July 29, 2011

Oreo’s New Shirts

Yesterday, my lover Oreo went shopping. I forgot the name of the mall in Saudi Arabia. He had a wonderful time shopping for new shirts. He’s into clothes and fashionable. My exact opposite :)

I learned via Facebook chat that he liked the Banana Republic shirt the most. O divah? Vungga ang mga brands! (The brands are of high quality, right?)

Two more months and we’ll finally shop for clothes together. Holding Hands While Walking Pa-Sway Sway Pa (HHWWPSSP) in the mall.

 

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Berlitz Conversation #2

Finally, I found a copy of my Berlitz “speech” #2 which I used when I took the Berlitz Assessment for the 2nd time at Convergys for a DSL account. You could compare it with my 1st and 3rd speeches. You would notice that there is the common denominator of an “opener” paragraph wherein the assessor could choose his follow-up questions and I already formulated an answer for it.

harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban

Berlitz February 2009

Convergys

Hi! My name is Elmer, I'm 32 years old and I live in Pasig City. I'm the middle child from a family of 3 brothers. My older brother is x and he's a nurse. My younger brother is x and he's a bartender.

I'm very much interested with playing online games like Ragnarok Online. I'm also into reading novels, matching movies and listening to music. I'm not much into athletic games.

The most recent film I've watched was “Twilight”. It's a modern-day Romeo and Juliet. It's about a vampire named Edward who falls in love with a human named Bella. It details their relationship from their first glimpse of each other to their wedding. It also tells about the complications of having such an unusual relationship. In the end, Bella decided to be a vampire to be with Edward for eternity.

The most recent novel I've read was the 7th and final book in the Harry Potter Series, which is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry, together with his friends, finally figured out how to destroy the threat to the Wizarding World: Voldemort. The final book is about facing Death and not fearing it. Harry faced Death and accepted it. He didn't die in the movie because he unknowingly possess the Deathly Hallows which grant a person a way to escape Death.

The music that I enjoy listening to are Pop. I'm into Pop artist like Ryan Cabrera, Westlife, Boyzone and other boy bands. Their music is all about love, finding it, keeping it. It's like a ballad that soothes one's tired thoughts. Truly, their music heal souls.

Note:

I actually got a C1 in Berlitz here at Convergys. I got all 4 of the areas as C1. I was shocked! Before at Sykes in 2007, I only got a B2. On my 3rd Berlitz assessment (at my current company), I also got a C1.

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A Taste of the Islands

There is a section in Market! Market! (Bonifacio Global City) that I like… the area besides the fountain where different booths containing the different names of provinces in the Philippines are located. I usually pass it on my way to the Pasig FX terminal. It’s only this afternoon that I thought of taking pictures of each and every booth.

What’s good about this area is that, you’ll be able to see the pride and joy of each provinces when it comes to foods and snacks. These are the famous food products of these provinces. You can buy durian candies from Davao, dried mangos from Camiguin, pastillas from Bulacan, suman from Rizal, etc. Check out the following pictures and try to identify the other famous products.

When you’re at this part of Market! Market!, you’ll surely have a taste of the islands.

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July 27, 2011

Berlitz Conversation #1

I saw this copy of my Berlitz “speech” in my Sykes folder a few minutes ago and thought of sharing it with you guys. If you could compare it with my 3rd Berlitz speech, you would notice that my 1st one is VERY lengthy and detailed. It should have been simpler and I should have mentioned a fewer topics.

florence, italy

The good thing about this Berlitz “speech” that I prepared is that, it contains a basic path on where I want the Berlitz examiner to focus the subject. Remember that in Berlitz, the topic would come from the examinee (or the future agent). From what the examinee is saying, the Berlitz assessor would derive his follow-up questions from it.

In this draft that I made (known as Berlitz #1), I wanted to talk about my hobbies: novels, films, music, travel, and the arts. So from my 2nd paragraph, the Berlitz assessor would choose his next question and I already have an answer for it.

I hope you’ll learn something from this.

Berlitz #1 (Sykes Asia, Inc. for a DSL account)

October 2007

Hi! My name is Elmer and I’m 30 years old. I’m currently living in Pasig City and I had a diploma in Computer Science. I’m a Roman Catholic and I’m the second of three offspring. My younger brother is named x and he’s a bartender working in Dubai. My older brother is x and he’s working as a Medical Transcriptionist at Shaw Boulevard, also in Pasig City.

My hobbies are reading novels, watching films, and listening to music. My favorite authors are Anne Rice, John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks, and Paulo Coelho among others. My favorite novels include “The Vampire Chronicles”, “The Harry Potter Series”, “A Walk to Remember”, “The Notebook” and “The Client”.

My favorite films include the movie adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings”, “Harry Potter” and Marvel films like “Spiderman”, “Fantastic Four”, “Daredevil”. My favorite singers or bands are mostly Boy Bands including Westlife, Backstreet Boys, N’SYNC and Boyzone.

In college, among my favorite subjects are Psychology, Humanities and History. I also enjoy Geography, the lives of the Saints, and Mythology.

If I’m going to travel, I would visit Italy, France and Israel. I’m especially fascinated with the Jewish People because of their rich culture and their ability to rise from adversaries like the Nazi and the events of the Holocaust.

