#sgv news first

[copewatch]

Interesting how Ricky L Pinzon brags about being a well known public figure on YouTube. Claims he has 33.8k subscribers and averages 100-400 views 🤔

Ricky L Pinzon seems to have purchased exactly 1,100 views before stalking and harassing me and my friends and family.

Weird that he loses 100 subscribers each time.

Ricky L Pinzon is now demonetized. His watch hours are below 4k. 😂

Yet, he has 33k subscribers 🤔

Over 2 months, he’s barely got 100 views.

As the paid subscriber count and 2 year old fake accounts Ricky L Pinzon created disappears, he will become more irrelevant.

#fuckcancer

[the-takosader]

So, about that "Marauder" build I was doing...

Breaking news: it is no longer a Marauder build!

For context of the people who randomly stumble across this post without all the lore and shit from my megapost back in August, first of all, hi, welcome to the blog, second of all, this was originally intended as a "recreation" or full copy of a pretty obscure mid-'60s Fender guitar that never saw full, mainstream production - the Fender Marauder.

For further context, the Fender Marauder was a guitar that got a mashup of all of Fender's offsets, plus the Stratocaster, getting the Strat's pickup layout, a pickup selection method similar to the Jag, the Jazzmaster's lead/rhythm circuit, plus a vibrato like the Mustang, and the headstock of the Starcaster, which didn't exist at that point, so it's technically that the Starcaster had the Marauder's headstock, rather than the other way around...

Where was I? Ah, yes, not doing the Fender Marauder. Yeah, no, it's not happening anymore. Instead, the build has, for lack of a better term, "pivoted", thanks to an idea my aunt gave me: doing something original.

Now, in Current Year (2024 is soon to end, and oh dear god it's almost a year since I had the idea for the Tele-Shaped Rickenbacker), originality in the guitar-building world is... not exactly a thing? There's that many Telecaster and Stratocaster copies, combined with the fact that there's only so many ways you can shape a slab of wood into a pleasant experience to play.

My solution? The academic method! And by that, I mean "instead of ripping off one guitar and calling it a day, I'm ripping off multiple guitars," or at least taking from multiple sources, as an academic should.

If you want to see more of this madness, keep reading under the cut.

You still here? Awesome. So, now that you've chosen to read on, let's go through the spec sheet that I made for this exact purpose! Surely, it can't be that incomprehensible, ri-

...oh.

Yeah, I went really in-depth. I even mentioned the fucking fretboard radius, that is how in-depth I went. Now, does this in-depth nature help? Oh yeah, certainly. Is it comprehensible? Nope. Not in the slightest. Not unless you browse Wikipedia for fun or watch way too much of Trogly's stuff.

So, a small glossary of terms, before we get into this shit properly:

Comfort carves: bits of wood removed from the body of the guitar to allow for better playing experience, originating with the Stratocaster.

Trem system: also known as a whammy bar or vibrato, this is how you get those reductions in pitch.

Coil split and coil tap: either factoring out one coil's output (split) or removing the effect of some of the windings of the coil (tap).

That's nowhere near all I've got to explain, but if any of you wanted, I'll put out a "translated" spec sheet that attempts to properly explain the shit. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes!

The build no longer being a Marauder has freed me up to do whatever I want now, which leads me to the body design (further screenshots will come from the translated spec sheet mentioned above):

So, let's discuss why those three specifically. But first, were they the original ideas? Not in the slightest! Originally, this was going to be FAR more Gibson-inspired than this, taking from the Scarred Reaper (a Jagstang style merging of the Les Paul and SG created by the aforementioned Trogly, I would recommend you watch his stuff if it wasn't so Guitar Nerd) and the SGV/ZV (that Zakk Wylde signature thing the Gibson custom shop cooked up), with maybe a single-sided headstock.

That idea's gone, DOA when further thought was brought in. The new idea, as specified in the image, is a hodge-podge of 2 guitars and a bass, all 3 of which I've played previously in some manner or form. The upper horn of a Burns Double Six, which (for those less educated in guitars, or can't just visualise a guitar from memory as soon as it's brought up in a conversation) looks like this:

Yes, the guitar body looks like that. Plays beautifully, or at least the one I played does.

So that's the source of the upper horn, even if it'd be less exaggerated than that. What about the other two? Let's start with the lower cutaway, inspired by the Rickenbacker 4001 (or 4003) bass.

Note how the fret access is incredibly good? Yeah, that's not just a thing on the bass. Rickenbacker also make/made a guitar version of this, the 480 (plus a short-lived version known as the 481 with slanted frets - not fanned, slanted), with at least 21 frets of perfectly fine access to frets, and 24 frets total on the neck.

Finally, the PRS CE24, which is being used for the lower body of the guitar:

I could go on for several paragraphs about how and why I'm going with the lower bout of a CE24 for this, or even that I'm basiclally making this a more PRS-style Strat than the John Mayer Silver Sky. But, I won't. Quite simply, I have neither the time nor the energy. Instead, what I'll do is summarise, because I can't put a second read-more link in here.

So, why is it a PRS-style Strat? Well, many reasons. I'm thinking of putting in a PRS floating trem system, doing a 10-degree headstock angle (enough to have the tension, but not enough to risk headstock breaks - looking at you, Gibson, with your 17-degree headstocks!), and, most importantly, I'm going for a 25" scale length, which effectively gives me the very basics of a PRS guitar, minus the construction and the pickups.

But continuing from there, the only thing preventing this from being a "normal" PRS build or similarly designed guitar is the pickups I'm using. They're not any of the usual fare that PRS use, not by any stretch of the imagination. What I'm planning on using is, as laid out in the spec sheet, a Fender-style Wide Range Humbucker, a reverse-wound, reverse-polarity Tri-Sonic imitator (because I don't want to try and source Burns or Adeson pickups for this, so Kent Armstrong it is), and a Tonerider Hot Classics Broadcaster bridge pickup (it's the bridge pickup specifically because a Telecaster's bridge pickup is tilted with a black bobbin). Now, dear reader, can you guess what positions I'm going to put them in?

If you guessed that I'm going to be sane and normal by putting the humbucker in the bridge, you're entirely incorrect, unfortunately! Instead, I'm going for an at least sane positioning for the Broadcaster pickup, putting that next to the trem system, or at least as close as can be within reason, that RWRP Kent Armstrong Tri-Sonic in the middle position, and the humbucker in the neck position.

