Chuck the Writer WINS HIS FIRST COMPETITIVE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD!!!

Manchester Millrats v Rochester Razorsharks 2009 Playoffs Game 2
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

It's Saturday afternoon, and I'm trying to get my front lawn mowed before we get another rain storm. The mailman always drives up our street around Saturday afternoon, and he steps up to my porch with the mail, just as I'm flattening the last blades of grass.

He hands me the Saturday mail, and I can see in the distance two post cards. I know where they're from. Syracuse. And the New York State Fair.

I don't even want to look at the back of the cards. Each card has the name of the picture - in my cases, the postcards were designated "Washington Park After Dark" and "Action Under the Basket," the names of my two photos.

On the back of each card were three check boxes:

[_] WINNER [_] ACCEPTED [_] NOT ACCEPTED

I slowly turned the card over for the first postcard, "Washington Park After Dark.

[_] WINNER [_] ACCEPTED [X] NOT ACCEPTED

Darn.

Then I looked at the second card, the card that represents "Action Under the Basket," the photo you see above.

[X] WINNER [X] ACCEPTED [_] NOT ACCEPTED

I looked at it a second time.

[X] WINNER [X] ACCEPTED [_] NOT ACCEPTED

Oh my God in Heaven! I WON! My photo that I shot straight down from the rafters of Blue Cross Arena during the PBL Playoffs between Rochester and Manchester WON AT THE NEW YORK STATE FAIR!!

(you can't see it right now but I'm doing the Dance of Joy)

Now I won't really know what level I won - 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place or honorable mention - until I actually attend the Fair. So now I need to check my calendar and see what day I can actually get out to the Fair and do some celebratory basking!