Good morning, Cubao!

Sky fairies bake unleavened bread on tin rooftops.

"Towers of gold are still too little/

These hands could hold the world but it'll/

Never be enough/

For me/"

Good night, Cubao!

To lull yourself to blissful sleep, place a medium or big tiger cowrie shell on one of your ears and listen to the sound it makes. This will not work, however, if you are afraid of the ocean or of the sounds in outer space.

Dinner at home with Angelique. Aubrey sat with us.

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 spending some time watching Bounty Hunter D, Patty Mayo, Paula Zahn, and Dan Patrick videos.

Retouched cradle sides of Ascension.

Then worked half an hour on third layer.

One-hour, late afternoon nap.

Aubrey skipped lunch and is taking a very early dinner in the dining room.

Angelique and Jazz took a late lunch in the dining room.

Worked an hour on second layer.

Lennoel and Neil rotated Ascension on the easel for me.

Lunch at home alone; grandchildren still resting upstairs.

I am very selective about the friends I keep. My basis for keeping the few friends that I have is that I can hang out comfortably with them. I don't like hanging out with people who have less money than I have or have no money at all and expect me to pay for them. It's very insulting and very annoying.

An artist knows that every field has its own colors. He would never ask for "navy blue", "teal", and "Nile green" at an oil paint store, for example, because they are not artist's colors, they are fashion colors. 

You paint as well as you write and you write as well as you paint.

If you want to write well, study painting.

If you want to paint well, study writing.

One-hour, morning nap.

Then worked an hour on first layer.

OMG it's heavenly to be painting again. I love the sensation of brushing colors mixed with linseed oil on a canvas. It's better than sex!

Sometimes I tell myself that I should not have established the Spirit Questors in 1996 and should have spent all that time, instead, on oil painting.

The Eyes Have It

An image of Saint Lucy hung in the guest bedroom of our ancestral house in San Fernando, Pampanga. I was always frightened by the pair of eyes on the plate in the hand of the saint. After my aunt explained Saint Lucy's martyrdom, my fear was replaced with fascination. My aunt said that the saint, when invoked, would heal and bless one's eyes. To this day I believe that devotees of Saint Lucy have deep, soulful eyes, and that the blessings of the saint would always be recognized in them.

Dear Saint Lucy, I pledge to make a painting of you someday.

Big, native breakfast.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun creates rainbows through the glass display windows of candy stores.

Good night, Cubao!

The moon is the Sky Dragon's Pearl of Great Price.

Dinner at home with Aubrey.

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

Night chores.

My favorite time of the day has come again: an evening shower, and then spending some time watching Bounty Hunter D, Patty Mayo, Paula Zahn, and Dan Patrick online videos.

And now kera-kera until dinner time.

Paid Firs for his service and gave him a bedsheet, bed cover, and pillowcases that Angelique no longer wants. I intended to use the sheets as dust covers for paintings then decided that they will be put to better use by Firs and his family.

Yukiko Taka has become very fond of Firs and whines whenever Firs leaves.

Back from jalan-jalan at the center. Bought bagnet and Vigan empanadas at the outdoor Christmas bazaar to add to our dinner. It's so nice to shop there in the evening because all of the bright, Christmas lights are on.

The outdoor Christmas bazaar will be open 24 hours beginning tomorrow, presumably through the New Year. How tempting to have an early breakfast or a midnight snack at one of its stalls!.

Worked half an hour on construction lines.

Painted the two remaining cradle sides of Ascension black.

A democracy with more restrictions than freedoms is hardly a democracy at all.

Yukiko Taka is now big enough to climb the highest step from the service passage to get into the kitchen.

Lennoel and I rotated the Ascension canvas on the easel.

Firs arrived after his church duties to continue cleaning our front balcony.

The sun loves baking golden-brown pies.

Good noon, Cubao!

Slept nine hours last night.

Good night, Cubao!

Fairies and gnomes build gingerbread cottages to celebrate special occasions.

Dinner at home with Angelique; Aubrey is skipping dinner after our heavy afternoon snack.

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 sower, and then spending some time with Bounty Hunter D, Patty Mayo, Paula Zahn, and Dan Patrick.

The year of Olokun the drowner, whose number is 4, will soon be over. It will be followed by the year of the goddess of the pumpkin, the mirror, honey, love, and prosperity. Her number is 5.

As long as you know what you really want in life, let no one divert or distract you from it.

A serious artist neither regrets nor is embarrassed by anything, because everything is grist for his creative mill.

Retirement is the time to realize that, after meeting thousands of contacts over the years that you were employed, no one really matters in the end except yourself and your family.

I long to walk the streets of the district without other human beings in sight, as I did in DC on a lazy Sunday years ago.

Paradise has no gates. It keeps no one either in or out like a shepherd's pen does.

Always be liquid and pay in cash. Never avail of credit. You will find that paying in cash is the way to grow richer.

The starving, stray cat will always rely on the kindness of strangers. 

Kowtow to no one but the gods, because they do bless your way to your destiny.

A pandemic is always a litmus test of whether what you chose to be doing continues to be lucrative and assures your survival. If what you chose to be doing is not, you already are one of the pandemic's victims.

If horns are being discouraged for greeting the New Year, try shakers and clappers.

Nothing can ever match my love for my grandchildren. I melt like butter in their hands.

Years ago I thought I could find a faithful student I could love the way Giles loved young Merlin. I never found one. There was always something off with each and every one of the candidates, so much so that it became my great success to be a solo practitioner.

You should have one particular Tarot deck that you use on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and you should not use that deck on other days of the year.

Be sure to segregate and take out all of your trash before midnight on New Year's Eve.

