basics
full name: Daniel Victor Alvares. nicknames: Danny, Nietzsche, Daniel-san. age & dob: 28 / November 16, 1983. astrological sign: Scorpio. current residence: Providence, Rhode Island. hometown: Chicago, Illinois. family:Luca Alvares, father; Teresa Alvares née Clemente, mother; older brothers Gabriel and Milo. heritage: Brazilian and Italian. religion: Agnostic at best. sexuality: No one's ever asked. education: Earned a BA in Philosophy from University of Illinois, an MA in Philosophy from Northwestern and is currently a doctoral candidate at Brown. occupation: TA by day, circulation connoisseur by night. personality Danny has an aura of childlike innocence sometimes, which can be charming. He likes peace and quiet and is fully capable of spending great periods of time on his own. His emotional reactions can be delayed, and he's sometimes unable to explain himself. He's accomodating in conversations until they turn to anything heavy...then he pretty much checks out. He's sort of insecure, and subconciously seeks the approval of others -- he's very charmed by the idea that someone seems to really like and appreciate him. He's realistically optimistic and can tolerate a lot. His ego and his mind are on equal terms. He's highly intelligent and rather proud of his intellectual capacities. He loves to communicate with others, but he's a horrible listener, usually too busy thinking of what brilliant thing he's going to say next. He's very curious, but it's hard for him to passively listen and absorb information, which is probably why he's taken so much to reading. He has strong opinions and is an independent thinker, and his ego can be bruised if he feels like those opinions go unheard, or if they're criticized heavily. He's an animated speaker, and can be incredibly witty with those that he knows but usually holds that side of himself on reserve with new people. He has an outstanding memory, and likes to tell stories from his past to those he's deemed close friends. He has problems realizing how his actions might be perceived, and this sometimes rubs people the wrong way, causing Danny to feel misunderstood. There is an incredible urgency to most of his actions. When he decides he wants something, it's hard for him to calm down until he gets it. He has trouble dealing with new sentiments, and often acts before thinking things through fully. He cannot tell the difference between a need and a want. He can take things very personally, and deals with problems by facing them right away so he can get on to other things. The good thing is that he doesn't stay angry for long, but goes through lots of ups and downs. He's unable to be manipulative for long -- his real motives are exposed by waiting him out, and he's a horrible liar. He likes to debate, but it's mostly to get a better handle on his own thoughts and opinions. He often plays devil's advocate. He can be pretty grumpy sometimes, but overall treats everyone fairly. He's not flowery or showy when it comes to expressing his affection, but instead does so in practical ways. He can easily spot insincerity in others and isn't afraid to call them on it.
preferences likes: Vibrant sunsets, 70's VW vans, abundant amounts of coffee, the few light hours of a winter day, long walks especially at night, cold floors, wearing layers, log cabins, planning for road trips, people watching, the Dewey Decimal System, reading classic novels before bed, learning new things, riding his bike, windows-down weather, alpenglow, snorkeling, good morning texts from people that matter, strawberries, bonfires, geese flying overhead, hot apple cider, petrichor, the idea of consenescence, clothes right out of the dryer, hitting the snooze button, visiting his grandparents in Brazil, Betty White. dislikes: Augmented breasts, when a text message goes unanswered, people in movies watching television, "establishing" shots, Republicans, jealousy, one word text messages, morning people, sleep deprivation, kids that don't read, false hopes, web browsers without spell check, biting his tongue, confrontation, hearing his neighbor clanking dishes around, pencils that scratch the paper, the differences in audio levels between a television program and the commercials, the sound styrofoam makes when it rubs against itself, Journey, driving next to semi trucks, people who underline words or phrases in their library books, the sounds people make when they're eating. Broken English › Metathesiophobia (n.) - The persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of change. Symptoms usually include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, sweating, nausea, irregular heartbeat, and overall feelings of dread. › Dysania (n.) - The state of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning. › Clinomania (n.) - The excessive desire to stay in bed. › Pretzel-bender (n./adj.) - 1. A peculiar person; an eccentric; one who thinks in a round-about manner. 2. A player of the French horn. 3. A wrestler. 4. A heavy drinker; one who frequents bars. › Agathokakological (adj.) - Composed of both good and evil. › Alexithymia (n.) - A state of deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions. › Deipnosophist (n.) - A master of the art of dinner-table conversation. › Finifugal (adj.) - Of or pertaining to shunning the end (of anything). › Fraternise (v.) - To associate with others in a brotherly or congenial way. › Gauche (adj.) - Lacking ease or grace; unsophisticated and socially awkward. › Hedonism (n.) - The ethical theory that pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of human life. pets
   Kevin Bacon, Esq. Bacon is a 6 month old micro teacup nano pig, adopted from a rescue when he was merely two months old. Currently, he weighs about 10 pounds, and is expected to double that weight by the time he's fully grown. Danny keeps his pen in the den, but Bacon is only in it when Danny leaves for more than a few hours. He is litter trained, affectionate and calm. Because pets aren't allowed in his building, Danny sneaks him out under his shirt when he wants to take him places. He rarely thinks about what would happen if he got caught, but he's got some money saved in case he has to move.
