Still one of my favorite videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGn1T8KuCa0

Good night, Cubao!

Partake of mooncakes not only during the Moon Festival but every month when the moon is full.

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

Night chores.

Chilly night in Cubao.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then off to bed with Takeo.

How my office looked like in the mid-1990s. Believe it or not, this photo was taken by Cecile Brainard, whom I programmed to give a lecture.

                 

With three-year-old Angelique on Kennon Road, after a workshop at Saint Louis University. One of the vehicles in our convoy broke down, and we stepped onto the edge of the ravine to have photos taken. 

                    

 Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

My former college classmate Boy Martin, who works as a volunteer at Bulacan National High School, sent me this class photo of my father, who graduated as a top student in 1932. He is the young man on Extreme Left of Front Row. (Yes, I used a magnifying lens.)

 Bought a sack of corn chips and red wine vinegar dip from M.'s cafe.

Happy Birthday, Tina Golden Firelion!

Your birthday messages:

1) True joy comes from the younger, not the older.

2) Sweep aside all petty troubles and focus on improving your life. 

3) Do not expect big gifts from small people.

4) Wise action is more essential than the passive collection of knowledge.

5) Your health should be more important than your love life.

Went with Angelique to the neighborhood grocery. We brought umbrellas.

Did major groceries.

 Angelique came down to lunch in the dining room.

Worked half an hour on construction lines. Construction lines done. Will commence layers next.

Heavy rainfall on Cubao.

Lunch at home alone; Angelique and Aubrey still resting upstairs.

The driveway and the streets remain wet and glossy from the dawn drizzle.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are towers of white pancakes topped with balls of whipped cream.

Good night, Cubao!

The fairies are holding a fashion show in the flower garden at midnight.

Dinner at home alone; Angelique and Aubrey ordered their dinner from outside earlier and ate upstairs.

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

Trying to seduce Adam to start a vegetable farm on our roof deck.

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then off to bed with Takeo.

Pranks are fun to watch but dangerous to perform, because not everyone has a sense of humor.

Creation would be completely pointless if not everyone goes to heaven, for there are as many heavens as there are stars in the sky.

 Education costs money. Enlightenment does not.

It is possible to live more than one lifetime in a single lifetime, as many times as one changes one's lifestyle.

Because of our many lifetimes we will be remembered by some as sinners and by others as saints. Yet it is the existence of more lifetimes that will balance everything out. That is why everyone eventually goes to heaven.

If you are fluent in English but your student is not, you will eventually want to teach him nothing more.

Many things in life are free. But, among those that are not free are housing, food, formal education, medication, travel, and clothing.

Dream of a bigger house only if you wouldn't mind spending more time on cleaning, upgrading, and repairs.

The dead spaces in your house gather the most dust and negative energy. Convert them to indoor gardens, sitting areas, reclining areas, and mood lighting areas.

Many people are not sick. They're just afflicted with hunger and anxiety.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

 Angelique came down to lunch in the dining room.

Walked through the compound and found a little girl who could sit for my diptych. Took reference photos for construction lines.

Gloomy afternoon. Lit tea lights in the foyer.

A cup of green tea.

Lunch at home alone; Angelique and Aubrey still resting upstairs.

All you have to do is take in a student three, separate times before deciding that you want to keep him and teach him everything you know.

 Many men age horribly, other men exceedingly well.

Good morning, Cubaoi!

Boats with white sails cross the ocean of sky.

Good night, Cubao!

Fairies love strolling in fruit orchards and flower gardens; gnomes in vegetable patches.

 Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then off to bed with Takeo.

Worked another half hour on construction lines.

 Replenished our soda supply and bought a ream of cigarettes at D.'s store. 

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Wet afternoon in Cubao.

As you can see, it is another weekend. That is why Nature is ruining it for you again, because She believes you don't deserve a good one.

Lunch at home with Angelique; Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Heavy downpour in Cubao.

Good afternoon, Cubao!

Rain is the sky's resounding applause.

I need to take new friends into my Friends List. Since I already have 5,000 Friends I have no choice but to unFriend inactive ones. If you are one of them, forgive me. But then again, since I never feel your presence, I am sure you wouldn't mind or even notice.

Never be fixated on your grade school, high school, and college days. It bogs you down. Do not ever allow your former school mates to goad you into the fixation.

You have to look hard to see that we have regressed to the early 1980s.

Good night, Cubao!

Tonight the dragon tree banquet will be held al fresco, under peaked tents on the dewy grass.

