Another Bag of Lays and Coke

Ever since I entered this school, I am not really trusting people around. I do tend to try to feel what other people think of me. This is school and majority of people here really like making sarcastic comments, likes to talk when you turn around and the like. That’s why I cannot fully trust anyone. Although my mentor mentioned that I should do what I think is right and never mind too much about your image. However, when people go beyond their limits, I do have the right to protect my image.

 

Oh yes, I am enjoying a privilege right now related to school work but I do hate it when people call me somewhat not worthy of the privilege, whether they mean it or just a joke, because it’s not a funny thing to talk about in that way. What’s worse is that you try to help them and they go take advantage of it, exploiting you like hell. You go and treat them stuff and do them favors and they go out as if it’s a necessary thing for me to do or an obligation. Then, when you fail them, they act as if I’m a useless person. That’s why I do ask my high school friends again to go around Katipunan so that I will be able to talk to them again, people who accept me for who I am, no backstabs, no secret talking. These people who call me they way they call me right now starts to become a lie but hopefully it won’t escalate to the limit.

Call me whatever you want, but there are people who are given that privilege but hiding their stuff in a place so that they could get the privilege. Damn, we’re so struggling right now and being called like that is really insulting. And it placed me again into the same situation when I was in high school: Who am I to trust now? Closest people in school are starting to become more and more inaccessible and more grouped. Then the other group just disappointed me. Although I was disappointed before but someone made apologies in behalf of them. Someone read a post of mine and reported it (can you believe that). So what is this, also a protection of image? Sheesh.

I’m soooo looking forward to this upcoming Christmas’ get-togethers. At least I can find some worthy time there.

My playlist is out of date, just to remind myself how old I am. :D

After updating my device’s operating system to iOS5, all of the iPod’s information and data were restored except the music. This is a big problem for me since I don’t put the music to iTunes’ library first then transfer it to the iPod. Yes, I directly drag the mp3’s to the iPod.

Now I can’t remember all the contents of my iPod before, though I managed to put back some music I used to listen before I updated. But then I realized these are all old and when the kids at my org ask me to put up some mix for a particular event, I have to ask someone else to get some new and latest music for me to play on their events.

My favorites are usually instrumental background music from movies. I usually get these from the movies I watch and also some background music used by the BBC UK Show, Top Gear. Some were from Japanese anime and I try to get instrumental versions because I like them more than someone singing along. I also get the orchestra versions of some songs, and get the high quality versions of them, sometimes loss less format. I do listen to some good songs before, like The Corrs and more old generation music. 🙂 But of course, I ran out of ideas as I can’t remember all good songs when I was still 10 or 15 years old.

My teacher let me listen to The Script. Actually, my older brother introduced me to this group way before it became famous here in the Philippines. Their songs were good then I did not know that they released a new album in the year 2010 and my teacher let me listen to the song “Science and Faith” and it was soooooo good.

Yes, forgive me for being old but if it’s ok you can give me ideas for good songs. I also listen to some of the songs being played on the series “House M.D.” as some of the songs there are quite good. Though, talking about series, I’m not really a big fan of Glee and their versions of some songs. I am more fan of those artists who dare to perform in Japan. Why? Japanese people don’t want you to go on concert at their place and let them here the same piece of music they hear on your album. What they want is to make that particular music of yours so special that you can actually distinguish it from your album. 😀 That’s why I love Japan performances.

I do also listen to some party songs (and actually, that’s what I need for the events) but I don’t put all of them to my iPod. Some music are just giving me migraine, with the beat as well as the lyrics. 🙂

So anyone, ideas?

 

 

The toughest gadget I encountered so far

…and it is my laptop, a Lenovo Y410. Well, technically it’s not really mine. The story goes like this: when our desktop is facing deterioration and everything required new hardware, my mom finally agreed to purchase a new set of  hardware and we gunned down for a Lenovo. It is more expensive than the laptops equipped with 3D accelerators and high-end Intel processors nowadays but the high price is worth the pay because of something else and something very important: Build Quality.