Plan for your family to take red wine during New Year's Eve dinner and make a toast to 2021.

The most questionable pieces of antique furniture are tables. They contain more DNA of people past and present than other pieces. All sorts of activities were held on their surfaces--meals, work, prayer, meditation, seances, games, gossip, conversation, discussions, bitter arguments, even lonely spells with tears shed. As such, they retain a lot more memory than other pieces do, especially if they are made of wood. Unless you actually like accessing those memories, cleanse the tables regularly with water mixed with rock salt, followed by a wipe with extra virgin coconut oil.

We know that we are progressing when we see that we have more choices than we used to have.

If your chosen career isn't working for you, do not be afraid to change horses in midstream.

Worked an hour on construction lines.

This painting begins today, December 11, 2020.

Sorry, no visitors allowed.

Back from jalan-jalan at the center. Had money changed for the weekend, bought Yukiko Taka a flea collar, and had a spinach and mushroom omelette with cinnamon toast and a ginger ale at the Cubao Leaky Cauldron.

Look, Dick, look!

A new cradled canvas is delivered to me on this sunny morning, after two days of steady rainfall.

This is for Painting #20 for Maryhill School of Theology, and it will keep me happily occupied through the holidays.

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

Good morning, Cubao!

The power of the sun is reason, of the moon, intuition.

Good night, Cubao!

Pets must have their own cozy cushions and blankets.

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 spending some time watching Bounty Hunter D, Patty Mayo, Paula Zahn, and Dan Patrick videos.

For some reason this is turning out to be a long and protracted week for Angelique and me. She can't wait for the holiday break from law school.

In my case the new, cradled canvas I ordered is taking so long to arrive. I intend to be painting through Christmas and the New Year.

I dream of growing older through my death with a devoted butler like Bruce Wayne's Alfred, but I know that no such person exists. Anyone who volunteers to take on that duty will always be a secretly ambitious person who desires to be a powerful mage and take off with all of my possessions.

Different work schedules will naturally create staggered mealtimes.

Never buy paintings merely to decorate your home. When you decide to renovate or refurbish, you will only eventually outgrow and dispose of those paintings.

This is the life I've always wanted--staying home, enjoying every nook and cranny of our house, planning and being enthusiastic about every meal and snack, painting and writing to my heart's content, napping, and retiring to a cozy bedroom every night, no spouse or partner to argue with, compromise with, prevent me from doing things I like doing, and controlling what I wear and how I look, no public appearances, no books, no corny romance, no sex.

Kind neighbors always receive just rewards.

Wisdom will cascade like a copious rainfall.

Every cogwheel is essential and must immediately be replaced when it breaks.

When you sleep, your body mends.

Pets need quality time in order to be responsive and intelligent.

Don't just aspire to have beauty and brains, for both of those eventually become boring. Add to those a reputable career and a huge income--and you are truly set for life!

Most frequently used expressions in 2020:

--I lost it.

--(Sarcastic:) Wooow..!

What do you really look forward to every day?

The Ibong Adarna is more resplendent than the peacock. Therefore it is the male, not the female, of its species.

It is fine to invest in holiday tablecloths, placemats, napkins, and coasters, for they are easy to wash and to store.

Do not go overboard with your Christmas Eve dinner, for you will soon need to plan your New Year's Eve dinner, the dinner that caps the holidays.

Identify which day, for you, is the worst day of the week, and make a conscious effort to transform it into one of your most enjoyable days.

The best coin purses are made of genuine leather.

Pandemic or no pandemic, clean and rearrange your house to make it the most relaxing and enjoyable place to stay in.

Do not encourage people below your station to fall in love with you.

You will see a strange cat, and you will hear its meow coming from another direction. (No, there won't be any other cats around.)

When a person says that he was working hard and "busting his ass the whole day", I cannot help but think that he is a male prostitute who spent the day lying in bed with clients. One does not bust one's ass on one's feet doing hard work. And if he meant sitting at the computer the whole day, that is really not my idea of doing hard work.

One-hour, morning nap.

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

A wet morning in Cubao.

Another cup of Ma-ay's very black coffee from Cotabato.

Good morning, Cubao!

Day gnomes strand fresh-water pearls to festoon eaves on rainy days.

Many women are convinced they are bipolar when actually their mood swings are merely being caused by their oncoming menstruation.

Good night, Cubao!

All precious pearls belong to the night, where their lustre is of moonlight.

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 spending some time with Bounty Hunter D,. Patty Mayo, Paula Zahn, and Dan Patrick online videos.

The invisible hound roams the streets past midnight.

Nothing is really resolved by a showdown except in the boxing ring.

If you cannot feel compassion toward one who encountered misfortune, at least do not gloat over it.

Because the holidays threaten to be different, turn the tables on them and make them different in a positive way.

Do not give away your heart this Christmas.

Heal yourself, for it is the best and the fastest way to wellness. For starters, heal yourself on the emotional and psychological levels.

Creative works are best done on a sated stomach than on a growling one.

Ask yourself if your present occupation is founded not on what you are but on an illusion of what you are but can never be.

Opportunists never appreciate the value of hard work.

A menial chore can be done either fervently or on auto-pilot. Either way it gets done.

No two persons in this world ever carry the same burden on their shoulders.

You are paying karma for several lifetimes simultaneously if you have several talents and if you don't look the same in many of your photos.

Love is not the answer all the time.

It is the people you accidentally helped who are the most grateful to you.

Fairies and elves don't like being thanked, but gnomes do.

Being traditionalist is one of the most pretentious postures I have known.

The most magical trees are those that decided where to grow, not those that grow where human beings want them to.