Alexander Elderkin
Jun 23, 2010 18:35:45 GMT -5
Post by Alex Elderkin on Jun 23, 2010 18:35:45 GMT -5
YOURSELF
NAME
Ambykinns
AGE
17
GENDER
Female
CHARACTER
NAME
Alexander Isaiah Elderkin
AGE AND GRADE
Seventeen / Junior
GENDER
Male
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Straight
TALENT
Photography
LOOK-A-LIKE
David Henrie
PERSONALITY
Alex is a hard worker, he puts everything that he has into any job that he's given because he's had it pounded into his head that he has to be the best. Everything he does, it's about being the best at it because if he isn't then he isn't worth much. And failure, well failure is just not an option at all because if he failed, even once, well the whole universe might just explode. Okay, maybe it wouldn't, but it's what he's been taught for so long that it'd be next to impossible for him to believe anything else. As one might imagine, with such a mentality, most of his own hopes and dreams have been pushed aside because they weren't deemed to be taking him any place that would be very successful. They've been pushed aside for so long that he's given up hope of any of it actually happening by this point. Instead, he just puts his focus into trying to live up to the impossible standards that have been set for him, determined that sometime he might actually be able to reach one of them, even if it takes a lifetime to do it.
He doesn't have too much patience, with all the stress that is placed on him to do well he just doesn't handle other people all too well and especially not when they're distracting him from work that he needs to get done. It doesn't matter who it is, friend or not friend, he isn't below snapping at the person depending on just how annoyed he gets. Though he'll usually apologize for it later since he isn't someone who likes to have other people upset with him and feels bad about taking out his frustration on his friends. He cares a lot about his friends, more than anything else. He prides himself on being there for his friends and doing the most that he can for them. There are some things that he isn't so great at doing, like giving relationship advice, so he usually tries to just avoid anything that he thinks could end up causing more harm than good. As for the people that he doesn't like, well he just tries to ignore them because he doesn't like to seek out confrontation with anyone and would rather avoid it if possible.
His experience with girls isn't very great because he hasn't had many girlfriends and the few that he has didn't end up lasting very long. It's not that he isn't interested in different girls, it's just that he gets so over taken by everything else that he has to do that he rarely has time for them. Obviously, that doesn't sit too well with the girls and then that leads to the end of the relationship, along with the fact that he's never taken the time to open up to someone about himself. It isn't for lack of wanting to though, just for lack of knowing how to do so without another person thinking him messed up. Either way, given the way that his relationships have gone he's pretty much given up on finding a girlfriend for now, figuring that later on he'd have time for one. Or at least he hopes that he will have time for them but sometimes fears that things won't get any better in the future and that he might end up as alone as his mother is.
APPEARANCE
Alex looks a lot more like his mother than his father. From his dark black hair, which is often kept at a medium length, to his blue eyes it comes from his mother. Even most of his facial features come from her side of the family, if not from herself. Standing at 5'10" he's got a slightly athletic build on him from all the work that he does at home over the summer and that is kept up during gym classes and the rare bits of time that he can work out.
His clothing style is cheap, for he can't afford to buy expensive clothes or anything so he owns a lot of shirts and pants that are bought at low priced department stores or from second hand stores. Luckily, he doesn't really feel embarrassed about it. Instead he just tries his best to make sure that he looks as well as he's able, keeping the rest of his appearance clean and tidy and taking good care of his clothes to make sure that they don't get in a bad condition. He only owns two pairs of shoes, one pair of tennis shoes and one pair of dress shoes. The only time he'll get new ones is when he absolutely can't wear them anymore.
HISTORY
Maria Valdez met Gary Elderkin in her Senior year of high school in Winthrop, Maine, she'd just moved to the area and he was supposed to help her around the school. Maria was instantly taken with Gary, who didn't seem to notice her crush. After the mandatory time to show her around was finished, the two still kept talking and being together, starting to date by Christmas break. They made a cute couple and everyone was convinced that the two of them would be together for a long time. They themselves were very convinced as to this as well and that was what led Gary to propose during their freshman year of college. Maria of course accepted and they were married that summer at a small ceremony. Both planned to go back to school but near the end of the fall semester Maria found out that she was pregnant and made arrangements to not return for the winter semester. Instead, she focused on trying to find a job that she could work from home and found one of selling for Avon door-to-door, while Gary went back to school to work on getting his degree and worked part time at a gas station.
