Occasional Green Pastures and Quiet Waters

Aldir_Urban is Aldir's camouflage outfit for urban and dungeon combat. This urban camo cloak allows him to blend into the shadows of buildings and caves, taking deadly shots at his enemies.

This was one of the hardest to paint. The mottled camo pattern had to be properly disrupted while the armour's colour scheme had to fit the overall feel of things. I started off with an Astronomican Grey base, but later on painted the cloak Chaos Black, then dabbed on Codex Grey and Astronomican Grey. The armour pieces were originally Scorched Brown and Bestial Brown, but I still felt like it stood out too much. At the advice of my DM, I changed the colour scheme to Chaos Black and Codex Grey. A final touch of Devlan Mud to give some shading and tada!

A good friend of mine got into hot water with his girlfriend. Here's why:

I don't get it either.

Another friend of mine was chatting with a girl who had just broken up with her boyfriend. Here's why:

Map of Rhywle

Map of the Bastulia and Elisices Regions

Before Bastulia and Elisices was Regne, and before Regne, the land was wild. The Llangerdaix sailed south, and settled around the Central Sea. Their legion quickly followed, and the Llangerdaix tamed the wild lands, building vast stone cities. Regne prospered under the rule of Dídac I, growing in knowledge and trade. The peace and prosperity, however, did not last long. As quickly as the Llangerdaix rose to power, they sundered the kingdom amongst themselves. Guifre du Roig joined arms with Lady Anaïs of Vel del Riu, and warred with Ӧscar of the Etxaberri Order. The Bruixot order decided to withdraw into the Torre, wanting nothing to do with the war. Yet, that did not stop many bruixot from joining either faction. Till today, the war rages on, as both Bastulia and Elisices wrestle for dominion.

13 Jan - I've finished cleaning the figurines, removing excess metal, and filing down moulding scars. Finding those studs left behind wasn't a very easy task. I really wanted to make sure that I didn't discover any while I was painting. [Turns out, I missed out one on a boot corner. Discovered it while painting the boot, sadly; had to file through the paint] Decided to give two of my figures a darker shade, so I went with Chaos Black as the foundation colour. Was about to start on the third figure when my friends turned up for dinner. Next time, I guess.

Three Faces of Aldir

This is Aldir_Green, a figure I intend to use for playing in plains or forest terrains. Sporting a ghillie suit made out of Dark Grass, he's rising out from hiding to take a deadly shot at his quarry.

The most challenging part of this figure is not the painting, but more the customising of details. I spent quite a while deliberating on whether I should cover him in grass or foliage, and also how to fill the unstrung bow.
Initially, I had decided for the standing figure to be used for Aldir_Green, and this one for a 'sniper in the trees' concept. I got hesitant after a while and decided to scrap the foliage cover, and do a ghillie suit instead. I'm thinking of using the standing figure for something along the lines of Ezio or something... we'll see. hehe.

I gave quite some thought to how to fill in the missing details, like the bowstring and arrow. The guy who sold me the figures said the reason why they aren't there is that the manufacturers can't make them thin enough without compromising structure, and if the details are too thick, they look awkward. I was in the car thinking of what to use when a strand of hair got caught in between my fingers as I reached for the gear stick. Eureka! After about half an hour of scrounging around, I found that the fibres from this old floor brush worked really well as an arrow shaft after some modification. I'm also considering painting the shaft to match the those in the quiver.

Said brush

Having started painting the figures, one strange detail caught my attention. These fellas are supposed to be rangers, well known for stealth and tracking. Why on earth are they carrying weapons with reflective surfaces like the sword hilt and the gilding for the quiver? Wouldn't that be a dead give-away? Strange indeed...

Let's face it: It's either soul lifting 'relevant' songs with a band, or old dusty hymns with an equally old dusty organist. The youths want the cool music and think the old folks are stuck, the old folks criticise the young folks for being worldly. Is there any resolution? Does the Bible have anything to say about how music is to be used in church? Let's take a look!

First, let's take a look a what the Bible has to say about worship.

'I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, and acceptable, and perfect.'

Paul is appealing to the Roman church to live in response to the grace shown them by presenting their bodies as a sacrifice. Not one of atonement, since that's Jesus' department, but one of thanksgiving. Their holy living is then their spiritual worship.

'Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.'

