Because sometimes, you just wanna vent.

Alternate title: Mandy and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

For starters, I got no sleep last night. Didn't get back from Rocky til after 2, then got up at 7:30, and I have a cold so it took forever to fall asleep. The reason I got up at 7:30 was to meet up with Michael and carpool to Burnsville for Parkway Playhouse auditions.

Worst. Auditions. Ever.

Don't get me wrong - I felt like my actual audition was great. But the whole process was insanely disorganized, and frustrating to the point that I've decided even if I AM offered a role, I won't accept it. Nothing against Parkway Playhouse in general, because I know a lot of great people who work/have worked for them. And I've heard that in past years, auditions have not been the horrible process they were today. However, seeing as how today is the only experience I have with them...I was thoroughly unimpressed, and I intend to wait at least until next year to try to get involved out there.

Basically, what got me really angry was the complete and utter lack of order. We were numbered as we came in...and those numbers meant absolutely nothing. They didn't take people in order of arrival. At 3:00, there were people who had just been SITTING AROUND since 10:00 and hadn't even gotten to cold read. Meanwhile, there were people who didn't show up until 1:30 who were completely finished by 3:00. I got there at 10:00 and was done by 12:30...but Scott and about four other guys, who also got there at 10:00, was still waiting around. Finally, Scott decided he wasn't even interested in auditioning anymore after seeing the lack of courtesy and professionalism displayed by those running the auditions. I know it was frustrating for the directors, too; they didn't seem to have too much say in the order of things.

It's not that hard, people. Audition actors in the order they show up. If you want to do different groups of guys and girls, that's fine, but MAKE TWO SEPARATE LISTS so you don't have twenty girls finished and the first five guys still sitting around. Let people get their WHOLE audition over with in an orderly fashion instead of expecting them to wait five hours between steps. And if you absolutely have to have someone come back and read for a different part for you, get it done QUICKLY instead of asking them to wait another two hours to read a page of dialogue.

So, by the time we finally got back to Asheville (around 5), I was already just wishing I could start the whole day over and spend it hanging out with Scott instead of completely wasting our time in the middle of Burnsville. Of course, that wasn't the end of the day. When trying to leave for the Alice Underground show, I spent ten minutes looking for my phone. I finally found it, which was good. Then I immediately realized I could not find my license. Finally found it in my floorboard when I got to the theatre; it had fallen out when my purse dumped over at some point.

(After the show was the cast party, which was basically the only really good part of the day. It was a blast, but I wanna get all the bad stuff out of the way first.)

So, Scott took me back to my car after the cast party. I couldn't find my keys anywhere. Finally, I looked inside my car window...to see the keys in the ignition. The only other set is in my mother's purse. Scott brought me home and dropped me off...and then I realized that I should have just gotten him to bring me and get the other set of keys so I could go back and get the car instead of leaving it overnight. It's not exactly parked in the nicest neighborhood; someone I know had her purse stolen out of her car in the same parking lot, and now I'm worried about the possibility of someone breaking the window and taking the car.

And the time changed tonight, so after all that mess, I'm an hour behind on sleep, and I CAN'T sleep anyway because I'm stressed.

The icing on the cake? I came home to find my official rejection letter from Little Shop auditions; I already knew I wasn't cast, but it's such a nice little stab in the back after a long day to find a "Thanks, but no thanks" waiting for you.

The only thing that makes this day at all redeemable was watching (and rewatching) Carol Channing sing a song about jam in a wonderfully horribly campy 1980's TV version of Alice in Wonderland. I laughed til I cried and couldn't sit up straight.

Honestly, that almost makes the whole day worth it.