The result of that, in concept, should be a fuller sound in the neck, and depending on how I wire the pickups (which will most likely be in series) a really bitey sound in the bridge, the kind that gives some levels of distortion a run for its money. A comparatively "thin" sound is to be expected, as this project is to have 24 frets, and thus a tighter pickup spacing.

The idea is similar to this guitar made for Alex Lifeson by Paul Reed Smith (yes, that's what PRS stands for), which uses an EMG in the neck, and a Signature Guitars single coil in the bridge, with Signature Guitars being a short-lived brand that Lifeson worked with in the mid-to-late '80s until the company's dissolution in 1990.

That's partially what's inspiring me on this specific pickup configuration, as I've heard the tones that this specific guitar's made, going back to at least 1991, for the solo on Dreamline. Considering the guitar's serial dates it to 1990, so it's likely he got it from PRS for the explicit purpose of recording the Roll The Bones album.

But that's not important, nor is it even the point, because damnit, I love rambling about tangential shit! Anyway, to get back to the point of this rambling, this is a PRS-style Strat in the least Strat-like manner. None of the parts I took from are a Strat, or really have any relation to it outside of the Double Six. The CE24 is inspired the double-cuts that Gibson made, and the 4001 was made back when originality was actually a thing in guitar design.

But the result of all that designing, combined with a little bit of image compositing, was this:

Now, I'm aware that this design, for lack of a better term, looks like shit. It's way too stretched out, and nowhere near like realistic. In my full defense, this was made in Paint at close to midnight, so I doubt I was thinking at full brain power. I'll probably de-stretch it at some point, if I can be arsed to do so.

The neck, by comparison, doesn't look nearly as bad, but considering how hard it is to fuck up the look of a neck, it's not that big a deal. The idea of a neck is to give an anchor point for the non-ball end of the string that allows for a tension adjustment point, with the fretboard acting as the point where frets change the note/pitch the guitar plays.

As God Pythagoras Intended.

Side note, fuck that guy! He broke music 2000 years ago, and we still haven't recovered!

Back to the matter at hand, though, my compositing process for the neck was based on inlay style, number of frets, and headstock shape. Now, I mentioned above that I was doing a 2-octave neck, 24 frets total. The "neck" (by which I mean the fretboard) was taken from a Rickenbacker 360, and the headstock shape was taken from a Gibson Firebird, the last remaining relic of this thing's Gbison influences, resulting in this composite:

Please note that the transparency for all this was done in Word, which is the best I can use to get specific bits and pieces of guitars to mash up and weld together like fucking Victor Frankenstein.

The full thing, combining both neck and body composites, came out of this process looking like this...

...as you can see, very squashed, very stretched, which was not the intention, I assure you! So, as a help to my brain, and possibly to the very few people who stumble across this who know good proportioning, I squashed the width down a bit further, albeit at the cost of making the neck feel too short for the body:

I could throw a squashed down version of the body back into Paint, add the standard-sized neck, and operate from there on the image front, but there's a small issue of CBA to contend with. In short, I can't be bothered to do it.

Now, you might note that the headstock lacks tuner tips. Why? Because the Firebird had planetary tuners, what some would term "banjo tuners". The basic idea is that, to facilitate string pull, they made a new headstock design (because before this there were 3 Gibson headstock styles - open book, which was the standard one, triangle, for the Flying V and related models, and hockey stick, which only got used on the Explorer until Aldo Nova came along in 1982). This new design utilises the planetary tuners for... some reason, Idk, I can't find it. Point is, at first, this is what I was going to go with, Firebird headstock shape and all.

However, upon further rational thought, I'm just going to go with a Hamer-style headstock, specifically one like the Hamer USA Centaura, which looks like this:

I was kinda debating on putting a Floyd Rose or similar on this, being influenced by this thing, but they're not exactly cheap to install, replace or repair, so that's why the PRS trem. The one thing I'm still debating on from this is the "sweet switch", which was designed for Carlos Santana by PRS, purely because he was known for using a long cable prior to going wireless. But that's not the point.

What is the point? Fuck if I know. I've been writing this on and off over the past 2 or 3 days, I just set out to make an in-depth Tumblr post about my guitar build, and here I am talking about a Hamer and Carlos Santana. To try and steer myself back to the point, let's talk the unique bits, stuff I've only seen done... 2 or 3 times, total. In this case, I'm talking about unique pickup selection methods.

There's a couple I have in mind for this build: a rotary switch, and individual slider switches. Now, why are these unique? Because both are rare to see on production-level guitars. The former comes from PRS guitars from the '90s, which worked really well, except people couldn't figure out what pickup they were on, while the latter I've only seen in 2 different styles on a total of 3 guitar models.

Style 1 is what I'm thinking of doing: Jag style, where there's a control plate to select what pickup you're using, and you can select and swap on the fly, which is similar to the Red Special, which has 3 pickup switches and 3 phase switches - the top row is pickups, and the bottom row is the phasing. Brilliant bit of kit for a guitar built 60 years ago.

Now, the other style of switching is a bit more convoluted than that, because it's Mustang switching, which is 3-position sliders mounted horizontally above each pickup. Position closest to the bridge is off, central is on, and position closest to the neck is out of phase. Sounds like the Red Special's method but condensed into 3 switches, right?

Well, the fact of the matter is that Brian's design and build was done between 1963 and 1964, and the Mustang didn't enter production until the latter year, so it's likely but not certain to be a case of convergent design/evolution.

Each idea has its merits. While, yes, a rotary switch would be less clunky, not to mention easier to install, you then have to manually wire each and every pickup combination you want. Now, that's fine and dandy with 2 humbuckers, you can do full neck, outer coils, both pickups, inner coils, full bridge, and in fact, that's how PRS did it. The issue is doing 3 pickups, one being a humbucker, and the other two being single coils, because then you need at least 7 positions, by my measure:

Neck

Neck + Middle

Neck + Bridge

Middle

Middle + Bridge

Bridge

All 3 together.

Now, I could be missing the forest for the trees, or at least the wood for the figuring, but I'd rather avoid having to wire up 7 different positions, especially because I'm not doing any fancy pots here. By comparison, individual switching seems more appealing, as there I can just have 3 switches for neck, middle and bridge, and be done with the whole matter.

Moving on from that, we have the aesthetics of it. I don't know what finish I'm gonna go for, considering I've debated at least 6 different finishes in my head for this build since I started it. I've debated on 2-Tone Sunburst, 3-Tone Sunburst, Tobacco Burst, Sandbar Burst, deep ocean blue, whale blue, grey black, all sorts. In theory, any of these 6 I listed could be the one I go with, which is pretty obvious.

