Audition Day

Okay, so, wake up at 3:08 (the alarm went off at 3 but it took that long for me to register it in my sleep-brain!) brush my teeth, rip up the plastic for the ice-bucket and cover up the wrist band using a mesh of that and tape. (I did this with my glasses off.)

(Also I just realized that I’ve forgotten to take my lexapro for two days now! Maybe more, I cannot remember really before Wednesday. I’m not having any withdraw symptoms yet though, and usually I would by now! I do have it in my bag so I will take some tonight!)

And then I start figuring out which cleaning supplies are which- I never bring more than toothpaste because hotels always provide it- plus toiletries take up a lot of space and I never stay anywhere THAT long, anyway! I make sure to do this with my glasses on because it has occurred to me that TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Then I figure out how the shower works (and have a derp where I think that the water is not heating up but really I just have the handle turned wrong) then CLEAN OCCURS.

And it is VERY HARD when you are trying not to get the wrist on your primary hand wet. (I know that I have it covered but still being careful!)

So shower, dry (the towels, while they don’t SOAK much, are quite effective at drying. They just wipe the water right off of you!), put glasses on, take plastic off of wrist band, discover that I didn’t cover all of the edges on the hand-side of the seal in tape! Oh no!

The entire thing is moist but not ruined (yay!) so that is okay. I run a towel over it and my wrist to dry it off, then get dressed, make sure that I have everything, and OUT THE DOOR!

So then it’s a walk down to the Stadium! On the way, I pass homeless guys 5-9 (and at nine I decide that if I see one more, I will stop keeping count, because then it is a normal number for downtown, but I know that I will continue keeping track anyway.) homeless men 8 and 9 are awake and walking, 8 was talking to himself and laughing like he just remembered something funny, and 9 didn’t look at me! (as it happens, I think that all of the homeless people are on broadway! A guy that I met in line called it the Boulevard of broken dreams *an appropriate reference!* and I think that he is right!)

So then when I start getting to I street I start seeing other people headed to the stadium! One man on a bike knew where I was going, and very warmly said hi- he was just a regular morning person, not homeless, so I said hi back, and kept on my way.

Lots of people now, and when I get to the park I am put into the last section of corral number one (I know that they are called corrals because I heard a security guard saying that corral number 1 was almost full.)

Very lucky, I would have hated to be any later than that.

So then I wait, there is a guy there who is very outspoken and generally charismatic, and he sings (poorly, on purpose) the star spangled banner and stuff. (and when I start singing it with him, so does everybody else, except that we’re singing the real tempo and he’s not, so eventually we stop.) and for the most part he provides our entertainment until the sun starts coming up.

At five o-clock, security pulls a fast one on us by telling us to go forward!

Then they calls us back, saying “good job”. I think that a few of us appreciated it, but it made us unsure if we should stay seated of not after that, and we weren’t going to move again until at least 8.

So I wait, crack open my water bottle, play some Sudoku and ink a badge for Dominique, then just generally loiter, make silly comments at and about the loud guy (“boy, the camera loves him.” “I think he loves the camera more than it loves him.”) and eventually the guy next to me asks about my scarf and the badges on it, and we get to rambling at each other. So far the people that I’ve talked to have been surprised that I came ALL THE WAY from sacramento, but I know for a fact that there’s one girl from japan and one person from texas!

we have another fake-out about going forward in line, but this time it’s because people got excited and security tells us to stay put, darnitall. Then we wait until he tells us to go because when security tells you to stay put you STAY PUT DAMNIT.

When we get to the front-ish of the line they kind of half-assed check our bags and stuff, tell us to throw away our food and our water, too, if it’s opened. (D:)

He couldn’t tell if mine was open or not but I sort of knee-jerked toward truth so I threw it away still 2/3 full T_T at this point I’ve lost Kevin but that’s okay, because our seats are not near each other anyway.

So I get into the place and I heard somebody saying that there were more turnstiles open than just the three in front, so I skipped that part of the line by using my listening skills. Once I was in, I called mom back and decided whether or not buying a coke for five dollars was a good idea. (it is.) and bought a hot dog and a coke for 10. Then I went and found my seat, sat down and waited.

Eventually the producer came on and he’s a pretty funny guy- gave us our instructions and explained why they were playing lady gaga’s “born this way” on repeat (it’s the city song!) and then we sat and did all of the group cheers and stuff.

Following is the list of stuff that we did and how many takes it took.

