Poetic Conjurations

Thinking of You

2006-07-11T00:27:00.000-07:00

Missing my sweetheart
like a stranded islander
missing home sweet home.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Screwed by a Damaged Screw

2006-06-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

Stubborn screw refuses to give
head, damaged beyond recognition, stripped
naked fury and angst it invokes in me
screwdriver no longer fits tightly,
slipping in and out with ease

Today's Poem: Free-Verse

Sexual inuendo? Where?
Today's inspiration: The hard drive on my Powerbook G4 died a sudden death recently. In the hope of saving a hundred bucks, I attempted to replace the internal hard drive myself. Little did I know that small thin screws would be such a pain to remove. With one of the Phillip screws, the head was so stripped that I need to file another slot into the screw head just to be able to remove it.

Full Metal Alchemist Summarized

2006-06-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Two bros, trapped in bodies that were crummy,
travel the world with their alchemy.
Seven homunculi they pown
to obtain the Philosopher's Stone.
The moral? Transmute human life and you're a dummy.

Today's Poem: A Limerick

Today's inspiration: 51 episodes of Full Metal Alchemist, compliments to YouTube, completed in 3 days, with the movie completed on the 4th day. I strongly recommend the series.

Throwing Frisbee in the Park

2006-06-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

The disc streams smoothly,
riding currents of warm air
across the bright grass.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: My sister and I tossed a frisbee around with some random guys in Washington Square. One of the guys claimed to be a cousin of Carlos Santana.

Have Heart

2006-06-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Heart, the tell-tale organ buried under the floor boards of the old man,
beats with the ferocity of an unrelenting conscience,
warning us against evil acts.

The heart to do good, to put meaning in our lives,
drives us from our slothfulness
to do what is right and not just what is most expedient.

Heart, the goal sought by the Tin Man on the yellow brick road,
thought to be bestowable by the Wizard,
turns out to be right inside the tin all along.

The heart to love deeply, to share in the joys and pains of someone close,
warms us like a cuddly yellow blanket at night,
snuggled with since childhood.

Heart, the wimpy pink power of the little amazon planeteer,
stands powerless over the elements
yet plays a vital part in calling forth the hero that saves all.

The heart to endure, to brave the unknown darkness,
empowers us against our critics,
providing solidarity with our loved ones during times of loneliness.

Follow your heart and in so doing you will find happiness.

Today's Poem: Free-Verse

Today's inspiration: This poem is dedicated to Chen. Happy Birthday!

An Oddly Connected Graph

2006-06-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Surprise links, hidden
in the social network of
ivy league mixers.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: I went to an Ivy League young alumni mixer with my high school friend Beverly, and apparently Cynthia Der, Kevin Der's sister, is studying law with her at USF.

Sunk Costs

2006-06-15T23:11:00.000-07:00

when the outlook's bleak,
cut your losses short and fast.
don't try to look back.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

C'est la vie

2006-06-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

Un-called for losses,
all avoidable, incur
sharp pangs of regret.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: Apparently, I could have saved hundreds of dollars in shipping costs if I had used my dad's company's shipping rates instead of shipping them myself.

California Dreaming

2006-06-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

warm sunshine greets me,
a welcomed first morning on
the west coast begins.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: I'm back in California. =)

Goodbye MIT

2006-06-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Farewell 'tute - Ta-ta!
Five sweet years of the firehose
trickle to a close.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: I've unfortunately been too busy the past two weeks with packing, graduation, a paper, and hanging out with my friends in the Cambridge area to keep up with my poetry.

Languor

2006-05-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

the boston heat drains
my energy, renders me
sluggish, inactive.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Paroxysm of Laughter

2006-05-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

All was quiet 'til
a well-placed joke brought about
the sudden outburst.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Erudition

2006-05-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

Deep, profound knowledge
of scholarly proportions,
effacing rudeness.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

About Chen

2006-05-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

Chen Xiao
is the hottest gal,
but she pouts all day
until she has her way.

Today's Poem: A Clerihew

Today's Inspiration: Chen and I jointly came up with the poem. She came up with first two lines and I with the last two lines.

About Me

2006-05-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

Edmond Lau -
"Sup," he would sometimes avow.
But he talks too fast for most to comprehend,
so fast that he would need to repeat himself again and again.

