backyard: bee pollinating flower (video)

  

cerritos: a lookback

[friendship park]

 in junior high, i came here once on a saturday to practice freethrows.

several years later, at a basketball camp, i ended up winning a free throw contest (ten of ten) and was given a james worthy poster.

it was one of the highlights of my laughable basketball career.



 

a place where a runaway kid could sleep, according to eddie lee's brother.

(a cerritos elementary classmate, eddie lee moved to diamond bar after fourth grade.)  

this indian-american kid helped me shoot a super slow mo video of myself sprinting across the court.

a wide expanse of grass.

the sky's blue. don't know the scientific explanation.

 a quiet day.

former site of video world (i guess they went out of business). 
i remember we rented a few super nintendo games and didn't bother returning them when we moved out of town. unknowingly, we damaged my father's credit.

to this day, without a direct way to make amends, i still regret my actions.

except for a taco bell (not pictured), this strip mall (off of artesia and carmenita) has become mostly koreanized.

 





 

cerritos park east: greenery.

carnaby street.

onion rings and fried zucchini. 

on this court, david lin beat me one-on-one (high school). with all due respect, it was one of the most humiliating events of my life. 



korean fobs playing around.  



kids shoot. after asking permission, tank-top man said he didn't mind being in the photos. didn't bother getting any of the others' permission, though.



2004 library of the year (reader's digest).

the municipal grounds have changed a lot since the '80s.

i would've voted for her had she beat out the president for the democratic nomination in '08.

cerritos city hall: amer-asian boy sits on marble block at dolphin fountains.

cerritos high school: my freshman year, i remember going to a rally once and chanting '96, '96. when i looked at the people around me and noticed nobody else was saying anything, i felt foolish and sat down. it was the only rally i went to.

john park was sitting next to me and he didn't seem very enthusiastic about the whole affair. i wondered what was the point of being there if we weren't going to cheer.

more remodeling.

1980 to 1993.

the jagged concrete on the left, i scrapped knee on it. still have the scar.

fifth grade vs. sixth grade('89)


i remember fifth putting up a hell of a fight, playing with a rubber dodge ball.

183rd street: the walk home from cerritos elementary.

launched a model rocket a few times in the grass field to right.

7-eleven: another site of numerous, probably-could've-done-something-more-productive ken vs. blanka matches.

in junior high ('91) along with my brother, stole a few hot dogs here. repaid the owner in '08. (it was still the same owner after all those years.)











 

a criminal's viewpoint: after stealing the dogs, we ran across the street and ate them. we bought slurpees but left them in the store. we told ourselves it was a fair trade off.

the serious hoopers come out at night.

all the trees sucking up carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen must make the city's air relatively clean.

in high school, one time, i remember a crew of black players came out, dunking and playing real well. i was in awe of them.

in the early '90s, on july 4, there was a slam dunk contest. i remember a guy did a 360. 


later on, i saw him at video world, playing that e. honda vs. chun li game.

c.p.e.

baseball field.

we played two-hand touch football on this field. i remember one time i was determined to catch the ball, so i ran hard, cut across the middle and caught a pass (from albert im: all-time quarterback) in mid-air. mike bell: defender.

other players: neal ghandi; david lin; scott kawamoto.   

the memorial.

mario caruzo, marine helicopter pilot, lost his life in afghanistan in 2010. his name is etched on the marine corps block. there was a ceremony for him on memorial day in may '11.

a few of his childhood friends spoke. it was an emotional time.

this kid tried to duck as i took this photo. he had good manners.

i wonder if [a power greater than ourselves] would bless america when, by mistake (but without much regard), we've dropped bombs on iraqi civilians.