Good night, Cubao!

Going to bed earlier than usual in preparation for tomorrow!

The more we explore, the brighter the world becomes.

A chilly afternoon in Cubao

Time is so precious that no amount of amount of money can ever match its cost.

You do not live only once.

And there is such a thing as fulfilling karma from several lifetimes simultaneously in the present lifetime.

Please, do not give me another pentacle.

There are no more pentacles in my house. I sold off the last one five years ago.

As far as I'm considered, pentacles are passe.

Tender Is The Night

Ever since I retired I no longer have to wake up at 4:30 AM, meaning that I can go to bed as late as I want to, and there are times when I actually do that. It takes me back to the age of 18, when I would stay up sleepless, and walk around the living room, dining room, kitchen, and garden while my parents and sisters were fast asleep.

A house in the daytime is not the same house at night, for neither is a person. One feels single, alone, unattached to anything else but the night, and the night is a sweet and mysterious mistress.

My consolation during these times is usually a cup of hot soup, which I savor and take time to enjoy. It makes me somewhat sleepy afterward. I can go ahead and watch a late night movie on TV, not having to worry about what time I have to rise, get dressed, and hit the road.

I live for such nights. After 40 years of working I really would like an equal, 40 years of this. Yet, I know that I would have to be 104 years old to see that through.

I just hate it when, during a horror movie scene in which a monster or a diabolically possessed person has trapped a victim into a corner, the victim reaches out and finds a convenient weapon to conk his head with: a flashlight, a lead pipe, a frying pan.

It is such a cheap, unimaginative movie trick.

The technology of the future will make it possible to upload in three seconds.

Designing a Tia Dalma cottage as a venue for consultations with The Hermit of Grande Island.

The cottage will double up as a honeymoon lodge or a chalet for rent when I am not using it.

I am still torn between having it built inside the forest or beside the sea. If inside the forest, I can develop a Brother-Cadfael herb garden behind it. If by the sea, it will be conveniently near the art studio though still far away from the other cottages.

Tomorrow through February 1 The Hermit of Grande Island will be available for consultation, again, to residents of surrounding areas Olongapo, Zambales, Pampanga, and Bataan. He is only a ferry boat ride away.

Memoirs of Service: Nato Vega

He probably thinks I've forgotten him by now but, the truth is, I never will.

Nato Vega was an admin clerk in the office I worked in. He was one of the few who knew that I could do magic and work spells. During break times he would tell me stories of his own experiences and similar goings-on in his hometown and his neighborhood.

He once found a dead bat in the office, immersed it in alcohol, sealed it in a plastic bag, and gave it to me as a gift. I appreciated that gift very much--I re-immersed it in formaldehyde at home, hoping it would be preserved forever, though, sadly, it eventually decomposed. It enabled me to study the anatomy of wings, which I later applied to drawing angels' wings (and wings of other creatures of course, bwahahahahahaha!).

Nato's greatest gift to me was not only his friendship but the gorgeous skin of a nine-foot python that he and his neighbors once caught in the subdivision they lived in. He had the skin carefully peeled off, cured, and rolled. I had it mounted and framed by an old friend, Philip Bordey of Gallery Frames. The framing was equally gorgeous. The python skin was attached to a black, wooden support by means of studs. I was, however, charged an arm and a leg for what framers call "extra glass", meaning, glass larger than the standard sizes. I still have that framed python skin in my studio. I will neither sell it nor give it away for anything in this world. I believe, for one thing, that it is one of my sources of magical power.

After 15 years of service Nato emigrated to the United States, taking his wife and children with him. He kept in touch with me during the nine years or so that I was on facebook. After I moved from facebook to Google+ I never heard from him again.

I hope that he is happy and well.

Collect your pencil stubs and place them in a clear bottle or demijohn.

It is only when I am bored that I activate my psychic senses.

The worst thing human beings ever did in this world was to subdivide themselves into echelons and social classes.

I sleep with a light on because, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I want to know immediately where I am. Yes, I often wake up and find myself in foreign places.

When in a foreign country, be able to tell the difference between an objet d'art and a souvenir disguised as art.

The decade of 2020 will be called the Roaring Twenties all over again. There will even be a resurgence of R20 fashion, music, and art.

You cannot sell anything at a venue where people are accustomed to get things for free.

I know men and women from my youth whose great beauty made them so conceited when they were young. They were placed on pedestals, shut off from the real world, and used for various purposes. Where are they now? They are fat, dumpy persons with nothing but memories, and some of them even died young.

These people are unrecognized victims. Their families and their schools are the perpetrators.

Never make your children feel more beautiful, more wealthy, and more advantaged than everyone else. Otherwise they will never see the kingdom of God amongst themselves.

Good day, Cubao!

Thank God it's Friday everyday!

Good night, Cubao!

Half-packed and leaving for Grande Island a day from now!

A chilly evening in Cubao

When broadcasters seek to fluster you during an interview, give them a dose of their own medicine. On the air.

