travelling

One of my main passions is travelling. I have been all across the US and the world. I have been to several places in Europe as well as to Canada and Mexico, and my college graduation present was a trip to Australia and New Zealand. We have seen three of the 7 natural wonders of the world along the way:the Grand Canyon, Uluru (aka Ayer's Rock), and the Great Barrier Reef.
In the US, we have been to Baltimore a bunch of times(we have family there), Washington DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Colorado, several places in Texas (we live in Dallas), Orlando, North Carolina, and lots of other places. I hope to travel to lots of other places in my lifetime, like other places in Australia and NZ, New Caledonia, Vancouver, and Nashville.

friendships/relationships

I have discussed before on stuff like Facebook and MySpace about my frustrations involving how I can never seem to form relationships and friendships, especially with women. Things people have said and done to me before have been harmful. A lecture my mother once gave me about how people notice me and how big I am was especially damaging, as it made me very self-conscious about the way people perceive me and how I can intimidate them by approaching them.
I have learned that some people have gotten married and/or engaged recently. I had been interested in them. I never get the chance to tell people how I feel. These songs sum up my feelings towards this.
http://youtu.be/tI9tfNx1M1E
http://youtu.be/HtDWKTq9-eM
You've felt this way, haven't you?
My biggest what might have beens come from high school and UTD. I met a girl in high school at PSHS and suddenly was talking to her every day during lunch and in between classes. At the end of the school year she moved to Houston, and ever since then I've never been able to prove that she even existed. I became friends with a girl at UTD, but she moved too and last I heard she was married. This song sums a lot of things up.
http://youtu.be/uEE3ycDH9_8
A few years ago I saw a movie where a guy has a curse placed on him-every girl he sleeps with meets Mr. Right immediately afterwards. For me, it's every girl I'm interested in finds Mr. Right.
I have been trying to meet new people and track down old friends (facebook, google, etc.) at the same time. Wish me luck. There are some people I am interested in, but the trend will probably continue.

life

Things people have said to me over the years have been a little hurtful. People have rubbed it into me about how big and noticeable I am, and that kind of makes me self concious, especially when it comes to approaching women. I have always asked other people (especially women in the professional front!) about how to approach them without having to worry about intimidating them. The way other people described it, it's like a football lineman approaching a petite lady. Any advice anyone can give me would be much appreciated. Thanks.

This is my first post on blogger, so I'll keep it simple. My name is Matt Kratz. I live in Richardson, Texas, where I have lived since 1978. I am an aspiring writer and work in the service building at UT Dallas, where I got my Master's degress in Arts & Humanities in 2008. I also graduated from Plano Senior HS in 1990 and Midwestern State University in 1995. I have been trying to track down a girl I always used to talk to in high school with plenty of luck-all of it bad. I have also been trying to track down some UTD people with similar results. I have also been trying to track down some people I used to chat with online.
My favorite current shows are The Young & the Restless, The Big Bang Theory, and 2 Broke Girls. I am a huge country music fan but will also occasionally listen to jazz. My favorite authors are Stephen King and John Grisham. I am a regular at Richardson Community Band concerts and UTD events, especially jazz band concerts, and I like going to c&w concerts. We went to the Lady Antebellum concert earlier this year at the AAC and have tickets to the upcoming Carrie Underwood concert there. It should be fun.
Carrie Underwood, Sharon Case (Y&R), and actress Chelan Simmons are my main celebrity crushes, and I also like some people I have encountered and work with.
My favorite foods are spaghetti, Mexican, and Chinese.
For more information about me, check out my Facebook pages or email me at themattk@hotmail.com.