Wolfwithaguitar

From Realmofthemuse

Randy Bosch is an original character who has been part of Realm of the Muse since September of 2006. Though he is officially employed as a police intern with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), he spends most of his time assisting with open cases and the problems of his friends and loved ones.

He is portrayed by Hal Sparks and is the central character of a fictional universe referred to, for lack of a better title, as the Untitled Hal Sparks Project.

His writer is LAPD Rockstar.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Childhood 1.2 High School 1.3 College 1.4 Post-College 2 Present Day 2.1 Professional life 2.2 Personal life 2.3 Future ambitions 3 Personality and Other Facts 3.1 Personality 3.2 Likes and Dislikes 3.3 Other Facts 4 Out of Character 4.1 Canon 4.2 RP Canon 4.3 Novels 4.4 Influences 4.5 Awards 5 Links

Background

Childhood

Randy was born Randolph Curtis Bosch on September 16, 1974 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the oldest of two children born to Ken and Pauline Bosch (played by David Morse and Sharon Gless). His sister, Haley (played by Christy Carlson Romano), was born nine years later. Growing up in a middle-class household, Randy was immediately made aware of the importance of two things: hard work and family. Both of them are things which he still holds dear and considers the foundation for his life.

He has never spoken ill of his childhood. By all accounts he grew up in a stable suburban household. His father was an engineer and his mother was a waitress, and they never had any financial problems to speak of. Randy was always supported and from an early age took a liking to music. He says the first song he ever attempted was the Beatles' "Let It Be," but when he was in middle school he discovered Styx and was entranced. Lead singer and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung became his hero and Randy decided that he wanted to be the lead singer and guitarist of his own arena rock band.

In 1983, Pauline Bosch gave birth to Randy's younger sister Haley. While the two have a prototypical big brother-little sister relationship, underneath it lies an undercurrent of genuine support. Haley has been her big brother's biggest fan and thinks he's a rock star no matter what he does for a living; Randy is protective of his sister and thinks she has a brighter future than he did at her age. They have always been close.

Likewise, both were close to their parents. While Randy has all the love in the world for his mother, his first hero was always his father, a soft-spoken man who worked hard every day of his life and never once complained about it. It was Ken Bosch who taught his son the way of the world and molded him into the kind of man he wanted to be. Randy's major goal in life is to make his father proud, not knowing -- or maybe not accepting -- that he already has.

But Randy was a natural musical talent, and that, coupled with good study habits and solid grades, got him accepted to a magnet high school in 1988. As a congratulatory gift for his accomplishment, his parents bought him a top of the line Gibson Les Paul Goddess guitar, in Rose Burst. It is the only guitar that Randy has ever owned.

High School

Rather than attend a traditional high school, Randy was accepted into the Girard Academic Music Program, a magnet high school for those with exceptional musical talent. According to him, it was at Girard that he really was able to explore his musical talent and his academics at the same time.

It was here that Randy formed his band, Binary, with his cousin and a good friend. They went on to win the yearly Battle of the Bands in both his junior and senior years, something that Randy considered a goal and one of his best accomplishments at the time. However, his greatest accomplishment was a set of solid grades that ensured his academic future.

Unfortunately for Randy, tragedy struck almost immediately after his graduation from Girard. In June of 1992, just about a week after his high school graduation, Randy's father died of heart failure. The crushing blow became the turning point in his entire life, and many of his decisions and experiences can be traced directly back to the loss of a man who was his son's role model. With a young sister at home and his mom grieving, Randy almost turned down his college scholarship to stay home with his family, but his mother insisted he pursue his academic future. It's a decision that he has second guessed for most of his life.

College

Though he weighed proposals from several universities (we've never learned which ones, but it's rumored that one was Northwestern), Randy ultimately chose to go to the university which offered him the best scholarship, and he enrolled at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas in 1992. His original major was Music Composition. Randy describes Lubbock as a complete change of pace from Philadelphia, and a place with a lot of heat and a lot of cows.

The changing situation at home, however, continued to weigh on him. He struggled to be a son, a father figure and his mother's support system despite being halfway across the country. In dealing with his father's loss, he realized that it wasn't just through music that he could help people who needed it. That, combined with his fear of failing in the music industry and leaving his family in trouble as a result, caused him to change his mind about his professional pursuits. Randy put down his guitar and changed his major.

Randy lived in an off-campus townhome for the final three years of his college career, after spending the first year in a dorm room. He was also a campus radio DJ.

Randy graduated Texas Tech in 1996 with a B.A. in Social Work. He did, however, retain a minor in Music Composition.

Post-College

After graduating from Texas Tech in 1996, Randy elected not to return home to Philadelphia. Instead, on little more than gut instinct, he moved to Los Angeles, California. Arriving in Los Angeles he moved into a one-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of the historic Hillview Hollywood building in West Hollywood. He still lives in the exact same apartment.

Meanwhile, he continued to try and find a place where he felt professionally comfortable. Randy did a few months as a social worker, only to find himself discouraged by the red tape and paperwork. He left that field, and then embarked on a series of stable but just not satisfying jobs: working in the District Attorney's office and later for the Los Angeles County criminal courts system. Nothing seemed to fit.

