living my life as if i have powers

born in long beach, california to an unwed teenage mother, february 16th 1993. his birth came roughly nine months after amy kicked off her summer with a week in the heart of denver. his father kept the shots coming for his mother and then invited the young girl back to his hotel room. he didn't realize she was only sixteen. she didn't realize he was married with two children.
for the first six years of joey's life his father, ryan hawthorne, wanted nothing to do with him; suspecting that amy's requests for child support were some sort of scam. he would have been content to continuously deny joey's existence if not the involvement of amy's mother, virginia. she insisted on DNA testing and assured the man that they would not be shooed away so easily.
joey and his mother lived in a small two bedroom in a bad neighborhood. their living was funded by amy's job as a bank teller and supplemented here and there by ryan's monthly checks. joey was taken care of, never wanting for clothes or school supplies, but amy was too proud to use ryan's money for big spending. she squirreled away the superfluous into an account for joey's future education. though sometimes she did treat joey to new things. the most treasured of these was a video camera joey begged and begged for when he was eleven years old.
sporadic visits from his father and week long trips to colorado started when joey was seven years old. while joey wasn't the warmest to his father he did enjoy spending time with the man. after an incident with one of his father's many there and gone girlfriends joey was even colder in his reception of the women in ryan's life. but for the most part he was encouraged by the developments. after years of not even thinking he had a father suddenly the man was around (albeit spottily) and showing some interest in joey as a person. things weren't and never would be perfect. not after ryan spent so many years trying to keep quiet his very existence but. the truth of the matter was that, whatever ryan's feelings about his mother, joey was the youngest of his three children and his only son. whenever they were able to have father/son time ryan spoiled him with gifts and treats. they spent weekends at expensive resorts, ate out at fancy restaurants and even went to basketball games and amusement parks. all of this was compensation for those areas where he was lacking.
where his father may have fallen short in embracing him right away, joey's uncle [name here] did no such thing. his first trip with extended family on his father's side was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. their initial introduction may have been met with an all too sour disposition but joey soon opened to them in a way he hadn't (and still hasn't) been able to accomplish with his father. his uncle became the voice of reason when his grandfather was unavailable. his cousins became not just playmates but confidantes. certain delicate matters remained delicate - such as the wife who divorced ryan when she found out about his illegitimate son - but there was some degree of hope in all the dysfunction.
there remained some emotional distance between joey and his old man as time passed. even when ryan brought him along to london and then france for the first time there were reservations from both parties. joey began to see more clearly that his father was more apt to throw money at his problems than solve them. meanwhile, ryan began to realize that he rarely had any idea what to make of his son. joey's angry outbursts and tendencies towards frigid hostility were beyond him. they might not have had anything more to do with one another if not for the outcome of joey's fifteenth year. it was then that, entertaining a rebellious streak that rivaled amy's own, joey began butting heads with his mother. they fought about seemingly everything. from condoms discovered in the boy's dresser to ignored curfew and parties attended without amy's knowledge. days after joey turned sixteen, he decided 'fuck this' and wound up at his father's front door. thus leaving amy out several hundred dollars out for the plane ticket and inspiring a long distance argument that beat out any others had before it.
transitioning from life with his mother to life with his father had some minor bumps along the way but never so many that joey was truly deterred to move back to long beach full-time. he picked back up with basketball, annoying some locals who'd been vying for spots on the high school team for years. and quickly he fell in with one of the rowdier crowds at [high school here]. he partied, drank, stayed out far too late. and he rarely ever got in trouble for his indiscretions. while this would have caused a fuss with amy it didn't seem to phase ryan. his father was generally out of town too much or much too lenient for his teenaged son. the few scoldings joey received were from his uncle.
ryan's mostly hands off policy has worked out well as far as joseph is concerned. his maybe guilt, possible inability to show love any other way has meant that joey gets things a little easier than he would otherwise. he rents property in denver from the man at much lower a price than ryan would demand of anyone else. and is glad to share his good luck with [roommate here] and [roommate here]. in addition, after wrecking a barely used vehicle in may 2012 he was soon awarded the keys to a new car with really only a sigh of discouragement. joey's glad to be spoiled and sometimes surely takes advantage. but where smaller life needs are concerned he's all too aware of frugal spending.
as reckless as he sometimes can be joey has not lived his life completely without spiritual guidance. after being raised in the baptist church and getting closer to his paternal grandfather (a former politician with strong religious beliefs) joey's forged his own fairly solid views on God and faith. he doesn't believe that any one church is the end all and be all of the christian faith. and he more than anyone knows there's no such thing as a perfect christian. but he takes heart in many of the moral lessons he received in all his years of bible study, sunday school and youth groups. he also enjoys the sense of community at his family's places of worship.
more of his own free will than any hopes from ryan, joey elected to get an early jump in the working world when he was a high school junior. he opted not to work at one of his father's hotels. similarly, he resisted working at the brewery's offices. while he would wind up there during his freshman and sophomore year in school, joey wanted his first jumpstart to be something of his own making. for two years he worked at a theater close to the local mall. tapping into one of his own interests he doled out tickets, sold concession stand goodies and charmed movie-goers with his big dimpled smile. it was good for discounted flicks and sneak peeks at the latest upcoming films. the job also gave him ample opportunity to flirt with a large number of cute girls.
as of this [time period here, who knows] joey uses his knowledge of film editing and video production to maintain youtube content for the guyde. he's popped up in a few of the uploads himself as the token white guy.
currently a senior film studies and production major at university of denver, joey is as full of brass as he ever was. he's applying to grad schools, genuinely engaged in new film projects and ultimately living his life to the fullest. sometimes recklessly. though only 5'10" he's unafraid of running with the big dogs. although an ACL injury might have been humbling recovery has only made him harder to deal with on the court than ever before. he doesn't believe himself invincible by any means but after spending his junior basketball season on the bench he's ready to conclude his last year as a fierce competitor. hungry as he is to graduate on top and in his best form yet, he has few misgivings about being back in the game.