To avoid painful payback, take the initiative to alleviate others' painful payback. You will afterward be considered fully paid.

That is the reason why we are taught to be charitable.

Caught The Castle of Crossed Destinies on RED for the third time. It shows little, but I consider it a very erotic film. I especially like the production designer's color sense.

The power of suggestion is more effective than showing things outright, as in Lawrence of Arabia, a violent film despite the fact that all of the violence occurs off-camera, in The Innocents (based on Henry James's The Turn of The Screw), and in most of Alfred Hitchcock's movies.

"Hey there/
You with the stars in your eyes/"

Every performance art does not need an audience, as long as God and Nature are there as witnesses.

A well-rounded artist must be capable of producing all types of art, including cartooning, caricature, illustration, classical figure drawing, and medical anatomy.

Studying measurements and subjects for three more huge paintings for Grande Island.

Immediately after the camera shutter clicks, every photo becomes a picture of the past, never of the present or the future.

When people ask me whether I waited up for a specific TV program or its continuing episode, I reply that I turn on the TV only when I feel like it. That way it does not control my schedule; only I control it.

The sound of TV can be like the annoying sound of a nagging voice.

Good day, Cubao!

Ever since I retired I never bothered to know what day it is.

Okay--it's Thursday.

Good night, Cubao!

Already packing to go back to Grande Island.

It is all right to be above it all. As long as you really are.

At last, we found an available contractor to resume work on our front cafe!

Divide your past into five-year segments and chart the significant events of your love life within those segments.

Study patterns, especially your own.

Good morning, Cubao!

Slept nine hours last night.

Reorganizing art supplies for Grande Island and dramaturging plays for TheatreWorks Singapore today. A lot of work to do. But, wait, I'm retired, I should rephrase that. A lot of FUN to do!

Good night, Cubao!

Reorganizing more art supplies tomorrow morning, after which I intend to do do more dramaturging of plays for TheatreWorks Singapore. Four more manuscripts to go!

Evening trip with Tina to purchase more paint tubes, refined linseed oil, and odorless turpentine for the Grande Island painting.

Always mix oil colors with a palette knife, NEVER with a brush.

Channel hopping while watching TV can be a phenomenological experience. The screen becomes a window through which one witnesses brief scenes and eavesdrops on conversations and problems of other people. It is like sitting in a car that is slowly perambulating through a neighborhood road.

Fashion programs that dictate what people should wear are anti-freedom of expression, because everyone has the right to choose his/her own apparel. Unless they have no money and willingly submit themselves to dictation, if that is what it takes to acquire free clothing.

As a general rule, though, people express themselves by wearing clothes of their own choice--even before they open their mouths to speak.

And they should be allowed to do so.

When in fever, surround yourself with your favorite toys. It will make you sleep deeply and peacefully.

I always work with complementaries, especially to create shadows.

--Red and Green
--Blue and Orange
--Yellow and Violet

If you mix each pair, you end up with gray.

That is why, despite the protests of all art teachers, I have always believed, and will continue to believe, that black and white are complementaries.

Contrary to what all my art teachers taught me, I never lay out a palette. I consider that a waste of time and a waste of paint.

I simply squeeze out what I need.

All technology is useless without electric power.

Some tips to fellow writers and painters:

When your forearms, hands, and fingers ache as though carpal tunnel is setting in and there is no one to give you a deep-tissue arm massage, do the following:

1) Sit on your hands on a hard chair five minutes at a time.
2) Lie on the floor and place your forearms, hands, and fingers under your body. Rock your body gently from side to side. Again, do this five minutes at a time.
3) Lie in bed on your side in a curled-up, fetal position. Put your palms together and place them between your knees. Again, do this five minutes at a time.

Your body weight will always be the correct weight that gives the right pressure.

Try it. The feeling of relief is great!

The problem with illusionism is that every trick becomes old hat the second time around.

TV is an electronic library. Your choice of books/programs is a reflection of your personality. Sadly, we don't have a wide range of good choices to improve our lives.

Whenever I hold a workshop or do a project away from home, I typically give away the clothes that I've worn and the things that I bring with me. I have too many clothes and too many things. Should I pass away suddenly, I do not wish to burden my granddaughters with the task of having to clear away a lot of my stuff, especially items that meant something to me but nothing to others.

When I was a little boy vacationing every year in San Fernando, Pampanga, I recall that the uninhabited, ground floor of the huge, Fil-Hispanic house was filled with antique armoires. Each one of them was packed with items belonging to aunts and uncles who'd passed away.

I don't want to leave trails like that behind me when it's time for me to go.

Frankly, the only way to get rid of what you consider to be wrong in society (such as all kinds of abuse) is to be willing to fight and die for what you believe in. Unfortunately, many are not only unwilling to die, they are afraid to. Why do so-called "evangelists", for instance, proselytize only among their own kind and not to non-believers?

