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.
Turned the big 3-0 a few days ago and was fortunate enough to celebrate the milestone with my girlfriend, friends, and family.
Some friends have asked me, “do you feel any different?”, as friends do on your birthday.
I’ve actually been reflecting on that question over the past week or so, and to be honest, nothing huge has happened, things are pretty much the same.
I do think that I am surer of myself now though.
Surer about the decisions that I make.
Surer about what I like and what I don’t like.
Surer about who I am as a person.
Surer that if you knock me down, I’ll get right back up again.
It’s been a long and quick three decades, but I’m still here. I’m still Stanley.
A few weeks ago, I took a mini vacation to Mexico City! I’ve been to a good amount of cities in Mexico previously, but first time in CDMX.
I had a blast! The food and museum scenes were amazing, and definitely the highlights for me.
Of course, we ate a ton of tacos, probably averaged about two taco stops per day over the four full days we were there. You just can’t beat al pastor tacos con piña, with the pork cut right off the grill.
I think Taqueria Orinoco had the best ones. I would go back just for those alone haha. They also some interesting chicharrones tacos as well.
We were lucky enough to score a reservation at Quintonil, one of the best restaurants in the world, and it lived up to it. My favorite dish was a crab tostada, but I also very much enjoyed the charred avocado tartare with ant larvae. You don’t eat that everyday…
The National Museum of Anthropology and Museum of Modern Art were both fabulous, with really cool and well-designed exhibits. Also, sipped on some coffee and tea overlooking the Palace of Fine Arts.
The city’s main library, Biblioteca de México, was gorgeous. I loved that there were big courtyards and many of the buildings were open-air, so it felt like an outdoor library. This was the rare book room – stunning:
Outside of the food and museums, I also loved how colorful and green Mexico City was! There were a lot of great parks and trees everywhere, and beautiful art and colorful markets too.
Oh yeah, and I can’t believe I almost forgot our night at Lucha Libre! We went on a Tuesday, so the stadium was only half full, but it was a super fun atmosphere with a rowdy crowd and everyone getting into it.
They sold your standard stadium concessions like hot dogs and nachos, but for some reason, they also served hot cup noodles? That was unexpected and fun haha.
This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.
I didn’t come into the trip with big expectations, but ended up absolutely loving everything about Mexico City, from the food to the art to the culture.
Excited to go back and explore more neighborhoods!
I joined a startup called Pipefy a little over a month ago and got the chance to visit the Brazil office recently.
A few of the things that attracted me most to Pipefy were (1) the unique origin story and culture (at least by Silicon Valley standards) and (2) the opportunity to make an impact at a global scale.
I didn’t quite know what to expect when I arrived in Curitiba, Brazil, but when I got there, I was blown away. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. The energy and spirit was amazing and contagious. I fell in love with the culture.
Maybe it was because I was being welcomed into the company or some other reason, but I definitely felt the love. If anything, I learned that Brazilians know how to party and they know how to barbeque.
Brazilian barbeques felt like the quintessential activity. Pretty much every house has a barbeque grill oven built into the side of it, and when you host a barbeque, you just invite over your friends, play some music, throw endless amounts of amazing meat on the grill, have some drinks.
You just can’t help but have a good time.
My weeklong trip had a little bit of everything:
- A day trip to a cute town called Morretes where they are known for a stewed beef dish called barreado.
- Played futbol with the Pipefy crew. Brazilians are good at soccer fyi.
- A trip to a beautiful beach
- Happy hours with cachaca and caipirinhas
- Learning the lyrics and dances to some popular songs
- Lots of steak
Unfortunately my trip back home didn’t go so smoothly. As a frequent flyer, I encountered one of the worst scenarios when we my plane was about to take off from Sao Paulo.
As we were accelerating on the runway, there was a small explosion in the right wing engine. I was seated on just a few rows ahead in the middle of the plane and saw it all: the boom and the orange flash of fire. Luckily, the fire went out right away and we slowed down.
The flight got cancelled and on the bright side of things, I got to unexpectedly spend a day in Sao Paulo. It was Easter Sunday, and I walked all around the city, exploring Avenida Paulista (the huge main street in the city which is closed to traffic on Sundays), Ibirapuera Park, and Liberdade (SP’s Japantown). It was a great little walking tour.
At night, I flew out without any issues this time. I had a blast in Brazil and hope to visit again soon.
Good vibes only.