The advantage to living in Cubao is that, when we neither have the time nor the inclination to cook, all we have to do is order food to be delivered to our doorstep.

Converted an iron chandelier to a hanging planter for my sister Alice's front porch.

People will allow you to change your name, your clothes, your citizenship, your gender, your occupation, your neighborhood, your house, your civil status, and your religion.

They won't allow you to change your race because they need at least one thing to discriminate against you with.

Democracy gives one the freedom to be whatever one wants to be.

Trace back every misfortune you've ever had, and it will lead you to an act of injustice that you did to someone.

After an earthquake in Neh-poll, an earthquake in Kohl-ifornia?

We are terrified of foreign cultures not because of their architecture, their art, their clothing, their food, and their language but because of the different way their people relate to one another.

To remember your ancestors, have an altar with their photos or relics. Place a glass of fresh water on it and light a candle for at least an hour every evening.

So how do the pretentious pronounce Bali? Boh-lee?

Eager to go shopping, lazy to get dressed, unwilling to scandalize people by going out in my house shorts.

Screening the grilles on my sister Alice's front porch.

Appalled by the way you insist on pronouncing Neh-poll.

One thing is proven: The pretentious cannot be corrected.

Good morning, Cubao!

We are done relocating the Brother Cadfael planters on the front balcony grilles.

Still organizing the studio lounge--a bigger task than I thought.

Finished watching "The Lost Webisodes: Part 2" from Sanctuary. A lot of sequences were edited out for the final version. Too bad--this one was more Freudian and had more verbal and visual humor, better exposition, and used lighter and more natural facial make-up. The only downside was the irregular fashion sense of Dr. Magnus.

Good night, Cubao!

Benjie resumes work tomorrow.

There is only one basic requirement in order for you to achieve complete happiness and success in life. It is to honor and remain spiritually connected to your ancestors.

The mind is willing but the heart is not.

Please, don't ask me to teach inside a classroom ever again. I don't want to work anymore.

If some people are happily married, I am happily retired.

Besides, the last thing I want to do is die as a classroom teacher.

As with shoes and clothes, one cannot buy school supplies for one's child. They have to be there and choose the school supplies themselves, while you wait at the cashier to pay for everything.

Aubrey just came back from her first day in eleventh grade.

We are buying school supplies for her later this evening.

The good news is that we don't have to buy any books, hardbound or softbound.

The bad news is that every student is required to purchase an iPad from the school. I think I'll pay in cash to avoid being beset by monthly payments.

Finished watching the original, 2007, pilot episode of Sanctuary. More questions are answered in this version and there are passages of crisper dialogue omitted in the final version, but the final version has more interesting sets--especially Dr. Magnus's office--and I am certain that the trial audience gave feedback against the kidnapping of Will (versus his willful visit to the Sanctuary), encouraging a minor to commit murder and be a witness to adult violence, hints of father-daughter incest, a lot of cleavage shots, and an inexplicable gaping wound in the boy's body.

The teleplay writer's main problem was introducing too many issues in one episode, resulting in disjointed sequences.
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Finished watching "Revelations: Part 2" from Sanctuary. Nice. I must say, the worst parts of the series were the action and the derivative hi-tech sequences. The strongest were the relationships between characters.

Screening of side balcony was completed yesterday. Tomorrow we relocate all of the Brother Cadfael planters on the front balcony grilles.

Good day, Cubao!

Aubrey's first day in eleventh grade.

"The more I see you/
The more I want you/"

Good night, Cubao!

I look forward to an interesting week.

Finished watching "Revelations: Part 1" from Sanctuary. Like most series, this one gets better just as the season comes to an end. The first few episodes are usually awkward, with cast and crew still unfamiliar with one another and groping about as a pencil artist gropes for the exact figure of his model on paper.

Watching the first few episodes of any series, therefore, is like buying tickets to watch the drop-books rehearsal, the technical rehearsal, and the dress rehearsal of a play. Everyone is better off walking into the fourth episode, and, by then, the end of the series is almost visible on the horizon.

Will watch Part 2 tomorrow.

Finished watching "Instinct" from Sanctuary. Another good one. I note that the production was also relatively minimalist, which brings the viewer to focus on the actors, their characters, and their performances more than anything else.

Finished watching "Warriors" from Sanctuary. Quite engaging. Everyone knows, of course, that I like the set in the opening scene.

Brother Moon

It has been more than a year, and I think it is distant enough in time for me to post this anecdote.

