2022 was wild. For me, it was filled with big changes, some surprises, and a fair share of challenges. Let’s start with the good news first.
Love
Katie and I were married!
The day itself was a blur. Thrilling, exciting, and memorable in many ways, but very much a blur. I think I awoke at 4 am from sheer excitement. I’m so happy that many of our friends and family took part in our special day. That was pretty trippy, actually, to be personally connected to every single person at a big party.
Radiology
Now 7/8ths through my radiology residency, I’m pretty respectable with a dictaphone. Lol. The past three years, for reference:
- 2021: “I crossed over from the first half of residency (2.5/4 years)… I’m now fairly authoritative on call with my dictaphone.”
- 2020: “[3/8ths through residency], I’m now reasonably useful with a dictaphone.”
- 2019: “Now 1/8th into my radiology residency, I’m no longer completely useless with a dictaphone.”
I interviewed for neuroradiology fellowship programs and matched at Yale, where I will be from July 2023–June 2024 to cap off my medical training.
I took and passed my board exam (ABR Core Exam), a challenging three-day ordeal. I had 11 weeks to study for it, though I reallocated 2 of those weeks to get married.
I became chief resident! Together, my co-chief Arthi and I have navigated the bewildering role of being kinda-sorta in charge. It means endless scheduling of residents, faculty lectures, and sick coverage. Sometimes it means being a tech liaison, or being default mid-level consult for junior residents. Arthi and I have presented the same slideshow to nine groups of applicants. I’ve personally packed and moved the contents of lockers. I’ve ordered and received food deliveries. There’s advocating, summarizing, soothing, etc. What a strange job.
Travel
Katie and I embarked with our younger siblings on a road trip to Maine and Rhode Island. The trip featured an excursion with Katie’s high school classmate who runs charter sailboat trip. Check them out, Pilot Cutter Hesper sailing out of Portland, ME.
As a mini-honeymoon, Katie and I scrambled together a weeklong road trip to the Canadian Rockies. It has been one of our top goal destinations for years, and the breathtaking mountains, glaciers, and lakes blew us away.
My parents hosted Katie, Katie’s parents, and me back home in California. They also hosted a grand second reception for our Californian friends and family. We visited my older brother and my niece, who is quickly growing up!
I attended my tenth year college reunion at Harvard and had an entertaining nostalgia trip.
This year’s wedding season was filled with nuptials and plenty of couples catching up for two years of cancelled plans. Katie and I were happy to attend five weddings (though each of us missed one) in Brooklyn, Philly, rural Pennsylvania, Santa Barbara, and Jodhpur.
Personal Hodgepodge
I am endlessly proud of Katie and her career progression this year.
I gained some stereotypically gentlemanly knowledge. My in-laws gifted me a beautiful watch as a wedding gift and also generously asked me to choose the watch. This sent me down the endless rabbit hole that is the world of mechanical watches. Meanwhile, Katie, my brother, dad, and other friends have helped cultivate an appreciation for whiskey and scotch. Finally, catalyzed by my wedding tux, I’ve learned more about the importance of clothes, appearances, and menswear. Well, Katie has been upgrading my style for years, but this year I’ve listened to podcasts, studied resources, and shopped with more intention. More on this in an upcoming post…
I guess that’s the forced maturation that comes with getting married. Wedding planning is an ordeal! There’s so much coordinating, scouring for details, and a big seating chart. There’s a crash course in select jewelry. There are dancing lessons and also practical lessons in diplomacy. And in the end we join families.
Unrelated: I’m running more again, hitting >400 mi. Also unrelated: I played a lot of Wordle. I remain undefeated, though I interrupted my yearlong daily streak on our wedding day and again in Canada.
I attended an eclectic variety of events in New York. A Jacob Collier live show, a couple concerts in the newly reopened Lincoln Center home of the New York Philharmonic, a dual-artist gallery show featuring Katie’s high school friend and her husband, an xkcd book signing, Mike Birbiglia’s one-man act, and some nice museum exhibits.
Birbiglia’s show is ending its run this week at the Lincoln Center (three blocks away!), but small spoilers: it explores health and mortality. Katie and I have explored those topics this year too.
The Struggles
Coronavirus
Coronavirus lingers. It’s been more than 2.5 years, and yet it still permeates every fabric of society. The chaos has quieted, but the virus will not stop plaguing our lives.
Katie and I were both separately stricken COVID, shortly after (but not because of) our wedding. It was the sickest I’ve been my entire adult life, wretchedly ill but not dangerously ill. This came at a suboptimal time: days before my board exam. This made it much harder to sharpen my mind for the test, and I’m grateful that it was pass-fail.
Motor Vehicle Accident
The year’s big trauma.
On August 19, Katie and I were in a terrible car accident. While driving around Lake Tahoe and stopped at a red light, we were rear-ended by a laden semi truck that plowed into us at speed, sending us careening into an intersection where we were t-boned by another car. Four months out, we’re still struggling to recover. If you want to learn more, visit here.
Photography Reset
My camera was destroyed in the crash. A crushing loss. It was fairly new, expensive, uninsured (I hardly get dust in my camera, much less drop it), and immeasurably invaluable. My camera was the conduit for a life-defining hobby. My camera rewired the way how I see the world. My camera steered me into a career in radiology. And now it’s gone because of that blasted car crash.
It sucks.
But at least in photography I’ve made measurable steps toward recovering. On Black Friday, I bought the beginnings of a new camera system, switching from Canon DSLR to Sony mirrorless. It feels so foreign, like trying to type an essay with my feet. Last week, thanks to a friend of a friend, I took it out for its first gig: a night-time proposal in Washington Square Park.
Katie and I will bring it back. We make a good team, and together we’ll see to that 2023 is better. Brighter.