All About Me-ography
I am a very outgoing individual Mark Harrah
I am strong I am...........
I am safe and full of knowledge
I am lonely
I am a son of a single dad
I am in pain most of the time
I am a non-complainer
I am not what people think I am
I am a hard worker
I am a Harrah
I am an empty harddrive waiting to be filled with knowledge
I am an outdoorsman
I am a bomb waiting for someone to hit the kill switch
I am dangerous
I am a West Side Blood/ West Side White Boy
I am a dreamer
I push through my struggles
Birth Story
It was about 4:30pm on July 17,1994. My mom was in the living room, not long after getting back from City-market, watching TV. She ran to get her shoes when she got her first really bad contraction. Then she tried crawling because of the pain. My dad helped her into the car and drove her to the hospital. When she got there the nurse put her in a wheel chair. They Rolled her in a room that was very plain. My moms blood type is B-Negative and my blood type is O positive causing my moms kidneys to shut down. The midwife’s name was Joy Core and she delivered me. I was born at 8:13 on July 17, 1994,6lbs and 14oz. I had a full head of black hair about 4 inches long. Hazel eyes. My dad and his mom were there.
Mark Harrah
MY Dad
My dad was born in California. He was the 3rd born out of 4. The oldest; my aunt Rosa, next in line; my uncle Mike. then there was my dad and about a year after him was my uncle Andy. My dad is a very hard working man. He is 43 years old and still pouring concrete. He finished high school at Eagle Valley in 1986. He was 2 credits short of getting his diploma so he just got his G.E.D. It only took him 6 years to get himself set financially to have a kid, and support my mom. In 1994 I was born in Glenwood Springs at the Valley View Hospital. Almost 2 Years later my brother was born in the same place. At the time my dad owned a modular in Buffulo Valley. Not long after my brother was born my dad bought 7acres of land just south of Silt. He put up a 3 bed, 3 bath house with a 2 car garage. The house is 2 stories tall. All of this my dad paid for in cash. He also has a 5th wheel camper trailer, a 57 Chevy pickup step side, along with an 87 K5 Blazer. For storage and a hang out spot my dad built a 3 and a half car shop on the proporty. The one thing that stands out of all the things my dad has taught me was that if you want something you have to work for it. Never barrow money for something but pay for it yourself.
MY Dad
My dad was born in California. He was the 3rd born out of 4. The oldest; my aunt Rosa, next in line; my uncle Mike. then there was my dad and about a year after him was my uncle Andy. My dad is a very hard working man. He is 43 years old and still pouring concrete. He finished high school at Eagle Valley in 1986. He was 2 credits short of getting his diploma so he just got his G.E.D. It only took him 6 years to get himself set financially to have a kid, and support my mom. In 1994 I was born in Glenwood Springs at the Valley View Hospital. Almost 2 Years later my brother was born in the same place. At the time my dad owned a modular in Buffulo Valley. Not long after my brother was born my dad bought 7acres of land just south of Silt. He put up a 3 bed, 3 bath house with a 2 car garage. The house is 2 stories tall. All of this my dad paid for in cash. He also has a 5th wheel camper trailer, a 57 Chevy pickup step side, along with an 87 K5 Blazer. For storage and a hang out spot my dad built a 3 and a half car shop on the proporty. The one thing that stands out of all the things my dad has taught me was that if you want something you have to work for it. Never barrow money for something but pay for it yourself.
Mark Harrah
My Brother
I have a brother, his name is James Harrah. Right now he is 15 years old. The only problem is he doesn't act like it. Every time I see him I try to influence him to get out of the house. He likes to be a couch potato and its sad that he weighs more than me. I am a foot taller than him and a lot stronger. He plays sports and i was hoping that football and wrestling would help him out with that. Recently he tore his meniscus during a conditioning drill. The problem is that his muscles on the inside of his legs are very weak. So he was on crouches until the surgery and after. At least for 6 weeks. I got to see him over New Years but he really didn't move around to much. He is getting better though. My mom said that when I was up there he moved around more in those 3 days then the past month. We walked around and he wanted to play with his new air soft guns. So we went to a near by park and shot each other. He is into that kind of stuff. I would rather go hunting and carry about a real gun. Occasionally I will find dinner. James also would rather be around people when i would rather hang out in the woods where no one is around. Its all good though. He knows things I don’t know about City life, as I know more about living in the country. The difference is that City life has made my brother overweight and lazy. I know that wouldn't be if he lived u here. Its no fun being inside when you live in this valley. My brother is his own person I just don’t know if he realizes it. He just needs to grow up and realize what life is.