One of the last "Writing from The Heart" workshops I conducted for the office was as an outreach program in ____________, well-known to be the most indigent district in Metro Manila. Poverty and drug addiction were rife there. The barangay chairperson was overjoyed to host the workshop and chose the participants himself--wayward youths whom we all hoped would benefit from their awakened creativity. The venue for the workshop was ____________, allegedly a model establishment for educating the poor. It was headed by a Brother ____________, a man in his fifties who had devoted many years of his life to his vocation.

During the workshop there was a to-do behind the library. The female staff were alarmed because a band of addicts had taken off their clothes and were hanging out behind the building, next to the river. One of the staff members approached me and asked if there was anything I could do. Since I was working for the office I replied that the parameters of my duties were restricted to conducting the workshop and being responsible only for the participants of the workshop. I wasn't, after all, representing the Police Department. The following day Brother ____________ promptly added three more participants to the group. I suspected that they were the addicts who were by the riverside the previous day; they certainly seemed spaced out and unable to focus.

At the end of the workshop some of the boys proposed to keep in touch with me electronically, and they remained so until I switched to another social medium. One of them was Z, a public high school student who wanted to come to my house every Saturday not only for more lessons but to learn drawing and painting as well. I said that we could do that if his parents would allow it and if he could be accompanied by an elder relative. Z was the last boy to leave the venue at the end of the workshop. Brother ____________ came and asked me if everything went well. I told him of Z's proposal.

Quite unexpectedly, Brother ____________ quickly transformed into a flamboyant queen, gushing over Z, confessing how much he wanted Z to be with him, and offering him a part-time, Saturday job in a small, resin production factory that he operated out of his home. Z and I were shocked speechless by his sudden change in character. As soon as the office driver arrived I left Z with Brother ____________, wishing them the best of luck.

I wonder, now, whether Brother ____________ is still there, and whether he is a truly happy man. I know that criminals-at-heart are attracted to jobs that have to do with the rehabilitation of criminals, drug-addicts-at-heart are attracted to jobs that have to do with the rehabilitation of drug addicts, prostitutes-at-heart are attracted to jobs that have to do with the rehabilitation of prostitutes, and so on. Unless you're working in an office and simply do what is in your job description, of course.

P.S. in a private message to me a week later, Z later disclosed to me that he never took up Brother ____________ on his offer.

You need to already be self-sufficient and content by yourself before entering a prospective relationship. Otherwise you will make unrealistic and unfair demands on your partner. This is the root of all conflict and separation.

Foregoing a love affair is like foregoing an expensive item that you can afford but decide not to buy. In the end, you not only are happier for passing up on it, but you also remain richer.

The psychology we use is based on a reality of the primitive age--that people needed to belong to a community for survival. Yet, we are quick to forget that technology and time are being designed for the individual to exist alone and independently of others.

It is all right to wear fancy jewelry as long as it is beautiful and becoming.

Turning off people is an art that automatically and effectively eliminates useless players from your life.

When I was 18 I already knew that it is far better to be obsessed with hobbies and material things rather than with persons, because no one is really what you think they are.

I can't cast the protection spell until July.

Good day, Cubao!

We are still screening the front balcony.

Managed to re-strand three antique, Ifugao bead necklaces today.

Tuned to Ci, another of my default, bedtime channels. I hope that one murder after another does not make me ultimately indifferent to death.

Chocolate powder makes a good, strong, indelible wash for sepia backgrounds or for tinting pen-and-ink drawings, but the completed work should be sprayed with fixative and then should be framed behind glass.

Good night, Cubao!

Hoping to finish the screening of the side balcony tomorrow.

Now I've a definite idea of how my writing space in the studio lounge should look like, but it may take some time before I achieve it.

Napped an hour this afternoon once again. I always do so while tuned to world news.

Napping is a luxury I never had when I was still working in an office. I always wake up refreshed from a nap, and it seems to expand a single day into two separate days.

Finished viewing "Requiem" from Sanctuary. Another good one. Like "Kush", its minimalism compelled the actors to go within themselves and deliver gripping performances.

Finished viewing "Edward" from Sanctuary. The best of the lot so far. It was truly spectacular without relying on hi-tech equipment.

Screening of front balcony is done.

We are now screening the side balcony.

Now Kichiro Mayuzumi's toys won't fall onto the driveway or the street.

Never send off your kids to an event or activity without giving them an emergency fund. It will make them feel terribly insecure.

It is having lots of time to spend that makes me feel like a king.

Continue giving your children their allowance even during summer breaks and holidays. It teaches them the value of money, the value of having purchasing power, and the value of saving up for something.

