Set up a cradled canvas on an easel and primed it. Ready for my first painting for 2019 and my fifth painting for Maryhill School of Theology. Now waiting for the prime to dry.

Day 1 will be the day I begin construction lines.

Gave Cerefina a bath with anti-flea shampoo.

The year is always new not only on the first day of January but all the way through the first quarter, March 31. This period includes Chinese New Year, sometimes Easter, and traditionally the first day of spring, all of which are portents of new beginnings and fresh outlooks on life. 

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

The semi-psychotic man was hovering over the compound trash bins again this morning. I walked up to him and asked him why he intermittently shouted "Hang! Hang!" at no one in particular. I never pussyfoot around people, I prefer confronting them directly.

At first he told me a roundabout story about people living in small houses. Under my astute questioning he eventually said, "Pasensya na po, sir, may tama ako." He said that his erratic behavior began when he took up a devotion to the Santo Nino, the Black Nazarene, and the Blessed Virgin.

Much later, when he walked out the main gate, he resumed shouting to ether once more. Since I was near him, his shouting was clearly "Ha? Ha?" and not "Hang! Hang!" as I first heard him from inside our house.

"Ha? Ha?" is this man's continual call for help, like a soul in torment. It is as though he is constantly calling out to his gods and saints, waiting for them to respond to him and not receiving any kind of answer. 

The December leaves finally fall off my 2018 planner, and I shift to my 2019 planner.

The photo is on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2032924476794269&set=a.936008466485881&type=3&theater

I suggest that all of you gain access to facebook to view my photos henceforth, since I can no longer upload photos directly from my Desktop, from facebook, or from my camera. This is actually just as well, since I don't want my photos automatically entered into Google Photos, for security reasons.

It is such a great blessing to wake up to the morning of the new year without a film of gunpowder soot on everything.

Special joss sticks inscribed with prayers are lit at four altars on our ground floor.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a translucent bag of sweet lemon drops.

Watched parts of HBO's Constantine replay. I saw it on the big screen many years ago. This, to me, was the height of Rachel Weisz's beauty, but the entire movie now seems too convoluted for me. That epilogue scene that occurs after the end titles alludes, of course, to River Phoenix. 

Went out to take a few shots from the main gate, then dipped back in again. In bed now.

Welcome to the world, 2019!

I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors.

Now the children on the compound have begun blowing their plastic horns.

A cold, wet, and almost depressing night in Cubao.

Feeling antsy. I just know I'll set up a new canvas on my easel tomorrow and start priming it. 

A semi-psychotic mangangalakal rummages through our trash bins everyday. While doing so, he shouts, intermittently, "Hang! Hang!" as though calling a friend who is far away.

One of these  days I will scan him to find out what happened in his life to cause him to shout that way.

Will just go outside briefly at 12:00 MN to take photos of a hopefully firecracker- and fireworks-free neighborhood, then go back in again and go to bed. Still a wet, chilly night in Cubao.

Silent Night, Holy Night.

December 31, 2018: Our Cozy, New Year's Eve Family Dinner

It pays to prepare for disaster even when it does not come.

Our family New Year's Eve dinner is almost ready. Still waiting for one delivery. Bought six bottles family-size soda. Set the table and lighted the lamps. We are waiting for my sister Alice; my sister Remi is in Macau.

One thing continues to disturb me on the threshold to 2019: Why is it that heterosexual art can be anything at all, whereas so-called "gay art or queer art" is almost always about naked men? Can't a gay or queer artist paint a landscape, a woman's portrait, or an abstract picture and call it "gay art or queer art"? And what about other LGBTQ persons who DON'T like paintings of naked men?

In the last analysis, why even categorize art along the artist's or the patron's gender and sexual preference?

Don't be a player if you can't play the game.

If you say that liquor or wine is bad for the health, should we strike out all the passages in the Bible that feature the Jews imbibing it?

Two cups very black, Benguet coffee.

I always take a slice of Lanie's pound cake and drizzle it with black coffee.

