You have just turned 100 years old, and a reporter has to come to interview you. What do you want to tell this person? Your accomplishments? Regrets? Success? Chances taken? Hidden secrets? Last night, you considered how much your life has changed in the last 4 years. Consider how much it will change in the next 80…
She slowly removed the full glass of sweet ice tea from her lips and placed it on the wooden table in front of her. A deep breathe escaped from mouth as she closed her eyes, preparing to evaluate her entire life as a whole. Looking into her eyes, one could tell that she held personal stories close to heart. Finally, she spoke.
ReplyDelete“Life never goes as planned.” Those were the first words that came out of her mouth as the interview began. Catherine grew up with somewhat of a rough childhood. Her brother was shipped off to rehab to deal with a drug addiction while she was in the eight grade. Sophomore year, Catherine’s family tore apart at the seams of her parents divorce. In high school, the dream of becoming a photographer appeared reasonable in her sight. That was all she wanted. Unfortunately, photography remained as a hobby throughout her life. “I struggled through multiple failed attempts of getting my artwork out there,” Catherine explained. She viewed her failure as a thought that when one door closes, another door opens.
“Honesty, the most important thing in every relationship,” Catherine said. At that moment, her face sagged down and the sparkle beneath her eyes disappeared. It then became evident that a dark, deep secret laid locked up hidden inside her soul. She would never say it. Catherine’s husband died nine years ago, and she missed him very much. Catherine spoke of how the moment he died, she suddenly regretted not being 100% honest with him all the time.
Lastly, Catherine encouraged everyone to take risks. She claimed that life is short and to live each day like it’s the last.
CEC
100 years ago, on November 15th 1992, Ryan Manoogian started an extraordinary life! Ryan was born in Denver, Colorado, but only one month after he was born, he moved to Egypt. He lived there for 2 years before moving to Houston. Ryan attended ROB's for several years before again moving to London. He lived in London for 8 years, practically growing up there. In London he began to play soccer and immediately fell in love with the sport. Ryan went to 2 schools while in London. The first was a British prep school and the second was an American school. After 8 years of "dreadful rain," Ryan moved back to Houston for High School. Ryan went to College at TCU. “It was the best 4 years of my life!” Ryan said. He graduated with a double major in Business and Engineering. After several years of hard work out in the real world, he finally became owner of the largest Oil company in the world, Canamens. He also managed to buy Manchester United Football Club, the soccer team he has supported and loved since he was 6 years old. He married his girlfriend from College, and had 3 kids. All 3 kids went to TCU and are successful Business owners themselves. His beloved wife is still alive at age 99, and they are very happy together. Now at 100 years old, he looks back at his life with no regrets. He lived life to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteRLM
Will was a grouchy man, who used his cane a lot to look around. His body looked worn from years of hard work, and partying. His skin looked like leather, yet his clothes seemed to be starched and ironed, like an old man should. His voice raspy, matching his appearance, yet very much still a child inside.
ReplyDeleteIn an attempt to extract some knowledge or spark a story from the man, I run into a lifetime of knowledge, learned mostly from mistakes, but nonetheless a lifetime of knowledge. Will is not shy to tell it exactly the way he sees it, sometime over whelming you with blunt honesty. He spoke of his high school days, when a child really grows into an adult. Will said “ growing through 4 years of high school made me come to the conclusion that I really just don’t care for many of the jackass’s in the world, especially when your surrounded by them most of the day. That’s ok though, just look at them and grin, thinking ‘eat shit’ the entire time.” This really shed light on Mr. Sinclair’s, care free attitude, that even if he didn’t care for the situation, he looked past that.
The last thing that Will said to me, as we were raping up our conversation:
“Don’t be scarred, when your in your casket, do you want people to walk by and comment on how good you look, or would you rather them walk by and say ‘DAMN he partied hard!’” He paused for a minute, looked back at me, and said, “think about that.”
The Man who I recently talked to was named Dan. He was Dan the Man. The first thing he told me is to hurry the interview up because he was freakin old and didn't have much time left.
ReplyDeleteHis life story began with his birth in Alaska. Eskimos found him just before he about to become an ice baby. They defrosted him in the microwave and taught him how to survive on his own. At the age of three, polar bears attacked his village and killed his tribe. Only with the help of Steven Seagal was Dan able to kill the bears.