If you give them their allowance only on school days, they will grow up to become employees who will not complain or fight for their rights when their employers cease paying them or cut down on their salaries.

"Laser Wand": Night of Friday, June 12, 2015

Events of The Day:

Assembled two new 3D puzzles for a change of pace. Located them in the upper floor hallway, under bell jars.

Visited my sister Alice in her apartment.

Paid for an on-line bag that Angelique wants to have for the first semester.

Made a list of things that I want to buy for myself. There seems to be no correlation between retirement and shopping. And, to think that my excuse for shopping when I was younger was to have things I could use and enjoy upon retiring.


The Dream:

I am with a woman who is a cross between Pat K. and Kristin K. She has invited me to lunch, and we are seated at a table with a white tablecloth inside a restaurant. For some reason Vic A. and Boyet V. are also seated with us. A window is to my left, and the bright sunlight streams in.

The woman tells me all about her trip to Australia, where she happened to purchase a crystal quartz laser wand. She is not a crystal person but was particularly attracted to the laser wand. She takes it out from her purse and shows it to us. It is an impressive piece, and seems to have clear, rectangular inclusions--I sense that they contain important memory data.

I take the laser wand in my hands and ask the woman if she would mind my reading the information from the laser wand. I close my eyes, go back into the past, and relay what I see. The woman was a man in a previous lifetime. His greatest dream was to be a writer. He wrote his first poem, an attempt which was not a success and was for the most part unappreciated by the people who mattered to him. This devastated him. I also see the loss of a special person, a child.

I open my eyes once again and see that the woman is profusely weeping,  I feel that she still aims to be a writer, and wishes to succeed but does not quite know how. I advise her to place the laser wand under her pillow before sleeping and pay attention to her dreams. Boyet chimes in and talks about his own experiences with crystals.

I think about Brisbane and Adelaide.


My Interpretation:

The dream has allusions to Australia because I am unable to attend my niece Katrina's wedding in Sydney. Two of my sisters, however, will be there. On one level, the "loss of a child" may refer to my sister Sylvia's "losing" her daughter, who is getting married.

On a deeper level, a man or a woman with the initial K. is experiencing a loss and wishes to consult me about it. A crystal quartz laser wand--his/hers or one of mine plays a part in the issue.

Good morning, Cubao!

Benjie has recovered from the flu and is resuming the screening of the front balcony.

My sister Alice recently obtained her visa to Australia. My sisters Remi and Alice are going to Sydney to attend my niece Katrina's wedding. I have only one niece, but am unable to join them because I cannot leave the granddaughters at home: school is opening.

Also, no one will feed and water the birds--don't ask me how many, I've lost count.

But I did promise my sister Sylvia that I would paint an oil portrait of Katrina and James.

Looking back to my days at work, I review the people who thought that they could use me and believed that they did, and the people who thought that they could use me and believed that they did not. I cherish my memories of the latter.

Insubordination was the first sin.

Envy not, no matter how inferior you think you are.

I have always believed that an excessive concern for propriety is a detriment to progress.

Aubrey's recent bakes include beef and ham and cheese empanadas, and cookies with M&Ms and crushed almonds. She also made caramelized and salted popcorn.

Good night, Cubao!

Dreaming of an antique, ivory bangle that someone recently showed me.

Watched "The Five" from Sanctuary. Interesting structure. Four plots equally intertwined.

An application or update that offers itself without giving you the option to decline it should never be accepted.

My secret crush has probably left the Embassy and has been reassigned to another post.

Set up a writing desk in the studio lounge, which is between the small loggia and my captain's cabin bedroom. Now all I have to do is walk a few steps whenever I want to write at night. The lounge has begun to look somewhat like a small office. It is where I can receive guests rather than take them all the way into the living room.

Good morning, Cubao!

We seem to be moving forward on the rental of our front space.

In every movie and TV show, romance--just like a musical number when everyone suddenly stops to sing and dance--prevents the story from moving forward.

Good night, Cubao!

After watching the news, I go to sleep completely convinced that it is the world that is crazy and not I.

Bobohizan in Malay, babaylan in Tagalog/Visayan.

If Asia has Bahasa Malay and Bahasa Indonesia, would it not also have--if Spain did not linger too long in the Philippines--Bahasa Philippines?

We hunted everywhere for a nut chopper--the kind my aunt used when she was baking petit fortunes in San Fernando, Pampanga. It was a glass vessel with a four-blade mechanism that one manually moved up and down to dice the nuts within into hundreds of small pieces.

