It's Time To Break The Ice

Why hello!


What you have stumbled on is the first post of my brand new blog! Let’s assume we know absolutely nothing about each other, since chances are we don’t. Hopefully with this relatively short introduction piece I can gauge your interest, teach you a bit about who I am, and let you know just what the hell this is all for. Let’s begin, shall we?


My name is Matthew Reyes, but everyone ends up calling me Matt. In December 2023, I graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology. That’s the super professional way of saying I’m fresh out of college. When I took psychology back in high school, it was the very first class among the entirety of my education that actually made me feel something. The irony in that isn’t lost on me, but neither was how difficult it was. It was the first time I studied Quizlets like religious verses. Hell, I even joined study groups, but more importantly it was information I wanted to learn as opposed to it being something I was forced to endure. It provided this epiphany with how I’ve forged my relationships. Regardless of a platonic, romantic, or strictly business relationship, it all stems from the fact that at the core of everything you have to level with people. I’m oversimplifying it when I say that the key to anything is just being able to just understand one another. That’s the crux of how I handle everything in my life, and it’s served me well up until this point.

So what have I done since then? Well, immediately after I graduated, I was able to land an internship with Paste Magazine. They are an entertainment publication that talks about anything and everything from movies, TV shows, and case in point, video games. I became the Games Intern at Paste at the start of 2024, and stayed until May. Throughout my time, I was able to learn a lot... I know, that’s the default lame answer, but realistically there’s no other way to put it because there’s no arguing with cold hard facts. Those facts being that the words we use hold weight, and everything you say will mean something to someone. I learned how to trim the fat off my words. Precision was the name of the game, and being able to talk about games in a public manner and knowing my words were being seen left me with this invigorating feeling. It’s something I want more of, which ultimately leads us here.


I should preface this by saying that this is NOT an attempt to generate any sort of pity. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me, I’m merely facing them head on and acknowledging my shortcomings so that way I can use it to basically light a fire under my ass. I should have started this blog a long time ago. I don’t have shame in saying that I stood in my own way. After the internship ended, I signed a contract to become a freelance writer. Unfortunately, it’s a bit difficult when no one really has an idea of who you are. I’ve been rejected and ignored more times than I could count, and I did the one thing I didn’t want to do: I let it get to me. I told myself that my words meant nothing and anyone who read my work only did so out of courtesy, not desire. Of course, it’s all a bunch of baloney I convinced myself was true just because I was upset. There’s a lot of good that’s happened since that internship, but for a long time there’s been this storm cloud over my head that is always ever so present. In a way, you could consider this blog to be my umbrella.


So what can you expect with this brand new avenue of mine? It’s simple, I just wanna talk about the things that interest me in a bit of an informal manner. It’s going to largely be video game focused, but that’s incredibly broad. What I mean is I want to talk about the latest games that I’m checking out that have my attention. I would like to discuss the legality of emulation, chat about older games for that good ol’ nostalgia, there’s all the amazing new tech coming out that I most definitely cannot afford, there’s so much that I wanna talk about and having my own blog and full creative control is something that I’m sure anyone can see the appeal to. But of course, I also have plenty to share from the amazing experiences I've had just this year that I haven't been able to talk about yet. Of course I’m not giving up as a freelance writer either, no no no. This is just a way to force myself into the swing of writing and being able to document what I’m up to. When a piece of mine ends up at an outlet, rest assured you’ll know because I will be one giddy bastard.


As time goes on, you’ll see me upload some previous works on here so that way everything I’ve done can be up in one place. It’s really for me if I’m being honest, I just would like it all together. If you’re still reading up until this point, you don’t understand how much that means to me. It means more than any words I could possibly string together. I’m not perfect, no one is, but I don’t want to be. I want to be happy, enjoy the things I love, and share that joy with whoever takes even the slightest interest. The goal? I want to show up in the credits of a video game one day. I want to see my name and be proud of the mark I’ve left. In time, I’ll get there even if I have no idea how. But I am certain that it’s something I can do. I just can’t give up before I’ve really started.

If you would like to, click here to follow me on Twitter. I refuse to call it X. I’ll be posting most updates there, including new posts and an inevitable return to streaming. Return? Yeah there’s a story there, stick around and I’ll tell you everything. Thank you again for your time, if you're really reading this far that means more than you could ever possibly know, here’s to the future!