Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are comprised of translucent, helium balloons.

Your Messenger message:

"Good eve Sir Tony, gusto ko po magshare and need your opinion. I have a friend of mine who died because of vehicular accident last month. And days before he died his face suddenly pop up in my mind several times without any reasons at all. At sa araw po na yun, before mangyare yung accident, meron po ako vision, na meron ako kakilala na mamamatay due to vehicular accident. At nangyare nga po siya kinahapunan. After a month ng accident bigla po siya nag popop up ulit sa head ko po at least several times, at hindi na po ako mapakali and it seems he has something to tell. He even showed in my dream once. Need your guidance Sir Tony. Salamat po.."

My reply:

Hello _______________!

Yes, your friend wants to tell you something. Rather than go to a medium or a psychic, ask him aloud to tell you directly what it is. Before you go to sleep tonight, tell him that you would like to receive his message in a dream. Remember well what that dream is, record it, and send it to me. If you cannot remember any of your dreams in the morning, just go with the first dream you remember AFTER YOU READ THIS MESSAGE, no matter how many nights it takes.

When you send me your dream, send me also a photo of your friend.

Good night, Cubao!

Gnomes nibble on blue cheese while gazing at the moon.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

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 TinTin.

Tony Perez's Art of War: Remember everyone who did not take your advice. Remember never to give them advice again.

Tony Perez's Art of War: It is not necessary to punish one's enemies, because they will always punish themselves.

It is not always necessary to prove that you are right. All you have to do is be right.

It is not the reading of new books but the rereading of old ones--like the frequent enjoyment of one's favorite dishes--that fuels one's originality.

Everyone should have the common sense to know whether they have the talent for something or not.

If one does not have talent, however, he can keep trying out of sheer passion, and many have not only succeded that way--they have also managed to surpass those who do have talent.

Sometimes the choice is between two evils.

Have a toy castle in your bedroom and let it represent the castle within you.

Tony Perez's Art of War: Retain only friends who value your mind more than they value your status, your finances, or your physical beauty.

Worked an hour on nineteenth layer.

Swung by the neighborhood grocery. Bought a sliced loaf of white bread and two boxes of ice cream (banana with Graham cracker bits and chocolate chips, and a Double Dutch-Cookies 'n' Cream combo).

Finished rereading Flight 714 and The Shooting Star last night, both the closest Herge ever got to suggesting the existence of extraterrestrial life.

 Worked an hour on eighteenth layer.

I've mentioned before that  the computer is the workplace and the classroom of the future.

If we carry on like this, every office and school complex will eventually be reduced to one admin building. The rest of their space will have to be converted to hospitals and housing for the poor.

Lunch at home alone, then Angelique came down to lunch in the dining room; Aubrey still resting upstairs.

It's Aubrey's first day of class for the first semester of this school year.

Good noon, Cubao!

The sun's flares are the planetary system's fireworks.

Good night, Cubao!

Elfin water-bearers gather healing dewdrops in crystal flasks.

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

Night chores.

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

Ordered a combo sandwich (bacon, ham, egg mayo, veggies) from M.'s cafe for a bedtime snack later. It costs only 99 PHP, or 2.03 USD.

Worked an hour on seventeenth layer.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Worked an hour on sixteenth layer.

Back from jalan-jalan at the center. Had to buy a bulb for my bedside reading lamp. First, the kitchen ceiling, now my bedside reading lamp.

When our light bulbs conk out in a series, it means that my spirit guides are about to show me something important--whether in the waking state or in a dream.

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

Good noon, Cubao!

Sprites ascend to the bright playground of the sky.

Good night, Cubao!

Comic book illustrators work feverishly under the influence of the moon.

Worked half an hour on fifteenth layer.

Dinner at home with Angelique; Aubrey is taking her dinner upstairs.

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 TinTin.

Worked an hour on fourteenth layer.

A very late lunch with Angelique.

One-hour, noon nap.

Worked an hour on thirteenth layer.

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

 Worked an hour on twelfth layer.

Your Messenger message:

"Sir, usually po parang nirereject ko siya or di ko po nagagamit ng tama. when i was young po kasi and naiwan ako mag-isa sa bahay, meron pong sumigaw sa tenga ko. tapos kapag po natutulog ako, mas sensitive po yung hearing ko ng kung anu ano kaya po nagcocover ako or madalas on one side lang yung ear ko then covered ng isang unan pa yung kabila. hindi na po komportable pag di covered every night. minsan finoform ko as circle yung arms ko overhead para mukhang block lang. imbalance po kaya yun?

