Registration Day!

Friends, I write from sunny, 73 degree, Lyndonville, Vermont. In stark contrast to my morning I am relaxed, warm, and content.

At 2:45am I woke up at Jill's house in Scituate. I got all dolled up as I do and headed for Foxboro. I arrived at the mighty stadium very early. By 4:30am my umbrella and I were standing in a line of hundreds soakingly awaiting the 7am start of American Idol Season 9 Registration. Although I was a little sad to be braving the storm alone I soon realized that meeting new people is one of the best parts of the journey. Duh Ashley! In a monsoon at approximately 4:35am (I was counting minutes that's how bored I was) I met three lovely women who would stand in line for hours with me. Stephanie, Caroline and Caroline's Mom, Kathleen, were entertainment, comedy, and rain shields. YAY! Lucky for me, Stephanie has auditioned before and therefore explained the process to me. There is soooo much we don't see on TV and soooo much I did not know. For instance...
1. Today's registration is totally chill. All you do is walk up to a table one by one, show 2 forms of ID and receive a wristband and ticket. The ticket is an actual ticket to Gillette.
2. After you register you leave and return Sunday by 5am.
3. Obviously I don't know first hand what happens next but i am told that we will sit in our assigned seats and section by section will be called onto the field. In fours singers will approach one of twelve tables. Each singer will step forward and sing about 20 seconds a song of their choice a capella. The producers at the table will then instruct who is to move on and repeat a similar scenario for another set of producers. Imagine lots of people singing at the same time. You can be asked to leave at anytime and you are not guaranteed the opportunity to sing if your section is not called. IF you make it through all sets of producers and they are still interested you will be asked to come back in two weeks for an audition/interview with the executive producers. IF they like what you can bring to the show you will come back later in the summer and sing for the celebrity panel you see on TV.

I was only in line for 3 hours...to the dot. Out of my car at 4:29am and back in my car at 7:29am! Pretty good. I was one of the first few hundred people to register and the line behind me was ohhh so long. Soooo glad I got up early. I decided to drive back to Northern Vermont to have a quiet 24 hours. I will drive down tomorrow and stay in Foxboro to make sure I am at the stadium by 5am! I am really looking forward to Sunday.

Oh and one more thing...everyone keeps asking me what I am going to sing. I have prepared several short snippets of my favorite songs. Sometimes you are asked to sing more than one. I will be starting out with a 20 second clip of Martina McBride's Anyway.

Please keep me in your thoughts for Sunday. I will graciously accept any positive energy you can send my way.

DREAM BIG!
Ashley