Then again, I could go with some mad bastard finish like Faded Whale Blue Smokeburst (diluted Whale Blue stain, add on top a black ring on the front, dark sides, kinda tear drop figure on the back like an old '70s silverburst, the works) and deal with the convolution of doing that on a flame top.

Maybe I'll end up doing that. Who knows.

Oh, I almost forgot! I even gave it a name: the Crusader, acknowledging that a) it's my design, and b) it was based on the Marauder. It's going to be a long road to its completion, possibly a full year (remember, this is with hand tools, no large scale machinery) instead of the 6 months it took to build the Cherry XII. Most of it's going to be either mahogany or sapele, with the odd bit of maple or ash in there, but by the end of it, I'll have something unique to call my own. You couldn't get me to give it up if you tried.

Things I didn't go into detail about:

Binding stuff

Neck heel carve

Locking tuners

Inlay style

Possibly other shit I'm forgetting

Hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings this time!

[spearzreloaded]

NXT Heatwave 2k24 Predictions :

Today I just discovered that Heatwave was an ECW Original and not a WCW transplant.

Weird.

That aside, no female headliners and when really putting a magnifying glass to the card this would have been better off with the Street Fight match earlier this week between Jaida Parker and Michin as the main event.

Old NXT vs. New NXT?

The hype that could have went around this match for MITB weekend instead of shooting that shot early on in the week. WWE missing yet another opportunity for MITB 2k24 week is nothing new.

***

But the week isn't over. In a few hours "Heatwave" 2k24 will hit the WWE Universe and both singles titles in the NXT Women's Division will be up for contention.

First off will be Kelani Jordan with her North American title against Sol Ruca.

Sol Ruca has been a returning favorite at a time where her and Cam'ron Branae (i.e. Amari Miller) were injured.

The only reason that Jordan even got as big a push as she had was because 2.0'ers like Ruca and Branae were on the mend.

I thought Jordan would drop the N.A. title on her first defense.

Jordan is my favorite, but I put my money on Ruca who has a more refined skill and has not been booked as a jobber for the majority of her career - which is harder to work against than ring rust from a leg injury.

Simply put, I dislike both of the competitora in the main title picture. I'm a Black U.S. citizen raised in the SGV, aint no LWO over here.

Personal bias aside though, this is why two heels booked in a title match are not commonly found on a card.

But if I have to decide Cuba > Mexico. And Austin,TX sucks.

Roxanne Perez is an annoying heel and face. At least watching Lola Vice backstab in the ring more than Merecedes Mone is a gas, and she knows how to shake her ass and shut up aka giving the WWE Universe what it wants.

Plus any Latina that wears her hair in cornrows is fine by me.

-

C.V.R. The Bard

7th Jun. 2k24

[copwatch2024]

paypal ricky pinzon was hacked!

[ponygirlponygirl]

Last night one of my new Berlin friends, the one from Pittsburg, told me they are getting ADORABLE tattooed across their arm, above the elbow. Someone else asked why and they started talking about Barthes, who was the first theorist they read, and how Barthes says that in love, we reach the limits of language. When asked to describe someone we love, we falter. We become frustrated by the inadequacy of words to give shape to the way we feel. So we come up with silly pet names, which, they said, are still inadequate and a bit ridiculous but somehow right. Or at least the best we can find. So, they’re getting a tattoo: ADORABLE. 

I’m thinking about this impossibility of language in wanting to write to you now. How much I’ve written to you, and of that, what you’ve read and not read, and the ways I’ve come to this impasse with language over and over. I’m thinking about the hope I’ve held on to that saying the right thing would make everything better. "For two people who love the written word,” you once wrote me, “we are pretty bad at it.” 

Our relationship to each other an intoxicating, intense combination of cerebral and embodied. It’s rare I think, to relate so deeply in both. But also: everyone knows this feeling, don’t they?

The way you left things broke my broken heart, turned me inside out and on my head. The eight months of post-break-up spinning, of uncertainty, of me holding out for this belief in our love and in promises. How can I write this without sounding like every other person? 

Yesterday I turned on my flip phone because I finally decided to get a German number. The last text on that phone is from August 31, 2021. Against all the advice from pop psychology and breakup forums, I read through our messages from that summer, oh my god. A shift in perspective. How were you able to put up with me then? I was so stubborn and childish and blind to the extent of it. I was often unreasonable, not receptive or reciprocal to your gentle attempts to connect with me, to accommodate me, to make things easier for me. You tried so hard. I can’t believe I didn’t understand that until now. And us to each other, in moments of strife: “I love you always.” “I love you deeply.” “I love you forever.”  

May 28, 2021, I wrote you “it feels like we’re losing each other. feels like heartbreak.” and you wrote, “idk i’m just confused, last night was so so so so nice.” And I wonder at any claims on my part that I wasn’t pushing you away for months, or that it wasn’t all my fault too.

Last fall, a month after we broke up, we sat at Everett Park in the dark and you brought up the trip we took up the mountain, to the campsite where no one else was. You asked me then if I thought it was a swan song. Because you didn’t. But wasn’t it? 

In the wake of everything it’s so hard for me to not hold out hope. In the wake of everything it’s so painful to try and detach from the possibility of some other life which, in the best moments felt palpable and already realized in us.

Where does falsity rear its head? What’s the point of deeply felt, temporary forvevers? Right before you left Los Angeles: “I trust us.” “I’m still in love with you.” “I want you to visit me.” “I’m committed to making things better.”  As if suddenly changing one’s mind negates all the other promises. Or did you know deep down all along.

I think I still love you. Can that be true? Is it not the idea of you, or the idea of myself with you? Is it not the envy I have of you in a non-feminized body, the ease with which this allows you to move in certain spaces, despite the pain I know it generates? I think I still love you, but is it not my attachment to you, re-activated by old texts and a flip phone with the same background photo of you and the ornery rabbit who died last month, the one got from the woman in the SGV? Is it not a form of loneliness, am I just wishing for companionship on the level of yours? Is it not chemical, our bond built of a mixture of proximity and pheromones, entirely explainable by science, entirely able to re-created with and between almost anyone? I think I still love you.

But being with you I I lost myself, rock in force field. Disconnected — from the world and especially anyone with a connection to you. Disconnected from you but also paradoxically closest.  

So what has this Life been since? I have sought and gained affirmation of my Self as a Worthwhile Person outside of my attachment to you.  And I’ve wanted to find and experience and connect for myself with the kind of social intellectual life you always praised, a life that, with you, I did not feel I had access to, floating just beyond it with my only tie being You.

