#syf!jeff

ooc

name: Nes

age: 24

timezone: GMT

pronouns: She/Her

triggers: rfp

past blogs: rfp

ic

name: Jeffrey James Sterling

age & date of birth: 20, November 20th 1999

hometown: Denver, Colorado

schoolyear: Sophomore

major(s)/minor(s):  Cinematography and Film/Video Production (Major) Photography (Minor)

clubs/sports: Photography Club, Volleyball Team

backstory:

Jeff was born to two 19 year old highschool sweethearts who had a pretty fun Valentine’s Day but had no idea what being parents would actually entail. Still, with a kid on the way, they pushed through and managed to build a family out of an accident that wasn’t supposed to happen. They were young, in love, but the promises of forever didn’t exactly include a little blond bundle of joy at that point. It came with compromise and a little help from Jeff’s grandparents.

As a kid, Jeff’s energy could be matched to the necessary amount to power an NFL stadium on game night, and even with young parents, it seemed like no one could keep up with him. At one point, he was taken to the doctor, his parents suspecting ADHD, but it was quickly dismissed as a regular kid who had an extra bit energy and young parents who were too tired from work to actually help him diffuse it. His mother managed to finish beauty school soon after he was born and open a salon of her own, and his dad working at his grandpa’s car dealership helped them settle as a family, but it didn’t help Jeff’s development.

He was put in a plethora of after school activities, the little league, soccer, volleyball, dance, in hopes of being enough of an outlet for his energy, to keep him entertained outside the house, but nothing really caught on, other that volleyball when he hit his growth spur. Jeff knew his parents meant well, but dealing with a child that never ran out of batteries was tough, specially when they were also trying to make a life for themselves, and soon enough they started to let Jeff know exactly what they thought about it: “You need to calm down” “Shut up, Jeffrey” “Could you be quiet for a goddamn second?” “Mommy is tired, just go play outside”. It all landed as well as one expects when a kid hits the teen angst years. Jeff became quieter, tried to school his blabber mouth around his family, let the insecurities his parents didn’t know they created take over his development years. He found a ‘quiet’ and ‘calm’ hobby when his father placed his old Nikon N90’s in his hands. Photography was the one thing that calmed Jeff down, that made him stop and focus on a single thing at the time, and soon enough he was obsessed with camera angles, exposure, lighting, and that rabbit hole led him to cinematography and film.

The dam on his personality eventually bled through into Jeff’s sexuality. He knew he was different, as soon as he started to notice that he didn’t give attention to girls as much as the other kids did. He liked to look at them, found them attractive, but so was that guy whose face was splatter with freckles, who sat two rows behind Jeff in English back in 8th grade. He always knew that anyone could catch his eye, and that might get him into more trouble than he would rather be in, so Jeff did the same thing he did to his energy. Balled it all up and let his energy out in a volleyball practice. That’s how Jeff got into his 20′s as a virgin, only going as far as drunkenly making out with someone at a party. Like he didn’t want to bring much attention to himself, in fear of being disliked, Jeff never really felt the need to explore something that might end up bringing him too much attention. Yeah, he could have dated girls, but eventually he just made himself not give it too much thought, and at a point, he just didn’t care about it, either.

Jeff knows his parents love him dearly, even if they were too young and inexperienced to raise a child mostly on their own, but there’s some resentment there now that Jeff has two younger siblings, 5 year old Emma and 2 year old Drew. They are the most important people in Jeff’s life, and he’d do anything for them, but he knows his parents favour them, now that they have matured and know how to deal with kids, but Jeff can’t help like his needs were slightly neglected growing up.

Now that he’s in college, he’s trying to let go of the censorship he imposed on himself, but sometimes it’s still hard and Jeff feels self-conscious about the way he acts in public. Thankfully, he has now found himself surrounded by people who accept him just the way he is, the loud-mouthed blond who always seems to have an opinion about anything and everything, who doesn’t particularly like attention but always catches everyone else’s.