Okay... I'm finally going to really do this... I hope

For a long time, I have wanted to blog. And the fact that I haven't isn't really because I haven't tried. Somewhere out there is a dead Xanga account, and I seem to remember a dead Livejournal account too. (And of course, Blogger's spell check recognized Blogger, but not Xanga or Livejournal and, surprisingly, not Blogger's, go figure.) But back when I used those two services, I was still a total forum geek and a moderator at an anime forum that I will not name in case people try to actually find me. Suffice it to say it is still very very popular. That took up most of my internet life from ages 11-19. My internet dynamic has changed, as has the websites I watch.

I used to watch that forum and my e-mail. I don't particularly remember what my startup routine was. But now, I go straight for the webcomics after I check my e-mail. My favorites are xkcd, Questionable Content, and Nemu*Nemu. I also read Nowhere University and Twisted Pencil. I've been reading the former for years (since my forum days!) and I started reading Twisted Pencil after meeting the author for the n-th time at a grad school visit.

So why do I think blogging might work out for me this time? Well, I'm moving. Seriously moving. To California. Next year, I'm entering the Grad Group in Applied Math at UC Davis. I hope that maybe I can communicate with my friends this way, since I won't see them much. Also, it would be nice to be able to bounce some of my ideas off of some more people on the net.

So, me in a nutshell. After several years of middle and high school, I realized that what I was good at was... school. Well, maybe a few more things than that. But careerwise I did not know what to do. I loved music, acting, playing tennis, Karate, writing, and I read so many books that, now, it's impossible for me to believe how much time I had to do it. All of that was in my spare time (which no longer truly exists). My favorite subjects, until 12th grade, were Physics, Chemistry, Math, English, and History. 12th grade English destroyed that interest since we read really horrible books (most because they were boring, but some because they were actively "anti-intelligence") and had to analyse them in a way our teacher agreed with. She taught her own graduate thesis. It was horrible.

I loved History still, but I wanted to go into science. The first thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was Sherlock Holmes, because of The Great Mouse Detective, which was my favorite movie for years. But I have at various times wanted to be a Meteorologist, an Astrophysicist, an Astronomer, a Detective, Benjamin Franklin, a Writer, a Dancer, a Singer, an Actor, a Microbiologist, an Astronaut, an Engineer, and a Chemist. I think Ben Franklin is the most revealing of these... it means I just wanted to do everything!

In high school, I decided I liked science because I liked math, instead of the other way around, and decided to become an Applied Mathematician. As someone who loves to write (and whose interests have recently been somewhat vindicated), I decided I didn't need a degree in English or Creative Writing to persue it. But I did need a degree in Math to be a Mathematician. So... here's where I am now.

This summer, I will not have a steady job. This is sort of deliberate. Over the last few years, I have done summer research, taken classes, and just generally worked on math. I decided I needed a summer off. I will be working on a directed reading of a book on Partial Differential Equations this summer. I will also be tutoring, teaching a review class, and, hopefully, writing. Maybe this summer I can relax and do some of the things I haven't done in a long time.

Like blogging.