And so the saga continues on that winding road to grad school that happened one year ago.  Last time, I mentioned the passing of anniversaries.  February 5 marked the anniversary of a fateful, stressful, snow-ful day:  audition day in Chicago for UCSD and for USD/Old Globe.  Though I felt quite prepared for the audition itself, the logistics needed for the day resembled a schedule the President might keep.  I needed to fly to Chicago that day, complete the two auditions, and fly home in time for the final dress rehearsal of The Little Dog Laughed, which was opening the following night.  And then…it snowed.

My original flight out that morning was cancelled, but I was able to book one later in the morning.  If you can imagine me sitting in the East Terminal of Lambert-St. Louis at 7:30am amongst dozens of other waiting passengers, finding an open bar (which actually was not hard), and drinking two beers while studying “Little Dog” lines, then you would have an accurate picture of my morning.  As you can also imagine, it tightened my day even more.  It was literally O’Hare to El to Hyatt to El to O’Hare without pause or hesitation.  It made for perhaps one of the most exhilarating days of my life, but I don’t think I would recommend repeating it.  

Oh, I almost forgot one of the funniest–only in retrospect–parts of the day.  The early morning drive to the airport through the semi-plowed streets meant my low-riding Beetle was having a dickens of time.  In East St. Louis, the snow and ice caused a guard on the undercarriage of my car to come loose.  I scraped my way across Eads Bridge sounding like a snow plow.  By the time I was able to pull over at Laclede’s Landing, my adrenaline was pumping so hard that I ripped the guard the rest of the way off with my bare hands.  I literally tore my way through this day.  

The following is an email I sent to loved ones who were following the adventures of the day closely.  I tapped this out waiting for the El:  

Hey folks!

So much to report but I will try to keep this brief.
1-Missed my original appt for UCSD with the flight delay. Literally sprinted down Michigan Ave. to make it there by 2pm when UCSD ended auditions. Made it at 2 on the dot. No dice. So screw them.
2-Neon lights from God seemed to point now that I was there for one thing…Old Globe. Rallied.
3-Knocked it out of the park. They were extremely nice. Got a great vibe from them. They said I had an “extremely good command of the language”. We also chatted about Drowsy Chaperone–my contemp mono–because neither of them had seen it. Any chance for more chat is a good thing, and they kept asking questions. Should know something end of March. I felt so good. So good.

Thanks for all the prayers. Truly. God, it takes a village, you know? Now on my way back home.

Bradley J.

PS-Gentle snow falling in Chicago. Lovely. A gift.

In the days following this report, my mom had mentioned how uncharacteristically curt I seemed in regards to UCSD.  Really I don’t hold any malice towards them or their program.  Instead, I think the takeaway is that UCSD was clearly not the right choice for me, and it took a frenzied sprint down Michigan Ave. to realize it.  Oh, and I made it home in time for curtain.  

Check out the rest of this series here.