Halfway through scrubbing the kitchen floor. I note that our cleaners favored mops and long-handled brushes to clean our floors. As for myself, I prefer getting down on my hands and knees the way cloistered monks do. I find that the floors end up spanking clean that way.

Aubrey is off to an early start cooking our New Year's Eve dinner.

Am doing some cleaning. Scrubbing floors, actually.

Food for the gods from the Cusi family, and, of course, delicious pound cake, which Lanie bakes so well.

One of the secrets to success is to be, in your mind, always a college freshman eager to work and eager to learn.

You cannot write correctly if you cannot speak correctly, and vice-versa.

Wrong: "As usual, he made out-of-the-box remarks"

Right: "As usual, he made outside-the-box remarks"

Wrong: "Reckless imprudence resulting to homicide"

Right: "Reckless imprudence resulting in homicide"

Another very wet day in Cubao.

Late lunch with Angelique. Aubrey still resting in her room.

The clouds are made of shaved ice, and the rain is made of milk and syrup.

Good day, Cubao!

Woke up 1:30 PM because I had to accommodate night class students through sunrise.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Brought some food to M.s' cafe staff.

You can thoroughly enjoy anything simply by thinking about it. That is what imagination is for. It defies reality and substitutes for it.

Bird Box does not do justice to Sandra Bullock's unique beauty. There were many times when the cinematography actually made her look like Michael Jackson. Unless that was the point.

John bought me a Herge book, and we are to meet up at the Cubao Leaky Cauldron soon. I still have illusions of being Captain Haddock, though no one in my life qualifies as TinTin even if I frequently talk to Cerefina, who could very well be Snowy.

Janet visits. I would have Posted Boggy's photo and the drawing he made when he was 12 years old, but I can't find them.

A man is always confident when it is December 30 and he still has a lot of money in his pocket.

Sat with Angelique while she had a late lunch in the dining room.

Lunch at home alone. The granddaughters are still sleeping through most of this cold, rainy day upstairs.

Had some of Mawil's gingerbread and loved it.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are cascading waterfalls.

Thought of having sisig with a runny egg and chili, and a root beer with lots of ice, at M.'s cafe but decided to just turn in and go to bed.

The werewolf crossed to the street to the burger stand.

If you don't have a maid, don't shock yourself into cleaning your bathroom and toilet at one go. You will only detest the task. Instead, do one section a day and in rotation: a wall, the sink, the toilet bowl, the floor, and so on. That way you will actually see areas that need extra cleaning, and you will be able to clean each section thoroughly.

Lit the tea light in the aromatherapy lamp inside the ground floor bathroom while taking a shower. This evening I used sandalwood oil.

Dinner at home with Aubrey.

Sent some food to M.'s cafe staff. They seem to have captured the night hawks. Last night they shut down at 2:00 AM.

As for myself, I would rather buy a piece of jewelry or a precious item and enjoy it the rest of my life than take on a project that will give me only memories, especially of people who may eventually not even remember me.

As home administrator I feel that our holiday preparations are complete only as soon as our pantry and refrigerator are completely stocked with everything we need for our big meals.

Whether you are still employed or retired, know that time is really at your command, and it is within your power to use it in order to accomplish what you want, be it a task or the rest and regeneration of your body, mind, or spirit.

Cool, drizzly afternoon + warm, cozy bedroom = a nap with precognitive dreams

And now, kera-kera.

Wallowing in lush, Ifugao fabric in my bed with more, unread chapters from _The Haunted Hotel_, a book I've decided not to give away.

J. arrived while I was cleaning shrimp in the kitchen.

Angelique and J. are going to a party/reunion with Angelique's college friends later.

Going to clean a kilo of big shrimp now.

Afterward I will declare the rest of this day for myself as kera-kera day.

A sketch of a criminal's face is a cartographic sketch, not a composite sketch.

There is such a thing as a composite photo, but there is no such thing as a composite sketch, because a sketch is merely a sequential completion of pencil marks on paper.

