Time Machine

For our second Action Project in our Humanities Who Am I? class, we were assigned to create a "time machine". The purpose of creating our own "time machine" was to recall a memory in our past that shaped us or one that we favored. We had to write using the senses to help visualize the story. This created a lot of detail and allowed the audience to experience the time in which this memory takes place. I felt that the hardest part about this project was expressing necessary details in my script because I wanted to tell a memory where someone could feel the emotions that are going through my mind and feel as if they are actually there. In contrast, I am proud of how I was able to accomplish what I wanted in this script, which I feel led me to create a script that accurately reflects a happy time in my life.

 Created by A.R. (2017)

During March, most people are enjoying the weather and looking forward to spring break. I was looking forward to something much different than a vacation. I was in the 2013 Palos Verdes 4^th grade boy’s championship. At the time, I felt that this was one of the best moments in my life that has ever happened to me. What was very interesting was two months before Barack Obama was inaugurated for his second term and in some way, we were experiencing something similar and great. That day was one that I could never forget to remember.

That morning, I was filled with excitement and extreme nervousness. I was a person who was shy and very self-conscious of myself at the time. Having to deal with those emotions put even more pressure on me. As I was driving up to the basketball gym where the game was set to play, I felt even more emotions floating through my body. I knew that this could affect my performance during the game and somehow I had to get these thoughts or emotions out of my head. From past experiences, I’ve seen what a bad mindset can do, and what can come out of it is not good. So, I decided to take a deep breath, breathe in the fresh air that smells like the salty but cool ocean, and focus on doing my best.

As my dad and mom walk with me to the gym, where the basketball gym is, and as I’m walking I was able to get rid of the negative emotions. This allowed me to become focused, determined, relaxed, and game ready. As I entered the court, I could feel the intense moment of it all. I knew that my teammates were nervous as well, which I felt was nice as I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Knowing this I felt more support and I could focus in the game.

The game start’s and immediately the other team grabs the ball, which leads them to score first. My teammate then grabs the ball and tosses it over to another player on my team. That same player looks at me far down the court where I am, and nobody is around me as the ball is being tossed to me. I see the ball coming towards and I catch it. I am now focused on the net and me. Everyone is cheering me on and they were very loud in the stance. They could be compared to having a microphone speaker near your ear. I am now dribbling the ball to the basket and I shoot it. It ends up hitting only the rim and missing the hoop. I felt disappointed and how that affected the team. As the game went on, we keep losing point after point. The other team was leading by 15 points, which at that point we felt that we were going to lose. We then had to become mentally stronger and pick up our energy in order win.

What we did next changed everything. We gathered together, and our coach motivated us. This rewired our brains allowing us to become better. We came back on the court and we started to communicate, we were faster, and we were making almost every shot. Taking in all of the factors that we just encountered really did change us. The hard work led us to increasing our points and winning.

This experience immediately affected me as a person and my mindset. It taught me to have determination, hard work, and resilience. It also taught me how to be supportive and about team work. Thinking about another situation, when I was listening to podcasts on StoryCorps, one story was about two parents who lost their son on what was supposed to be a joyful day. It was their son’s birthday and sadly passed away that day due to being a victim of a massacre. This made them cherish life and love their son even more. Going back to me, this was a time where my social identity was being developed, and my experience shaped me. I was and did form my own individual characteristics.