For an all hands meeting at work, I was asked if I wanted to share a story about my life and how I got here.
It has not been the easiest, holding all of these identities and selves, often in places that did not welcome me. I think sometimes of Merantau: of finding a home away from home. All of my parts and intersections make up the messy and glorious bits that I have lived and experienced.
I turn forty this year. I want so much to tell the four year old self: it's going to be fine, you're going to have fun, one day you are going to put up beautiful photos of your life and tell your story to everyone.
I have a new job, which also means new views! Million dollar views, in fact.
I so love this part of the world: when Sabrena and I first moved to California back in 2018, we were so excited to finally be somewhere where we could travel with our dog, Cookie. We booked a trip and came to Monterey for my birthday that year. I wanted to see the aquarium, and I wanted to experience being in a hotel room with Cookie. We got that and so much more.
7 years on, I now work at Monterey Bay Aquarium. How I got to this was pretty fun: I like going on long runs, and I like listening to podcasts on topics I know absolutely nothing about. Back in May, all of my running podcasts were about marine biology, marine science, oceanography and deep sea research. The podcasts often reference Monterey Bay Aquarium and our partner org, MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute). I was obsessed with the stories about deep sea research, and the Into the Deep exhibit. I resolved to visit again, and to see the exhibit.
A view of Monterey Bay.
While looking up information about the exhibit at the aquarium, I noticed that they were hiring a Director of Product Management — which is what I do! I applied, of course.
The rest is history. Never in a million years did I think I would end up with such a cool position. I have an interesting commute where, once a week I take a shuttle from SFO Airport that takes me right into downtown Monterey. While there, I spend a couple of days, in a cute little room I rent. I live with a few other queer people, we like cooking for each other, and watching Interview With the Vampire at night, so it's been quite ideal, actually.
After five years of almost fully remote work, or working two blocks from work, I was ready for a change of scene. I love to travel but can't travel too much internationally at the moment, so this was perfect for me.
Invasive ice plants near the water, right outside Costco in Seaside
Sabrena came to help me setup the IKEA furniture. It was sad not to have Cookie there with us this time, but I'm getting to get familiar with the Monterey, Pacific Grove, Seaside, Marina areas. The coastal trail is my favorite: I can bike or run or walk to work quite easily, without ever coming across a motorized vehicle. Last weekend, I ran to several Korean markets in Marina and Seaside, where I came across the happy 'secret' that Marina / Seaside have tons of great Korean grocery stores with homemade banchan and many types of homemade kimchi.
The produce that we get at San Francisco farmer's markets also all come from here, so the produce is cheap and good and plentiful. It's going to be hard living anywhere else after this. Good vegetables go for '3 for $5', which is a great deal (here in Monterey and in San Francisco).
Some days, I grieve the life I left behind in Singapore, but I also know this for a fact: we've built ourselves a wonderful and beautiful life here.
Even though the world feels like it's too much somes days, I feel unreasonably lucky to be here, to be able to work on things I care about, to be surrounded by people who give a shit about the world. And to be able to eat delicious food.
Once or twice a year, I try to go on a boat ride with some birders. I started birding as a joke ("I'm getting old I need an old person hobby!") but found that I love it. I especially love pelagic birds (and also shore birds, but to a lesser extent). Something about the raw power of the ocean and the ocean life in and around and above it really inspires me. The first time I went, I saw a feeding frenzy up close: of whales hunting, pushing fish up to the surface, different types of birds diving in and out of the water. It was majestic.
The Farallon Islands don't look too far from San Francisco on the map but it's many hours in treacherous waters. Many people throw up: for hours. I have never had motion sickness, so I was happy to tap on that life skill to try to take photos from the boat. It's hard when you're on a boat, harder when the waters are so incredibly choppy.
Anyway, here are some photos I loved from the trip back in July.
Sea lions on a buoy off Half Moon bay.
Tufted puffin bobbing about in the Pacific Ocean.
Active sea life in the Pacific Ocean.
The pure power of the ocean and the life in it.
Sea lion and pup in the rocks.
Sheer and overwhelming number of birds on the rocks and the waters around.
All photos taken with a Nikon D810 and 200-500mm lens.
Sometimes you have a bad photography day where there is no light or poor light, you don't get any of the shots you want because you haven't had coffee, or you just don't know your equipment very well.
In this case, I had a borrowed Fujifilm XT-30 and telephoto lenses and.. boy, I did not have fun. I'm still not sure the Fuji digital cameras are for me, though many people love them, but I did come out with this one shot I love.
I had a wonderful trip to the Farallon islands just off San Francisco. We got on a boat with a birding crew from Half Moon Bay and, many, many seasick hours later, got close to the islands. We saw pelagic birds, porpoises, and even puffins. We got to hover near the rocks full of spectactular marine life, where the deafening chaos of thousands of sea lions and birds overwhelmed us with the sounds of life, thriving.
If you ever visit, it's well worth trying to join a trip to the Farallons. We had a good time with Alvaro's group, where we had some scientists onboard including a scientist who was previously stationed at the Farallon Islands himself, so he had a lot to share. Remember to pack the Dramamine, though.
The scientists told us about how colonialism led to the decline of many birds in the area, but that conservation efforts of the past decades are starting to help them flourish again.
