Dinner at home; Aubrey out to dinner with friends.

Angelique arrived from college and ordered her dinner via Grab food delivery.

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

Tony Perez's Art of War: Pretend that you want something very much, and make sure that other people know it.

Then watch your enemies spend  their last dollar obtaining what they think you want.

Angelique took a late lunch in the dining room.

Mixed a strong cup of tea.

Segregating trash is a great idea. However, it entails not only using PLASTIC bags but also MORE plastic bags THAN USUAL.

Lunch at home alone; granddaughters still resting upstairs.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a gold-foil, origami crane.

Mixed myself a gimlet. Love liquor lime. But I'm giving up on gin after I consume this bottle. It has absolutely NO EFFECT on me and I might just as well be drinking Sprite.

Dinner at home alone; Angelique in college and Aubrey already resting upstairs.

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

Had lunch at home with Angelique; Aubrey was still resting upstairs.

Met a student at the center and took a second lunch with him. We both swung by Book Sale, then I went shopping after we parted.

Jack, a tricycle driver and an old friend, brought me home. Sad to learn that his shih tzu and her puppies did not survive.

Saw Angelique off to college.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a crystal bowl of golden roses.

Never take back a servant who used to steal from you. The only reason he wants to come back is that he forgot to steal something else from you.

It's time for news broadcasters to STOP monitoring the traffic. It is safe to assume that the traffic is bad ALWAYS.

And why announce those rare moments when the traffic is NOT bad? Atchays take that as a cue to get in their cars and drive in the streets, thereby making the traffic bad all over again.

Dinner at home alone: Aubrey already resting upstairs and Angelique still in college.

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

Two-hour, mid-afternoon nap.

Saw Angelique off to college on the first day of her second semester.

Back from  jalan-jalan at the center. Paid our electric and phone bills. Did some shopping.

Lunch at home with the granddaughters.

Your Messenger message:

"Hi Sir Tony.
"I've done automatic writing. I can't tell if a human spirit is toying with me or a demon, elemental. At one time it pretended to be my Dad with details only I would know. Then it said extraterrestrial. I feel like my senses are blocked. I'd appreciate your advise if you don't mind. Thanks so much."

My reply:

Hello _____!

Automatic writing is pretty much like the Ouija board--when done without a knowledgeable mentor it is seldom connected to spirits and almost always connected to your Personal Unconscious and the Collective Unconscious. The voice that most frequently emerges is the voice of your Shadow, which embodies your anxieties, fears, and personal doubts.

I ask students to do this exercise only after conducting three, specially designed, depth exercises. During the subsequent session on automatic writing I ensure that I am physically there to guide them.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a golden drone.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

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

End of another workday on service passage.

W. reported for work today.

Lunch at home with W.; Angelique and Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Your Messenger message:

"Hello sir. I am sorry to bother you but I thought I’d ask about something that happened just now.
If you aren’t up to it, please just ignore my message. I completely understand. I am visiting in Manila and have quite frankly been unwell since I got here—fever, severe chest congestion etc. "this morning as I lay in bed in a locked bedroom I was awakened by a loud and angry whisper of a woman who said my name. "I know it may be possible I imagined it especially since I’m sick. But I knew it was something else and I am afraid. "I just keep praying to counter my fear. "I was in ____ _______ in ________ yesterday and I wonder if I angered an elemental or one decided to follow me. "What should I do? Should I make an offering? "Thanks again sir Tony. Like I mentioned, I apologize for bothering you and if it’s not something you want to reply to, please don’t feel obliged."

My reply:

Hello ___!

No elemental is involved.

The woman you heard was either your psyche or one of your spirit guides.

When an expatriate has been away for a time and comes back, and is afflicted with illness, especially involving the respiratory and digestive systems, it means that:

--The visit is being made unwillingly

--There are persons he or she does not want to see again

--His or her departure, years ago, left many issues without closure, and he or she is resistant to facing these issues again.

Your Messenger message:

"Happy New Year. Tanong po sana ako. What would please elementals? When my mom was a small child, she was 'sold' in a ritual to a childless dwende (kama-kama) coz she was sickly. In at least 3 different occasions in different years (i am 48 now), babaylans unknown to us have 'confirmed/discovered' this without us telling them. They all confirmed that our dwende grand parents are living with us. Having said that, i want to know if there is anything that would please them and other friendly elementals in our yard. Also, I wear black obsidian cut to a hexagram."


