My favorite podcast:
The Daily by the New York Times

I love The Daily because it's a succint, digestible way to learn about the most interesting story of the day on my walk to class. My favorite episode, about the Bird Aren't Real movement.

Other podcasts I enjoy listening to are The Journal by the Wall Street Journal, The Best One Yet (formerly Robinhood Snacks), and How I Built This with Guy Raz.

My favorite book:
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

A recommendation from two of my older siblings in medicine, When Breath Becomes Air was a poignant and powerful story that made me reflect on my own human identity and morality, while easily becoming my favorite pandemic read. Plus, it's a much less cliché favorite book to have in my field compared to my siblings.

Some other strong contenders include Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan and Maus by Art Spiegelman.

My favorite movie:
Everything Everywhere All At Once

It's always empowering to see a movie with an all-asian cast, and even more so when it gets so much positive praise from critics and pop culture. It was touching, relatable, and unpredictable in all of the best ways. My current laptop background is this movie poster too!

My favorite music album:
94.3 the real by Kid Quill

Kid Quill is everything I love about chill pop rap, and the radio dj skits mixed into the songs bring me back to a nostalgic time when I used to listen to the actual radio on the drive to school.

My favorite song in the album: White Shoes, because anyone who knows me knows I love a pair of clean white shoes.

My favorite creator:
Natural Habitat Shorts

I love each of these cute, beautifully animated shorts for their witty humor and the fun fact that comes with each one (did you know that beavers can't stand the sound of running water and compulsively build dams to dampen the sound? Well now you do! [source]). It's also a point of pride for me that I started following them when they only had two released shorts.

My favorite short. The intesity. The drama. The terror. A true masterpiece.

My favorite vacation spot:
Corfu, Greece

Just south of Albania and west of mainland Greece, Corfu is by far my favorite place that I've travelled to. It's a beautiful blend of crystal clear water beaches, rugged mountains, and historical & cultural sites from its time under Venetian and French rule - all on an island with only pockets of fully developed tourist areas. It also features the only museum of Asian art in all of Greece! I took this picture above Faliraki Beach, a relaxing swimming beach nestled below the Old Town of Corfu.

My favorite video game:
Undertale

I'm always amazed that this unassumingly deep and complex retro-esque game was almost entirely developed by one single person (Toby Fox). The cult classic is challenging, meta, and makes you question your own existence.

My favorite CMU class:
15-112

The notorious one-twelve. I took it during the fall of my freshman year, and it was a great introduction to python and the rigor of CS classes at CMU. Drawn by the course's unique culture, I ended up TA'ing the class for 4 semesters (but stopped right before they started giving the TA's quarterzips instead of hoodies).

Other great classes I loved are 17-356 (Software Engineering for Startups), 15-213 (Introduction to Computer Systems), and 05-391 (Designing Human Centered Software)