Hello.

Well now. It seems as though I am finally folding into the pressures of my peers to get a blog. Also, one of my classes requires 15 minutes per day of fluid free-writing, so I figured this would be a good way to "kill two birds with one stone," so to speak.

As of yet, I'm not entirely sure how this will end up working. I do not plan on telling anybody that I exist quite yet, so, for now, this will be akin to a private journal. The difference is that I don't have to buy a journal (because if I did, knowing me, I would spend hours finding the perfect journal complete with yellowed paper and perhaps a leaf-like cover and who knows what else — needless to say it'd be expensive in the end). Instead, I suppose I get to use this free thing. Well, that is pretty neat all in all.

Plus, I don't need to think about carrying my journal with me everywhere. It will always be here on the internet, and so I can access it from anywhere that has an internet connection and (if I'm lucky) a printer. I suppose, all in all, this should turn out to be a neat experience.

I doubt I will really write anything that I would like to keep personal. There isn't really anything that comes to mind anyway. I suppose I should perhaps use this first post to introduce myself and I suppose let you know what I am all about.

Well, I am a male, for what it's worth. I guess this means I tend to be rather flat and emotionless. Or I at least appear that way to someone who doesn't know me. However, just like any human being, I have emotions too! I'm not, like, Spock or something.

Also I am not a Trekkie. I am friends with several of them, but to be honest, I found the two episodes I watched to be quite boring. I'm much more of a comedy person when it comes to movies. Sad movies, no matter how amazing they are, just don't make the cut for me. When I watch a movie, I want to be entertained. I'm not saying this is the way to be, but it's the way I happen to be. I don't find depressing stuff entertaining; I find it sad/scary.

So you know, I am the biggest wimp with scary movies. For example, you know those scenes when there'll be a person walking down that thin decrepit old wooden hallway where 800 people have already met their doom and the music comes to a climax and you're just thinking "No idiot! Don't go in there!" but of course they do it anyway? Well, those scenes, no matter how clichéd or poorly done, manage to unfailingly give me the willies.

So, to make a short story long, my favourite movie is the Big Lebowski. If you haven't seen it, find a friend of yours who likes it, and watch it with them. The Big Lebowski is not a movie to see alone for your first time. It is definitely a group movie, wherever possible. Actually, I just pre-ordered the special-edition copy of it off of Amazon yesterday. It doesn't come out until October, but you can be sure that there will be a Big Lebowski party when I get it.

Anyway, what are some other things to know about me? Let me think. Personal. Sexual orientation. That's generally considered personal. Although, I suppose it's really only personal if you're gay or bi. If you're straight, you're in the majority, so there is no reason to keep it a secret. If you're bi, you can easily pretend to be straight, if you do feel like covering it up.

Me, however, I am asexual. This is rather rare, I am led to believe, but there you go. Being asexual, and therefore never having sex with other men, I manage to avoid persecution, and, usually, people don't pay enough attention to notice or care that I also don't have sex with women. While it does say in some places that having same-sex relationships is not okay, I have never heard it said that not having heterosexual relationships was also not okay. So I guess I got that going for me.

Which is nice.

What else should you know about me? Well, I guess I am a freshémon at the University of Michigan. In Ann Arbour. As I said, the main motivation besides peer pressure for me to even do this is a class I have.

I live in East Quadrangle there. If you happen to be in town, do drop by. My room is 207 Hayden, which is near the south-east corner of the building. You'll see "Matthew" written on my door, in any case.

Oh! I'm a Zen Buddhist, which is pretty neat I guess. I have taken the Buddhist precepts, actually, and now have a Dharma name. If you know what that means, and want to know my name, it is Mattika (a Pali word meaning clay or soil). If you don't know what a Dharma name is, it is somewhat difficult to explain, and, when it really comes down to it, do you actually care? I thought not.

I enjoy doing math, and feel rather passionately about it in some respects. You can expect some math rants coming soon, I am sure. Right now, however, I am not in the mood.

Well, I suppose this is a decent first entry. Also, I might add that everything I post is unedited. I will not go back and edit or delete anything I say ever. I don't proofread this at all, so if you find spelling or grammar issues, I guess you may as well let me know. I won't do anything about it though.