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biography Danny's parents buried the more questionable parts of their past behind the smoke and mirrors of suburbia, encouraging the children to explore whatever interested them and providing a multitude of outlets for them to do so. Being the youngest child had its perks, as Luca and Teresa had already been through two sets of growing pains and were more forgiving of Danny's transgressions. He followed in his brothers' footsteps, getting involved with wrestling and baseball all through middle and high school and excelling at his music lessons, but his main focus was academics, bringing home a steady stream of impressive report cards. His performance on the field and in the band room made popularity come easily for him despite his quiet demeanor and preference for disappearing in the pages of books rather than in crowds at parties. During his senior year, his brother Milo made a shocking discovery that nearly derailed the family: Luca and Teresa were former members of Weather Underground, an American radical left organization that conducted a campaign of bombings through the mid-1970s, along with many other actions of protest, even issuing a "Declaration of a State War" against the United States government. While the other boys were in an uproar about their parents' omissions, Danny was happy to finally have some explanation for their strange deflections when asked about their collective past. He was more worried about the rifts the knowledge caused between Milo and their parents, as it was something his mother often confided in him about. While the shunning would only last about a year and Milo still talked to everyone else regularly, the experience did nothing to help ease Danny's fear of conflict in his family, as was most evident in some of the choices he would make later. Once commencement passed, he pursued higher learning at the University of Illinois, where his parents' employment insured that his tuition would be free and he could still live at home, even carpooling with his mother and father to get to class. He followed in his father's footsteps, studying Philosophy under his careful guidance. During that time, he was drafted to play the french horn in a ska band but never took it seriously, instead focusing on networking and finding a suitable internship. He ended up doing administrative work in an unpaid position for a nonprofit called WorldChicago, which encourages individuals and businesses to build a network of human relationships in support of international globalization. Once he'd earned his Bachelor's, it was tempting to stay at the University of Illinois for his Master's, but didn't want to face the stigma of educational 'inbreeding' by refusing to broaden his horizons. He accepted a position in Northwestern University's Master's program, finally moving out of his parents' house and into a studio apartment reminiscent of a shoebox. Life was much different for Danny once he was out from under the protective wing of his family. No longer the baby, he came into his own a little, making new friends and forming new opinions instead of being like an extension of his father. His Master's work was done under a new faculty advisor, one whose advice he learned to respect and normally followed, even though he was an old work rival of Luca's in the philosophy community. Danny was heartbroken when he retired the year before he finished, but he was able to hit it off with his replacement, a hotshot young professor with an Ivy League education and a library in her apartment that Danny could get lost in. How he came to find out the information about what lay behind those doors still astounds Danny when he thinks about it. He'd never been much of a lady's man, always bumbling through interactions with girls, especially when he found them attractive. Maybe it was his inexperience that charmed her. He engaged her in debates during instruction time, often staying for an hour or two after class ended to continue their discussions. Class time turned into coffee time, which then turned into dinners and after-hours phone calls, all of which Danny hid from everyone he knew so as not to endanger her position at Northwestern. The relationship was hardly appropriate as it was, but the two began sleeping together regularly during his final semester at the college. He was flying high as he turned in his thesis, ready to graduate so he could finally introduce his family to his new girlfriend. Unfortunately, that day would never come for Danny, as he discovered that he wasn't the only student body in which she'd taken an active interest.He probably shouldn't have been surprised, but after picturing a future with this woman for nearly six months before finding out that none actually existed for them, he was devastated and unable to talk to anyone about it out of his infuriatingly persistent loyalty to her. He would have loved to have been vindictive enough to destroy her career, but he was more hurt than spiteful and simply took to finding distractions. One of these was his beloved motorcycle, the shell of which he found in a driveway out on a country road in rural Indiana with a 'For Sale' sign tied to the handlebars. He inquired immediately, pulling into the drive though it was well past a suitable hour, and proceeded to plead, haggle and barter until the old man who owned it threatened to shoot him to get him off his property. He lost his cell phone trying to escape the crazy hillbilly, which ended up solving two problems for him: he lost his advisor's number and could no longer call her in the middle of the night, regardless of how strong the temptation, and a month later the old man's wife decided to give him a call, selling him the bike for just under two thousand dollars and returning his lost phone, which she insisted her husband had been hiding in a drawer until she found it and forced the story out of him. The bike's restoration took him through the better part of the first half of the summer, a time in which he had little contact with his