I DID IT!! I figured out how to show you a cool link!! See, it's bold now and you know there must be something there like a little treat for you all. And, if I did it right it should either be bold and black or bold and white. Either way, you'll realize that, "hmm, somethin's up..." and hopefully click on it.

So, whaddaya think of this here template? I think it's gonna work for me. I especially like my little buddy list on the left there. I think that's pretty trick.

Moving right along now, for the three of you who actually read this and somewhat follow my hum-drum life here's The Big Chicago Recap...

So I got in on Friday at noon thirty and it was great. Rainy, chilly, but not too freezing cold. I met my sister Jenn at the curb and we were off to Antioch. We stopped and had some chow at Wendy's (her treat) and then head over to my Gramma's house. Jenn went in first and chatted for a minute with Gramma and then said something like, "Hey Gram, I have a surprise for you..." and I walked around the corner. Her face got really big and she said, "Is that Jere?! What the hell are you doing here!?" We all laughed for a while and then I told her I was auditioning for Six Flags and she took the news pretty well.

Okay, nobody cares, moving right along. I got up on Saturday and got my things together, rehearsed my monologues and songs a few more times and then got into the shower for my big audition. I had to be there between noon fifteen and noon thirty so I needed to leave Gramma's house by no later than noon. So I wanted to eat some breakfast, but I was nervous and didn't want to have any tummy trauma (as I usually do) or anything like that so I had a small bowl of Golden Grahams and hit the road.

I got to Six Flags, signed in at the table, and received my mound-o-paperwork to fill out for them and then had my picture taken and turned everything in. We were told to, "go have a seat in the house and wait for further instruction" so I did just that. I had forgotten how big the Grand Music Hall at Great America really is, so I had to take a minute and let it all sink in...HOLY COW! I MIGHT BE SINGING HERE FOR THE SUMMER! I found my seat and chilled.

Four and a half years later they finally got things started. The head guys introduced themselves to us and told us a bit about what to expect and so forth and then they called us up in groups of ten to sing our best cutting. I was in the sixth or seventh group of ten to go and I was the fourth singer. Not to beat around the bush, I freakin' ROCKED! Seriously, I was on fire and I'm so glad I was because I was auditioning with a bunch of young, skinny people who were pretty mediocre at best. I was old and fat, but I kicked some ass so it was a really good thing or I'm pretty convinced my trip to the great north would've been over right then and there.

So I sang, the whole audience hooted and hollered for me and clapped really loudly and so forth and I really felt like I nailed the audition. The directors called me up to the table and asked me if I'd be willing to stick around for a callback slash dance audition. I laughed because I am clearly NOT a dancer (I'm a mover and a shaker) and said, "Sure. You betcha!" and went and sat down and waited some more.

Then Bill came to find me for my acting audition and that was a bit harder I think than the singing one was. I was taken back into this tiny little room which I guessed was the greenroom for the theatre we were in. ANYWAYS (that was for you Trace), I did my I Hate Hamlet monologue and he seemed to like it. I felt pretty good about it - the only thing that made me uncomfortable was that I was forced to sit in a chair like seriously two feet away from my adjudicator (Bill). When I was done with the monologue I was asked to do a few improv games. I was told that I was a jester, he was the court and that I had to entertain them or I'd be killed. So I told a few jokes, choked, made fun of myself and that was the end of that. Then he said, "Okay, you're hosting a dinner party and Bugs Bunny is coming. Now we the audience are observing this and you're job is to get us excited about this and then you have to introduce Bugs." So I thought about it for a second and got to work. I said that Bugs was stuck in traffic but he'd be here any minute...blah blah blah...here her is, the bunny you've all been waiting for, live and in the fur, BUGS BUNNY!!! That pretty much sealed the deal for me. I guess everyone else who came in and did the same thing wasn't that creative or something, I don't know. I was asked to come back tomorrow for an acting callback at 1:00pm and I agreed and went back out to my spot and continued waiting for that blasted and dreaded dance audition.

