A few days ago Aubrey and I tried the x4 Sam Yang (purple packet). It was too hot. The heat lingered too long like an unpleasant aftertaste. My mouth felt like the forge of Vulcan. The only way we were able to make the heat go away was to eat pan de sal.

We've tried all Sam Yang varieties, and Aubrey likes only the original (black packet) and the cheese (yellow packet).

Everybody home.

Lunch with Angelique, Aubrey, and J.

Sheer madness, I know, but I simply had to have this glazed-clay, Aries vase.

It gave me sleepless nights and promised to be an unusual oracle.

The werewolf crossed the street to eat a vanilla ice cream cone. (Not his favorite flavor, but there were none other available.)

Phat doog in the dining room while I was having a late night snack in the kitchen. Had to hide the camera and couldn't use the flash because she runs away from both.

Two cups very black, espresso blend.

An artist can never have too many easels, as a writer can never have too many writing surfaces.

Move to action even before supplies begin to dwindle.

I love seeing the expressions on people's faces when they come to me and proudly show me things I used to like or tell me of their accomplishments in fields I used to be enthusiastic about and I tell them, "I'm sorry. I'm not interested in those anymore."

A leader should always be a good sport, and should not bear grudges against anyone.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a chest of resplendent jewels.

Never think in terms of battles between good and evil, for everyone and everything are in between and, in real life, battles are between good and good and between evil and evil.

I ceased maintaining close groups at 50. I wanted to age without anyone completely knowing anything about me.

I do maintain a strong presence in cyberspace, and I continue to write and to paint.

The best photographers I know do NOT crop their photos. Their photos are painstakingly and perfectly composed at the moment when they are shot.

A black-and-white picture resulting from the photoshop of a picture in color will NOT and will NEVER look the same as when the picture was originally taken in black-and-white.

Everything she does is for show, and I want to ask her if she is is truly happy.

Pressuring your children to succeed always causes them anxiety and tension.

If you tell them, on the other hand, that doing their best is good enough and that it is all right to fail, they will fly on their own wings and excel.

Aubrey cooks sirloin steak for dinner.

Finally bought a stainless steel steamer because the steamer inside our rice cooker is too small.

Third layer of varnish on Raul's portrait.

Good morning, Cubao!

The clouds are stairways leading down to the patio of the sky.

What is the point of academic writing if, like a piquant DVD, it is read once, shelved, and then easily forgotten?

After decades of academic writing, where has it brought us?

Not everybody likes sleeping in another person's arms. After some time it feels like being in handcuffs.

A novelty today is worthless junk tomorrow.

The view from our small loggia:

Employees on the morning shift stride briskly and purposefully.

Employees on the noon shift diffidently saunter.

Employees on the evening shift glide enthusiastically, as though at the start of an adventure.

Employees on the night shift trudge.

Chilly evening in Cubao.

Lit the paraffin oil lamps.

Home. A mellow afternoon. The sun is lowering itself on the horizon and is casting side lighting that makes everyone and everything look as though they were steeped in Mountain Dew.

Jalan-jalan at the center. Aubrey did major groceries. Angelique studying at my favorite Starbucks branch and will meet up with J. later.

The werewolf crossed the street and ate a purple yam ice cream cone.

Frustration is a result of expecting too much of others and of yourself.

Before I retired, every chore and every ablution was an annoying task that I got rid of as soon as possible between work days.

Today, every chore and every ablution is a slow, enjoyable act as sacred and as elaborate as a Japanese tea ceremony.

He who complains too much gets what he deserves, not what he wants.

Magic works always for the industrious and never for the lazy.

Your spirit guides offer you catalogues of wishes, but never forget to thank them for what they grant you.

Death is a passing train with many carriages.

When children cry a lot, it is because, unbeknownst to you, they feel very insecure.

Love makes you look forward to every hour of every day.

Marbling is a cosmic pattern that contains, within itself, all patterns of sacred geometry.

Genuine honesty is being translucent rather than transparent.

9:25 AM. Second layer of varnish on Raul's portrait.

John Singer Sargent's palette and oil brushes

Photo from the Internet

John Singer Sargent's oil brushes

He used rounds, brights, liners, and flats.

