KARALIS, zacchaeus damien

Hello I’m Zacchaeus Damien Karalis but everyone just calls me Zac or Zaccy some people even call me ZD for whatever reason but I don’t mind what you call me really. I just turned twenty three on the sixth of May and age isn’t anything that bothers me so I have no problem saying how old I am ever. I am good friends with plenty of girls but when it comes to dating I go for men so clearly I’m gay. Sure that makes things more complicated since there are still people out there who are against homosexuals, but I’m not changing myself to suit them. Besides my life is already complicated with being partially deaf and mute so issues like people hating me for being gay are small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. I am a local in this area, been here all my life and don’t have any ideas of moving away since I’ve seen other places and this is always going to be home to me. I’m a writer and online teacher so it doesn’t really matter where I am right? Take the laptop and I’m set to go. I have a dog as a pet, she’s a puppy puggle so a mix between a pug and a beagle and her name is Artemis. I let my mom name her but I call her missy most often and she’s absolutely adorable. I recued her and have had her for about half a year now. That about covers the basic’s don’t you think?

I was born to parents who didn’t want me, no my life isn’t a sob story because of it since I was adopted by the people I consider to be my real parents Ophelia and Alexander Karalis. They have been my parents since day one and they will always be my parents, I have never been the kid who said “you’re not my real parents” to them or tried to find out who actually is my birth mother or father. I don’t need to because clearly they couldn’t or didn’t want to keep me and they made that choice so I’m making my choice to just let it stand at that.

I was born with the issues I have, my right ear is screwed up on the inside and my vocal chords are not right either. They are both issues I’ve been dealing with my whole life and that have been changing all the time as well. My hearing didn’t start out this bad and it’s going to get worse in time, the doctors have their scientific names for it but I call it my ear being faulty and I didn’t get the extended warranty cause who knew I’d need it? Seriously though my hearing in that ear is about 40% gone now, the doctor’s did surgery two years ago to try to at least stop it from getting worse and I think they did a pretty good job since it hasn’t? My vocal chords are a whole different beast, when I was born they weren’t fully developed and that meant my sounds were seriously limited. They thought that maybe they’d get better as I got older but it didn’t though I guess it hasn’t really gotten too much worse other than getting really weak. It hurts to make sounds but I can do it if I force the sounds out. When I say sounds I mean sounds, there’s no words just more squeaky type of sounds or moans. Humming was supposed to be something that would help me get better so I can do that too it just really hurts after awhile. I learned sign language as a way to communicate since speaking just wasn’t in the cards for me.

I was never really a trouble maker as a kid and didn’t need to be constantly disciplined by my parents. I did my homework and got decent grades, did my chores when I had them, and tried not to cause problems. I spent a lot of time running around with friends while growing up and that’s not something I’ve grown out of since my friends can still text me and give me a location and I’ll get myself there to have a fun time with them. I never really got into drugs and didn’t do a lot of heavy drinking, the biggest thing in my life that wasn’t medical was being gay. I told my parents when I was fifteen how I felt and while they were surprised at first it never was a huge issue. They accepted me for me and let me make my own choices. I’ve dated on and off since then and only had one “serious” relationship while in university but it didn’t work out when he moved across the country and I chose to stay right here.

I grew up in the area and went to school, hung out, and just lived here. I love it and it’s home to me which is why I don’t even have the desire to try moving away since I don’t really need to in my opinion. I went to university and got my bachelor’s degree in English and gained my teaching certifications as well so I work as an online teacher in addition to being a writer. I went directly into university after high school and just finished everything last year. It was hard but I’m the kind of guy who sticks it out once he sets his mind to something so it all worked out well for me so far.

