It would be terribly remiss of me to assume that no one knows how to fast, so I shall write under the assumption whoever (however illegally they obtain this) reads this knows how to fast. Considering the whole religious culture that we have, it would not be a great leap in logic.

Let me discuss the reasons why we fast. Of course, we understand that God expects us to fast, Jesus fasted, most others used by God fasted. But do we understand why?

     A democracy works when people actually respect each other's opinions and choices in politics. During an election in an ideal world, the majority vote overrule the minority and everyone gets along until the people get another sort of election to choose who they want to represent their views. Or, generally, that's how it should work. But as is always the case, what should be and what is are very rarely the same.

     Often times, a democratic election turns into a popularity contest, not unlike American Idol in its hey-day, but rather than an actual vote regarding views and competence. And people will hurl venom at each other online over their preferred contestants. And that is exactly what is happening here in the Philippines. This is probably a side effect of the whole feudal system we've had since the 1600s, and is perpetuated in the modern semi-feudal democratic state, where your representatives aren't regular people but from the same ruling families from decades ago!

   I figured that forcing myself to write an article will help me get back into the rhythm of writing essays regularly. Today, I'll be reviewing the uses of the Citadel Gemstone paints.

   I've only gotten my hands on the relatively new Citadel Gemstone paints just the past Monday. And, after watching a few other reviews and tutorials, I found that it works well for gems. But what other uses does it have? For this entry, I'll be figuring out how it works on a flat surface to imitate coloured or tinted glass. Hit the jump to get to the review and some pictures!

     Over the course of the four years since I finished university, I have either mentioned it myself or someone else has mentioned that I miss university, or college, or high school. Perhaps, after the grand goal of graduating and escaping that rut of education, we find out that real life is not as glamorous as the movies and television shows make it seem.

     My friends know of my fascination with painting miniatures. It is a hobby that I not-so-recently picked up, mostly as a way of learning new things while having fun with one of my favourite franchises. I started out with Games Workshop's Warhammer, and have slowly branched out to Warhammer 40,000 and other games and collections. Over the course of learning techniques and skills in painting, I am also faced with this undying problem of shaking my paints.

    So, I was checking my emails this morning and I found this little story in my inbox. It was the old children's story, the Little Red Hen. Or at least, a slightly updated version of it. I had a few chuckles from reading it, and comparing real life to its principles.

    I figured I'd post it here for any random readers to come across. And whoever wrote this, you ma'am/sir, are brilliant.

   Everywhere I go, I'm often bombarded with images and advertisements and basically efforts at telling me that the world is changing. Changing in the face of human industry, and the world struggles to cope with the amount of greenhouse gases we produce that induces the dreadful climate change.

   I spent most of this week at a training of sorts for pollution control. At it's most basic, other than repeatedly being told that the company would be fined and penalized for any failures on my part as a pollution control officer, it advocates tree-hugging and ground-humping.