Also, "that plastic stick thing"? What do you mean? Do you mean a "pick" (if you want to impress girls who dig Latin you can call it a "plectum", I guess....)? This whole board is run by a guy who plays with his fingers, in a style called "fingerstyle", and lots of people play with picks.
There are all sorts of picks - flatpicks, fingerpicks, thumbpicks, one called a "jellyfish" that I saw somewhere - but most people mean "flatpick" when they talk about a pick. You can do it however you like.
There is no right answer.
Except for mine. My answers are right.
