Eternal Summer of 2011

This is dedicated to you.

You, La Brea Tar pits. You, Yao Ming. You, traffic Stops. You, morning jogs. You, parking lots...even at churches. You, reunions. You, Culver City and Marina Del Rey. You, Boogeyboarding. You, food anthropology. You, Mythologies. You, me.

If you think this is an all-inclusive "you" as I usually do, you're wrong. In this case, there's only one you.





Martin Solveig - Night Out

Summer of the Nutty Professor 2---Thousand

Man.

Mother.

Fuckin'

High

School.

I came to this very elite Los Angeles high school with very high expectations of myself; then I quickly found out that I was a no one.

There was always someone smarter, more athletic, more unique than me...what place did I have?

I was just another Filipino kid, what I perceived to be a marginal, don't-participate-in-class-maligned "8:15-2:20 student." And I wasn't even that good as just a student.

The year 2000 marked the middle of my term at this high school. A time of intense identity searching.

Some highlights:

• My godsister Cheryl was at the height of her coolness: she graduated high school! And she was having this watergun fight called Waterfest...the first year we had it at rinky dink "dirty" Griffith Park, this year we had it at the "cleaner," official cool place in the Valley where the pookashells, chinese character bracelets, and raver kids were out in full force. There was this kid named Richie with the biggest nose but had the coolest raver moves ever.
  

I was reminded of a Ghostface Killah song:



And this:

A Feeling of Wide Openness and Opportunity: Summer

Hat tip to my white friend Sangita.