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 Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:21 pm
: : Intro : :
"Thy duty, winged flame of spring, is but to love and fly and sing." James Russell Lowell Questor Information Username: Puchiko Mule SN's: N/A IoDM Newbie? (Y/N): Yes Serum: Scarlet Tanager CODE for your quest banner(s): N/A
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Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:21 pm
: : Eli Josepheus Wiezman : : Name: Eli Josephus Wiezman. (Eli’s taken to just writing “Weiss” instead of “Wiezman” however.)
Meaning: Eli is a Hebrew name meaning "elevated." Josephus is another Hebrew name meaning "God will multiply." Wiezman - well, I have no damn idea what that means razz .
Nicknames: Responds to "Eli" or "Joe" both, as different family members and friends have alternated between the two. Typically prefers neither, and usually just introduces himself as "Weiss" or “Weissman.”
Age: Twenty-two
Birthday: February 14th (Yes, Valentine's Day. He's not too happy about it either.)
Astrological Sign: Aquarius
Nationality: American, though his parents are both immigrants from Israel, so he's first generation.
Family: Ya’akov (“Jacob”) Wiezman -
Leah Goldman – Once Leah Wiezman, she has since remarried a man named Joshua Goldman and has changed her last name accordingly.
Ibrahim Wiezman – Eli’s grandfather, whom he met only briefly. Still, Ibrahim is the man who, unwittingly, has had the greatest impact on the direction of Eli’s life. More than anyone else in the family Eli is said to resemble his grandfather, who himself was a talented and fairly recognizable musician. Ibrahim played piano, flute, cello, and organ beautifully, but was known mostly for his work in opera as a leading male tenor. In his days he toured the world with different opera companies, playing lead roles in operas such as Rigoletto, Turandot, Carmen, Aida, and other less recognizable operas.
Due to his need to travel with his companies, Ibrahim himself was absent from Ya’akov’s life as a parent. Ibrahim was also prone to becoming wildly angry (and perhaps a little drunk) and beating Ya’akov and his sister Rachel (who died before Eli was born in a car crash.) As a result Ya’akov grew up with a deep-seated hatred for anything that reminded him of his father, and Eli’s tendency to resemble his grandfather worried Ya’akov constantly. It’s part of the reason he never encouraged Eli’s musical abilities and grew angry with Leah when she arranged for Eli to receive music lessons.
Ibrahim has been dead for quite some time, but his voice can be heard in some very old recordings of a few operas. He died when Eli was eight-years-old of complications following a stroke, and prior to that Eli only met him once.
Likes: Sleeping late on weekdays, riding his bicycle, laundry/detergent smell, learning new instruments, any and all sorts of music (though he has a special place in his heart for opera and improvisational jazz), Emilio Estevez jokes (“What do you call Emilio Estevez when he walks into a saloon? EMILIO OLD WESTEVEZ.”), amber jewelry,
Dislikes: Wintery weather, cigarette smoke, cell phones, itchy clothing, earbud headphones (drive him wonkers cause they never seem to fit proper), long novels,
Skills: Upon first glance, Eli seems like your usual deadbeat: he’s dirt poor, a wicked procrastinator, and essentially completely unemployable since he has no real skills to speak of and isn’t a high school graduate. Eli, however, has an incredible gift – he’s a modern day Mozart. Place any instrument in front of him, doesn’t even matter what it is, and he’ll be able to figure it out and play it decently within a week – give him a month and he’ll practically master it. Eli’s actually got an addiction to music: he blows more money on purchasing musical instruments and CDs than he does on food or clothing, and his room is littered with all sorts of woodwind, percussion, string, etc. instruments, all of which he can play to some degree. He also composes and sings beautifully, and what little money he earns he makes from playing gigs in coffee shops and bars. His preferred instruments to play are cello, samisen, banjo, flute, and piano – but he can play dozens more. As far as singing goes, Eli is not as good a singer as he is a musician, but he has a lovely tenor and some classical training in the past. Aside from being an obscenely gifted musician, Eli has a talent for figuring out jigsaw puzzles, and has proven to be a relatively adept sewer. Eli is also very good at not eating for over four days and being a moocher.
