The Decision to Pursue DevCom

You would admit this: there are certain instances when you feel so ecstatic and content, as if nothing could ruin your mood, as if your day had been perfect. Such is how I currently feel. Somehow, it seems as though tons of things happened this day. I feel an overwhelming sense of achievement and productivity, like I was able to spend less than half of the twenty-four hours in the best day that I could.

Before I made the decision of pursuing BSDC, I felt . . . rather like an empty shell. Like someone without an identity. Or perhaps, someone who hadn’t wholly decided what that identity really was. Yes, it was exactly that. Sure, I’m taking up Bachelor of Science in Development Communication at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños. But somehow, it didn’t really appear like that back then. Whenever someone would mutter unpleasant words about my either my course or my school, I wasn’t really affected. My mind was still wired this way: Who cares. I’m transferring to Diliman next year, anyway. I was acting as if I were indeed a student of BS Geology in UP Diliman. I was completely, unfalteringly, certain that that wish would happen the next year.

But no.

It was exactly on the twenty-seventh day of October when I made my decision that I would stay in UPLB. It was during that particular period wherein I would spend many times contemplating, murdering my brain to let me choose properly, and the likes. I was beginning to be depressed, even. What was I supposed to do? I didn’t know. All I was aware of back then – and I still am – was that I loved both Geology and DevCom. I couldn’t choose. I couldn’t decide which was the weightier of the two.

And of course I had to choose only one.

After more musings, stumbling upon some inspiring stories and articles, I suddenly felt that “Aha!” moment when a bulb of light would emerge beside your head with that standard ting sound. It started to make sense. If I loved DevCom as much as I did with Geology, then why would I part with it? It’s already there, so close, already within my grasp, and I would just stupidly let go of it just because I liked the other one too. Be content with what you have, as I have often heard. It was so simple, that’s why It was so difficult to make the decision.

Here’s the good side: DevCom already has everything that I could ever wish for. There’s the journalistic aspect – writing, writing, writing, reporting. I wouldn’t get tired of saying this: Writing is my passion. It’s something I can’t live a day without. And quite literally. Then there’s also the artistic part of it [all the things that I am highly interested in]—photography, visual designs and video production. And the best part! Science, science, and science. I can actually write and study science at the same time. I couldn’t ask for more.

And the bad side?

There’s none, actually.

And after making the decision of staying, I felt so happy, so free of worries. From then on, I was so proud I was a DevCom student. And even more so, a UPLB student. The identity was molded. I felt whole, I was content.

A while ago, we went to PCAMRD, SESAM and ERDB for the exercise in DEVC 11. Honestly, it was my first time venturing into government institutions (PCAMRD, DOST; ERDB, DENR), and the air inside was not suffocating at all. The people were very accommodating; it was a center of ongoing learning. They didn’t give off any sign of hostility. Despite the fact that they were obviously very busy, they still entertained us.

Admittedly, I’m more of a writer than a speaker. But after that experience, I somehow felt like I could do the latter too, if I tried very hard. Luckily, I was able to interview the people there. And even more fortunately, my [how should I call it?] annoying trait of being an anti-social didn’t interfere. I did what I had to do quite well. After all, I suppose every journalist/ reporter, etc needs to have “makapal na mukha.”

I felt really giddy when I was finally able to enter SESAM. Perhaps I am too excited and way ahead of my current situation, but I had entertained the idea that if I wouldn’t continue having Geology as a second degree, I would definitely pursue an MS in Environmental Science. I love the environment.  But when we went to ERDB later on [My first time being on that part of the upper campus.], my admiration for Forestry heightened as well. To be honest, I was tempted to write BSF in my UPCAT form before, but somehow I didn’t. Not that I regret the decision, but it would be lying if I say that I hadn’t thought of taking up Forestry later on.

Maybe I will.

There are so many possibilities.

You know what? Somehow I like the idea of working in places like those – R&D institutions or anything else related to science, especially the environment. When I graduate, I would really prefer working in places like those [PCAMRD, ERDB, DENR, etc.] than ABS-CBN or GMA. Too mainstream. Perhaps you’d think of how idiotic that is, but I don’t really care if the latter could provide me more money.

