Last night on TV the host embarrassed the sophisticated winemaker by saying that he will always prefer the authentic, ethnic version of an Ifugao wine over her product.

Doesn't he know that the winemaker was taking a crude song and having it played by a symphony orchestra?

Indeed, sometimes, insistence on conservation is the opposite of evolution.

The soaring eagle is the power animal and symbol of Haring Bakal.

Good day, Cubao! Slept eleven hours last night.

Waited up through midnight for Angelique, who attended a classmate's debut in Intramuros.

Good night, Cubao!

Knitting in bed while being tuned to "CNN Absolutely".

I sleep well on rainy nights.

Sometimes I sleep better when I have someone I like beside me.

Eepaa Heyi!

In the daytime she rides a silver Sky Dragon.

At night she rides a giant, Black Serpent.

Listen. Can you already hear her voice?

Repetition is an effective communication method, especially to the mentally challenged, but it is not applicable to advertising, especially advertising on television. When it happens on TV, the viewer simply keeps being reminded that someone is after his money in exchange for something that may not be worth it, and so he subconsciously goes tighter and tighter on thoughtless spending.

I like the professionalism of only one female broadcaster, Ruby Bernardo Tayag. She does not get emotional, she is sedately dressed, she does not try to look seductive, she listens as well as she speaks, she is not crass, she does not yell, gripe, and groan, she does not crack useless jokes and waste air time, and her hair, make-up, and jewelry are all business-like, unlike those of other female broadcasters who look like they are wearing revelation outfits from How Do I Look?

"Washing Machine" (Night of Friday, May 8, 2015)

Events of the Day:

Perhaps events of the previous days, since I've been using the washing machine lately?

T. and P. visited in the morning and gave me interesting things.

My sister Alice and I enrolled Aubrey in Grade XI.

Visited Artery Art Space with T. and P.

Been knitting and reading a book.


The Dream:

I am planning to dump my pillow and pillowcase in the washing machine, let it spin-dry, and hang it to dry completely somewhere.

In the laundry room, Angelique tells me that the washing machine is out of order and that we should buy a new one and throw the old one away. I am a little annoyed. I want to wash my pillow/pillowcase now.

Next, I see a plastic grocery bag on the floor. Washing machine tubes are attached to the bag. It is filled with detergent and water. I know that I am supposed to dip my pillow/pillowcase in the solution, but I wonder if the thing will actually work.


My Interpretation:

Though my life has been relatively quiet, this dream tells me of a change in objectives, dreams, and plans (pillow/pillowcase) that i have been mulling over. It seems, however, either that I am not ready to make these reality (the washing machine is out of order) or my loved ones may not be ready, or are unwilling, to see these changes.

My psyche creates a temporary, albeit flimsy, washing machine out of a plastic grocery bag in order to make this a wish-fulfillment dream.

Alternatively, this dream could also signify a need to cleanse one's head, one's mind, one's thoughts. I have always wanted to live a creative life, but even creativity, I know, can be overdone, especially when I spend hours painting, writing, knitting, and whatnot. The perfect cleanser is a mundane, practical item, a washing machine, for there is nothing like doing everyday chores to counterbalance other matters. (Yes, come to think of it, I need to vacuum-clean the entire ground floor.)

Atchays will search high and low to lay the blame on people other than themselves.

Never accept a proposal for "cultural exchange" from anyone in a foreign country if you will only end up writing the proposal yourself. That person is simply interested in coming to the Philippines and not sending you abroad.

A good proposal is one in which YOU get to travel to the foreign country, and back, FIRST.

Every syncretism becomes an archetype that can never be undone, whether immediately or in the far future.

Beware the priest who begrudges other men their freedom of thought and lifestyle. He is like a viola that does not acknowledge the existence of other string instruments.

Don't you remember over-celebrating a young skater who afterward kept using injuries as excuses for his losses?

Your over-celebration nipped his career in the bud, and you aborted his future.

Stop this neurotic pattern now.

People cannot get over a defeat whenever they over-prepare for a hyperbolic victory.

Stop playing brass bands to over-celebrate gullible participants.

The same bands might just as well play at their funerals.

Good morning, Cubao!

Good night, Cubao!

Knitting in bed again.

I'm not about to sell my anatomical ecorches and skulls because Aubrey seems to be interested in taking up Medicine.

The goddess of the storm is your mother if you are the type who speaks his mind with firm truthfulness, no matter who you are talking to.