Words are not always the best weapon in fighting negativity in society, because words can always be countered.

The right answer to change is never in words.

I am always pretending to myself that I am Paul Gauguin in old Tahiti, yet Grande Island is FAR from being primitive. It is, on the contrary, a place of luxury.

The moon never rises on the side of the chalet I am in. I know, however, whenever dusk is about to fall. A giant, electronic billboard atop a mall in Olongapo City lights up from across the sea and appears as a brilliant dot of light like a star that has fallen from heaven.

I note that no one else sees what I see. In that sense, I know that I am often alone. There are only myself and that dot of light and the sea between us now. I am shorn of everything, everything that everyone else thinks I am, like that Scooby-Doo teaser in which the characters strip off their masks under which are other masks under which are yet other masks...

Everything boils down to only two things. I am a writer and I am a painter.

Speedboats, water skis, water bikes, water gliders, kayaks, scuba diving, snorkeling, ziplining, et cetera--people ask me why I never go into the water. I tell them that I am too busy painting and not interested in swimming. The truth is, I am prohibited from doing so. Although I am allowed to collect shells, stones, and coral and eat some seafood, I may not step into any natural body of water. Otherwise my magic would not work.

It has occurred to me that Botong's lighting was heavily influenced by Degas.

Now that enormous bills have to be paid, tempers will flare, and there will be no little amount of dishonesty.

If you saw a little boy who told us his sad story at 3:00 AM, then you were truly with me in class.

Good morning, Cubao!

Finally took some time to reopen the drawers of my antique, teakwood, rolltop desk--and discovered a lot of rare treasures I'd stashed away!

Night classes

3:00 AM

When children are not creative, it is because they have extremely stifling parents.

The Book of Abramelin The Mage is getting interesting, because I am now on the chapters with comprehensive lists of spirits, their origins, the meaning of their names, and their powers. The lists are quite unlike those of the lists of spirits' names in indigenous Philippine magic, such as the names of the Ancianos a.k.a Uncianos.

I slept with the book at the foot of my bed every night. I remained undisturbed by elementals.

Whenever schools of fish rushed to the shore, the waters lit up like liquid sparklers. One held one's breath, waiting for an enchanted being to break the surface and rise.

Put back my marble pigment grinders inside my art supplies cabinet. I shouldn't have brought them to Grande Island in the first place. They are not portable.

I really must remember to bring one of my compasses to Grande Island.

Being loved by someone you do not or cannot love can be a horrifying experience.

Never blame misfortune on spirits. Misfortune is typically caused by your fellow human beings.

Do not drink your coffee or your tea immediately after a good meal. Allow the aftertaste of the meal to linger for 15 minutes.

Parental Mistakes

1) Compelling their children to do better than their parents.
2) Compelling their children to excel no matter what the cost.
3) Exacting a portion from their children's salaries.
4) Suggesting to their children that they will have to take care of their parents in their old age.
5) Comparing their children with other people's children.
6) Reprimanding or scolding their children within hearing distance of other people.
7) Forcing their children to do things in the name of religion without adequately explaining why they are significant.

While a painter must have talent, a big percentage of his works relies on the quality of his tools.

Is This Your Husband?

He refuses to work in an office and instead lingers in coffee shops and restaurants of three-star hotels, ordering nothing but coffee and water and hanging out the whole day with birds of the same feather. All they do is discuss "business" plans, pretending to have extraordinary vision, but forever launching dubious projects that never come to fruition. The hotels allow them to overstay because they are very well-dressed and make the coffee shops and restaurants look like they have respectable clients.

My dear, are you sure you married the right person?

The most risible of all was the jack-in-the box.

I am enjoying the Herculean task of painting for Grande Island--aside from writing new novels and plays--but I am proceeding in a relaxed, unstressful manner.

And, no, I am not afraid to die leaving many unfinished projects behind.

One does what one can during one's lifetime, and that is good enough.

Thank God, nothing was damaged in our house during the previous earthquake. And to think that I have all those porcelain and glass figurines on narrow shelves!

I do wonder how Cerefina and Kichiro Mayuzumi fared during that time.

When painting, use a digital camera to photograph your work in progress through the final stage. Everything should look good and right on the camera screen. If it doesn't, something is wrong with your TONAL VALUES.

God must be personified on earth. Otherwise He remains a schizoid abstraction.

Good morning, Cubao!

Saw my granddaughters again, after more than a week, at breakfast time.

They slept all throughout the previous earthquake.

Saturday night Angelique, who is a sophomore at University of Santo Tomas and volunteered to be part of the human barricade for Pope Francis, slept with her classmates in their school building. They had to wake up at 2:00 AM to report for work and be issued special IDs. I am glad that she had that experience, which, I am sure, was quite numinous for her. I recall that, when then-Pope and now-Saint John Paul's motorcade passed EDSA, our family lined up along the highway and waved at him. That was quite a numinous experience for me too, and one that I am bound never to forget.

