Just like the family name, unique and one of a kind… an Embuscado ambigram.

The letters ‘U’ and ‘S’ are latest additions to my lookup table while the rest is classic.

“Embuscado”. Nazty Ambigrams by Jonas Roque

Update – a better Rafael ambigram!

June 2007 version:

How come this remains bloggable for you? Because you care about this art!

A SOBC – Standards of Blog Creativity. Naks!

“Rafael”. Nazty Ambigrams by Jonas Roque

As I write this post, Honda is showcasing the All New Honda Jazz at a car exhibit happening on the World Trade Center Manila.

And on August 29, Honda Cars Kalookan Showroom brings you Vegas Nite 3 (V3) which features the latest Honda Jazz. Dance jazz and have fun with drinks, poker and slot machines. But don’t forget to reserve your Jazz for a minimum amount of P5,000 so you can be on the priority list for the release of Jazz on September.

For those who can hardly wait Vegas Nite, below is the specification (click the link) of said fuel-efficient hatchback car.

The price:
1.3 MT Jazz P707,000
1.3 AT Jazz P747,000
1.5 AT Jazz P797,000

“I Believe in Harvey Dent” just before he became Two Face. Harvey is naturally ambigrammable name. Check out Harvey Dent for Gotham City website. It’s fun!

“Harvey”. Nazty Ambigrams by Jonas Roque

Ace is Alan Carlo, my ever-patient and goal-driven instructor and a good friend. He’s an ace trainer and an achiever in his field and was commended as a top trainer across Asia. It’s a pleasure and a pressure to be his student.

Talking about mind and body balance… Fitness First for my body. Ambigrams (and programming, too, eeewww) for my mind. Make sense to me.

Ace, these ace cards are better than Joker’s and Gambit’s.

An alternative ambigram concept for Alan Carlo.

“Alan Carlo”. Nazty Ambigrams by Jonas Roque

This ambigram is for another good friend, actually a best one, found. Batman is his idol but as we know from his latest movie, The Dark Knight, he’s nothing or incomplete without the bat’s archrival, The Joker.

I call this an Ace card. If Joker is too serious in having his calling card, so why can’t I?

“Ace”. Nazty Ambigrams by Jonas Roque

Skip the next two paragraphs if you can hardly wait on how to download mp3s for FREE.

Multiply.com, which has been the ultramega source for me of audio files than images, had already hidden the download links for all user uploaded mp3′s and wma’s (yikes!) on their profiles. So what’s the music life now for audio scavengers like me? Torrent and file-sharing applications are most likely prohibited in school and in office. I don’t want my name to be announced through a reminder mail across all employees as one of the violators who use these kinds of pirating softwares. (Side story: One time in my previous company, there were folks that forgot that the IT are smarter than them to track peer-to-peer applications. The next day, their names are posted as violators of this certain business conduct for using… tadah… LimeWare, really… the IT called it LimeWare instead of LimeWire. Hahaha. I bet they hate spywires, too. Wahaha.)

Anyways, Aimini.net provides free download links after you had searched your favorite songs in their database. However, it returns a short list. The download time is not also acceptable for their server might not be tough enough to handle several requests. An alternate way to download songs, especially recent international tracks on the air, is to Google the song plus the keyword ‘plunder’. Plundered.org has no internal finder of user uploaded music files. The download speed is also relatively slow.

Most of us like Imeem. It’s like the old Multiply however instead of download links, she provides you streams. For OPM lovers out there, Pinoy.fm is a noisy music library! Here’s how to grab the music:

1. Use Firefox browser. Lucky you if you’re already using it. Install the following plugin – Video DownloadHelper from this link here. It grabs .flv and .mpeg files embedded on the web pages of Imeem and Pinoy.fm respectively. You can also use this on grabbing YouTube videos.

2. Go to the page of your song and wait as the stream is completely cached on your PC. You will see that the logo of the addon is rotating. Click it to download the .flv or .mpeg. The filename is weird but don’t worry because you can rename it.

3. Convert .flv and .mpeg files with Flash-to-Video/Audio Converter on higher bit rate. I recommend 192kbps. I’m using free converters from DVDVideoSoft.com

Presto! You have successfully downloaded your favorite song. What’s good about these scheme is that you are actually fishing for audio files from a vast sea of streams from Imeem.

If you wish to transfer it to a Nokia phone but as a mobile-optimized m4a. The Nokia Music Manager cannot packed it to smaller size m4a file because it complains that the said file is already optimized. Fear no more because what you need is ImToo Audio Converter or any music-file converter that encodes different formats (mp3, wma, ogg, etc).

4. Encode the mp3 which you got from step3 to the same format, mp3 on ImToo Audio Converter.

Having problems on following these steps? Google is your friend!