On September 1st, 1993 already a week late little Alexander Isaiah Elderkin decided that he was ready to join the world finally. The couple happily took the baby home to their shabby apartment and tried to do their best to provide for him. Both sets of grandparents helped out as much as they could - though since neither were that wealthy it wasn't so much that they could help with either. Alex ended up with many second hand things, unless of course his parents could get them for free from any state funded programs. The situation of things caused stress on the couple but they managed to work through it, reminding themselves that they loved each other and that these times would pass. That things would be easier once Gary got out of college and found himself a well paying job, then they wouldn't have to just barely scrape by and could give their small son a great life. Everything would be better, they continued to tell themselves, they just had to make it through this first and they were capable of doing that. More than capable.
Unfortunately, those times never came. For when Gary graduated, he did not find a job right away. Though the couple didn't worry so much about it because they knew that they still had time, jobs didn't just appear out of nowhere. Gary continued to work at the gas station while looking for a job with his degree, which helped to keep the couple still where they'd always been. More than a year started to go by though and as Alex began preschool the tensions in his house started to rise. Gary still didn't have any job with his degree and they had to start paying back his student loans already, with money that they didn't have. Gary was forced to take a second job, another low paying job at a grocery store working the night shift while Maria worked harder than ever to try and sell her products. The couple barely saw each other and when they did they would be constantly snipping at one another. Alex spent a lot of time with his maternal grandparents, who didn't want him to be around the fighting couple more than he had to be.
He was still around though when the biggest blow out occurred, at age six things reached a boiling point and as he lay in bed he could hear his parents yelling at one another. Maria blamed Gary for their lack of money, for their crappy apartment, for their dependency on the government to be able to buy food each month, for his student loans they struggled to pay back. Gary blamed Maria for getting pregnant and dropping out, for the fact that she didn't have a well paying job either. They yelled until Gary had to go to work and when he came back the next morning, he left. Packed up all of his bags and sent along divorce papers sometime later. Maria was caught between furious and heartbroken, for now she had to provide for their son all by herself on her crappy salary and though things had been going downhill she had still loved Gary. Now she was left alone with their son, whom acted so much like his dad and constantly went around talking about how he wanted to be just like his daddy when he grew up. Bitter and upset, she started to treat her son more coldly. Starting to instill the idea that he had to be the best there was or she'd be disappointed in him too.
Anything at school under the top marks was unacceptable and if he got in even an ounce of trouble at school he'd be grounded for weeks at home. So, Alex changed to make sure that he didn't get in trouble and that he did well. His favorite place in the world became his grandparents house, where he often had to go after school on week days and for some time during weekends. They were always kind to him, let him watch T.V. (he didn't have one at home that he could watch), gave him candy and encouraged him just to be a kid and have fun. They were also the first ones to let him use a camera, after seeing his grandmother often snap pictures of him he was curious about it. So, he asked her about it when he was about ten, if he would be able to use her camera and take a picture. She agreed happily and he took a picture of her and then another and another. He used the camera to take pictures of everything around him and used up all of the film inside, his grandma saw how happy it made him and bought more film for the next time that he came over so that he'd be able to take more pictures. Though this time she took him outside to get more options of what he could capture on film.
His love of taking pictures grew so much that he asked his mom if he could have photography lessons at age thirteen, an idea that she immediately dismissed. More than dismissing it though, she told him that photography would be a waste of time, that it would never get him anywhere in life if he chased after picture taking and that she couldn't waste money on such things. His grandparents didn't think this was right though and went behind his mother's back to set up lessons that they'd be able to take him to and from during times where they knew that Alex would be at their place. The lessons were something that he loved and looked forward to, though he had to borrow a camera from the instructor. The instructor recognized his talent and kept working with him closely, mentioning Gordon Parks in Kansas City to him as a goal to aspire to. The idea seemed impossible for him, since he knew that his mother would never agree to him going to a school for art. Curiosity got the better of him though and he went to the library to look up the school, learning that it also had some of the best academics in the country. That might be something that he'd be able to sell to his mom.
