  Well,  not only is this my first contribution to the TCZ blog,  it’ s also my first blog post ever.  I decided it was due time that I gave in to the blog hysteria after having " lurked"
 on many a blog but never actually taken the time to join and start posting my thoughts.  As a bit of a disclaimer,  I'll just start off by saying that I'm fairly sure that most of the stuff that goes on in my life is of little to no interest to anyone else and I'll do my best not to bore anyone here,  but I take no responsibility if you end up bored nonetheless ;  So,  for those of you that don’
t know me too well,  I’ m a student living in New York City,  which I suppose is a pretty good place to be a student ( though I don’ t have much of a frame of reference since I’
ve lived here my whole life)  People seem to have a lot of weird stereotypes about New Yorkers in general though,  which is pretty odd considering this is one of the most ethnically and intellectually diverse cultural centers in the world.  Consequently,  there tends to be a lack of homogeneity in how people act and think,  and that’
s one of things I like most about living here— you rarely know what to expect when meeting new people.  In all fairness,  though,  I probably don’ t fully utilize what New York has to offer.
 There are literally hundreds of bars,  clubs,  museums,  institutes,  theatres,  and other diversions of social/
cultural persuasion,  but I tend to only visit a few of them regularly— then again,  another thing I like about New York is knowing that they’ re there anyhow.  I like having options.
 Sure,  I always order Chinese from the same place,  but that doesn’ t mean I don’ t like knowing that I could order it from about 20 other places if I felt so inclined!  I happen to live in a really nice residential area of the city right by Central Park,
 which makes the general urban hubbub a lot easier to deal with.  The Park is a pretty extraordinary entity.  It plays host to hundreds of thousands of people day in and day out,  providing a much needed breather from the sirens and car alarms and cab drivers yelling in rabid middle- eastern languages.  It’
s pretty small when you consider it geographically,  and yet in the two almost- two- decades I’ ve been visiting it I still always manage to find something new each time I go.  I love the city,
 but sometimes I really need nature,  and the park can provide quick respite from the towering walls of brick and glass at every turn when I don’ t get the chance to take a full fledged vacation.  On a slightly different note,  after reading the Times’  review of Michael Moore’
s new movie,  Fahrenheit 9/ 11 ( link urlLink here )  I really,  really,
 really want to see it ( of course,  I still really wanted to see it beforehand,  but now I want to see it even more!  I can’ t say I love Michael Moore,
 but he does make pretty interesting movies.  Sure,  they can be contradictory and at times downright annoying,  but they’ re also often really illuminating,  and they shed light on a lot of problems in the US that are overlooked by the many people sitting pretty in its uppermost echelons (
who unfortunately happen,  more often than not,  to be the decision makers)  Anyway,  so concludes my deflowering post.  I am no longer a blog virgin.
 Yay.
