Hmm..This is Kinda Weird

Hello everyone!

Today is the last day for us, running a position in the Executive Board in MISA, to campaign for ourselves (duh?!)

Next week will be MISA's Voting Period and also, it's the voting period for the Sanggunian as well. Goodluck to all the candidates! :D

Just this morning, my sleep was disturbed by a message beep from my phone.  I received a message from a friend telling that my campaign material is in the Crystal Eagle (and how he described the blog is that it is a hate blog that entertains him LOL).  Anyway, so here's the catch.  I have a post here about my conversation with Cate Sison, which was used as a source by this Crystal Eagle.  Am I even that reliable to be used as a source?  This blog is to share my personal opinions.  If Crystal Eagle concluded that Cate is a user through my post, I think there is something wrong with that.

I, in any way, is not related with Crystal Eagle.  Perhaps, her stalking skills are DAMN LEVEL ASIAN that she reached my little world (blog).  I have nothing against her posts, neither praises to her posts.  And to have my campaign material, which eventually turned to be my header for this blog, posted there has no reason at all. Not to have many hits, not to gain fame, and most especially, not to campaign for myself.

Well, I must have been paranoid when my friend told me about this. C'mon! Wouldn't you be paranoid if that's the first thing you meet in the morning? LOL

Anyway, the only positive thing I see here is that my hits went up (hurrah!).  However, I think they just went here because of Crystal Eagle's reference. :))

It seems that we have an Ateneo Gossip Girl here :))

P.S. I'm going to change my banner again tonight since we are not allowed to campaign anymore this week ;)

Comments? :D

Elections...

Hi there! How are you all doing? :D

This is the time when almost all organizations and councils in our university are doing their elections for the next term's Executive Board.  And obviously, I am one of the people running for a position in my home organization, the Ateneo Management Information Systems Association (Ateneo MISA -  http://misa.org.ph).

It has been a struggle for me to choose what path to take.  I have been into a lot of options and fall back in case one fails.  But one thing is for sure, I have a chance to take tour on these paths.

First, running as the Vice President of Finance and Marketing in Ateneo MISA.  As you can see around 12MN of February 6, I have been changing my display picture and my timeline cover in Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/gabriellorenzosantos) As refered to my previous post, this is the cluster where I came from and I am now planning to be the head of this cluster.  It took me a lot of time to think of pursuing this path since I am evaluating my capabilities as the leader of this cluster, and also the welfare of the cluster if ever I win the elections.  (My platform? To follow on the next days :D )

If I failed my first choice, I proceed my second choice, to apply for Junior Term Abroad (JTA).  It was my close friend and block mate, Joan Magno, that inspired me to aim for higher once I didn't win the MISA EB Elections.  Even my dad is positive about this that he referred me to our relatives in San Francisco for me to ask whether I can stay for 5 months there to study in University of San Francisco for a term. Although this has a low probability, it is not bad to aim for higher! ;)

Those are only two of my options.  It would be great if you come and talk to me personally on my plans, whether about MISA, JTA, or other stuff.

Think Gains.Growth.Gabo for VP for Finance & Marketing! ;)

Comments? :D

My Niche

Hello everyone! What's up with you guys?

So yesterday (January 11) was really a hell day for me. I had appointments, including classes, from 10:30 AM up to 6PM.  Seriously, no breaks at all.

Thanks Den for having the individual consultation at caf! :D

So the title goes "My Niche." It describes my exploration for this week, discovering my real niche in my organization, MISA.

Executive board elections are coming and I'm planning to run for one of the vice presidents of the organization.  However, I really cannot find which position I should run.  I'll relay them here:

1.) Vice President for Finance & Marketing

Context: Basically, Finance & Marketing (F&M) cluster is the one manages all money inflows from sponsorships and fundraisers.  Currently, I am the Associate Vice President for Financial Development under this cluster. I oversee the fund raising activities of MISA.  As of this year, we have implemented three: MISA Shirts (Wave 1) during the COA Recruitment Week, MISA Raffle and Shirt Design Contest (MISA Shirt Wave 2) are currently ongoing.

Reason for choosing the position:  I know the internal operations of the cluster so I assure that I can manage the cluster.  It won't be difficult since I came from the cluster itself.  I also want to increase the fundraising state of the organization, since sponsorships have been good this year.  I also want to provide the members intensive training

Apprehensions on running: I know I can do the job, but I'm thinking that the other person running for the position is more capable than me.  He/She knows more on sponsorships and I think he/she won't do bad on overseeing the fundraisers since it's more on project management.  I don't want to stop the good trend our current vice president has started.

2.) Treasurer
Context: The Office of the Treasury, in contrast to the F&M Cluster, manages the money outflows to keep the organization's operations going.

Reason for choosing the position: Since summer, the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo has been giving trainings to organizations for the presidents, HR, Finance, and Projects.  Their training for finance is a mix of budgeting, risk management, meeting financial operations of the school, and fundraising.  I've been learning these stuff from trainings and even from other organizations.

Apprehensions on running: I really don't have intensive experience with managing money outflows.  I have one but it's not too serious.

3.) Vice President for Communications
Context: The Communications cluster takes care of the brand of MISA to internal and external stakeholders (except company partners) and manages the information dissemination within the organization.

Reason for choosing the position: I have been in the communications field in different organizations.  In AIESEC AdMU, I am under the Communications Department, which takes charge on brand management, information management, and public relations.  In my other organizations such as Alay Ni Ignacio and Sector Based Cluster Core Team, I do promotions that might fit in the event nature and target audience.  I have a wide network which I think would be very helpful in fulfilling this job.

Apprehensions on running: I have never been under Communications cluster of MISA, although I've learned common Communications processes from other organizations.  Also, I do not worry the thing that I do not have an idea of processes in the cluster since the current vice president won't be graduating yet so I have someone to consult to.