I’ve rarely been able to approach you without wanting something, maybe that was part of the problem. But what is any function of wanting when I am just as scared of seeing you at any future point and having everything between us bubble up in powerful resurgence, as I am of seeing you and feeling completely shut out or alien.

[catelyngrant]

18 and 25 for the fanfic ask 🙂

18. Current number of WIPs

One active, in that the first chapter is up and the second is half-written (my Hacks fic - I’m going to finish it this year!); four incomplete oneshots that I will absolutely finish (three Supergirl, one The Walking Dead); and three SVU/OC oneshots that I’ve put on hold but am not ruling out returning to at some point.

25. A fic I would recommend to everyone

Oh man, this is so hard because A) I’m a multifandom multishipper so I’ve read a lot of fic across a lot of fandoms, lol, and B) I’ve held off on reading almost any new SVU/Hacks fic for a few months now because my “to review” tab group was so out of control. That said, here are a few favorites from my major fandoms this year:

let it all unfurl, into broken remnants by @goodthingscomeinthrees (SVU, post-500th ep EO) - arghhh this is still in my “to review” tab, but IN SHORT, it’s a heavy but poignant and cathartic fic that sees Elliot actually being a support system to Olivia and captures the tenuous and painful but ultimately hopeful dynamic between them at this point in canon. Everything I wanted to see from the show itself, alas.

i see it written on your face by @lizmitches (Hacks, Ava/Deborah + ensemble) - one of the first Hacks fics I read and still one of my favorites. Funny, thoughtful, and clever, with truly incredible POV work from the supporting characters.

every road has a turning by @fishyspots (Schitt’s Creek, Moira + Alexis + Twyla) - a delightful gen fic that beautifully captures the voices of three characters that are incredibly hard to get right and honors the relationships that developed over the course of the show by exploring where they could go from the end of the finale. Sweet, funny, and left me feeling warm and happy, much like the show.

Special shout out to the Supergirl Virtual Season (@sgvs) which I just reread for the first time in a few years and am blown away by all over again!

[gllynnnbrss]

After 2 years...

I happened to open again my tumblr account after more than 2 years of not opening it nor posting anything to it. And it just breaks my heart to read my old notes to self, because I know that no one actually knew how deep my wound is for the past years. But at the same time, I am happy to realize that I’m actually in a much better state now. I suffered non-clinical depression and anxiety and panic attacks for the past years, I am still experiencing some episodes of it thought, but it’s much more controllable now. How? Story time hehe.

A few years back, I always depend my “happiness” or sense of belongingness to the people around me and the materials things that I have. And because of that, I always felt that I’m lacking, that I’m not enough for everybody. I’m worthless. I am nobody. But, God has been constantly talking to me ever since then, matigas lang talaga ulo ko. But He didn’t stopped communicating with me. The first that He did to me was that He gave me courage to step out of my comfort zone. Siguro materialistic or mababaw, but He let me dye my hair, first time in my life ko sya ginawa. And with that, I gained a little confidence in me. Mababaw parin haha ‘cos during those time, a lot of people appreciated my new look. Lol. I know di pa yon, but it was the first. Then things follow, because I gained confidence in myself, He then continuously tapped me in many other things. I was a consistent back up in our worship team, and because of that, I felt the hunger in His presence. Kasi most of the time, may conflict lagi sa sched ko as an auditor dahil sa busy. Pero yung urge ko to worship and serve Him, grabe. Na lahat, kahit madalas di ko na alam how, nagagawan ko ng paraan. And dun ko sya mas naexperience. After quite sometime, He then tapped me to preach, and it was a highly sensitive topic for me. It was about fear, anxiety and depression. Yung bagay na di ko kayang pag usapan cos I know how it’ll trigger me. I was even crying before the fellowship, sabi ko pa kela ate Lara, wag na ituloy kasi di ko kaya. Or iba nalang magspeak, but they let me realize na si Lord yung nagtap sakin, kasi alam Niya na kaya ko. And so it went well. Sobrang kabado ko and all, but I was able to conquer my biggest fear in life, talking about my weakness. And that when it started. Now, He continuously uses me in His ministry by leading His people to worship, and I’m just so happy na oo kinakabahan ako everytime na tatayo ako sa harap, pero hearing people na nabbless sila through me, praise God. And now, I’m in a much peaceful state. Yung blessings nya patuloy na umaapaw eh. I resigned sa SGV, even though na sabi ko papapromote ako, but here I am, I am now able to help sila mommy even sa small amount muna. I’m also blessed with a loving boyfriend, na at first, akala ko hanggang crush lang and will never workout, I know 2 months palang kami and marami pa kaming pagdadaanan, pero he makes me feel very very loved. And here I am, despite the pandemic, may trabaho, eats 3 or more times a day, fully vaccinated, never nagkacovid, kumpleto and pamilya, and working naman ang business nila mommy.

And upon looking at these things, I can really say na God is in control of everything. Lahat may Perfect Timing sa Kanya. Yung pinagppray mo, iaanswer nya lahat yon. You just have to humble yourself, submit everything, and believe in Him

[janeyarch]

Longing for Home

I just came from home for a vacation and I feel so homesick. Along with some facts about me, I am sharing to you my reflection as I long for home.

6 years ago, I first arrived in Manila for a board exam. I am a non-practicing CPA, by the way. The license reminds me of my parents’ sacrifices, which is why I work hard to renew it.

5 memorable firsts in Manila:

   (1)seeing flood reach knee-deep levels

   (2)riding a train

   (3)getting lost and asking strangers for directions. But as instructed then, I only asked help from guards (for safety).

   (4)shopping at Divisoria.

   (5)speaking straight Tagalog for more than 1 sentence. Bisaya is my native language. I still get confused even until now.

4 years living independently away from my parents' comfort. I flew alone with no job offer then. It was a major decision which I never regretted and which I will forever be grateful for.

3 different residences. I first lived in a 1-bedroom apartment with 5 other girls then I moved to a 2-bedroom condo with my sister and 1 other lady. Now, I am living at a dorm that is a 15-min walk away to/from Net Lima. 

2 companies in Metro Manila. I came from SGV as an IT auditor before moving to Coke.

1 hometown I always look forward to -- Dauin, Negros Oriental. It is a town 16-km away from Dumaguete. Our house is near the beach (10-min walk away) and the mountain (1-hr ride away). We used to swim in the ocean during weekends and at natural hot springs in the mountain during occasions.

