I am your pamphleteer

(tip-'o-the-hat to The Weakerthans)
Hello world!
Allow me to introduce myself: I am Beloved by Millions, currently a lowly engineering student in Montreal. In a few weeks I will graduate and up anchor (so I make no promises about future content). Please do not assume from my letterhead that this blog is the self-absorbed bellyaching of a jilted lover—you will see in a moment why I chose this emblem and moniker. Those who abhor talking about “feelings” can skip to a more substantive entry, "Plastic is good for you."

Like most pamphleteers (“bloggers” nowadays), I want a way to pour my heart out, a microphone that no-one can take away from me. If I have an audience of zero, so be it; I don’t need anyone’s recognition or approval. But I would like to think someone out there will read my words and learn a little more about the human condition. So here goes…

In the course of my studies, I met the woman of my dreams. She is an honest-to-god Muse, with an indomitable spirit, a fascinating mind, the face of an angel, and the body of a beauty queen. I could sing her praises all day, but the specifics aren’t important—I’m certain some of those reading have met the man or woman of their dreams, so they know how I feel. To those who haven’t, there is nothing I can say to convey it. As you might have gathered by my broken-heart letterhead, she and I did not live happily ever after. Although we remain close friends, these days she lives 9000 km away in the Middle East.

In the 3 years we've been apart, I’ve written her dozens of blog-style dispatches containing a crystallization of my thoughts and feelings. She rarely writes back, and when we speak on the phone we generally talk about superficial matters. She says that she loves to read them, and I continued to do so for so long because that way I could feel close to her again. Recently, though, I’ve had second thoughts: it’s probably unhealthy to be so emotionally exclusive towards someone I have no romantic future with. So that’s why I started this site: this way anyone who is interested can find out what I am thinking. It symbolically marks my entry into a wider world. Although it is dedicated to her, and she is probably among its audience, my inamorata is not the subject of this blog. I am enriched by my love for her, but I no longer feel constrained by it. My handle “Beloved by Millions” is a tacit admission that neither this blog nor its author are beloved by more than a select few… but those few make all the difference!

So without further ado, I will step up to the mic. “Is this thing on...?”