As I was looking at some of my academic work from high school, I stumbled across this dreary poem that I wrote for English class. Is dreary the right word to describe it?

Forsaken

We sat as one, my lover and I,
Until that fateful hour drew nigh.
What violent spirit, what incubus,
What devilish prank possessed him thus?
My silent screams, music to mute ears,
His face, it fades, now it disappears.
Cursed wretch, how he betrayed my trust,
I, the innocent victim of lust.
And yet, my heart, if I still possess,
Longs for the touch of his warm caress.

An unearthly light, dispelling fear,
The golden gates of Heaven appear.
Hark! I am summoned. Nay, it is fate
To premature part with my lover of late.
Before me, bliss. Behind, only death.
How can I rest while he still draws breath?
Now, I’ve one goal, and evil the deed,
A fallen angel, vengeance my creed.
The crown of death, my head will assume,
Prepare to suffer! Prepare for doom!

When I looked out the window, I saw
A starry night sky, minus the stars
No light, no spark, just blank staring back
A tabula rasa with background of black

It’s been that way for days
Not much I could do
But wait and pray
For the stars to come back and my inspiration too

Then out of the corner my eyes espied
A speckled trailblazer newly arrived
It flickered and faded, struggling to survive
A single, dim star up high in the sky

This fledgling star, half-formed at most
Was quickly joined by a heavenly host
First one, then two, then many more
A sky full of them, unlike before

And then the gears began to whir
The muse inside began to stir
Each star – a seed, an idea, a thought
With power to build, transform, and wrought

Would-be poems to melt the hardest hearts
And songs to make all women swoon
A vision of stuff called abstract art
Even a sonnet for the moon

Sculptures to stand the rigors of time
And movie thriller about mystery and crime
“The Strange” – my own interpretive dance
Even a novel of forbidden romance

When out of the blue, I heard a sneer
I sensed a yawn and felt the fear
That someone thought my ideas were dumb
And from them nothing good would come

Stabbed to death by snarky quips
Killed by worry from the lips
Plus a frown upon the brow
Of someone with the know-how

One by one I saw them fall
Until no stars remained at all
Even the brightest succumbed to hate
When given no chance to germinate

This really was a dreadful sight
So I turned around and tried to fight
Against the urge to scream and shout
At all the scorn, at all the doubt

But I’m still unsure, and that’s no lie
Was it a dream? Was it my life?
This much I know from what I’ve seen
A new idea is a delicate thing.

a poem by C-Chizzle (some famous dude)

A Glance



And then you are gone.
Borne away on a breeze that still resonates with your memory
Leaving afterimages of what could be, what should be
     timid smile from across the room
     and secret library rendezvous
     and warm embrace in secluded hall
     (flash)
     stolen kisses by the swings
     and the perfect diamond ring
     and wedding on the beach
     (flash)
     white house with picket fence
     and pomeranian named ben
     and three kids, boy girl girl
The edges begin to blur
     growing old together…
     and waking up every day…just to see…
You smile

And then you are gone.
Whisked away
Swallowed by the living, breathing, sweating mass of limbs and book bags,
     By the synchronized entropy of a hundred different lives with a hundred
     different predetermined plans
Everybody strapped to the same joyride
Fueled by whim of free will of fate
     By causality probability and any other philosophy! and don’t forget the
     alphabet soup of primordial determinism!
OR
Maybe the driver is some prepubescent kid spending his free time playing in a laboratory and amusing himself by sending random electric signals to gray and decaying brains in a vat

 … … …

A hundred destinies hopelessly tangled // interwoven weaves of technicolor fuzz
Converging at this single blip in time and space
An unfinished tapestry unraveling and re-raveling…again and again and again
And all I can do is
Blink

And then you are gone.
You, who was brought here by fate
You, who very easily could have been the one
You, who may still be the one
You, so-called because I don’t even know your name
You! You! You!
are just another face in the crowd. nothing more
“What does the future hold?”
Nobody answers back
And I am left to wonder
What if

I’m a prisoner of words unsaid.

Just lonely feelings…

Locked away in my head.

I trap myself further.

Every time I stay quiet,

I should start to speak,

But I stop and stay silent.

And now, I’ve made my own hard bed…

Inside a prison of words unsaid.

just a normal settlers game…

the banditos have arrived!!!

selected all the cards i can from the window but fall short by one =( maybe if i had a bigger computer screen?

This is homemade galbi/kalbi (korean short ribs). For dinner. I eat. zoom zoom.

Got Char Siu Rice?

iLike to eat the char siu rice,

A pinch of love and everything nice(-uh).

Hong Kong ain’t got nothin’ on me,

Cause I learned to cook in the R.O.C.

All you guys with ladies to impress,

Easy peasy, just follow these steps.

1. Gotta plug in the rice cooker,

2. Put your junk in the rice cooker,

3. Make her open the rice cooker,

And that’s the way you do it.

So what do Taiwanese/Cantonese Duke students who live on Central Campus and who just got out of a Math class during Summer Session I and who just ate a pear (from Costco) eat for lunch? Char siu rice! Apologies for the terrible picture that I had to swipe off the Internet (due to lack of a functional camera)…doesn’t do justice to my dorm/apartment-made char siu rice =(

Love Story

I have sort of a confession to make,

Now in absolution I partake.

Before the tumblr audience I declare,

That me and Settlers - we have an affair.

At night, I count while I lay in my bed,

How many victory points to get ahead?

Should I capture more wheat? More wood? More ore?

Or just build some walls and stock up some more?

I have no doubt that this passion is legit,

I like it - so shouldn’t I put a ring on it?

In our respective views, there is only one,

It’s first to 13, gogo, get’er done!

-C-Chizzle (some famous dude)

So there is this game called Settlers. It’s a board game, but, of course, there is a computer version to cater to the techno-philes with a need for speed. I may or may not be one of these peoples, hah…anyways, in a nutshell, the game falls into the classic mold of “settle an uncolonized land that is rich in different resources and utterly crush your oponents” - except instead of crushing them with swords and guns and tanks and nukes, you use your economic strength (no epic battles, boo hoo =’( *tear). It is a game of strategic placement of towns and cities, of diplomatic prowess, of cutthroat manipulation, and of luck of the dice roll. All in all, a solid game. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The online games (vs. bots) tend to last around 15 minutes…and makes for an excellent study break. I recently finished a game (I win, per usual)! Poor “_inexperienced” didn’t stand a chance ;)