First Day in Singapore 2012

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Nearing October, there were several things I looked forward to. The one I anticipated the most was my trip to Singapore. I went there last year with my mother and we went to basically most of the touristic areas, but this time it was different. I was the only one who went there, I took my time going around exploring less touristic areas and there were a lot more reasons. So yeah, I can say that this trip was still special and has its own + stuff. I shall give you a peek of my Singapore 2012 trip day per day!

My flight was around 10 AM and at first I thought I’d be dead bored in NAIA, but thankfully, they finally had free Wi-Fi (thank you Globe for that!). Of course I just had to take a picture of else who were going to SG that day! So many oldies!!!

My brother picked me up from Changi and we had lunch. Dropped off my stuff in his flat then off we went to see Gardens by The Bay.

To be fair, it was on my list of things to see considering it’s just new. Construction finished around late June or early July this year! It was filled with nature stuff, obviously. I would’ve appreciated it more had it not rained… but it’s okay! I still got to enjoy the cute things. OH I also saw an Atenean, someone from APAIR (Ateneo PAIR), there with a bunch of friends. Amazing actually. Didn’t expect to see any familiar faces. But we’re not friends, I smiled though just to show that I’m not a snob.



We had dinner in Din Tai Fung after. I really missed xiao long bao so much so I had a happy little boy moment when we feasted on these goodies!

What amazed me even more is how quick the chefs were in preparing them so much so that I can’t even take a crisp picture of them while in action!

We also shared some fried pork chop rice and some wanton noodles (forgive me I wasn’t able to take a picture of it, I was already too hungry). They were also good! The fried pork chop had a certain crisp and tenderness. Really really good stuff.

My brother brought me to the Louis Vuitton Island. And no, he didn’t buy me anything. I think I could’ve been more impressed had I not seen the LV in Champs last year first. Regardless, it was special and I just really love how Singaporeans can make such edgy infrastructures!

We watched the night show as well and it was nice. Singapore really never fails to amaze me specially on how they’re such a forward country despite their conservativeness. Haha! We went back to my brother’s flat and, well, that’s basically it for the first day! Watch out for the entries for days two to five!

First Day in Singapore 2012

I Love Paper!

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One of the things I detest as a student in the Philippines is being given so much readings which are printed on paper. While I enjoy highlighting as I read, in the long run, the thousands of papers photocopied everyday are put to waste as some students just throw them away. After all, who would want to keep readings which would just remind you of a subject which gave you a hard time, right?

Personally, I hate seeing a huge pile of readings yet to be read, and even after reading them, I am just so tempted to throw them all away. But, I would always remember how back in High School, we would have paper bins in all of the rooms not only for segregation’s sake, but for other’s use. How? Well, most of the time, we print on only one side of the paper, leaving the other side blank, clean and still usable. After the set of papers aren’t needed anymore for the class, I use the clean pages for my number-related classes, like Finance, Operations Management, Business Statistics and for other computations I do. But not only that, I also use it for mind mapping or for other random sketches (since I still can’t find a decent sketchpad).

And I’ll tell you a secret. There are times when I’m down that making a paper crane cheers me up.

You might be thinking what ‘inspired’ me to blog about my use of paper. Well, it’s really because I stumbled upon Kiehl’s Facebook page and I saw this contest where I am supposed to share how I live out tips which they posted; all of which are about loving and caring about Momma Earth. And the tip I’m living by is this one.

Props to Kiehl’s for having this CSR on the Earth because it’s something relevant to all of us and all of us should take part in ensuring that we keep our environment clean, that we do not just waste energy and, simply, maintaining and improving the state of our planet 🙂

How about you? What do you do to ensure the Earth is in good hands with you? 😉

I Love Paper!

I Want To Be In Marketing/Advertising

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February 3, 2012, two eventful things happened which I am considering to be signs for my near future.

Last Friday, Ateneo CoSA (Collegiate Society of Advertising), held an Ad Expo to Ogilvy & Mather (commonly referred to as Ogilvy). If you don’t know what Ogilvy is…kill yourself. Kidding! Well no, not really. Ogilvy & Mather is basically this well-known marketing communication firm, having hundreds of offices worldwide. It has done different marketing campaigns for notable companies such as Nestlé and Coke, and a lot more multinational companies. Anyway, so we went to the Fort to go to their office. As we stepped out of the elevator, there it was, greeting us a big cute Ogilvy sign, which is, if you didn’t know, the signature of David Ogilvy.

It was so awesome. We got to meet Randy Aquino who is the Head of Country. Really interesting guy. After being introduced to him, we were given a short tour of the whole place. I really liked the veranda the most. I can really imagine mini corporate events happening there and creative people sketching and finding inspiration. Cute!

We proceeded to the program proper where we learned more about Ogilvy and advertising. It was interesting, really. The whole trip and stay there really made me more interested to go to Advertising although I still want to go for other aspects of Marketing. Really interested with Strategic Planning, Brand Management and, recently, Guerrilla Marketing.

Before the day ended, I saw on my News Feed on Facebook the top 5 teams that will battle it out on the Ateneo ACTM IMC Cup Culminating Event. And lo and behold!

image from the Ateneo ACTM

The team I belong to, Team Vertigo, got in! It’s quite a shocker really! My teammates and I were really working hard and everything but didn’t expect to get in. I guess we have to be really really good and put on a great show since we’re the only Ateneo team competing. Don’t want to disappoint my org mates, Wilson Gan (MKT101 prof) and Xavier Ternault (Advertising prof in ESC)! Haha!

