And then there was the time I won a contest

Posted: February 25th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

I don’t normally enter a lot of contests. There are some people who will sign up for any chance to take home the trophy, whether it’s the neighborhood raffle or the supermarket grocery giveaway or whatever. Not me, and for a very simple reason.

I never win.

My wife usually has better luck – she won a hundred dollar gift certificate from a bath and body place recently – but just last week my luck changed! I won! Yay, me!

Appropriately enough, the contest was over on the Dark Horse website. The challenge: Leave a comment describing the first time you saw “Star Wars” and the best three will receive a Star Wars prize package. Of course, this was irresistible! I grabbed my Yoda action figure for inspiration and sent this comment, warts and all (the “thrilling” followed by a “thrilled” still bugs me, but oh, well):

“I was seven years old when “Star Wars – Episode IV” was released, and I remember sitting in the theater with my family when the lights went down and those thrilling first notes of the theme began. From the start, I was thrilled and pulled deep, deep into the movie. From that moment on, I was a fan, and watching it the first time was immediately followed by the second – we kept out seats (you could still do that, then) and watched it again. I was so excited I couldn’t stop smiling, or talking about it. I guess I still can’t.

The rest of that summer was defined by the number of days until I could see the movie again. My dad, who himself had fond memories of watching serials and pulp sci-fi at the theater, indulged me. He took me to see “Star Wars” over and over, and never seemed to lose his own enthusiasm. By the time school started up three months later, I had seen the movie 13 or 14 times.

When “Phantom Menace” came out years later, I wasn’t sure I would make it to opening day. My dad, suddenly and unexpectedly, had died two days before. It didn’t feel right, and I told my mom so. She clicked her tongue and told me, “Well, your dad wouldn’t want you to miss it – he’d want you to go. Don’t you think?” And she was right. It wasn’t the same as seeing “Star Wars” in ’77, but in way it’s as much a memory of my dad as it had been then.

And I still get a thrill when that theme music begins.”

When Dark Horse sent an e-mail a couple of days later letting me know the comment was one of the three chosen, I was pretty excited (you can read the other winning comments at the Dark Horse page). And I don’t even know what’s in the prize package! Is it the comic book adaptations at the bottom of the page? Or could it … could it be …?

OK, I think I’m getting carried away. Plus, I don’t want to jinx it. I’m just going to go sit by the window now and wait for the mailman to get here.


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2 Comments on “And then there was the time I won a contest”

  1. 1 Dom said at 1:25 pm on February 25th, 2011:

    Dude, that’s very cool that you won. Unlike random raffles you can make your own luck when it comes to well written comments like the one you won for. Hopefully you win one of those sweet Taun-taun sleeping bags.

  2. 2 Maxo Romero said at 9:53 am on February 27th, 2011:

    Thanks, Dom! Whatever it turns out to be, it was nice to win.


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