I'm sitting in Bennigan's with my roommate, Kevin, on St. Patrick's Day. Among the idle chit-chat we have while staring at the waitresses clad in green faces and bitter looks, Kevin asks if I've heard from Stein's production company yet. I tell him, "No."
"Well, when do they finish taping?"
"At the end of the month. They said if I haven't heard from them then, I won't be on this season. But I auditioned with one of the first groups! They're not going to call."
Our food arrives... I'm having a chicken quesodilla (for those unfamiliar, it's cheese, chicken, and spices melted between two flour tortillas... quite tasty) and several Bloody Mary's. My pager goes off -- it's Marty, my partner in Dead Laszlo's. After his number are as many -911s as will fit on the display. I figure he's gonna tell me that Apple named a CEO finally. I get change for the pay phone and call him. He sounds overly excited.
"Dev, are you sitting down?"
"No, dammit, I'm face deep in a quesodilla, so this had better be good."
"No, dude, I'm serious, you had better sit down."
"I can't sit down, I'm at a pay phone. What's up?"
"Ummmn, you need to call this number... 213-..."
He didn't need to finish the number. I knew exactly what he was telling me.
"Ohmigod, I made the show! I made the show! I made the show!" I was jumping up and down with the handset in my hand looking like I was attached to a bungee cord. Two women exiting the bathroom right next to the phone passed by, clearing me a wide berth.
Apparently, they called my work number first, but I had listed that as Marty's number, since I was helping him on a long-term project when the auditions were held. That's why he got the news first.
So I called the number, talked to Terrance again, and he told me the taping date... eight days away. "Is that going to be a problem?" Now, keep in mind the reason I drove out to Los Angeles from Fort Worth for the audition was there was NO WAY I could get a decent airfare, and that was with nine days notice. But was I going to say no? What do you think?
