This is Robert. He’s the most competitive person I know. He loves sports, board games, video games, and doing flips on trampolines when he can. He also refers to himself as “The King” when he can. He is the best… at everything. (At least in his world!)
In this interview we talk about his general passion for competition and some of his strategies/thinking behind chess and fighting game tournaments.
Listen to the “Players” Podcast interview to get the full story!
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John Marshall, a man that lost almost everything overnight was about to head out on a trail of revenge, leaving his ranch behind him.
His entire family was massacred during the night by bandits. He would have died himself, had it not been for sheer willpower to avoid being taken out by a single bullet. When he awoke in the morning still in agony, he worked his way to get himself fixed with whatever he could find within his household. When he could finally stand, he was in anger and sadness as he saw the lifeless bodies of his family. His wife, his son, and his father laid dead upon the ground. He sat down and cried for a while, mourning the losses. Everything that ever mattered to him was gone in just one night.
With sadness burdening down upon him, he sluggishly made his way outside and picked up a shovel. Several hours later, the graves were made and his loved ones within. He paid his respects and sat down inside his empty home cradling his head in his hands. He felt so sick, he would not eat; could not eat.
It was close to three when the rage set in. He rioted within his home breaking glass and furniture until he saw his hunting rifle. He calmed down a bit after gazing at it a while. He thought it over and made a decision. The only thing to do, was to go hunting for the bandits that did this.
He packed himself with all the bullets he had and made his way out to the horse shed. Only one remained, and that was good enough for him. He climbed onto the saddle and made his way out, stopping by the house for the last time. Reminiscing for a while on all that was good about this place until it was time to go. Time to go and obtain his revenge for the wrongs put upon him and his family. He may not make it back, he may not be satisfied with simply killing the bandits. All he knows is that he needs to do something. Anything to make it feel like he tried.
And so he sets out. No longer looking back.
It was a bright sunny day, a perfect day to be with the family, William thought. But before going back to his family, he needed to first deliver the cargo to the neighboring town.
William was a robot that had a glass sphere, that shined, for a heart and oil for blood. He traveled and delivered goods for a living everyday. He was a magnificent pilot that loved the wind and sky. That’s why he named his son Keith after wind and his daughter Lani after sky. And today, before departing, his children, like always, were there to say goodbye.
“Dad, Dad! When you come back, Are we going to soar the skies together!?”
“Yes, Keith. I promise!”
“Daddy! Promise you’ll teach me how to fly today!”
“Of course, Lani!”
“Look! The sky is so pretty! Daddy, come back soon, ok?”
“I will. Now goodbye and both of you take care of the house. And Keith, take care of Lani. ”
“Yes, Dad. Have a safe trip!”
William was waving goodbye to his children while walking towards his airship. As he got on, he looked up. To him, the sky was a place that made him feel alive. Every time he departed on a new trip, and felt the wind touching his face, he was reminded that the sky was his second home. Thankfully today, the job was easy, the sky was clear and the wind was in his favor.
As he began flying, he was already imagining coming back and what flying lesson was he going to teach his children today. He knew they had what it takes to fly, ever since both of them grabbed the steering wheel when they were younger. CRACK! A strange noise suddenly interrupted his memories. He noticed something odd, the airship felt different for some reason. He was half way to his destination, so he decided to check what was wrong once he arrived at the town.
He looked down and realized he was at the big rocky area that was known for being very dangerous and a natural border between 3 nearby towns. Then as he looked back, he heard the engine was starting to fail. He tried looking below for a safe place to land , but the rocky terrain was out of the question,. Even if he was the best pilot, no one could manage a safe descent in an area like that. He traveled for a few more minutes, knowing that soon those rocky lands would become a desert, for he traveled this route countless times before.
He was getting out of the rocky terrain and coming into the desert but fire had started in the back of the ship. William tried to maneuver the ship into a safe landing, but the ship barely responded. Suddenly BOOM! The engine exploded and the ship began falling, faster and faster. He tried his best to control the ship. The sandy ground was closer and closer and the ship crashed. All the cargo, burning, flew in every direction . William was still inside the ship, unconscious.
The sun, that was shinning so beautifully before, now was burning so menacingly down on William. He woke up and crawled to a nearby rock, in fear that the ship would explode. He barely had any energy, the oil was leaking from his legs and torso, and the glow in his glass heart was wavering.
He leaned on the rock with just a few belongings. His hat, that belonged to his father and gave it to him when Willaim became a pilot, his scarf, that was made by his wife before passing away, and a photograph, that he would always carry in his travels. The photograph of his two kids and him on a sunny day just like today.
Then memories of his children came rushing. The time they spent together and the last conversation they had. He wanted to come back to them, come back to all those promises and memories. He suddenly passed out again; the physical pain and, especially, the pain of maybe not coming back was to much to bear.
Keith and Lani were both doing house chores. Keith was busy preparing a meal. His dad knew that if he wasn’t going to become a pilot, he would definitely become a chef. Keith could see his sister from the opened window kitchen and how she was doing laundry. Lani suddenly stopped and looked at the sun and, without turning to Keith, she said:
“Keith. Why, even though the sun is shinning so nicely, why does it look so sad?”
Keith was about to ignore those words, since she was a child who said funny and weird things sometimes, but when he looked at the sun and, for some reason, he could understand what Lani was saying. He then spoke very softly:
“I don‘t know.”
“Maybe it’s because it’s saying goodbye!”
“Lani, it’s still noon!”
“Maybe it‘s sleepy!”
Keith knew it was still early for the sun to go away and he couldn’t shake the sudden bad feeling he got when he looked at the sun. Yet he keep cooking, hoping that nothing bad would happen to his dad.
William woke up again and the sun was shinning softly, almost like it was saying goodbye. The heart glass’ glow was wavering, slowly shinning less and less. He saw how his ship and cargo were burning. He looked at his legs that fell off when he was crawling toward the rock. And finally he looked at the picture but, suddenly, the last glow of his heart finally came. The glass heart fell from his body and shattered and with the last bit if energy he had, he still managed to move his hand towards the picture of his 2 kids, trying to grasp it, as if the picture was life itself. He looked at it for the last time and said goodbye.
