X-Message-Number: 14586 Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 20:01:18 -0400 (EDT) From: "Matthew S. Malek" <> Subject: New Member Introduction Greetings! My name is Matthew Malek. I joined this list earlier in the month and I have been lurking about on it ever since then. Since I have a lot of work to do this weekend in order to prepare a seminar for Monday... well, it seemed like the perfect oppurtunity to procrastinate and send out a little "hello" and an introduction! I really have no idea what the particulat nettiquite for this list is when new members announce themselves. So I'm just going to jump in and start with a brief description of me, what got me interested in cryonics, etc. If I'm rambling too long and giving too much detail, then I beg your collective pardons in advance! *grin* So, first a little bit about me: -------------------------------- I'm currently a 25 year old graduate student in the start of 21st grade! (In other words, I'm beginning the 5th year of graduate school) I got my Masters degree in physics back in 1998 and I am now about two years away from my PhD. I live in Long Island and attend school at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. However, I commute to work at my experiment... which happens to be a particle detector located under a mountain on the western half of Japan. For the past two years, I have spent half of year year in Japan... and I expect to keep up this lifestyle for at least another year or two. This information becomes relevant later when I start discussing cryonics and me! :) Oh, heck! Why don't I do that right now? Cryonics and me: ---------------- I became interested in cryonics just over a decade ago. I have many, many interests and it became clear when I was 15 that I would never be able to do them all in the span of a one century lifetime. A little investigation turned up the option of cryonics... and a little more pointed me towards Alcor. So, for the past 10+ years it has been my intention of being frozen at the end of this first life. For most of the past decade, I have been an associate (i.e. NON-suspension) member of Alcor. Basically, at 15 years old I simply didn't have the resources (or the legality) to become a suspension member. A year or two ago, I decided that I _did_ have the financial means to become a suspension member, but I still have not done so. Why? Because I'm currently spending 50% of my time in Japan. As far as I can tell (please correct me if I am wrong), there is no cryonics institute which will do suspensions for me whether I am in the United States _or_ Japan. If there is, I certainly haven't been able to find them yet (and not for a lack fo trying). If I am correct, then I plan to sign up with Alcor in late 2002, after I have my PhD and stop doing a multi-country commute. (Although working in Japan on "Super Kamiokande" has been a marvelous experience, I won't do that sort of commute again for many reasons besides suspension... For instance, it is certainly a strain on my fiancee!) In the meantime, I have spent much time (and will continue to do so) trying to pass the notion of cryonics off on other people close to me. To be fair, I have had a poor success rate of only two "definites" and one "possibly" in the past ten years. But I keep trying. I'd be very happy to have more familiar faces about me when I come out of the tank for Life, Round II! *chuckle* More general stuff about me: ---------------------------- I'd hate to come off as merely a scientist, especially since I expect that many of you may end up being the people I meet first for the aforementioned Round II. So let me fill in a little more detail about myself... Religiously, I am the son of a Coptic father and a Jewish mother. So I turned out as an atheist (as did my brother)! However, my fiancee is Pagan (specifically Wiccan) and so I have spend a lot of time working ritual within the Pagan community (being an atheist doesn't keep me from having a spiritual side). On the other hand, I've yet to talk a single Wiccan into trying cryonics on for size (including my fiancee! Damn!). Most (not all) of the ones I've spoken to seem to believe in a quick reincarnation that negates any need for cryonics. Interest-wise, I have been a panelologist (i.e. comic book collector) for 12 years. I found in interesting in 1992 when my favourite comic book hero (Iron Man / Tony Stark) used a cryonic suspension to save himself from a terminal illness. This was already two years _after_ I had decided on cryonics as an option for myself... so it was a _really_ kewl surprise to 17-year-old me! *smile* Let's see... what else? I have been a SCUBA diver since 1994. I am currently working on obtaining my certification as a novice skydiver (you need 20 jumps for this... and I am still within my first ten). Next summer I am planning on getting a private pilot liscense (I'm studying the textbook now, and when I come home from Japan next summer I will enroll in flight school). I enjoy travelleing to other countries (besides Japan!) and have been to Egypt twice, as well as Thailand, China, Mexico, England, Singapore, Hong Kong, and most of the Carribean. I also love water activities such as sailing (tho I am not so skilled at this yet!), swimming (I spent four years as a professional lifeguard and two years as a swimming instructor), canoeing, waterskiing, snorkeling, kayaking, taking cruises, etc. I went to an alternative college (Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass) and so I have a great interest in alternative methods of education... How about goals? Well, when I get my PhD in 2002, I've got several things I could do with it. I could stay in experimental particle physics, which is plenty interesting to me. Or I could go into the theory of cosmology and do nifty things like investigate the generation of matter in our universe. I've also thought about doing things which are not quite so interesting -- but would be more directly relevant to humanity than the basic research I am involved in now (not that I believe basic research isn't worthwhile! It most certainly is!!). But things like making solar power more efficient and nuclear power less messy, or designing interfaces for prosthetic limbs... well, these are other considerations for me, too. However, the number one choice of what I want to do next (if I get accepted) is to join the space program and become an astronaut via NASA. My PhD will qualify me to go up on the space shuttle as a mission specialist. And my pilot liscense/experience will qualift me to apply for a pilot astronaut position. So I'll go for both positions and then cross my fingers till they hurt! (Every one opening has over one hundred applicants -- so being accepted is far from a sure thing!) Whew! Well, there's certainly more to be said for both goals _and_ interests... but I think I've said enough for now. I'm trying to flesh myself out a little bit here -- NOT cram my life's story into a single email! *smile* However, this does point out the main reason why I decided to be frozen. The interests and goals I mentioned are _not_ everything I am doing right now. And everything I am doing right now is _not_ nearly as much as I'd like to be doing. There are several more languages I'd like to learn (Latin, Japanese, Arabic, Esperanto, etc.), and a sci-fi novel bouncing around in my head waiting to be written, and musical instruments to master, etc., etc., and so forth. And, active as I keep myself, I _know_ that I cannot do it all right now. Or even in three times the amount of life I have already had. Okay, that's about enough for now! Sorry if I droned on for too long (and I promise that with my intro message out of the way I won't be so self-centered in my writings anymore! LOL!), but I wanted to get a fairly reasonable picture of me painted for my introduction! Stick a fork in me; I'm done! =>Joy, Health, and Long Life!! =>Matthew Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14586