ng[/img][/center] [b]Full Birth-Given Name ::[/b] "My birth certificate says 'Marco Luca De Santis.'" --- [b]Preferred Name ::[/b] "I go by my birth name, Marco, but people can call me whatever they like." --- [b]Established In ::[/b] "I was born on the 2nd of June back in '92, so I'm 21." --- [b]Gender Identification ::[/b] "Male, in case you were blind and deaf." --- [b]Sexual Orientation ::[/b] "I'm straight, always have been, always will." --- [b]Someone In Your Sights ::[/b] "My minds not really on that. I barely speak to anyone here, and I'm not shallow enough to judge them on appearance alone." --- [b]Boyfriend(or)Girlfriend ::[/b] "Nothing like that, and to be honest, I don't [i]need[/i] anything like that right now." --- [b]Historical Background ::[/b] "I was born in my parents' apartment on a bright, breezy Tuesday afternoon. They lived above a peaceful café on a street corner, they worked there, so they were pretty much always around in my early childhood. My mother was always there for me, and if I was having a hard time she would always make sure I was ok. My father, on the other hand, barely ever spoke to me. I knew hardly anything about him, and he vice versa. The only eye contact he ever gave me was when I was getting told off. This didn't bother me, though, because, I did have my mother." "I was never a really social person, but I was maybe more extrovert when I was younger than I am now. Half of my spare time I would be out on the streets with my friends, playing football or just messing around. The other half of the time, I'd be at home, and, because I was an only child, and my parents were generally busy, I was given plenty of time to be peaceful. It was in this time that I learnt that I loved music, and that when I was older I wanted to play music for a living. My mother bought me a guitar, and from then on, I spent most of my time on it." "Secondary school and my early teenage years were a little stressful, I never really fit in to the whole system of education. I was smart, got decent grades and was relatively popular, but I never had the urge to do any better. I preffered to be average, coasting through life without any real drive. The only respite from the long, dull days, was meeting my friends and playing music in a band with them. It was what I enjoyed most." "When everything about my life seemd bang average and there was pretty much nothing of interest happening to me, my life was truly rocked. My mother passed away due to a serious infection. My life was flipped on it's head, despite the fact I rarely spoke with my parents now. My father, who I had literally no bond with, grew even further away from me, I often saw him drinking and he completely ignored me when I attempted to speak with me. At this point I was having pretty bad mental issues along the lines of depression. "I was feeling the worst I ever had, every day felt like a struggle. I didn't want to live with my father, he hated me, and I hated him. One of my friends that I was in a band with offered for me to stay over his, and I gladly accepted. I told my father I was leaving, and he did not even care. I left and did not look back, from then on spending almost all of my time with my friends, sitting in dark rooms, strumming on instruments and lying back without a care." "At that point my life started to get pretty dark, I was still having depression problems, and all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, I noticed that my friends were beginning to use drugs. I was only a teenager, and I stayed away from the serious drugs they were doing, but if they handed me some weak stuff, I took it. I didn't want to be laughed at, and it kind of calmed me down." "Things got worse. My friends got hooked on drugs. I didn't want to turn out like them. What they were doing was lethal. I decided to clean my act up, so I started spending less time with them, trying to do well in school so that I could get in to a good college when I was done. This didn't work out, as on one night, me and my friend had a fight and he kicked me out." "So there I was, on the city streets without anyone I could go to. I hadn't seen my father in months, and I didn't care to. I had walked past the old café one evening and I had noticed it had closed down. My father had probably moved away. I was homeless, without a friend. All I had was the clothes on my back, my guitar and a wallet sparsely decorated with money here and there." "I tried to attend school, but eventually I ended up dropping out. I spent my time on the streets. busking for money. I got in to some trouble at nights, but it wasn't a huge issue. I was never seriously hurt. It was horrible, disgusting and in no way pleasurable, but at least I had peace and quiet and I wasn't getting cocaine thrown in my face. The clear air and my calm thoughts allowed me to push out my mental problems to some extent." "One of the people that took me in was a local priest. He saw I was in need and he helped me. He let me sleep in his church at night, pretending not to notice, although I knew he did. This showed me a new light to the world, as he helped me through my depression. I am not religious, but now, after this experience, I do sometimes pray when others are not looking. Whether I believe that anyone is listening, I don't know." "One afternoon, a man on the street was watching me play my music, and he approached me. He told me that I had talent, and that he was an agent. He could make me popular. I didn't really believe him, but, it was my dream, and what other options did I have? I had very little to lose, so I agreed. After a few weeks I got myself a low rent