At the expense of sounding like a killjoy, I must say that sports encourage people to wage war against one another.

So does anything in which people have to take sides, cheer, root for a team, and get fired up in the spirit of competition.

Retirement brings to my life an entirely new circle of friends and students whom I never met when I was still employed.

I could live on candy, but then again I would also die because of it.

I love capers. To me, they are the Western counterpart of tausi, or Chinese black beans, which I also love.

Ninety percent of tasteless gifts are raffled off, given away, or disposed of as trash.

Whose taste counts the most?

The recipient's.

A chair may still be a chair even though there's no one sitting there, but if it is an exquisite piece of furniture, I absolutely don't care.

Intelligence is contagious, stupidity is not. Everyone naturally gravitates from a state of stupidity to a state of intelligence.

Do not, therefore, resent stupid people, because they are in a state that you used to be in.

If you are the stupid one, do not resent people who are more intelligent than you are, for you will eventually be as they are.

The seed of intelligence is inborn, but it needs to be nurtured to full blossom.

However, intelligence can also be acquired in the same way one acquires wealth--by saving up some money a little at a time.

The spirits will cooperate with you ONLY IF they have touched The Wand.

An artist creates his best work not while he is in a state of suffering but long after he has recovered from it. His works will be based on memory recall and emotional recall.

By the same token, a nation produces its best literary and artistic works long after it has recovered from a crisis, such as war.

A man who has been single too long should never marry. He will be impossible to live with.

Do not fall in love with someone who will only be a burden and make your life miserable.

At the end of the day she has nothing but her illusions and her package of lies.

Temperance is not their virtue.

The presence of a single fly warns you of ill intent from a fellow human being.

Why is it that members of the sixth gender--the asexuals--have no blatant social issues?

When offices require female employees to wear black blazers, it is because they want the female employees to look unappealing.

It is what science cannot explain that is of most interest to me. After all, science can explain only 20% of everything in this world.

It was cold every night. Oh, to walk easily into the dark under trees humming with cicadas and mosquitoes, to sit on warm grass beside houses throbbing with air-conditioners, to wallow in the heat with a glass of iced lemonade, to hear bicycle wheels on dry, asphalt roads! But that was all wishful thinking. It felt like a harsh spring in DC, and the wind was unforgiving. We couldn't get comfortable on the back terraces. We were continuously being blasted by that huge, electric fan from across the ocean.

The ocean was a tangled ball of blue yarn that could not be unraveled.

You need to obtain three silver hairs from the head of the giant.

Good night, Cubao!

I'm doing one week in, one week out until I finish painting for Grande Island.

Departed Grande Island 6:30 PM.

Arrived Cubao 9:30 PM.

Will post my Album on my Google+ page tomorrow.

More often than not, when the rabble talk of "blessings", what they really mean is everything they can get for free.

Despite the fact that my TV was on all of last night, I dreamt of something totally unrelated to the CNN coverage. In my dream, I was in a foreign country and receiving eight former high school classmates. I was giving them a tour and then took them out to dinner, which one of them paid for with his credit card.

I sense that the dream was an actual, astral journey.

I am unable to post photos on my Google+ page for some unknown reason, and so I must do that when I get back home January 18.

I hope to finish, with the help of two apprentices, all of the construction lines and figure drawings tomorrow and finish a first layer of underpainting as well before January 18.

It is extremely windy on Grande Island. The ferry ride was good, but, as we were about to dock, the waters became rough. Rachele and Edgar and the two Korean girls, and two American WWII veterans I was with said that it was like being on a bucking, rodeo horse. Walking the plank was like walking on a moving see-saw. On land, my cap almost blew off twice.

There are 24 Korean children and five Filipino English teachers here in an ongoing English Camp.

A studio apprentice and a studio helper have not yet arrived. They are due to come tomorrow.

Return to Grande Island (January 10, 2015)

Arrived Harbor Point 11:30 AM to pick up some last-minute supplies.

1:30 PM, Late lunch on Grande Island.

3:00 PM, I was shown three possible locations to use as a studio: the Eagle Function Room (too many pillars are in the way), the Swan Function Room (the best, but it is being used as storage space for furniture), and an unused chalet (I have to divide up the four panels into two in this one). I chose the unused chalet because no one else goes there and it can be locked--I can leave my art materials until I come back again.

It is 4:00 PM and I'm done taking reference photos of four models. They are staff members.

The canvases will be trucked to the pier tonight and ferried to the island early tomorrow morning. Edgar and Boy will install them on the chalet walls.

The canvases measure 6 ft x 6.24 each, or a total of 24 ft x 6.24 ft when placed side by side, not 64 ft wide as I earlier thought. However, it is still the biggest painting I'll ever have made.

Goodbye for now, Cubao!

Hello, Grande Island!

Possibly offline for a while.

Good morning, Cubao!