Reminiscing these things, I cannot help but wonder where I truly belong and where my path ultimately lies. I even feel like I do not belong anywhere. I miss the “chill” province life but I do not see myself working/living there in the long run.

I remember one of the preachings at church about sojourners. Sojourner simply means someone who lives away from home, like Abraham. When Abraham entered the Promised Land, he did so as “a sojourner and foreigner” (Genesis 23:4). Abraham experienced moving from place to place and living in tents. He obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going. But he held on to God's promise and was looking for the city whose architect and builder was God (Hebrews 11:9).

As for me, I do not know how long I will live at the new dorm, nor the length of my stay at Coke, nor my time left here on earth. However, I believe that I am called for an adventure and that God has prepared "a city" for me - the home that I deeply long for.

"Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” - Hebrews‬ ‭11:16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

[aaronoswaldmusic]

Returning to this stage tomorrow night!! Booked a last minute gig tomorrow (1/11) at Old Towne Pub in Pasadena at 8pm as part of the @chess_social 2020 Kick Off Party! Be There! 🌈🎶💕 $5 at the Door. 21+ Join me for my first show of the new year AND stick around for all other artists! ❤️ • • • • • • #musician #indie #independentartist #songwriter #singer #love #gratitude #losangeles #pasadena #sangabrielvalley #sgv #music #supportlivemusic #newmusic #creativity #coffeeshopmusic #inspire #jasonmraz #sarabareilles #rainingjane #kttunstall #ingridmichaelson #loveislove #soloartist #looppedal (at Old Towne Pub Pasadena) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7JtleQg09R/?igshid=w6xshhajx22x

[copewatch]

Ricky L Pinzon sucker punched Jose Gonzales at a gay pride parade

[rgr-pop]

Regarding the McMansion critique, some of the environmental impacts are very, very valid. But I think we tend to overlook that there are residents living in these structures. We tend to put a lot of stereotypes that we hold about the houses, and about the suburbs themselves, on these residents. The thought is that because they have a big house, the residents are anti-environmental, they don't value community, and they only care about themselves and about their privacy. These houses are assumed to be one, universal; and two, universally bad. 

I spoke to the residents that are actually living in these homes and asked them what these homes meant to them. And in doing so, a lot of the stereotypes fell apart. That’s because a lot of those stereotypes were constructed in a post-war white middle-class framework, and don’t necessarily hold up in the face of new immigrants that are moving to suburbs. [...] The McMansion becomes that symbol of a lot of things that Asian Americans aren’t doing right to assimilate. Even the design critiques of these homes are about how they’re too outlandish. They’re trying to do this faux-Mediterranean look, but they're not even doing it right. It’s too tacky, you know? That, to me, is a broader critique of immigrants never really being American enough. I challenge the notion that Asian Americans should fit into a suburban neighborhood exactly the same way a white middle class family does.

This interview with Willow Lung-Amam is the first thing I recommend reading to start unraveling the mcmansion critique and its racial tones. Her book, Trespassers: Asian Americans and the Battle for Suburbia, about Fremont, CA, is one of many studies on American ethnoburbs, but one of a handful that deals directly with the specter of the mcmansion--Lung-Amam is a professor of architecture.

I feel a few ways about what she’s saying above, that a critique of mcmansions might emerge from a well-meaning assumption of the whiteness of suburbia, (and the contents of that suburban whiteness), an assumption that no longer maps onto how (and where) people are living in America. I basically agree, and I think it’s diplomatic. But her work (and the work of others, which I’ll get to) shows that in many cases, planners, critics and neighbors actually develop this critique of the mcmansion after the act of racialization, and wield that critique politically. In some cases, even, the same problematic houses don’t become a problem until they become inhabited by problem residents. 

But take this a little blurb on Fremont: mcmansions are built in suburbs that look like a different kind of suburb, and that difference is made political through zoning, design review, etc. Those quotes in there are really something. In this case, it would be hard to convincingly argue that neighbors imposed an existing critique of the white mcmansion onto their neighbors. In their case--and this is my first major stake in this argument--the “white suburb” is imagined to be single-story, a modernist suburb. The whiteness of, say, the modernist ranch, is just as fantastical as the whiteness of the mcmansion, but it’s become unfashionable to make such a critique of those postwar suburbs, and I really don’t think it’s because your average Curbed content creator has read Andrew Wiese’s Places of Their Own, Bruce Haynes’s Red Lines, Black Spaces or Becky Nicolaides’ My Blue Heaven, or any of the other new suburban histories that complicate a history of white spaces (and white architecture). In fact, I think a rise in critique of the excessive mcmansion* has bolstered a new and growing mythologizing of modernist architecture, one that is intimately connected to what’s happening to modernist real estate right now. Remember that Curbed is a real estate website.

*to be clear, there have been critiques of the mcmansion since the mcmansion has existed, and these critiques have come from a lot of different perspectives. but it is true that these critiques have been multiplying, as have their platforms.

But I really agree with Lung-Amam’s implication that as architecture critics, we (yes we, I can be whatever I want to be) can’t know anything by looking, certainly not (ffs) by looking at staged real estate listings. Or, let me rephrase: what can we know about a space, just by looking? That’s my second major stake in this game, and it is my biggest fucking stake. Eight years ago Alexandra Lange wrote that Nicolai Ouroussoff's criticism "shrinks the critic’s role to commenting only on the appearance of the architecture. He might have been the perfect critic for the boom years, when looks were the selling point, but this formal, global approach seems incongruous in a downturn,” and, not to lowkey call out someone I look up to in the field, but what do we have now? We have 1000 words on how the style of houses that were made after the fifties is Bad.

Let me take a few steps backward, because what I just said is not actually my stake. It’s not that I’m unconcerned with image in architecture, and it’s absolutely not that I’m concerned only with program and function (god, function) in architecture. It’s also not even that I care that much that architecture critics can’t think themselves out of a paper bag with Style written on it. It’s that I outright reject an architecture criticism that mistakes a taste objection for a political position. It’s hollow and it is, wholesale, in every case, racist. I’ve been listening to a lot of Vincent Scully lectures lately and I find it hard to believe that this great defender of play and eclecticism, a man who told students that Venturi reclaimed wallpaper as a feminist statement and that anti-ornament manifestos of the turn of the century were homophobic, was really paving the way for us to write about how disgusted we are by an Armenian doctor’s Greek fountain, or that Muslim-Americans should plan the spaces of their home more economically if they want into the polity. Ohhkay! I feel I’ve digressed again.