Hobbies:
Fav. Food: Chocolate pudding, S’More-flavored Poptarts, buttered biscuits, his grandmother’s potato kugle.
Hated Food: Pineapple,
Aspirations: Getting that next meal,
Personality: There are a few choice words to describe the likes of Eli Josephus Wiezman, among them “irritating” and “idiotic.” These are, in fact, fairly good descriptions of Eli: he’s talkative to the point where people would rather beat him over the head than listen to another word come out of his mouth, and Eli’s about as intelligent as a sack of bricks. But what he lacks in book smarts and – er… nonshuttingupness, Eli more than makes up with a surprisingly nuanced sense of sarcasm, a bizarre enthusiasm for just about anything he enjoys, and a blindingly optimistic outlook on life in general.
Eli is an extremely affable sort. It’s not easy to end up on his bad side, and chances are if you somehow do manage it, he’ll forgive you over the course of the next few days, if not the next few hours. He’s incredibly social, and he craves conversation and company to the point where it’s a little unhealthy. He’s all right with being alone – provided he’s the only person in the room. If there are other people around he feels compelled to engage them in completely meaningless conversation, and if one person in particular sparks his interest then he’ll have no qualms following them around in an attempt to speak with them.
Speaking with Eli can either be a frustrating or an enlightening experience. He seems to have a very disjointed train of thought, and will jump from one topic to the next and then back again with no regard for logic or even decency. Yet, every so often, he’ll make a pointed and surprisingly sharp observation about his surroundings, or the person he’s talking to, or whatever – something very serious and sobering, the sort of comment that makes you go “Huh.” and stop to think for a moment. And then, less than ten seconds later, he’s scrambled on to another topic and carries on like always. More often than not, conversations with him are incredibly difficult to follow, and they sometimes end up one-sided; Eli has a tendency to ramble about nothing in particular, and will often interrupt people when they’re speaking.
His moods swing back and forth with such irregularity that it’s almost dizzying – one moment he’ll be very solemn and composed, then laughing hysterically, and a few seconds later close to tears. He’s not by any means bipolar, despite what it might seem like from this description. Eli is just incapable of reigning in his emotions or parceling them out in a way that makes sense, and he has a tendency to feel things very deeply. He’s surprisingly unafraid to show strong emotions, even at the expense of the other person’s comfort. The problem with Eli is that you never know if he’s being serious. As previously mentioned, he’s developed a sense of sarcasm that’s remarkably subtle in that you never know whether he’s being sarcastic or perfectly serious. His emotions are usually so exaggerated and blown out of proportion that if he is just joking around and pulling your leg, you’ll likely have no idea. Even when he’s not being serious or sarcastic, it’s very difficult to tell whether he’s actually feeling the emotion he’s portraying, or if he’s just doing it because it’s what he feels is appropriate for the setting or conversation. It’s not that he’s an insincere person, it’s just incredibly difficult to tell when he’s being genuine. Eli tends to hide behind “big emotion” as well to mask what he truly feels – for example, he might put on a big show about being wildly, insanely happy so that no one keys into the fact that he’s completely and utterly miserable inside.
Despite his enthusiasm for most things he enjoys, Eli lacks anything resembling ambition. It’s why, despite being an incredibly talented musician, he has made no attempts to make a sustainable income with his music (playing the occasional bar or coffee shop isn’t a very good way to spend the entirety of one’s life.) He’s happy just to skate by on the meager wages he earns and seems almost happier being close to broke – some part of him likes the insecurity and the improvisation that comes along with having little to no money.
History: Eli was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Valentine's Day. It certainly wasn't a very romantic day for either parent (Eli exhibited his vocal prowess early in life and screamed for a good two hours straight after being born, demonstrating admirable lung capacity), but both glowed over the arrival of their healthy, noisy son. He was soon taken home, and thus life began for Eli Josephus Wiezman.