There was still a little under two years before he'd have to worry about going but he knew that if he were accepted, even with a scholarship, he'd have to save up some money to be able to pay for all the expensive camera equipment that would be required. His grandparents would help, he knew that they would, but they didn't have that sort of money either. In between his homework and his photography lessons, he decided that he'd do yard work for people for money - since he'd seen plenty of other kids do it. There wasn't much money that he could make off of it, given that most people didn't want to let a thirteen year old do such work. Given the bust of the situation he got himself a weekly paper route and still took whatever yard work jobs he could get and started to save his money. The money that he got for birthdays and Christmas also went into this fund for a school that he didn't even know if he'd be able to get into but wanted to go to more than anything. And when the time came to send in his application he did so without letting his mother know, having his grandparents help and praying every night that he'd get in.
Every day he'd run to check the mail and see if anything was there, the day it finally came he had just about given hope of getting in. Seeing the envelope in the mail caused him to rip it open and he felt as if he were in a very marvelous dream to see that he'd been accepted with a full scholarship. Now, all there was left to do was get his mother to let him go. It took a lot of talking to do so, always managing to get around the fact that it was an art school and instead focus on the fact that it was one of the best private schools in the country and that it'd be free to her. Finally, after much reluctance she agreed on the condition that his grades be as great as ever. Taking all the money that he'd saved up and went and got his new camera equipment while his grandparents bought him a second hand laptop as a present for how much he'd accomplished. His mother still in the dark about the Academy, Alex headed off for his freshman year. Of course, during which his mother found out it was an art school but couldn't very well deny her son such a great education when it was free. It didn't stop her from giving him hell about it when he came home for summer break, but to Alex it's been worth it all so far.
[/size]NAME
Ambykinns
AGE
17
GENDER
Female
CHARACTER
NAME
Alexander Isaiah Elderkin
AGE AND GRADE
Seventeen / Junior
GENDER
Male
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Straight
TALENT
Photography
LOOK-A-LIKE
David Henrie
PERSONALITY
Alex is a hard worker, he puts everything that he has into any job that he's given because he's had it pounded into his head that he has to be the best. Everything he does, it's about being the best at it because if he isn't then he isn't worth much. And failure, well failure is just not an option at all because if he failed, even once, well the whole universe might just explode. Okay, maybe it wouldn't, but it's what he's been taught for so long that it'd be next to impossible for him to believe anything else. As one might imagine, with such a mentality, most of his own hopes and dreams have been pushed aside because they weren't deemed to be taking him any place that would be very successful. They've been pushed aside for so long that he's given up hope of any of it actually happening by this point. Instead, he just puts his focus into trying to live up to the impossible standards that have been set for him, determined that sometime he might actually be able to reach one of them, even if it takes a lifetime to do it.
He doesn't have too much patience, with all the stress that is placed on him to do well he just doesn't handle other people all too well and especially not when they're distracting him from work that he needs to get done. It doesn't matter who it is, friend or not friend, he isn't below snapping at the person depending on just how annoyed he gets. Though he'll usually apologize for it later since he isn't someone who likes to have other people upset with him and feels bad about taking out his frustration on his friends. He cares a lot about his friends, more than anything else. He prides himself on being there for his friends and doing the most that he can for them. There are some things that he isn't so great at doing, like giving relationship advice, so he usually tries to just avoid anything that he thinks could end up causing more harm than good. As for the people that he doesn't like, well he just tries to ignore them because he doesn't like to seek out confrontation with anyone and would rather avoid it if possible.