“Welcome to San Diego” (said by a group of ladies with a banner, then panned to a cheering crowd) (1 take)

“Welcome to San Diego!” (said by the crowd and then a pan of a cheering crowd.) (2 takes because the producer didn’t say the final number of the countdown out loud.)

“Because it’s hot in san diego!” (said by the crowd.) (one take.)

“Give ME that golden ticket!” (crowd, two takes? I said one on fb and twitter but I might have been wrong. It’s either this or one of the two after it that needed two takes!)

“My journey starts HERE!” (crowd, see above)

“And it all starts here!” (crowd, see above.)

And then, sung, “I’m on the right track baby I was born this way.” (one practice, one take.)

“don’t be a drag just be a queen (repeat)” (two takes.)

And random cheering! (two takes)

Producer quote of the day: “Okay, Now that we’ve got our proverbial crap together…”

We also learned that nobody in American idol is a loser! Just non-winners (hah!)

And we sang happy birthday to one of the staff.

Lots of hurry up and wait after that. By seat group is in the middleish and I’m in the middleish of that, so, no rush.

I bought some wristbands (souvenirs yay!) and went to the bathroom (there are some guys dredded like the Fruit of the Loom outside, singing a futz of Katy Perry’s Kiss Me, except about how you should pick FotL as your underwear. I could not get video because I was a LEETLE late D:), then to the food again because I want a goddamned churro! I somehow got two, and this became a problem that I did not know existed (I also got a cup of ice water) and tried to push off my spare churro onto others, and failed horribly until I found a nice older lady who was here as support for her (daughter?) and talked to her for awhile ‘bout where we’re all from and why we’re here and what we think of the crowd and stuff. She doesn’t want the churro either, but when her kid and the others sitting next to her get back, they do! So that works out nicely.

So I go back to my chair and futz around on the computer for a bit, including typing up my journal for the rest of yesterday and to keep my phone charged!

Shortly after that a guy comes down and says “she said that you can charge a phone on your laptop?” because I’d mentioned that that was most of the reason that I’d even BROUGHT my computer! And I’m like, well, if you have a usb charger.. but there might be an outlet around here, let me see if any of my cords fit? And what do you know, one does!

None of the staff knows if there are any outlets but we find one anyway! And once he get shis stuff done we go back to our seats.

And then, OH MY GOD AND THEN I REALIZE THAT THERE ARE SNO CONES HERE AND I MUST HAVE ONE.

I MUST.

But since the sno-cones are walking vendor only, I have to find an atm!

So OFF TO THE GUEST HELP CENTER

And he says

Oh my god

He says “you see that vertical hanging banner over there that says padres? It’s just by that.”

I wanted to say “honey, ALL the banners are hanging vertically and say padres.” But what I said was “thank you” because he pointed in the right direction, so I found it easy enough after that anyway.

I get 20 out and go back to my seat to wait for the sno cone man and WHAT LUCK HE IS TAKING HIS BREAK IN MY SECTION!

Haha. Sno cone achieved! He is a fantastic fellow, but he spends a lot of time in the sun, and it shows on his face (even though he’s probably in his twenties.)

And I feel bad for the poor iced tea man :3 everybody wants a sno cone but not a tea! (“get your iced tea here, iced tea!” “Sno cones are better!”)

I take that back to my seat and nom on it, plug my stuff back into the computer

ON MY GOD IT IS NOT CHARGING ACK

So then I had to ..

Had to go to the place where the outlet is, which did not make me happy except for that there is shade there. So that’s nice I guess, but it makes me uneasy because they don’t announce over the intercom which group is going next! (actually they do, but I didn’t start noticing until someone pointed it out to me!)

Go to the bathroom, drop a 5$ bill and let the girl who found it have it (because she asked me if it was mine and I didn’t even notice and all that.)

So.. you know, back to the seat, talk to some people and suddenly OH MY GOD THEY ARE CALLING THE SECTION RIGHT BEFORE US!

Excitement abounds!

The guy with the magahorn comes to us, gives us our instructions, leads us out row by row down to the stip on the field..

More line waiting, grouped into a set of four… we’re at table number five.

Watch two groups go ahead before us- group one, nobody gets through, group two, one person gets through.

My groups?

Uh.

Well I’m the only one who didn’t get through :|

She said “you’re pretty good but you need more practice.”

