Our experience at the JYPE NY audition… March 10, 2008

Part 1: Getting there…

Chenzi and her friend, let’s call him Paul, drove to New York in Paul’s car. Our friend, let’s call him Charlie, and I took a bus to New York. Chenzi and Paul got to Chinatown at the planned time, around 10AM. Something complicated happened with my ride though.

Charlie and I had to take a train to get to the bus that took us to Chinatown. There was a storm the night before and one of the wires was cut and the trip to the bus station took an hour longer than it needed to. *Sigh* Damn public transportation. We finally managed to get to Chinatown around 11:30.

Lucky for us (not)…Chenzi and Paul kept getting lost (with a GPS) and couldn’t find us for about half an hour. When they finally did, we drove over to Flushing together.

Part 2: Waiting…

Now Chenzi’s done the SM Ent. auditions before and that place was super small compared to JYPE’s building of choice. They basically pick a place across from SM Ent.’s audition site and it’s meant for seminars and formal parties. It was nice. It had carpet, more than one bathroom, and an air system (although they really put the heat up high..meh).

We arrived around noon. Chenzi wrote up her application and she was number 100something.

Meanwhile, I was living my own distant life, putting on makeup for fun, and filling out college scholarship applications. A staff member was setting up green tape for people to line up behind. Being a natural do-gooder, I held the tape against the wall for him. If you were there around 1PM and saw a girl in a mustard yellow shirt with a large packet of papers pressing green tape against a wall with her right arm, that was me. The man said “Kamsamida” and he just grew on me after that. It was entertaining watching him run around and trying to entertain the crowd…even though I didn’t understand him. I also met a really nice girl, I’ll call her Jen, when she asked to borrow my pen and I decided to wait with and root for her too.

Helping the man with his green tape and meeting “Jen” were the highlights of my day because those two moments made me genuinely happy. Sorry, I’m quite the simpleton.

Well anyways, I wasn’t going to audition at all. But Jen encouraged me to try auditioning for modeling just to see what it’s like. So I did after a long hesitation.

Part 3: Audition…

Chenzi was momentarily upset. It’s okay. <3

Jen had fun and enjoyed herself.

I didn’t care what happened to me and the judge apparently knew it. I mainly did it to see what it was like and get a good experience. It was..interesting.

Basically, just go back to my last post and read about interviews for advice. If you want to know what it was like. Umm..I was auditioning alone in a small room. The judge was this stoic, well-dressed man, and there was a camera woman taping my every move. (Btw, they tape people in the waiting room too.) I learned that when dealing with Koreans, bowing is good. I don’t do that with Chinese people. I’ve only seen my Vietnamese cousins do it…rarely.

I have piano auditions this weekend. They’re worse than that JYPE thing. I have to play two pieces for nobody but two stoic old ladies in a gigantic dimly lit room. Yeah, but after that audition where I had no idea what the hell I was doing, I think I feel a little okay about my piano audition. I just have to practice.

Part 4: Leaving…

It’s not really important. As I already told you the important part and learned my life lesson (it’s bolded and italicized). We left the building close to 8PM. Bid our farewells to Jen. I’ll miss her. Got lost trying to get to Chinatown…haha another lesson, if you have a GPS, use it well, please. Charlie and I boarded the next bus back home. I got home around 1AM. I had classes today..and I’m still exhausted.

Part 5: After shock…

I have this fear of making a fool of myself and failure, but considering that I did this as an opportunity for a future career (since I don’t really know what to do with myself) and an experience…rather than as a true genuine passion (I actually want to be an artist), I shouldn’t have any “after shock”. I still feel embarrassed when I think of it though. I have mixed feelings about it. So I’m doing homework to keep my mind off of it…yuck!