I tried something I'd never done before: keeping the TV on CNN with subliminal sound the whole night. Strangely, it was a cozy feeling. I was able to sleep well, but my psyche woke me up at the right times, after which I was able to sleep again.

When snacking, stuffed Spanish olives are my substitute for cheese.

When you retire, you feel 21 all over again, thinking of the many things you can do for yourself, your family, your community, and your country.

Taking The Book of Abramelin The Mage with me to Grande Island. It is one of the most fundamentalist treatises on modern magic.

The only reason I am re-reading this edition is that I inherited it from Master Choa Kuok Chuy, it is bound in leather, and every page is comprised of expensive parchment paper!

Resetting my alarm.

Good night, Cubao!

It was my first work week as a retiree--and I loved every minute of it!

It is safest to keep two rainmakers--one to make rain, another to stop it.

I wonder why Richard Schwarzenkopf truncated his surname to Schwarzkopf--or was that a media glitch?

I conducted "Writing from The Heart" for him at Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, two years ago.

A neighbor whose face I could not recognize passed by while I was knitting inside the small loggia. He stopped to say that he reads my blogs. He is a Creative Writing major at University of the Philippines.

Red flag. A blogger must always be on good deportment. The world and his family read his blogs--and so do next-door neighbors he isn't even aware of.

Had he not died in an accident, he would have died of a much-dreaded disease. Which would have been more shocking to you?

The old director has always been self-aggrandizing. Now he has nothing but broken dreams.

Staying tuned to CNN.

A relaxing afternoon.

My love affair with painting resumes tomorrow.

People pray and perform superstitious acts to obtain:

--Good Health
--Prosperity
--Love
--Success
--Power

Why not work in order to obtain those instead, considering that none of the above will fall from the skies into their laps?

Some helpful tips:

--Good Health: Diet, exercise, quit harmful vices, practice good hygiene, avoid stressful situations.
--Prosperity: Hunt for a good job, ensure that your income is more than your out-go, be a good employee, avoid splurging, develop your savings.
--Love: Be pleasant, be patient, love others.
--Success: Know what you want, be sure of what you want, study your resources, and go for it without harming or offending anyone, practice good PR.
--Power: Exercise good leadership, practice what you preach, be the best example to other people.

Working hard doesn't even require having a doctorate or a master's degree!

There is nothing as phenomenological as reading a book with a deceased master's notes handwritten in its columns.

I am overjoyed to own two such books inherited from Master Choa Kok Chuy.

A handful of fresh grapes will wither in a house where people love one another.

A brave group of Protestant evangelists staged a "rally" in the vicinity of the festivities. They were, of course, harassed by the crowd, and their tarpaulins were torn down.

All footage of this was carefully censored from the news.

Now you know that media people take sides.

Grande Island, I am ready for you--but are you ready for me?

The Vampire Marius travels north.

Bwahahahahahaha!

Forgiveness is never given in exchange for a vow of self-imposed "piety".

God is not a merchant. You cannot bargain with Him.

Education takes two steps backward in deference to paganism.

Thank you, V., for a copy of the beautiful, 2015 calendar that you yourself produced and published!

Between having 30 intelligent fans and 3,000 riffraff fans, I will always choose the former.

Good day, Cubao!

It's a perfect day to review the Pentateuch. Very few people seem to have read it.

My sister Alice sent a bouquet of flowers to place on our family altar to commemorate the death anniversary of our mother tomorrow.

Good night, Cubao!

I turned over all of the chocolates to my granddaughters.

I'd been silently considering Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds, telling no one, and was pleasantly surprised when my sister Lourdes sent me Elizabeth Taylor's Passion for Men from Australia.

What you say makes you happy, does not. Happiness is unlike the ending of a novel. It is short-lived, temporary, changeable, and makes way for another happiness that comes along.

Sleep amid beautiful things, wake up amid beautiful things.

Time and progress march on beyond your walls.

Listen to the wisdom of the poor.

The most influential man who was sorry, is now doubly sorry.

Watched Camille on HBO yesterday evening but could not sympathize with any of the characters. Of all the Garbo films I've seen, though, this one had the best gowns by Adrian.

Good day, Cubao!

Good night, Cubao!

I love watching people organizing programs. It's what I used to do, and I know what they are going through. It is most enjoyable to be a spectator for a change.

I remember when I was in graduate school. It felt great to be a student, rather than a teacher, all over again.

Whenever I do watch Telemundo, it is only to gawk at the gorgeous houses, interiors, and decor.

I've been planning to eat at Gumbo on the second level of Gateway (and order, of course, gumbo) but never ended up doing so. I guess I'm secretly afraid that the food might not be New Orleans food after all.

Little Brother watches you because he knows that you will die first in the natural order of things, and it will be his turn to take over.

Little Brother is watching you, and he watches a lot better than you do.

It is a bad idea to share your studio with another artist. You will be dismayed at the mess that he/she makes.

Never marry for lust, because lust is always outgrown.