Bagong Taon, Bagong Tanong

This is the kind of rainy day that brings me back to grade school. My memories of those times are always of being in the rain. The rain always created bridges between where I was in school and my home, my hometown, and anywhere else I could think of or wanted to be. And, in my mind, I shut out my classmates and crossed those bridges.

A late lunch at home with Angelique. Aubrey still resting in her bedroom.

Back from jalan-jalan in the rain.

It was as cool in Cubao was as on a fresh, spring day. Quite a few men wore their sports jackets, but I decided not to. It was pleasantly cold but not chilly.

There were no grocery lines--(but there will be later this afternoon). Bought more housekeeping stuff, another kilo of big shrimp, and two flat rice cakes.

Good day, Cubao!

The clouds are clusters of white, party balloons.

Angelique arrived home from dinner out.

Took in the gnome cottage and an extension cord. Will take in the gnome hotel tomorrow.

Cleaned the ground floor bathroom before and after my evening shower. Took out the sea clam shells, retained the potpourri bowl, and added an aromatherapy lamp that my sister Sylvia sent us from Australia a year or two ago.

Dinner at home with Aubrey.

Then I bought bags of potato chips at D.'s store and at the neighborhood grocery store for the granddaughters. Also bought two pounds of butter.

Peace begins in your heart, and then in your home, before it can emanate elsewhere.

When your grieving suddenly goes away, it is because the deceased has already reincarnated and wants you to sense that he or she has done so.

Opinions by professionals are not necessarily professional opinions.

Impotent men should meet the New Year with elongated fruits in a basket.

Two cups Chinese green tea while watching raindrops hang and fall from the iron bars of the small loggia like parkour athletes. 

Gray sky over Cubao. Time to turn on the incandescent lamps for a cozy interior.

Tony Perez's Rules of Magical Economy:

1. Take time to laugh at those who strive to disguise the fact that they are copying you.

2. Magic and psychism should only be your third accomplishment. The first two should be legitimate and socially-accepted careers.

3. Agad mong ilaglag ang mga estudyanteng walang magandang kinabukasan.

An artist who does not correct his mistakes will never achieve greatness.

Getting rainier in Cubao.

It is the man who knows how to keep himself safe that lives longest.

Gave Cerefina a bath with anti-flea shampoo. One bottle is good for only two baths, because Cerefina is a big dog.

Sat in the studio and organized my brushes. Caught myself fondling and gazing at my brushes the way I do my precious stones.

I've tried Baguio coffee and Benguet coffee. Baguio coffee is more potent.

Now there are three more days to the New Year, and these are good days to cast spells and banish all the negativity that came your way over the 12 months of 2018.

Two cups very black, Benguet coffee.

Lunch at home with Aubrey.

Angelique on a day out with J.

R. with his family in Palawan, right in the path of the typhoon, and they are scheduled to fly back to Manila tomorrow

Deliveries arrived: four pairs of rattesnake eggs (actually lodestones) for my sister Sylvia and a set of four brushes for myself.

Always look at the past with a critical eye.

Waiting for two deliveries that I thought would arrive after the New Year.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are glass ewers.

I like Supernatural but I cannot appreciate the long-drawn, archangel subplot. I like Law & Order: SVU but I cannot appreciate the Noah-adoption subplot. I like Criminal Minds but I cannot appreciate Spencer Reid's serialized imprisonment subplot. When those subplots go on the screen everything just stops. They furthermore prevent the episodes from being viewed as independent stories.

I must have gotten into the rhythm of Peter Jackson's King Kong replays. I turned off the TV during Ann Darrrow's dresser scene, took a snack, and did one household chore. When I came back to my room I told myself "It will be the 'ice-skating' scene" and turned the TV on again. Sure enough, it was the "ice-skating" scene.

Storm watch. If it gets rainy again I'll finally pack up the gnome cottage and the gnome hotel in the small loggia and place them in storage.