What do you think? Comments? :D

New year...

Hey! How is it doing?

Yeah..2012..It's a very controversial year, especially when it comes to the "end of the world".  Mayan calendar. December 21, 2012. Everything.  Even Jay Sean used this opportunity to compose a song that would be a hit for almost 3 years.

Before we get our hopes down because of the said "end of the world", I would like to greet everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!  New year, for me, comes with new opportunities, new challenges to face, new people to meet, everything is so new!

As new opportunities coming, I thought, "Hey! Everything's so dull. I have to do something."  So now, I announce (sorry, I can't think of other word for 'announce') that I'll be getting a new blog in WordPress.com.  It's not that I hate Blogger really that much. It's more of branding my identities in the social media sites.  So what are my plans for my Blogger account and what do you guys have to expect in my WordPress?  I will keep this Blogger for my more personal accounts and testimonials, which I think I cannot really share to most of the people.  In my WordPress, you can see stuff which I can share to the entire Internet, such as photos, music, videos, views and opinions on recent issues.  It's like separating who I really am with what people think who I am (now whaaaaaaat?!).

And that paragraph was SOOOOOOOOOO terrible. Feeling artista?!

Just days before my mom left for Singapore, she told me that my dad is going to buy her a new laptop. It's one of the thin laptops of Asus.  I think it's the Asus UX31. What the?! THAT'S THE LAPTOP I WANT. :( In return, I will inherit my mom's laptop. It's a Toshiba laptop (I forgot the model) but it has camera installed already unlike the one I'm using now.  You know how big deal this is for me? This means, I can start doing videos! *applause* Would you imagine me in a video, talking to you, and you, watching my video?....No?..Bad idea?....So I should stop my dream of being a YouTube celebrity?...Really?

So before I end this post, I just have to share my recent tweet about doing this post instead of doing my paper due later at 5PM:

Damn son! What ya doin'?

HAHA! See you in my WordPress! :D (And wait for my YouTube channel too ;-) )

Comments? :D

Busy October Has Passed

Yes. October has passed and I haven't made a single post for that month. Sad :(

Anyway, here is a rundown of events that happened on my October 2011.

October was a very busy month for me.  The first two weeks marked the busiest days in a college semester - the week before the finals week, and the finals week itself.

When it comes to the result of my hardwork for this semester, well, I managed to pass my History and Filipino subjects. I was really glad about it especially for my Asian History course because my pre-final grade was an F or failing mark.  I was really happy that I, at least, barely passed my weakness subjects.  For this semester, I got a QPI of 2.42, which is way down than my previous QPI. Sad :(

This was the time when I shouted for joy! My Hi16 was marked P or Passed! :D

My  grade spells ADDOBBO and a C+. 

As the first two weeks of my semestral break, I was busy for trainings and seminars.  From October 17 to 21, I went to Code-Over Training Session.  It was a 5-day training for the Associate of Computing Machinery - International Collegiate Programming Competition (ACM-ICPC).  It was held on Subic (I forgot the exact location) and all-expenses paid by our department, the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science.  Surprisingly, I was the only Management Information Systems (MIS) major in the training.  The training is composed of 7 contest-like sessions to simulate the contest environment of the ACM-ICPC.  Every after contest, we discussed how to answer the problem set.

From October 24 to 28, I attended the AIESEC National Leadership Development Conference.  This was my first time to attend a national conference of AIESEC and I enjoyed it a lot.  I learned a lot of stuff here and my doubts regarding the placement of AIESEC AdMU in Business Cluster were answered.  The conference were attended by different delegates from LCs, extensions, and applying LCs, including delegates from Myanmar, Singapore, and Japan, plus foreign facilitators from AIESEC Taiwan, AIESEC Malaysia and AIESEC Sri Lanka.  We had the Externals Day on Oct. 24, where there were talks about Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship, and Leadership.  On the second day, we reviewed everything about AIESEC and introduced to us the AIESEC 2015, including the 3 Wheels of Change, the BHAG, etc.  At night, we had our local version of Global Village, the Fiesta Night, where different LCs presented delicacies and performance about the different provinces here in the Philippines.  Our group were assigned for Quezon Province. I did the design of the booth. Unluckily, we failed to get the best booth design. At least we all enjoyed, especially the lambanog. =D

Wazzap with my face? ROFL.

When people tried Quezon Province's Lambanog :>

Our Lucban Longganisa

Door Design for the Fiesta Night

On the following days, we had trainings from controlling a team and coaching, to writing a good job description for EPs.  In my part, I learned how a business model canvass works in an AIESEC context, plus market segmentation, expansion, and risk management.

While doing a TN Form for a fictional EP. Happy me + happy Jiggy

Anong meron at ang taray ng itsura ko dito? O_O

During the market segmentation talk. THAT'S ME! Behing Nicky! :D

During the nights, we had celebrations. For the third night, we had a pageant night and on the fourth, we had the Captain's Gala Night.

(incomplete) AIESEC AdMU
Credits to: Sarah Aquino

(incomplete) AIESEC AdMU
(Top: Ara Cabalonga, Joseph Cristostomo; Bottom: Me; Ram Tan, Inna Villa, Denise Pena, Silvia Oprea the MCVP Communications)
Credits to: Sarah Aquino

Me and Cor :D
Credits to: Sarah Aquino

AdMU LCP Kathleen Kho and MCVP Finance Mikee Lee (Yes the PBB guy) and ME at the left most part of the picture :D
Credits to: Sarah Aquino

My co-delegates :D

My co-delegates..that's me! The one in green behind Ria Noche, my NLDC Partner :D

Yes that's me in green, as well :D

The OC, Facilitators, and Delegates of AIESEC Philippines NLDC 2011