Picking up from yesterday –
So, basically, the way it works when you’ve been chosen for the show is they tell you that there’s now an 18-month window of when they might call you in to play.
They say that because of the way the making the schedule works, you generally won’t know until about 14 days in advance.
They do try to make super clear that if there’s any reason you won’t be able to play, they’ll reschedule you. And they try to make it clear, that even if that boots you outside of your 18-month window, they’ll do their best to accommodate it.
(Some of the examples they give of life things that could get in the way are pregnancy (you can’t play if you’re too pregnant), illness, military deployment, final exams for college students, etc. etc.)
If you are a California resident! (Which I am!), you first have to do a standby tape date.
Now, if I had truly wanted to argue that I’m a New York resident, I think I could have. I did have an apartment there, and was spending a fair amount of time there, and am in BMI, and all that.
But I didn’t want it to get confusing for tax purposes, and temporary address purposes, etc. etc. So, I went with my true LA residency status, which means that since you live here, and you don’t have to fly in, you have to come to your first tape date as a standby contestant.
There are two standby contestants for every tape date, and basically they’re there just in case someone gets ill, misses a flight, whatever, then someone is there to play.
When I did my date as a standby contestant, someone mentioned in passing that to their knowledge it had been years since one was used. So, I think it’s basically a safety measure more than anything else.
But whenever it does end up getting used, they’re gonna be glad they did!
Now, as far as when I got called to come in and play…
I don’t actually remember all this time later, but I think they might’ve called me to standby while I was in New York, and then I couldn’t do it because the whole point of an LA person doing the standby is that they don’t have to make a trip out there just for that, so they didn’t want me to do that.
(Maybe it would’ve been better to put New York after all.)
But whatever!
Anyway, I ultimately got called in to be a standby contestant for Friday, July 26, 2019.
I was supposed to be running a 5k as part of the San Francisco half marathon weekend that weekend, but I didn’t want to wait any longer for Wheel.
So, I cancelled the SF weekend, and just went to Wheel of Fortune. We were already 10 months out from my acceptance. So, I wanted to get this standby date done, so I could get to my tape date.
And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.