I: (imho everybody else in my row kind of sucked- the guy was okay but he did the trendy whoah-oh-oh wavering shit too much D:)

I’m fairly certain that the 3 major deciding factors were song choice, nervous, and the fact that I was pretty late in the day…. There was a direct correlation between time of day and how many people that left the table winners.

Uh, so anyway, out of the stadium I go, and the security guard at the gate was kind enough to wish me a good day (thank you) and I take the walk back to the hotel..

There’s a few people handing out flyers for an online talent show (they picked an excellent spot, preying off of the hurt psyches of AI rejects!) and I took one because why the hell not, but I PROBABLY won’t visit the website =P

It was nice being able to see this part of downtown san diego in the daytime (island/first/broadway/Columbus up to the our lady church.) and it is very pretty.

Decided I was hungry and stopped at the Westfield Horton Plaza, because I heard that there was food there! And of course I got distracted and bought some plushies and a hat.

But then I got some food and it was.. not very good. >>

After I stopped by the hotel I went to the dick blick store and then to another food place..

Wherever I went, they have amazing lasagna. You should go there and eat it.

and uh, yeah. Got a plane out tomorrow at like eleven in the morning thanks to a person that mom knows.

PICTURES HERE

http://www.thedesertwinds.com/travel/AmericanIdolSanDiego2011/day3/

Little Italy

Okay, so, I get the thing that I need from wal-mart, (apparently nobody else in san-diego knew that this wasn’t a 24 hour wal-mart, either, but they all got there closer to seven anyone thirty your room will be ready.

Well shit, so I have to kill some time now.

I decide eventually to walk down to the way.) and start hiking up the hill, thinking that maybe I can get a bus+trolley back into town?

I mean, it’s only like 5$, but then it occurs to me that.. busses and shit like exact change.

So, I hike back down and call the guy that brought me TO the wal-mart (it was 35$ last time, and we got along pretty well, so he likes me.) and he says, I have a fare, but it’s a short one, I can be there in like twenty minutes- so I say, Okay, that’s cool. I mean, I’ve been here since four thirty so what’s another twenty?

So he gets there, we head back to porto vista, he gets lost but it’s cool because I’m paying cash, so he lets me pay less than the meter actually says because it was his bad- and I suppose that it was like a huge favor, me paying him cash, so he lets me know that any time I need a cab, remainder of my trip, to give him a call- he’s not a nighttime cabby, but he does work into the night, and I found him originally at like 4, so- anytime.

Anyway, so, at the hotel, I go in, room’s still not ready. It’s the same guy tha I talked to last time, so he says, room’ll be ready at one thirty- so I have them hold my clothes bag and ask where there’s a plug for my computer and phone and stuff- they say, there’s some in the Glass Window (their restaurant) and there’s another lounge/thing on the roof of the fourth floor, and also there’s those floor ones in the lobby here.

I opt for the roof because I figure that there’s nobody up there, but I can’t find a plug, and eventually I go into the restaurant because it’s kidn of cool in there, still can’t find a plug, so I have some food.

Holy crap, okay.the 5$ for the oj was okay, because it was a pretty big OJ even if it couldn’t be refilled.

But, I decided to get the salmon and bagel because for some reason both of those things sounded good.

And. It gets here and it is this HUGE ASS PLATE (like, a foot square, no joke) with like, less than half of its area covered in food. (wtf?) so okay, that’s a little disheartening because I payed 14$ for this, but it’s a hotel, their food is overpriced, whatever.

And then I go to eat the salmon. (oh, there was some like, pepper and tomatoes and stuff on there too, chopped, to eat with the salmon.) and it’s …

Cold.

Okay, what the SHIT?! I mean, okay. It’s cooked, and At least they didn’t skimp me on the fucking bagel, but seriously. Small portion and cold? Not cool, you guys.

But the girls were nice and pretty quick, so I gave them a very small tip for that, but the food wasn’t worth what I paid for it. Quite disappointed, and hope that if I get to take advantage of the breakfast tomorrow, that it’ll be more substantial.

I’ve only killed like a half an hour at this point, so I decide to go down to the marina. I’ve already donw the boat thing once or twice, so I just look. End up finding a fellow who does name illuminations and look around his booth for awhile, before I start walking back. (I still haven’t killed that much time.) On the way I pass a 7-11, so I pop in and get some tape (to strengthen my wristband) and a water (to bring to the auditions, since it’s the only thing that we’re allowed to bring in with us.) then keep going..

