Determined To Succeed

Well, here it is. Sunday (thank God). The Oprah “Win Your OWN Show” live audition is over and I am slowly recovering from a very physically draining (sitting, standing and walking all day in the hot sun tends to do that to you) and mentally draining day. I wish I could sum up how wonderful, cool, scary, amazing, screwed up and taxing it all was but I will give you the highlights (laced with some cool weight loss-related things, too).

I arrived on-site at the Kohl’s in Linden at roughly 2:00 a.m. and there was already a line of people (some there since 9:00 a.m. Friday morning). Even though they didn’t let us park in the Kohl’s lot all of us parked in the adjacent TGIFridays parking lot and formed a very nice and orderly line (which wouldn’t mean anything in the end, but I’ll get to that later). People were jazzed, even that early, and you could feel the electricity starting to build, while off in the distance the glow of the nearby White Castle called to me like a beacon to a ship…

The early morning dragged on, and the parking lot was feeling like a concert ticket atmosphere – a cross between Deadhead and Parrothead shows. The “line” grew and was respected and we all became more and more nervous. The woman next to me dared to run to the White castle and brought back french fries. They smelled so good…

But I had to keep one thing in mind – I WAS NOT – I REPEAT NOT – GOING TO USE A NASTY ASS BATHROOM, whether it be at the White Castle, the gas station on the corner or the port-a-potties trucked in for our benefit. Ick. Just ick. So I was determined not to eat or drink too much, at least until the Kohl’s (and their decent bathroom – yes, I checked) opened at 7:00 a.m. So I snacked on the granola bars I brought. At about 4:30 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. I broke down and had the first of five Gatorades.

The problem was that Oprah’s people on-site had no clue how to handle the wristband situation and when the time came they had close to a thousand people clamoring for spaces in line and later, wristbands. And the ways we lined up were so bloody disorganized it didn’t matter whether you were there at 9 a.m. on Friday or just rolled up, you had just as much chance to get one of the first bracelets as those who had been waiting. It was the worst situation I have ever seen, and potentially dangerous, too.  I so made me want to run and hide in that beacon of delicious White Castle comfort food delight…At several points, including our makeshift early “line,” they had us in great position to begin handing out wristbands to avoid that mess. But noooooooo. At least I had my cooler of water/Gatorade, granola bars and my dream.

At least they said everyone was guaranteed to be seen.

The day wore on and my number, #837, wasn’t going to be seen until the afternoon – like 3 or 4 in the afternoon so I hung out and hung around. People watching was priceless. Like the “rhinestone cow”girl,” a 50-something woman who (no kidding) wore sequined disco boots, sequined western-style vest/jacket, cowboy hat who had a portable karaoke machine singing, of course, “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Or the two hoochie-mamas in their sequined “Daisy Dukes” (so high you could see the bottoms of their asses), low (LOW) cut tank tops and 5-inch (no kidding) heels. Or the older 60-something lady dressed head-to-toe in bright pink with a hat that would make anyone at the Kentucky Derby jealous (bless her heart), or the…oh I could go on. It was awesome entertainment, which kept my mind off one thing – nervously eating.

Overall I did extremely well. I did grab a much-needed sausage, egg and cheese sandwich and coffee from Starbucks at around the time my body told me it was way-past lunch time (in actuality 9:30 a.m. or so). I also just grazed all day on granola/breakfast bars with the saving grace being my Gatorade. The sun, when it came out from the clouds, made it at least 15 degrees hotter and more intense. I sweated like a pig and smelled just as bad by the end of the day. But I did burn off an extra pound so, believe it or not, my friends, I am at my goal of losing that two pounds before June 9th.

What? What did you ask? How did my audition go? It went great. Turns out the casting director I met with in-person was the same as the one who took a gander at my video so he was impressed I showed up to do both. He totally appreciated me coming out (as they all had to know what a cluster-mess it was in the beginning) and said “look for a phone call soon.” So I am so keeping my fingers, toes, eyes, arms, feet and hands crossed for that call. Lucky number 837.

And what? What else did you ask? Did I avoid the White Castle? I sure did. It would have been far too easy to give in and grab a 10-pack to go, with fries and a drink (what I frequently used to eat as I used to have one 5 minutes from where I lived) but I didn’t. Did it tempt me? Hell yes, it did, especially since I have fond memories of me and my mom going to get White Castles on some weekends when we felt like hopping the bus to 79th Street in Chicago.

I am exhausted, wiped out and sort of brain dead, but I feel juiced and great. It was an awesome experience, like waiting in line for concert tickets. It is in lines like that that the best of humanity comes out. Totally. Through that immediately-shared experience people talked to one-another and it was awesome. That alone was worth the hour-and-a-half drive, the damn-near 20-hour day (when it was all said and done), the waiting in the heat and sun, the incredibly interesting and entertaining sideshow of characters…

…and the foregoing of White Castles, no matter how good they taste any time of day.