Not the cleanest studio in the world, but it's the finished paintings that count.

Furniture rearrangement done. Now I have to organize the studio before commencing painting again, but I'll save that task for tomorrow.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Rearranged some heavy furniture.

Rainy morning, warm noon in Cubao.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is a fresh-water aquarium.

The problem with religion is not that it is handed down to its followers, but that it needs a fan base of atchays in order to survive.

Fright is an indication of immaturity.

To me, it is more enjoyable to snuggle in bed and read about a mystery than to analyze and solve it myself.

One of the tenants on our compound, Abdillah, is a religious Muslim. He goes to work everyday in Maranao garb. This evening I gave him ALL of my Muslim clothing from Pakistan and Indonesia, two big sacks of them, because I don't wear them anymore. I used to, before I retired, when I was conducting creative writing workshops for Muslim youth at Mindanao State University and for child combatants at a center in Ermita. Abdillah was most appreciative of what I gave him and assured me that he would wear all of the kurtas and the matching pants. He wistfully asked me whether I speak Maranao, and I sensed that he was longing to be able to use his language with a friend--any friend.

I decided to grow into my old age wearing not my Muslim clothing but my traditional Chinese clothing. Whenever I wore the former in Metro Manila, Muslims would approach me, expecting me to be an imam whom they could converse with regularly once a week.

Whenever I am wearing my traditional Chinese clothing in Metro Manila, on the other hand, NO Chinese approach me, because no Chinese in Metro Manila ever wear such clothing. And so I am safer wearing that.

Well, I made one man happy this evening.

Lunch with my sisters Remi and Alice and my granddaughter Aubrey at the center, then jalan-jalan at Lucky Chinatown. Bought bags of purple yam goodies. My sister Remi was planning to buy an ivory-color mahjong set but, when we saw the red set, we all agreed it was stunning and gorgeous.

Angelique couldn't join us because she has classes at her college.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are white doves cooing on the branches of the sky.

Happy Birthday, Judy Aca Saclamitao!

Your birthday messages:

1) Celebrate with three different cakes. One of them should be embellished with clean cowrie shells.
2) Be less aggressive; allow your spirit guides to be aggressive for you.
3) Make a list of three things that make you nervous and work on countering them the coming year.
4) Your birthday colors are black and white.
5) Men, not women, will help you engineer your prosperity through 2018.

Did it ever occur to you that his objective is to annihilate all atchays?

To eradicate your hate for or anger toward someone, imagine him/her as a Care Bear carrying about a throw-pillow heart.

Your hatred and your anger will immediately disappear.

Caught another replayed episode of The Curse of Oak Island on History. The replays are confusing to everyone because of chronological shuffling.

Why didn't they just consult psychic Kim Russo and save themselves a lot of time and money?

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Still cleaning out drawers. Discovered my old Sheaffer fountain pen with italic nib, which I bought on a jalan-jalan with my nephew George 30 years ago. My name is engraved on it--the shop offered free engraving for every purchase--but the gold leaf has rubbed off.

P.S. Bold and italic nibs consume more ink.

The sun is a man in a shining, white suit.

Good morning, Cubao!

A quiet morning in the neighborhood, except for drivers who take P. Tuazon as a shortcut and discover that they can't pass through but try to anyway. Devils are unable to break habits.

Your e-mail message:

"Hello po Sir Tony Perez, _______ po ito from channel __. Sir sa ngayon po kumakalap po kame ng mga kababalaghan stories for november. Special show po for __________________, saan po ba nmen kayo pd makontak, mag ask po sana kame if me maishare po kayo sa amen na pwede po nmen gawan ng feature pero pang new millineals po mgging treatment. Thank you so much po sir tony.

"_______________"

My reply:

Hello _________________!

Thank you for thinking about me, but I am not interested in these things. I have always believed that TV programs like yours only serve to keep the masses unenlightened and misinformed about life after death, ancestors, and spirits, and, consequently, about God. It is not the kind of spirituality they deserve to be taught. And now you want to give millennials the same harmful education disguised as entertainment.

I know of no one who can help you or participate in your project, because such people do not belong to my circle of friends. 

Still reading The Dream Spheres. Love the magical objects, the magical weapons, and the magical jargon!

Angelique now home from college.

I am slowly becoming poorer and poorer by thousands, having to buy all these law textbooks, references, and voluminous case printouts.

Never bring home set pieces or props to decorate your house. They will only make your rooms look pathetic.

Good sandwich jam can be savoury rather than sweet, but you have to make it yourself.

I would buy a throne just for fun (and to seat models for my paintings on), but it would be way too big for any of the rooms in our house.