After I described it to Aubrey, she said, "Why should we have to do that, Grandpa? All we have to do is put the nuts in the blender."

Before I retired I thought that, after I retired, I would organize monthly book club meetings for the poor in our neighborhood, tying up with the library of the nearest university. The objective would be to raise the intellectual level of the community. Our neighborhood already has an art gallery, after all--why not a book club on top of it, and, to be even more ambitious, a theater group?

Unfortunately I now I see this as too much work and as a distraction from my writing, painting, and knitting.

Finished watching "Nubbins" from Sanctuary. Werewolf and muppets. In this episode the creators' repressed sexuality comes to the fore--the same trap that The Librarians fell into.

I have always wondered why the female protagonists bother to wear make-up, jewelry, and seductive clothing when the only company they are with is comprised of their co-workers.

Last night, before drifting off to sleep, I watched Mr. Fiction on TV. DIVA is one of my default, pre-bedtime, stations.

Hung a Philippine flag on our side balcony in preparation for tomorrow, Philippine Independence Day. It goes with the Cubao New Orleans French Quarter motif. In the New Orleans French Quarter, most of the flags are on short, slanted, steel poles, but I feel that that would be a little too much for our house.

The Mysterious Tocino Stall

In 1979 I discovered a stall that sold tocino in Arayat Market. An elderly woman was selling them, among other meat items. I bought half a kilo and took it home--it wasn't prepared commercially, and so, it was some of the best tocino we'd ever had. Years later, when Nelson was in college and Chito in high school, I sent them on different occasions to the same stall, describing it and even sketching a ground plan of the market and the stall's location, but neither of them could find it. In 2002, when Miranda's Cove opened, I remembered the tocino again and asked my daughter-in-law Ivy and her cousin CatCat to check out the stall. Like Nelson and Chito, they could not find it. I decided that, after the passage of time, the stall must have shut down and transferred ownership.

It is 2015. Ivy is in their house in Cavite while recuperating from hospitalization. Angelique and Aubrey prefer to buy our food in groceries, and only I go to market. Last week, finding myself in Arayat Market again, I thought I'd search for the tocino stall, buy I wasn't optimistic about it. It was there, though the wet market had been reconfigured since 1979.

Same elderly woman, same tocino.

I've been buying from the stall ever since.My granddaughters agree that the tocino is excellent. And to think that the woman who processes and sells them isn't even from Pampanga!

Went shopping for items that I saw when I was with my granddaughters the other day. I just had to go back for them.

Norbert stood by my bed at 3:45 AM last night. He was silent and simply gazing at me. I wonder what he wanted to say to me. Perhaps he wanted some financial help extended to his bereaved family. I asked him to go and visit my nephew Bill.

Good morning, Cubao!

Thinking of doing something not usual today.

Good night, Cubao!

It was actually tiring to go shopping today, but necessary. We spent most of the day outside.

The Enchanted Aviary: The Little-Boy Shrike Goes To A Foster Home

And so it was that, one fine morning, the Department of Social Wingfare sent two social wingers to The Eavian to bundle up the little-boy shrike and deliver it to the hermitage. The little-girl shrike watched from a corner of the ward, her tiny heart beating with anxiety, saying prayers of thanksgiving and sending many good wishes toward her baby brother as he was taken from his nest. She wept silently, knowing that, with all the trillions of shrikes in this world, she might never see her brother again. Or, worse, that even should they meet, he would no longer know who she was.

After seeing the little-boy shrike to the enchanted aviary inside the small loggia, the nurse returned to the ward. She suggested that the little-girl shrike be transferred to the hospice, beneath the water tank of the hermitage. For, indeed, the empty nest that the little-boy shrike had left behind was a sad, lonely sight that only crushed the little-girl shrike's heart whenever she passed the corridor and saw it. The little-girl shrike was only too glad to be transferred. She could not bear to see the empty nest and remember the most painful memories of their ruined family: their father's departure, their mother's insanity and abuse, and the physical beatings from their mother that her baby brother endured.

Things were more pleasant at the hospice, at any rate. The orphan birds there were fond of playing bird-board games such as chirp checkers, chirp chess, downy dominoes, Cuckoo Clue-Do, Loonopoly, and the like. The nurse promised the little-girl shrike that the priest and priestess would try to persuade the old hermit to adopt her as well, after a passage of six months. The little-girl shrike smiled and slept in peace with a glimmer of hope, though having known, early on in life, that most promises never become reality.