Today's Poem: A Clerihew

Today's inspiration: Apparently I talk too fast, most likely remnants of the time-constrained and fast-paced Lincoln-Douglas debate competitions I used to participate in back during by high school days.

Faith

2006-05-22T21:52:00.001-07:00

take a leap of faith
believe and you will be saved
reject and be damned

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: I just finished Letters from a Skeptic, a conversation between a seventy-year-old father and his theologian son regarding the father's questions and doubts about the Christian faith. Unlike many of the religion teachers in my thirteen years of Catholic schooling, Edward Boyd (the son) offers many intellectual arguments and insights about God, Jesus, and the Bible, and he delivers his thoughts with hope and passion. The book has answered many of my questions, and after reading it, I find myself more open and more excited about the Christianity.

I would recommend this book to anyone who's Christian or skeptical about Christianity; it's perhaps the best religious/theological book that I've read. I would bet that if all my religious teachers had been as capable as Boyd, I would already be a Christian.

Faith

2006-05-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

take a leap of faith
believe and you will be saved
reject and be damned

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Frenzy

2006-05-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

sands of time trickling
panic! flustered, focus lost
deadline comes and goes

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: I was 1 of 10,000 finalists to Google and Sony's Da Vinci Code quest. Alas, I do not think I am the winner of today's final challenge. At least I get to keep a sweet cryptex:

Numbness

2006-05-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

unable to feel
the pain gone, my senses dulled
yet something's missing

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: Two wisdom teeth from my left side have been extracted today.

Dreams

2006-05-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Soft voices whisper
stories of things that could be
to my subsconscious.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Pluralistic Ignorance

2006-05-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

woman stabbed three times
everyone waits, looks around
no one helps - she dies.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: In his book Influence: Science and Practice, Robert Cialdini documents an intriguing social phenomenon in which people, in the face of uncertainty, look around for social evidence and confirmation on how to behave correctly. Finding none, they act in ways that appear irrational.

In one story dating back to March 1964, 38 citizens in Queens, NY watched, for more than half an hour, a killer stab a woman during three separate attacks. No one called the police during that time. The 38 witnesses cannot explain why they had failed to act. Psychologists speculate that everyone had felt uncertain about the woman's emergency, and seeing that no other observers were taking action, reasoned that perhaps the woman's situation was not an emergency after all.

Tree of Knowledge

2006-05-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

the forbidden fruit -
key to knowledge, ticket out
of God's paradise.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Rubber Duckie

2006-05-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

bright rubber duckie,
belly encased by soap 'til
it can float no more.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Did you know that unlike many brands of soap, Ivory soap floats?

Perspectives

2006-05-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Many ways to view
a single object, each view
unveils more detail

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Rhapsody

2006-05-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

blissful ecstasy
enraptures me in a trance
of laughter and smiles

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Time

2006-05-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

the fixed past stands still
live and act on the present
future looks foggy

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Rules of Management

2006-05-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

hollow buzzwords spewed
more product cycles prolonged
time slowed by red tape

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: Dilbert.

Dim Sum Run

2006-05-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Yellow skins eating
har gow and chicken feet in
the heart of Chinatown.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: My sister published a poem in her school's literary magazine. Her poem was distinguished by usage of the word "yellow," and I decided to write my own "yellow" poem.

Sleight of Hand

2006-05-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

The trickery and
devious betrayals that
sever webs of trust.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: Today's Mission Impossible movie marathon reminded me that the plot of Mission Impossible centers around a mole whose sleight of hand wipes out half of a top secret team and threatens to expose the identities of covert operatives everywhere.

Freedom

2006-05-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

Liberated from
the shackles of my research
I am a free man.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: As of May 5th, 2006, I have officially submitted my Master of Engineering thesis. Graduation is around the corner.

Nash Equilibrium

2006-05-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

Optimality --
doing what's best for you and
what's best for the group.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: Adam Smith's philosophy that society benefits most when every person acts out of his or her own self-interest is overturned by John Nash's theory of an optimal collective strategy (Nash equilibrium) in A Beautiful Mind--Hollywood's tale of Nash's triumph over economics, love, and schizophrenia.

