Yesterday afternoon I went outside to check the mail, bouncing across the concrete to avoid hot patches as my feet were bare. When I got to the mailbox (eeps, black concrete, hot, hot, hot!) I pulled out a huge pile of mail and began sorting through it. Buried beneath a pile of *boring* mail was a letter for me. A long white envelope, postmarked June 13, from Marina Del Rey, California. My heart started pounding as I walked back up the driveway – it wasn’t just any address near Marina Del Ray, it was from the Academy Foundation. That’s who runs the scriptwriting competition I entered. I was getting really nervous as thoughts of, “Holy crap, did I make it to the quarterfinals?” ran screaming through my head. I ran the rest of the way into the house, leaping up the few stairs that lead to my front door. In I went, dropped the boring mail on the table, and very carefully opened the letter with a steak knife. My hands were shaking as I opened the letter, but phew, I didn’t have to deal with acceptance or rejection right there. It was just a note letting me know that they received my script and my application form, and that everything was honky-dory-fine.
There was one huge perk, though, that made up for my heart pounding. They wrote my screenplay’s title in there. That felt so good to see in writing, on The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences letterhead. Even if I don’t win the competition, at least I know I tried. What are the chances that I’ll win amongst 6,000 other people? All of whom I’m sure had far more than 10 days to prepare their entry. But I’ve tried it. In 10 days I met my goal, finished a full-length screenplay, and that letter I got yesterday reaffirmed that it wasn’t for nothing. They got it all in time, even though I had to send it by FedEx overnight. That rules, and even thinking about it now, my heart’s pounding again.
Last night I was talking to my friend Sam about sports and the topic of conversation wound its way around to basketball, in particular the Sacramento Kings. In even more detail, Mike Bibby, one of their players who used to play for the University of Arizona. Sam was kind of quizzing me about basketball, so see how much I really knew. He spouted two names, then Mike Bibby. The name was familiar, and I thought I had a name to go along with that face, but I wasn’t quite sure. Then he told me he played for Arizona, showed me a picture, and instantly all of these memories came tumbling out. All about stuff I haven’t thought about in years. In particular, I had a vague memory of seeing Mike Bibby in person. But, that’s not where I’m going with this, so I’ll ignore that memory right now.
Instead, it wound around to Sam asking me something else about basketball, something like the Kings needing more fantastic players. Another thought hit me, a guy I used to know in Tucson, Matt Lohmeier. The kid was a genius at basketball – had the NBA courting him at the age of 12, when he was already over 6 feet tall. I don’t think I was really his “friend”, it was more like he was my friends’ older brother (I knew his two younger sisters). But I always thought he kicked butt at basketball. He’d go to clinics with Mike Bibby, and the other UofA NCAA champions. Matt was seriously good. (And not to mention seriously drop-dead gorgeous. Back when he was 12, he made grown, married women do double-takes. Naturally tan skin, perfect hair, and the brightest blue eyes ever. All the girls his age had huge crushes on him. I was 12, sick all the time, and really chubby at the time I knew him, so I didn’t really care. Looking back, I should have.)
Anyway, where I’m trying to go with this, but it keeps going off track, is it was a strange realization to look back and think about someone I hadn’t ever really thought about at the time, but was always impressed by. In the back of my mind I was always kind of looking out for his name in sports news, wondering when he’d finally decide to care about what the NBA’s been trying to hand out to him, just in return for him signing a contract with them. He always kind of ignored them, kept his mind on college instead. Never gloated about the fact he could rival Mike Bibby, “Prince” Charles, who knows who else.
So, Sam convinced me to look him up to see if he was available to play for the Sacramento Kings. Turns out Matt’s doing alright for himself – he’s got a contract with the Air Force Academy to play for the Falcons. Apparently I never knew his real dream was to fly jets, and now he gets to do both – play basketball and fly his airplanes. I just hope at 6’4″ he’s not too tall for the latter.
This experience almost makes me wonder what my other past friends are up to. Maybe it’s time for another google search.