Exactly a week ago, I was recovering from tennis.
No, not from playing, nor from watching the French Open. Seven days ago, I was resting comfortably at my friend's home in Sunnyvale, grateful that the 30th US Gay Open, which I served as assistant tournament director, was now over.
The US Gay Open, affectionately called the USGO, is the largest and oldest gay tennis tournament in the country. After volunteering for the first time last year, I was recruited to help organize the tournament for 2010. I have just one thought after this four-day event which saw over 300 players gather from all over the world: the gays love our drama.
Seriously, as early as a couple of months before the tournament began, when I began to receive endless emails regarding why player X should play in division B because of injury M and why player Y shouldn't have been seeded in division C because player Z beat him in a tournament two years ago, I knew my job wasn't going to be an easy ace. Thankfully, most of the complaints ended when the tournament began on the Friday before Memorial weekend, and I was able to enjoy the tournament - when I wasn't running around trying to get matches started on time or finding someone to refill courtside water jugs.
To my surprise, players whose faces were foreign to me but whose names were oh-so-familiar from the countless emails and registrations I had processed came up to me to thank me for the work I did. I was overwhelmed; people actually understood how much work this volunteer position demanded. Chatting with people from all over the country and also a few folks from Europe was probably the highlight of the weekend - that and also watching a few very exciting tennis matches.
So it is now one week removed from the tournament, and I am just starting to redirect my attention toward the other aspects of my life which I had neglected for a few months - namely screenwriting and cello practice. It's time to focus again on my filmmaking goals, and all the tennis drama from the last few months reminded me of something I had learned in screenwriting class a couple of years ago: drama is conflict.
Certainly, there were all sorts of conflicts that I faced, and they all share the same root of different persons wanting different things. Perhaps having experienced some minor drama (after all, it is only tennis) will have me create some major drama in my artistic work. And as usual, the key is to find some way to resolve them beautifully.
Only this time, I won't have to hear the gays complain. At least not until the movie is made.