With no place to go he swam to a recruiting station in California and joined the World War I American Black Ops Team. They specialized in the use of a new weapon called the "gun". They stormed through the German trench lines by digging caverns beneath enemy entrenchments and collapsing them with what is called "explosives". The war ended and Dan now fifty continued to live in Germany until Hitler took over. He helped many Jews leave the country at the same time he did. With an incomplete sense of accomplishment, Dan preceded to win the Iron man Triathalon for ten consecutive years before having his legs explode from over use. He under went a project costing six million dollars to turn himself into a cyborg. His robot powers helped to defeat Cybertorn and restore peace to Earth. Then eighty, he punched Al Gore, beat up Bruce Lee, and dominated the world of competitive sky diving. He now resides in backwoods Appalachia as a hillbilly and general mountain man. At the end of the interview I asked him what the one piece of advice he could give me was. He said, "Who the hell are you?" and promptly died from awesomeness. Truly an inspirational man.
Neva Gohel, a 100 year old woman, living behind a blue picketfenced on a small, self-sufficient ranch in the mountains of Colorado. A vibrant, wrinkled face gives me the notion that she has lived a unique, rollercoaster of a life. A life that is different amongst most people in society. She looks up and smiles as she begins expounding on the adventures she pursued as a young adult. Whether skiing the alps, trecking on an African safari, or cliff diving into the pacific ocean, Neva feels as if she has experienced the beauty and perks of nature and what life truly has to offer. However, after college, Neva’s life changed when she traveled to Africa for 4 months. She learmed so much from the Messai tribe she lived with. She gained an understanding of people whose lives are very different from hers and was moved by the dignity and respect of the Messai people. Also, Neva traveled to The Amazon, working with the native people, trying to perserve their culture. Neva’s greatest passion has always been travel and discovery. However, she confesses that she had wished she had spent more time nurturing her children at home, as she was frequently on a new adventure with her husband. However, when she was home, her children loved hearing stories about her travels. They would curl up next to her and listen. Eventually, as the children got older they got to expereince the world firsthand with Neva and her husband. They climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, rafted the amazon river, and taught school children English in Central America. Neva sighs and smiles. “Those were the good days.”
ReplyDeleteLuis was a character like no other. He would always question what he saw and tried to figure out the reality of where he was in life. The guy knew a lot, but lacked a lot of knowledge about how the world worked in his youth. As a kid, the government knew a lot about his potential that could be useful to them. On December 2nd, 1999 he was taken in for questioning and given a position for the FBI. During this he encountered many new obstacles, but at the same time learned new skills that would serve him well for the rest of his life. Luis’s childhood was if it had never existed because he was taken in at such a young age. Many nights he contemplated leaving the country and moving on to a different lifestyle than the one he was forced to live in. Ten years later he finally broke out of the government agency and was able to explore life as if he was just born recently. At the age of 22 he was taken in by the Russian government and was forced to work with them to stay alive and hopefully escape the new hell he had encountered. Another 20 years passed and he was never able to leave. Eventually nuclear war broke out and he was not able to see the rest of life because he died at the age of 42 from the invasion of the Russian government by China in conjunction with the United States. All of his secrets, thoughts, and experiences died with him on that sad day of January 25, 2034.
ReplyDeleteLT
Having recently celebrated her one-hundredth birthday, a local woman tells the tales of her life. Instead of answering the initial question of her successes and failures throughout her one hundred years, Miller began rambling about the good memories and the other few things she could actually remember. Still wearing clothing that resembled items she wore during high school, she sits in her kitchen sink sipping her steaming hot cup of green tea. The house in which she lives has many of the same aspects of the zoo. She explained the oddities to be reminders of the household she had grown up in, with her beloved sisters and brother. There were plants and vines throughout the living and dining areas, and unidentifiable small animals scurrying by on the unpolished hardwood floor. The large hole in her kitchen ceiling was a result of her brother dropping a bowling ball on the weak floor on the story above the first. Having never been married and having no children, Miller spent her days caring for the collection of nature and wildlife she so greatly admired within her home and yard. For the last fifty years of her life, she has only left her house to get the mail. Eventually stating one of her successes, she declared her hobby for growing her own food as one of her favorite past times. Now less limber, she sits in the sink rather than a chair to help her bad back, and sips green tea because it’s about all she can do.