My reply:

Hello______!

Asking what would please elementals will always elicit vague answers--it's like asking what would please human beings.

Since you specified that these elementals are gnomes, here are my prescriptions: --Have gnome houses or doll houses inside your house, preferably in corners. If you can find some made of terracotta or ceramic, have two in your garden, if you have a garden.
--If there is at least one tree in your yard, hang electric lanterns on them and light them at least once a week, usually done on Fridays.
--Gnomes love clean, drinking water and sweet bread. You can offer them on little plates on your kitchen table. You may place them under glass domes to keep them safe. The following day, they may be given away to the poor. The water may be poured into the kitchen sink.
--They are also partial to glitz such as rhinestones, fancy jewelry, and faux ingots and gold coins.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a 21-piece dinner set of yellow, bone china.

Dinner at home alone; Angelique still resting upstairs.

Aubrey now cooking the food that she likes.

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

Brought some food over to the compound security guard.

End of another workday on the service passage.

"Tatlong Batang Nagsayaw Sa Apoy"

Corrected Oracion for "Tatlong Batang Nagsayaw Sa Apoy":

Dapat ay masugpo mo ang isang sunog sa pamamagitan lamang ng daglit na "ANANIAS, AZARIAS, MIZAEL, DESINE IGNIS, PHU!"

Kung maaari, iharap sa sunog ang Taladro Ng Alpha Omega Ng A.T.A.R.D.A.R. Kung wala ito, bigkasin ang daglit, pagkatapos ay bulungan ang palad ng makatlong ulit (una para kay Ananias, ikalawa para kay Azarias, at ikatlo para kay Mizael) at ipukol isa-isa na parang mga bato sa sunog.

Mag-pondo muna. Bigkasin ang Oracion ng Tatlong Batang Nagsayaw Sa Apoy:

CHRISTUS VENIT CRISTO REGNAT
CHRISTUS IMPERAT SUSPICIO TIGNA
EN NOMEN TUUM LIBERA NOS A MALO
AD VITAM AETERNAM
VENITE ET NOS CADENS ANTE PEDES TUOS CHRISTUS.
VITE BANGE VITE  [elemental language; BANGE is the name of a high-ranking elemental; also see the Oracion GEATAO] AD LUMEN MIBEL GRAGES [the last two words are elemental language; MIBEL is the name of a high-ranking elemental]
JESUS ET SANCTISSIMA VITAE +
SENIOR EN DIO SALVARE OMNIA MEA CERIO ET CELERES.

[Nang dumungaw ang Mahal Na Birhen sa Impiernio:]

[The following passage is entirely in elemental language:]

IG CARUM CURATUM RIS PINPIN
HUP HUP HUP
PUGNAW [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
AMPIC [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
MIBEL [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
GAYIM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]

LUMAYAS SA NGALAN NG SATOR CHRISTI A CORPORE MEUM

MAWALA ANG IYONG INIT TULAD NG PAGKAWALA NG INIT NI JUDAS NANG PAGTAKSILAN NIYA SI JESUS NA PANGINOON SA PANANALANGIN SA HALAMANAN NG OLIBAS: HINDI LALAMPAS ANG APOY.

SANCTUS PATER AM +

Llave/Susi:

[The following passage is in elemental language:]

YOTAC BOME YSMATAC BERCIATUM +
YNATAC CICIATAM TARTARAO
MUNDO SARAPAC EGO SUM

HIGMIE [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
AKO ANG HARI NG APOY
WALANG INIT SA KALANGITAN.

YNATAC [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
SARAPAO [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
TARTARAO [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
YSTAC [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
YNATAC [Name of a high-ranking elemental]

SATOR
ARETO [AREPO is acceptable}
TENET
OTERA [OPERA is acceptable]
ROTAS

MAMATAY ANG APOY!

[Para hindi magsiklab ang apoy:]

[The following passage is in elemental language:]

SATOR ORA SINTA
QUI PALARA SASAGUIMATMAT
LUPANG SANGANANUM
EGO SUM HUM HEGLUT
TAMAULI SOLOCTINDE
PERAT CURAD

TIGIL!

