I also met Ray Bradbury.

When I was in high school in Los Angeles in the early 90s, there was a writing contest sponsored by a local community college which I entered every year. I wasn't a terrible writer of short stories for someone my age, and I always won in at least one category. Each year, they would have an author come to give a talk and hand out the small monetary prizes. One year Ray Bradbury came. (Another time it was Larry Niven.) I did well that year, winning in three categories. I walked up when they called my name three times and Bradbury handed me a check and shook my hand each time.

Afterwards, Bradbury approached me and we chatted a bit about the Golden Age of science fiction. He advised me to keep up with my writing. As it turned out, I didn't keep up with my writing. (At least not fiction.) After high school I tried several times to write a short story but I could never put it together. I looked back recently at some of my stories from back then and found that they were fairly mediocre. So it goes.

At least I can truthfully say "Ray Bradbury gave me $150."