At 4:30 PM in Cubao, the sky begins to dim, looking like a blank canvas on an easel when the studio lights are doused. It is the signal for me to slow down, to set everything aside for the next day, to clean up, to ensure that I begin nothing that I can't finish before sundown.

When dusk falls I am a new person--not the person who rose in the morning to face a day of tasks and chores but a person who now looks at life through the eyes of the night. I light the house with lamplight. I prepare to wallow in the comforts of my room, and lie in bed, and sleep, and dream. 

The day ends because days are supposed to end. Leave your mental baggage in your workplace. Be with your family. Just be.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

I'm really not surprised that boys beat up other boys because I see it a lot on TV, especially supposedly "funny" and "harmless" comics and cartoons. Among the entire slew of them Archie gets beaten up by Moose, and Steve, Snot, and their two buddies from _American Dad_ get beaten up by their peers for various reasons.

Life is an imitation of pop art.

OMG Lorna Verano passed away on Christmas Day. And only recently she'd been posting photos of how healthy and sexy she was.

On the day a political upheaval happens, all electronic systems will go down.

When someone informs you in advance that he or she is going to give you something, you can be sure that there is something that he or she wants in return.

When you unjustly persecute a person, he becomes everyone's hero tomorrow.

Ever since I was in college I avoided going out with classmates and colleagues. My consistent experience was that:

--they expected me to pay for everything.
--they liked going to places I didn't like going to.
--they went to restaurants I didn't patronize.
--they ate food I didn't eat.
--they shopped for items I detested.
--their idea of fun was different from mine.

A person who doesn't follow rules is a self-made brat.

After making a list of things to do over the entire year, ensure that three things get done every month.

Home should be the safest place to be in.

Proceed with caution, for the person you believe you hate is the very person you are subconsciously in love with.

Two marketing tips for the Araneta Coliseum:

1) They would be making more money had they named the show "The Greatest Magic Show On Ice" instead of just "Magic On Ice". Some years ago they already had "Disney's Magic On Ice", which now confuses and subsequently disappoints the audience, especially since MOA is simultaneously showing "Disney On Ice".

2) Their tarpaulin posters feature half-naked, vampy women, which is not exactly what parents want to bring their children to see.

Covering the varnished painting with cloth for now. Will enclose it in bubble wrap next week.

And then set up another canvas on an easel.

Lunch at home with Aubrey.

The neighborhood wakes up from three days and three nights of Christmas, stretches, and comes back to normal.

They who had a December of woe will have a January of fulfillment.

An authentic mage never leads of himself and on his own. He is led to lead by at least 30 spirit guides.

Good noon, Cubao!

The clouds are paddlings of white rubber duckies.

Wondering why W (Double U) shouldn't now be called Double V.

Like gladiators confused by the dissonant cries of a bloodthirsty crowd, they act hastily without thinking, not knowing that they take steps leading to their death.

Contemplate time and your unfinished projects on December 30. It will serve as a springboard for your personal accompishments in the new year.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

Angelique, Aubrey, and J. arrived. Keiko Kashigawa was most happy to see them again.

Night classes 4:00 AM

Let us summarize where you stood in 2018.

Trundling steadily into the Year of The Pig.

Dinner at home alone. Angelique, Aubrey, and J. are having dinner out after their day in Bulacan.

You cannot handle success if you cannot handle adversity.

New Year's resolutions or New Year's revolutions?

I worry about my children and my grandchildren too much. My younger son Chito sent me a Messenger message the evening of December 25 that read, "Have a happy christmas papa..i have work tonight.." I am certain that he meant it as a mere greeting but, being a creative writer, I tended to overread between the lines: Was the message a show of bravery? Was he proud to tell me that he was working on the night of Christmas? Was he unhappy about it, considering that he was wishing me a happy Christmas as opposed to a merry one?

Many years ago he would keep me apprised of his personal problems and problems at work via text-messaging. I'd drop everything, give him advice, and proffer an entire list of solutions. Then he'd be surprised at my messages and reply that he was okay, text-messaging, "Pinapaalam ko lang po sa inyo kung ano'ng nangyayari sa buhay ko." I could never understand that line.

