“A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
― Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather
Hey Charles.
So, I thought I’d write this out to give a little history of myself. Might help you treat me better, idk. I’m gonna try and keep this short and simple, but who knows, I might wander – just bear with me, ok? So, to start off basic, I’m 24, have one sibling, parents are still alive, and no other family I’m aware of.
The only grandparents I ever knew were my Dad’s parents, and I learned a lot from them. Nana taught me the basics of cooking, so I could help out at home, but she’d also started teaching me Spanish and piano at a young age. Don’t worry, I still remember both fluently. My grandpa is the one who taught me guitar chords, told me stories about history – especially the family history. He was Creole and proud of it, and boy did he have an accent when he wanted to. From him, I learned to like history, begin my love for music (he played for fun), and teach me French.
When I was eight, my sister was born, and my parents let me pick her middle name, though I don’t know if she remembers that fact. I like to think I was a good brother. I know at least at one point she looked up to me a lot, and I spent time with her. We’d take a whole day and do stuff together, and yea, I’ve been the victim of sleepover makeovers.
Liv was Dad’s favorite, so we didn’t spend a lot of time together between him spending time with her and working, but what time we did spend together I’m not likely to forget, simply because it was so rare. It’s not like he didn’t love me or anything, just that he adored having a daughter. He introduced me to his favorite movies and music, and older anime. Kinda got me started watching anime that way. Dad also encouraged me to try other instruments, and that’s how I got into playing drums. Bass came later – basically when I felt like learning it, I taught myself. So, pretty much, I play four instruments. And sing – I’ve been doing that for ages.
Something most people don’t know – just my parents and Liv as far as I’m familiar – is that I am capable of dancing. See, my mom wanted to take dancing lessons, but my dad was too tired and didn’t want to be bothered with them, so she took me instead. She told me it was, so she didn’t have to go alone, but I suspect two people were supposed to sign up in pairs. I wasn’t the only kid there – there were some others, but not many. And we got paired up so we were similar heights, if possible.
I got paired up with this girl from my school by the name of Jenna, and I hated dancing with her. She was, and I kid you not, obsessed with me, and I never bothered to give her the time of day. Here, I had to, but I always declined when she tried asking me out. Not that she knew, but I was already secretly dating Ryan at the time. No, he didn’t know about the lessons – he just knew I accompanied my mom to a class she wanted to take. But yeah, dancing. I learned a dozen different styles over the course of that class – anything from waltz to tango to samba, and so forth. But now you’re the only other one that knows. Congrats.
My friends also taught me things, other than how to be a good friend. My buddy Ned is a huge wrestling fan, so we’d get together and watch that when we could, but always got together and made a big deal out of the pay-per-views. Even if we all weren’t into it, he was, and we wanted to be supportive. Besides, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Rick on the other hand, is a huge otaku. So any anime exposure beyond my Dad or Liv comes courtesy of him, and let me tell you, he stays on top of things. Those two also played instruments, but they’ve lapsed since, I think.
I was an okay student – excelled mostly in music, and later in life I got certified in music technology. I’ve always excelled at music, with my next few good subjects being history and creative writing. I also took German, so I consider myself lucky that I’m fluent in five languages, where most people in this country can barely speak one.
Where do I begin with Ryan? We started dating when we were fifteen. It’s also because of him I started researching religion and landed on paganism. For a long time we were good together, but when I decided to join the military, I think I told you we had a really bad fight. I mean, it was bad, and it got physical. He wouldn’t talk to me after, and I shipped out thinking he hated me. Since getting back together, as far as I know we’re doing good, though he does seem to have a bit of a jealous streak, I think.
That’s me in a nutshell, I guess. Maybe it’ll help you figure me out. Maybe I wasted your time. Anyway, I’ll be seeing you.