During the first day of College in my Molecular Biology lab,

The teacher made us each pick up a tab.

As he had planned an ice breaker with the intention of getting to know everyone.

We each got different questions and had the chance to choose, but only one.

My question was, “What is one weird thing you have done?”

But seated way up front was this timid Asian guy

He was asked “What is one thing you cannot live without?”

His answer rolled off his tongue so quickly as if he was no longer shy

He rose up and yelled “If I don’t eat rice every day, I will pass out”

I laughed hysterically and thought to myself, but what was that about?

As I began to ponder, for a minute I wondered what my answer would be

Then I remembered the time when I was on the toilet getting ready to pee

A few years ago, there was an earthquake

My cousins and I were watching a movie on my laptop placed on the edge of the bed

When I was taken with the sudden urge to use the bathroom

With my pants around my ankle, the earth began to shake

All I could think of was that my $500 - brand new laptop was going to break

I immediately ran out of the bathroom to save my laptop

By this time everyone was outside scared by the possibility of a collapsed rooftop

But all I could think about was this piece of machine

A new technology that possessed all my homework and organic chemistry reagents like butadiene

In retrospect, that was a dumb mistake

I had just risked my life for a computer, for goodness sake

But in my head, it was the one thing I could not live without

And yet, my laptop is what this poem is all about