Hi, my name is Paul and I will be your new Friday columnist for the next ten weeks.
No, no, no. Too mundane. Um ... I enjoy reading, watching movies, and can appreciate a heated game of corn-hole.
No, too vague. This isn't a dating service, this is an opinion column.
Introductions have never been my forte. The idea of having to sum up the total and complete person that you are in a few short lines is difficult. You know that you are being judged - its human nature - and that feeling, for most people, is enough to make them avoid introductions all together. Sometimes I wish I could just skip all of the introductory small-talk and go straight to the part of knowing someone so well that you begin to notice their quirks and idiosyncrasies.
My friend Matt, from back home, hates bubbles. You know, the ones blown from soap solution and a little plastic stick. He fears them. My friend Kate gets goose bumps every time she hears the word crisp. I think it's through knowing these little things you get to know the most about a person.
In Amelie, a surprisingly good English-subtitled French movie, the characters are introduced in this way - by a short clip of what they internally like and dislike. For example, the main character, Amelie's father, is introduced by, Raphael Poulain dislikes clingy
wet swim trunks and then a clip of her father getting out of the pool, picking the suction off of his suit in annoyance. Joseph, a bitter ex-boyfriend is introduced by, All he likes is popping bubble wrap. Amelie herself likes looking back at people's faces in the dark while in a movie theater or dipping her hand into sacks of grain. Each of the characters' simple pleasures allow you to make a few guesses into their true character.
So, because I believe that you can never truly understand a person's opinion without getting to know a little about them first, and because I believe its necessary to make a more personal introduction to all you potential readers out there, let me tell you - Amelie style - my idiosyncrasies: (Cue French violin music).
Maybe from these of these simple statements about my personality you can draw something about me. But more importantly, maybe you can relate to a few of them.
In my future columns, I will be writing about the idiosyncrasies that I have observed, as a college student, of college life in general.
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Paul Kita