At the aviary, the hermit placed the little-boy shrike under the care of the attentive Divinatory Birds, who agreed among themselves that it would be such fun to have a baby bird to care for. The sparrows taught the little-boy shrike everything they ever knew about divination, and then introduced the little-boy shrike to the other inhabitants of the small loggia.

The Dreamer Birds held a particular fondness for the little-boy shrike, and requested that he be present during their weekly lunches. The shrike, of course, would not eat striped sunflower seeds and mixed bird seeds, and so the house lizards made sure that they always had a dish of millet for him. The days and the nights passed, and very soon the sparrows took the little-boy shrike on flying lessons round the compound. When he was strong enough to fly alone and on his own, the female Dreamer Bird asked him to be her special courier for her notes to her beloved eye-ring, who lived on an upper unit of the condominium building behind the compound.

When it is clear to you that someone is merely playing a game, call everyone's attention to it immediately.

Your message:

"Good day sir! I've been meaning to message you for a while now (since this happened). 

"I had a dream about 2 weeks ago where in you were in it. The setting seemed like a large upper floor living room of an old house and the weather cool and sunny. 

"I was seated together with a few other people, the number of which I cannot remember, but I do remember one female. It seemed that you were lecturing something to us. 

"The next thing I remember is that you gave me paper which contained an oracion for me to memorize. As I started to do so, you left me inside the room. 

"I found it a little difficult to memorize the oracion since some children (who seemed familiar to me ) kept coming into the room to play. I asked them to leave and kind of escorted them to the door. As I did, you came in and asked if I was ready. I replied 'almost'.

"As I ran throught the oracion again, one of my current co-workers came in to have me sign something. I beckoned him to come back later since I was busy. 

"After a few minutes I told you that I was ready. You told me something to the effect of 'okay, let's get started'. At this time I noticed you were wearing loose shorts and a red shirt. in your right hand was a short stave that had what looked like a claw on the tip. 

"We went to a spacious part of the living room where in you had me stand with my back facing you as you sat. you then held two wands (which looked like bamboo) and ran them on either side of my body (I felt this physically) while also vibrating an oracion (I heard you say the oracion but could not make out the words except for one - ' katapatan').

"As the ritual continued, I felt my body get warm and tingle and I just wallowed in the feeling. After some time, you then whispered into my ear something like 'Gumising ka sa sarili mo'. After this I felt myself slowly awakening. Then I opened my eyes. 

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"I wrote all that I could remember of the dream. Thank you for taking the time to read my message. I hope to see you soon, sir. Take care and God bless you and your family! :)"


My reply:

Hi ________!

Your progress in magic is hampered by the "children" in your dream, representing the desires and objectives of Your Other Self, and by your co-workers, who represent the people around you who do not share your interest in magic.

Be on the lookout for a stave that comes close to the one in the dream;that is your special stave and, when it comes to you, it will signal your being ready to move to a higher level of learning.

Now re-read your third to the last and second to the last paragraphs, containing the words "katapatan" and "Gumising ka sa sarili mo" respectively. Your Higher Self is asking you whether you have already reached a point of no return or whether you have time to turn back and pursue being Your Other Self.

Recall that there are two bamboo wands, one for each side of your body: You are being made to choose between being One Self and being Another Self.

Then ask yourself whether it is magic, indeed, that you want, or a person who practices magic. The two are totally different. 

Finished watching "Kush" from Sanctuary. The most interesting episode so far. Minimalist production, set on the fringe of the Himalayas with one Tibetan supporting actor and a mystical medallion albeit not clearly shown.

Finished watching "Folding Man" from Sanctuary.

The Waterloo of the director of the series is BLOCKING that is not based on natural movement and common sense. The Waterloo of the writer of the series is EXPOSITION, because anything unbelievable is ultimately boring, especially if it has to be explained at length.

Watching "Fata Morgana" from Sanctuary. The creators seem undetermined as to whether they wanted a Star Wars, a Planet of The Apes, a Blade, or a Harry Potter. As a result even the cast is derivative: of Sabrina from Charlie's Angels/Julianne Moore/Jodie Foster, a Tina Turner/Jennifer Lopez, a Chewbacca, and, most certainly, a Daniel Radcliffe INCLUDING his glasses.

Most disturbing is that the women go to bed and wake up with foundation, eye shadow, and lipstick on.

Lunch with the granddaughters at the commercial center, followed by shopping for Aubrey: a Bratpack bag, shoes, and new frames for her distance glasses. Now all I have to pay for are her school service, school supplies, and books, pending the opening of school. We also bought a set of knives for the kitchen and a big, Philippine flag to hang on our Cubao New Orleans French Quarter front balcony on Independence Day.