In Italy, I would visit such wonderful cities like Florence, Rome, Naples and Milan. Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance which is the revival of the Greek and Roman culture. In France, I would visit the Louver, Eiffel Tower and numerous other Museums. In Israel, I would visit all the important Biblical places like Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

If I were to interview Saints, I would definitely make it a point to talk to St. Francis of Assisi. He’s one of the few to experience the Stigmata. He’s a very fine example of being humble and a follower of “The Christ”.

In Humanities, my favorite subjects are Architecture and Painting. I admire the Florentine Artists like Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo. The latter is not only a wonderful artist but a fine sculptor as well. Who would forget his masterpiece “The Pieta” or the dead body of Christ on the lap of his Virgin Mother.

So, for the future Berlitz takers out there, it would not hurt if you’ll prepare something like this (but again, not as detailed as this one). Mention a maximum of 4 possible subjects and write a detailed explanation of each subjects so that whatever subject the assessor choose, you already have an answer. Good luck!

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July 26, 2011

My 3rd Soul Linker

A soul linker is one of the many jobs or class in the game Ragnarok Online. He is a mage class (magic user) who can cast a power spell (called Esma) against monsters. He wears this Korean-inspired costume, similar to a Japanese kimono.

fs elmer esma lvl 6

The job name Soul Linker is derived from his ability to cast “soul links” to other jobs like Knights, Wizards, Bard and Dancer, Hunters, etc. This “soul link” will give an added capability or strength to other classes, much like a Priest giving extra “buffs” to other players. A soul linker is like a hybrid Wizard-Priest. This job happens to be my favorite in Ragnarok Online. In fact, I made 2 male soul linkers (both level 99, the max level for this class) and 1 female soul linker in Valhalla server. It didn’t stop me there. I made a 3rd soul linker the past few months and last Saturday and Sunday, I was able to spend the entire day leveling my newest soul linker.

fs elmer esma

There are two major types of soul linkers: the Esma-type (magic caster) and the Battle-type (agility based). My first 2 male soul linkers are both Battle-type. They use a dagger instead of a staff. My 3rd male soul linker (as well as my female) is an Esma-type. The primary stat is Intelligence (INT) for massive magic damage. I had a very nice time playing my new and my 3rd male soul linker. (Note: Please ignore his damage in the screenshots since he hasn’t mastered level 10 of Esma yet).

The “native” skill of a soul linker is the Esma. However, there are certain items and cards that enables a job to use other skills that are “native” to other jobs. Examples of these skills that you can borrow from other job class are Lex Aeterna (from Priest) and the Fire and Lightning Bolts (from Wizards).

fs elmer lightning fire bolt fs elmer fb fs elmer lb fs elmer lex aeterna

In this picture, you can see the equipment that my 3rd soul linker is wearing as well as his stats. He has an intelligent-vitality (INT-VIT) build: intelligence for damage to monsters and vitality for high HP (heal points) or Life.

fs elmer stats

These are some of the things that I admire with the Soul Linker class of Ragnarok Online, which makes it my most favorite job class in the game. By the way, Philippines Ragnarok Online, the Official Philippine server of this Korean game, is celebrating it’s 8th year anniversary! Yes, it’s been 8 years since Ragnarok was launch! Have you ever played this online game?

July 25, 2011

Blog Banner

I miss the old blog banner that use to be on the very top spot of this blog. Since I changed the theme of the blog when it turned 1 year, I lost the banner. I saw it again today and thought of posting it since Oreo and I are lovers again.

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I used my Aunt’s pictures of Palawan in these banners. Here are some of her pictures of Palawan. I’m posing it here to remind myself to travel to this destination (with Oreo) and be inspired on how beautiful the Philippines is.

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How To Make a Movie using Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

Yesterday, I took some time to learn how to make a movie using the free software Windows Live Movie Maker 2011. It’s not as hard as it looks after all.

1. Download and install Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 from this website: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials?os=other

2. Once you open the Windows Live Movie Maker, you would see the option to “Click here to browse for videos and photos”. Click on it.

step 1

3. Locate the pictures that you wanted to be included in the movie, highlight it and then click Open.

select pictures

4. Once you have all the pictures displayed, you may begin re-arranging them in the order that you want the pictures to be displayed. You may drag and drop the pictures.

5. Once you finalized the arrangement of the pictures, it’s time to add music. Click the Add music icon and search for the MP3 file that you want to use as your background music. Click Open afterwards.

add music

6. There would be a green highlight above the pictures indicating how long your chosen MP3 file would play. You may go to the end part of the green bar if you need to add another MP3.

7. Once the music is added, it’s time to change the theme. I suggest you select one of the predefined themes by clicking the icon of the AutoMovie themes.

add automovie themes

8. Once you added the themes, it’s now time to play your movie to see how it would appear.

9. Once you’re satisfied with the movie, you may now save it by clicking the Save icon (floppy disk) on the uppermost left side. Once saved, you may now upload your pictures.

10. If you decide to upload it via YouTube, just click the YouTube icon on the upper-right side. It would ask you what format you want to save it to. I suggest using the 480 x 360 format for easy uploading.

format resolution

11. It would then ask you for some properties of the video (like tags, description) which is the similar form when you upload a video via the YouTube website.

enter youtube properties

12. Once done uploading, you may now copy and paste the link of the video to Facebook so that your friends can see your work.

I hope this guide didn’t look so complicated. Good luck on your first movie!