I'll take This is Really Happening for 400, Alex

I followed my dreams this weekend. And they led me straight to a Sheraton in New York City.

You see, I had my audition to be on the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament on Saturday. 

All the hopefuls waited in one room, subtly scoping out the competition, trying to see who looked most confident, smart, and television-worthy. I noticed that most of the people looked similarly serious, and hoped that the Jeopardy! producers were looking for someone who smiled regularly, even under pressure.

Like me.

Then a woman came into the room. She radiated happy energy and joked around with all of us. It was a tough crowd though, and the atmosphere was tense. She changed the game when she started talking to one girl like they were close acquaintances, or maybe even friends. The girl was actually sitting next to me, and she looked kind of uncomfortable.

Then the producer declared that this girl, Sue, was this year's National Spelling Bee champion.

I had to hold back a gasp. How was I, a typical teenager, supposed to compete with her, a quasi-celebrity at only age 14, a  nerd-god among nerds? 

I had to go with the flow and regain my composure, as our pictures were now being taken.

All the kids were herded into the next room over as the producer talked to our parents. We were shown a pre-recorded message from the big man himself, Alex Trebek, along with his globe-trotting Clue Crew. It was fairly impersonal and mainly outlined the test we'd be taking, but still. It was nice that he cared enough to record a message for us, even if the copyright date on it was 2008.

Then it was test-taking time. I'm not at liberty to say exactly what was on the test, or the Clue Crew will hunt me down (I assume), but I think I did pretty well. I know that I missed a few, but the pop culture sections were a breeze for me and my general knowledge base sufficed for the other categories. 

After the test, we got to socialize. That's when I found out that Sue, in addition to being almost famous, also was a genuinely nice human being. It was impossible to resent her, even as the producers made spelling bee references and flashed adoring smiles at her. We made small talk with the other potential contestants about the questions we weren't sure about, and from there I could pretty easily categorize the people.

There were those who were terrified. They were quiet and looked at you with surprise if you talked to them. 

There were those who were trying really, really hard to display a BIG PERSONALITY! The producer had told us that she needed us to be loud when we would be answering clues, and that energy was important, and these kids took that advice to heart. Even in normal conversation, they were loud and boisterous and DID YOU KNOW THAT AS A CONCERT VIOLINIST I PLAY POPULAR SONGS AS WELL AS CLASSICAL? IT'S CRAZY, RIGHT?

There were a few who were a little bit too cool for this.

There were also a few nice, normal people.

I'm hoping I was one of the latter.

After our social time was up, we got to the real auditioning part. There was a panel of three people from Jeopardy!, and we were called up three  at a time to play a mock-round. There were maybe ten questions per round, and everyone got to answer some, even though we were using the buzzers. We were instructed to keep pressing the buzzer until someone was called on to answer, so if you're watching at home and see Joe from Maine pressing his buzzer like a wild man, it's because he was told to. Don't judge him too harshly. Also, he's from Maine. There's not much for him to do in Maine.

After the rounds, we were interviewed. We had provided them with our anecdotes, but when they went off-script, the results were mixed.

"So, tell me something about yourself."

(pause) "...My name is Alexa."

"So, Paul, what do you do for fun?"

(pause) "...I read, sometimes."

As for my own audition, I think it went pretty well. I answered some questions right, enjoyed talking to the producers about my stories and myself, and was pretty much myself. I won't find out until November if I made it on, but that's OK.

I think I have about as good a shot as anyone else in that room.

Except maybe Sue.

She's in.