God always gives the oppressed the right time to shine.

Forgiveness is a form of healing.

It is difficult to work on a team if the members do not like one another.

It is difficult to work on a team if you are the best player on it and everyone else's shortcomings seem hopelessly glaring.

Memoirs of Service: Diana Negroponte

I will always fondly remember Diana Negroponte, whom my co-workers and I spent many months with. She was working on her dissertation and took up office at the Cultural Affairs Section, directly above the library. The module she used was diagonally across from mine. She brown-bagged her lunch and ate with us in the staff room. I have no idea why, but I was often the recipient of the dessert her kitchen staff prepared for her. Like all Americans, however, she would not get too close to the locals. Whenever she felt that she was revealing too much of herself she snapped back to a safe distance and put on a cold, "British", front.

I did love her for three things.

First, her dissertation was on poetry and not some boring, foreign-policy treatise.

Second, she was mischievous, and liked escaping from her security escorts. She once walked all the way from the office on Buendia to her residence in Forbes Park. Her escorts, of course, were flustered and totally not amused. I pointed out to her that she could get held up on the road, but she replied that she usually had nothing on her person. Touching her fancy choker she said, "It's just a piece of metal."

Third, and most importantly, she wrote only with a fountain pen, using delicious, brilliant, black ink in a flourishing, post-Victorian cursive. How can anyone not love a person who uses a fountain pen?

A heavy breakfast is breakfast only at the end of dawn, as the sun rises, while the night still lingers in your hair. It is during this time that coffee is a magic brew, and you sit at what promises to be the best meal of the day.

When it rains, I no longer wonder how on earth I am going to get home. I worry, instead, about how my family will.

Despite the current clannishness and xenophobia of peoples of the world, there will come a time in the future when there will be only one race: a combination of all the races on earth. This will be the time when we can say that the kingdom of God is among us.

This, of course, will not happen in the present lifetime. I have, however, seen many beautiful faces that can pass for any race, and I consider them the most beautiful faces in the world, the true images and likenesses of God.

In heaven there is no such thing as nationalism.

While on Grande Island I will also be accepting consultations as the resident hermit. Walk-ins (sail-ins?) are encouraged. These are residents of the surrounding areas: Olongapo, Pampanga, Zambales, and Bataan.

There is a ferry on Subic Bay that services guests to and from the island.

Sex does not seal a relationship.

Those who continually seek revenge die in a state of physical ugliness.

Good day, Cubao!

Still packing for Grande Island.

Good night, Cubao!

Rediscovered a lot of art supplies and gizmos I'd forgotten I had!

The overused slogan of 2014:

"Whatever works."

Knowing how to make do and improvise are keys to survival.

Angels never say goodbye. They simply slip away.

TV commercials encourage channel-hopping.

A cultural group still wants me to do "Writing from the Heart" in Bulacan, but they shall have to provide everything:

--A vehicle, because I am available only via door-to-door service
--A hotel room
--Meals
--Workshop expenses (venue, materials for participants, certificates of participation)

I do not charge honorarium otherwise.

Leaving for Grande Island in four days but still wondering whether the person I invited to assist me will come with me.

I'm packing, as well, family-size bottles of Pepsi Max, reams of my favorite cigarette, and other things I cannot live without. If a storm develops and gets me stranded a la Prospero in The Tempest I shall at least remain sane. Nonon suggests that I have with me a Caliban and an Ariel.

Retirement means having any snack you want the way you want it, in your own kitchen, and not being at the mercy of any cafeteria.

Packing art materials for Grande Island.

It's going to be a 4-ft x 64-ft painting, and possibly the biggest painting I'll ever have made.

The true elite do not go to Mass because of the word "Mass". Joke!

There is no real democracy in the Philippines. If there were, the Muslims would be on equal footing with everyone else.

We need to develop more paradigms of "modern" psychology.

For one thing, Sigmund Freud does not apply to the Middle East and West Africa.

The hot pan de sal courses:

In the 70s, Mass Communication.

In the 80s, Hotel and Restaurant Management.

In the 90s, Information Technology.

What next?

Upon waking, do not rise immediately. Attune to three senses in the following sequence:

1) Touch: Be aware of your body. Stretch slowly. Make gentle movements with your hands and your feet.
2) Sight: Surround yourself with pleasant and meaningful objects.
3) Sound: Turn on soft music. If you decide to tune in to the local news on TV, ensure that the sound is barely audible, because there will be a lot of unnecessary yelling, screeching, griping, arguing, hawking, singing, shameless self-promotion, vending, clowning, and cackling, which are very abrasive to the soul.

It is a bad idea to wake up to an alarm clock, unless you have to. Waking up to a jolt stunts mental growth. This is why soldiers become psychologically unhealthy, all in the name of discipline.

God created a gentle sunset and a gentle sunrise.

Today Angelique went back to university.

The great thing about being in touch only by e-mail is that you never get thoughtless, impulsive messages dashed off the top of someone's head, as you do on mobiles.