Perplexed about something: We went to EVERY place to buy boxers for Aubrey, but she liked none of them and insisted that she shop for them at some other time alone. I have no idea why. Someone, please explain.

Red flag: Walking behind my granddaughters, I noted that men, especially foreigners, have begun looking at Angelique.

It is not easy to be a protective grandparent.

The persons concerned are not my Followers, but the spirit of this girl appeared to me last night and said, "Please warn my father." He was a former politician--maybe he still is.

I saw a scene of treachery involving people who are close to him.

Strangely, even with this grain-of-sand-on-the-shore post, I know that the message will reach him.

Aubrey's school service driver is making the rounds of students today.

Popularity is not the equivalent of fame, for the former is always purchased, the latter never is.

It is the earth, not the heavens, that tells us when summer is ended and the rains have come.

Insects retreat into their subterranean chambers, bugs into their shelters in trees.

Good morning, Cubao!

Bright and sunny!

Colorful birds are the precious gemstones of Air.

There is something I am very proud of having done consistently all throughout school and throughout employment: I SPOKE MY MIND. If ever I happened to offend my classmates, teachers, co-workers, and supervisors, rest assured that it was very much my intention to have done so, and I do not regret having done it.

Memory is an intrinsic part of magic, because it is memory that gives you the power to banish your true fears.

Night classes, 4:00 AM.

Topic: The Management of Spiritual Pain.

A day of war seems like forever, a day of peace like but a second.

My Followers in war-ravaged countries, my mind and my heart are with you tonight. We may not actually, physically meet in this lifetime, but we have already touched each other electronically through the Internet, and we are no longer the same because of that.

Good night, Cubao!

Napped an hour yesterday afternoon, but was unable to do so today.

Sleep is a lush, enormous, cake, but a nap is a sliver of sweet pie.

To live comfortably without having to slave for it is a human right.

God of the night, lead me
To the center of the roads
I choose to go where no one else will
For only in darkness can we ever meet

Magic is an activity of the mind and the will, both of which should be stronger than the mouth and the body.

We work so that we can rest, not so that we can work some more.

Finished watching "Sanctuary For All" from Sanctuary, which my sister Sylvia also sent me several seasons' worth of from Australia. Too punky for me, but interesting. And, at least, it isn't inane.

Still blessedly drizzly, and so I did light that scented candle on my desk.

Some helpful tips:

--If you don't like a candle being lit more than half an hour, buy a SMALL candle. It is not advisable to buy a big candle, light it for a few, blow out the flame, light it again afterward, and so on. It will result in a WASTE of wax. Somewhere down the middle, the candle will be utterly useless and you will have no other choice but to throw it away.

--A single, lit candle produces A LOT of heat. You'll be sweating like a pig if you light several inside a room, thinking it romantic. Remember that multiple candles are typically lit in fireplaces as a substitute for a wood fire--the fumes are toxic, you see, and you need a chimney to get rid of them. Lighting them on the floor, on plates, on side tables, on coffee tables, credenzas, and against windows is just a cheap art director's idea. Candles are not substitutes for joss sticks or for incense.

--Taper candles and pillar candles melt out of shape in a tropical country. They are also messy; you will end up cleaning not only the candle holder but your tablecloth as well.

--Vigil candles in glass bottles are best.

--The best sources of candles are religious supplies stores, because they are careful to provide only candles and candle bottles they make sure their regular and frequent customers (staff members of churches and such) won't complain about.

--Never leave a lit candle unattended. Blow out a candle flame if you have to leave the room.

--The smallest, functional candle is a birthday candle, which I use for casting spells, especially quick spells.

--Red, sculptured, Chinese candles embellished with gold paint are merely DECORATIVE and should NOT be lit at all. If you do, they will look horrid as they burn down.

--It is wise to buy a single Easter candle and have that on your altar, lighting it several minutes a day or a week the entire year. However, since these do not come in bottles, they should be on a stable stand, away from breezes, and regularly wiped clean and wick-trimmed. It is most pleasing to see the candle slowly and prodigiously being consumed until the next Easter, and you won't have to bother with replenishing your candle supply from time to time.

--We have four antique chandeliers with prism pendants that my younger son de-wired and converted to candle-iers by gluing vigil candle bottles on them. They are very useful during power outages. Don't make the mistake of throwing away old chandeliers--you will discover that they actually traveled from faraway places such as Italy and Spain.