survived.

we arrived at the morongo casino resort just after 9pm. after just under two hours on the road. we stopped at the gas station next door and stocked up on water and assorted munchies, because that's how we hotel roll, yo. as we walked up to the hotel entrance, i could feel a swell of excitement. i was like "i'm actually doing this? har!" as we were checking in, a lady was chatting with the concierge about "survivor auditions." of course, my ears immediately reconfigured themselves in the direction of said conversation. i heard "the line will be over there," and i looked in the direction of his outstretched arm and realized the line would be forming inside (yay) and that we would be staying directly above where the line would be forming (double yay!) we finished checking in and took the elevator to our 4th floor home base. not before aaron checked with the security guards to confirm the fitness center location. (gym rat ocd). the room was pretty sweet. we had a weird balcony thing where our window was nestled, maybe three feet off the ground. i jumped up on it and did a little "stage presentation" of my audition. aaron "appeared" to be impressed. this was probably the 18th time he had heard it, and i had finally incorporated his wise suggestions. I think this is where i finally actually nailed the line “you should pick me because, well, I’M AWESOME.” Followed by a HIGH KICK.



around 10:30p i decided to call downstairs to garner last-minute information and secure a wake-up call. the super nice lady informed me that people would likely be lining up at 5a for the 9a start of the auditions. i quickly interpreted that to mean i had to be UP at 4a to shower and get ready. yeah. good times. i sweetly asked her if she would ever give me an earlier wake up call if she noticed people getting in line earlier than that. she sweetly agreed. nice! so after rehearsing my little spiel a few more times, i was like dude, lights out.



But, you know when you have nervous hyper anxiety and “lights out” means sitting there in anxious anticipation so that even the slightest movement from your partner or the faintest noise keeps you awake in the dark? Or, maybe it could have been the fact that we didn’t know wtf we were doing with the hotel alarm clock and it kept going off every 15 minutes and we/he couldn’t figure out how the hell to make it stop so i had to sweetly ask aaron to “rip the damn thing out of the wall!” so then! I had to get nervous about the fact that if my wake up call didn’t come for some reason, and then if phone alarm didn’t work then what, THEN WHAT? and then there was the fact that i woke up like clockwork every hour on the hour, checking my phone because the damn alarm clock was yanked out of the wall and then sighing with relief and the falling back asleep only to wake up again approximately 60 minutes later.

:sigh:



So! Promptly at 4a the phone rings and it’s Chalandra or some such name and she says, it’s time to wake up, sweetie. Maybe she didn’t say sweetie. Anyway. I groaned, and then! I realized why i was waking up at the ass criggety crack of dawn and then sprinted, i tell you SPRINTED to the shower. Adrenaline started pumping immediately and my shower experience took on a whole life as i whispered my passionate spiel into the head of the shower. BECAUSE I’M AWESOME! I said again, with conviction. But i didn’t do a HIGH KICK. Not in the shower.

Don’t be crazy.



Ok, i know this is getting squidiculous. So cut to the point!



Shortly after 5a, i was on my way. I walked around the corner where the line was supposed to start, expecting to see a slithering line of crazy people, but all i saw was a 14 normal looking, but extremely tired people chillin. Just chillin. I was like (duh) is this the SURVIVOR line? YES, captain obvious, it is. So i took my place behind Carol & Carl and settled in. laptop? Check. Double dose of sugar-free red bull? Check. People and Life & Style magazines? Application form? Printed out speech? Check check check.



we did a round of introductions and topline stories of why we were there and blahblahblah. Shortly after i arrived, brad arrived and settled in behind me. he was the best. His story was so spot on that i was ready to just throw in the towel. But then he said, “when i walked down and saw you i was like “yeah, she totally fits the bill.” I think that was probably one of the most rewarding compliments ever. So, GRIN. Anyway, his story was this: about to turn 30, used to be 400 lbs., now weighs 220. has a wife he’s known since he was 18, just had a little baby, teaches PE and biology to at-risk youth, knows how to spear fish, was captain of his football team, has a great sense of humor and has a dog named “rupert” named after the survior contestant with the same name.



fantastic!



But seriously, four hours in line FLEW by and before we knew it, we were being ushered up an escalator into a large ballroom and were placed in chairs in the order we were in line. (at this point in time, i'm not going to lie, i was SHAKING with nervous excitement) there was a little info session about how the audition process would work and then i RAN to the bathroom, got all my nervous energy and/or pee out and then returned to my spot just as they were calling my row. i felt like i was on speed. my heart was racing, my blood was pumping, my face was flush.



dang.



i calmly submitted my application, and then got assigned to “camera #1.” before i knew it they were “ready for me.” I stood on my mark with my “camera 1, person 5” sign and then had two minutes to tell the camera why i should be on survivor.



[insert blank here]



I think i did good, but honestly, i dont totally remember what i said. I definitely nailed the I’M AWESOME line, but i didn’t do a HIGH KICK. That might have been a mistake. remains to be seen. anyway, now i get to wait until march to find out if i make the cut (800 people will be called back).

And there you have it.

morongo: night view

"the line"

me, post-audition.

"i'm awesome"

aaron was such a good sport!!

bye bye morongo!

i'm effing tired, what!? you wanna mess?