
Writing
writing projects
Postal Portals: a series of letters with friends to deep-dive into concepts weighing on our minds. This is on pause after Fall 2021.
|Mini-essay experiment to publish raw, lightly edited pieces semi-daily towards achieving 100 public pieces.
I finished at the end of 2021! |why do I write?
I first caught the writing bug in third grade when I wrote a story about a wizard on a space adventure, but I treated the bug as an infection--a distraction from the âprofessionalâ classes that I needed to pursue the STEM career my parents desired for me. Math and science were to come before magical incantations and ethical dilemmas. In college, I found the freedom to explore my writing alongside my academic obligations of computer science and calculus and accounting and started a blog to share my inner thoughts with the world. Since then, Iâve continued to write on my blog (which has transformed into this website) in both reflective posts, argumentative essays, and short flash-like fiction and maintain a personal newsletter where I share thoughts and updates and personal essays.
I end up setting aside time every day before I start work to write and explore and sometimes find myself seized with bursts of inspiration that I must empty onto paper in the early morning hours. I rigorously give myself space to write even though Iâm primarily a writer of passion because writing is how I think, explore, and dream. Itâs my submarine to probe into the depths of my subconscious and excavate those submerged emotions and cravings. Itâs my limitless blank canvas, where I can freely shape rules and assumptions as I please to convey a feeling or traverse an experiment. Itâs the portal to entirely new worlds and universes, where I can play both god, in manifesting my emotions in the literary flesh, and the background observer, in watching how the characters and systems develop naturally in that artificial environment.
All my public writing is here in some form. I write for emotional resonance, so if something I’ve written strikes a chord, please send me a note ( or )
all recent writing
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the foil of narcissism
Can narcissism be a tool for self-expression?
software poetics
some software poetic project updates
8-bite
Pacman reimagined as an interactive poetry game. A simplified version was published in taper 8, an issue of a computational poetry journal.
Created in collaboration with Kelsey.
glacial illusions
growing up as a chameleon and learning to wield shapeshifting for my own ends
Verses Verses
A collection of transforming verses from the verses community and an interactive lab to make your own.
Created in collaboration with Verses.
quarter life commitment
And I’ll fight to breathe deeply everyday, again, again, again.
being open to magic
Leave yourself open to the magic of the world.
marketable uniqueness
You have to carve out an identity that is simultaneously unique and marketable to society.
Transforming Text
an open-source library for creating transforming text.
Created in collaboration with Jacky.
despair and hope
and updates on the digital pluriverse, packs, poems (software and analog)
Twitter Pack
A Twitter pack for Coda which gives you the ability to manipulate data from Twitter the way you want and find the things that you remember without messing with a complicated API.
Towards a Digital Pluriverse
An interactive, participatory essay proposing the âpluriverseâ as a new banner for the community to rally around for how we look at imagining a ânew web.â It is co-created with visitors and readers of the site.
Created in collaboration with Verses.
boundless shapeshifters
A shapeshifting poem.
beautiful internet
the internet and web that we really wantâa collective, pluralistic, intimate, and beautiful one.
Mutualistic Flourishing: 2021 to 2022
đ° 2021 | 𤲠2022. My 2021 reflection and theme of mutualism for 2022.
Spencer Wrapped 2021
My personal take on Spotify Wrapped
100 - creations are intimacy portals
The final artifact in my 100 mini-essays experiment exploring the intimacy of creations and the value of sharing your mind with the world.
99 - beginnings
Exploring the concept of beginnings through a creative medium
98 - quiet confidence
Quiet confidence is when you’re able to naturally take your time, take up proper space, and be unapologetically yourself without putting down anyone else or manufacturing dependence.
97 - glorious purpose
I’m a strong believer that we create our own meaningâsomething can be meaningful for no other reason than the fact that we believe it so. In that sense, I think all of us have a glorious purpose in creating the change and meaning that we want to see in the world.
96 - reclaiming time
What if anyone could reclaim control of time for themselves? What does a world look like where we challenge Time for control but that power is free for anyone to seize rather than only the wealthy and powerful?
93 - dance
I think dancing really teaches you to trust your instinct for what’s “right” broadly, as in everything I do has value for no reason other than the fact that I chose to do it. It’s an exercise in asserting yourself and trusting yourself to do things that you like.
91 - amulets
If poems are just “things made” that exist for their own sake and meaning, then these amulets are meaning lighthouses in a space of so much context collapse and narrative war.
90 - future of tools
What is the future of the tools we use every day, and will web3 push them to become more community-led and empowering or will it force unnecessary structure and unwelcome incentives into a relatively “innocent” space?
living to provoke
I want my projects to push people to think in a different way and challenge them to reconsider reality in a new light. I want to make crazy ideas feel realistic, extreme fictional worlds feel relatable, complex creative environments feel approachable.
86 - scope of normality
Normal is variable, an always-shifting concept in our minds, that binds us together or drives us apart.
85 - photography origin
The origin story of why I like photography.
84 - financialization
I crave for an internet-native space where it’s okay to just be yourself and let your hair downâwhere making things that are worthless and inefficient are not only allowed but encouraged rather than squeezed for every penny they’ll generate.
83 - allure of ephemerality