Cinematic blocking has always been a problem in movie direction, especially in scenes where two or more people are conversing. In real life, people do not turn their backs on the people they are talking to simply for both to favor a camera. Neither do they suddenly rise from their seats and step away to address a wall or a painting on a wall. They sit down and stay where they are, as when the men in The Curse of Oak Island hold discussions inside their war room. It is the camera that moves, not the performers.

Stealing photos and postings is online shoplifting.

Stealing magical spells is electronic kleptomania.

The night is a Berenstain Bears storybook.

Put together another bag of stuff to give away.

The flower man saw me at Toto's shop and pressed two strands on me. These had camia, sampaguita, and ylang-ylang. Offered them at the shivalingam and poured purified water.

Aubrey walked Kichiro Mayuzumi in the driveway earlier, now she is walking Cerefina.

Dusk falls. The sky is an indigo light bulb.

Turned on the incandescent lamps inside the house.

It is science that is simple. It is magic that is complex.

The absence of emotion is not an emotion.

Confusion is not an emotion. It is a mental state.

Indifference is not an emotion. It is an attitude.

Being at a loss is not an emotion. It is a state of memory recall.

Water was the first-ever mirror or means of reflection in our history, and it will remain the most magical.

Children's fears are bigger than adults', and so, do everything you can to dispel them.

They will flatter you and pretend to be on your side, because they want something from you.

Never begrudge a person his success in business.

What one began, he must finish, or else everybody loses.

There are too many epic battles and too few bards to sing them.

Work and rest can be done at the same time if you only knew how.

Unwarranted arrogance always prevents one from wielding effective magic.

Your Messenger message:

"I dreamt i was happily fitting a beautiful pair of white high-heeled shoes. There were people around me, mostly monks . In the dream , i was thinking of what relevance the heeled shoes were, considering that everyone walks around here in sandals or slippers.

"May i request you to interpret the above dream, Tony?"

My reply:

Hello ___________!

The white, high-heeled shoes are the key image in this dream.

1. They represent your attainment of the kind of purity you have always wanted, and you are ready to commence a new journey wearing them.

2. Yet, since you are human, the image also bears its opposite--the shoes could easily represent an attitude of superiority over others.

3. The archetype of white (a.k.a. glass or crystal) shoes is found in the story of Cinderella, the female phoenix who literally rises from the cinders or ashes. In this particular dream Prince Charming is not a person but an abstract ideal.

Never ask what the world is coming to. It only reveals your ignorance and your being a blind slave to tradition.

Drizzly noon in Cubao.

Lunch with Angelique, Aubrey, and Benjie. Bought trotters, among other viands, which my son Chito used to cook for meals.

Then Gene arrived. Angelique and Gene are now at Farmers Plaza. Angelique proceeds to her college from there.

In my dream I am lying naked on a gurney. My ancestors are passing in single file on my left, my colleagues on my right. All of them look at me as though they were viewing a cadaver in an open coffin. I consider my situation and believe I am dead. Then I see that it is my colleagues who are dead, like my ancestors. I want to ask each one of them how they died and what they left behind, but I am not allowed either to move or to speak, at least for now.

The Wands should remain pointing to the ground.

Every disaster is a tragedy, but not every tragedy is a disaster.

Wondering how a former, manic-depressive co-worker from 30 years ago is now. She migrated to the U.S. after 15 years of service to work there and find herself a husband. She lost the first and didn't find the second, and conveniently went back to her province in the south.

The clouds are decks of blank cards.

Good morning, Cubao!

Cerefina had another shampoo and is being walked by Benjie in the driveway. She is ceaselessly and happily barking, announcing to the world what a wonderful day it is.

Dinner at home with Aubrey.

Then Angelique and J. arrived from college and had dinner too.

"Abra abracadabra/
I wanna reach out and grab ya/"

Do not for a moment believe that "bahala na" and other such negative values are attributes of ALL Filipinos.

They are attributes only of atchays.

Two cups very black, Italian blend.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are gray parachutes descending into the city.

When a prospective student comes to me, B.L. immediately tells me whether I should shut the door on him or not--and why.

When you come to me for healing and I cannot do so no matter how hard I try, it is because you have done me some kind of wrong behind my back. It is not I, after all, who heals you, but my spirit guides.

Jose invited me to join him and his fellow artists for their FarceEyed exhibit, but I need a specific model for a painting that I have in mind and will work on that painting only if I find that model within the week. Otherwise I must first read all nine TheatreWorks play drafts (from Ivan, Danial, Clara [two plays], Eve, Wisely [two plays], Eleanor, and Yvonne, and, as I understand it, more play drafts are coming in), must work on Keng Sen's portrait, and must work on a painting of tropical plants for Sarah.

