It’s the end of my radiology residency at Mount Sinai Hospital. I spent my final week reflecting upon my case log from residency, cases mined from four years of dictation, trolling the neuro list, and asking people for fun cases. That’s 1900+ cases of varying educational value, personal significance, or pure visual spectacle. Here are some highlights:
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A Short Mexico Trip
Three days in Mexico City (aka CDMX, Ciudad de México) and three days in San Miguel de Allende (aka SMA) for a wedding served as testing grounds for my new Sony a7C and my itty bitty lenses. Meanwhile, Katie and I scoured the place for tacos.
Thoughts on My New Camera
The Sony a7C is essentially a full-frame mirrorless camera system crammed into a tiny cropped-sensor chassis. The size was its primary appeal. Paired with the miniature kit 28-60mm f/4-5.6, its weight (509+167g = 676g) it’s lighter than my old Canon 24-105mm lens alone (795g). It’s so small I can zip it up inside my jacket or toss it into a bag without worrying about dedicated space or damage from its own weight.
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Absence of Style Can’t Exist
This year, catalyzed by buying my wedding tuxedo, I had an epiphany: I can’t have no style.
Until recently, I wanted to opt out of worrying about clothes or having a style. This was a philosophy engendered by growing up in our immigrant household: impress with your cleverness and actions, not your looks. Who was I trying to influence as a kid anyway, and why invest in clothes I’d outgrow?
It’s not that I had no style. There is no such thing as no style, which I realize now. My parents efficiently clothed my brothers and me, so I adopted the style of an immigrant son. I was given Taiwanese hand-me-downs, free graphic tees, bargain bin cargo pants, and big jackets. Everything was oversized, and I didn’t think twice. The clothes were comfortable and I liked having pockets everywhere for mechanical pencils and a flip phone.
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2022 in Retrospect
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.
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The Death of my DSLR
Last week, while vacationing in Lake Tahoe, Katie and I were involved in a serious car accident. While stopped at a red light, we were rear-ended hard by a semi truck, propelled forward into a major intersection, and t-boned by an SUV.
Despite the severity of the crash (our car was very much totaled), Katie and I miraculously emerged with comparatively moderate injuries. We are still mired with said injuries and dealing the aftermath of the accident, but life goes on for us.
Meanwhile, my new DSLR (Canon 6D Mark II from 2020 and 24-105mm II from 2021) was annihilated, crushed in the trunk so tightly we couldn’t even extract the memory card.
Maybe someday I’ll have existential ruminations about the destruction of this precious, life-altering piece of machinery, but for now I’m just grateful that Katie and I are alive.
Hiking Honeymoon in the Rockies
Marry a girl whose idea of a good time is climbing mountains.
With an unexpected gap in our schedules, Katie and I scrambled together a short honeymoon — three months delayed — to the Canadian Rockies, mostly Jasper and Banff National Parks. It’s a region we’ve been trying to reach, but most of our vacations are in late autumn or winter, far past larch season. Thus, given this free week in late July, we packed in five nights of camping and loads of spectacular day hikes. Here’s a highlight reel.
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A big day
Rooting for Wordle
It’s so refreshing that the latest viral phenomenon is Wordle, a homegrown internet minigame about guessing words.
No one can really predict the virality (virulence?) of a concept, but Wordle sure has the makings for uncontrolled community spread. It’s a well-structured minigame. It’s simple to understand and play, its only prerequisites being English literacy and an internet browser. It comes in digestible daily chunks for periodic and anticipated engagement. It has balanced difficulty: 4 letters could be difficult to localize but 6 letters may enable too much variation; and 6 guesses allows enough space but applies tangible stakes. Its instantly recognizable green emoji sharing format with the gray, yellow, and green boxes is the perfect infectious vector. And, of course, it’s free without ads.
Katie and I play too. We solve crosswords weekly, and this Wordle craze is like the spiritual successor to our NYT Spelling Bee phase last year. It’s often my last activity before bedtime. We got started three weeks ago: “Have you heard about Wordle?” Katie had said. “Everyone at the office is talking about it.” A floor at a major bank abuzz about the hot topic of an internet minigame? How marvelous!
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