Photo from the Internet

Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is a fresh page in a leather-bound dream journal.

Caught The Others on HBO. I watched this on the big screen years ago, on or about the time when Nicole Kidman may have still been hurting from her separation from Tom Cruise. Still a lyrical ghost story for me.

Anyone who can see and appreciate true beauty in everyone and in everything is a spiritual person.

Sounds such as those of cicadas, of the wind, of the rain, of the waves on the shore can be converted to human voices.

Your mind is the command post of all for your personal projects.

Positive action to help other people is the best form of prayer.

An effective workshop shakes its participants by the shoulders and shocks their dormant creativity into motion. Otherwise the participants are better off just reading books in the comfort of their easy chairs.

It is never good enough for a house to be beautiful. It must also have a consistently pleasant atmosphere emitted by the house itself and its residents.

God spits on men who spit on their fellow men.

Keeping things that are heavily damaged and beyond repair can hinder your personal progress.

I like lambanog because it is made from coconut, and coconut has healing properties.

The morning after you take lambanog, all of the toxins get flushed out from your body.

One of the Sitio Catacutan hawkers' stands is selling jalujalo again.

It is the student who was frequently sneered at by his teachers, rather than the student who was frequently abetted by his teaches, who later becomes a big success in life.

You are always on the losing end whenever you try to put someone down, because that someone will always rise to greater heights than yours and will be looking down on you from above.

There is always a proper substitute for everyone, except for the people whom you love.

Naturally they are possessed by devils in devils' traffic.

2:00 PM. First layer of varnish on Raul's portrait.

Two cups very black, espresso blend.

Raul finally finished his portrait of me, and I am posting it here with my portrait of him. It is a portrait challenge; we haven't seen each other in more than 20 years.

Tuesday, February 6 in California, Wednesday, February 7 in Cubao.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sky is strewn with white rice-cakes.

The Sitio Catacutan taong-grasa has been gone for several months now. I wonder where he is and what ever happened to him.

Watched The Man in the Brown Suit, which was quite unfaithful to the original novel. This was written, directed, and performed in the manner of 60s-70s TV shows such as Get Smart and Charlie's Angels, in which ham acting was in vogue. It was difficult for me to sympathize with any of the characters. Alas, I feel that comedy and Agatha Christie do not mix well.

Filled the lamps on the staircase treads with paraffin oil.

When on Messenger, do not leave your cursor on the reply window, otherwise the person you are conversing with will think that you are encoding a reply. Just Click outside the Messenger window.

Watched The Witness for the Prosecution. I recall that one of Angelique's law professors assigned this to his class last semester. We didn't have the DVD then and Angelique had to download the movie onto her laptop. The version she downloaded was in black-and-white. This one's in color--shot with an amber filter until the last few scenes, suddenly switching to a milky-white filter through the end of the movie. Well-directed, well-performed and well-photographed with an eye for creative transitions.

It has the same twist as Death on the Nile.

The gods and goddesses mete out not only blessings but also punishment.

Whom they shun today, they will worship tomorrow.

Always recognize cries for help, for they often come heavily disguised.

Fate rotates not like a wheel but like a ball.

If you live near EDSA like I do, the occasional screeching and wailing of ambulances and fire engines are normal sounds, especially at night, when everything else is relatively quiet. The sirens always remind me of the opening of Gino Vannelli's "Night Walker". Whenever I hear those sounds I feel like putting on my jacket and roaming the dark streets, as though to assure the shadows that I am still alive.

I have many friends who operate antique shops, and often, while browsing through their ware, I've overheard obnoxious customers try to browbeat their way to a good deal.

My advice to my friends is:

Never welcome a person who has taste but who does not have the money to buy what he wants. He is in his personal hell and deserves to stay there.

He will only:

--pretend to be interested in something else while inching his way toward the item he really wants.
--eventually zero in on what he wants and tells you everything he thinks is wrong with it.
--haggle tirelessly over the price below realistic levels.
--be offensive toward you in an effort to demonstrate how much more knowledgeable and intelligent he is.

When you encounter such a customer, take the item, move it away from him, stow it away so that he can no longer see it, and say, "I changed my mind. This item is no longer for sale."

