How are you gentlemen !!

I've been surfing around Dtoid for a few weeks now, and I thought it about time I introduce myself.

I go by the nickname Zyrshnikashnu, but you're welcome to call me Zyr, Z, Jello, or even Brandon. Combinations thereof are also acceptable. I keep an open mind. :)

I stumbled upon this fair site after a gamer buddy, Elsa, mentioned it on Killzone one night. Always one to be just behind the curve, I waited a bit and then checked it out. You lot have got a pretty nice place here; I'll try not to make too big a mess.

Elsa and I both arrived from the Gamer Advisory Panel, Sony's outdated by-invitation-only "focus group" with tens of thousands of members and perhaps a few hundred active members, if that. Sony doesn't really use the GAP for much anymore, so it's largely a shared blog in the style of Dtoid, but totally not as cool. There is one thing it is good for, though: forging friendships. Since I arrived at GAP, my gaming experiences have been far better because there's always someone online, ready to play. I'm hoping Dtoid will be similar. :D

Back in the real world, I'm a Computer Science major at the University of Rochester. As of this posting, I'll be entering my Junior year in the coming fall. CS is a good time to be had for all, because you get to be both a mathematician and a scientist, which gets you respect from those who are neither and scorn from those who are one or the other.

When I'm not being a code monkey, I like to pretend I'm an artist. Charcoal is my favorite medium, but I'll not say no to good old fashioned graphite, acrylic, or oil. I twice had the pleasure of working on chalk murals on blacktop, and that was just plain awesome.

On the gaming front, I'm a PS3 and PC gamer. I play a ton of FPSs because I'm boring, but you might also find me playing Wipeout HD, LittleBigPlanet, Fat Princess, and Sid Meier's Pirates!. If you're lucky, you might even find me indulging some nostalgia on Age of Empires! Most of the time, though, I like to play Killzone 2, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and a little SOCOM: Confrontation here and there.

If you're looking for me online, you can find me on IRC or IM. Check my profile for that data.

So there's the obligatory "Hello World" post. I'm looking forward to making properly interesting ones in the future.