He eventually applied for the LAPD's civilian positions and was hired as a police intern in 2000, where he remains today.

Present Day

Professional life

Currently, Randy's official job title is as a police intern. He is employed by the Records and Identification Division (RID), which is headed by Captain Fred Chambers (played by John Allen Nelson). Randy has a desk in the RID offices, however, he is hardly ever found there, and he admits that since being hired by Chambers in 2000, he doesn't think they've ever had a real conversation because their paths rarely seem to cross.

Instead Randy tends to live in the basement of Parker Center. Since the basement is home to the LAPD's evidence control and their file archives, he finds it easier to work in the same space with the resources that he needs. He is often found at a large work table, with any files he's working on, an iDock which connects to his iPod, and his guitar. He remains downstairs, organizing files, finding information, and doing whatever else is needed by the various detective departments. The only caveat he has is that he doesn't work with any of the Crimes Against Persons departments -- homicide, sex crimes, etc. -- because he doesn't have the stomach for that kind of work.

When not in the basement Randy can be found upstairs in the Property Crimes Division. He has frequented the division since his best friend, Tara Meredith (played by Maggie Lawson), made detective and was assigned there in 2006. However, having worked with day shift supervisor Lieutenant Brenda Cassaday (played by Tamara Taylor) in the past, he is hardly any stranger to her division. The two have a mutual respect and, given how frequently Randy is found in the Property Crimes bullpen, most people mistake Cassaday for being his supervisor.

During the 2007 California wildfires, Randy volunteered his time to support the firefighting effort.

Personal life

When it comes to his personal life Randy concerns himself with his friends. His best friend is Tara Meredith, a rookie detective in the Property Crimes Division that he has known since she was a patrol officer seven years ago. The two are practically inseparable. Randy helped Tara study for her detective's exam and was present when she received her badge. It was Tara who asked for Randy's help on a case and began the tradition of him working with her in the field. Though she doesn't know it, Randy met with Lieutenant Cassaday to ask her to consider Tara for her unit, and while that was not the major factor in Tara's assignment to Property Crimes, her friend certainly had something to do with it. Randy also has a good relationship with Tara's parents, Michelle and Josh Meredith (played by Margaret Colin and Sig Hansen).

Randy's other friends include Brendan Thompson (played by Richard Hammond), who lives four doors down from him and has known Randy for the last eleven years. Brendan is a partner in a top architectural firm and from a rich family, originally from London. As such he continues to attempt to use that money for the gain of his less well off friends. Randy, however, feels uncomfortable with the favors -- Brendan once tried to permanently hand him the keys to his brand-new SUV simply so he'd have a nicer car to take his date out in -- and the two usually argue over them, resulting in Brendan doing them anyway when Randy's not looking. Perhaps Randy's biggest payback, though, is engineering Brendan's finally getting together with the woman he loves, diner waitress Deanna Bradley (played by Valerie Cruz).

Randy has a respectful relationship with Lieutenant Brenda Cassaday that goes back seven years. The two share a similar work ethic and have become friends, although they don't often socialize outside of work.

A number of other people have also passed into Randy's life. He is on slightly uncomfortable terms with Tara's older sister, Tracy Meredith (played by Poppy Montgomery), a finance professional who enjoys throwing money around. Likewise, Lieutenant Cassaday's ex-partner and former close friend, Tim Christie (played by Gale Harold), was at odds with Randy due to Christie's abrasive personality before he finally left Los Angeles.

He is still close to his family, traveling to Philadelphia and to Indiana multiple times a year to keep in touch with his sister and his mother. His cousin now lives in Coronado, California.

Randy has a quiet romantic life. He references a past girlfriend, Sarah Neal (played by Julie Ann Emery) who still keeps in contact with him, but after her, he hadn't been in a relationship for several years. The closest he ever came was a brief meeting with Buffy Summers, whom he took a liking to, but the two were never a couple. In the second of two novels in which he appears, he also manages a lunch date with ICU nurse Michelle Naughton (played by Eva Green), but the two don't pursue a relationship.

As of January, 2008, Randy has been on a date with Santa Monica art director Danielle "Dani" Verone (played by Olga Sosnovska), who seems quite interested in him, but they have yet to have a second date.

Future ambitions

Randy has stated that one of the things he wants to accomplish in his life is to get married and raise a family. He is a known romantic, and being a father has been a lifelong ambition inspired by his relationship with his own father prior to Ken Bosch's death.

He shows no particular desire to change his occupation or even go for a promotion, although both have been suggested to him over the years. He feels that he would be underqualified were he ever to become an actual police officer.

Prompts speculating on his possible future have him married, raising a young daughter named Alexa (after his acquaintance Alexa Bond) and having been promoted to supervisor of the Records and Identification Division day shift. However, these prompts are purely speculation.

Personality and Other Facts

Personality

With Randy, what you see is very much what you get. He is a soft-spoken, hard-working man who prefers to let his actions speak for him, and who is comfortable existing in the background.

