Some days just suck. I had driven all the way up north to Valencia with a group of friends to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain for the afternoon, and as we approached the front gate by pager went off. It was Mark, one of the assistants at Pakula/King, calling to tell me I had an audition for Flipper near my house in about two hours.
So we snapped into action. Phase one was to make a plan. We decided I would take someone else's car and get myself back to the real world in time for my audition. As far as Magic Mountain was concerned, that meant riding three rides and then leaving.
Phase two of my journey was getting home. I was driving Rachel's convertible, which turned out to be a stick shift. Not that I'm bad at driving a stick or anything, it's just that I am not good at it. A few screechy starts later and I had made it back to the city.
Phase three was getting to the audition. It turned out that the audition was not near my house at all, but instead way down in Santa Monica. On a good day, this would be a 25 to 30 minute drive. On a Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., it was anybody guess. Two accidents on the 405 did not help my predicament.
Phase four was waiting for the audition and that was also not an easy task. It would be another 30 to 40 minutes before I would go in and audition. I guess I should have welcomed the extra time because I'd gotten the sides quite late, and I was still not comfortable with the scene. That comfort would never be achieved.
Phase five. The audition. It was fine. Really. No one would be ashamed of anything I did in the audition. But still it wasn't so great either. I was reading for the bully older brother to one of the people on the show already, and I just don't look like a bully no matter of how awful my trip to get to the audition has been.
Phase six. Now drive home slightly defeated, having missed the amusement park, fighting rush hour traffic all the way into the Valley. Check the clock to see that you just invested four hours in a role that wasn't really right for you on a show about a dolphin.
Phase seven. Rethink going to med school.