It's what a person means to me that matters, not what I mean to that person.

"Busy" and "occupied" do not mean the same thing.

I know that great sadness has come into your life, but I do nothing unless I am asked to.

I never the make the first move--in love and in war.

In Chapter 3 of Book 2 of The Book of Abramelin The Mage, it is indicated that one must be in good health in order to perform effective magic.

Tony Perez's Art of War: Proceed As Usual

Proceed as usual, producing more and more of what you've been producing. The more you do, the more the envious have high blood pressure.

Good morning, Cubao!

Slept eleven hours last night. A long breakfast at 10:00 AM--but it wasn't brunch, because I am having a late lunch in two hours!

Good night, Cubao!

A most satisfying day! I knitted, dramaturged plays for Theatreworks Singapore, and am catching up on The Book of Abramelin The Mage once more!

When I was still working in an office I had time for writing, painting, and knitting only on weekends, and I wished then that I would have more time for them.

Now that I am retired, I am writing, painting, and knitting on a full-time basis--yet I still feel that the time I devote to them is not enough.

Up at 5:10 AM and saw Aubrey off to school.

In foreign countries today, people no longer assume that Filipinos speak Spanish.

Finished re-reading the First Book of The Book of Abramelin The Mage. Now on the Second Book. Very turgid prose and colored with the author's religious biases.

Watched The Da Vinci Code last night. A very bad acting vehicle for Tom Hanks--as a matter of fact there was no acting at all. The movie did not make me want to re-read the book. Who wants to re-read a series of fictional encyclopedic entries after all? It is a sterling example of what happens when you overpatronize amazon.com and Google search, a distinct phenomenon of the 90s and a trap that writers will never fall into again. In the Philippines, the bug bit short story writers, who churned out pseudo-intellectual works, mostly based on mathematical formulae, and absolutely devoid of emotional truth.

In the 90s, my co-graduate students and I who were working on our theses were very strongly discouraged from doing academic research using the Internet, because, according to our professors, it just couldn't be done.

Never place the media in the hands of born-again Christians. Like evangelists of the 1960s, they will use what they have as tools for propagation.

Never place heritage conservation in the hands of born-again Christians. Like the Taliban, they will tear down everything that does not conform to their beliefs.

Good night, Cubao!

The sun has gone, and all too soon.

Will be working inside my bedroom through a late hour. I know that the lights from my windows and my doors will be visible to passersby on the driveway, and my room will glow like a lantern, hopefully, to give them some cheer.

I survived traveling in Singapore without a mobile that connects me to people. I know that I can survive the rest of my life without one.

A true test of success in life is to be able to make money whenever you want to, not whenever you have to.

Developing a cyberspace book on wands and how to use them.

It will be a book like no other.

Here is an equivalent of an astral massage that I used to teach the Spirit Questors in the 80s:

Light tea candles in seven glass cups corresponding to the colors of the rainbow. Lie down on the floor in a clean, quiet space and place the cups on your energy centers.

Remain still for as long as you can. You may do a pleasant visualization while doing so.

If you contemplate a problem, your psyche will give you a solution to the problem.

Sleeping, eating, lolling on the balconies, and doing only pleasurable things--I think I am transforming into a big, gray, furry cat.

Cubao Grimm.

This is the last day of the long holiday. My granddaughters are going back to school tomorrow.

As for myself, I really should get back to dramaturging five or six plays from Theatreworks Singapore (see my blog Writing from The Heart), though I am still waiting for Gabriel to submit his play.

Happy Birthday to my youngest and only male grandchild, Chrysler Vince! He is now one year old!

R. Comes Back From the Province

R. is our second housekeeper--the first was L., whom we hired as caregiver when Ivy was very ill and spent three months in hospital. I had no direct hand in hiring either one--the gods and goddesses must have sent them to us.

I say this because both of them practice magic and taught me many magical techniques.

L. was a black witch who cast spells on her enemies. She eventually left us because she had immense family problems and did not want us to get involved in them. It was she, however, who took care of our family altar and columbarium and lit candles on it every evening at 6:00 PM and on appropriate holy days. She was well-connected with denizens of the occult underworld, some of whom we met and conversed with.

R. is a hedge witch. She has just come back from a two-day vacation in her province with a sackful of herbs, some of which we are to steep in oil, others to plant. Like L., she is able to perform hilot and other forms of alternative healing. I am going to need a bigger potions cabinet because of the resources she brings me.

I guess, "your house is yourself," but "your housekeeper is yourself" is also true.

Last night was Atlantis telefest.

Coral will come your way. If you can afford it, buy it--and wear it.

Red coral will being you treasures of the deep.

Black coral will shield you from the dangers of water, and, whenever you contemplate it, it will tell you secrets of the sea.

The protective jewel of the year, however, is pearl, which is the fourth most precious jewel on earth, the other three being diamond, emerald, and ruby.