As you know, my main fight is about interiors. And I’ve learned a lot by watching a meme critique of staged interior decoration launch itself to the top of so-called architecture criticism. Just as you can’t look at the elevation of house and learn (as much as people want to believe) about the sociopolitical content of that home, I believe it’s either dangerous or useless to stake social claims based on a photograph of an interior. I mean: looking at interior space, represented, instead of asking (not rhetorically asking), why might the people who live in this space have configured it as such? what is this space used for? where did these items come from?, the mcmansion critique says: this is wrong, it’s repulsive, it’s amoral. And worse: my revulsion is not only a critical position, but an ethical one. Questions become accusations: Why would anyone need an extra set of bedrooms? Why would anyone need an empty room with a stupid persian rug on the floor? Why would people want to have Mediterranean or Chinese things in their home? Why would an Australian have a corrugated metal roof? Moralistic judgments about lifeways based on the scopic only. I use “scopic” here because I think of this action as fundamentally an action upon, and I want to frame dumbass ethocentric judgment (cast as “criticism”) as a mode of cultural domination.

And okay, so many of these judgments are just funny mistakes that we can laugh at (why would someone in the county with the largest amount of house fires caused by lightning strikes have metal rods on their roof?). But my point is that it is a fundamentally ethnocentric (racist, is the word I like to use) (we’re just going to set “disabled people exist” aside entirely for now) project to advance a critique of bad taste (style) from a position of practicality, one centered on what you understand to be the right way to inhabit a space. Really a lot of words for something very simple! Really impossible to convince anyone of this! And, I conclude, the mcmansion critique is not a political critique, and (you’re gonna hate to hear this, tough love) a politics can’t emerge from a taste claim. The mcmansion critique is nothing more than a taste claim, one very hastily staked. 

I actually came here to offer you a short bibliography and nothing else, whoops! I mention Lung-Amam’s work as the one that I’ve found really takes the category of the mcmansion to task, looking at what was just as often called the “monster house” in Fremont. Denise Lawrence-Zuniga, an anthropologist, wrote a book about Southern California historical preservation (Protecting Suburban America) with a chapter on San Gabriel Valley’s Alhambra. That chapter looks at the conflicts between the preservation board, design review board, planning commission etc. and residents, specifically immigrants. She notes how different understandings of governmentality (as in, the need to get certain kinds of permits, etc.), and different ways of living created conflict between local government and immigrants. There are bits about planners’ paranoia about remodels that promote density, like adding too many extra rooms to a historic house, or remodeling interiors in a way that might encourage subletting, that I find pretty disturbing. But the author only mentions the major point: these forms of intensive governmentality in the name of historical preservation were put into place as Alhambra witnessed the transition of nearby suburbs into ethnoburbs. Preservationist policy emerged as a governmental response to a perceived loss of white control. (Much has been said about Arcadia, Chinese investor development, “mansionization.” h/t @prettylittlecrier for this article!) I can’t say that I recommend this book entirely, unless you’re involved in preservation planning.

I’m not sure we can accurately call all of these homes in the SGV “mcmansions,” but people sure love to. In Lawrence-Zuniga’s chapter, Alhambra’s bungalow landscape “needed” to be defended from Arcadia’s mansionization--larger scale teardown and redevelopment, but also from any kinds of additions and modifications to existing bungalows that would alter their scale in relation to the lot and the neighbors, as well as (importantly) their inhabited density. I think it’s worth thinking through the differences between all of these things: subdivided land developed for large houses on small lots, redevelopment for the former, large houses built for large families on small surbuban lots where more “modest” houses might have once stood, or just... big houses on big lots. 

I must have mentioned Becky Nicolaides and James Zarsadiaz’s “Design Assimilation in Suburbia: Asian Americans, Built Landscapes, and Suburban Advantage in Los Angeles’s San Gabriel Valley since 1970,” I was so excited when they published this article. They look at San Marino, and consider what they term “design assimilation” to describe the ways (and reasons) Chinese suburbanites chose to consent to preservationist codes and design review, and why they lived in a community that imposed these kinds of racialized codes:

For some, these suburban landscapes seemed to materialize positive images of America they harbored as children back in Asian home countries. Some openly appreciated the classic European inflected architecture, others the open spaces and aesthetic styles of country living. Asian suburbanites also grasped that support of American landscape aesthetics offered certain social and fiscal benefits. To their neighbors, it conveyed a willingness to assimilate through aesthetic behaviors, which helped maintain community peace and ensure social acceptance. Embracing American design styles also conferred a status distinction that positioned these Asian homeowners above those around them—including those in the ethnoburbs. In design-assimilated suburbs, property values were higher and schools were better, signaling a racialized valuing of space not lost on Asians themselves. Design assimilation, thus, was a facet of the production of affluent suburban space, in which white and ethnic Asian suburbanites played complicit roles.

They don’t pick up the McMansion explicitly, but they are marking its absence in a landscape. This is a really constructive piece, chiefly, here, as a concrete example of the ways that some suburbs were understood to be aesthetically Chinese by the eighties, that the mcmansion criticism can be seen to have been racialized by then. 

I want to close with an excerpt from anthropologist Aihwa Ong’s 1996 article, “Cultural Citizenship as Subject-Making,” which picks up the problem of taste but also the figure of international wealth, and the Chinese developer rather than the middle class Chinese immigrant:

In wealthier San Franciscan neighborhoods, residents pride themselves on their conservation consciousness, and they jealously guard the hybrid European ambiance and character of particular neighborhoods. In their role as custodians of appropriate cultural taste governing buildings, architecture, parks, and other public spaces, civic groups routinely badger City Hall, scrutinize urban zoning laws, and patrol the boundaries between what is aesthetically permissible and what is intolerable in their districts. By linking race with habitus, taste, and cultural capital (Bourdieu 1984), such civic groups set limits to the whitening of Asians, who, metaphorically speaking still give off the whiff of sweat despite arriving with starter symbolic capital.

Public battles over race/taste have revolved around the transformation of middle-class neighborhoods by rich Asian newcomers. At issue are boxy houses with bland facades--”monster houses”--erected by Asian buyers to accommodate extended families in low-density, single-family residential districts known for their Victorian or Mediterranean charm. Protests have often taken on a racialist tone, registering both dismay at the changing cultural landscape and efforts to educate the new arrivals to white upper-class norms appropriate for the city. While the activists focus on the cultural elements--aesthetic norms, democratic process, and civic duty--that underpin the urban imagined community, they encode the strong class resentment against large-scale Asian investment in residential and commercial properties throughout the city. A conflict over one of these monster houses illustrates the ways in which the state is caught between soothing indignant urbanites seeking to impose their notion of cultural citizenship on Asian nouveaux riches while attempting to keep the door open for Pacific Rim capital. 

