Week 11: Brainstorming my Digital Story

1. Describe a positive scene from childhood in detail.  What led up to this event? When and where did it happen?  Who was involved?  What were you thinking and feeling?  Why is it an important event?  What impact did it have on you?

For my birthday when I was in 1st grade, I got a bicycle. I had learned to ride off of my friend's bikes. I was natural at riding, but didn't ask about the brakes until I hit a wall the first time. . My older sisters also had bikes that were styled for gals so I would use theirs until that day. It was probably the happiest day of my youth because I could now bike around my neighborhood in style.

2. Describe a negative scene from childhood in detail.  What led up to this event? When and where did it happen?  Who was involved?   What were you thinking and feeling?  Why is it an important event?  What impact did it have on you?

This negative event involves the same bicycle. I believe that this happened a few months after the birthday. I was out riding with my neighbor for a few hours and we were mostly having a normal day. I wanted to get out of traffic so I rode onto a sidewalk. Through some poor luck on everyone involved, a lady was helping her elderly mother to their car and didn't see me from a wall facing the sidewalk. I collided with the ladies and got up in fear and started to ride away. My neighbor thought that we should just leave, but I went back to check up on the ladies and tell them that I hadn't intended for the accident. The mother had to go to the hospital and my parents took me to visit her. I later delivered papers to her and I am glad that I did the best I could in a tough situation.

3. Describe a particular event from your teen-aged years that stands out in your memory today.  This can be positive or negative. What led up to the event?  What happened?  Where and when?  Who was involved?   What were you thinking and feeling?  Why is it an important event?  What impact did the event have on you.

I will stick the bicycling adventures. In high school, my best friend and I were cross-training freaks over the summers. We swam for a local swim team, ran a few newspaper routes and went on biking adventures through different neighborhoods of Clarksburg. Our most ambitious ride was from our neighborhood to the Meadowbrook Mall through some back roads, probably a good 10 miles. We stopped and visited my grandmother on the way and took some tall hills and the relaxing rides down the other side. It was an important event to me because we had a pretty wild plan and were able to get it done. We saw friends that drive to the mall and they were impressed with our adventure. My buddy and I can still talk pleasantly about that day.

4. Describe a vivid or important memory from any time in your adult years.  Again, this can be positive or negative.  It can be about anything – family, work, whatever.  The scene stands out in your mind today as being especially vivid or important.  Please describe what led up to the event.  Then describe the scene in detail.  What happened?  Where and when?  Who was involved?  What were you thinking and feeling?  Why is it an important event?  What impact has the event had on you?

This is one of my last times on a bicycle. I had my ten speed for my freshman year in Morgantown and would ride it in a pinch from Towers on Evansdale campus to Downtown for classes over University Ave. I made great time because I was still in good shape at 18. On a weekend I went just out for a ride. At the top of the bend by the Business School was bike path besides a stairwell that led to a jump over the walkway that used to be there connecting the campus to Sunnyside. This was before the Health Sciences building was built. I thought that since there was a bike trail that I could take it at full speed. So I came roaring down the hill and hit the jump. Low and behold, I rocketed into the air. I remember looking down and thought how the heck did I get ten feet high and how am I going to land? I ended up just busting my butt good on the landing and laughing hard because I was really scared mid-flight. This event was a turning point on trusting my eyes to get me through a new situation and I was more cautious after this in trying out new stunts. I always have had this scene in the back of my mind when I have done other risky maneuvers, be it on a bike, in a car or any mode of travel.

 5. In looking back on your life, you may be able to identify particular “turning points” – episodes through which you experienced an important change in your life.  Please choose one key turning point scene and describe it in detail.  If you feel your life story contains no clear turning points, then describe a particular episode in your life that comes closer than any other to qualifying for a turning point – a scene where you changed in some way.  Again, please describe what led up to the event, what happened in the event, where and when it happened, who was involved, what you were thinking and feeling, and so on.  Also, please tell me how you think you changed as a result of this event and why you consider this event to be an important scene in your life story today.

The biggest turning point in my life was when I enlisted into the Navy. I had looked well at the job and career that I would have while in the service, but I had a life changing experience when I took the oath and started my enlistment. I enlisted the the Pittsburgh Federal Building on July 15, 2002. At that point I was committed to the defense of the United States and would accept the risks that it entailed. I felt like a new man after taking the oath and will always live up to it.