Day 3: So You Think You Can Dance smackdown

Thursday I got 3 hours of sleep– woke up at 0300 and was out waiting in line by 0430.

Even the homeless people were sleeping. 

It was windier in Atlanta than it was in Chicago- NO lie.  No one had expected it to be under freezing so we were, well, frozen.  Even the crew members were running around in short sleeve shirts. 

Me being sick and buffeted by at least 25 mph winds… I was shaking uncontrollably by 0600. 

Nobody was even talking it was so cold- there were only periodic trips to a nearby 24 hour diner for hot chocolate. 
We entered warmth around 1000, where Shane Sparks and the cursing British executive producer gave us "the speech". 
SHANE SPARKS RECOGNIZED ME!  I was sitting there and I swear he nodded and smiled a bit in my direction but I didn’t have my glasses on so I don’t know FOR SURE.  Ugh. 

  He is SO gorgeous.

ANYWAY.  I sat next to a Richard from Jackson, a Johnny from Alabama, and an Ashley.  Richard and Johnny were hip hoppers.  Ashley said she was too but… um.  Alrighty then. 

I stopped violently shaking from the cold maybe 1200, just in time to warm up for 5 min.  By then I was in such a hip hop mode that my aim to do contemporary would be a complete failure… but I refused to listen to my heart.  : (

The 10 of us stood on the floor and got a song with a beat.  I said, "MOTHERFUCKER I WANT TO HIP HOP- NOW.  MOTHERFUCKER, I AM IN BOOTY SHORTS." 

Yea.  My turn came and I improvised dancing that looked like everybody else- it was absolutely horrendous. 
Plus, I’d been sick, so I hadn’t practiced for ages…

Sigh.  We stood in a line and the executive producer started talking to one of us, then became agitated because the person wasn’t answering back.  Finally he yelled out, "10185!  Did you audition for us before?"

I realized that was my number and responded, "Yes, sir," (a bit too crisply as I was so embaressed…) and I decided then and there that I would get contacts ASAP.
So the judges thought I was retarded- apparently that doesn’t give you any extra points in the So You Think You Can Dance world. 

Defeated, I trekked back to our ghetto ass hotel where Jeana had gone back to sleep. 
Needing cheering up, I dragged her into town where a homeless dude called me beautiful- it wasn’t a pick-up line, nor anything derogatory.  It was a pure, clean compliment.  It touched me to no end because it’s been a while since I’ve had someone sincerely compliment me.
It’s amazing how much the words "You’re beautiful" truly mean.
Especially coming from someone who has nothing left in this world.  It really made me think… and value everything I DO have.

We went to eat at the Hard Rock and I felt better after listening to some good music and eating a tasty, overpriced, diet-stomping hamburger (nonetheless, the first hamburger I’ve consumed for an EXTREMELY long time).
And then we went to Underground Atlanta where I felt REAL out of place,but I was also extremely exhausted so you do the math.  
AWESOME place though, I just wish I’d had a little more ZIP!  Jeana was completely dead, too, so it was like lugging around dead weight.  I felt like saying, "Hey, you got a nap!  And you’re not sick!"  But I figured that would be detrimental to our relationship and since she had the power to leave me stranded in Atlanta… (or Alabama, AHHHHH).

I became so full of energy though that after, at the hotel, I befriended a 42-year-old ninja (THANKFULLY- that story comes later…) as I’m storming up and down the stairs, working off stress. The security guard eventually told me out to go back into my room.  I was apparently being bothersome.  Whatever.

Jeana & I went for a long walk towards 2100 or so.  We were walking back to our hotel and some ninja yells, "Hey, you don’t want to go too far in that direction.  Y’all lost?"
We were like, "Um, no.  That’s where we’re livin."
He was like, "Oooookay…"

Jeana & I laughed. 

But I’m more or less okay that I didn’t make it- I know why I didn’t… and it was an experience…

†   INMATE   †

Wearing::  Black bell-bottom jazz pants, black and white ripped up dance shirt that says ‘Brazen Hussie Psycho Dancer Punk From Hell’.
Feeling::  Like I don’t want to go to tap class.
Last ate::  A salad my mom bought me for my birthday present!