 In 1989 a Hong Kong multimillionaire, a Mrs. Chan, bought a house in the affluent Marina district. Chan lived in Hong Kong and rented out her Marina property. A few years later, she obtained the approval of the city to add a third story to her house but failed to notify her neighbors. When they learned of her plans, they complained that the third story would block views of the Palace of Fine Arts as well as cut off sunlight in an adjoining garden. The neighbors linked up with a citywide group to pressure City Hall. The mayor stepped in and called for a city zoning study, thus delaying the proposed renovation. At a neighborhood meeting, someone declared, “We don’t want to see a second Chinatown here.” Indeed, there is already a new “Chinatown” outside the old Chinatown, based in the middle-class Richmond district. This charge thus raised the specter of a spreading Chinese urbanscape encroaching on the heterogeneous European flavor of the city. The remark, with its implied racism, compelled the mayor to apologize to Chan, and the planning commission subsequently approved a smaller addition to her house.

However, stung by the racism and the loss on her investment and bewildered that neighbors could infringe upon her property rights, Chan, a transnational developer, used her wealth to mock the city’s self-image as a bastion of liberalism. She pulled out all her investments in the United States and decided to donate her million-dollar house to the homeless. To add insult to injury, she stipulated that her house was not to be used by any homeless of Chinese descent. Her architect, an American Chinese, told the press, “You can hardly find a homeless Chinese anyway,” Secure in her overseas location, Chan fought the Chinese stereotype by stereotyping American homeless as non-Chinese, while challenging her civic-minded neighbors to demonstrate the moral liberalism they professed. Mutual class and racial discrimination thus broke through the surface of what initially appeared to be a negotiation over normative cultural taste in the urban milieu. A representative of the mayor’s office, appropriately contrite, remarked that Chan could still do whatever she wanted with her property; “We just would like for her not to be so angry.” The need to keep overseas investments flowing into the city had to be balanced against neighborhood groups’ demands for cultural standards. The power of the international real estate market, as represented by Mrs. Chan, thus disciplined both City Hall and the Marina neighbors, who may have to rethink local notions of what being enlightened urbanites may entail in the “era of Pacific Rim capital.”

[babaenghumayo-blog]

It has been a while

I can’t remember the last time I have shared what the past years has been for me except to look at the time stamp of my previous posts. Last time, I was summarizing what 2018 and 2019 did to me and now it’s 2022 already. So much time had passed by. The COVID-19 pandemic, the work-from-home set-up, resignation from my SGV, 2 birthdays passed, flying more than 10 miles away from home for a job, living in Europe, quarter-life crisis and many more. I will try my best to elaborate here what has happened from 2020 onwards.

March 2020 was the start of the pandemic. Everyone’s life have been affected with this and so much has changed ever since not just in the Philippines but globally. People became more cautious with health, life insurances particularly boomed since then. Many lives have been taken as well. It was a hard year for everyone. It was the first time work-from-home set-up has been implemented throughout our company and to be honest, it works better for me because my job really has no boundaries with my personal life to begin with, with all the overnight days we have to do in the office and in the client’s office. Working in the comfort of our home with my family was much easier and lessen the stress my job is giving me then. I was able to kinda save some money for myself. I even lend some to my mom (which I know was already an uncollectible debt since I lend it and I will never recover it). I also decided to change my career to internal audit, moving from one cluster to another and meeting new people. I can say work has been less stressful since I moved. It was pretty chill unlike before and people in consulting are not so much of a workaholic compared to assurance. I mean, they still have a life after work haha.

After being promoted as a senior auditor before transferring to Consulting service line, I have been thinking of resigning. But I took into consideration the following: first, it was hard to find a job during those times in 2020 when everything was uncertain and having my job then was already a blessing. Second, I told myself I want to experience being in internal audit for a change (besides the fact that I really want to go out of the Assurance service line). And lastly, I’m not confident enough yet to apply for a senior job role outside of the company. I still have to learn the senior role from where I started.

Before I forget to mention, 2020 was also the year I completely changed my lifestyle and motivated myself to lose weight. I remember there was a time in the middle of the night where I will just wake up feeling my chest is tightening and I cannot breath properly like I was choking my own self. That’s when I realize I have to start taking care of my health. Good thing too because my sister has been on a diet program herself already like a month even before I started and I can already see the result in her perseverance and that pushed me to try it myself too. She introduced me to fasting and all the benefits it can give you. I started fasting a bit more and more every week from 14 hours and reaching up to 26 hours as time goes on. I have been on strict diet back then (not so much now lol) as well with no rice, all protein, no sugar, no too much salt, no junk foods and softdrinks and no preservatives. It was hard for sure as I was used to eating junk foods and drinking softdrinks almost everyday. The cravings were so tempting but still, I allocate a cheat day per week usually during Saturdays to pleasure myself with something I love to eat but also doubling my fasting hours after it. After losing about 10 kilos of weight, I also started exercising and some hardcore workouts. Thanks to workout videos in Youtube I don’t have to go to the gym anymore to tone my body. Some more months and I was able to see the results and I was happy when some people recognize my hardwork. It was worth it. Not that long my brother also started being on a diet and exercising more. There has been a time in our house when no one was eating rice anymore and my mom won’t even cook rice anymore because only her and my father were the one eating. Since then I have been kinda cautious about the foods I ate and I am still doing fasting up to this day. :)

So far, that’s what 2020 has been for me. A lot of hardworks, global changes, self-care and triumphs too.

[chitin]

First record of the tropical genus Rambutanura (Collembola: Neanuridae: Neanurinae) in Palearctic, with description of a new species from China

LING DONG, YUE-LI YANG, YU-YAO ZHAO, YUAN-JUN WANG, JI-GANG JIANG

Abstract Genus Rambutanura Deharveng, 1988 of subfamily Neanurinae is herein recorded and a new species is described from China. A key to the species of the whole world of the genus is provided. In order to determine the new species, a new diagnosis within the genus Rambutanura Deharveng, 1988 is proposed. The new species is distinguished from all known members of the genus by its unique set of morphological characters notably: 2+2 depigmented eyes, mandible quadridentate, presence of 1 additional s-chaeta on each tubercle Di from Th. I to Abd. IV, presence of 2 additional s-chaetae on tubercle Dl from Abd. I to Abd. V, presence of guard chaetae sgd and sgv on AOIII, absence of digitate body tubercles.

