Hi folks! Sorry for the silence. 2018 has come and gone. Here I am doing my annual public reflection before a Sat-Sun night shift.
Medicine
My classmates and I matched into residency programs (very stressful). We graduated. We became doctors of medicine. I have worked as a resident physician in Internal Medicine at Greenwich Hospital. I try to coordinate and deliver the best care I can to my patients, and it consumes most of my life these days.
There have been so many rich experiences, but they’re experiences that I can’t write about publicly (but I do journal about), hence my prolonged silence.
Music
Undoubtedly my crowning achievement this year: I played an all-Ravel recital for my friends to conclude medical school.
In addition, I played with my friends the Dvorak American Quartet for the lolz, and it was extraordinarily fun. I ended my stint in the med school orchestra as the principal violist, which honestly just feels a little wrong. I played, for the fourth and last time, with a chamber group at Carnegie Hall for Weill Cornell’s commencement.
Since then, I’ve been the resident pianist (get it?) at Greenwich Hospital: the young skinny Asian doctor that can be found tinkling around with Impressionistic music in the lobby.
Virginia Cockrell, my beloved piano teacher during high school years, passed away. She was 95, having had a glorious career as a touring concert pianist and as teacher to many kids. The last time I saw her in January, I performed my still-in-works Gaspard de la Nuit for her. Thank you for all you taught me, Virginia.
Cooking
Though the project is no longer scheduled and well-documented, I did learn to make a number of interesting dishes. Highlights include bao zi from scratch, a chocolate crepe cake, pappardelle from scratch, rack of lamb, braised short ribs, beef stew, butternut squash soup, roasted chicken (okay, a lot of spatchcocked roasted chickens), many more batches of chocolate chip cookies and castella loaves. And, of course, a jiggling Japanese souffle cheesecake.
Hiking
In March, I drove around Iceland to finally realize my dream vacation. From this point on, I’m probably going to measure up any other outdoor adventure against the myriad of experiences over two weeks in that icy volcanic wonderland.
Immediately after in April, I went with my family to the jungles and then the mountains of Peru. That was pretty neat. Katie and I revisited the Presidential Traverse in June; as well as Taughannock and Falls Watkins Glen in May, Lake Minnewaska in September, and Breakneck Ridge then three big hikes in Yosemite in October. I also dropped by Santa Barbara, Stowe Vermont, and Anthony’s Nose. Not bad, not bad.
Graphic Design
As a corollary to going to Iceland, I fulfilled another goal by designing my own coffee table photo book from ground up. I also put together my med school class’s yearbook, which was mostly an exercise in high-volume resource management. Ironically, they mailed my yearbook to California, so I haven’t seen the yearbook in person yet.
Backgammon
Katie suggested that I learn how to play backgammon, so I learned how to play backgammon. Now both of us play a pretty mean game of backgammon. Come at us, bruh.
Ending the era of annual projects
For many years now, I’ve tried to pick a hobby to tackle as a year-long project. Though it has provided tremendous returns in the last six years, there’s not enough room in my life for me to seriously consider adding yet another one. Last year I was already struggling to select yet another discipline, and even though I did try learning Mandarin as my project for 2018, I found neither sufficient motivation nor time to follow through.
- ’12-’13: photography
- ’13-’14: pro photography
- ’14-’15: resurrecting music
- ’15-’16:
graphic design, running - 2016: writing
- 2017: cooking
- 2018 and beyond: doctoring. Doing stuff
I’m okay with that. There’s evermore attention being drawn to my generation’s engagement with Instagram and image-crafting (that recent Buzzfeed article comes to mind) and how it hurts us. While torturing myself practicing Ravel earlier this year, I examined my own relationship with this toxic aspirationalism of the modern world, and how I’ve taken the concept of New Year’s Resolutions to the utmost extreme. I think it’s time to end them.
On top of my budding career in medicine, I’ve got hobbies I enjoy, people in my life to share them with, and all that keeps me busy, engaged, healthy, and happy. That’s pretty awesome.
Dr. Hung, signing off for now.
