luqman's blog

$ About

Hi, I’m Luqman. I’ve always had trouble introducing myself, but I’ll try anyway. I’m a Bioinformatics student. This is my personal blog where I write about software, design, and technology. Someone suggested I start a digital journal documenting what I learn, so I began this as a pet project but haven’t gotten around to writing much. Hopefully, I’ll get around to it soon.

I work at the intersection of design, biology and engineering. I’m into thoughtful UX, fast software, good games & great movies. If you are one of the following we’ll get along well:

$ You are a good writer

As in, you are the antithesis to what Bukowski wrote about in his poem: “the libraries of the world have yawned themselves to sleep over your kind.“

In comedy, the cardinal sin is cringe. Any joke, no matter how outrageous or offensive, can be forgiven as long as it is not cringe. Similarly, in writing the cardinal sin is being boring. Do not be boring. Please.

$ You are into design or photography

As in, you are studious and passionate about design and photography. You like to know why things are pretty, but you’re also into the technical side of things. Your motto is good design is functional design.

In photography, you like taking pictures of everything because you believe beauty is in the eye of the beholder but everything looks beautiful to you; life feels like you are in a movie. You like different aspects of photography: emotional, chronological, narrative, aesthetic, technical.

$ You keep journals

He write, when he free. But he know writing a privilege.

“In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political I must listen to the birds and in order to hear the birds the warplanes must be silent.”

— Marwan Makhoul, Palestinian poet

$ You are into games & game-dev

As in, you play a shit-ton of games. Games no one has heard of. Indie games. AA games. AAA games. You’ve played them all. You are into game dev. You know what a game loop is. You know what RayLib is.

$ You are funny

If all else fails, but you are funny. That is good enough for me.

All grammatical mistakes are intentional, and I will not correct them.

---

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.