[Sa apoy:]

[The following passage is in elemental language:]

SAD RAK MIKAW
ADMI DRIGO
ABMI DRIGO
HILOMIN DIGTUM
TIDIUM MATICADITI
HURNUM MEUM CHRISTUM
TIBRAH MEMEUM

[Pangwaswas sa nasusunog, lalo kung ang Taladro ay nakadibuho sa panyo:]

AMOMAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
SERICAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
ESNATAC [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
ANIMA SUA 
TUCSAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
SANCTISSIMA SACRADITAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]

[Pangwaswas din sa nasusunog, lalo kung ang Taladro ay nakadibuho sa panyo:]

[The following passage is in elemental language:]

AM SUMITAM
EGO SUM
TUCSAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
SELIAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
SELITAM

Susi:[Name of a high-ranking elemental]

AC DIUB

AMPIC [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
MIBEL [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
GAYIM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]

AC DIUB

SPIRITI SANCTI SALVATOR MUNDI ET PATER DEUS ET ASTRA HUIUS MUNDI VAECAM SALVAME ELUM JUB ELIM JUCAC ENJEDRET VAITO [The six previous words are names of high-rankling elementals, referred ton in this passage as the spirits] SPIRITI SANCTI SALVAME VERAGA [elemental word] HECOA QUE HE OC [elemental passage, pronounced HEKEYOK] ECAM VAICAM AEICAM [elemental passage] ADONAI SANCTUS SALVAME.

[The following is in elemental language:]

ECAM AECAM
MATAD VERE SALVATOR ME +
+ AMATUM APUBCUB
YSNATAC + [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
EIG DEIUB

YNATAM YSNATAM MAGNAM + [Names of high-ranking elementals]
YNATAM MAGNAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
IG CUMUB

JUSTUM JUSTIT JUDICARIAE [Bantay Na Makatarungan At Nakasisilaw] [Elemental language]

OMULAM + [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
UMULAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]
OHOYACTUB [Name of a high-ranking elemental]

UBULAM [Name of a high-ranking elemental]

OBULAM + [Name of a high-ranking elemental]

SUMASAMPALATAYA AKO SA DIOS NA MAKAPANGYARIHAN SA LAHAT NA MAY GAWA NG LANGIT AT LUPA. SUMASAMPALATAYA NAMAN AKO KAY JESU CRISTO, IISANG ANAK NG DIOS, NA NAGKATAWANG TAO, LALANG NG DIOS ESPIRITU SANTO, IPINANGANAK NI SANTA MARIANG BIRHEN, HINATULAN KA PO NI PONCIO PILATO, IPINAKO KA PO SA KRUS, AT NAMATAY.

MAMATAY ANG APOY!

ANANIAS AZARIAS MIZAEL
DESINE IGNIS
PHU!

W. reported for work today.

Lunch at home with W.; the granddaughters are still resting upstairs.

Tony Perez's Art of War: They are never welcome in your house if they have friends who are your enemies. While they are entitled to have friends of their choice, you are also entitled to shut your door against them.

Tony Perez's Art of War: It is easier for enemies to fall rather than rise, because the latter is always an expensive struggle.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a gold drinking-cup inscribed with words of power.

Night classes

4:30 AM

Let us go Down Under.

Everyone winding down for the night.

A bedtime snack. Locked the gates and turned off the lights.

Now for the best part of the day--getting in bed under an amazingly soft corduroy blanket and drifting off to sleep.

Your Messenger message:

"Dearest Tony Good evening. Will get straight to the point. For about 3 days now in our masters bedroom we are awakened by a smell of excrement . Normally we think it is our dogs who sleep with us. My wife and I. The past days or nights my wife and I are awakened by dog ‘s s””t. We normally get up or call our help to clean. Suprisingly there are none. The dogs are clean and are as surprised with us looking for the place the horrible smell is coming from. Today I took a nap. I was awakened twice by that distinct smell. I asked our helpers if any one of our dogs answered the call of nature. None. I checked the mouth of my dog who sometimes eats her shit. But no. When I woke up from my long nap. I got the feeling that there is an elementsl in my room. I believe that people who come and go from our place may bring in spirits good and bad. I remedid by lighting incense and saying a cleansing prayer to Saint Michael. There are more stories of spirits and poltergeists but I just want to address is this smell. Is it a tikbalang? I first encountered a tikbalang around the University were I studied. The tikbalang rode my car. And was at the backseat. Is it the same tikbalang? Why the consecutive days? Shall I ask for another exorcism rite from a Priest. ? I am not afraid just annoyed. By now I am used to it or them. Im just tired physically from their manifestations. Help! _______"


My reply:

Hello _______!

