In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s been seven weeks now since sheltering at home and working from home full-time.
I’m more of a natural introvert and have been able to adjust to the new circumstances relatively okay.
I’ve picked up random hobbies and found the time and curiosity to do some home projects I’ve put off when other social options were available.
- Grew a batch of mushrooms using a growing kit: The Back to the Roots kit is easy and produced a nice batch of oyster mushrooms.
- Exercised more, with workouts like the deck of pain and abs challenges almost every day: I feel healthier and more fit than I’ve felt in a while.
- Found my old ipod, loaded with a lot of playlists back from my high school and college days. So nostalgic.
- Watched my first k-drama: Crash Landing on You is amazing! Highly recommend, but prepare for misty eyes.
- Made scallion pancakes from scratch: Pretty easy recipe actually, and they turned out quite tasty.
So quarantine hasn’t been all bad, though I have also realized that I am not as much of an introvert as I thought. I really do miss regular social interactions with friends. Zoom hangouts are a good way to catch up, but don’t quite feel the same.
I miss normalcy and the previous freedoms we enjoyed. I miss walking around without being on high alert and avoiding others. I miss watching live sports. I miss playing basketball with my friends.
I do understand why we must socially distance and take precautions. It’s not okay to just say we need to “reopen the economy” and accept that people will die. We need a plan.
As a public health and healthcare system junkie, it has been fascinating in a weird way to see how everything has played out. Our government has been a shitshow with no plan whatsoever and Trump who just actively makes things worse. The major issues with our healthcare system, especially how it is funded, has been exposed.
It makes me sad to see some other countries taking early measures, actually following through on a plan to protect its citizens, and containing the virus much better than us. That’s what a well-functioning government that represents the best interests of the general population should do.
I hope we can turn it around soon. I really miss sports.
Participating in the Political Process
I’ve realized that money drives a lot of things in politics, so in the past few years now, I’ve been making contributions to candidates that I support.
This week, after some nudging from an old friend (thanks Kaeleigh!), I also started volunteering and text-banking for Elizabeth Warren’s campaign. I previously did some text-banking during the midterm elections about a year ago, but had been a little lazy to start helping this time around.
It’s nice to connect with potential voters and help educate them on issues that they care about.
Why Warren? She is smart, progressive, practical, and truly cares for people and their families. I agree with a lot of what she says about health care, wealth inequality, climate change, and racial and economic justice.
She’s an academic at heart, but has also proven that she can get things done (see: proposing and creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has already returned $12.4 billion to over 31 million people cheated by financial companies).
Above all else, Elizabeth is a planner. I love that she has a plan for pretty much any issue you can think of! Plus, it’s about time we had a woman in the White House.
If you’d like to read more about her plans, you can do so here. I hope you join us in supporting Warren for President. Let’s dream big, fight hard, and win!
Otherwise, I would still encourage you to participate in the political process, whether that be through volunteering, donating, or just chatting with your friends and family about issues you care about and which candidates can help you put that into policy.
A lot of last year was spent trying to find myself, and while I don’t think that quest is or ever really will be complete, I’m happy with where I currently am.
In March of this year, I made a big career move. After seven years in healthcare tech, I ventured outside of the industry when I found a company, Pipefy, that really fit what I was looking for.
I joined the young but burgeoning tech startup and continue to be excited about what we’re doing. I’ve had the opportunity to work with customers all over the world, helping them automate and improve business processes on a global scale.
Ever since I met people through the interview process and on my first trip to the Curitiba office, I felt a special connection to the company culture. At the heart of it, we are all honey badgers: driven, hungry, fearless, persistent to make a difference. Honey badger don’t care, honey badger don’t give a shit.
I’m happy that I was able to find a company that I connect with so well and believe in. I’m excited to continue dreaming big at Pipefy in the new year.
In 2020 (crazy to actually say that out loud), I want to read more! I feel like I’ve gotten away from that in the hustle and bustle of life, but I picked up a few books this past month and it reminded me how much I enjoy learning through stories.
Here’s to a well-read 2020! Can’t wait to see what this new decade holds.
On our last day in Maui, I wanted to take my girlfriend snorkeling at Honolua Bay, where I had gone four years prior and seen tons of fish, turtles, and colorful coral.