In the web3 world, where everything is permanent, stored on-chain forever. This chaotic, ephemeral process of creation is especially compelling. It harkens to the instability of the current Internet…
76 - urgency
Urgency is important because it imbues energy
73 - pitter patter
a couple poems on this rainy SF day.
72 - soothing fire: a raging fire that cools
The goal state is an oxymoron. A feathery intensity, a gentle hurricane, a soothing fire. It means being uncompromising about what you love and fight for, but also embracing playfulness in every moment.
71 - ablaze heart
a poem on setting your heart ablaze
Fits Stream
A stream of my daily outfits.
67 - fast feedback loops and perils of convention
Why fast feedback loops are important and why convention over configuration makes software feel impossible to change to your own needs
66 - unstoppable expression
…like when you get the star in MarioKartâthere’s nothing, no one that can stop you from achieving your dreams and realizing your vision.
re: take back the future - the magic is ours
a response to reboot’s manifesto on techno-optimism
61 - opportunity
I never want to tone down my intensity or dilute my flavor for the sake of others.
58 - perception
I explore appearance as a gateway to connection. At first, it’s all we know, but eventually, it becomes just the key for unlocking a deeper connection. Deep emotional connection is all around us for the taking; we just have to be willing to dig for it and receive it when it appears.
47 - fear
Fear told me there was a hard script for me to follow, that deviating from the script meant certain failure, a sure way to give up everything I had built thus far.
46 - pitiful rage
a poem about a sad encounter
45 - re-solved problems
How did we end up in a place where some of the smartest people in our society are stuck re-solving the same hard problems and re-implementing the same solutions weâve seen before?
Liminal Illusions
exploring the liminality of vegas and how it exposes the absurdity of our day-to-day
43 - kindness journal
Compliments are one of the few things that are infinite energy machines. Itâs free to think of and give, and each one generates so much equivalent energy in happiness.
39 - weary faces
a plane haiku
denim personality
an exploration of how fashion becomes a part of your personality, why it came to matter so much to me, and rejecting the âuniformâ
32 - chasing stability
Itâs a fable of chasing after what we canât reach, of putting our real life on hold to live out someone elseâs idea of a life, of deferring to societyâs pressures and whims rather than seizing each day, every single fleeting moment for ourselves to enjoy.
the technology paradox
on my paradoxical relationship with technology
the gaps
A late-night poem
uneven time
A world where time is uneven, the image to maintain, and the power of mindsets
28 - a drop of color
a cap to my time in New York. On post-travel sadness and what places leave you with. plus a couple fun bonuses like a riff on a song and a haiku.
26 - do more, be more
a reflection on what New York asks of you and how that environment shapes the default shaping of a person
22 - reflection systems
I wrote an overview of the spaces I make for reflection and my intention around sharing that broadly. All the tools I use have been templatized and are free for you to try out if youâre curious!
19 - the silo culture
âBecause we donât interact with other groups, we donât understand their struggles, needs, and hopes. We only think about us and our tribe when we go to the voting booth, when we launch products, and when we write policy.â
commitment and obligation
I was taught that hard work would bring you riches. That effort was the key to success in whatever you did…
Rituals at Scale: How we remixed templates
The details behind Coda’s custom templates system.
10 - dampening of curiosity
I never want to feel so comfortable that I feel scared to leave. I want to teeter in that grey, liminal space between the edge of my comfort and the known boundary of the unknown, a place of greater risk but also greater reward…
craft over career
what if we chose to optimize craft over career? It means everything we’re doing right now is the most important thing, not just a stepping stone towards some “better” future.
6 - shaping the world
how do we shape the world before us, especially when the tools and systems we expect to work fail?
2 - vibe tribes and finding psychological oxygen
This is what a vibe tribe is for, a space that fosters psychological oxygen by default. A community where you can be yourself and feel encouraged rather than pressured to create and express yourself authentically.
the mid-twenties
a reflection on turning 24
towards 2021
reconciling different selves, fiction as a tool for demonstrating principles, and the evolution of the passion economy
Gambling on Dreams
âď¸2020 | đ2021.
Dilution
When the real and imaginary planes meet.
Making the World a Better Place: A Valley of Smoke and Mirrors
A critical re-evaluation of the tenets of Silicon Valley and an exploration of society and identity.
Making the âRightâ Decisions
What happens when a majority of things that were “right” are now wrong?
George Floyd
Sharing the photos from the protest I attended last week.
Broken Lines
When the progress of things is broken by catastrophe
a twinkle
Recounting a visceral experience. On light, humans, and meaning.
Crowdsourced Birthday Recommendations
An experiment in crowd-sourcing birthday recommendations and the fruits of it.
The War of Intentions and Beliefs
What happens when good intentions are lost, everyone wants to be a hero, and the fight against evil spills over into innocents.
Decoding your Mind
Sharing my method to data-empowered journaling and self-reflection
Discovering a New Year
Learning from nature, past leaders, and the consequences of human toils
Opening the Lid on the Workspace Black Box
Providing transparency into how your team is using Coda and the power to act on it.
The Rider
A match in the dark.
Sublime Arts
A discovery in the night.
Rice Fields and Murky Identities
How an American-born Chinese navigated teaching and living in Taiwan
From Student to Teacher
Stumbling through first principles of education and learning
Stupid Scholars, the Power of Hands, and Free Lunches: Riding Through 4 Years of University
A reflection on my university journey
Scaling Knowledge Access and Retrieval at Airbnb
Introducing our Knowledge Graph for encoding relationships and surfacing relevant information
Filter by tag

