Book of Joylin: Looking Back . . .

Thursday, October 23, 2008:

My son Nelson's 36th birthday, had he not passed away after a second heart attack in 1998. I light the paraffin oil lamps and a rose-scented joss stick on our family altar, and say a prayer.

I ask my daughter-in-law, Ivy, to buy flowers today. For some reason, since his demise in 1998, we have always bought him red roses.

I kiss my granddaughter Angelique goodbye in the family room and call out goodbye to my granddaughter Aubrey, who is still taking a shower.

Cubao MRT Station. 6:00 AM train. I take a jeepney to Arquiza. I arrive at work 7:15 AM.

Martha Buckley, our Cultural Affairs Officer, and John McGuire, the Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer in charge of the U.S. Election Watch program, approve my decor concept and design for the lobby of Mall of Asia.

My co-worker Jomar Ascano gives me a pack of Marlboro Gold Lights this morning.

Lunch at Emerald Garden with Gwenn Galvez and Joyce Bersales of the Marketing Department of Anvil Publishing, Inc. and a feature writer of "Bulletin Today". The writer interviews me for an article she will write to promote my Halloween book-signing at Powerbooks Trinoma.

1:30 PM U.S. Election Watch staff meeting in the office Multipurpose Room.

After work, I ride with Agnes to the GMA Kamuning MRT Station. I take the 5:35 PM train.

I am anxious. My heart pounds within my chest. I search for the sick beggar girl whom I'd seen before on the staircase leading to Pinatubo Street. She is not there. I wend my way through the crowds of commuters and visit the other staircases.

She is not there.

I take a tricycle home. My son Chito has already gone for work. He is now on the evening shift as a licensed mortician at Sanctuarium.

I place the flowers that Ivy bought on the family altar. I light another rose-scented joss stick and say a prayer.

I kiss Aubrey good night in the family room; Angelique, in the computer room.

Ivy buys me a pack of Fortune cigarettes.

Lee Reyes, scriptwriter of "Trip Na Trip", text-messaged me, confirming our schedule to do a remote scanning of flashdrive photos on a LCD screen in Bayan Productions' conference room on Saturday morning. I text message a few Spirit Questors. Only Gerard Paul Elvina is available on Saturday morning. I decide to take him along and use him as a psychic battery.

Lara Sen, an executive producer of Bayan Productions, is leaving for India to visit relatives at the end of the month. I text-message her and request that she buy me a bronze statue of Kali.

I sleep 10:15 PM - 4:05 AM.

I can't recall my dreams, but I have vague images of one in which I was either in a house or traveling. My psyche makes it possible for me to not recall my dreams whenever I am mentally overstressed.

A cool dawn.



Friday, October 24, 2008

I kiss Angelique goodbye in the telephone room. She is all dressed up for school. I call outy goodbye to Aubrey, who is still taking a shower.

Cubao MRT Station. 5:47 AM train.

I take a jeepney to Arquiza. I am on the front seat with a female co-passenger. The jeepney driver tells us a depressing story about their neighbor, a PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone company) security guard who jumped off the 15th floor of the Makati PLDT building because he had been steeped in too many debts and because his wife is severely afflicted with cancer.

Linda Castro, the office jeweler, brings me four sterling-silver dip-pen ferrules today.

Fidel of Anvil Publishing text-messages me that I am Powerbooks Author of The Month.

2:30 PM - 4:00 PM U.S. Election watch meeting and walk-through with staff members at Mall of Asia.

I take a bus that drops me off on Taft/EDSA.

I take the 4:45 PM train at the Taft MRT Station.

I arrive at the Cubao MRT Station 5:15 PM.

The sick beggar is there. This time I approach her. I converse briefly with her mother, who holds her in her arms. The mother tells me that she has a son. Her husband abandoned them for eight years then came back to them, after which their little girl was born and was afflicted with high fever at the age of two. She was taken, too late, to a public hospital, because her elder brother was at work at the time. She was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy. This was followed by the onset of polio and epilepsy. The husband/father abandoned them again.

The little girl cannot speak and can only swallow soft foods and drink.

I kneel on the floor and touch the little girl's forehead with my right palm. I give her healing, first with my right hand and then with the all-purpose wand that I keep in my courier bag all the time. My right hand aches. I feel that I have taken off some of the little girl's negative energy. I push all of it into the concrete wall and metal railing.

I take a tricycle home.

I fit bird feathers and nibs into the sterling-silver ferrules.

Chito, Ivy, and the granddaughters tell me that they saw the "Trip Na Trip" teaser on TV, during the news program Channel 2's "TV Patrol".

I text-message Tina Lebron, a crystal healer, and invite her to "look like a fool with me" to heal the little beggar girl on the Cubao MRT staircase.

I text-message the same to Sam Tan, a Spirit Questor and pranic healer.

I text-message the same to Ramona Singian, a Spirit Questor.

I text-message the same to Riza P. Regis, a crystal healer.

Only Ramona and Riza respond. They are willing to do what I asked for.

I sleep 10:00 PM - 8:14 AM.

Lee Reyes sends out a text-message flyer promoting tonight's "Trip Na Trip" episode close to 11:00 PM.

"Trip Na Trip" airs after midnight. Only Ivy and my sister Alice are able to stay up and watch me and the Spirit Questors on TV.

Mau Alcazar, an old friend, text-messages me at 1:24:04: "I'm watching you on TV right now."

My dreams are of everyday situations, about things I have to do. I cannot recall the details, but the underlying motifs are responsibility and taking responsibility.