His experience with girls isn't very great because he hasn't had many girlfriends and the few that he has didn't end up lasting very long. It's not that he isn't interested in different girls, it's just that he gets so over taken by everything else that he has to do that he rarely has time for them. Obviously, that doesn't sit too well with the girls and then that leads to the end of the relationship, along with the fact that he's never taken the time to open up to someone about himself. It isn't for lack of wanting to though, just for lack of knowing how to do so without another person thinking him messed up. Either way, given the way that his relationships have gone he's pretty much given up on finding a girlfriend for now, figuring that later on he'd have time for one. Or at least he hopes that he will have time for them but sometimes fears that things won't get any better in the future and that he might end up as alone as his mother is.
APPEARANCE
Alex looks a lot more like his mother than his father. From his dark black hair, which is often kept at a medium length, to his blue eyes it comes from his mother. Even most of his facial features come from her side of the family, if not from herself. Standing at 5'10" he's got a slightly athletic build on him from all the work that he does at home over the summer and that is kept up during gym classes and the rare bits of time that he can work out.
His clothing style is cheap, for he can't afford to buy expensive clothes or anything so he owns a lot of shirts and pants that are bought at low priced department stores or from second hand stores. Luckily, he doesn't really feel embarrassed about it. Instead he just tries his best to make sure that he looks as well as he's able, keeping the rest of his appearance clean and tidy and taking good care of his clothes to make sure that they don't get in a bad condition. He only owns two pairs of shoes, one pair of tennis shoes and one pair of dress shoes. The only time he'll get new ones is when he absolutely can't wear them anymore.
HISTORY
Maria Valdez met Gary Elderkin in her Senior year of high school in Winthrop, Maine, she'd just moved to the area and he was supposed to help her around the school. Maria was instantly taken with Gary, who didn't seem to notice her crush. After the mandatory time to show her around was finished, the two still kept talking and being together, starting to date by Christmas break. They made a cute couple and everyone was convinced that the two of them would be together for a long time. They themselves were very convinced as to this as well and that was what led Gary to propose during their freshman year of college. Maria of course accepted and they were married that summer at a small ceremony. Both planned to go back to school but near the end of the fall semester Maria found out that she was pregnant and made arrangements to not return for the winter semester. Instead, she focused on trying to find a job that she could work from home and found one of selling for Avon door-to-door, while Gary went back to school to work on getting his degree and worked part time at a gas station.
On September 1st, 1993 already a week late little Alexander Isaiah Elderkin decided that he was ready to join the world finally. The couple happily took the baby home to their shabby apartment and tried to do their best to provide for him. Both sets of grandparents helped out as much as they could - though since neither were that wealthy it wasn't so much that they could help with either. Alex ended up with many second hand things, unless of course his parents could get them for free from any state funded programs. The situation of things caused stress on the couple but they managed to work through it, reminding themselves that they loved each other and that these times would pass. That things would be easier once Gary got out of college and found himself a well paying job, then they wouldn't have to just barely scrape by and could give their small son a great life. Everything would be better, they continued to tell themselves, they just had to make it through this first and they were capable of doing that. More than capable.
Unfortunately, those times never came. For when Gary graduated, he did not find a job right away. Though the couple didn't worry so much about it because they knew that they still had time, jobs didn't just appear out of nowhere. Gary continued to work at the gas station while looking for a job with his degree, which helped to keep the couple still where they'd always been. More than a year started to go by though and as Alex began preschool the tensions in his house started to rise. Gary still didn't have any job with his degree and they had to start paying back his student loans already, with money that they didn't have. Gary was forced to take a second job, another low paying job at a grocery store working the night shift while Maria worked harder than ever to try and sell her products. The couple barely saw each other and when they did they would be constantly snipping at one another. Alex spent a lot of time with his maternal grandparents, who didn't want him to be around the fighting couple more than he had to be.