DOI: dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4378.3.6

[steamishot]

roller coaster

this past month of matt’s interviewing has been quite an emotional roller coaster. his first in person interview was at NYU brooklyn on a tuesday. the next day, we flew out to LA and he had an interview with SGV on thursday. then on friday, he had an interview with downey. the following week after we came back to NYC, he had a 2.5 hour virtual interview with Facey. and then he had another virtual interview with the bronx. 

NYU was the first place that gave matt an actual offer. SGV gave an “offer” too, but it was more of a letter of intent rather than an actual contract. upon hearing the NYU news, my first reaction was sadness. sadness that we likely had to sacrifice/be away from family for another year. i really had prepped myself into thinking that we had a very high chance of going back to LA after residency. matt was elated to have an offer at NYU. 

objectively, the NYU position is the best. although their salary is lower than the private hospitals in california, they would offer him an academic title. the hospital systems, patient cap, and ancillary support are great. he would also have moonlighting opportunities at the manhattan location. 

after a ton of discussion (also with his parents) and tears on my part the conclusion was: it’s a tough decision being that we’re a little older now. if we were maybe 2-3 years younger, it would’ve been an easier decision to obviously take the better job and delay settling down for another year. matt’s parents both said NYU is a great opportunity, but to also consider starting a family soon. luckily the NYU contract would be just for another year. we ultimately both agreed that we’re okay with staying another year here for the NYU job. 

i’ve been trying to prep myself mentally for it since then. the winter really affected how i feel about NYC and it made me miss my family much more. i used to enjoy my studio but now i’m angry that it’s so small and is north facing. though, i did not have much of an issue with this when the weather was nicer. i tried to remind myself that i actually liked it here during the spring/summer/fall. i also started to look for apartments to move into to hype myself up.  

anyway, after making that tough decision between SGV and NYU and thinking that a weight would be lifted off our shoulders, a curveball was thrown at us. now there seems to be confusion with the start date and we’re not 100% sure NYU they made an administrative error and if the offer still remains. also, downey just extended an offer today. so, things are still up in the air. the timing is difficult. 

[activesgv]

Jen Pizzolo

47, Development & Outreach at Sustainable Claremont, Upland

1) Describe your relationship with your bike.

Ever since I was a young child, my bicycle meant freedom. It still does! It's exhilarating to ride through new cities and towns and go exploring. I've bicycled all over the US, Europe and even in Russia! There's no better way to get to know a place and meet people.

2) Why do you ride your bike? What are your main motivations?

I love to go exploring on my bike. I discover so many hidden treasures! As much as possible, I use my bicycle to run errands in order to keep my car off the road so I don't contribute to pollution. My dream is to one day ditch my car forever! Riding my bike keeps me young at heart and also keeps me active. I feel so much healthier when I'm outside in the sunshine, pedaling fast, breathing deeply, feeling the beating of my heart. And for a moment or two, I feel like I'm actually flying!

3) Describe one of your earliest cycling memories- how did you get started?

As a child, my bicycle was my main form of transportation. My grandmother took care of me most of the time, and she didn't drive. So, if I wanted to go to a friend's house, I needed to get there myself. As a teenager and into my early twenties, every job I had needed to be within biking distance because I couldn't afford a car. My bike has always been my ticket to freedom, independence and self-determination.

4) Favorite place you’ve ever biked- a) in the SGV? b) elsewhere?  

My favorite group to ride with in the San Gabriel Valley is Bike SGV. Even on my very first ride when I didn't know anyone, they made me feel at home. They make every ride feel like a party! My favorite ride so far has been the Spooky Bike Train right before Halloween. I brought my dad with me on this ride and we had so much fun.  

5) What do you envision a more sustainable SGV to look like and include in the next 5 years?

No matter where we live, we are connected virtually through social media. Now it's time for us to connect in real life. Traveling from city to city by car is an idea whose time has come and gone. Enabling people to access resources from neighboring cities with safe and accessible bicycle pathways is a matter of social justice. The Complete Streets Initiative is absolutely necessary and is one giant step towards a sustainable future.

[phgq]

Abalos takes oath as new MMDA chief

#PHnews: Abalos takes oath as new MMDA chief

MANILA – Former Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos took his oath before President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday as the new chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

Abalos served as mayor for 15 years, from 1998 to 2004 and from 2007 to 2016, and as the city's lone representative in Congress from 2004 to 2007. Abalos will now face his new challenge as the chairman of MMDA, a position that his father, Benjamin Sr., also held from 2001 to 2002.

Abalos was instrumental in turning Mandaluyong City into one of the country's highly urbanized cities by introducing various innovative public services and private partnerships.

These helped the city gain recognition as the "New Tiger City of the country" and the second Most Vibrant City Economy in the Philippines by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Asian Institute of Management, and the SGV Policy Center in 2002.

Abalos gained recognition as a Galing Pook Awardee in 2012. One of the programs, Project TEACH, also awarded Abalos the United Nations Public Service Award in 2015. He is one of the two local government officials in the country to have received the award so far.

During his term as city mayor, Abalos was given several awards as outstanding city mayor, including the 2003 Local Government Leadership Award, Senate of the Philippines.

He was also the former president of both the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines and the League of Cities of the Philippines.

Abalos became the first local chief executive in the country to hold both positions simultaneously from 2007 to 2010 during his term.

Under his leadership, Abalos brought to the city two consecutive Seal of Good Local Governance awards in 2015 and 2016, along with several consecutive Nutrition Honor Awards from 2010 until 2016.

He then received the Presidential Award for Most Child-Friendly City in the Philippines (Highly Urbanized City Category) in 2011, the 2014 Exemplary Humanitarian Service Award & Champion Activist of Children's Right and Welfare, and later the Seal of Child Friendly Local Governance in 2016.

Abalos similarly gained the Communication Excellence in Organizations Award in 2015 and was recognized in 2017 by the International Finance Corporation as the Pioneering Leader in Green Building Program.

After finishing his term as mayor, Abalos continued to share his knowledge and experiences in politics and leadership to the youth as a lecturer in the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance, the Development Academy of the Philippines, the Local Government Academy, and at the De La Salle College of St. Benilde.

Abalos came up with the slogan "Gawa Hindi Salita", which represents his willingness to serve and teach his skills by implementing innovative public services and programs which he aims to do at the MMDA under his leadership. (PR)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. " Abalos takes oath as new MMDA chief." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1127073 (accessed January 12, 2021 at 04:42PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. " Abalos takes oath as new MMDA chief." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1127073 (archived).