An exorcist is not necessary--no more than one is necessary to get rid of an annoying friend. Once the exorcist turns his back, what's to stop that annoying friend from coming back to you?

The entity in this case is a kapre, not a tikbalang. It heralds its presence by exuding foul odors, including the odors of mud, swampy water, and earth. If your house is surrounded with trees--or if there is even one tree near your house--simply acknowledge its presence by making offerings of four kinds of grain (typically rice, corn, mung bean, and green peas) round the base of the tree that you feel the entity resides in (you'll know it when you feel it) or libate a bottle of red wine, also round the base of the tree. Do not light incense, joss sticks, or candles--elementals detest those because, to them, they are what smell like shit, and it isn't advisable to antagonize them unnecessarily.

There are reasons behind the visitations of elementals, who are usually allies of house residents. They issue warnings. What are you in danger of? Is there a question of disloyalty or infidelity in your home? Are relationships strained? Is someone ill or has precarious health?

Only you will know the answer.

It is the Serpent of Fire that must destroy for Creation to happen all over again. In order to be spared, its image painted by an original dweller of the land must hang in your home.

Dinner at home alone; Angelique and J. are having dinner out and Aubrey is already resting upstairs.

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

Brought some food over to the compound security guard.

Finished the first Charlie Bone novel today. I enjoyed it except for the protracted ending, which seemed like the author didn't know exactly how to end it--or wanted to end it in several ways.
Now reading another Charlie Bone novel. Am reading the three books out of sequence and I am right: in a long series, the first book is the best and will always remain so.

End of another workday on the service passage.

Went to the center to change money. Bought three things for the small loggia for the new year.

W. makes two more trips to the Sitio Catacutan hardware store.

Lunch at home with W.; Angelique still resting upstairs and Aubrey out to lunch with a friend.

W. reported for work today. Must go to the bank and then pay our electric later. 

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is an ancient, golden tree with platinum leaves.

A Cubao Cocktail.

Late night visit from Glenn. Served him spicy beef with vegetables and rice on a sizzling plate from M.'s cafe and a mug of Mawil's Kalinga coffee.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

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

Brought some food over to the compound security guard.

Scoured the neighborhood stores and was finally able to find and buy one big potato and one white onion bulb for Aubrey's cooking this evening.

Didn't want to go to either of the two markets in my Spandex shorts.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Then sat with the granddaughters while they took their lunch in the dining room.

"Even if I die, they will pay."

--Cheng Chao-an in The Big Boss

Action figures in our collection: Left,a gift from my sister Sylvia, Right, a gift from my spiritual son Ferd. Center is the Black Label Bruce Lee, a gift from Bong.

How very strange. Went to YouTube to view the full movie Fist of Fury. The title card says Fist of Fury, but the movie is really The Big Boss. Watching it anyway.

Lunch at home alone; granddaughters still resting upstairs.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sunshine is a shower of gold coins and yellow sapphires.

There will always be two people in your Friends List who don't know each other but who, uncannily, look like each other. Study their Timelines and see how they mirror each other's lives.

It is quite piquant to try and relive the Roaring Twenties because of its music, its glitz, and its fashion, but, please, remember that it was a decadent age. All you have to do is reread The Great Gatsby to remind yourself of that.

Because we could not solve the traffic, power, water, public transportation, and drainage problems, we remain big failures in the eyes of our children and grandchildren.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

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

It is when we take adversity in stride that good fortune comes to us and takes us in its embrace.

The older you get the more you will be affected by the phases of the moon. You will feel intense tingling on your palms and on the soles of your feet, sometimes in your gut and legs. They are like body orgasms and will render you momentarily weak for the seconds that they last.

Took in and stowed away our holiday porch decor so that our new year can officially begin.

You don't have to heal others in anyone's name. You simply make them well again with your personal compassion, your love, your abilities, and your good intentions, period.

Super-quiet neighborhood.

Lunch at home alone; granddaughters still resting upstairs.

The sky is a blank sheet of paper waiting to be written on with gold ink.

Good morning, Cubao!

Slept ten hours last night.

2020 comes to Cubao.

Fireworks in the neighborhood from 11:50 PM through 12:00 midnight. Complete silence by 12:30 AM, as though everyone were saying "We made a big ruckus last year and it was a bad year, and we're not going to let ourselves get fooled again."

Mixed myself a gimlet.

Welcome to my life, 2020, the year of the chained god of the sea!

I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors!

Turned on all of the porch lights on the ground floor, and will leave those on through 1:00 AM. Now all of the children with their toy horns are congregating there.

