The American Idol Experience

Jessica Dixon and I decided that it would be a fun idea to go to Houston this year to try out for American Idol. So, we bought tickets and flew out to Texas without a clue in our minds as to what would happen when we arrived. Since neither one of us is 25 years old yet, to rent a car would cost us an arm and a leg. So, we decided to go with public transit. But, not having traveled very much alone we didn't know the first thing about getting around.

We arrived at the Houston airport and we were greeted by a big warm hug from Mr. Humidity when we walked off the plane. Yuck! But, despite the weather we were determined to make our trip wonderful. With our Carry-on luggage in hand and a smile on our faces we headed outside to the bus station. Unlike other cities I've been in the bus maps in Houston were extremely confusing. Rather than trying to figure out how to get from place to place on our own we just decided to ask people around us for help. We talked to a nice old man who told us what bus to take to get downtown. As we rode the bus we giggled and pointed out the window at the unfamiliar sights around us. When the bus driver directed us off the bus we realized that downtown was a very loose term. Apparently "downtown" was miles and miles and miles big. 3 1/2 hours, 4 bus trips and miles of walking later we had reached the Galleria (a mall that Chris Moyes, my sister-in-law's husband, told us was a cool place to go). As we walked in, we realized that we were extremely underdressed. The Galleria was an upscale shopping center with the Armani story being at the Low end of expensive. But, we were sweaty, tired and very hungry so we ignored the fact that we didn't fit in and just found a place to rest and eat. 
By now, my phone had been dead for about 2 hours and it was 9 pm. Because we didn't know where else to go or what else to do we caught a bus down to Reliant Park where the auditions would be held. We were dropped off on the opposite side of the Reliant Stadium but didn't find it a huge obstacle because how far around could it be to the other side? Right?... NO! We began walking down the dark street with our luggage dragging behind us. When we finally figure out we were heading in the wrong direction we were exhausted and didn't want to walk anymore. We were lost and our excitement about being in Houston was fading quickly. With no way of calling anyone and no way of figuring out where we were, we sat down on the side of the road. As we looked around us to see where we had plopped down we noticed that there was an electric outlet on a TREE! What? Yes! There was one tree that someone hadn't taken Christmas lights off of and there was a plug right there on the tree. We hurried and plugged in our phone and thanked Heavenly Father for such a great tender mercy. 

While we were waiting for our phone to charge Jessica noticed that just a block down there was a grocery cart. What luck!!! When we were rejuvenated enough to get back up and wander some more we put all of our luggage in the grocery cart and began pushing it in the opposite direction we had headed last time. It was only when we began passing a lot of homeless people that we feared we were not in a great part of town. Just as we were beginning to worry we heard a shout from behind a bus that had just stopped. A boy ran across the road to us and knew by the looks of us that we were from out of town. He shouted at us and asked if we were trying out for american idol. We replied in the affirmative and he said that he would like to accompany us to wherever we were going because he too was trying out for american idol. He said, "what the heck are you two girls doing out this late on this side of town? Ya'll are going to get yourselves killed. Let me push your buggy and I'll come with you to wherever you are going." Well...we didn't know where we were going but, we thought it might be a good idea to try and find the other side of the stadium. Eventually, three hours later, we reached the other side of Reliant park. We didn't realize that the place was so big.
When we found the line of anxious talent waiting to register we were so happy!!! Ah...we had made it. As we sat in line there was an awkward silence around us. Jessica and I thought it would be a fun idea to have some entertainment to keep us awake through the next 7 hours so, we brilliantly began asking people to sing their audition pieces for us. We had NO IDEA that once we got people singing they would NEVER stop! Our night was long and filled with music. We met incredible singers and some that were not so incredible. It was so fun to meet people that were so different from us. We loved the black texan accent and enjoyed the weird questions that some of the people asked us. They said things like, "Ya'll are married? How old are you? Ya'll have kids too? Crazy! You're baby daddy still around? My baby daddy not. I'm gonna hunt him down and beat his a**. How long you been married? Wow...and he don't beat you? Ya'll are lucky!"

At 9am we were finally able to register. Now that we endured long enough to get our orange wristbands we were so excited to get to Sugarland so we could sleep at the Smith's home. 

After a few bus rides and people telling us where to go, we reached the sugarland station. But, guess who doesn't have phone battery again??? Yep...so we trail off again on foot. As we were almost about to break out in tears we spotted a taxi at a gas station. Another tender mercy. The man was able to get us to the Smith's house (which we would have NEVER made it to on foot).

The Smith family is so sweet and kind. They had fresh towels and a nice cool bed waiting for us when we arrived. It was so nice to relax and finally get some sleep.We enjoyed being with the Smith girls so much that we hung out with them most of the time we were there. They were a blast to be around; it was like having a 24/7 "girls night".

On Friday morning we arrived at Reliant Park Stadium around 5:30am. We sat like cattle in cages that they shoved everyone into. At 8am they let us into the stadium and we did a lot of filming. When they were done with their filming they instructed us on how the audition process would go. There were 12 booths in the middle of the stadium. A line of 4 people were to approach every booth and the judges would direct them to sing in turn. They then say "yes" or "no". If they say "yes" you get a golden ticket and go to one door and if they say "no" you get your wristband cut off and walk out another door.

When it was our turn we walked up and it appeared as though the two judges were playing rock-paper-scissors. Apparently they were fighting over going to lunch and neither of them wanted to be there. The girl that lost at rock-paper-scissors wasn't very happy. She looked at us with a nasty stare and just told us to sing. I don't think she even listened. She said "no" to the whole line after us until she was able to go to lunch! HAHA...we felt like we did a great job (Jessica sang "angel" spectacularly and I sang "a-tisket a-tasket" better than I expected) and there were people around us who also didn't make it and were incredible!!!!! American Idol makes it look like half of the people who show up are bad or weird but in all truthfulness only about 2 % of the people trying out are jokes, 68 % are average and 30% are amazing! What's silly is that only 1% of all the people who try out actually make it past the first round of judges and half of those are the jokes that aren't even good at singing. But, that's show business! :)
We had such a great experience trying out for American Idol. We didn't come into it expecting anything, we knew that we didn't have great odds. It would have been cool if we got through but, we had a good time just being a part of something so big.

Houston was a BLAST!  We had so many great experiences and met some great people. I am so grateful that Jessica and I were able to have the American Idol experience. We had such a great time bumming around together but we are glad to be home. I've decided that I like my life as a wife and mom way better than partying all night, sleeping all day, being around crowds of people all the time and standing in front of cameras all day. But it was worth it just to be with Jessica and hang out with the Smiths. I actually think the highlight of our trip was playing with the girls in our bedroom and just hanging out.

If you're thinking about trying out for American Idol DO IT! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity that will rock your world. I've never been a part of anything like it and I don't think I'll ever try out again but I am glad I did!