The Debug

Everything is wrong

You know this. Every thing is wrong.
The problem is insurmountable, the issues uncountable
That which you thought infallible is now not working. At. All.
And you're trying to figure out why

Maybe it's the issue of the perfect storm
Where circumstances coalesce so the World is torn
Maybe it's the one thing you never noticed before
Working so hard but couldn't take it anymore
Maybe it's in fact just a combination
Of one thing two things several locations
So how you gonna stop this and take it down
Lessen your blood pressure and fix your frown

Welcome to the debug.

Welcome to the debug there's no luck just logic and hard tack
Sticking with a mission to revert your whole system from whack
Into the clicking grinding efficient machine
Where everything sparkles and the workings are clean
You check each part use your brain and heart
The issue mechanical, the problem infantile, a design too radical, you'll be here a while.

Every solution is another debug down the line
But IT'S STILL PROGRESS down a line in time
Everything you do, as long as it's done right
Is another hour less you're working into the night
You've just got to get yourself together - you've fought this war before
You've never thought about giving up and you'll give 'em what for
So don't give up my friend, 'cause you can't lose heart
Beginning right now you've got a debug to start.

Fluid Dynamics

Yo Yo, Mansfield Represent.

Although many of you may not know it, I consider myself a poet,
And when I give my rhymes its like fluid in a pipe - I like to flow it.
But there's societal shear stress, pushing back at me
But no matter how fast I spit lines they still affect my profile in velocity
Yet no matter how much they make my skin friction crawl
They can't compete against a potentially inviscid poetic addiction at all
If you have a central passion, you'll always find boundary interference
But overcoming this stereotyping drag is just the human experience
So I'm thinking you should wake up from your slumber, go out there and do it,
Or just go drinking and be like Reynold's with his number - never counting units.
Just do whatever it is you want without resistance, regret or fear
After all, you are the central flow, you are the person now in the know, you are an Engineer.

A little bonus poem from November 2012 I found when clearing through my emails. Written for Prof. Tom Povey, who set all the engineers a challenge to write a poem on fluid dynamics. He actually got me to perform mine in front of the lecture hall (as opposed to the rest which he read out). I think he called it "the first genuinely poetic submission he had received in his years of doing it".

Blessed with Friends

I've been blessed with friends who are both big and small
They are really quite different and I love them all.

Some of my friends, I smile each time I see
Because I forgot about them temporarily
And then they're there, and I'm like "Oh right,
There's that person again who I really like"

I've only got one or two people I chat to each day
Most other friends I let go about their own way
And when I meet them again we always get along well
As they've accrued so many interesting stories to tell

I have friends who are writers, I have friends who sing
I know those who are employed, those who do their own thing
Friends who glide through life, and of course those who battle
Friends in the city and friends who live with cattle

Some of my friends, will end up politicians and rulers
Most of my friends, compared to me are much cooler
They're smarter and fitter, more attractive and quick-witted
Some will let me stay over if their partner's permitted

I don't care if they're rich. I don't care if you're smart.
I care if we make memories that imprint on my heart.
I care that you've set time to spend with me with something fun to do.
I care if you've worked hard at trying to be you.

My friends are a rainbow. And I find you all a lot of fun.
You're different and weird. And I love every last one.

The Roof of Friends

There is a joy I feel, residing under the roof of friends
The feeling of a place well lived-in by others
The extension of their self, to give you a place to rest
Somewhere secure. Somewhere safe. Somewhere with personality.

I don't mind if the dishes aren't done. Or if it's a little dirty
I care that we can sit, and you stop being someone I used to know
That you trust and value me enough to open your doors
To offer me a favour, as I journey through time

Let us share a movie. A game. A story of what life is like
Build each other up for the battering we get until we next meet
There are some places I will never live. Out of choice, or fate
But passing through becomes much more personable this way

It makes me much more inclined to make an excuse to pass through again
So I can re-feel that joy, by staying under the roof of a friend


Thank you, to all my friends and family who put up with me.

Turning of the Season

Spring is promise and resolutions
It's new life and bold solutions
It's when Earth turns its face from the cold
When the fresh story of the year starts to unfold

Summer, really, is all about the execution
When any person will take any solution
We're too warm and satisfied to care about danger
We're happy to party and chat to a stranger

Autumn, I feel, is growing caution
The realisation things aren't always so awesome
The knuckle down, the learning of a trade
The realisation it's good, sometimes, to be afraid

Winter has a cold and gusty arrival
Welcome to the season of grit and survival
And yet it's also the season of hidden fun and joy
The battle between external adult and internal girl or boy

As a planet, we need this change and transition
The seasons change without condition
We ride the changes, ever longer and longer
But through them, we can only ever get stronger