Listening to Ivy's Tchaikovsky CD.

The human body is an exquisite fighting machine that requires neither armor nor weapons. Consider that the ancient Celts went to war naked except for the torques round their necks.

Today, one must train in order to fight. So that, when one fights, he must follow certain rules.

Met a fabulous Vietnamese tattoo artist and oil painter this morning. He lives very near my house. I was going to take him to Artery Art Space but it was still closed.

T. gave me wonderful gifts this morning. I gave him something that he really needs in reciprocation.

Just arrived from an errand with my sister Alice and my granddaughter Aubrey. It was a pleasant journey. We had ice cream at Dairy Queen Gateway afterward.

To protect your house from a storm, hang a shiny mask at a window.

Under the pressure of an expert interviewer, he gradually dropped his defenses and started tittering, giggling, talking, and acting like the pansy that he really is.

Good morning, Cubao!

Two important things scheduled today that will temporarily take me away from knitting.

There are two causes of excellence:

First, when people believe in your talent and it is your duty to develop it.

Second, when people do NOT believe in your talent, and you are challenged to persevere and prove them wrong.

Good night, Cubao!

Knitting in bed.

Rain, wash the dust off the trees
Wind, brush their hair
Dead leaves, fall like sad moments
Feed the earth while you rot
So that new trees can grow again

T. coming tomorrow morning, and I'm quite eager to see him!

She rides the Sky Dragon above the clouds and waves at me.

The heavens are kindly watering my plants.

I have a rondalla threshold. There are times when I long to hear one, though. It is the music of babbling brooks and streams, of leaves fluttering in the breeze.

Religious Studies is not and never should be Christianity Studies. It is a course that requires the in-depth study of all major and minor religions, and it is the duty of every R.S. major to do exactly that.

God created many religions because men strive to monopolize everything, and one of the worst monopolies of all is monopoly of religion.

When religions go to war, God allows it also. It is a way of keeping things in check.

I always take the words of religious leaders with many grains of salt, because they are biased participants in the race for monopoly.

Listening to a rondalla CD. Possible background for a lunch party.

Take a map and connect the dots.

Good morning, Cubao!

The dawn was pleasantly cool.

Good night, Cubao!

Re-reading a goddess book in bed. Now that I really am at leisure, I am re-reading it slowly and discovering new meanings in many paragraphs.

Consulted the Oracle of Kung Ming this afternoon.

Eepaa Heyi!

Owner of the place of worship!

Third and last visitor accounted for.

After I gave my alumnus presentation to a graduate school reunion last year, the dean, possibly vexed by the new things I shared, kept asking me what I learned from my studies in school.

I wanted to tell him that, after one graduates from school, one continues learning, and that new learning is always in combination with old learning, so that old learning is never the same.

But, of course, I didn't say that. I said something conservative to pacify him.

A cup of grape wine.

Knitting like there's no tomorrow.

Now listening to Drive-By Leslie. I have no idea who gave it to me. I also have no idea why people keep giving me jazz CDs. It must be one of my karmic punishments.

Another karmic punishment I recall is, whenever I was a newcomer in graduate school or office groups, people kept recruiting me to play basketball, a game I have totally no comprehension of.

It is better to be the person paying for someone's hospitalization than be the person who is being hospitalized.

It is better to be the person shelling out money for someone's funeral than be the person who died or that person's immediate relative.

After they stop complaining that they are being oppressed by outsiders, they will start complaining that they are being oppressed by themselves.

It happens that, when the cosmos sends you money, you are not free to spend it as you will because expenses beyond your knowledge are already creeping toward you.

I enjoy watching CCTV 4, especially its musical shows, but am saddened that it does not bother to post subtitles for foreign audiences.

Sometimes hell is being trapped in the company of someone who does not share the same interests as you.

I often felt this way in graduate school, whenever I was in classes led by teachers I did not believe in, or with classmates I did not particularly like.

There are times when I feel that I have too much, and those are the times when I give to those who have too little.

Now listening to Mike's Libera CD.

Good morning, Cubao!

Woke up early. Expecting three people today.

Good night, Cubao!

Knitting in bed again.

Whenever you study the birds intently, they will face toward where disaster will happen.

The energy field around you is changing. Sense it. It should feel different, as though something exciting is about to happen.

Actually those fist-to-fist and then fist-to-camera sets of movements were magically wrong. The recipient of those astral blows was none other than the person they were rooting for.

