my name is giovanny rhames. i'm a sixteen year old boy with an unnecessarily complex personality, one that i fail to completely understand even myself. i know myself to be a total hardass when it comes to academics and what i expect of others in my relationships with them, perhaps a recluse as well; all at the same time, i find myself to love socializing with people and to break down at the smallest of things when it comes to someone that i deeply care about, or in other words, to be a total softie.

born in virginia, i have the slightest southern accent. despite moving from the state when i was a young boy, i can't seem to shake the habit of calling a "shopping cart" a "buggy" instead. anyway, my dad was in the navy and my mom was a financial advisor, so i guess you could say that i grew up in a moderately well off home, somewhere in the upper parts of what would be considered middle class. i've never had to go without too often, at least not when it came to material things.

but unlike a lot of kids, and like a lot of kids, my parents got divorced when i was real young. i had to choose with whom i wanted to live at the age of eight years old, it was one of the hardest decisions of my life... probably still is to this day. and ever since then, i can't seem to shake this feeling of missing something. i guess sometimes i just miss the feeling of having a united family all under the same roof, you know?

but my mom has tried her best and i appreciate that — i'm a total mama's boy. everything that i do is an attempt to try to appease her. my academic excellence is for her, because one day, i want to be well off enough to take care of her when she can't take care of herself and to be able to repay all that she has done to take care of me. for her, i'd do anything if it meant making her happy. she's my motivation to do so well in school to be quite honest with y'all.

it goes without saying that i love my dad just as much though. i don't see him all that often though, maybe but once a year, but in the last couple of years, i haven't visited. when i'm with him, i become a different person. i feel less restrained, i guess? i don't stress about school or about any of the obligations of urban life. when i see those rolling appalachian mountains and the endless plains, i feel so liberated. i turn into the stereotypical southern boy, not gonna even lie to y'all. to be honest, laugh all y'all want, but mudding is something that y'all should definitely try.

as liberated and wayward as i can be though, and no matter how stressed school makes me, i have the constant need to have my mind stimulated by my own curiosities and my own thirst for knowledge.