Your papa.

To Mila and Aleksandar,

Your Papa is awesome. We met in 1995 at LMU. We were both crazy about cars and basketball. Your Papa drives cool cars. At LMU he drove a BMW 3 series coupe, 5-speed, British racing green, lowered suspension, with Racing Dynamics wheels (Racing Dynamics is a high quality and expensive brand, your Papa always had brand name stuff). One of my jobs back then was an auto mechanic. One day he called me saying his car won't move, even though the engine was on and the transmission was in gear. I inspected the car, took his keys, started the engine, shifted into 1st gear, and began to slowly rev the engine. The engine RPMs went higher and higher...1,000...2,000...3,000...he said "what the #$@& are you doing?!?"...4,000...5,000...then a really loud clunk! The car was fine and we were driving around the parking lot just laughing. I realized that the rear brake pads were stuck to the rotors and this was the only way to break them loose without my tools. I was the one person he trusted to drive his car home at the end of the night if he wasn't able to (your mama can explain later). Your Papa can play basketball. He was a great teammate. We played basketball all the time. We played at courts all over the place. Mostly at the LMU gym. A few outdoor courts at the local parks. One year we joined a basketball league in Koreatown. He was a little nervous the first time I took him there. The league was in an underground gym beneath an old Catholic school. I really enjoyed playing basketball together, even though he was a Sacramento Kings fan. Your Papa can scream. He was terrified of mice. We lived in the same house during a summer. One night I heard the loudest scream in the world come from your Papa's room. I opened the bedroom door and your Papa was standing on his bed pointing to the bathroom. There was a tiny furry mouse in his bathroom. I chased it away. There are more mouse stories to be told. We always wondered what happened back in Vietnam, but he never said. Your Papa is awesome. Your Mama is too.

Take care and God bless,
Dean Tingzon