not know what is going on and what is at stake for the protagonists. When we finally do, there is too much discussion and bickering rather than real action. And how corny is a plot in which the climax is comprised of the reading of pages from a book?

The production is flawed in many ways. Most of the book references are fairy tales, and one wonders why there are no real classics among them. Jennifer Connelly is a mere extra who seems to have been allotted only one shooting day. Andy Serkis was still difficult for me to appreciate because he remains a ham; moreover, in this movie, he looks like Mr. Bean. The rest of the cast could just as well have been drawn from B-grade talent portfolios. The screenplay and dialogue are sophomoric and as embarrassing as that of another movie flop, Dungeons 'N' Dragons, except that the special effects in this one are a lot better.

Finally, the ultimate sin: Brendan Fraser looks tired, uninspired, and aging. He has no swashbuckling scenes as in The Mummy series and no sexy semi-nudity as in Encino Man.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

Good night, Cubao!

On warm nights, the residents of the dragon tree drift off to sleep by open windows.

One Message For One Of 500 Friends, One Every Night Of The Year

You with ten syllables in your name: Go with your instincts and the direction your spirit guides show you. Both your career and the development of your abilities will improve side by side.