Ya’akov Wiezman, while not particularly active in Eli's upbringing, took it upon himself to make sure Eli "grew up right." Ya’akov had it set in his mind that Eli should become a doctor - like his father - and as soon as the boy could read (and to his credit, Eli picked up reading quickly and early in life) Ya’akov was thrusting illustrated anatomy books at the boy. Eli seemed to enjoy some of the illustrations - especially as he grew older and realized that there were naked women pictured with their naughty bits in the books - but other than that showed no interest in the books. In fact, Eli showed no interest in anything involving scholarship, and later in life proved to be completely inept in all things scientific. Still, Ya’akov tried his very best to instill interest in the medical field in his son, even at a young age; he bought him toy “doctor” sets, took him to the hospital, showed him the equipment, and even gave him a stethoscope for his sixth birthday (Ya’akov was never known for being a very subtle man.)
Other than his constant attempts to endear the medical field to Eli, Ya’akov was noticeably absent from his son’s upbringing, even after the divorce (which I will detail later). He worked a demanding job as a trauma surgeon and was rarely at home as a result, and while he was certainly present for some of the more important functions in his son’s life (birthday parties, bar mitzvah, etc.) he was still rarely present in Eli’s day-to-day life. Ya’akov was the disciplinarian of the family though, and would take time out of his normally busy schedule to scold and otherwise antagonize Eli. It did not take very much to upset Ya’akov, and Eli often found himself either confined in his room and forced to do without supper, or forced to stand in a corner for relatively small lapses in judgment (stealing a cookie before dinner, missing a homework assignment, etc.) And while by no stretch of the imagination was Ya’akov an abusive man, he still was not afraid to slap Eli silly if he commited a serious infraction in his father’s eyes. (Anything lower than a “B” on a report card tended to merit this, and as a result Eli became very adept and ducking and running for cover.)
Leah was not a very nurturing mother herself. Also a doctor – albeit it a pediatrician – Leah busied herself with other children and had a tendency to ignore her own.
Appearance: Eli’s of average height – around 5’8” – but is thinner than what may be considered healthy, and unfortunately his build is not the kind that pulls off “willowy” or “slender” or anything more flattering. He just looks thin; thankfully not the point where he looks sickly, but he does look like he could use a few good meals. He skintone is, again, average though in some schools of thought he might be considered to lean more towards the tan side.
Art/Reference pics for Eli: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/35464732/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/35560478/
(A quick comic of Eli and NJ's character Kalle, because we briefly RPed with the two of them. Eli is the one in the glasses.)
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Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:23 pm
: : Scarlet Tanager : :  Serum Info
- General Info:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Genera Incertae Sedis (12:69)
Genus: Piranga
Species: Piranga olivacea
Scarlet Tanager's are brightly colored songbirds, and are among some of the most beautiful birds seen in North America. The males possess characteristic bright red plumage, and have black wings and tail - they do, however, appear orange in certain lights. During the late summer and fall, the Scarlet Tanager molts its beautiful plumage and instead has more drab red and green feathers, and during the winter it is actually a dull green-brown and partially yellow.
Scarlet Tanagers have a very distinct song - they've been described as American Robins with "hoarse throats", as their song tends to be very throaty. They're often hard to spot because they tend to forage up in thick canopies, but occasionally they'll look for food on the ground. Their diet consists mostly of berries and insects.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/BOW/SCATAN/
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Scarlet_Tanager.html
- Pictures of the Scarlet Tanager: http://www.ownbyphotography.com/Scarlet-Tanager.jpg
http://www.jkcassady.com/images/2SCTA503.jpg
http://www.lauraerickson.com/Birds/ScarletTanager.html
(This site has some GORGEOUS photos of the Scarlet Tanager)
- Sound Clips:
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/htmwav/h6080so.mp3
http://www.geocities.com/guapster2/birdpages/scarlet_tanager.htm
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Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:24 pm
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Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:30 pm
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