family, sure that he would spill the beans about his failed romantic endeavor. Meanwhile, Milo was dating his friend Lu and it looked like things might get serious for them. It was hard for Danny to keep checking in, but he pushed aside his bitterness to keep making the phone calls and accepting invitations to visit him on the East Coast. After all, he'd always liked Lu and was happy his brother had found someone so like-minded to settle down with. Their relationship became something of an ideal for him as his jealousy faded, and Danny looked more and more to the East as a possible place to find some resolution for his internal conflicts. He applied at several schools on the Eastern seaboard, not necessarily looking directly at Providence until he was accepted to Brown. He was quiet about it, knowing that his parents would be upset if he moved away too. Instead, he followed his parents' example, hiding the move behind a white lie about some sort of Philosophy convention and asked Milo if it would be alright for him to couch surf. As good luck would have it, the so-called convention --which was really student orientation at Brown-- coincided with a business trip Milo had to take. Upon his return, questions about when he'd need to drop Danny at the airport lead to Danny's confession that he was there to attend school. After several calls home and a bit of silent treatment from his father, Milo gave him the okay to couch surf as long as he needed. It took a month before Danny started to feel like his welcome was overstayed, so when he received the first paycheck from his newly gainful employment at the Providence Library, he used the money to put a deposit on an apartment at Southend Village. It was nothing fancy, but he could call it home. Soon after, he flew back to Chicago to settle what was left of his old lease, then drove his meager amount of possessions back to Providence in a U-Haul. Currently, he's attending Brown for his doctorate's, working as a TA by day and circulation at the library and fussing with his dissertation by night. Cliff notes › On vacation in '95, Danny was drafted to compete on season 3 of Nickelodeon Guts. After falling behind points-wise through most of the initial events, he ended up winning the game, although it was mostly because the player who came in first on the Aggro Crag was disqualified for not activating all of her actuators. Danny still has the gold medal and piece of the Crag on his bookshelf. › Long before Milo and Lu got together, when Danny still lived in Chicago, he was visiting Milo in Providence. Lu, who he had met several times on previous visits, was throwing a raging party complete with pot brownies. Danny misinterpreted her affectionate high as being sexually interested in him, so when everyone else passed out, Danny surprised her in the kitchen completely naked. Lu often reminds him of the incident with random gifts of oven mitts. › Their family is pretty tight, although no one has contact with the maternal grandparents. Danny's paternal grandparents have more than made up for the lack of contact from the other side, having visited annually from Brazil to help Luca and Teresa care for the children over the summer until Danny was in high school. Now, the boys try to visit them in Brazil as often as possible. › Danny posed as Mr. December for an annual calendar called Men of the Stacks, featuring male library workers. He feels weird when anyone brings it up, even though the picture is quite tame -- he's just leaning over the sink brushing his teeth. › Unlike his brothers, who were enrolled at Hyde Park Academy, Danny attended a magnet school in another district where his studies were more focused on liberal arts and humanities. He had to wear a uniform, which was something his brothers teased him about endlessly. › His preferred method of transportation is his bicycle, but when that's not practical his vehicle of choice is a vintage 1964 Harley-Davidson Pacer that he helped to restore. When it's too cold to ride, he relies on public transportation. more nouns 
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home   Southend Village Apartments Playlist › Park - "Intro" "As I look to you, I bathe in the earth." › Cassino - "Ghost" "I still feel you in my clothes, in the cotton...it's that close." › Northstar - "The Accident Underwater" "Just a connoisseur of dirt, celebrating my worth." › Arcade Fire - "Wake Up" "Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up." › An Angle - "Green Water" "Hey, kid... if I fall down now, will you pick me up?" › Sufjan Stevens - "Chicago" "All things grow, all things grow." › Lydia - "Your Taste is My Attention" "I've been trying to tell you, stay awake." › Ryan Adams - "Come Pick Me Up" "Wish you'd make my bed so I could make up my mind." › Metric - "Love is a Place" "Where are you from? Love is a place." › Kevin Devine - "Not Over You Yet" "No I will not call, it's this decision I've made." › Transit - "Please, Head North" "I wish that I could say that I'm wishing you the best." › Band of Horses - "Blue Beard" "What if we die, no end and no conclusion?" › Wilco - "I'm Trying to Break Your Heart" "I want to glide through those brown eyes, dreaming." › Wilco - "I'm the Man Who Loves You" "All I can be is a busy sea of spinning wheels." › Cake - "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" "And at the city bank we will meet accidentally." › Voxtrot - "Ghost" "I have no choice but to be vicious on my feet." › Cursive - "From the Hips" "We're at our best when it's from our hips." › Look Mexico - "You're Not Afraid of the Dark, Are You?" "Four years of wading water, only to get this far." › Paper Rival - "Home is Right Out Your Window" "You haven't noticed a crime wave burning up the tension." › Lydia - "Sleep Well" "Darling, you fucked up." family photos
Milo & Lu
Cohen
Kyle
Nate
Coriooc played by: Gregory Rogove. Specifics: EST. Threading/aim/gdocs/email. Third person storybook. OOC concerns and storyline requests can go here. coding credit: ~allistair. journal & aim: ~dalvares & glenn danny zig |