The last of the singers sang and then the adjudicators took a quick break and told us to start warming up for the dancing part of the night. OH DEAR! HERE WE GO! So they come back and call us all up on stage and tell us to spread out. Then he told us that he was going to put us through a hip-hop routine to see which of us can really dance, if we can sense the rhythm and so on. OH GOOD HELL! So I'm so hanging out in the back looking the fool, knowing my body will not do what this man is telling me to, and feeling so embarrassed because EVERYONE else on that stage was tearin' it up! Yes, they were all like 12 or so and have been dancing since they came out of the womb, but still, I sucked and it was very clear. The choreographer kept telling us to switch so that the people in the back would move to the front and back and forth so everyone got a good view of what we�re supposed to be doing. I of course stayed in the back the whole time � no need to switch, nobody needs to see this, and I don�t want to be in anyone�s way (cause we were traveling for this little ditty). Then it was time to do it for real. I was in the fourth group of six to �perform� it so when they called my name I did a �woo!� holler and ran out making the Toro signs with both hands as if I were a cheerleader. This gave me the upper hand � if I tried to do this dance for real I�d be laughed off the stage, I would suck, and it�d be over. If I made a joke out of the situation and let my larger than life personality take over they�d be laughing at me but because I wanted them to � do you see the difference? Anyway, I sucked and it was obvious, but I had the attention of everyone in the house watching and of the judges because I was having such a great time. See, I could do everything we were supposed to do when we did it at half speed, but when we did it with the Beyonce track playing it was too fast for me to keep up. I could SAY everything we were supposed to do and I was mentally right on top of everything, but my fat ass couldn�t keep up so that was what was funny too and the choreographer guy knew that and laughed. So, it was all good. When the torture was over we were told to go sit in the house for a minute while they figured out what to do next. When I sat back down like four of the employees of Six Flags came over to me and told me how funny I was, how much they just loved me, and so forth and said that I have to get a job there. I kept telling them to, �tell them that!�

After a few minutes the guys turned around and said, �Thank you all for coming. This had been great. Please know that we�ve seen over 500 people and we only have about 40 some positions to fill�blah blah blah�I would like to see a few more of you a second time tomorrow, so if I call you�re name please come up here�� and then he proceeded to call about 12 or so names off and mine was the last name read. So I went up on stage again and they told us that they would like to hear us sing again tomorrow morning and that we needed to be back by 10:00am ready to go. We would be singing from the shows and doing a second dance audition and that we should plan to be there all afternoon and to bring a lunch. OH DEAR! ANOTHER DANCE AUDITION!

So I drove back to Antioch and was pretty pumped about my day. I auditioned for a huge theme park and made TWO CALLBACKS for my singing/performing and a callback for my acting/improvisation. Woo-hoo!

Sunday morning I got up at 8:00am and packed up my stuff, made my lunch, took my shower and headed out to the park for day two of my little adventure. I felt really good going in knowing I had made it this far and I said, �If I don�t get it, I know I did the best I could. I could not have been any better,� and I was resolved to kick some more ass today. LOL! There were a few people that they had to sing through an initial audition because they weren�t able to be there Saturday so that took up a while. Then they called up all the guys by name that they wanted to hear sing again, but they didn�t call me. Every guy was up there to sing except for me, and I was all, �Whoa. Okay, guess I wasn�t as good as I thought.� Then one of the two guys looked out and saw me sitting there and said something to the other guy and then they called me up. �Sorry about that man. Here, we�re singing song #2�.� We sang through it a few times and then they called us up one at a time to sing it with the performance track (which was cool). So I�m on the stage I may potentially be singing on, in front of a huge crowd which will potentially be filled, singing songs from a show that will be performed, with a mic and a backup track. HOW FREAKIN� COOL IS THIS!?!?! It was seriously such a great experience to be there! I sang the beginning strong, kinda botched the mid section, but finished solidly. After we all sang through it they divided us up into three sections: those who were here yesterday and danced the dancers audition in the morning, those who were here yesterday but only danced the singers audition, and those who weren�t here yesterday at all. Most of the guys went left to the �dancer� one, about seven guys were in the middle that �weren�t here yesterday� and I was THE ONLY ONE standing in the �singers dance audition� spot. LOL! JUST ME! They excused the dancer boys for the day, �We�ve seen you dance yesterday, we hear you sing yesterday and today, we�ve seen everything we needed to see from you. Thank you.� Then they called up the guys in the middle and asked them to stick around and do the dance callback, and then it was my turn. LOL! They were very kind to me, they said, �We�ve seen all we needed to see from you�we�re not going to make you stay and dance today�we have a position for you if you�re interested�.see Bill for more details�.thanks again for coming all the way from Arizona�.you�re great�.a real treat�.Thank you,� and with that I was on my way. I found Bill and we chatted a bit about what they had in store for me and the hours, rate of pay, time commitment, and so forth. Nothing is set in stone, he was just seeing if I was interested, things still need to be finalized with everyone else, but as of right now I have a job with Six Flags.

WOO-FREAKIN�-HOO BABY!!!!

So that�s what happened while I was gone this weekend. I should be hearing from them within the week as to the outcome of their decisions. I will of course be filling you all in as soon as I know anything. Okay, I�ll wrap things up cause this one was a long one. Thanks to all of the well wishers! It was so great to have some support from you all! I guess we�ll all have to wait and see what happens next!

Until next time�

Written by Jere at 11:17 a.m.