Randy believes in honesty and integrity under any and all circumstances. He will always tell the truth, even if it is a painful truth, and has a gift for making difficult things easier. He has never told a lie and has said that he never will. He has never missed a day of work, a bill payment, or an obligation -- a sterling reputation that he picked up from his father, who also never lapsed on anything important. He also lives a clean lifestyle: he does not swear, smoke, drink or indulge in the use of drugs.

Not particularly physical (he stands at 5'8") he avoids violence under any circumstances. However, if it comes down to it, he will go into a fight on principle, even knowing that he may lose the battle. One such circumstance was when his best friend was threatened by a double-homicide suspect. Knowing he was risking his own life, Randy engaged the suspect who had hit Tara, hitting him with his beloved guitar. The Les Paul was horribly damaged, but he protected his friend, which was far more important.

There is a great deal of role conflict in his life that started years ago. He simultaneously tries to be a son, a friend, a brother and a father figure, taking care of his friends (which may be his other strong suit). Unfortunately this pulls him in many different directions. He doesn't complain or even notice, but his sister worries about his longterm well-being. When Brendan was in a coma in late 2006, Randy was so distraught that he endured a fit of depression. It is simply a byproduct of being so invested in the lives of friends and strangers alike.

Likes and Dislikes

Likes:

• Brown sugar and/or frosted strawberry Pop-Tarts
• Twisted Sister
• Skid Row
• His mother's pancakes
• Sub sandwiches from the sub shop across the street from Parker Center

Dislikes:

• Driving in Los Angeles
• Styx after Dennis DeYoung
• Peter Frampton
• Parties
• Sports
• Wal-Mart

Other Facts

• Randy drives a several-years-old white Kia Spectra.
• Takes his guitar almost everywhere with him and maintains it daily.
• His wardrobe includes a trusted suede jacket, a Halo 2 T-shirt and a Wolverine T-shirt. He also has three earrings in one ear and often paints his nails black. Sometimes, he has a goatee and sometimes he doesn't.
• He has said his favorite Styx song is "Lady," followed closely by "Babe" and then "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)."
• Is still bitter about Dennis DeYoung being forced out of Styx in the nineties.
• Has two nicknames: "Spark Plug" (by Tara, a reference to the Bosch brand of spark plugs) and "Guitar Hero" (given to him by his friend Claire Bennet).
• Is not religious.
• Speaks two languages: English and Mandarin Chinese.
• Frequents the Ritual Supper Club (formerly White Lotus) down the street from his apartment building.
• Has an exceptional memory, as he remembers birthdays and what song was playing on the radio when he met Tara (James Ingram's "Remember The Dream").

Out of Character

Canon

Randy's canon is based almost entirely on his prompt responses for the various communities for which he writes. The novels in which he appears are also considered canon.

When it comes to his canon Randy tends to stay within the boundaries of his own universe. He is open to roleplay, but remains reasonably true to his own canon. He socializes with fellow law enforcement professionals and tends to be bewildered by the idea of aliens, deities, or other things he otherwise wouldn't have encountered in his normal life.

RP Canon

A small offshoot of canon occurred in early 2007 when Tara met James Bond via Theatrical Muse. Tara, a longtime Bond fan who had wanted to be a Bond girl as a child, struck up a relationship with Bond. The two were married in mid-2007 and as a result, Tara left Randy and Los Angeles to move to London with her new husband. Without his partner in crime, Randy continued about his work but didn't get to go out into the field. Though it pained him and caused him to re-evaluate his life, he wanted the best for his friend and they continued to have a long-distance friendship.

The RP canon was briefly retired with the closure of Bond's journal in November 2007, but with the return of Bond as a semi-active character, it comes and goes.

Novels

Randy and his friends have been the subject of two different novels, both written for NaNoWriMo. The first was Untitled Hal Sparks Project: The Novel (2006). This was followed by the sequel, also imaginatively titled, Untitled Hal Sparks Project: Novel #2 (2007).

Influences

Randy's biggest influence is the man that portrays him. Hal Sparks was the inspiration for the creation of Randy and continues to be a heavy factor in his characterization. As such there are often little nods to Hal and to his projects, out of gratitude for the inspiration or simply tongue-in-cheek.

Randy's band, Binary, is a reference to Hal's own band, Zero 1, and Zero 1 songs have made an appearance on Randy's blog. A link to Zero 1's MySpace can be found on Randy's profile page.

Sharon Gless also played Hal Sparks' mother in Showtime's TV series Queer as Folk, where he played Michael Novotny. The series also starred Gale Harold, who plays Brenda Cassaday's ex-partner Tim Christie. Harold also worked with John Allen Nelson on the FOX series Vanished.

Awards

Randy has been nominated for several awards in his time on LiveJournal. He continues to be flustered by every single one of them.

• 2006
  • Tammy Award Nominee for Best Original Character (Male)
  • Tammy Award Nominee for Most Sexually Vanilla

• 2007
  • Tammy Award Winner for Hottest Musician Muse

Links

• Randy's LiveJournal Profile
• Hal Sparks' MySpace Page
• Zero 1 MySpace Page