This laptop of mine is turning three years next year and it’s still working fine. Although it fails sometimes but it doesn’t let you down once you try to revive it after its fainting. It is equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz dual core processor, an Intel X3100 Graphics Media Accelerator Card for not-so-intense graphics applications, and some upgrades for RAM (from 1GB to 3GB) and hard drive (120GB to 250GB). Pre-installed with rubbish OS Windows Vista Home Premium but I changed it to Windows 7 Professional by the time I got the guts as well as the laptop to change the OS. My ownership took shape when everybody else were tired of having a shared computer and started getting their own. :))

So what about build quality? The brand “Lenovo” is actually a chinese-owned computer manufacturing company which took over IBM’s personal computer business by 2005.  That’s why the usual IBM’s “ThinkPad” is now under Lenovo’s lineup. Although there’s the fear that the quality has dropped since it’s a chinese company taking over IBM’s PC manufacturing but I don’t think it did because I think what Lenovo has done was to just take the IBM manufacturing division and still let them continue what they usually do but all output will be labelled Lenovo. 😀 Which means that the blast-proof IBM build quality is still there.

How to prove it? My laptop, as I’ve said, is turning three years old. Aside from the DVD Rambo drive which failed after a year, everything’s running fine and smooth. The DVD Drive is actually a faulty one and I don’t know where Lenovo sourced this particular drive. To add up to that, a Rambo drive (one that doesn’t have a disk tray and only has an opening where you will insert the CD/DVD) is one type of CD/DVD drive which is more prone to damage, mainly because of it’s constant exposure due to a permanent opening for the disc. The rest of the laptop is working well.

This build quality was tested when I accidentally dropped the laptop to a rough, concrete floor. I was going down from our vehicle and I forgot to zip-lock my bag’s laptop pocket and the laptop fell from about 3-4 feet above the ground, with once of the laptop’s corners hitting the concrete floor. I immediately checked everything: screen, ports, keyboard, touchpad, laptop-specific buttons and all devices such as graphics, bluetooth radio and WiFi and to my surprise, everything is working fine. The screen, though, is dislocated but it’s dislocated by less than a millimeter so there’s no big fuss about it, nothing’s bothering me with my view on the screen.

All I had to do every now and then is clean the fan and the heat sink fins so that my laptop could get its optimal cooling everytime.

Other tortures?

I usually put my can of drink above the palm rests when I’m using the laptop on my bed since I don’t I have any firm surface to place my drink. I eat a lot while using the computer and some bits of the food goes into the keyboard but they keyboard still responds fine. Oh, speaking of the keyboard, none of the keys have faded but I guess it depends really on the person who uses it.

I was offered to have a replacement unit with an ASUS one, equipped with first generation Intel i5 and NVIDIA CUDA 1GB. I told them I don’t like a swap because one, it’s one more year before I graduate. Second my laptop contained authentic software I did not have to pay for, such as the Full-Fat Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus and the Windows 7 Professional as well. Third, and the most cheesy of all, this computer stores most of the memories of my college life and I can’t afford someone owning this and starting to erase everything for his/her own use.

So, there you have it. Not an iPod touch, not the old Nokia 5110 but this laptop. 😀

Cherry Coke, Toblerone Dark Chocolate

Well, I guess it’s the end of the first week of the last semester of my college life (hopefully).

 

Just wondering at some stuff, say my org Gabay as well as my course. I don’t know but there are things within these topics that I am still not in ease with. Or maybe I just can’t get a good read on people these days, despite having them go around close to me everyday. Makes me a bit jealous with the CoE peeps as they got all blocks close together while it’s a different story on our side. Goes the same with the org, I also can’t get a good read on people.

Or maybe it’s just me. Hayz

Anyway, fellow LSAT members showed me some sort of a digital Thank You card and to be honest, I don’t know what to say. It also made me a lot more confused on whether I really did a good job on LSAT but I guess their words are enough to say what I have done. I really love this team a lot and I don’t know how will I move on, leaving this team for good.

