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meet, "ryoung" | the golo profiles

Published Mar. 25, 2009
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This week we get up close and very personal with GOLO member, RYoung. He certainly didn’t hold back in this interview, and I think we can all learn from his positive attitude and amazing outlook on life. Meet, Ryoung!

 

 

Angela: What do you think your friends say about you behind your back?

RYoung: Probably that I talk too much, I’m a big talker. I like to talk about a lot of different things. Also I’m very bad at getting back to people. I will lose touch for about a week or two and finally get up with them and they ask “Where have you been?”

 

 

Angela: So what exactly are doing when you’re missing in action?

RYoung: I pursue my own diverse interests. My biggest now is I’m getting married. That takes most of my time. This will be my second time around. I was married for 20 years and never thought I’d do it again but I met the right lady.

 

Angela: I hear a lot of people say they’ll never do it again, after a long marriage. Why is that?

RYoung:  Mine ended badly. I caught her with another guy. She ended up leaving the next day, and withdrew all of the money. It turned out that she got the cars registered in her name so the car I thought I’d been paying for wasn’t registered to me.

I once had three cars and ended up with none.

(Silence!)

…And I got laid off two weeks later.

 

Angela: Oh.My.God!

RYoung: Yep. Oh, and she managed to come back and take all of the furniture when I was gone so I had no furniture.

 

Angela: How in the world did you recover?

RYoung: I was pretty depressed. But honestly I just read the book of Job and I said I am going to get through this. My faith came in handy. I started looking for work. I managed to get a used car and ended up getting a job making more money.

After about a year I started dating and then I met this lady and BOOM it took off.

 

Angela: That is a crazy story.

RYoung: (Laughs.) I’ve written some blogs that incorporated some of this. I don’t worry anymore. I’ve seen the other side. You’re stronger than you think you are.

 

Angela: Are you bitter?

RYoung: No. While I had nothing I could feel that if I didn’t just forgive her and move on it would really eat me up.

After she left, I found some stuff in the house that I knew she cared about and even made sure she got it. .

 

Angela: That is admirable, because I can’t say I would have been able to do the same thing.

RYoung: To be honest, the lady I’m with now is so great. It makes all of this stuff I went through almost worth it.

 

Angela: I was going to ask you to tell me about the worse day of your life, but I think we pretty much covered that one.

We both laugh…

RYoung: I can’t think of one worse.

 

Angela: So tell me what you like about GOLO.

RYoung: It kind of serves a lot of the purposes that I like in an online community.

I can have intellectual discussions. One of my favorites is Mentor. He always has good blogs. And if I want to have a good time or funny side I can do that too. You can have good discussion whether it’s serious or funny. You can get just about everything.

 

Angela: Are you saying GOLO is the new Golden Corral?

RYoung: That’s right. You can find anything you want. Yep, you have everything from Filet Mignon, to the red light district.

 

Angela: Yeah but I’m putting those red light district types on notice.

RYoung: I know but I had to put that one in there.

 

Angela: So tell me about the wedding

RYoung: It’s going to be very simple. It’s both of our second marriages. We are going to the Justice of the Peace and we will have a reception. We are then going to hang out at Grove Park Inn, which has become our spot. It’s nice up there.

 

Angela: What’s your five year plan?

RYoung: My immediate plan is…I really like the job I have. It’s a small company where you get to do a lot. I’d like to see this company really take off because it has real potential. I like everybody I work with. I’d like to be able to get a house with my new wife and kind of settle down. I want to get back to a married routine instead of the single guy routine.

 

 

Angela: And what is that routine like?

RYoung: It’s like this:

I get off work. If I want a beer with the guys I go. I grab a meal here of there. I go hang out with brother-in-law. I throw my clothes in the corner. Fall asleep in front of the TV—nobody can wake me up. It’s kind of a fly by the seat of your pants routine.

The weird thing was I left home and went to college. Met my first wife in college so I never lived alone until I was 40 years old!

 

Angela: Tell me about a great memory from your childhood.

RYoung: What I really remember most was the summertime when I was in high school. I can remember going up the street playing ball for the afternoon, going home and having supper, reading and going to bed. It was very easy times.

 

 

Angela: I don’t feel like kids these days get to do that kind of thing. What’s different about this generation from yours?

RYoung: Part of it is that you don’t feel as comfortable letting your kids just leave. And there’s a lot more things that are taking on your kids time. They have to practice this or that…then they come home and get on the computer.

Kids socialize completely differently than I did. I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I just have to see how it plays out.

 

 

Angela: What would you do with a million dollars?

RYoung: First thing I would do is make my fiancé very happy and let her go buy that house she really wants. With the rest of it I would just lay back and travel one big destination per year. I’ve been all over the UK. I would like to go Greece and Ireland and Italy.

 

Angela: What took you to the UK?

RYoung: I’m a big history buff. I almost became a history teacher but they didn’t pay enough so I used my hobby which was programming and turned that into my career.

I’ve traveled to Stonehenge—and it was the biggest let down. You can’t even get close to it and it’s tremendously hard to get to.

You can get better views on TV.

 

Angela: What else did you do?

RYoung: I took a boat ride on Loch Ness…Edinburgh…I went to see some Viking settlements. I had a good time.

The best beer I’ve ever tasted was in Scotland. The best beer I’ve ever put in my mouth. Oh my goodness! I get back to the bed and breakfast and I order the local beer and they bring me this beer that is black as tar and I didn’t think I’d like it. I took one sip and next thing I knew I had finished three. I was feeling good when I went up to my room.

 

Angela: What’s the most important thing you taught your daughter? (Young mentioned his daughter some when we went off the record)

RYoung: Through her entire life it was the same lesson: Never quit.

Never ever give up on something you want. The only time you really lose is when you quit. I am going to quote a very bad movie but it’s a good quote:

“It’s not how much you get beat down, its how often you get beat down and get up and keep moving forward.”

 

Angela: I love that.

RYoung: That is the message I tried to get into her throughout her life.

That is so important.

 

Angela: I think some people are wired to quit. Do you agree?

RYoung: It seems like it but honestly, I don’t understand it. It’s like if I bought some stock right before the crash. On paper I’ve lost a lot of money but I haven’t really lost it until I quit and take the loss. As long as I stay in the game and keep trying, I can win.

 

Angela: The most positive man of the year award goes to you

RYoung: Thank you!

It’s easy to get down especially now, but keep swinging. Don’t lose hope. You’ll find strength you never had and when you come out you’ll be proud for making it through,

 

Angela: And on that note, I think we’re done. It’s been a real pleasure R!

RYoung: Thank you.  

 

 

 

 

 

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