Blog 30: The REAL American Idol Experience Part II

Let's see...where did I leave off? Oh yes, we went to bed early(ish). So 3:30am rolled around and the alarm went off. We both grumbled angrily. There had been a plan to pay a little visit to WaHo (Waffle House, for those of you who aren't up on our cool terminology) before heading to the Coliseum. "Do you want breakfast or do you want more sleep?" I asked, yawning. "SLEEP," croaked Dani as she rolled back over. I agreed heartily. We slept until about 4:15 and then I hopped out of bed to get ready. I had a hunch that a lot of girls would be wearing frou frou little dresses and/or boots, so I opted for what I like to call my sailor outfit. Don't think Sucker Punch. Think retro movie star. I had a loose navy blue tee and these awesome retro bell-bottoms that are white with blue pinstripes and have nifty buttons. I wore red lipstick and red heels and basically looked like a BOSS. I was too lazy to let my hair do anything but the HayBoo special (which is when I basically wash it and roll out of bed the next day, thankfully with an interesting curl it does all its own). I dragged Dani out of her pillow fortress and we set out. All those people I had laughed at the previous night for staying up so late were already gone. Yeah, we were some of the last ones in our hotel gone out of the auditionees. Woopsie.

Traffic off the exit to the Coliseum was beyond ridiculous. The worst part was the people who refused to wait in the line like the rest of us. I will admit that we didn't exactly behave in a ladylike fashion to those jerks. We had the windows down and made a few comments. Trying to stay snugly behind the car preceding us in order to not be cut off for the eighth time, we blocked out this one car and looked at them pointedly. They didn't even have a turn signal on until after they had started trying to cut us off, so we jetted forward. The girl in the passenger seat rolled down her window and said "Can we get in?" as if we were the ones breaking all the rules of courteous driving. I just stared, appalled, and Dani snapped: "Why don't you learn to use your turn signal next time?!" and let them in front of us. There may have been some unpleasant hand gestures involved...Hey. It was early and stressful. haha. I pretty much laughed at the absurdity of it.

Once we got there, parking wasn't too terribly bad. It was shortly after 5am and I was excited...until I saw the huge array of people already waiting. We walked in a huge circle to come to the end of the line and by the time we got there, we were sweating. It was entirely too hot to be that time of day. I'm guessing it was about 95 with about 110% humidity...and I'm not exaggerating. Stifling. The staff had us corralled and commanded that we all be seated on the gravelly and uneven concrete. I was glad for the first time that I hadn't worn my little frou frou dress, because let me tell you--it would have been difficult to sit modestly. We chatted with a sweet 16 year old kid and his overbearing mom, snacked on the Snickers we had sneaked and some Kool-Aid (breakfast of champions), and eventually brought out the deck of UNO cards we had brought, playing two rounds before the line moved. I won, in case you were wondering. I took it as a good omen. I never win at games.

All around, people were camera-whoring it up. Look at me! Look at me! I couldn't bear to do it. Some were funny (like the guy who held up a sign that said I HATE CROWDS for like twenty minutes without cracking a smile as they filmed him), but most were particularly full of themselves and a bit rude. One such person was near us in line most of the way. I hate to be crass, but she looked like a hipster-prostitute version of Peter Pan. It was bad. She loudly struck at her guitar and sang--and it wasn't that she was bad, but that she was ordinary and unaware of it. The camera guy at one point actually asked her to tone it down. haha. I may have been in a crowd shot or two, but I hate begging for attention. I made faces or sang or acted goofy when asked.

Four hours later, soaked with sweat and limping on blistered feet, we finally made it into the Coliseum, where we would sit for NINE more hours before I got to audition. I saw tons of interesting people, including but not limited to: a man dressed as a Conehead with his girlfriend wearing plasticky black leggings and thigh-high boots (completing the look with long, crimped hair), a guy wearing nothing but a pumpkin costume and a trucker hat, and approximately 1,576 blonde girls in frilly white dresses with cowboy boots (the exact look I shied away from at the last minute). We also saw way more awful cleavage than anyone should have to see in a day. Our row was cramped and crowded, and we sat next to a father and daughter who had us get up and move from our seats so they could go walk around at least twenty times. In front of us sat a pretty cool chick named Shannon. We chatted through the day. I think she was 16 or 17? She and her dad were nice people, and I actually ended up in the same four-person audition group with her later in the day.

There is, of course, much more to tell. In order to spare your eyes and your time, I will save the rest for another installment. Here are a few of the pictures that chronicled the trip (though not all).

The very first photo taken on the journey to Charleston. Can't get away from Starbucks!

Dani was surprisingly cheerful considering she had a lot less sleep than me. haha.

This bridge was on our way to the beach. It's hard to tell how cool it is architecturally, or how terrifyingly high up it is!

Pictures don't do Sullivan's Island Beach justice. It looked like a fairy land at this point.

I love to look at the ships in the foggy distance.

All right...that's all you get for now! Stay tuned once again, for the exciting conclusion, The REAL American Idol Experience Part III!