A Puzzled Penguin

“You can complain about rose bushes having thorns, or you could be thankful that thorn bushes have roses. perspective matters” — probably someone smart Las Vegas, aka sin city, is an oasis booming with life, noise, and gambling. Many go as a getaway from reality. Lucky for me, I can do the same within the comfort of my room. Music is my getaway. The second I put on my headphones and start blasting Clinton Kane, Greig, or Elgar, I am magically transported to a beyond the earth experience. I never knew I could experience so many emotions without really experiencing anything. I don’t think I need to explain the other benefits of music or the positive impacts it has on a person. So let’s switch perspectives really quick. Music isn’t always fun. Most of the times, I like performing, but I don’t like my performance. By performing, not only do I want to tell a story, but I also do the composer justice. There is pain in performance. I remember all the tiny mistakes I make, the slightly out o...

 Before we begin, would you mind listening to this song?  What did you think of it?  If you liked that one, do me a favor and listen to this (please):  What did you think of that one? I GUESS I’M IN LOVE really shaped me as a person. Despite the title suggesting otherwise, I find this song to be very depressing and very very very emo; just the way I like it :). The gut-wrenching tune and the geeked asf lyrics compliment each other very well don’t you think? Anyways, after I heard this masterpiece, I have been in love with his music. They are all so emotional, so gentle, and so authentic. But wait! This is where some of you say, “didn’t he lie about a lot of things?” Yes. He did. In fact, he lied about his mom dying. For many, this was enough for people to boycott his music and call all his previous songs fake. However, I’m not here to debate the authenticity of the claims for/against him or whether it is right or not to listen to the music of someone with bad charact...

hazy winter light rests on brick walls a camera rises out of habit pale branches reach through the open circle of sky puddles along the road catch an orange blur years seem to pool in the melting ice along familiar paths vivid red steel waits where the steps converge a  place where laughter was held long stairs lead upward; someone pauses even the river keeps one bright color moving through the gray nearby, the water turns in patient, endless patterns towering cliffs and surf feel like scenes from an old film we loved in glass and steel, the clock still waits behind newer walls near the harbor, a ferry moves with the same quiet certainty even the Tribune letters glow as warmly as before silent heros pass, their purpose steady nothing disturbs the stillness of a figure resting on a bench in drifting mist, a crowded boat pushes forward together city signs and closed doors blur into streets we knew by heart oval reflections bend the skyline into a memory of movement low steam rises fr...

canon iso 400 55mm f5.6(please buy me a better lens) 1/250 s Gender roles bring certain expectations on certain people. Most people have a negative connotation with the term, but I would disagree. In my life, I always wanted a big brother. One that could tell me what was ahead of me, one that I could annoy, and one that I could be completely honest with. I’m blessed that I have found one.  They say you should never meet your heroes. Michael met me July 15th, 2023. At first, we didn’t talk much, and to be honest I didn’t notice him at all. When I got to school, I soon realised that we were in the same Chinese class. Michael didn’t suddenly become a big part of my life. It happened subtly and slowly. Through small conversations, shared moments, and just being around each other, he became someone I could rely on. He never forced advice on me or tried to act like he had everything figured out. He just listened to what I had to say, and that mattered more to me than anything he could ha...

I t’s been a rough week. I’ve been stressed, geeked, and tweaked. I also realised that I possess zero self control, Yikes. Part of it is because I realized I am incapable of looking straight at people and holding a conversation, another part of it is watching Lalaland and wishing for a different ending until an ungodly time (6:13am). But most importantly, this week has been a rollercoaster for the seniors.  My tennis coach, who is usually quite apathetic, even said that he felt nervous for the kids because a significant amount of their future will be set. College seems so close but far. In one year, we’ll be opening our decision letters and most likely get disappointing answers. All I want to be next year is normal, to have a quiet year. Yet, I don’t feel like normal, because being normal means you’re also perfect. I mean for normal distributions, it has requirements: it has to be a symmetric, bell shaped curve following the empirical rule. Maybe it’s not even the desire to be norm...

When I think about my childhood (or even what happened last year), I tend to only remember the bad parts. In fact, the only memory I have of the 5-year old me was when I locked my family out of our hotel room… it was embarrassing to say the least. Many of these embarrassing moments still come to haunt me, and I’ve never known why.  Thi’s memoir reflects this almost too well. When she writes about her childhood, she doesn’t begin with the bright parts, or even talk about them much. Instead, she begins with the fear she felt from her father and the distance inside her own home. The bad memories become the base of which the rest of her childhood and novel grow upon.  The Best We Could Do is an interesting book to say the very least. So far, I haven’t been “wowed” by the book, and I also haven’t been able to care so much for the book. Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's my lack of empathy, or maybe it's my lack of understanding. However, I still feel intrigued by this book, beca...

  Scene 11 November 9, 2025 Outside it’s 36° F. In the news: It is day 39 of the United States Government shutdown — the longest in history. The unemployment rate is at a 3-year high. In Troy, police search for a suspect in a Shell gas station armed robbery. Every human is fearful of two things: death and the unknown. For me, that “unknown” has a name: AI. It’s strange and intriguing to think that something created by the US could outgrow the US. There is a constant talk about education and how essential it is to our lives. However, isn’t the intended purpose of education is to get a good job in the future? What happens when AI will take jobs? AI, as it turns out, is a very very very broad term. AI, which stands for artificial intelligence if you didn’t know already, is just a process in which a computer solves a problem by mimicking human behavior. These have been out for a long time (to be specific 1955.) For years there was not that much of a significant impact. However, ...