Thousand Masks

I live in a castle of a thousand masks
where there are guests swarming all the time
cruising the halls and corridors
in-out-in-out
I greet them one by one
each time donning a different mask
yes, a different one. Each time
.based on what you ask?
on how I am related to the person in question
a dinner-mate kind--
a casual-hi kind--
a sipping-tea-with-silence kind--
an I-want-to embrace-you kind--
an I-want-to-punch-your-annoying-face kind--
all sorts of people
likewise all sorts of masks
real simple

The masks?
Oh there's a serious one
there's a joker one
there's an emo one
a sulking one, a smiling one, an innocent one
well there's one covering only part of my face
like the-phantom-of-the-opera kind?
There's even one that's near transparent

But no matter how transparent
no matter how similar the mask to my real face
(some masks are like mirrors,
unfortunately many are distorted ones,
the kind that makes you look fatter than you actually are --
like that)
So yeah
A mask's a mask
there's always a
gap, barrier, filter, shield, screen
something standing in between
you can never see what I truly am

I live in a castle of a thousand masks
We all do.

The Curious Case of Infinity

I remember in high school when the teacher didn't allow us to write '1/0=...' . I protested. Isn't the answer infinity? No, there is no answer, you cannot even put the equal sign there, because it is undefined.
OK, that's an exaggerated version, but looking back in retrospect, it is now easy to see why. Calculus provides the answer. '1/0' is undefined, but the limit of 1/x as x goes to 0 is indeed, infinity. Conversely, the limit of 1/x as x goes to infinity is zero. I felt cheated, but it is brilliant cheating nonetheless.
What is this 'infinity ' anyway? Well, the younger and less wise me thought that it was intuitive that if some number is divided endlessly, in the end it must be zero, and conversely so. That magic denominator is infinity.
As things go by, it is clearer (or less so) that zero and infinity are problems.
Why zero you ask? "I understand that infinity is pushing the limit of human mind, but why zero?" Ah, if you consider that the earliest numeral system did not include zero, isn't that proof that zero is so elusive a concept? Let's see. The Greeks even rejected the idea of nothingness and adopt 'zero' thanks to the adoption of Arabic numeral system. The Arabs got it from the Indians. So the Arabs got nothing from the Indians (If you are not laughing, then you miss the joke, sad case). Well, enough of that, 'zero' is another story. For now let's consider infinity.
Let's do a warm-up: what's infinity minus infinity?
If you answered 'zero' with a great deal of suspicion, yes, you are correct, the answer is not that straightforward. Let me try to retell Dave Hilbert's Paradox of the Grand Hotel without sounding boring:

Suppose that there is this famous Grand Hotel. Why is it famous? Because it has infinite number of rooms, aha! On weekend you want to see this hotel for yourself. You go to the receptionist to check in but unfortunately the rooms are all full. The manager came out and tell you not to worry. He told you he would move the guest in Room 1 to Room 2, the guest in Room 2 to Room 3, and so forth. You got to stay in Room 1.
Satisfied with the hotel's excellent service, the following weekend you brought an infinite number of friends to the hotel. Again, the hotel was full. But the manager was unfazed. He moved the guest in Room 1 to Room 2, the guest in Room 2 to Room 4, the guest in Room 3 to Room 6 and so forth. Since there is infinite number of even-numbered rooms, all the guests are accounted for. The manager then put you and your retinue in the infinite number of odd-numbered rooms. Everyone is happy.
Room service is still excellent though. You know, they've got infinite number of employees.

This illustrates how normal mathematical operations don't usually work when infinity is involved. Have yourself a set of infinite integers. Take away the infinite set of odd numbers and you are left with the infinite set of even numbers. Infinity minus infinity can be infinity.
Very curious, isn't it?

Mathematical Tragedy

As lines, so love's oblique, may well
Themselves in every angle greet :
But ours, so truly parallel,
Though infinite, can never meet
-- Andrew Marvell in Definition of Love

Oh my, that's a clever one. I never see Euclidean fifth postulate in such romantic (albeit tragical) way.

a strange feeling

fingers touching ivory keys
white, white, white
a few blacks
here and there
interplay of speed, pressure, precision

fingers are like puppets on strings
they dance
bending to the puppeteer's will
the intricate steps
left, right, front, back
a little bit faster
a little more pressure
now release the crescendo
slow down to adagio

you cannot hear all these communication
but you can hear the melodies
they are right there
the heart of the puppeteer
his will, his energy, his emotions
his everything

but
sometimes the puppeteer is distracted
his mind is blank for a split-second
but (again)
the puppets never miss a single step
in fact, they are steps
that the puppeteer
has been dreaming of
to perfect the harmony
the steps fit the gap
completing the flow

it's
a strange feeling
it's as if the puppets move on their own
tugging the strings connected to their limbs and joints
"here, here. and here."
it's as if they understand
the beauty of their dance

then the show is over
but the images of the dance
are etched in his mind
the strange feeling
stays

Orbitals