Seriously, though, I don’t have a clue how we will pull this off considering this JTA sem is draining the life force out of us. But as the saying goes… “GO LANG!” HAHA! Really excited though to present our ideas and to hear ideas from others as well. And seriously, this is fueling to pursue Marketing in the future. 🙂

I Want To Be In Marketing/Advertising

More Than A Series of Talks

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Yesterday, January 28, 2012, the first ever Camp IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications), organized by the Ateneo Association for Communications Technology Management, was held in Ateneo. It was a really awesome way to learn about IMC because not only did the participants learn from 4 individuals who all had a nice take on IMC, we were also given a case and make an IMC pitch. I like how the awesome project heads Fara, JV and Kit injected a social dimension to the whole thing through the cases. It’s what I’ve always wanted, really, for the org to have a CSR aspect directly connected to IMC.

To the future Executive Committee, perhaps, the CSR project of the org, rather than be a one-time thing educating others about IMC, how about looking into social institutions, much like GKnomics, and see how there is an IMC need for them? Make it a year-long partnership, if possible. 

Anj Poe was there to be a supportive sister and she was providing information as well on the different communities mentioned in the cases. The brainstorming was a bit difficult considering the time allotted…only around 3 hours. Crazy, right? But fun nonetheless. I was with Trisha, Maia, Jeff and Josh. We got to meet our mentor, SOM Week Project Head SY10-11, Dani Eleazar, after dinner. She was really helpful and insightful. No wonder she’s a mentor! Haha! All the teams presented their pitches and while the scores were being tallied. Kit and his friend sang some songs. Really cool actually!

It was revealed after their intermission that our group won first place. Really happy, actually! Sucks though I don’t have any group picture in my camera. So you might be wondering what our group was tasked to make an IMC campaign for…well, simple, really (or rather, not THAT simple). doy bags!

They’re cute, actually! They are bags made by housewives from GK Sunshine Ville. They receive Zesto misprint juice pack things, cut them up, weave them and do other cute stuff to produce these fun stuff. They are really durable and quite sleek! 🙂

More Than A Series of Talks

ACTM, I Will See You Again. Promise.

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This time last year, I was very much happy with one of the most difficult decisions I made, although, the “getting there” wasn’t really that easy.

December 2010, I knew I wanted to serve ACTM more and I wanted to grow with all of the members. I had plans and I had a vision for the organization and I knew which direction I would want to take ACTM to, of course with the help of everyone. After much reflection, I knew I wanted to run for Vice President for Strategic Communications because I know my skills will be best used there and I have been very much interested with IMC the whole time and my brother had been teaching it to me since I was in 4th Year High, and in fact, the reason why he chose me to be a group mate for the IMC Competition back in 1st Year is because he wanted me to learn more and start practicing it. Anyway, I was very much determined to really learn more about IMC that before the Christmas Break of 2010, I borrowed all IMC and Marketing related books that I could take home for the break. I started reading and learning so much more, my interest grew and I started crafting my platform and my campaign materials during the break. I was determined to run because I wanted to share the knowledge to everyone and to really start recognizing and materializing IMC in the organization. And after setting up my wix campaign website, my platform which, until now I still think is quite impressive, I chanced upon something I wrote in my journal that made all those, worthless. And everything then changed… and it was quite upsetting, really. Why did I have to stumble upon it is something until now I ask myself.

The decision then not to run was made known to a few friends and as I talked to those friends, they really wanted me to think again and they would often tell me, “huwag kang matakot magtaya“. Perhaps it wasn’t that I was scared to, but knowing my why in the greater scheme, I knew I had to do something. I revealed the decision to the organization during the Leadership Training Course while telling them the importance of empowerment and that sometimes we all need to take a step back to let others step forward and to take the lead. I remember saying that I want others to be given opportunities as well, that’s my “why”, empowerment. I remember finding it hard to stop myself from letting tears go down while telling people I will not run because it sort of meant disappointing some of my friends present, some people who really wanted me serving as an officer again. Something people never knew is that I actually realized that I’m not the best person for the job, hence I didn’t run…Bakit naman ako magtataya kung hindi ko naman kaya kumbinsihin sarili ko na nararapat ako para sa bokasyon na iyon. I loved the org so much that I’m very much willing to support anyone who would be the one to lead the org in the Strategic Communications Department. Looking back, I can say that I don’t have any regrets. And it’s true what I told myself, if I step back, a lot of people will step forward, and it did happen.

Fast-forward to December 2011, a few people were asking me of my plans for the organization, and if you know how I died during JTA semester, it was a really iffy topic. To be honest, after the First General Assembly, I told myself I no longer want to be part of the organization. But I was probably just enveloped by my feelings that time. I did actually consider to run for the same position I wanted to run before, because I know if I wanted to make changes, being an officer would greatly help me in my plight. And at the same time, I’m more knowledgable now, I know that I am capable, and I’m more determined. And when I opened my platform again, I saw that a lot of the things there, aren’t even being done, or so I think, and that means I can bring something new that would activate many members and educate them with IMC and hopefully, make IMC recognized to the whole Ateneo and even outside. You may ask why then am I not running…quite simple really, because this time, I know how I want to serve the org, if the future officers will let me. Having been busy drafting plans for a project I want to head because I have this vision for ACTM and its members, I know I want to head this project more than being VP for Strategic Communications. And yes, in the end, everything I made will be put to waste.

Recently, I have seen the list of official candidates and I can’t help but smile and be happy because I know the org will continue to be in good hands, and I know that whoever wins, the org will reach great heights much like what it did this school year.

Photo care of the the ACTM COMELEC, I suppose 🙂

To everyone running, you have my support and I promise to re-join the organization and continue to serve the members. For the Executive Committee this school year, I will make a separate post for you guys. You’re all too awesome not to be given a separate post. 🙂

Below are the plans I made back in 2010, by the way. I don’t want them to be put to waste to might as well post it in hopes these can be put to some use.

ACTM, I Will See You Again. Promise.