And don't even apologize for anything.

The sky is an expanse of blue sand.

Good morning, Cubao!

Slept ten hours last night.

The better off a person is, the pickier his children will be about their food.

Every room in a house should have seating space for at least six people.

A mirror in the foyer really serves to deflect negativity from outside.

Fantasies change because of disappointment.

Dreams change because of frustration.

Ambitions change because of rejection.

Fantasies, dreams, and ambitions are not made of the same stuff, and so the average person must have all three.

Henry offered me these two, red chairs at irresistible bargain prices. I placed them beside the staircase, to the right of my writing desk, to create a conversation corner or waiting area.

Two cups very black espresso blend.

Your Messenger message:

"Good morning sir tony, just wanted to ask about my dream last night kung ok lang, konti nalang naalala ko pero parang i was somewhere outside, tas may nakita kong snake, then when i held it, it bit me multiplw times in the hand, knees and foot. Tapos nun, i went in to tell my mom and dad, tapos parang they didnt even bother to help me, parang di burden pa sakanilanh tulungan ako, so i went on my own sa hospital only to find na walang antivenom sa nearest hospital. Tapos dun na ko nagising. I cant remember the details vividly eh, pero that's what i can recall. Thank you sir Tony! "


My reply:

Hello ____!

Your psyche is telling you to resolve sexual attraction and relationship problems on your own--maturely and responsibly.

Very recently, you may have considered having an unusual relationship with someone, or someone may have suggested having an unusual relationship with you. Should you enter into this relationship, you will be hurt many times over.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is a chandelier viewed through a glass window.

Watched Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, based on the book Ten Little Indians. It is in three parts--or three acts, as the stage play was, and, instead of Ten Little Indians, there are Ten Little Soldier Boys, to me surprisingly made of jade in Art Deco style. The direction and performances are superb; the appearance of past victims' "ghosts" inside the house make this production truly cinematic rather than theatrical. That final, hanging scene seemed to me quite prolonged and rather awkward, though.

They will never take them back, because in the first place they were never good at what they claimed to be good at.

Her mouth always precedes her mind.

Tony Perez's Art of War: When someone doesn't like you, desist from approaching him/her, but it is your duty to not like/him/her in return in order to teach him/her a lesson.

You know you are a healer when many wounded people naturally gravitate toward you.

It is always preferable to have a house that is beautiful inside though not beautiful outside, than a house that is beautiful outside but not beautiful inside.

http://tonyperezphilippinescyberspacebook18.blogspot.com/2018/02/every-writer-in-present-is-possessed-by.html

All stones have the distinct faces of earth elementals.

She tried to build a stairway to heaven. Now she comes to the end of the road. He who will be left behind will be devastated. She who was looking on will sympathize.

Finished watching Agatha Christie: Crooked House, which has Glenn Close, Terence Stamp, and Gillian Anderson, among others, in the cast. Gorgeous interiors and VERY gorgeous, creative shots, editing, and lighting. The last 15 minutes were chilling, as were the last several pages of the book.

Jalan-jalan to the Korean strip of grocery stores at Farmers Wet Market. Bought a pack of classic Sam Yang, a pack of curry Sam Yang, and a pack of 4x hot Sam Yang, a pack of strawberry-flavored Samango, 2 packs shrimp siomai, and a pack of kimchi. Saw three items I want to come back for.

Thankfully they are open on Sundays.

Everyone is planning to celebrate Valentine's Day much earlier or much later.

Good morning, Cubao!

The sun is the iris of a golden eye.

http://www.chineseamericanfamily.com/chinese-festival-lantern/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=lantern-craft

Dinner at home with Angelique, Aubrey, and J.

One-hour afternoon nap.

In the meantime Angelique bought a tumbler to use in college and Aubrey went to the family dentist's to have her braces tightened and afterward bought a set of yellow gold, rose gold, and white gold earrings at Gateway.

Back from Margie Logarta's Gertrude Stein lunch party in her 20th floor apartment.

Sketched portraits of Domini Torrevillas-Suarez, Isah Red, and Anna, one of Margie's close friends.

A lot of showbiz news were going round after lunch, but I had to leave because it was getting on to mid-afternoon.