Pivotal Moments
Recently I was in a rolelover car crash. It was an adrenalin pumping, action packed 2seconds or what seemed like 2 minutes of my life. I really didn't know what to think afterwards. the experience changed the way I fell about trusting my friends in the driver seat.
It was a rainy Sunday afternoon my friend Jacob took me over to my best friend Timmy’s house. When I got there Timmy and his older brother Robert wanted to take michael over to his house to get some money. So Jacob and I followed them. Once we got there we decided to leave Jacob’s truck at Michael's and take Timmy’s subaru the back way to silt,which Goes up by East Elk Creek and goes west at the bottom. It pops out at Harvey Gap.
We stopped at Harvey Gap to figure out what we where going to do. After deciding to go to the gas station, we left the Gap and started down the road. It had stopped raining but the roads were still wet and it was getting cold. Timmy like to drive fast as if he was in a Nascar race. He started hauling ass again. The tires sliped around almost every corner. We got to this straightaway and you can hear the r.p.m.'s increase. There was a T in the road we where approaching. Timmy asks,” where should I go,” I hear people say,”right.” then someone said left so Timmy went left. I look at the speedometer, 55 on the dot then i look up he cranks the wheel. We start going left but the tires lose traction. The pavement turns from brand new stuff to old pavement. He slides off the road. Then into a 15 foot ditch.
I saw the ditch coming and blinked for impact. Everything went to slow-motion. I feel the car starting to role and automatically put my feet on the sealing. I open my eyes, I see the roof of the car and my feet. I hear,” Mark open that door!” I open the handle and to my surprise the door popped right open. I crawled out and immediately looked at the bottom of the car which was facing up. I started helping people out, Michael came out then Jacob. Jacob grabbed Timmy. Robert didn't move as if he was in shock. I got up to the top of the ditch and didn't know what to think. Jacob was running around asking if anyone was hurt and if they’re ok. Cars where driving by not seeing the accident but a group of teen’s on the side of the road. We all made it and are telling the story to all of our friends.
Things that make me sad
-Thinking / reminiscing about the past moments that are lost
-When people play pranks that play with my emotions tward a certain person.
-When I am called stupid or dumb
- When someone says that Im not good enough
-When I care about a person that either doesn’t know or just ignors it
-When I can’t do something
-When my parents think only about themselves
-Not having someone I feel comfortable talking to
-Getting shot down or rejected
-When I am the reason for an argument between friends
-When I cant turn to anyone
-After hearing I lost a friend or family member
-Listening to me and an ex’s song
-Knowing that I am about to graduate and about to move out
-Hearing her cry
-Not being there when it matters
-Leaving after christmas from my family
Strength
My strength is kind of my ego but my weakness is strength in itself. I am strong physically. Ask anyone in the school. Unfortunate what they don’t know is that I am also strong mentally as well. Rarely do I cry over a break-up. Rarely do I get scared when Im lost. It takes a lot to knock me out. It takes twice as much for that person to scare me. I am also very intelligent. I know what to do in many situations. I try not to freak out when I am mad but I do sometimes. It has got to the point though when I am getting mad that I just loose it. At times I can just walk away.
I am talented, just look at the things I have done. I can pour concrete, put up dry wall and lay tile, but that is just the beginning. What I take pride in is my landscaping skills. I can lay stone, sod and much more. If your front lawn looks like a field of dirt and weeds I can turn it into a paradice. For my senior project I am putting steps in on a run down path. You will see what I am talking about when its finished.