Good day, Cubao!

Slept eleven hours last night--a wonderful feeling, except that I am a day person and there are now only four hours of good daylight left for me to enjoy!

Good night, Cubao!

I devoted the day to the plants on the front porch balcony.

Back from the commercial center again.

Never allow the media to push religion in your face.

You stock up on novelty water bottles, yet you forget to drink water.

Watched Blood Letter on RED. I love Asian costume films.

That was followed by Anna Nicole on HBO. Absolutely depressing except that every starstruck person should watch it, and it was great to see Martin Landau of the original Mission Impossible series performing again.

Good morning, Cubao!

Going to the commercial center again today and having a tall coffee at the Hogwarts Express Station.

Good night, Cubao!

Thank God It's Friday Everyday!

All kinds of hypocritical acts are now being planned.

Whenever I knit in public (and I often do), women stop, converse with me about knitting and crochet, and ask what I am making. They then request to touch my work, and they do so for a long time.

I suppose, for women, touching makes my work reality.

The only other explanation is that it is their way of deriving energy from my work.

Retirement is the time when people should tell you, "Now you are at rest," not when one is laid out in a coffin. During retirement, one is now at rest--and lives to enjoy it.

Escape Plan was followed by Argo. Although Argo is based on real events, why is it that, in such films, the antagonists are always portrayed as just dumb enough to let the protagonists win?

Also watched Escape Plan on HBO. Perfectly escapist. And how could I pass on a movie featuring both Stallone and Schwarzenegger?

Watched an episode of Criminal Minds last night and found it overly complex for the average audience. The episode used the now-decadent, goth, Psycho template.

Eating chilled watermelon chunks is like eating fine sorbet.

The world around me is bustling once more. It's an extended holiday in the Philippines but the young and the middle-aged must have been feeling antsy to go back to work again. I can hear the trains rumbling on the metal tracks and vehicles buzzing by on P. Tuazon Boulevard and on EDSA.

Good day, Cubao!

The air is nippy but the sun is out and shining bright on you!

Slept eleven hours last night.

Good night, Cubao!

Overhauled a corner of my bedroom today.

Thinking of street children and wondering where they take shelter in this cold.

Going shopping tomorrow. I need to get three things I need.

The Art of Sleeping

Before I retired I made sure that the house had everything it needed, especially my captain's cabin bedroom. The room was designed to double up as an infirmary. It is extremely narrow, so narrow that, if I held up both arms in the middle of it, one hand would touch one wall and the other, its opposite. Almost everything, therefore, is within reach. I also could not collapse on the floor--should I have to collapse, I would do so, instead, on the bed, which I purchased from stage actress Naty Crame-Rogers years ago; it is a carved, wooden, Thai bed.

Every family member's bedroom is the most important room in the house. Mine has four doors: one that leads to the studio lounge, near the rest room; another that leads to the porch of the house's rear entrance; a third that leads into the service passage to the kitchen; and a fourth, small one, that leads out onto the driveway. I have two windows: one that looks out onto the small loggia and the security guardhouse and another that looks out onto the service passage. The walls are filled with shelves on brackets; the brackets above the bed can be used to hang dextrose bags from, since I envision myself not dying in hospital. I have been heard to joke, though I was serious, that the driveway door is the most convenient exit for my cadaver.

I consider my room complete: it has three sources of electrical lighting and outlets on all walls. It has everything I feel I need: an air-conditioner and an electric fan, a water dispenser, a desktop computer, a swivel-screen TV, a rolltop writing desk, an armoire with a full-length mirror, a tallboy, a hat and umbrella stand, and a trunk. The latest purchases were a Canon camera and a Samsung Galaxy that functions as a clock, alarm clock, radio, calendar, and notepad.

The room wasn't totally designed for dying in, though--it was designed for sleeping, because I believe that sleeping is an art. One sleeps well in a clean, quiet, womb-like place. The colors of the walls and the ceiling must be relaxing, rather than energizing, to the eyes. After appointing the room's primary features, one must determine how to surround oneself with one's favorite things--"toys" to take visually as one drifts off to sleep. An interesting night light helps. So would an air-tight snack box. And, definitely, a side table or box that can accommodate as many things as possible, including one's journal and pen and a favorite book.

Always locate your bed against a wall; it is a great thing to pile pillows on and snuggle against. A room floating in the center of a room gives one a sense of insecurity. A headboard and a footboard allow you to sit up in bed to read, write, or eat, and prevent pillows and blankets from slipping off to the floor. And oh--never locate your bed near a window, because your bed is where you need to psychologically retreat rather than be on the edge of action.

It is wrong to sleep inside a room that has nothing. That would be tantamount to sleeping in a transients' inn. Choose your pillows well; a hard one, a soft one, and two throws. Choose your bedside mug well, too--it will serve you for years and years.

Be happy with your bedroom. If you are not, you won't be happy in your dream world also, and consequently, in your waking life.