"https://www.facebook.com/100002302090886/posts/3216540821765956/"

My reply:

Hello ________!

First of all, you need to understand that all psychic senses (clairvoyance, clairaudience, sentience, intuition, psychic taste, and psychic smell) need to be accessed and used WITHOUT FEAR. Otherwise your defense mechanisms will act up, get in the way, and even make you believe that you are surrounded with evil. Psychic senses are best enjoyed IN A STATE OF VULNERABILITY--the same state a writer is in when authoring a novel or an artist is in when making a painting.

Use psychic hearing proactively and not passively. Explore every sound in the house, in your room. Listen to faraway conversations. Then travel through the neighborhood in your mind and cast your hearing net wider.

Worked an hour on eleventh layer.

Finished rereading The Red Sea Sharks, The Seven Crystal Balls, Prisoners of the Sun, and TinTin in America last night.

Good morning, Cubao!

Cicadas rejoice and sing in sunshine and in rain.

Good night, Cubao!

Wherever there are toadstools, there are gnome communities.

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 TinTin.

Worked half an hour on tenth layer.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Finished rereading The Castafiore Emerald last night. Love the art in this one. Rereading The Red Sea Sharks in bed tonight.

 Worked an hour on ninth layer.

Worked an hour on eighth layer.

Your Messenger message:

"Good morning again Sir Tony. My dad passed away earlier this year and because of his illness he was no longer able to speak or write...although we were able to say our goodbyes while he was awake, we never got to hear his instructions or wishes.

"My mother has decided to give me his phones to use. He always used these. My mom decided to let me have them to use, but doing so would delete all his data and photos. I am secretly hoping that he left notes for us etc, but she says that if he wanted us to see those he would have left instructions.

"I'm sorry if this is rambling, but what should I do? Do I find ways to open it or do I just wipe everything clean?"

My reply:

Hello _____________!

Open his phones. At the very least you will gain a deeper understanding of your father, his loves and his hates, his dreams, and his faults.

The best business of all is one that has no need for marketing, all the way from our neighborhood bakery to toothpaste brands that do not advertise to artists whose works are so in demand that all they need to do is stay home and continue painting.

Lunch at home alone, then Angelique and Aubrey came down to lunch in the dining room.

If a man truly loves his job, he is already in heaven.

Good afternoon, Cubao!

Sunlight pierces the darkest thickets of garden foliage.

Good night, Cubao!

Gnomes love roaming through toy villages.

Dinner at home alone; Angelique and Aubrey are fixing their own dinner and taking it later.

Asked M. to bring some food or to his cafe staff.

Night chores.

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

Jerome and Lennoel adjusted the vise grips on my diptych.

Worked an hour on seventh layer.

Three-hour, deep tissue massage.

My masseur pushed all of the rainy days out of my body.

Finished rereading Red Rackham's Treasure last night (more exciting than The Secret of the Unicorn, but what happened to the Bird thug?), and started rereading The Castafiore Emerald.

Lunch at home alone, then Angelique came down to take her lunch in the dining room; Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Six of Angelique's law textbooks arrived today.

A brief, heat rainfall.

Good afternoon, Cubao!

The sun transforms every bottle of cranberry juice to liquid alexandrite.

Good night, Cubao!

Look for the enchanted castle made of seashells.

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 TinTin.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Finished rereading The Secret of the Unicorn last night. Steven Spielberg's animation production, which tried to put too much in one movie, was such a far cry from it, but I enjoyed both.'

Rereading Red Rackham's Treasure in bed tonight. I identify with Captain Archibald Haddock, even if I don't have a TinTin.

It is exactly a week to the first day of Hungry Ghosts Month.

Never forget that Philippine magic was originally developed and wielded by rebels,. As such it is essentially aggressive and offensive.

 September will be a month of theft. Take care of your money and your possessions.

Focus on your digestive system.

Retirement is a form of heaven on earth because it is a state of not having to go to work.

Do not underestimate or take for granted psychic hearing. It is one of the most useful senses.

You can place as many principal figures representing yourself as you like in your dollhouse.

When light travels through a dust mote, the dust mote takes on all the visual qualities of an orb.

Like light, sound can travel to the most unlikely places.

