The X-Files: Day 1

Wow, long time no blog. This is a bit of a departure from my typical blog topics (parenting, wifery, sardonic observations...okay, maybe not the sardonic observations), but I thought it might help me get back on that blog horse again and help ease the pain of what I anticipate to be a bit of an ego deflating experience.

I titled this X-Files because that's what I keep misnaming my upcoming adventure into pop culture (and because I suspect this experiment is going to have applicants with more than a passing resemblance to some of the creatures on that show).

You may or may not be familiar with a show that up to this point has been only in the UK called the X-Factor. It is the carefully nurtured brain child of Simon Cowell. As I understand it (having only seen clips of it on Youtube), it is similar to American Idol, except that there is no limitation on age (that's where I come in) and the acts can vary (I believe). Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X_Factor_(U.S.) has a good description of the process. You will note that they are already setting attendance records at their auditions, with New Jersey seeing 20,000 hopefuls. Yeah. I pretty much anticipate I have about a snowball's chance in hell. This is a process that is 99% sheer luck and 1% talent.

When I heard about this coming to the US last year, I decided, "What the heck? Nothing ventured, nothing gained," except I will be venturing my time and gas money to drag myself up to Seattle where the audition is to be held. Tomorrow, Tuesday, is registration day, and I am told to show up as early as 6 a.m. with two pieces of ID (one photo, I guess to prove I'm not under the age of 12, which is the only age limitation), signed wavers, banners (yeah, so I can be one of those idiots that you see in the background as the camera does a crowd sweep of the masses), along with various other items they have helpfully suggested to bring (hats and sunglasses being among them. Obviously, an LA person wrote up this list. Rain slickers and umbrellas were naively absent from the list). Today, I'm driving up to stay with a friend in Seattle, so I can show up bleary-eyed tomorrow morning at sunrise and huddle in a sea of faceless humans for an untold period of time so I can begin my walk/wait of shame. I plan to blog as time permits (and I suspect there is going to be A LOT of that) because, if nothing else, I just might (Oh, please. Who am I kidding? I will MOST CERTAINLY) glean some all too precious blog fodder from this experience.