My gifts come in the form of art. If you have seen one of my drawings or sculptures or anything of that sort you will know what I mean.
Weakness
I am not someone to really talk about my weaknesses. Most other people would think I’m stupid to say them. They come in the form of love and only one person can make them show. The funny thing is, that person doesnt even know what kind of power she has over me. Like I said in the last paper my strangth is my weakness, if you mess with my mom,dad,brother, cuzins, or friends I am really close to you are messing with me. If you piss me off enough then we are going rounds. If you hurt a family member in any way then we are boxing, but I must warn you that if I black out then there is no telling what I will do. Before you get the idea that I am a mean person that has all this anger built up let me tell you about how I am most of the time. Some people call me a teddy bear, others might say I’m too nice. The real reason is that I know the consequences for my actions. You see if I’m nice all the time and just have a good heart people are more likely to not feel threatened and will like hanging out with me. If I was just out to get in a fight or If I was just a dick all the time then people might feel threatened. I am not going to do something to get into trouble just to do it. I know right from wrong but if you call me out or threaten me I will not back down. I guess a really good example of my weakness happened about 7 years ago. There was this kid running his mouth at the skate park where I had lived. My brother, my girlfriend at the time, my friend Cody, and me where all hanging out at this park. This kid running his mouth was an avrage kid, not to big but he was no weakling either. He was talking shit about all of us and our families. My first reaction was to talk shit back. Then the kid said that I was a pussy and he could kick my ass. I got mad and said, “OH REALLY! ILL SHOW YOU HOW MUCH OF A PUSSY I AM YOU WANT TO FIGHT MOTHERF***** BRING IT ON!” Not even 20 seconds after I said that all you hear is pop and then it was on. From the get go I was losing but I was not raging yet. I would take and take and give a little but nothing that would end it. Finally he hit me with a right that almost knocked me down and then tackled me. I started to see stars and returned some hard ass punches. After I hit him about 3 times It was as if I was a zombie. My 5th punch knocked him to the ground and I just kept going. For some reason I heard, “YOU ARE GOING TO KILL HIM!” I don’t know whats going on at the time but the next thing I hear stops me dead in my tracks.
“Mark stop it please!! NO DON’t!!” She was crying hystericaly. She had stopped me, I went up to her and gave her a big hug. This had gave me my sight back, I came too. I wasn’t mad or anything, I had no clue what I just did and my head really hurt.
“Why does my head hurt so bad?” I asked. Cody didn’t even say anything as he pointed at the ground where I fell. You could see the blood that had dripped from my forehead to the back of my head and all through my hair. The other kid looked a whole lot worst. Thats not the point, the point is that she was the only one that had the power to stop me so there is no telling what kind of power she had over me. Women, They are my weakness and my strangth.
Christian
I am a Christian, and I am very proud of it. I dont go to church much but its better than how much I used to go. I started going to church about 3 and a half years ago and I am glad I did because I excepted Jesus Crest as my lord and savior. My pastor and friends introduced me to an awesome youth group. Learning about the bible and having fun doing it we all got along. Every so often we would do a party night where we would all play games and have pizza. I had a lot of fun but what really dragged me in was this girl named Lorena. She really helped me out with understanding a lot of things I didn't get about the bible. I will admit that me and her had a relationship. We were playing it by the rules because of the time we had together. It was nice because we knew each other really well. She would always wake me up in the morning with a call and her ring tone was our song. The relationship only lasted 4 months but I am not sad at all for knowing her and having someone to help me out with my struggles. Mean while my relationship with the lord got stronger. He helped me get through the times she wasn’t there. I am not trying to tell you that he solves everything, some of thats on your own, but you can turn to the lord.
Friend
A good friend will help you out with things. He or she knows some of your family but not all. I most likely have known them from anywhere between 3 and 7 years. They know how I act and who I am. Most of my good friends are a little crazy. People I just met or haven’t known for to long don’t have my full trust. The thing is, I still have respect for them and all of my friends. There are a lot of great thing that come with knowing a lot of people but they are not all friends. When a friend becomes a brother is when he has been there for a while or I have known him for longer than any other of my friends. A brother is someone that can predict what I am most likely going to do next. They know almost all of my family by there first name. In one case my brother Timmy calls all my family members family. He is my best friend and I think that he would give a better description of a good friend.
