Deal or No Deal

Today I am grateful for comfortable shoes. I am also grateful for chairs that are very portable. Finally, I am grateful for a cool spring breeze on a hot first day of May.

Today I stood in line for 7 hours for a 20 second interview. Why, you may ask? Today was open casting calls for Deal or No Deal. There were a ton of people there. The line was at least a mile long maybe two. We all stood in line for a chance to go on a game show for a chance to win money. There were people from Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and even Wisconsin. I met many of them. It is nice that when complete strangers are together for a long time, you can quickly develop a bond and a brief friendship.

So what was the 20 second interview. Basically after filling out a one page questionnaire, you were given 20 seconds to tell the person your name, your occupation, and something unique about you. Here's mine...

Hello, my name is Eric Payne and I am a technical support engineer for a local software company so basically if your computer breaks and you actually speak to someone in the US, you are talking to me. Many of my friends refer to me as the "stripping pizza man" and in two weeks I will begin my professional stand-up career at a local comedy club.

The guy giggled at the stripping pizza man bit and I liked that. So what's next? Don't know. After the extensive interview, we were excused to go home. They may call, they may not. Either way, I feel that I have a better chance than any lottery to get on that show. If I do, maybe I will win some money to go on that dream vacation, provide a quality education for Sarah, and donate some to the International Vasa Previa Foundation.

Good luck to all that hung out with me; it was an experience to remember.