We had actually wanted to go earlier in the trip, but the waves were too strong and made for unsafe snorkeling. Somewhat miraculously, the strong currents subsided overnight, and that morning’s snorkel report said we were good to go!
We got to Honolua Bay around 9am and sure enough, the waves were pretty calm. I put my phone into a waterproof case and lanyard and we waded in. Shortly after we started swimming out into the water (it couldn’t have been more than 20-25 feet from the shore), I thought I felt a slight weight lessen around my neck. When I reached for my phone, it was gone. The lanyard section that connected to my phone had ripped.
This was my worst nightmare. We frantically searched the area as I tried to retrace my steps, but the area that I thought the phone had fallen was really murky and rocky, with no visibility since a lot of sand and dirt was getting kicked up by the surf.
After combing the area with our feet many times and even diving down to try to see it, I called off the search. It was extremely difficult to see anything and it was becoming fruitless. The mood was a little grim, but I thought we should at least snorkel the cove and do what we were excited to do in the first place since we were already there.
We ended up snorkeling for a while and saw lots of colorful fish and coral, and even a couple sea turtles. I actually swam right above one when I did one final loop looking for my phone.
As we finished, we were rushing against the clock to meet the check out time at our hotel and had pretty much resigned to the phone being gone. I tried utilizing the “find my phone” feature but my phone’s location was off so I just left a lock screen message asking to email or call if someone found the phone. The best bet was to just wait for it to wash ashore (slim chance?) or say RIP and get a new phone.
So we left for our hotel, checked out, and got acai bowls and pie at a few locations nearby. We kept thinking about my phone and started coming up with plans to get a new one. It sucked, but it wasn’t the end of the world.
Just as my girlfriend started the car to head to the airport, she got a call on her phone. She was actually almost about to reject the call because of spammers, but looked to make sure.
The caller ID? “Stanley Quan”!!! We freaked out, picked up the call, and a woman on the other end said that they found a phone washed ashore at Honolua Bay and saw this number listed. We quickly changed our Google Maps destination and zoomed back over to the cove.
When we got back to Honolua Bay, all the snorkelers still around had heard about my phone haha. We found the person who found the phone and gave her a pie as a thank you.
I got my phone back! I couldn’t believe it. It was low on battery, but intact and fully functional. My phone didn’t even have any dents or scratches. The waterproof case actually did it’s job, except for the staying attached to me part.
When I looked through my phone again, I saw that it had actually taken several videos on its own while in the water! I had video of about an hour and a half of swirling water and sand – I think my phone was mostly getting tossed back and forth by waves the whole time.. This was the six-second video timestamped at 9:28am, showing a quick peak of the cliff above water and probably when my phone became unattached:
All in all, we had an adventurous day complete with the lowest of lows and highest of highs. It was a relief to get my phone back and leave Maui with all of my belongings plus a crazy story.
Praise be to baby Moana and the Hawaiian Gods. My phone swam with the fishies for six hours, but you brought it back to me when it was time. Mahalo and Aloha! Hang loose.
In America, a quintessential person-of-color moment is to have your name mispronounced. It caused my mom to change her first name when she immigrated here. No one pronounced it correctly, so she switched to “Lisa”.
My first name doesn’t get mispronounced, but my last name does sometimes.
I want to talk about a couple other name flubs (and flub is putting it lightly) that I have encountered recently.
1. When a co-worker calls you by the name of another co-worker of the same or similar race.
I’m always thrown for a little bit of a loop whenever this happens.
And it’s not even an issue with how some minority first names are hard to pronounce or remember (this is subject to opinion and upbringing). The person remembered your co-worker’s name but simply swapped your face and his because… they didn’t care to distinguish your faces?
Now, I won’t pretend that I remember everyone’s names all of the time. But in those situations when I forget, I go with a simple “hey” or “hi, how are you doing?”… instead of throwing out a name I’m not sure about.
2. When someone addresses you by your last name in an email reply.
Another situation that has happened more than a few times is I get addressed as “Quan” in an email. The crazy thing is this happens AFTER I already sent the original email to the person and signed it as “Stanley”.
This mix-up is quite annoying and is also something I never do myself. I always just reply based on how the person signed off their initial email. It’s pretty simple professional etiquette.
These two scenarios are mind-boggling to me and as I mentioned earlier, throw me for a loop. Whenever I feel like an assimilated part of normal society, these shock me right out of it.