Nine play drafts from TheatreWorks Singapore finally came into my e-mail Inbox. The playwrights who participated in my workshop sure write fast a la MasterChef Australia. Will get down to reading them and posting my dramaturg's notes on my blog Writing from The Heart.

Caught the second half of a replay of The Unborn, a Jewish horror movie about the dybbuk, on HBO. It still has all the elements of the 20th-century genre: dark scenes, nightmares, screaming, everyone dying but the protagonist, power outages, chases in which the chaser inexplicably appears in front of the chased's face, endangered children, possessed and therefore dangerous children, boyfriends appearing and performing rescues at the last minute by a mere cell phone call, locked front doors but conveniently unlocked back doors, and an ending that suggests that evil triumphs and continues.

The Jewish exorcism ritual was interesting. A Christian minister is present to perform a parallel exorcism and conveniently translate to the audience exactly what is going on. The Christian minister, hilariously, ends up being possessed himself and eventually killed, and I wonder if that is supposed to bear a message.

I think I watched the movie to the end for only two reasons: Gary Oldman, of whom I am a fan, and an exquisite, leather-bound, Hebrew book with lots of Hebrew letters and grim illustrations a la Grimm.

Watched what must have been the nth replay of the 2015 Asia's Got Talent finals last night. Someone please tell me why, when Filipino artists are adulated abroad, they are conveniently ignored by their fellow Filipinos when they get back home, as though they were painted birds.

A very mellow Tuesday afternoon in Cubao. Lolling in the small loggia while everyone else is at work. When I was in third grade, I'd look out the classroom window and envy everyone who was not in school.

Finally put all my leather folders and leather notebook covers together on a shelf for easier access. I amassed them over the years, and now I have more than what I need.

I make it hard for every student, but I do not make it impossible.

Tried the Sitio Catacutan bakery's bread pudding, but I find that it is too dense and too heavy. They actually make it out of excess and burnt bread of different varieties.

He used to crack witty jokes during staff meetings, until the officers quenched that, believing that only they could crack witty jokes. He should have worked in the private sector instead, because, this year, I heard that he retired a man with a broken spirit.

From personal experience and observation, I note that one has to ask a specific god, goddess, or saint for a specific thing.

Caught The Unexplained Files on Discovery. Interesting. It featured the man in the ice, and I do have the book The Man in the Ice by Konrad Spindler. Didn't know that the man in the ice was most probably a sacrificial victim, and that a curse surrounding his cadaver has already killed seven people.

What I do know is that, 5,000 years ago, men already knew how to knit, because the cadaver was wearing a knitted tunic.

Lions lie beside lambs all the time.

He thinks he has power, but what he really has is only the lust for power.

As you pollute the rivers of the earth, you pollute the rivers in your veins.

The air is still when a starship hovers over you.

A volcano will erupt once again.

She looks pretty in photographs, but she has the mind and heart of a savage.

A young man cannot sing an old man's song.

The sea is angry because you do not cease polluting it.

Every smear campaign is a commission of murder within the heart.

A half-open door is neither open nor closed. Either open it wide or shut it.

As long as you are comfortable with your convictions, you are a successful trailblazer when people disagree with you.

Like attracts like more strongly than opposites attract.

Nature changes its raiment, and so must you.

It actually hurts more to be suspicious of others than to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Who has the real economic monopoly on sainthood?

The paint brush is mightier than the sword.

Do not take as an apprentice someone who wants to be a star.

A person is beautiful not because of how he/she looks but because of how he/she moves.

At 16 people hardly listen to you. At 60 they sit up and listen. At 66 no one can tell you what to say or do.

Do not be harsh on a child who is like wildfire. He will grow up to be a famous person someday.

Reading literature on magic is like diving underwater without an oxygen tank. After a few pages you will need to resurface and take in fresh air.

When you knock on your father's door asking for a piece of bread and he gives you instead a stone, it is certain to be a five-carat diamond.

When you criticize a woman for wearing a beautiful dress, she will change into an even more beautiful dress. Then you will criticize yourself for having neither of the two dresses.

What others say and what is are usually two different things.

Never buy temporary fixes. If you do, you will be stuck with junk the rest of your life.

Every day is a distinct journey.

Look back and evaluate it every night.

We are all blessed with people, but not all of us are blessed with material things.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are white, porcelain mugs.

Life is woven like reed baskets. Study their patterns and learn from them.

Tears elicit tears.

Know that even spirit guides and deities can change their minds, especially if your intentions are not clear to them.

For men only; women, do not read this:

When you wake up with an erection at dawn, it isn't because you're horny. It's only your body's way of preventing you from peeing in bed.

Loneliness is the worst excuse for religiosity.