What's in a Name?

Carl Valenzuela

Carl Valenzuela- Guatemalan-American ancestry; Carl Valenzuela is a shy, overweight boy at the high school who participates in an after school board gamers club and plays the drums for the school band. He tends to be soft-spoken in nature by contrast to his best friend Morgan Fischer and belongs to the emo subculture, with shaggy black hair and bangs that are swept to the side. He works part time as a grocer at a local Target and has a particularly close relationship with his older sister Corina, who is always willing to come to his defense. He has also proven to be a loyal friend and demonstrated that he is sensitive to the needs of others, being patient and understanding with those around him. Carl is relatively unpopular at school and can often be found playing trading card games or talking about Pokémon in his spare time. He is known for his underachieving personality and does not appear to be too confident in his intellectual abilities, causing his sister to help him become better at school when they return to class. He is described as the type of person who doesn't read manuals and relies instead on his own intuition and self-taught approaches. He loves to read however and is shown to do well in his English courses, causing him to be one of the few students to know the answer to who was the author of Alice in Wonderland. Carl is also a bit of a daydreamer and can often be found escaping into wild flights of fantasy as he thinks up chimerical scenarios to real life predicaments he finds himself in. He is fairly good at drawing and likes to draw portraits of his friends and loved ones in his free time, in addition to working on a comic book with his friends. He is better-adjusted than his companions, being more willing to try different things and tag along with his peers on their schemes. 

He can also be quite helpful on occasion and is able to cook, causing him to be the one to make dinner in his household whenever his mother had to work overtime. Carl is fan of Black Veil Brides and Pierce the Veil, idolizing Andy Sixx and looking up to him as a role model whenever he listens to his music. He tends to dress in black clothing and is most recognized for wearing a t-shirt with a green skull on it to school, along with his hoodies. His mother shows concern over his tendency to spend too much time in his bedroom and tries to encourage him to get out more and engage in sports. He also quit Twitter a while back and became a Redditor shortly after, using his empathy to give advice to other users who post online. Carl is characterized by a strict adherence to routine and hygiene, an introverted personality, a tenuous understanding of irony, sarcasm and humor, and a general lack of humility. These qualities, along with his penchant for pranks, are the main source of humor, which tends to surface around his family members. He has developed a more sociable personality due to Morgan's influence and his girlfriend Sora, whom he met online, but some of it does not always show up. He is also a bit of a people pleaser at times and tends to go with the flow and let others take the lead, although he has moments in which he can be decisive and stand his ground. Carl is also a pop culture enthusiast and admits that he is fond of Stranger Things and the movie IT, making YouTube videos analyzing the psychology of the characters and voicing his opinions. He tends to be calm and observant and doesn't have many close friends, associating mostly with 2 of his classmates on a regular basis. 

Even so, he enjoys volunteering and was chosen to be the hall monitor at his school, in addition to helping his history teacher grade assignments after class. He is also very good with technology and knows quite a few things about the internet and the dangers of the dark web, which she warns his friends against. Proudly geeky, Carl has no qualms about speaking Klingon, wearing vintage t-shirts sporting super-hero logos, or spouting various historical and cultural anecdotes. He was often belittled and abused by his peers however, spending long periods of isolation eating lunch quietly in the bathroom stalls and trying to shy away from undesired attention. He was quite lonely and grew to be very detached from the people around him due to how much he'd been sheltered throughout his life. Participating in the board gamers club has allowed him to branch out more, as he tends to show a more headstrong and competitive side by then. Carl also cares about his mother and has a close bond with her, leading the two of them to run errands together or simply go on car rides in the afternoon. She often recruits her as his work out partner and will go jogging throughout the neighborhood with her, although she has to be more cautious nowadays due to having a fractured hip. Regardless, he doesn't usually see much of his father throughout the day, as he works long hours as an IT and tends to come home late at night when he is already asleep. He has somewhat of a distant relationship with him, but will talk to him about matters regarding finances and furthering his education. Carl loves Asian food and can often be found ordering the mushroom chicken and steamed rice at the local Panda Express restaurant and likes to read his fortune cookies. 

He also enjoys Mexican cuisine and likes to eat chicken flautas and sour cream enchiladas, although he is not too big of a fan of spicy food. He visited Guatemala City, the place where his parents were born when he was 7 years old and is familiar with some street food from their homeland such as tostadas. His parents used to make trips across the border when he used to live in Laredo and would spend time in Nuevo Laredo and go to the flea market. Despite his Hispanic heritage, Carl does not speak fluent Spanish, although he can understand a few words when it is spoken to him. He has previously taken pre-AP Spanish and once did a project on Colombia for his teacher, during which he had to make a model representing the country. He has a good memory and knows a few things about geography, making him able to name the capitals of multiple countries. He also enjoys his World History class and likes to learn about the past, particularly when it comes to European history. Carl has a complex history when it comes to his religion, as despite his mother's Catholic roots, he considers himself to be an atheist. He went to the youth service a few times when he was a teenager and was sent to bible camp every summer, although the existence of a higher power never appealed to him. He has a stronger sense of morality nevertheless and usually goes out of his way to be kind to others and do the right thing. He also shows an interest in astrology and has read into his zodiac sign of Virgo, with his birthday falling annually on September 15th. Carl has moments in which he can be short-tempted as well, which shows mostly when others intrude upon his personal space. 

He has a desire for autonomy and independence and has arguments with his parents at times over his need to be given more freedoms. He still does not know how to drive and has not been taught by his parents, who worry that his distractibility will results in his getting into an accident. He tries to find loopholes however that he feels will allow him to overcome some of their strict rules, such as sneaking out to parties with friends despite telling his mother he will be studying at the library. Carl is an overweight boy who stands at 5 ft 6 in tall and had longish, shaggy black hair that is swept to the side and has a fringe, brown eyes, and a light complexion. He wore braces for the majority of his middle school years and alternates between sporting dark clothing to wearing more casual attire when he is attending certain events. He has a bit of a growth spurt by the time he becomes a junior in high school and reaches a final height of 5 ft 10, causing him to slim down slightly and develop more muscle. He also drinks protein shakes and has a membership at an Anytime Fitness that is only a few blocks from his house, where he sometimes exercises on the treadmill. Carl remains close friends with Morgan throughout the years, bonding with her primarily due to their both being members of the school's band. He develops a crush on his classmate Julia Vasquez-Rivera that he is too shy to ever confess, causing him to add her on social media and proceed to unfollow her a short while after when he realized his feelings were unrequited. He goes on to attend Hofstra University in Long Island where he commutes from home and goes on to become a psychology major. He ends up working with children at a nonprofit organization, which brings him great satisfaction as he helps them work through their insecurities. ISFP 9w1