WOW.  Okay, so fabulousness happened.  I'm sitting in my car on Monday evening, eating some enchiladas and waiting for class to start when my cell phone rings.  It's my agency!  I have an audition!  For "The Game"! 

WHAT?    This is a union, primetime TV show on the CW network!  It's my first union TV audition!  YAY!  So sides are posted, I know when and where I'm supposed to be... I'm THRILLED!  I'm shocked, but THRILLED!   I go into class so freaked out Fran asks if I'm okay, I explain and tell him I'll be leaving early so I can go get the sides and prepare for the audition the next day.   I enjoy a couple great monologues from my dear classmates (they're just great) and then I head home.  I get home at about 9pm and discover that there are no sides posted.  I freak.  Now, this is for a non-speaking role but I was told they were posting some sides for the sake of the audition anyway - but they're not there.  At this point I realize I screwed up while I was on the phone with the agent and forgot to get some key details about the character, etc - you know, the details I thought I'd just get from the sides.  Trust me, THAT won't happen again - learned this lesson, oh yeah.   Anyway, there's not much I can do, so - and here's where the really interesting part comes in - I let it go.  Not completely, but more than is usual for me.  I realized that who I am and what I have to offer doesn't change whether I have sides or not, etc. 
So anyway, to make a long story short, I pack my closet into my car, go up, audition, do great, get asked in the room to come back for producers the next day.  All very calm, fun, wonderful (the CD for that show is FABULOUS - seriously amazingly warm and nice and just exudes enjoyment of actors) - great time.  Perfectly calm and normal.  Except for walking down the stairs from the audition room, grabbing my bag and leaving - during which time I realize I'm shaking so hard and have no blood in places it should be (like my head) - I actually understand a bit now how people can collapse from shock.  Hey, they do it a lot in old movies, but that didn't mean people do it in real LIFE, right?   Evidently there's something to it.  But I stay upright and manage to call people and not drop my cell phone and get back to my car, etc.  And then by the next day I was a little nervous (we had some waves that would come and go, you know) but mostly calm again, went in, chatted with the other women called back, went up, did my thing, was asked to wait (as we all were), then was called back up to do my thing again (as one other woman was) and then they cast her.  So civilized, so easy, there was just one producer in the room, everything else was exactly like the preread, not even a camera in there - and that was it.  Who knew it could be so fun, encouraging, silly, relaxed, etc???  NOT what I'd expected.   One of the best things in the world is when professional doesn't equal stuffy and hostile, and how weird is it that I sometimes equate the two, even though I believe wholeheartedly that TRULY professional people must be gracious?

So yeah, I didn't get cast, but who cares?  I got great feedback in the room from the CD, she said such nice things about us (like, we're all wonderful and she'll have us all in again for other roles) after the session, I had fun, I did a good job, and now I get to brag about it!   I got SO lucky in all this.  After prereads when I knew I'd be going back the next day all I could feel was this profound sense of gratitude for my life and my luck and the birds and the sunshine and just everything - and that's honestly just not a very common emotion for me.  But it's cool.   I'd like some more of that!  

And fewer blisters.  I got so many in my new audition shoes (which are comfortably constructed but brand new and so they RUB!) that I actually have used up all but one blister bandage out of TWO PACKS I bought at the store, as well as probably 8 bandaids or so... and I have some swelling in my heel due to the worst of the blisters... pretty bad.  Thank god for Crocs!!!!

Oh, so anyway, I also had a voice class and an improv class yesterday along with my callback.  And today I spent doing background work in a cemetery, which was beautiful and unusual and odd and annoying all at once.   Let's just say that I need more than 2 hours of sleep (and 5 hours in the last 2 days - I actually fell asleep sitting crosslegged on concrete while waiting to go back on set - "ACTION" yelled loudly is a nasty wake-up call!) to do a 6am call in heels for minimum wage, especially when it leads to a nasty sunburn.  But good lord, you can't ask for a better view than the one from Point Loma/Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego.  Highly recommended.

I'm gonna go sleep now.  Tomorrow's fun:  Auditioning for the Second City Conservatory program.  Do I wish to continue on into the Conservatory?  I'm still a little on the fence about that!  But now - sleep.  Sleep good.