When it comes to pickup lines, I’ve got a winner.

“This one time in college, I auditioned for Playboy.” What’s so great about it is it’s truly and completely out of character. I’m a self-proclaimed nerd. I named my cat after a Harry Potter character. No one, including me, would ever expect me to do such a thing as audition to pose naked in a nationally acclaimed magazine.

Yet, somehow, there I was, standing in front of a photographer with no clothes on.

But let’s go back to the beginning.

One does not simply wake up and decide one morning, “I think I’ll audition for Playboy today.” It all started when I began covering the Playboy Campus Representative program. During an interview about the program, I was told that the magazine would be doing a “Girls of the Pac 10” issue and would be visiting in the spring to hold auditions.

I immediately called dibs on the story.

All I wanted to do was cover the story, but then one of my editors got it into her head that I should do the audition and write a column as well.

I laughed at her.

Then, I thought about it some more and decided it actually sounded like a lot of fun. I had already been on a weight-loss journey, why not add self-discovery to the mix?

So I signed myself up.

Then I began the pre-Playboy audition process. This includes hiring a personal trainer to work on toning up, tanning to emphasize my unique mix of a racial background, and, of course, waxing.

It was not cheap, but when I showed up at the audition, I was feeling pretty good about myself.

I’m not going to lie, I was nervous as all get-out, but I was confident in how I looked, and that led to more confidence in how I felt.

So when the photographer, who was nicer than nice and also really cute, told me to take it off, I did.

The auditions were tons of fun. The Playboy people and the other girls were all really nice, and we got to jump on a bed. I haven’t jumped on a bed since I was a kid!

The auditions consisted of a personal photo shoot, ranging from in my undies down to completely naked. And, of course, the jumping on the bed shoot.

A fellow Evergreener and I did the shoot together for moral support. So not only did I strip down in front of the photographer, I also got naked in front of a girl that I have to see and work with. And I did it with no hesitation.

Then we jumped on a bed. Together. Naked. And had a blast doing it.

All in all, I’m glad that I did it. I would absolutely love to be picked, but even if I’m not, I can at least say that I had the confidence to show up and try. And that’s good enough for me.