11-18-02

It's about 4 o' clock in the morning and we're only about four hours away from the beginning of the try-outs. When 8 a.m. comes around I'm ready to roll. No cold, no sore-throat, no NOTHING!

I'm all dressed up in a pretty simple standard set-up for me. My Chili Red Banana Republic shirt, with the dirty washed Gap jeans, black dress shoes and my leather jacket. Nothing over the top.

The thing I'm most excited about today is that there are going to be some fine-ass looking people all decked out.

I've heard the whole tryout process involves us auditioning in front of the producers first, then the executive producers for the second tryout and after that the BIG THREE: Paula, Randy and the cold-hearted Simon.

I don't even know how far I'm going to get, but that doesn't matter. Like I said before, I've accomplished all the goals that I could control so I'm gonna leave here with a smile on my face and NO REGRETS!



11-17-02

I wish you guys could all be here to see how crazy this is. There are over two thousand people sleeping side-by-side sardine style in the cold. And all of them are looking for a chance to be "an idol".

I'm not even sure what's going to happen to me, but I've done all that I can. I got here early, and I've ensured myself of a try-out. We'll see what happened from here because there are some unbelievable talents out here.

I'm loving this experience and I will never forget it. One more night to go...



11-16-02 9:30 P.M.

So we had a master list set-up where everyone would sign-up for it as they came to the Rose Bowl. I was #55 out of the whole line. Key word "WAS". Things started getting crazy where people were crossing over from their side of the END of the line to the BEGINNING where it had snaked around like a big "U".

American Idol reps had to act fast so they decided to move us forward towards the gate. At the same time they used our master list for the order. Well there was a problem, they were reading the list amongst a crowd of about 200-300 people WITHOUT a mega phone and speaking at a normal volume level.

So supposedly they said my name without me hearing it. I started getting worried and got pissed while tons of more people were jumping ahead of me. So I just went up finally and walked right through as they checked my I.D. Now I'm #172, no longer #55 and I've been pretty much separated from my crew, but oh well.

This IS a competition so I'll just deal, but I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal.



11-16-02 3:15 P.M.

Today something trippy has already happened. Some crazy girl jumps to the front of the line, thinking that she has the right to cut in front of all of us who have been waiting for over a full day by now. The problem, this stupid trick brought a poster board cut-out of herself. Pretty much everyone clowned on her.

Everyone told her to move to the back, because we had established a list. Shes just cussed out the main person telling her about the list while a cop car started rolling by. Someone yelled "Hey get the Po-Po!". The police came out and actually escorted her sorry ass to the back of the line. As she was being escorted people started singing "MOVE BITCH! GET OUT THE WAY!" It was damn funny.



11-16-02 8:00 A.M.

It's bright and early in the morning with the sun peaking just over the Pasadena Hills. After waiting in line all day the Rose Bowl Security kicked us out of the park. So instead of sleeping outside in the cold, I got myself a nice hotel with a warm shower and a nice big bed.

Everyone came back out to meet at 5 A.M. in the morning and here I am back in line.

I've met some great people already. Specifically Rika and Mirinda, these ladies just tear me up. The wait in line wouldn't be the same without them.



11-15-02 2:00 P.M.

I'm in Pasadena now and I think I'll be alright. Being 55th in line at least makes me think so.
So far so good.

I can definitely tell you right not that I am not the best singer out here. I never expected to be. There is some great talent out here already and there are only about 200 people in line.

But it's all about the "T.T.P." or "The Total Package.

3 nights left to go...



11-15-02

It's about 5:30 in the morning and I'm all set to get up and go. The weather looks like it's going to be pretty warm in the day 70s to even 80! It'll get to around the high 40s an low 50s at night time.

So I checked out the web site and they said that the "Official Lineup" starts at 8 P.M. on Saturday. Well I can tell you that if I'm getting my ass out there on a Friday, then the "Official Lineup" is gonna start when I get into town.

I'm bringing a few toys to keep me occupied while I'm there. They include a journal, two books, my iPod, digital camera, a deck of cards and "Bop It". I mean, who WOULDN'T want to play a game of "Bop It"?

I'll be leaving my phone off and checking my messages once a day if anyone needs to get in contact with me. I officially don't even have a place to stay on the first night so I might as well just sleep outside anyways.

So keep checking this out if anything new happens. I'll be away from any sort of electricity probably for the next four days and three nights.

Alright peeps! Take care now and wish me luck!



11-13-02

So what can I really say? If you are reading this you might be excited or you might be saying to yourself..."WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?". Well all of you are right on the money cause that's exactly how I feel.

After watching the first series of American Idol someone told me , "Hey Bri, you should really try-out for that. Who cares if nothing comes out of it, but you should just give it a shot." And after thinking about it, I'm going to do it.

The reason I didn't tell anyone was because I didn't want everyone to know. It would have put all this unnecessary pressure on me that I didn't need. It wasn't anything personal.

By the time you are reading this I have already left Cupertino and I'm probably already waiting outside on a cold hard sidewalk to get my chance at this American Idol thing.

I don't want to be famous. I just want to see what I can do with this and see how far I can get. I know it may be incredibly tough, but this is the only chance I have in my life to ever try to do something crazy like this, so I'm gonna take my chance and go for it without looking back and having no regrets. I've always wanted to have a crack at singing for fun and why not take this chance?

But the main reason why I want to do this, is to give "Middle America" a shock. I want to show them that Asian-Americans can do the same things in the media that they are used to seeing other races do. I want people sitting at home to say, "Wow! I never knew they could do that." Because believe me there are plenty of them out there.

I'm not some Asian Pride character at ALL. If you know me, you know that's not even a priority in my life. But I want people to see things they are not used to seeing and I want to change some minds.

I just may wait in line for three cold nights straight get one nasty ass cold and I may not even get a chance to try-out. But I know what I want to get out of this and above all, I'm gonna have a great time and tell my kids how stupid and crazy their Daddy-O was.