Dinner at home with Angelique; Aubrey ordered food from outside and took an early dinner.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then of to bed with Lian Hearn.

Bought a bag of spicy-turkey flavored corn chips at M.'s cafe. They gave me two kinds of dip to go with it: mayonnaise and red wine vinegar.

I love dropping by M.'s cafe on a gray, rainy afternoon and wallowing in their cozily-lighted interior. It always makes me feel that I am in a coffee shop in DuPont Circle in autumn.

Finished reading Curtain: Poirot's Last Case last night. It is once again set in Styles, where Poirot and Hastings had their first adventure, yet occurs many years after The Mysterious Affairs at Styles. Quite sad that Poirot must die, but am delighted that Agatha Christie was able to create and complete worlds populated with her characters in her lifetime.

Retrieved Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor to start rereading in bed later. Will afterward decide whether to keep the book for future rereads or give it away.

I prefer not to maintain students who live far away from me. At 69 I will teach only if it is perfectly convenient for me.

Always consider changing your business against living the rest of your life with no income and in misery.

It is all right to have a broken dream. All you have to do is change the dream. And one of the best dreams of all is that in which you have a lot of money.

Light rainfall on Cubao.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Bought six Cadbury milk chocolate bars at the neighborhood grocery. The granddaughters like microwave-melting them and dipping fresh strawberries in them.

Lunch at home alone; Angelique and Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Must find a little girl to sit for my diptych. I hope that someone on the compound is available.

I attribute my versatility as a writer to the variety of writing desks which I use according to my changing moods: an old-fashioned, faux Sheraton office desk with a marble top outside my bedroom; a desk in a womb-like space inside my bedroom; an outdoor writing table beside the driveway; a small writing table on my bedroom's rear porch; Authentic Models portable, wooden laptops; and a Virginia Woolf wooden tablet that I can carry with me wherever I go.

Good morning, Cubao!

A skyful of dragonflies heralds the arrival of something new and wonderful in your life.

Good night, Cubao!

There are secret passages in every house, and only the fairies and the gnomes know where they are and where they lead to.

The businesses that flourish have to do with food, shelter, and clothing, but, in times of extreme crisis, clothing gets pushed off the edge.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

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

Adam, a former cafe waiter, visited. He put on muscle and weight and no longer wears glasses, and I almost didn't recognize him.

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then off to bed with Hercule Poirot.

One-hour, late afternoon nap.

Back from jalan-jalan at the center. Paid our electric and phone bills. The book store I frequent is closed! Sent some money to my younger son Chito and to W. Bought a bundle of joss sticks.

An early lunch at home alone; Angelique and Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Belated Happy Birthday to my two youngest kuman thong, Kittibun and Daw (2018)!

Good morning, Cubao!

The sunbeams march six abreast in a colorful day parade.

Good night, Cubao!

Night gnomes bathe in tubs and bathroom sinks while the human residents sleep. They turn on the lights.

Asked M. to bring some food over to his cafe staff. He viewed the construction lines I'd done so far on the diptych.

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then off to bed with Hercule Poirot.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey. For dessert we had Cath's very delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Worked another half hour on construction lines.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Replenished our soda supply.

Swung by the neighborhood grocery. Minor groceries: a box of chocolate brownie fudge ice cream, a sliced loaf of white bread, and two packs Yakult for the granddaughters. 

Dozed an hour in bed.

An early lunch at home alone.

Toots drove Aubrey and me to the barangay hall to claim our new quarantine passes, then to the bank where we withdrew and deposited money and paid Aubrey's tuition.

Aubrey is now taking her lunch in the dining room. Angelique came down soon after to join her.

Good morning, Cubao!

Only a fool will look directly at the blinding sun.

Good night, Cubao!

Antique jars are earth portals through which visiting gnomes emerge from 6:00 PM onward.

Asked Lennoel 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 off to bed with Hercule Poirot.

A diamond is no less a diamond even when covered with dust and grime.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Cozy Monday night, though I know that it isn't for everybody.

Worked another half hour on construction lines.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Mawil is back from Utah. Swung by and gave me a watermelon-flavored lozenge.

Finished reading M.R. James's Collected Ghost Stories last night. Loved his dispassionate narratives without any conscious effort to build up suspense. Some of the stories had no explanations but were scary anyway. Among the stories I liked most were those about a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year old boy who sacrifice a black pullet; a hanged witch who inhabits an ash tree to wreak vengeance on the family of her prosecutor; a dollhouse that comes alive at 1:00 AM to reenact a dark secret; a haunted prayer book; an architectural print that comes alive; and a strange friendship between two men that the village gossips about.