For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. I’ve finally said what I wanted to say. It’s what you are to me. Um, actually until now, I’m still diving down inside my heart and still looking for what you are really to me. I’m not confused. I know this feeling. But it’s just that I don’t know whether I should cross the line and say you are really a more than a friend to me or go with the flow at the constant velocity without any acceleration of emotions. So what you’ve heard was partial and official.

Yes, this could be an one-sided love affair. Foolish me that I somehow accept the fact that it is unrequited. You cannot offer something more like what I am hoping for. Things that I received – your acts of kindness – are still well-appreciated, very well-appreciated. I’m happy to know that you are giving back the seeds that I’ve given you. It’s growing. You also appreciate those things that I’ve done (and I keep and will keep on doing). But now, what I can only do is to thank you and expect nothing beyond those deeds or other reasons behind those deeds. It’s friendship as they call it.

But like any other story, time will come that plots would be plotted. It had just began. I was not prepared to encounter one of those. Neither had a single thought about what you’ve told. I’m afraid of what could possibly happen next. And I let you know that sadness. Perhaps,the sadness overflew from my heart that my mouth can hardly resisted to tell you the truth.

The thought that we could end up separate ways hurts. But you reassured me one thing – a hope that I will hold onto – that I can join you – walk with you.

*Dunno what title fits here. My latest song syndrome is by REO Speedway and I can relate.

I cant fight this feeling any longer
And yet I’m still afraid to let it flow
What started out as friendship has grown stronger
I only wish I had the strength to let it show

Many people believe that the number 8 is a lucky number. Today, Chinese numerologists say that luck is even tripled. August 08, 2008 is 08.08.08.

You could here wedding bells around, could see a Mega concert and of course could watch the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. 08.08.08 is the longest and busiest day of the year.

But unlike Google, I’m not completely feeling lucky today. The first half of 08.08.08 is a series of either unfortunate or turning point events. I still want to attract positive vibes and remember the quote which May sent me. I hope that after the day ends, eight will end just like any number.

I started Otso Otso (Eight Eight) with an inquiry to Globe Telecoms Customer Service. My unbilled charges shoot up to P9,000+ because of Internet rates. It’s ridiculous and what-the-frack is going on. Since it was already P6,000+ two days ago, I did not surf the next day but few minutes after twelve midnight, I received a notification of the said enormous amount. I asked Globe to cut off every GPRS, 3G, MMS, WAP connection I have. I cleared my logs to monitor bytes coming in and out of my phone and uninstalled Fring and Opera Mini. Furthermore, the previous ticket that I raised is still not resolved. I am charged on top of my Flex credits for Internet even though I haven’t consumed all of P2,500 worth of credits.

On the brighter side: It took only at least two rings for the call center agent to lift her phone and answer me. Plus, I managed to control the wrath which I used to release immediately.

08.08.08 8:00 AM is my scheduled personal training at Fitness First. I liked it when I was informed of that period because my sleeping hours would be extended (but eventually wasn’t because of the Globe thing). I could eat a good breakfast too. Though, spaghetti was the best earlier.

But as I arrived on the MRT Cubao Station, the “traffic enforcers” of the train calls for a stop entry. During morning rush, I usually approached the first line guards to have me passed since I’m heading north and would not add to the population of the commuters southwards. Most will travel to Makati or Ortigas and occupy the entire platform but not the other direction. Bad luck is I was not allowed. One guy from the front of the line said ‘Pumila ka don.’. It was really a bad trip to start because I’m few minutes ahead of my schedule and had planned on my mind to warm up before 8AM so my instructor and I can maximize the 1hour training. Screw you, MRT. ‘Para akong tangang minumura ang MRT sa sarili.’ Pakshet ka talaga, MRT. I informed my instructor that I’ll be late because of the situation.

On the brighter side: Because of the adrenalin rush, without any cardio warmup other than brisk walking to Trinoma, I was able to press some weights more than the what I was able to do during our routine on chest last week. The same thing happened on the inclined dumbell chest press.

After an hour, it’s time to travel all the way to the south. It’s MRT again. On brighter side: no pushes happened and there were still vacant seats as we left the North Avenue station.

I wasn’t able to make it before 10am at the Taft Station. I had to get a taxi cab for a faster ride because the shuttle at the Coastal to the office is not reliable and I didn’t want to be late and got reminded by the boss of the time (though, even we’re on flexitime). On brighter side: there’s no barker and P5-P10 barker’s fee. The taxi driver though wanted tip but fortunately the ride costed me P80 and 20 pesos is not that heavy. And thanks to this day, I needed not to wait for a lift because as soon as I arrived, the elevator opens its door for me.

Actually, all of what was written here is nothing compared on what’s the real story of the day. I’ll just keep it to myself.

But no matter what, like what May said, even a stopped clock shows correct time twice a day. Every bad situation will have something positive.