ReplyDeleteMP
Love the entries, people! Great stuff! Some of you portray yourselves in flat ways, whereas some of you are portrayed in a rounder way. Continue to use the STAARR Method of indirect characterization to identify with and analyze characters throughout the semester. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHer white hair surrounded her: over her shoulders, down her back almost to her waist. The hair was completely wild and uncaring. It had a big straw hat perched on top keeping the sun out of the eyes of its wearer, Jessica. She has deep crows feet around her eyes as well as laugh lines around her mouth. Showing the joy this women has experienced in 87 years of life. We sit in the garden of the senior center she is residing in. Before me sits a frail old women but when you look at her crisp green eyes you see someone very full of life. Reminiscing Jessica picks up her tea drinks it thinking of where to begin. " I would say that my life was a success. I was not always happy and did not always do the right thing but I never gave up in hope for the future. Even when I was unhappy I made sure to laugh because laughter is the best medicine. And I am proud of the lines that have developed because of it." Going back to Jessica's room we see vibrant pictures filling every space and crevice. Some are from her days in the peace corps when she went to South Africa. A few are of the three years she spend teaching in a low income school in her 20s. "I did not have to take care of anyone but myself"she said, "So I wanted to do the thing that most made me happy before I had to support children". The rest of her pictures of are of her family. She married her longtime boyfriend when she was 29. They had five children. Two of which they had naturally and the other three were adopted. Now with children Jessica worked as a child psychologist doing a lot of non-profit work. Sadly, Jessica's husband died 10 years ago to cancer. Talking about her husband causes tears in Jessica's eyes "He truly was the love of my life. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him." Jessica's children visit her often she now has 4 grandchildren and one more on the way. We asked her if she lived the life she had pictured for herself as a young girl. "It is different then what I had pictured. But when has life ever gone as planned? However, I think at any point in my life I would have been proud of my life as a whole.
ReplyDeleteJO
Very interesting lives! I like it!
ReplyDeleteCullen Munz was a distinguished man. His confidence radiated off him like the glow off the nine championship trophies the Rockets won during his tenure as general manager. The wrinkles above his eyebrows were expected for any ninety-sever year old man, but the mental awareness he possessed was not. Munz answered each question with a calm attitude that stated, "I have been through hell and nothing you can ask me will possibly rile me up." Riling celebrities up was my specialty, I've interviewed numerous movie stars and famous athletes and was able to get under their skin with ease, but this was not the case with Munz. It was if he was on a pedestal, looking down on me and my measly accomplishments as a reporter, but he wasn't. At the same time, I felt as if I could relate to him and his journey through life, which is quite a remarkable one.
ReplyDeleteMunz grew up in Houston, went to high school there, ventured out of state for college, then came straight back to Houston after completing a contract law degree and working as the general manager of the Houston Rockets. Awful would be a nice way of describing the Rockets play in the ten years before Munz arrived, but in his first 3 years as general manager, the Rockets had won a championship. During this championship year, Munz got married on center court of the Toyota Center. Munz's team made it to an NBA record 14 finals and won 9 championships. He was the second general manager to be inducted into the hall of fame ever.
When I asked if he had any regrets. He gave a cocky smile and said, "Ya, losing those five championships." Munz was a man with his mind set on success and without a doubt, he achieved it.
I look at the man. His long bony fingers move restlessly in his lap like a nervous child’s. He begins his story with scenes, not any in particular. He describes the places he visited as if they were postcards and he had studied them for years without actually visiting any of them. He never mentioned his affairs in those exotic places nor when he visited. It made me question whether he had actually been there at all. Then he slowly sighed and started mumbling in self-pity. When his words became audible again I caught the words “the most beautiful woman.” He began the only story of the evening that included him in it. It began in an unknown bar, in a forgotten European country. The woman mentioned was a performer in a small, unknown band. Her voice intoxicated him instantly and he sat there in the shadow of the bar, eyes closed, dreaming. After the performance she took the only empty space at the bar, the seat next to his. They exchanged a few words before diving into drinks and their life stories, histories, and philosophical views of the world. He explained his travels over the past few weeks and his plans for the rest of the year. She was just as intoxicated by his story and he was by her voice and had always wanted to leave the city. They left the bar plotting their escape to the next cities along his route.
ReplyDeleteHe paused his story to get a glass of water, his bony hands trembling under the weight of the full cup. After a few small sips he smiled, reminiscing before he began again. As he started to speak a sharp pain interrupted and his face twisted while he slouched in his chair. The ambulance didn’t arrive quickly enough and first aid had no effect as I watched him die in front of me, the mysterious woman remained a memory to one man. As the paramedics bagged the body I turned to the mantelpiece above the fireplace, and noticed a wedding photo. I assumed it was the man and his wife. After staring long enough, I noticed the similarities between he bride in the photo and the woman from the bar. The two were in all white clothing, alone on a beach. A sunken pirate ship resting behind them.