He was still around though when the biggest blow out occurred, at age six things reached a boiling point and as he lay in bed he could hear his parents yelling at one another. Maria blamed Gary for their lack of money, for their crappy apartment, for their dependency on the government to be able to buy food each month, for his student loans they struggled to pay back. Gary blamed Maria for getting pregnant and dropping out, for the fact that she didn't have a well paying job either. They yelled until Gary had to go to work and when he came back the next morning, he left. Packed up all of his bags and sent along divorce papers sometime later. Maria was caught between furious and heartbroken, for now she had to provide for their son all by herself on her crappy salary and though things had been going downhill she had still loved Gary. Now she was left alone with their son, whom acted so much like his dad and constantly went around talking about how he wanted to be just like his daddy when he grew up. Bitter and upset, she started to treat her son more coldly. Starting to instill the idea that he had to be the best there was or she'd be disappointed in him too.
Anything at school under the top marks was unacceptable and if he got in even an ounce of trouble at school he'd be grounded for weeks at home. So, Alex changed to make sure that he didn't get in trouble and that he did well. His favorite place in the world became his grandparents house, where he often had to go after school on week days and for some time during weekends. They were always kind to him, let him watch T.V. (he didn't have one at home that he could watch), gave him candy and encouraged him just to be a kid and have fun. They were also the first ones to let him use a camera, after seeing his grandmother often snap pictures of him he was curious about it. So, he asked her about it when he was about ten, if he would be able to use her camera and take a picture. She agreed happily and he took a picture of her and then another and another. He used the camera to take pictures of everything around him and used up all of the film inside, his grandma saw how happy it made him and bought more film for the next time that he came over so that he'd be able to take more pictures. Though this time she took him outside to get more options of what he could capture on film.
His love of taking pictures grew so much that he asked his mom if he could have photography lessons at age thirteen, an idea that she immediately dismissed. More than dismissing it though, she told him that photography would be a waste of time, that it would never get him anywhere in life if he chased after picture taking and that she couldn't waste money on such things. His grandparents didn't think this was right though and went behind his mother's back to set up lessons that they'd be able to take him to and from during times where they knew that Alex would be at their place. The lessons were something that he loved and looked forward to, though he had to borrow a camera from the instructor. The instructor recognized his talent and kept working with him closely, mentioning Gordon Parks in Kansas City to him as a goal to aspire to. The idea seemed impossible for him, since he knew that his mother would never agree to him going to a school for art. Curiosity got the better of him though and he went to the library to look up the school, learning that it also had some of the best academics in the country. That might be something that he'd be able to sell to his mom.
There was still a little under two years before he'd have to worry about going but he knew that if he were accepted, even with a scholarship, he'd have to save up some money to be able to pay for all the expensive camera equipment that would be required. His grandparents would help, he knew that they would, but they didn't have that sort of money either. In between his homework and his photography lessons, he decided that he'd do yard work for people for money - since he'd seen plenty of other kids do it. There wasn't much money that he could make off of it, given that most people didn't want to let a thirteen year old do such work. Given the bust of the situation he got himself a weekly paper route and still took whatever yard work jobs he could get and started to save his money. The money that he got for birthdays and Christmas also went into this fund for a school that he didn't even know if he'd be able to get into but wanted to go to more than anything. And when the time came to send in his application he did so without letting his mother know, having his grandparents help and praying every night that he'd get in.
Every day he'd run to check the mail and see if anything was there, the day it finally came he had just about given hope of getting in. Seeing the envelope in the mail caused him to rip it open and he felt as if he were in a very marvelous dream to see that he'd been accepted with a full scholarship. Now, all there was left to do was get his mother to let him go. It took a lot of talking to do so, always managing to get around the fact that it was an art school and instead focus on the fact that it was one of the best private schools in the country and that it'd be free to her. Finally, after much reluctance she agreed on the condition that his grades be as great as ever. Taking all the money that he'd saved up and went and got his new camera equipment while his grandparents bought him a second hand laptop as a present for how much he'd accomplished. His mother still in the dark about the Academy, Alex headed off for his freshman year. Of course, during which his mother found out it was an art school but couldn't very well deny her son such a great education when it was free. It didn't stop her from giving him hell about it when he came home for summer break, but to Alex it's been worth it all so far.