That’s too much LSAT drama, if I’m honest. 🙂

 

I do miss my old gangs: my high school barkada, my first LSAT Grad family… not that I am left out from the ateneo people. Oh I remember, I mentioned this before of being what I call a “ghost”. Some say if you don’t want to see ghosts, don’t pay attention to any chatter about it. Which means that those who want to see them will really see them. Somehow, friendships fall in the same place as some people will see you as a friend when they are in need and then all of a sudden you vanish in the air when they got what they needed. I am experiencing this a loooooooooooot though at some point I don’t really mind. All my life I’ve been giving and giving whatever friends needed and most of the time, I get left out in the dust. What’s bad is that when the time comes that you need them, they become exactly like Boo from the Mario game, you face them and then they hide, you turn away they show up and smile. Of course there are friends who understand your situation but try as much as they can to help and I can actually distinguish well who these people are.

I do miss them a lot and I wish I could talk to them now.

 

An Evaluation

Just like other people who serve, I wish I could have people evaluate my work for my stay in this particular service. I would like to tell, though, that this is not to massage my ego as I am serious whether I made a good job or not.

To be honest, I’m not really sure about the work I did. When I started my first registration as the team captain, I technically screwed up with things. I just had to compensate with the work on the actual registration itself. Then I had to ask my dad and older brother how to manage a team as big as this, what input I need from them and what I should deliver back. Sometimes, I do consider the loss of members, meaning the resignations and no response when asked if they will still renew, as the team as well as my loss. The small fact that I was not able to retain them means that I am not making things more interesting than before. All I can do is just listen to what the Registrar told me to just recruit when people go. Yes, people come and go with the changes in time and I know that but for some to leave at an early or later point meant that I missed something, some sort of action that I should have done. Although recruiting is fun because it makes you interact with new people around but the question lies within those interviews on whether you can actually know how this particular applicant really thinks.

And then there’s the question of the people itself. Maybe I’ve established myself quite wrong in this team. I thought at the very first that maybe changing the usual team captain attitude may bring the team’s loss of members to a slower rate or to a magnificent halt. Well, at some point, it did but it also gave way to some people who can be abusive of this kindness. A proof was one registration where my patience was tested. After that, I began to think again if it is actually correct to be soft because the team captain when I entered this service was excellently strict but I found dull and lifeless assessors who only looked into this service as a simple task or job. I never really smiled or talked to students lively when he was the one on the top. Now, I saw a difference. Showing the assessors now that you appreciate their efforts and showing this appreciation to them directly make them work better and better. One venue would actually interrupt your conversation with ANY of the assessors once the assessor call has been raised. It’s the lively and happy accommodation of these assessors that made the job the best that it can be and I never saw this before during my time. Although to give way for this, I had to show them that their boss is also a lively one. Someone who they can surprise a water gun attack and would even laugh with them. But of course, like what I’ve mentioned, it can lead to some deviousness.

But then I’m afraid that if I ask people, some would reply sarcastically. If I ask closer friends of mine, all that they will say is not really that accurate because they never see me work. With all of these, some will say I might be looking down on myself too much. That’s why I would like an honest opinion if I did well, from being the temporary assistant head, actual assistant head, then team head and finally team captain for two straight years. Why am I asking opinions? Isn’t this job done already? Yes I know, but I just really want to know how I performed. Some people would mention most of the time your good points. I also want to know the bad points I had so that in the future, in my work and in other aspects, I would be able to know what to avoid.

 

Every registration, I would always tell myself, problems are not meant to be prevented. It will always and always appear in many forms. Our task is to solve them, one at a time. Just like what was mentioned in one of the animes I watched about racing, tuners are there to tune the engine, improve and encounter problems and fix it and when you fix one problem, another will come out.

 

Oh I would really  love to hear comments, I don’t really care if it’s for or against me, as long as I will learn from them.

Thank You.

That’s what I want to say, really. In fact, I want to say it to every member of LSAT who was under my term. Since I’ve been blogging my LSAT history before, I’d just take time here to write some of the best memories I had with LSAT.

1. The Thundershock – I’ve been mentioning this before: LSAT was originally four UNDERGRAD teams with the GRAD assessors hidden within SOSS team. That’s why SOSS was so large in number. Eventually the superiors at that time decided that the best thing to do is to separate the GRAD assessors into a new team, which is the GRAD team now. When I came into LSAT with my ECE batchmates, I was surprised why I, including a good number of new members, were suddenly separated from the usual dry run routine. This was actually the clue for the GRAD Assessment that time. And from there, I am proud here that I am one of the very first members of LSAT GRAD Team when it was established. 😀

2. The group photo – a tradition I continued when GRAD team was established. The Team head loved his team so much that every registration,he’d try to get a picture with his team every registration and I continued this tradition when I first handled GRAD Assessment team and eventually spread this on the whole team.