Looking back now, I think that the lesson for me as a parent was to allow my children (and grandchildren) to solve their problems on their own.

Celebrate with your loved ones on New Year's Eve and on New Year's Day, but, beginning the 29th, start shedding your holiday mood. That way your transition to your normal schedule will not be abrupt.

Vernissage: _Cor Inmaculata Mariae_, December 26, 2018

An expert mage, like an expert catalyst, must know how to push the right buttons to jumpstart change in others.

Home alone again. Gave Cerefina a bath with anti-flea shampoo.

Now preparing to varnish Cor Inmaculata Mariae.

The Sun card is now the card to use to communicate and remain connected with me.

I bought FOUR identical Tarot decks many years ago and merged them. When I use these cards in a spread, therefore, it is possible for a card to come up from one to four times in a single spread.

Lunch at the center with my younger son Chito. Then we did New Year's Eve groceries for his family. It drizzled midway through our jaunt.

Home alone for a few hours. Angelique, Aubrey, and J. are off to Bulacan to have lunch out with Ivy's relatives.

Two cups very black, Benguet coffee.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a cosmic bunsen burner.

There is always something homoerotic about boys bullying other boys, especially if the bullying occurs in a rest room, involves peeking at someone's dick while he's pissing, and there is an explicit order to someone to kiss one's balls.

Reminds me of a recent hazing incident, actually.

Checked out The Jungian Tarot Deck and didn't find the images particularly "Jungian" at all. If those Tarot cards are Jungian, then so are the cards of all other decks.

Nothing can be more Jungian than the Rider-Waite, which is most probably the deck that Carl Jung himself studied.

Tarot decks have different genders and age levels. Never choose a deck that has a different gender and a different age level from yours.

You'll know your deck when you see it.

Angelique, Aubrey, and J. took a brief trip to the center.

Dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and J.

I stop wanting something if:

--somebody else has it.
--I see it on TV.
--it is made of resin, fiberglass, or plastic.
--it has no real value.
--it has no magical properties.

In order to save money, you have to give up WANTING half of the items in your wish list.

Be careful about what you Post live. It will be seen by everyone you did NOT intend it for.

My subpersonalities who have remained alive and well within me so far:

Judge Dee
Captain Haddock
James Qwilleran
Hercule Poirot
Zeus
Chiron

The only way to live a simple life is to live in a tiny house.

J. arrived to spend Christmas Day with us.

On Christmas Eve they sing "Silent Night". On New Year's Eve they make as much pagan noise as they possibly can.

X x -X = -Y.

Received a holiday greeting via e-mail from Fivelements in Bali, and memories came back. That's the Ayung River in the background.

Uncanny how there is also the Agung River in Benguet, which passes by the enshrined coffin of Apo Annu.

Received a holiday greeting via e-mail from Alan Holst. He attached their beautiful, family picture. He's retired now and lives in Oregon.

I remember Alan as one of the few FSOs I could ever have intelligent conversations with.

Sat with Angelique and Aubrey in the dining room while they took a late lunch. Already they are making plans for the summer break, which always seems bigger and more grandiose than Christmas.

An unexpected call from Julius Leenon. Haven't seen him in ages. Waiting for one of my 5,000 to unFriend me so that I can Add him. He charges P2,000 for a complete reading (Tarot, I-Ching, palm reading), and I will ask him to do that when I find the time. It's nice to see how other people see me through their own oracles. He remembers my sister Alice and sends her his regards.

Waiting for two deliveries of stuff I bought online, but I doubt that they will arrive on a holiday.

The message of Christmas is never that a baby is born. It is ALWAYS that you are no longer a baby and will never be a baby again in this lifetime and so must stand up and make changes the next 12 months.

My sister Remi hosted a Christmas Day lunch for compound staff, but I woke up late and couldn't go, and so she just sent over some food instead.