Settle into the lobby, plug in my stuff, putz about for awhile, listening to the front desk to hear if any rooms are ready… call mom back, etc…

Eventually I get wind that there might be some ready as early as noon, so I wait a bit longer before going up and (there’s different people there now.) asking about my room, retrieving my bag, getting my key…

And they’ve put me in room 420, so of course I MUST call my friend Shade Koba IMMEDIATELY because he is a toker and it was amusing as hell. He doesn’t answer so I start getting ready to go to bed because goddamnig I have been up for how long now? I’m not really tired but I know that I need sleep so I crank the AC up, and what do you know, they have a sheet on top of the comforter! (which was awesome)

And I must mention this, because. Oh my god this bed is hard.

It’s not uncomfortable hard like the ones at Mendocino, it’s kind of like..

Uh, have you ever sat down on a tempurpedic memory foam mattress?

Okay, so, you know how when you sit down, it’s like hard for a moment before it starts to slowly cave in to fit you?

This is like that, except for no caving in, like. It’s just that initial oomph that you get.

Kind of strange, but beggars cannot be choosers! And otherwise I like the room. It’s very small and very simple, which lives up to its purported European-ness.

So anyway, I sleep. Get a few phone calls here and there but otherwise get in the better part of 8 hours.

Around 8 I get up (I tried to sleep again but couldn’t) so I turn on the TV, channel flip, then pull on some half-ass clothes and watershoes and go to get some ice. Can’t find the machine right away, but there’s an employee nearby and he lets me use their ice room! (thank you sir!) so I do that and go back and watch Despicable Me until that station goes fuzzy for some reason (also I am internetting at the time.)

After awhile I realize that I should eat because even though I’m not hungry, I haven’t eaten since the half of a sandwich that I’d had that morning, so I post on Facebook about how frustrating it is to not know where a mcdonalds is, and Ashley lets me know that there’s a jack in the box a few blocks away!

Short walk later, and I’m ordering a chicken sandwich of some kind and helping a lady find the rite aid. (wait, when I said that I went to a 7-11 earlier I meant rite aid.)

Eat the food, and the guy behind the counter (who was the first one to see my bracelet AND know what it means) tries to start a conversation when he’s on his break but I AM AN IDIOT and got VERY CONFUSED and ruined the opportunity for both of us. (I AM SO SORRRY YOU SEEM AWESOME SIR)

So. Uh. Walk back, ditz for a bit, set my alarm for three, and conk out!

HERE ARE PICTURES

http://www.thedesertwinds.com/travel/AmericanIdolSanDiego2011/day2

I’ve only seen three homeless people today!

And by “today” I of course mean “two days”

Let me begin by telling you that, at the start of my typing this, I have been awake approximately 25.5 hours. There was one 15-30 minute nape in there, but it was rather fitful and the only reason that I even know I was ever asleep is because I woke up to a guy standing over me putting his bags away; and he most definitely was not there before.

Let us begin.

4:30 AM the alarm goes off. Of course I don’t really hear it until like 4:38 because GOD FORBID I COULD TURN UP THE VOLUME (on the radio.)

I of course barely slept anyway, having tried very hard to go to bed at 8 (or 9?) and failing miserable- including waking up at 1 and then having a hard time falling back asleep because DSFJKAKSL;KFASKL

Anyway, so, shower, finish packing. (I packed mom’s toothbrush instead of mine, WOE) go to dad’s, wait for him to get out of the shower…

DRIVE TO TRAIN

SEE HOMELESS MAN

LEAVE SPRITE IN CAR

Proceed training for like 16 hours. I was actually quite surprised- it both departed and arrived on time!

Not too much to say other than “oh my god 16 hour train ride”- thankfully I’ve forgotten most of it- I pretty successfully managed to make it go by as quickly as a 16-hour train ride can by doing that simple man trick that evades woman: nothing.

(I’m actually quite good at it for a female.)

Spent a fair amount of time in the lounge because, for some reason, the room made of windows was the coolest. (???) and bought perhaps three lunches from the Café Lounge (and in all four Sierra Mists.) I got to say, this lady was amazing. She reminded me of one of my aunts, and was like super good at banter (which is the quickest way to my heart, haha!) overall just a swell gal.

I also got to talk to an older lady who was returning home to Fullerton (after a vacation/visit of some kind in.. san.. jose?) she was quite fantastic, as well.

And, of course, there was a small child. Somewhere between crawling and walking (and arguable not terribly proficient at crawling :3) beautiful little buy with the most gorgeous of eyes.

