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.