Caught in a crowd of atchays inside a church you cannot help but think, "Are all of these atchays going to heaven? And, if I go to heaven, will I continue to be in crowds comprised of them?"

As long as your religious leader thinks, talks, and acts like a prissy old maid, nothing can be done until he is replaced.

If you say you are with Jesus, and the person you hate most turns to Jesus, what, then, would you do in order to remain with Jesus?

You complained to me that you didn't receive as many Christmas gifts as you did last year, but:

--Your pockets are filled with cash, and others are panicking because they no longer have any.
--You are liquid and are even planning to buy a lot more things you want, and others are in debt and have no idea how to pay up.
--You bought yourself the best, personal gifts of all, and others were unable to buy their families the gifts that they asked for.
--Your refrigerator and pantry are well stocked, and others are scrimping and saving and mooching on other people's food.

Always tell yourself this, that, after all is said and done, the most pleasing gifts of all are those that you buy yourself, and that there are no two ways about it.

It is possible for individuals to tear down institutions because institutions are merely made up of individuals, albeit individuals who believe that it cannot and should not be done.

When teachers and students are bullies you immediately blame their parents for the way they were brought up, not realizing that their school's administration and alumni association are filled with the worst bullies in this world.

Workplace Patterns Remembered: When an employee is being fired or terminated, he appeals for help from his previous supervisor, but always to no avail because his previous supervisor is posted elsewhere and, frankly, never really cared about him.

Good noon, Cubao!

The sun is a tented pavilion.

2018 Christmas Eve Dinner With Family

Aubrey busy cooking our Christmas Eve dinner in the kitchen, and, of course, I can't linger there.

Lighted selected electric lamps in preparation for the arrival of my sisters Remi and Alice.

Lunch at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Did some cursory cleaning.

Actually I didn't like her gown and the hairstyle it went with. All of it made her look like Veronica Lodge from Archie Comics.

The distressed boy reached out to me last night, and I gave him three options.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is a sudsy, glass window pane.

We've already claimed a 2019 Starbucks planner for my sister Alice, and now we're almost done gathering stickers for a planner for M.

Tony Perez's Art of War: After you have been vindicated, seek to vindicate yourself all over again. And again. And again.

M.'s cafe still has customers at this hour, and on a Sunday night at that.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

A quiet Christmas Eve eve in the neighborhood. Most of the people are either out of town or are resting. And the weather isn't exactly conducive to staying outdoors.

Dinner at home with Angelique and Aubrey.

Value the talisman by which, when others accuse you of something, they become accused of the same thing a hundredfold.

They should have stopped at the first two paragraphs. Everything else that followed was a weak rationalization.

Planned to varnish Cor Inmaculata Mariae today, but now I can't because of the rain.

Cleaned a kilo of big shrimp (the market stall owners call them prawn but prawn should be a lot bigger to me), cut off their snouts and their whiskers, and placed them in the freezer.

Cleaning big shrimp makes me think of people whose poop is in their heads.

Are you grateful that you are more fortunate than others--or are you grateful that others are less fortunate than you are?

Don't just say that you are grateful. Specify whom you are grateful to.

Avoid devils' traffic. Most of the drivers are bullies who resent having no money, and they even probably have little else.

Back from jalan-jalan. It was my last day for buying more groceries. Bought Shi'itake mushrooms, a sans rival cake, and a kilo of fresh shrimp. I went to the center immediately after lunch but the lines were already long. I didn't think there would be atchays but there were lots of them. Some were buying toothbrushes, and I wonder why anyone has to do that on Christmas Eve eve.

Typical atchay tricks at the cashier's line are:

--Someone falls in line with a cart and her companion goes off to take more and more items from the shelves to further fill the cart with.
--Someone puts her eleven-year-old kid in line and then comes back with cartfuls of groceries.
--Someone brings his balikbayan brother along to pay for groceries, adds a lot of unnecessary items to the cart,  and the balikbayan is shocked at the final bill.

You don't have to go to the Coliseum to watch a circus. The circus is right there in every grocery store.