Home
Home is a hard thing to describe. I think it is because for so long where I was living didn’t feel like home. I was born in Glenwood and lived in a modular trailer in Buffalo Valley for about the first 4 years of my life. After that my dad bought 7 acres of land South of Silt and had a 2 story, 3 bed, 3 bath house with a 2 car garage. We lived there for about 4 year. My mom and dad got divorced when I was in second grade. By the time 3rd grade came around my mom got a place in Rifle so I moved in with her. I was in the 4th grade at this time. For the next 2 and a half years I lived there. After getting expelled and my mom went broke, we moved. My grandma and grandpa let us move into their house because they where starting to travel full time, provided my mom got a job and helped out with the bills. My grandpa Just started a business working on motor homes, which required him to go where the work was. I lived there for about 3 years. I moved in with my dad back in silt after i got in a big argument with my mom. I had also started smoking pot and cigarettes. Living with my dad, my whole attitude changed for the better. I got used to rolling around with fat stacks of cash. I was working with my dad on the days I didn’t have school. I would always head back to that house near silt at the end of the day. So I have lived in that house the most. My dad built and bought everything there with cash. So what I think a home is not just a house. Its about what you put in it to make it a part of you.
A Good Parent
A good parent? i don’t know how to discribe one. I mean I guess I had good parents but that what all m friends say about there parents. For a while my best friend thought my dad was a piece of shit. I didnt but thats cause I know my dad. He is a hard person to get along with. Youhave to know your boundries when talking to him. My mom always seemed a little over protective. I had always done things she didnt like and in her mind I was hanging out with the wrong crowed. So I thing a good parent would teach their kid right from wrong. The thing is once the kid realizes who he or she is the parent needs to show the kid boundries. Just dont try and change them unless he or she wants too. I dont know the rest depends on the parent and the child.
A good parent? i don’t know how to discribe one. I mean I guess I had good parents but that what all m friends say about there parents. For a while my best friend thought my dad was a piece of shit. I didnt but thats cause I know my dad. He is a hard person to get along with. Youhave to know your boundries when talking to him. My mom always seemed a little over protective. I had always done things she didnt like and in her mind I was hanging out with the wrong crowed. So I thing a good parent would teach their kid right from wrong. The thing is once the kid realizes who he or she is the parent needs to show the kid boundries. Just dont try and change them unless he or she wants too. I dont know the rest depends on the parent and the child.
Happiness
Happiness in the future, a difficult challenge. I really don’t know how I will be happy a few years down the road. Then again I never thought I would be in the position to graduate. Happiness is not what is going to get me places but passion will. So if i guess as soon as I am successful about something I am passionate about I will be happy. When I graduate I have the opportunity of choice in what job I get. Hell I could be the president. All it would take is to get in the military and move up in the ranks. But I really don’t want to do that. I could see myself fighting in a war but I will have my own way of doing things. I really think that I am going to try and make money though. A job as a mechanic would be nice or the owner of a building business. Happiness would not only lie in the money but I would also like to have a girlfriend or wife. Maybe a family even I think that would be nice. I really don’t know though cause I live life day by day I don’t like making plans for the future.
Success
Success is one of the easier things to describe. I would not consider my self successful, but I have not even started the train to success. I think my dad is very successful. I have seen him go from having no money and worrying about next months mortgage, to 2 months later not only paying the mortgage but everything else he needs to pay. He would also have to worry about next month. When things are going good and work is flowing, things are great. Unfortunately my dad does a lot of struggling to get ahead. There will be times where we will get behind but for some reason we always had food. In my mind if you are successful you don’t have to worry about anything. Now if you are just getting by on what little money you have and what essentials it takes to get by then I don’t consider you successful. I guess success could mean your are doing better than you did in the past.