I am sure most of you don’t know where the word “Hapa” came from and how it relates to me.

It was once a derogatory label derived from the Hawaiian word for “half,” Hapa has since been embraced as a term of pride by many whose mixed racial heritage includes Asian or Pacific Island descent.

ha•pa (hä’pä) adj. 1. Slang. of mixed ethnic heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry. n. 2. Slang. a person of such ancestry. [der./Hawaiian: hapa haole. (half white)]

I was born here in Colorado and was raised into a Vietnamese family.  My mom is Vietnamese and my dad is Irish and they met in Vietnam during the war.  Who would have guessed, right?  I don’t know the full story between them, but I know it wasn’t a Happy Ending.

Growing up was a little different.  I kinda had two different lives.   I was White by day and Asian by night.  I went to school looking and acting like every other kid who loved to play on the monkey bars, and when school time was over, I was a full-blown-Asianized kid ready to eat noodles and rice with the family.   Bringing friends over for the 1^st time was always fun.  I had to explain ethnicity each and every time and I had to convince them I wasn’t adopted.  Calling my house had to be the worst.  My Grandma would answer and tell my friends “LOY NO HERE!” and hang up.  FYI – If you didn’t speak Vietnamese and you asked for Floyd, you never had a chance.

On the flip side – I’m the reason why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.  Just because I don’t look Vietnamese, it doesn’t mean I can’t speak Vietnamese.  I’ve been to a number of Vietnamese restaurants and A LOT of them always had that “one person” that liked to talk shit.  90% of the time I would play possum and smile.  I usually waited till I had to pay before I said anything back.  100% went into shock, 90% of them would apologize, and the idiots would pretend nothing happened.

I consider myself to be the Best Kept Secret in the Asian Community (Leslie thought she was until she met me) and I have the best of  both worlds. I’m athletic and damn good at what I do, love being around my family, playing video games, go camping to build huge fires, eat pho, drink out of the milk carton, go out drinking with the guys and have taco bell when we’re drunk, T-bagging friends when they are down or just waking up, and I enjoy being around the ladies. J

I have a few friends that I consider to be my ”Good” friends and I trust them.  My cousin Q and Team Will are amongst this group of weirdo’s.  They tolerate my idiotic behavior and go along with my unbearable antics.  I couldn’t ask for a better set of people in my life.

- Shai

Life is a competition, it’s not fair, it will come at you hard!

- Floyd and Derrick -

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