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08/15/2006: "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire"
Millionaire held auditions today in Chicago -- technically Schaumburg -- from 9-4. I thought I'd be clever and not get there at 6 or 7 in the morning, you know, and avoid the initial crush. I got there after 10:30. Big mistake. They were holding these auditions at Medieval Times. I had read online that the parking lot was full by 7:30. It was still full when I drove by. I ended up parking in an apparently vacant office park about a half mile away. Even though I was in line at 11:00, it was a ponderously slow line. And I was amazed at how many young people were in it. I thought only senior citizens still watched it. Don't I ever get tired of being wrong? Anyway, it was hot enough that I ended up drinking my own water bottle and another that I bought from some guy selling them on his own for a buck each -- undercutting the $2 water occasionally hawked by the Medieval Times people. And all that sun reddened up my face and neck really good. My long-sleeved shirt protected my arms, but my Ancient Order Of The Killer Owl baseball cap only seemed to protect the very top of my skull.
At least the people with the show were kind enough to squeeze us all in. Their sessions of about 250 people would have left me on the outside by the announced quitting time, but around 3:00 they brought everyone in who was waiting which caused them to run well past the allotted time. (Sessions 9, 10, and 11 -- I was 10 -- were done simultaneously.) I think I finally started taking the test around 5:00. And I passed! (That right there is surely the peak moment of this adventure, by the way.) My interview was typically quick and undoubtedly unimpressive, and I can be pretty sure to receive a "thanks for trying -- please keep watching" postcard in a few weeks. But I at least can cling to the fact that this was my 7th audition with them, and the 6th time I've passed the written test. (I was also surprised at the low level of passing, at least compared to my previous experience. I'm guessing around 15 per "session", if my multi-session group was typical)