Retrieved Curtain: Poirot's Last Case to reread in bed next.

Angelique came down to a late lunch in the dining room.

Commenced construction lines on the canvases for Paintings #17 and 18.

This diptych begins today, August 3, 2020.

Sorry, no spontaneous and unscheduled visitors will be admitted.

A late lunch at home alone; Angelique and Jazz went to the bank and Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Good afternoon, Cubao!

The sun reaches out his arms with gold bangles round his wrists.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Jazz; Aubrey took her dinner earlier.

Hired Jerome and Lennoel to wrap The Joyful Mysteries: The Annunciation and set up two cradled canvases side by side on easels. Yes, Paintings #17 and 18 are another diptych.

Before spending your money to buy something, ask yourself, "When I die, will my children/grandchildren want to keep it?"

In bed with M.R. James's ghosts.

One-hour, mid-afternoon nap.

Dozed in bed.

Too lazy to schedule a deep tissue massage.

Lunch at home alone; grandchildren still resting upstairs.

Every religion begins with one man's numinous experience with the divine, with the Higher Self, or with the Superconscious, which he then shares with others until a critical mass of followers occurs. Yet, there are men who prefer not to share their experience with others, and that their secrets should die with them, because they know that the immature will misuse the knowledge they acquire or else misconstrue it as evil.

There will be more and more numinous experiences among men in contemporary times, yet there will be fewer and fewer religions, for it takes thousands of years for a cult to grow into a world religion, and the practical man would rather live as a singular example rather than be bothered with anything else.

Never be a slave to a spouse. If you are, you were better off when you were single.

There is only one way to get rich, which is for more money to come in than go out.

Stop engaging in things that no longer make money for you, for the biggest act of charity should always be to yourself.

If a teacher does not commit himself to a student, it is because he does not like his student.

Had a wonderful, astral journey last night. Visited Teow Li and looked at the many paintings I made for her--metaphorical objects of the experiences we shared. 

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun's music band plays wind instruments, the rain's, string instruments.

Good night, Cubao!

Sleep soundly in the moon's magical embrace.

Asked Jerome 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 off to bed with M.R. James's ghosts.

A chilly, drizzly night, with cicadas singing full force in the trees. A perfect night to snuggle in bed with a book of ghost stories.

Your Messenger message:

"Kuya, I am disturbed. I kept on dreaming of snakes again. It's been weeks already and there's always snakes in my dreams. The other night I dreamed that the 3rd snake bit me by the right hand...

"The first time. I dreamed that I was walking in a park with a shadow of the snake and we were conversing about me going back to healing. I did not answer and woke up.

"The next night, I was walking and it seemed I was with a friend. I looked on, it's the eyes of the snake again looking at me. I looked down at my feet. Then woke up

"Then again, 2 snakes was in a wooden box and it didn't bother me. I woke up

"Then last week and last night, I was conversing with the same huge snake and he was telling me about gifts that should be used and not to waste it... suddenly there's a small snake that dropped on my feet, and another in my cup. As I reached for my cup, that blue and gold snake bit me and I was terrified.

"Oh I also remembered, there's this huge gold and red snake offering me gold but I denied it and walked on"

My reply:

Hello ___________!

Snakes are symbols of healing. That you were bitten twice indicates that there is something in you that you must first heal, before going forth to heal others.

In your dreams, the snakes occur in twos: the snake and your friend/snake who converse with you; the two snakes in the wooden box; and the snake that drops on your feet and the snake that appears in your cup. I take these to mean that you are of two minds about your gift--while you are capable of healing, you also have the urge to destroy. Perhaps the urge to destroy is what you need to heal within yourself.

The one, singular, snake that figures nonetheless also has two colors--red and gold--again dual signs of destruction and of healing. You are offered gold, the color of healing, but, since you are still of two minds, you walk on.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Jazz; Aubrey still resting upstairs.

An afternoon in bed with the ghosts of M.R. James.

No fresh strawberries for sale today.

Swung by the neighborhood grocery and bought four rolls paper towels for the kitchen.

Wet afternoon in Cubao. Lighted incandescent lamps and lit tea lights.

Asked Jerome and Lennoel to flip The Joyful Mysteries: The Annunciation on the easel. Must paint two more cradle sides.