Somehow, as much as I love writing, I still feel sometimes that I can’t correctly explain how I truly feel or think of a certain thing.

In the end, I’ve concluded: I won’t stop with BSDC. After receiving my degree, I absolutely won’t stop there. I would go on learning.

“Do what you love, the money will follow.”

That quote never fails to inspire me.

The Wonders of Google

Synthesis . . .

Google is a very effective search engine. And in my own honest opinion and based on my experience, I will unhesitatingly say the Google is actually the best one there is for me. No nonsense whatsoever. 

The people living in this digital and information era are no doubt a very fortunate bunch. Yes, I cannot even imagine how the world was back then - when you'd have to scour through mountains and mountains of books, venture to many libraries, etc, just to get the information needed in an assignment or so. That is one hard work. 

Good thing, with the emergence of the internet, we can find what we need in a matter of seconds. The negative side of it, though, is this: with so much information available these days, whenever one would make a search, thousands and thousands would appear. Until in the end searching in the internet will seem like no easy job at all.

Google has foreseen this and was able to make searching the internet easier and less tiring to the users. Google is very effective easing the process of finding information in the internet, as I have mentioned earlier. The techniques are very useful, and the advanced search does make everything easier.

I am thankful to the filtering part, and the organization of contents to its various forms, either images, videos, etc. In a nutshell, and for the nth time, Google is very effective.

. . . . .

I am a BS DevCom student. And as such, I will be doing tons of research in the future. I have mentioned most of those that I consider relevant already - filters, advanced search, excluding terms and including the synonyms, and thus forth. All of those will be very important in the future. And even now, in our DEVC 11 (Introduction to Mass Media Writing) class where we would back up our field research with digital ones. The Google Scholar might be very helpful as well.

The Wonders of the Internet

Search results are not the same in every search engine.  There are some less known search engines that provide very little results. With Google, Yahoo!, and other more popular ones, though, the differences are very minimal. Still, there is no denying the fact that so much results could appear.

. . . . .

Word order in a search item does not matter. After all, the results don't necessarily show the order of the words. It would only provide the results that contain the words, but the order doesn't really matter.

. . . . .

The Palace of the Light of Faith

The Palace of the Light of Faith is the English translation of the Arabic phrase, "Istana Nurul Iman Palace." This magnificent edifice contains 1,788 rooms all in all, including 257 bathrooms. With the exception of the latter, there are 1,531 rooms. If I were to sleep in each of the room per day, it would take me 4.19 years to be precise.

It was fairly easy to find the answer to that question. For the purposes of clarity, let me demonstrate it step by step.

1. First, I searched the number of rooms in The Palace of the Light of Faith. I found what I needed almost immediately, but I verified it in three different websites to be certain.
2. I then deducted the number of the bathrooms from all the rooms.
3. When I finally knew the exact number of the rooms that I needed (that is, with the exclusion of the bathrooms), I divided it by 365, which corresponds to one year. Then the quotient to that is the answer.

. . . . .

In Google, what should you use to include synonyms of a certain word from your results (for example, "schools" in "top schools in the Philippines)?

Google is undoubtedly a very convenient search engine. And mastering the techniques and strategies in searching are very necessary skills that a person living in the digital age can be armed with. After all, with the seemingly unceasing strings of information being posted online every second, it is quite strenuous to seek exactly the things that you are in need of. Thousands, and even millions, of results could appear in your face. And instead of being of help, it could only frustrate you. After all, how in the world would you be able to dig through those mountains of information?

That's where some of the techniques would come in handy.

All right, let's take for example that you want to know the "top schools in the Philippines". The word "schools" is a bit vague, and it will most likely garner too much unnecessary results again. For effective searching, one has the option of changing the keywords or manipulating them, such as using the synonyms. In the example, here is what we could do put in the search bar: "top schools OR university OR college in philippines". Remember that when you are opting for the synonyms, put the word OR in between the words.

. . . . .

The sun rise in Nice, France today took place at 40 minutes after seven A.M. this morning. With Google, acquiring an information such as this one is fairly easy. All I did was search "sunset in nice, france" and I immediately got the answer I needed.

Image source: http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq49/precious_postcards/Brunei%20Postcards%20Swap/istana4.jpg