Eternal Echoes of Our Lives

2006-05-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

What we do in life
echoes an eternity.
We live forever
through the people we touch and
the memories of our deeds.

Today's Poem: A Tanka

Today's inspiration: In Gladiator, General Maximus Decimus Meridias (Russell Crowe) motivates his calvalry before war with the words, "What we do in life echoes an eternity."

A Used Tissue

2006-04-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

Snot drips down my nose,
only a used tissue stops
its journey mouthward.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: Mention of a used tissue brought me back to childhood days when runny noses, salty snot, and a dearth of tissues proved to be a constant problem.

Maybe Some Day

2006-04-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Three beautiful words,
said, hoping that you'd respond.
Instead, there's silence.
My door stands open, cold air
blowing in, chilling my heart.

Today's Poem: A Tanka

The Fantasy Game

2006-04-29T00:10:00.000-07:00

Sick minds wander in
an amusing pretense of
perverted intents.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: A psychological game that leads to sex with hermaphrodites, life at night in the Googleplex, and naked men in movies -- would you play?

Fruits of Labor

2006-04-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Fruits of my labor
ripen with the taste of sweet
succulent success.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Today's inspiration: After a few days of preparation, I presented my Masters thesis work on HARBOR (High Availability and Replication-Based Online Recovery) -- an integrated approach to recovery and high availability in updatable data warehouses -- at the 2006 MIT EECS Masterworks Symposium.

Antsy Feeling

2006-04-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Deadline creeps nearer
Sands of time trickle away
Judgment day cometh

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Cruel Intentions

2006-04-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Cruel intentions
backfire unsuspectingly,
destroying your dreams.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Serendipitous Fortune Cookie

2006-04-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

Chance circumstance brings
unexpected good fortune
right to your doorstep.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Fulgurites

2006-04-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

Lightning strikes the beach,
chiseling glass sculptures out
of sandy pixels.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

The Scarlet Letter - The Abridged Version

2006-04-23T00:08:00.000-07:00

Secret badge of shame,
devastating if exposed,
onerous to hide.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Destiny

2006-04-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Fateful threads weave through
the intertwining paths of
two star-crossed lovebirds.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

I'm sorry

2006-04-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

An apology
for my selfish disregard
at your time of need.
Open ears, a warm embrace,
I should have gladly offered.

Today's Poem: A Tanka

The Wind Tunnel

2006-04-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

invisible force
cripples movement, suspending
my upstream journey

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Photographic Entrapment

2006-04-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Snapshots
ensnare her soul
From the stillness, her face
stares back, detached, emotionless,
frozen

Today's Poem: A Cinquain

Reminiscence

2006-04-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

Latent memories,
the time capsules of the mind,
unearthed consciously
by a dreamy nostalgia
for Kodak moments long past.

Today's Poem: A Tanka

The Penguin Walk

2006-04-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Feet pointed outward,
weight shifting from side to side,
she waddles, her gait
like that of Antarctic kin
suited in black tie attire.

Today's Poem: A Tanka

Hakuna Matata

2006-04-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

Blithe enjoyment and
deep appreciation of
life's simple pleasures.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

A Tribute to Irony

2006-04-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Fresh spring carnations,
sweetly bought to bring smiles to
a special someone,
get tainted by ill timing
and soaked by a tearful stream.

Today's Poem: A Tanka

Claustrophobia

2006-04-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

Confined enclosures,
Hemmed in to closed-in spaces,
Without air to breathe.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Nature's Alarm Clock

2006-04-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

Warm sunlight seeps in,
batters open my eyelids.
Why can't I hit snooze?

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Dance Dance Revolution

2006-04-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Up, down, left, and right,
my legs jab, spaz, and criss-cross
on the plastic pad.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

Indian Food - Too Spicy for My Taste Buds

2006-04-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

Water relieves not
the three-star designation
of lamb vindaloo.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

The O.C. - Season 1 Disc 1

2006-04-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

Enraptured, I sit,
eyes on the O.C., fingers
no longer typing.

Today's Poem: A Haiku

April Boston Weather

2006-04-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Cold rain drops creep down
my umbrella's canopy
toward the grey sidewalk.

The Incipient Roots of a Poem of a Day

2006-04-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

Today starts my quest
to conjure every day
words of poetry.