It seems that some people subconsciously gravitate toward suffering rather than away from it. Unfortunately they take their children along with them.

Worked an hour on sixth layer.

Been unFriending inactive Friends left and right, and hoping that the new ones I've been taking in are somehow more appreciative of being in my Friends List.

Back from jalan-jalan at the center. Bought a ceiling bulb for our kitchen and four C-clamp vise grips to hold my diptych together.

It was Great-Gatsby-summer hot again.

Lunch at home alone, then Angelique came down to have lunch in the dining room; Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Must go to the hardware store later.

Good afternoon, Cubao!

The sky is a slice of white bread slathered with golden butter.

You were the worst CAO I ever knew, and it is my great pleasure to know that you are now an absolute nobody and will remain so through the end of your life.

Ang Huli Sa Balita

Kumilos kang maagap sa simula pa lang ng lockdown. Pumakyaw ka ng mga de-lata at gamit. Saka kayo nagkulong sa bahay: ikaw, ang asawa mo, at ang dalawa n'yong anak. Wala kayong pinahintulot na pumasok. Di kayo nagbukas ng pinto sa lahat ng kumatok. Umakyat at lumubog ang araw. Kumain kayong mabuti. Parang bakasyon, ang sabi mo. Ang sabi mo pa, ka'wa'wa naman ang mahihirap. Nawalan ng hanapbuhay, naghihingalo sa gutom, nagpapalimos sa mga daan.

Wala kayong ginawa kundi matulog, magluto, kumain, maglinis ng bahay, manood ng balita sa telebisyon. Kampante ka pagkat di kayo puputulan ng kuryente, ng tubig, ng telepono. Nang dumating ang ulan, natuwa ka dahil parang di man lang nababawasan ang mga de-lata at gamit na inimbak mo, lalo na ang paboritong pagkain ng mga anak mo.

Naging problema n'yo lang ang masama at nakasusulasok na amoy na parang nagmumula sa ibabaw ng mga kisame. Malamang, ang sabi mo, may mga pusa at daga na tumakas sa ragasa ng tubig sa mga kanal at umakyat at naipit doon. Doon kayo naglatag ng mga kutson sa sala at tabi-tabi kayong natulog. Ang di n'yo alam, bago pa man dumating ang ulan, pumasok ang pandemya na parang akyat-bahay sa tahanan n'yo, at isa-isa kayong ninakawan ng buhay.

Patay na kayo. Matagal na kayong patay. Pumasok kayo ngayundin sa mga silid-tulugan n'yo at pagmasdan n'yo ang nabubulok n'yong mga bangkay.

Good night, Cubao!

Count your saved money when you are alone in your room and the moon has risen.

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 TinTin.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Worked half an hour on fifth layer.

Finished rereading Across the Nightingale Floor in bed. Decided to keep it, though it's only the first volume of a trilogy. Hopefully the other two volumes will come my way some time in the future.

Retrieved five favorite TinTin comic books, The Secret of the Unicorn, Red Rackham's Treasure, The Blue Lotus, and The Castafiore Emerald, to start rereading in bed later.

Went with Aubrey to the neighborhood grocery. We did major groceries.

Worked an hour on fourth layer.

Worked an hour on third layer.

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

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun smiles at you through your computer screen.

Good night, Cubao!

Dollhouses should always be located where moonlight can easily fall on them through windows.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

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 Takeo.

Worked half an hour on second layer.

Rich men who fall ill will give you the urgent message that wealth is nothing if one is not in good health. But, as for myself, I would rather get sick rich than get sick poor.

Never let it be that the road not taken was the road to lucre.

My greatest loves are my children and my grandchildren, and nothing can ever change that.

What are the luxuries you continue to enjoy while on lockdown?

"Each wood has its own sound. Every house has its own song."

--Shiro in Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor

"Don't you know the man whose life you spared will always hate you?"

--Kenji in Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor

"The less people think of you, the more they will reveal to you or in your presence."

--Takeo in Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor

Tony Perez's Art of War: Do not extend help to those who did not extend help to you in the past. Consider yourself an agent of their karma.

 Angelique came down to lunch in the dining room.

Worked an hour on first layer.

The sun came out.

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

The clouds are chrome plated shopping carts in the gigantic supermarket of sky.

Good morning, Cubao!

Wet night, wet day. Weather for ducks.

The rain falls steadily but gently, treading on our rooftops like ox carts crossing a bridge.