Do study The Magical Passes by Carlos Castaneda.

Listening to Up On the Roof.  Am not a jazz fan but this should make good background for when friends are visiting to just hang out and relax.

This occurred to me while I was knitting, and I should add it to my blog Tony Perez's Psychic Exercises for the Spirit Questors under the section on developing sensitivity in hearing:

Did you know that "Star-Spangled Banner" and "Tennessee Waltz" can be sung simultaneously?

The owners of Artery Art Space across the street, who are my neighbors and friends, dropped by while I was knitting inside the small loggia and took a peek into my studio. I'm tentatively scheduled to consign two or three new paintings in their gallery.

The birds seem to be enjoying Mozart.

The man sent me another e-mail message. His second message had an attachment, a photo of him and his family. His third message contained his biographic information.

I sent him a pdf book to read and I hope that he finds it to his liking. Otherwise I am not the mentor for him.

I will call him X.

The more I stay home, the more peacefully I sleep. It is possible that the world outside is the cause of stress.

The sun rises and sets whether I love you or not.

The rain stopped, but I can still hear the rain
Your breathing, your chest heaving as you dream
Your heart pulsating against mine
Is it your heart or mine I hear
Are they your thoughts or mine that fall like rain
Is it this morning or last night
Is it the rain or just a feeble memory

I go only where people do not go. And, when they follow me there, I leave and go elsewhere.

The world will never run out of places for me to go in one lifetime.

Mars is my planet, and it is also a hermit.

A quaint pleasure is waking up to the chirping of the pet birds inside the small loggia, onto which one of my captain's cabin bedroom windows looks out.

Good morning, Cubao! Slept nine hours last night.

It was so chilly that I actually had to pull up my blanket!

Good night, Cubao!

How distressing: a man whom I don't know sent me several e-mail messages asking for my guidance in exploring his higher consciousness.

I have to do it on-line. Since I am a hermit, I don't go out of my way to meet people.

I need to re-read all my 91 books on gods and goddesses.

Playing Ivy's Mozart CD.

I enjoy being a spectator more than I enjoy being a player.

Moved three bird cages inside the small loggia, where the pet birds can have more air, sunshine, and the vista of trees. When the sun is too harsh I drape the cages with expensive scarves.

The groupies continue to feed his ego with fake compliments, hoping to remain in favor much longer and continue being showered with material gifts.

If God says "Go", He also says "Stop".

Stop wanting more and more, or God will take everything away.

Water is your fuel. Make sure you are on full tank.

I can see another one coming. Let us let this one in.

In case you didn't know, God is on everyone's side.

It is men who invented war.

Do not bolt your food when eating, do not contemplate other things while eating, do not ignore what you are eating.

Focus on your food. Merge with it. Consciously taste it. Savor it.

Only then will your food give you pleasure and 100% of its nutrients.

Use time. Never let time use you.

Good morning, Cubao!

Let us thank God for another bright and sunny day!

The best horror shows are those that do not resort to using special effects.

The cheapest trick I have seen so far is that fabric wall against which someone behind it presses his face and hands to simulate a ghostly manifestation.

As long as you have people whom you truly love, you will never have nothing.

Good night, Cubao!

Knitting in bed again.

Now watching another paranormal show on Ci.

Watched My Uncle Is The Green River Killer on Ci and swore to myself never to watch such shows again. It was quite depressing.

Grimm is riveting because of its beautiful cast members, but it is severely hampered by its melodramatic, Peyton Place subplots. Its writers did not learn the main lesson from its template, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Note that Night Stalker is a big success because it focuses completely on its main story per episode.

Subplots are red flags that indicate to the audience that the subject matter is not substantial enough to carry through an episode.

Waiting is an art that is meant to be enjoyed.

Listen to your body from time to time. In the same manner that it leads you to take it to its most comfortable position, it will tell you what it wants you to eat and drink.

It has occurred to me, again and again, that atchay mentality never goes unpunished.

GUIDELINES FOR MY GOOGLE+ FOLLOWERS FOR THE COMING WEEK (MAY 4 - 8, 2015) are now on my Google+ page. To access them, click on my round badge on the right-hand column.

Look at life as a series of rewards, no matter how unapparent, rather than a series of punishments.

Like a rock that is still, it is silence that has strength.

The most unbiased reports are on "CNN Absolutely".