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

Brought some food over to the compound security guard.

New Year's Eve dinner at home with family

The December leaf falls off my planner. End of Seattle's Best Coffee planners.

Moved to a traditional, 2020, bookstore planner and a 2020 desktop planner. The pages are being filled up already!

One-hour, afternoon nap.

The granddaughters are busy cooking dinner in the kitchen. Angelique brought Keiko Kashigawa downstairs.

Turned the holiday porch lights on.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Angelique arrived from doing groceries at the center.

Lunch at home with Angelique. Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Angelique now off to the center to do groceries.

It happens all the time. My granddaughters and I always agree to keep our holiday dinners simple and all to ourselves for a change. Then, the day before the holiday eve, we suddenly feel like doing something special. They decide to cook and invite my sisters over. As a result, the afternoon is comprised of frenzied shopping for food ingredients. 

During the entire holiday season in Cubao I noted the marked absence of Igorot, Badjao, and Aeta mendicants--truly wonderful because I've always believed that their being allowed to roam the district was a great affront to their dignity.

Instead of those, though, it seems that quite a few psychotics have been let loose. 

Two cups of Mawil's Kalinga coffee.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a golden bowl filled with the world's good wishes.

On the 31st, wear predominantly black.

At midnight, change to predominantly white.

Forget about the polka dots.

This is the right time to light white candles in succession in your cauldron through midnight of December 31 to help yourself transit to the New Year.

Never leave lit candles unattended.

I am one of your living, spirit guides if:

--There is often a silver wolf in your dreams
--You always find yourself in my night classes
--I give you gifts in your dreams
--You ask me for something and, unbeknownst even to myself, you get it.

Can't wet my hands and my body until 9:00 PM tonight because of my hilot session, so I'll call it a day for construction lines and resume tomorrow.

Was able to photograph the model for Jesus again this evening, though.

Angelique sat with me and ate chocolates and a chocolate chip cookie while I took my dinner; Aubrey taking her dinner later.

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

I must congratulate my neighbors. I haven't heard a single firecracker since December 24--unless people are saving their pyrotechnic caches for tomorrow. Some children have been blowing toy horns on the compound.

Angelique and J. are back home from Baguio.

Unexpected holiday goodies from the Cusi family

So strange. A tornado zipped by Planas Site at 2:00 PM yesterday, uprooted a tree, and hurled it onto  a neighbor's car, crushing it completely. I learned about it only this afternoon.

A neighborhood hilot is a reliable source of grapevine news.

Aubrey is back from the family dentist's.

Waiting for Angelique and J. to arrive from Baguio.

Must take more reference photos of models for Painting #14.

Asked the neighborhood hilot to come to the house again.

Your Messenger message:

"Hi Sir tony,

"Would like to ask, who is our holy guardian angel, the higherself or main guide? Thanks"

My reply:

Hello _____!

When we refer to guardian angels, we mean celestial beings assigned to us from birth through death.

Spirit guides come to us and leave us at different times in our lives. They could be spirits of the deceased, elementals, or power animals. They could also be among living, human beings, such as a next-door neighbor who wouldn't even know that he is your spirit guide.

The Higher Self is part of our psyche and is always within us. Sometimes it is referred to as Freud's Superego or Jung's Superconscious, the latter of which overlaps with the Collective Superconscious of the world.

So, you are talking of three different entities.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

A labor group rally in front of Police Station 7, which is right across the street from our house. Apparently three laborers were arrested last night without respect to their rights.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Saw Aubrey off to the family dentist's.

Lunch at home alone. Aubrey still resting upstairs.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun smiles back from polished, tile floors.

And now a hot shower before snuggling in bed.

Still reading the first Charlie Bone volume. My theory is right. In any long series, the FIRST is the best and will always remain so.

Dinner at home with Aubrey.

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

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

This painting begins today, December 29, 2019.

Aubrey and I went to the neighborhood grocery to buy snack food.

Jerome and Ronel finally wrapped and set aside The Wedding Reception at Cana.

Ready for Painting #14, the right panel of the diptych.

One-hour, mid-afternoon nap.

Back from jalan-jalan. Changed some money and bought nine things before going home.

And now to hibernate from the public through the rest of the holidays.

Lunch at home with Aubrey.

Going jalan-jalan in a few--then staying home and indoors through January 2--not only to avoid the crowds but to work on Painting #14 as well.