flat and I began gigging, earning a fair sum of cash." "Having now finished school, I went and got a crappy job on top of my gigging as well as attending night classes on some sciences so I had a backup plan. I put a lot of hours in to my work, but I was earning money, money that I could later spend on myself. I saved it up, and hoped that I could launch my music career sooner or later. My agent told me that if wanted to be really big, I would aim my music at the western world, specifically America, that if I wanted to be a big star, then I'd have to go to America. I respected him for this, and I told him I would consider it. I learned that my mother had left a large ammount of money to me in her will, but I was only allowed it now." "Now with a good ammount of money in pocket, I travelled over to California and bought a low-grade appartment. I managed to weasel my way in to the local college, but it would be the last, senior year. I was only really good enough for Biology, which I was up to scratch with due to attending a lot of night classes, and Music. So I began to attend the last year of college. I earned one or two minor friends along the way, but most of the time, I was either earning a wage gigging, or writing music at home. My social life is outside of college, in the music scene. At the end of the year, I was offered a place on the trip, which I gladly accepted. I wanted to see more of the world, thinking it would give me inspiration." --- [b]State/Country of Origin ::[/b] "I was born in Milan, Italy. I moved to the US, alone, around a year ago." --- [b]Religious Faith ::[/b] "I am not religious, but I do sometimes pray when others are not looking. Whether I believe that anyone is listening, I don't know." --- [b]Contents of Suitcase ::[/b] "I brought a [url=http://img01.taobaocdn.com/bao/uploaded/i1/11636042889724045/T1HpRDFkFXXXXXXXXX_!!0-item_pic.jpg]medium sized bag[/url] that I keep my stuff in. Additionally to that, I brought [url=http://images.bidorbuy.co.za/user_images/913/1025913_090619193129_white_cutaway_cresc_004.JPG]my guitar[/url] in it's [url=http://static.musiciansfriend.com/derivates/19/001/307/322/DV020_Jpg_Jumbo_541731_open.jpg]guitar case.[/url]" ((Count that as the 1st thing?)) "Inside of the bag is..." [*]a folder full of college stuff[/*] [*]a small laptop for writing and work[/*] [*]Chargers for his phone and laptop[/*] [*]Basic toiletries[/*] [*]a recording device for his music[/*] [*]2 towels[/*] [*]a few sets of underwear, one pair of swimming shorts[/*] [*]a few sets of simple t-shirts, hoodies, jeans[/*] [*]Spare sunglasses, a cap or two, that sort of thing[/*] --- [b]Contents of Carry-On Bag ::[/b] "I've got a [url=http://www.bikes-n-co.co.uk/images/Proviz_Rucksack_001.jpg]high visibility green backpack[/url] that carries some of my personal stuff, nothing too out of the ordinary. Inside is..." [*]a notepad for jotting lyrics and chords, a couple of biros and a pencil to go with it[/*] [*]2 bottles of Volvic water[/*] [*]a pack of cigarettes, but no lighter or matches[/*] [*]Spare strings and a pick for his guitar.[/*] [*]Cheap-ish digital camera[/*] [*]Cheap mobile phone[/*] [*]a loosely wrapped smoked salmon sandwich[/*] --- [b]Description of Persona ::[/b] "In many ways, I'm quite introverted, but not because I have a lack of confidence. If I had no confidence, would my dream be to perform infront of thousands as a musician? No. I just preffer to keep to myself in my spare time. It's how I operate best. Unless the people I'm surrounded by are my friends, I tend to feel quite suffocated. If I am with friends, then I'll be perfectly fine." "I am definately easy-going, and if you don't know me, that's probably all you'll think of me. 'Some laid back Italian guy,' is something I wouldn't be surprised at hearing directed at me. Truth is, there's more to me than that. I have to fight my own demons, I just don't make a meal out of it for attention, in fact, I try not to get attention. I only enjoy positive attention, like people appreciating my music. I don't want sympathy." "I'll only ever really express myself to someone very close to me, and I don't have anyone like that in America, so for now, my thoughts are in my head, and nowhere else, other than maybe written in a vague, metaphorical way in my lyrics. If I gain a good friend, I'll pledge loyalty to them and stick with them. I don't talk behind people's back, or spit at people, unless they do so to me. I don't like conflict, but if someone tries to take a bite at me, I'll tell them to sit the f**k down or get hurt." "In many ways I'm a little self-concious, and I do have morales - the crowd I used to be involved with, druggies, still brings up regrets now. Thats why I am generally quite speculative of gaining new friends, as chances are, there will be something wrong with them that will make me have to take a step back, because, as I said, I'm not the backstabbing type." --- [b]Descriptive Appearance ::[/b] "My skin is that of a typical Italian, tanned, slightly darker than caucasian colour, it is matched by my brown eyes and relatively short, slightly wavy, brown hair. I'm pretty tall, around six foot, and I have a relatively athletic build which I have gained from exersizing on a regular basis. I'm not the type who does it for show though, I am just trying to keep healthy and move forward in my life, because I still have a lot of room for improvement." --- [b]Accessories ::[/b] "I have one tattoo of a [url=http://th01.deviantart.com/fs10/300W/i/2006/092/7/b/falcon_tattoo_by_Demon_of_Razgriz.jpg]falcon[/url] on the back of my left shoulderblade. It has great meaning to me." ---