Because of strict rules, these pictures were taken with extreme precision not to be caught by the boss. 😀

3. Escaler Hall as the Grad Assessment venue – Yep, the very venue where I worked on my first assessments. 😀 It was also memorable as this is one of the two times I encountered AISIS ver1.0. Also, unlike the assessment now where the student approaches you, this is where the student waits for his/her enlistment and assessment to get done by us. Oh by the way, AISIS 1.0 gives you the power that the IntraAisis should be giving at that time : Advisement. Yes, we can change the IPS of the student from the interface of AISIS without using IntrAISIS. 🙂

I miss the old gang, too. :

4. The Big Surprise –  When the team head of GRAD mentioned that I did a catastrophic mistake in the enlistment, the decision was supposed to be a termination for my membership but for some reason, and probably they discussed about it, that it might be better if they put me into probation. On my side, I’m not disappointed about the probationary status, but rather it made me think a lot if I really made a mistake….or maybe it’s the student’s mistake. But either way, I did not give up and showed them that I can do a good job. 🙂

5. Team Captain position – Still a big question in my head, despite finishing the job. 🙂 All I thought that time when Ate KJean went out of service, maybe they can’t pick someone better than her. My assigned SecGen and I decided that since we still have two years for service, we would switch after a year but suddenly he backed out. We then decided that it’s better to retain the position for the second term and just train more people who will be handling the team in the future. 🙂

6. RegCom – it’s really nice to work with them. Of course, they are strict and sometimes harsh with they comments on our performance but what can I do but to serve better and better and try to lead the team to a better way. All the comments may sound weird at times but I just comply with it so that we can serve everyone better. Although it’s a big shame that a big chunk had gone when the privilege to enlist earlier than everybody else was removed. The remaining, I should say, were the best of the best RegCom members for me. There was even one time I heard that the number of members of RegCom was around 27, if I heard it correctly. Then looking at LSAT’s number, the number of RegCom members are exactly their number with the digits switched places. Yes, at that time, we were 72. RegCom was heavily undermanned but with hard work, patience and maximum tolerance, they were able to finish the registration that time. For me, because they have done a wonderful job at that number, I’d say they finished that registration with flying colors. If LSAT was on that number, we’d screwed up the registration.

7. Closing Gaps – The Core group was so strict before that it’s hard to bond with them. I can’t even have a fun talk with the team captain before but that’s to establish some authority, maybe, but still. Now I tried a different formula because times were changing. From here, I think that if I retained the poker face before, I might have to recruit and recruit every now and then. Oh I’d like to think Sir JJ for saying “Get to know your assessors well.”

 

8. LSAT meme – Just look at this one:

Do I have to explain it?

9. When Kuya Pau was pushed to the limit – Ah yeah, for the first time I was angry on two teams not following instructions. what’s so bad about this is that when I stepped outside of the room, the assessors started doing what they’re not supposed to do: I instructed them not to access the internet. But they did anyway and they thought I don’t have eyes inside the room. I finally confronted them and left the two teams with no internet access while everybody else are enjoying it. It’s a simple task to do and these assessors were probably starting to develop to decrease their respect for authority. They were absolutely taking advantage of the kindness I am giving to them and it went overboard.

Those are just some of the great memories. 😀 Now I’d like to say thanks to the people I worked with during registrations:

1. Sir JJ – Sir JJ is the registrar of Ateneo when I entered and even now. I even wondered if I was even putting the team to a performance that goes within his standard or at least better than the previous team captain. He opened an opportunity for me, as well as other scholars, to serve the university in a very unique way. Without this initiative of his, there would be no LSAT. 😀 He showed me, and taught me in a way, how things go about the registration and how it is usually handled. All I have to do is follow that and I think it’s up to me if I would like to spice it up a bit to make things better.