Starting in 12:1, the writer if Hebrews is encouraging the persecuted Jewish Christians to live upright lives, even amidst their suffering. The writer speaks in 13:15 about a continual sacrifice of praise to God, evidence of those who are His. This evident in the works they do and the way they care for those around them.
(Further reading, if you're feeling funky: Heb 10:5-10; 1Peter 2:9)

Here you see that when the Bible talks about worship, it's not the slow songs you sing, or that first 30mins of Sunday service, or just the service itself, for that matter; Rather, it's your whole life! Every single aspect of it is to be worship, living in response to the grace that we have been shown! It is not so much what we do, but what Jesus has done for us.

In that case, what happens every time we gather? Why do we do it?

'On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out from the land of Egypt, on that day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came to the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The LORD called out to him from the mountain saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the Earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you shall speak to the people of Israel.'

'After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

John describes to us a vision of the future where God's people are gathered before the throne, with Jesus as the sole focus of their praise.

'And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.'

The writer of Hebrews writes to the Jewish Christians, reminding them to keep meeting to encourage one another to love and good works, despite the obvious dangers of meeting, because there is a more urgent matter: the Day is coming!

From the above passages, a trend for the spoken word becomes apparent - preaching, and song play a major role in Christian gatherings with the purpose of encouragement and praise, with Christ as the sole focus.
(For further reading, because you should: Deut 4:10; Hebrews 12:22-24)

So how can we be serving God and his people faithfully through our music?

Like how a church's preaching should be built around the Word and deeply rooted in it, so must their music. Likewise, the music should edify the congregation, help them grow and encourage each other, instead of being a means to itself.

We should ask ourselves these questions before we chose the songs for the service:

• What does it tell us about God?
• What does it tell us about Jesus?
• What does it tell us about us?
• Does it rightly express our response to God?
• Does it help us exhort one another rightly?
• Are the lyrics theologically correct?

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

'And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying," Abba! Father!"' 

'In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believe in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.'

For those of you who haven't heard, I play Dungeons and Dragons. Yes. You heard right. Truth be told, this is my first time ever playing, after hearing so much of it.

I played as Elf Ranger, Aldir Malvaneth, who ran around with a group of travellers whom he had met in a castle jail. I fought dismembered hands, and skeleton soldiers; I explored sewers and burnt villages. Then I changed class to a Sniper. That's where things got more serious. For my enemies. I've since got 12 kills to my name, all one hit kills.

For Christmas last year, I thought it'd be cool if I could get myself a figurine to help with the strategy aspect of gameplay. Put an order in at Comics Mart, MidValley for a set of Faramir's Rangers. They arrived the day I got back to KL, whoopity whoop.

Cleaned and drying. May as well pose while doing that.

I heard you need to clean the grease off the figures, so I soaked it in hot water.... once.... twice, then I brushed it with soap... then I got fed up and put a pot of water to boil and chucked them in. Still greasy. So I  got desperate and raided the kitchen for cleaning agents.

In the corner of a cupboard somewhere, I found a bottle of stove cleaner. The label swore it removed tough stains. Well, whaddaya know?! I've got tough stains! Why not give it a try? Worked like magic! All that's left is to paint it, and I'll let you guys follow me in the process.

You'll never know what hit you.

And thus my term break draws to a close. I leave for KL after lunch, and it's back to ready myself for the return to the grinding stone. In retrospect, I think I've done quite a bit this break. I didn't do what I wanted to (like building a longbow), but I did get other things done.

Last break, I joined this group of old folks at a nearby park for Taiji - just curious as to how tough this whole slo-mo old people's exercise actually is.

I got my feisty ass whooped in slo-mo. This thing is no joke, I tell you.

Can you do a front kick? Yes? Good. Now try doing it reeeeaaaaally slowly, like at 46 bpm (click here for a metronome).

The style I picked up is called Chen style (陈式), and is the parent form for Yang (杨), Wu(武), Wu(吴), and Sun(孙) style taiji. This style of taiji, although given it's prestige as a parent form, is one of the least practised style of all five schools. Unlike the other four schools, the Chen style alternates in rhythm - vigorous at some points, gentle at some points. Unique to this style is also fajin (发劲) - a quick power burst action, which is, I think, never seen in other styles.

Well, I never finished learning the set last break, so I rejoined them the moment I got back. I still haven't finished learning the set, having only learnt 24 out of the 83 moves, but I've made pretty decent progress.

Yeah. *Pats self on the back* Time to take my last nap before the term starts. Ciao.