Lunch at home with Angelique. Aubrey still resting in her room upstairs.

Remembering that last Christmas was a wet Christmas too.

The sky is a plaza filled with marble fountains.

Good morning, Cubao!

Slept nine hours last night. The pitter-patter of the rain was a lullaby stronger than the song of the sirens of the sea.

The werewolf crossed the street to the burger stand.

If you want to cleanse and reset your digestive tract, take a four-finger measure of Alfonso Platinum at night, and only if you can stay at home the next day.

Wrong: I feel amazing.

Right:

--I am amazed.
--This is amazing to me.

Dinner at home with Aubrey.

Dress rehearsal for our sliced, sweet ham sauteed in Danish butter. Aubrey turns up her nose at pineapple sauce and so did not include that.

One-hour, mid-afternoon nap.

Now Angelique is off to have dinner with a high school friend.

Angelique took a late lunch in the dining room while I finished watching a tutorial on the desktop computer.

Saint Louis is not yet touch-dry.

A completely unexpected gift from Kathryn, whom I used as a model for my cyberspace book The Pamela Quests: Pam and as the mermaid in my painting The Midnight Lecture.

This is now on my computer table holding my long-handle magnifying lens, so that I can see it everyday.

Lunch at home with Aubrey. Angelique still sleeping in her room.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a bowl of white grapes.

Those who live by bureaucracy, die by bureaucracy.

It is the person who never prepared for his retirement who ends up being the unhappiest.

Ignore all adversities and they will soon die faster than you think.

Dinner at home alone. Then Aubrey and R. arrived from their university's Paskuhan.

Aubrey and R. at their university's Paskuhan.

Angelique and J. arrived from a day out but are leaving soon to attend a Christmas party.

Back from jalan-jalan. Paid our water bill and bought everything Aubrey needs to make shepherd's pie. Bought meat for roast beef as well.

A bully is a terrorist, and a terrorist is a sociopath.

Your Messenger message:

"Sir Tony, how are you po? Can't sleep tonight and this came to my mind--- when is the best time kaya for me to get married? Or is it even recommended?"


My reply:

Hello ___________!

It is time to get married when:

--You have achieved mental and emotional maturity.
--You have the finances to support a family and are able to keep them free from want.
--You are truly in love with the person you want to marry, and can see yourselves growing old together.
--You are able to give up everything, including your old life, your old self, and your old dreams, for the sake of your spouse and your children.
--You are certain that the change in civil status is permanent and irreversible.
--You are incapable of sexual diversions.
--You know your true identity and your spouse knows your true identity.
--You have the right habitation for living with a spouse and your future children.

You were unable to sleep probably because you have not achieved any of the above.

Devils' traffic respects no holidays, holy days, or special days. Its objective is to decimate the population.

Today is the Dongzhi Festival, celebrating the Chinese winter equinox.

The morning peeled off my blanket and let the daylight in through my bedroom windows.

Good morning, Cubao!

Every sun is a galactic conversation piece.

A brief business meeting with M.

A birthday/Christmas party is ongoing at M.'s cafe. The neighborhood elfin mound is alive on a Thursday night.

Dinner at home alone. Aubrey and R. ordered food from outside and are taking their dinner upstairs. Angelique and J. arrived from a party and from dinner out.

Everybody home.

There should be a living room on every floor.

There should be a living room for every three bedrooms.

Trust--never curiosity or the wish to be entertained--is the key to the success of every healing session.

The cork must first come out. Only then will the contents of the bottle follow.

The werewolf crossed the street to the shawarma stand.

Aubrey and R. arrived from university and lunch out.

Angelique and J. at a party.

Lunch at home with Angelique. Aubrey at university and having lunch out.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are sheaves of paper palettes.

Aubrey arrived from an afternoon out and dinner out with R.

Wednesday Afternoon With The Spirit Questors (December 19, 2018)

Preliminaries, A Tuob, Using Colored Glass For Alignment, And Imprinting Images On A Patient's Auric Shell