Who am I?

As my front page said, I am Charles Matthias. I am a 32 year old with a Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degree in Mathematics, and a minor in music. I currently work in nuclear engineering. My dissertation is entitled a Combinatorial Proof of the Positivity of Lusztig's q-analogue of Weight Multiplicity for Rank 2 Lie Algebras. If you understand what that means, kudos to you!

As I said, I like to write stories and music. I prefer the Romantic and Modern periods in classical music over everything else, though I do own a few Soundtracks and Musicals.

I have interests in vast areas. I am very interested in Politics in the United States, most specifically electoral politics. I am interested in theological issues though I only subscribe to one. I have an interest in furry and transformation stories though I do write stories without any such devices from time to time.

My political views are generally conservative though there are several government agencies that I have a love for (such as NASA). That said, I like to keep an even balance in terms of where I hear the news to keep myself from falling into an echo chamber. Far too many people only listen to those who agree with themselves. To bring this back to NASA, this lack of competitive voices in management decisions helped obscure the problems that led up to the Challenger disaster (according to the Challenger Report). So it is with how I try to form my beliefs about various political issues.

I am a convert to Catholicism and play an active role in my Church, both in singing in the choir and serving as a lector. I love my faith and find great peace and joy in its many practices. I know not everyone shares this love, and so I try not to be overbearing about it when in mixed company.

I have a great love for Classical music especially the Romantic to Modern eras. Why those? They feel less academic and more thematic to me, and I love the color of expression found in those genres. Similarly, I prefer literature which deals with themes have meaning for me as a Christian. In other words, I do want stories to be about good vs. evil, even if what is good and what is evil is not altogether obvious from the start. I find nothing attractive or interesting in books where morality is denied and only post-modern meaningless exists.

As it may now be obvious I am not just a rat anymore. I'm also a tricerataur. Here is a picture by Caribou of my good friend Aayrick and me being transformed into our preferred taur forms, mine being a tricerataur, and his an equitaur. When in tricerataur form I go by MattTrike. So why a triceratops? I've always loved dinosaurs ever since I was a kid. There is a majestic and powerful symbolism in them. They represent a world lost in time but one preserved in our imaginations (which in part can speak to my love of past things), and they also represent for me a gentle strength of character that is undisturbed by the ravages of the moment. That's the sort of person I hope I can be.

Anyway, that is a good set of ramblimgs on my part. I hope you enjoy your perusal of my website.

Dominus vobiscum!