The last two or so months have been an amazing time for me. As I’ve mentioned before (hopefully not so many times that I’ve become a one-note Charlie) I was writing a blog about the Idols season here in South Africa. As a result, I ended up pretty much living and breathing Idols - going to shows, results shows, the Wednesday night parties, press conferences, the whole shebang.
Before I started, I knew very few people in the country (read: 4), but through Idols I end up meeting a whole lot of people. The contestants, other members of the press, local celebrities, and all the members of the staff, from the director of the show to the cameramen. Just socializing with people, and making new friends and acquaintances was reward enough - suddenly I went from doing nothing to having at least three days of the week filled with various Idols related activities. I met a few of my readers, and one even asked me (bizarrely enough) to sign her t-shirt. There I was, signing my “autograph” next to the host of the show’s, and under the official Idols columnist. I regarded it as a fluke, but it still felt pretty cool. And while I confess that it’s purely ego, being recognized and greeted by people that most South Africans would love to meet felt really, really good.
Several of the contestants read the blog - and one even took one of my suggestions and used it in the following week’s show. As a wannabe writer, I always wondered how it must feel to write a book and have it turned into a movie - to see the workings of your imagination brought to life on the screen. I got a small taste of that as I watched the contestant do exactly what I had envisioned in my blog, and it was amazing - especially after she confirmed that she had gotten the idea from my column. Contestants thanked me - for both my praises and my criticisms, and they treated me as if I were a friend, and not just a member of the media. I went from being completely shy and feeling totally alone, to getting a dozen hugs in an evening from all sorts of people that I’d come to know. I went from being afraid to write that first email to the editor of the website asking if there was a chance to get “behind the scenes” info, to calling Will Smith’s publicist to pull off a favor for a finalist without batting an eye.
And now, it’s over. Sunday night was the grand finale, and the winner was chosen, and all of a sudden, it all came to a very abrupt close. I had a dream, and it actually came true… but now I feel like I’m waking up again, and I just want to fall back asleep and live it some more. Suddenly, my week is empty again, and the one thing that dictated my life is just a thing of the past. And it’s depressing.
I’ll never regret the experience, and it’s not a complete end. Because of my involvement with Idols, I’ve been invited to attend a taping of a new local drama that I’m now doing a blog for, and to interview the cast members. I’ve also been given an early heads up by one of the channel’s staff that there’s a new reality show in the pipeline that they think I should do a blog on.
And I’ve grown in many ways - I suffer a lot from shyness, but I had to overcome that in a big way. The first few weeks, I sat in the very back during the press conferences. Towards the end, I was sitting right up front, asking my questions like I knew exactly what I was doing. I did my very first one-on-one interviews. I got dozens of requests to use my photographs. And my self-confidence in general has seen an incredible boost. I’ve gotten such favorable feedback from everyone - readers, contestants, the PR team. A few readers actually said they wanted me as a judge in the next season! (Never going to happen, my friend, but I’d be there in a heartbeat 
) More importantly, I’ve found something that I truly love doing. I’ve had jobs before that I loved because I was good at them. This time, I just loved it because I loved it, and if I was good at it, that was just a bonus. Most importantly, though, I was doing something I was really proud of.
So in a way, it’s only a beginning. But as silly as it might sound, it’s surprisingly hard to adjust to life after Idols. I can barely stand to check in at the blog, because it’s just another reminder that it’s over. Watching my stats plummet as everyone moves on now that the show is over is stupidly disheartening.
I guess I just had to get it off of my chest, sorry for rambling on. I feel better already - mainly because I reminded myself that this is only just the beginning…