2. Ma’am Dindin – I first met her when she was our facilitator for the group sessions during NSTP. I was surprised that people from the Registrar can accomodate such jobs when things in Registrar’s office are already hectic. Then I met her again when she stayed to observe the venue and fix RO problems during registration. She, together with RegCom, went to meet with me to plan on how things will go about the GRAD Registration. It was nice working with her and I always tell my assessors, don’t hesitate on asking Ma’am Dindin about enlistment problems as she will help you, big time.

3. Ma’am Liza – She was the representative for GRAD assessment when I started GRAD Assessment then went away for some time, then went back again. At first I thought she was so strict mainly because of the waste of printing wrong receipts at the venue at that time. But she is also a very kind person. So kind that when I asked for an update on how to assess scholarships, she did gave a full-scale excel file containing all the options that we need to tick for a specific scholarship. What’s more, since things and times are changing, we do ask her often about how to assess such students. At some point, I asked her if she is tired of being asked what to do. She then replied with a smile that it’s actually nice that we’re asking since that will prevent any assessment errors. But for me, that doesn’t mean that we have to ask things again and again. We have to take note of things and just update her about any changes every registration.

4.RegCom – it is really nice working with this elite team of people. They may be strict and wanted things to be like this like that but I know it’s for the good. 😀 I love them as they persevere with the problem of member count but they can always find ways to compensate. 😀 And of course, the committee that Sir JJ loves will always be the committee who will serve the students during their registration and no other team can replace them. We can’t even try to wear white during registration. It’s their flagship color.:)

5. LSAT – I loooooooooooooooooooooooove you so much. I am always looking forward to registrations, not because of the perks but because I will see the people I work with again and again. I may not be the best among all the team captains before, (Not to mention, some of you may have taken POS100 and Sir Gino Trinidad as the prof, Sir Gino is one of the team captains of LSAT before) but I hope I made you enjoy your stay in this team. There may be some ups and downs but it can always be solved.

This was the very first LSAT group picture care of my blockmate Math. I just love this team. Some people come and go, makes me sad then happy but still a good team. They showed me how to lead them, how to know them, bond with them, discipline them. I learned most of my leadership knowledge here and all with the help of these people. I hope they will stay in this team like me, up until they graduate.

 

And to everyone else I haven’t mentioned (since I’m quite a bit tired), Thank you for being part of my stay here in LSAT. I will definitely miss this job. Like what I said in my current profile picture’s caption, those group pictures are shouting :

“You’ll miss us badly when you’re gone…”

Thank You.

 

Assessor, Summer 2008

Temporary Assistant Team Head-First Sem 2008

Assistant Team Head – Second Semester 2008

Team Head – 2009

Team Captain – 2010-2011

 

A Bag of Lays, a Can of Coke

An assessor of mine told me to limit my coke intake when I told that person my average intake. 🙂 But here I am drinking again. I haven’t told that person, though, that I am trying to avoid alcohol beverages using coke as one of the medium to cover my strong intake of alcohol.

Well, what can I say? I am here writing with my head starting to ache again. I should be sleeping right now but I want to write everything that happened today. Everything went well, for me, today except the small number of assessors in GRAD. But we managed to get out alive today. I also checked other venues and for the first time, I saw SOSS and SOH venue to be very crowded. usually, it is SOM and SOSE that gets crowded. I’ve also tried some students if they will observe the rules with and without my presence there. What does this mean? This is to show if the assessors will follow their heads. 😀 There’s a funny event before SOM closed: the assessors never trusted that their head had permitted them to use internet. I had to go say “yes” there for them to believe him and it was a great laughter. Of course there are also who fell into trap. 🙂 But I won’t mention them here. I’m too happy to mention the events.

I am so impressed with the new members and I hope they stay. Only in this recruitment we got members who took notes during the dry run and even asked if they can use their notes on the actual run itself. I was sooooooooooooooo proud of those people and take note, they are NEW members. I really want and I hope that they stay in LSAT. They will surely lead the team to a good way. I’m not saying that the current members are no good. In fact, they can help these new members to become the best of the best when the time comes for them to lead the team.

One more day to work. Tomorrow will be the very last time I will serve for Ateneo in the area of registration. May God guide me to do the work he wanted me to do.