Book tours is how I’ve seen plenty of the states outside of my home, they send me out to meet my fans and I get to see a bunch of places I wouldn’t have otherwise seen. I always have my “translator” with me since not all the fans can use sign language but it’s a lot of fun to go. It’s probably an obvious fact now but I am a published writer, a few of my books are big hits but I don’t do it for the fame. I have actually written two children’s books as well as the “adult” books, no they’re not porn books but they’re for a more mature audience. The kids books were illustrated by a friend of mine and they went over well but I did them under a different alias than my other books since kids don’t need to be connected to my main writing styles. I wanted to just share the stories that formed in my head and started writing young but didn’t get published until I was eighteen years old. I keep writing and they keep selling my books and that works fine for me since I get some variety in life with online teaching as well. I had originally planned to be just some kind of teacher since I hadn’t expected my books to go over so well but between the money from that and the online teaching I make enough to be pretty well off.

What I’m like as a person is exciting to some people I guess? I get asked the same questions over and over when I’m out on the book tours, things like what I like, what I don’t like, what I look for in a person when considering dating, if I’m anything like my characters, and all that kind of stuff. It gives the readers a chance to get to know me in bits and pieces but this is a more direct way so I’ll give it all in one go and hopefully I won’t forget anything?

I’m not the most outgoing of people on the planet, it’s somewhat hard to be when you can’t communicate like a “normal” person but that doesn’t mean I’m closed off either. I observe people, gives me more of a chance to get to know about a person when I do that. I don’t mean it in a stalkerish way since I don’t go following them home or taking creepy pictures or things. I just tend to take in my surroundings and the people around me more than others because of the fact that I can’t actively join a conversation unless they know sign language. Of course online I’d be seen as more outgoing since when chatting and things I type not talk so it’s a really handy way for me to actually talk to people. Some people think I’m shy till they figure out why I’m not jumping into a conversation or talking to anyone but I’m really not shy at all.

I like to think I am a laid-back kind of guy and I don’t really get upset about things unless it all just goes too far. I will use any sound I can make to get a person’s attention when they’re pushing my limits because once it goes too far and I’m pissed off I normally take a larger than average time to calm down. My friends would say I’m super emotional in a laid back way and they’d be right. I don’t get too worked up or anything outwardly but on the inside the emotion is there I just don’t feel the need to let everyone know exactly how I feel all of the time. My emotions run deep and either end up bottled or misunderstood a lot of the time.

I get into moods sometimes that are more toward sad like when I want to be part of something or when my disabilities make something that would normally be fun into something way too hard. Not talking has taught me to use body language a lot though so that’s a plus side? It add’s something different to my life and I don’t normally look at it as a horrible thing, just a different thing.

I mentioned that fans ask things like what I like or don’t like and that stuff? Well I didn’t mention those things in with my personality because they’re not personality things they’re just little facts about me.

To start off with a few things I like are writing, meeting fans, chocolate, men, my dog missy, apple cinnamon cheerio’s, pasta, spending time with friends, cooking, loud music, running, being outside, taco’s, coffee, meeting new people, being understood, paint ball wars, teaching, a ton of other stuff, and being me.

Stuff I don’t like would include things like when people assume I’m stupid because of my disabilities, bullies, fighting with anyone, when I can’t communicate but need to, greedy people who hope knowing me means money, seafood, when my throat gets sore, cleaning, the hearing aid I have to wear when driving, and my fair share of other stuff as well.

Being afraid is normal and the stuff I’d say I’m afraid of are bugs spiders. I’m afraid of an emergency happening and me not being able to help someone or being helpless because of my disabilities. I’m afraid of being alone forever because no one will be able to put up with my issues. I’m afraid of quite a few things besides these but those are my big three.

What I’d say my strengths are would be things like my ability not to get obviously over emotional…sometimes it comes in handy to be calm. Another strength would be my determination because I’m stubborn and if I set my mind to something I will make it happen come hell or high water.

A weakness of mine is obviously my disabilities, I’m used to them and I don’t let them drag me down most of the time but it does cause some problems obviously. Animals are a major weakness because I want to adopt and love them all, always. Those add’s for the animal shelters and things kill me.

Other random facts about me are my name’s greek, my parents are greek so when they adopted me I became a honorary greek as well I guess? I have tried dating girls before but it didn’t work for me. And last but not least I can write with both of my hands, ambidextrous.

Well I think that about wraps up everything you could want or need to know about me? I enjoyed taking this challenge to write myself out in a plotted format to figure out how my story would go. Have a nice day.