Culture is not what an organization has but what an organization is.

Dating back a little more than a year ago, I entered my freshman year in the Ateneo staying as a boarder at the residence halls. I was naive and under the weight of culture shock. In the residence halls we have our own definition of what OrSem means. Old folks usually call it the "initiation". It was a week of hard work and a lot of dancing and singing in front of a whole crowd. Rules were said and sanctions were given to those who disobey. The line that I could vividly remember was "the failure of one is the failure of all". Not only when we failed did our batchmates make up for it but also the heads of the event shared the sanctions. Now, all we thought during our participation was that this is bull**** and a complete waste of precious time but at the end of it all, I found myself a place in the system. I was and still am someone in this organization which is, by the way, ARSA. It stands for Ateneo Resident Students Association. I also noticed that every time my class ends, if I have nothing better to do, I automatically walk back to the dormitory. Good or bad it may be but I find myself at home with these people. Looking back into the "initiation", not only was it a big entry cost but also it was a view of what the organization is by living it. I guess it all boils down to it that that way of living was in itself the organization.

Dear COMM,

On Social Exchange Theory, I sincerely disagree with its stand in making relationships beneficiaries, especially on friends and "special" friends. Being a friend does not and should not require any costs and rewards. We brand some people as gold diggers, sugar daddies, sugar mommies, user-friendly, and we hate them to hell. This theory points out that all of us are somewhat like that. During a time when I had my special friend, I knew I was on the losing end. Of course, I had to spend so much time, money, and effort but did she ever ask me to buy her all of those presents or did she ever ask me to pay for her part of the bill? Absolutely not. All I ever had to do was to treat her special because that was what she was. Yes, man is a rational being but I believe that the reasons to which his actions are rooted should not solely lie on pleasure and self appraisal. Cliche as it sounds, we know it's true.

Yes, I had a good night.

I think I have found the solution to cognitive dissonance and uncertainty reduction. Last night, I went riding on the red horse. It was a wild and crazy drunken convention of drunkards. I became a participant observer. Hitting two birds with one stone, I formulated my ideas for this blog while having G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S(first class) night. Most of the people there were freshmen dormers. I did not know most of them and probably they didn't know much of each other as well. Jesus Christ was all over the place (awkward silence). After riding the red horses with the zombies, Tia Maria's Cantina became a super night club. People were screaming as they danced with the music. Everyone was fluid and had no trouble fitting in. Then I can say that alcohol is the ultimate social lubricant. Although it may have some bad side effects, it is indeed pretty good in reducing uncertainties.

No matter how you look at it.

All theories are rooted to a common ground. All of them pertain to a source and a receiver, the message to be exchanged, the encoding, decoding, and how the source and the receiver switch tasks. But how come there are still newer(maybe a little bit better) theories coming one after the other? Man always struggles to put meaning and explanation to everything he experiences. And maybe that is what is happening in the world of communication. The piling up of theories somehow show that man hasn't defined its behavior down to the very last detail. Maybe that's because of its infinite mysterious ways as to how it is done. Yes, mysterious ways like how do you know that some person behind you is staring at you when you don't even have eyes at the back of your head? How was that information received? That, I hope, man could explain.

What is Communication?

The only words I remember since the last class session was that communication can be related with the words social, symbols, and interaction. After years of believing that communication was equal to talking, the last session actually brought up my interest. Now, from the things I remember, there was this one thing that talked about intrapersonal communication. That's one thing that struck me the most. I never thought that thinking or examining myself was a form of communication. But after some moments of leaving my physical body in class pretending to be still listening to the discussion, I understood. I do communicate with myself. Those moments when I am about to decide, I tell myself to do this or that, with a lot of "what if's" popping around, I am indulged into a conversation with myself. It is pretty amazing the way I see it. I never thought of communication that way. I do hope that the next class sessions would satisfy my eagerness to explore the realm of communication. Talking seems to be such a small word now.

Why I chose Commtech Management.

I was actually listed as a Management Student. It was my first choice. But then, Management sounded too normal. I do like management courses since I am interested in doing businesses but I think that BS Comtech Management covers more subjects that might pretty well be useful, too. Let's face it. Business Management is logical. Everyone can pretty much start his own business without enrolling in the course. Studying will obviously help but if not, it will not totally stop you. Knowing communication principles might well be very useful especially to large international companies. With Comtech background, you can still do business management. But not all business managers can do everything a communications specialist could do.