So of course I offered to his mother to let him play with my glasses (I had assessed that there was no way HE could break them, and anyone walking down the aisle was already stepping over the baby- the glasses would be near him, ergo, glasses=safe.)- his mother (especially once seeing the prescription) was certain that he would love to play with them.

Alas, he did not, and this left both of us rather confused- but we agreed that he did not want them because they were not on somebody’s face.

Also our conductor was a regular kidder, you know. “bud will not make you wiser” was one he said a few times-

And of course, the solar eclipse that happened at 1:05 (precisely when we went through a tunnel ;P)

I would like to take this moment to tell you all that there is no cell service on Surf Beach.

After the stop in LA (during which I got discombobulated and thought that I was in New York- I blame the tired. ALWAYS blame the tired.) another train- this time a commuter one, the surfliner or whatever the hell Amtrak calls it. Felt much faster, more comfy seats, all that crap….

By the last three stops I was left in the car with an old-ish Asian woman of some kind- likely a little hard of hearing and versed-but-not-quite-fluent-in-English… which meant that when our train suddenly had no power (aside from basic lights) – or as stopped for FAR TOO LONG at the San Diego Old Town station. . . I had to try to translate into clear-spoken-english what was going on.

And I also had to try to understand what she was asking me about.

Failure might be too light of a word.

Oh yeah, the train was stopped too long in old town.

Apparently some guys thought that it would be a grand idea to have a car collision over the train tracks, so the railway had to get involved and inspect shit that didn’t need inspecting :/, half hour delay, ONE stop left :|

So, out of the train (once we get there,) into a cab (at which time I remember that I actually function pretty well without other people around.), down to petco park where…

There are like 6, 7 people there to register participants, but, like, nobody but me. (thank you golf-cart-people for helping me find the entrance!)

Though by the time I was finished regging there was a girl next to me from japan? Came here just for this O-o (I think?)

So, they give me some extra paperwork, my ticket..

And my wristband.

And they PUT THE WRISTBAND ON ME.

Bear in mind, the thing isn’t until tomorrow.

Why are you putting the wristband on me NOW?!

HOW AM I GOING TO SHOWER?!

*end of the world*

I feel bad for the people who got there Wednesday. Jeesus.

I mean, mine already looks pretty scuffed up because I haven’t had a chance to get anything to protect it with yet. (I’m thinking maybe clear tape? They recommend something like Saran Wrap.) and they’re like DON’T GET IT WET but this is California and I’m going ot fucking sweat all over it :|

Anyway, so now I go to find the hotel. (and on the way pass some guys looking for the AI auditions- and I knew the directions to get there! And one homeless man who smelled like pissweed.) It’s, like, almost 2 in the morning so I know that I’m not going to be able to get to my room now, but I’d like to know where I’m going later- so I go find it, double check the reg, lounge and fill out some forms, then set off to find The Amtrak Station again, because I am looking for a cab.

Because I need to go to wal-mart and the closest one is too far away to walk to.

… well, on the way, get lost and find a cab anyway (oo!) and definitely solidify my song choice. (thank you ryan!) Also a homeless man mumbling in his sleep.

Cab (like 34$!) to wal-mart, tell him to leave me there even if it’s not open (he doesn’t think that it will be, but it opens sooner than Porto Vista so THERE.) and he gives me his card so that he can come pick me up if I’d like. (probably gonna take the bus/trolley)

Security Guard sees me get out of the cab, tells me it opens at seven (I know, I just looked at the door) I tell him that I don’t have anywhere better to be, and he lets me loiter on the bench.

And then I wait. It’s like 4:36 AM when I get there, settle in. call mom because she called me at 4 to check in.. wait, play some Radiant Historia.

at 5:45 ish…

I start looking for a vending machine, because even though I need to pee I am thirsty.

COKE.

OH MY GOD COKE

I HAVE BEEN AWAKE MORE THAN 24 HOURS AND THIS IS DELICIOUS.

OH MY GOD <3

And then because I still have another hour to kill, I write this journal.

It’s almost 6:30 now. I’mm post the three pictures that I have when I can....

oh.

and I'm at wal-mart because i am in desperate need of a bra. my good one ran away and this one likes to let my tits pop out the bottom. *tmi but true*

HERE ARE THE PICTURES:

www.thedesertwinds.com/travel/AmericanIdolSanDiego2011/day1