dedication

dedication – 7.16.06

every day after day, the sweat drips down
and the look on his face becomes more a frown
and the strain doesn’t matter and he’ll never give up
because whatever he does, it’ll never be enough

without thanks, or a smile, or a motherfucking glance
without a single word, and god forbid romance
isolated, all alone, but proud nonetheless
he pushes hard and harder with every single breath

how many countless hours and how many wasted days
did he let pass by before he learned his perfect ways?
gotta push some more, gotta make it all up
gotta make it all better, gotta never mess up

gotta use all he’s got, and get all he needs
gotta wake up in the morning and get up off his knees
(where he fell last night, cause he never gave up -
cause he kept on trying to beat himself (up))

and the drive that he’s got has to get him to the front
and the hunger that’s inside must be used to fuel the hunt
and the emptiness is nothing and there’s no tears on the pitch
no emotions, just your enemies, and no relationships

so he pushes, day by day, and he strengthens his resolve
and every time he fails, he gets back up to be absolved
and the grimace on his face is from muscles pulled all tight
not from falling down and knowing that he’s given up the fight

he doesn’t hear and doesn’t care, doesn’t see or speak or eat
all he knows is he needs more time to be quicker on his feet
so he shrugs off some more pounds and he wonders what is wrong
why does every fucking move he make remind him he’s not strong?

in the end, he was a champion, no one denies him that
and sure as hell there didn’t live a soul who dared to call him fat
not since he sweated off his pounds and earned himself, at last, a rest
the only problem is he pushed himself into an early death.

motivation

motivation – 7.3.06

so-late nights and later days (the saints of which would change our ways)
a nervous sweat at time of night brings nonetheless no end in sight
and eyes that track the cursor’s light are bloodshot and he looks a fright
but dogged (one cool cat) he moves his fingers to the rhythmic blues
that keyboard’s sounds keep right along (to half-remembered shards of song)
and, whistling slightly under breath, he coaxes code from certain death
or, better yet, he leaves a mark and rescues readers from the dark
and so continues, as we speak, the saga of our hero’s meek
appearance shed and cast aside in favor of what light provides
(though, artificial, somewhat dim) by light of screen, he gains some vim.
he’s a machine with calloused hands; he’s fueled by ramen noodles and
the cheeto dregs that stain his clothes make up for and assauge his woes
his fingers tapping on the keys fill up his room with melodies
of clicks and taps and beeps and words he’d rather that remain unheard
unsung, unmuttered, just as he, ignored by real-life peers, is free
from ties that bind and friends in need, no, “number one comes first”: his creed
but after all, he does have peers who look to him and hold him dear
and close to heart whenever comes a moment that, their hardware, numbs
and if he were to, say, just leave; why certainly someone would grieve
perhaps not you or i, but then, we don’t quite count ourselves as friends
but someone somewhere has to care that no more does he sit in chair
and glance upon computer screen while in the background, singers scream
but ever silent stays the phone and if alive, he’s still alone
unless that’s him whose name you read while sitting all alone in bed
perhaps he found the strength inside to leave his chair and join the ride
and maybe now he’s known by all for feats, astounding, full of gall
and if he, in his wasted state could go out and take on his fate
then what a waste for men like you who could amount to all that, too
so get up off your ass today and make the whole word know your name.

Antarctica

Okay, so my dad does research for one of the universities near where I live – he’s a physicist, but he ends up doing more engineering than physics. But every once in a while he goes somewhere insane for work. He’s been to Chicago, and boring places like that, but he’s also been to Japan, and most notably, Antarctica. Now I won’t go into all the hassle that comes with that because, frankly, I didn’t have to deal with it. But I will show you some kick-ass pictures he took while there. Oh yeah, my dad’s kind of a photo freak, so he took like 2000 pictures, literally. But don’t worry, I’m only posting seven. By the way, all photos displayed on my blog will be hosted on Zooomr, a sleek alternative to Flickr. Click on the pictures to go to my Zooomr site, where you can see these pictures in all their 1024×682 (or bigger, depending on the picture) glory.

Skua Headshot
Hosted on Zooomr

This is a picture of the local bird. It’s called a “Skua”, and it’s basically a seagull on steriods. Of course, one of the things about going to Antarctica is not antagonizing (read: going near) any of the wildlife, so most of these pictures are taken from a healthy distance with a sexy zoom – my dad has a ridiculously good camera; like I said, he’s a photo freak.

Baby Weddell Seal Headshot
Hosted on Zooomr

Okay, this is a baby Wedell Seal, named after some guy named Wedell, I guess. It’s kinda hard to see the cool thing about Wedell Seals in this pic, so I’ll talk about them later on. But isn’t it cute? You can also kinda see that its saliva is freezing on the outside of its mouth there. That’s Antarctica for you. ‘Course, my dad went in the winter here which means it was summer there. I don’t know that they let people travel to and from in the winter.

Adelie Penguin Diving
Hosted on Zooomr

An Adelie Penguin, presumably named after Adelie someone or other. It’s about to dive into the water and do that penguin thing that other birds can’t do. You know, swim.

Sun in the Clouds
Hosted on Zooomr

Awesome pic of the sun in the clouds reflected on the water/ice. Not much else to say.

Curious Adelie Penguin on Ice Shelf
Hosted on Zooomr

Another Adelie Penguin. And damn if this one isn’t the most curious one you’ve ever seen.

Skua with Weddell Seal in Background
Hosted on Zooomr

Another Skua, in flight this time. And that blob in the background is another Wedell Seal. My dad is a fiend at getting awesome pictures of birds in flight.

Sleeping Weddell Seal
Hosted on Zooomr

Okay, here’s the picture of a Wedell Seal I was talking about before. Besides looking like it’s in a camo body bag, you can see the frozen spit a lot more clearly, and there’s also something odd about its nostrils. They’re closed. That’s right, closed. Wedell Seals can seal (haha) or open their nostrils voluntarily, and independently. So they can swim underwater for hours with closed nostrils, come up with only their left nostril poking out of the water, open it and take a breath, close it and go back underwater for some more hours.

And that’s about all I have for you today, so enjoy.

snakes on a plane

that’s hot.

The Words of Our President