the foil of narcissism

software poetics

8-bite
Created in collaboration with Kelsey.

glacial illusions

Verses Verses
Created in collaboration with Verses.
quarter life commitment

being open to magic

marketable uniqueness

Transforming Text
Created in collaboration with Jacky.
despair and hope

Twitter Pack
Towards a Digital Pluriverse
Created in collaboration with Verses.

boundless shapeshifters

beautiful internet

Mutualistic Flourishing: 2021 to 2022

Spencer Wrapped 2021

100 - creations are intimacy portals

99 - beginnings
98 - quiet confidence
97 - glorious purpose
96 - reclaiming time
93 - dance
91 - amulets
90 - future of tools
living to provoke

86 - scope of normality
85 - photography origin
84 - financialization
83 - allure of ephemerality
76 - urgency
73 - pitter patter
72 - soothing fire: a raging fire that cools
71 - ablaze heart
Fits Stream

67 - fast feedback loops and perils of convention
66 - unstoppable expression
re: take back the future - the magic is ours
61 - opportunity
58 - perception
47 - fear
46 - pitiful rage
45 - re-solved problems
Liminal Illusions

43 - kindness journal
39 - weary faces
denim personality

32 - chasing stability
the technology paradox

the gaps
uneven time

28 - a drop of color
26 - do more, be more
22 - reflection systems
19 - the silo culture
commitment and obligation

Rituals at Scale: How we remixed templates

10 - dampening of curiosity
craft over career

6 - shaping the world
2 - vibe tribes and finding psychological oxygen
the mid-twenties

towards 2021
Gambling on Dreams

Dilution

Making the World a Better Place: A Valley of Smoke and Mirrors

Making the âRightâ Decisions

George Floyd

Broken Lines

a twinkle

Crowdsourced Birthday Recommendations
The War of Intentions and Beliefs

Decoding your Mind

Discovering a New Year

Opening the Lid on the Workspace Black Box

The Rider

Sublime Arts

Rice Fields and Murky Identities

From Student to Teacher

Stupid Scholars, the Power of Hands, and Free Lunches: Riding Through 4 Years of University

Scaling Knowledge Access and Retrieval at Airbnb
