I came home yesterday evening, (from a night of shopping with my mother...I love her and her dastardly Barnes and Noble gift cards...), to an e-mail from StubHub saying that the seller of my Lady Gaga ticket had canceled my sale!!!
Gaaaaahhh!
On further exhaustive search, it wasn't the sale that had been canceled, it was the show.
Gaaaaahhh! x infinity
On even further exhaustive search, it wasn't canceled, it was moved from Chicago theatre, (apparently too small to accommodate demand*) to someplace else (I'm not saying where, you can do your own damn exhaustive searching...)
So, it's still on, but because I bought my ticket through StubHub instead of directly through ticketmaster, I have to wait for everyone from ticketmaster to re-buy their seats, and then I have to re-buy mine. Now, take heed: do not use StubHub, except as a last resort.
I say this not out of malice, though I think things could have been better handled, say, by the agent I spoke to laying off the inhalents to preserve whatever brain cells they had left, but out of concern for others convenience. My (now invalid) ticket was MUY expensive, and is now invalid because ticketmaster doesn't honor second party sales. Also, their FAQ section is no help whatsoever, and their agent was thicker than two short planks.** To be brief, StubHub has been nothing but trouble since I started, the original ticket holder overcharged me by about 150%, and I highly recommend going straight to the source if you can, and thence to ticketmaster, and only thence to a second party dealer. Also, their phone menu begins by someone shouting "STUBHUB" in a way reminiscent of a painfully annoying commercial that was so painfully annoying I've blocked the product out of my memory. If I remember, I'll let you know.
To sum up, I am exactly where I began two and a half months ago. Without a ticket.
*And also, infuriatingly, convenient. About five steps from the el-train I would use to get there. The new location is in the ass end of nowhere, both decreasing my chances of being able to get there, and increasing my chances of getting a new ticket because no one else will be able to get there either.
**Admittedly, so was the first person I spoke to at ticketmaster. The second person I spoke to at ticketmaster was a real doll of a man, who helped me out, was incredibly sympathetic, and who is going to be e-mailed my article if I do indeed manage to get an interview.
Hi guys! I've not checked in in SO long, so here's the news from cold snowy mid-west nearly Christmas-land:
I'm still waiting for two grades to be officially reported, but I think it's a 4.0 semester. I'm quite pleased, as I worked my tailbone to bits this time, and it's (hopefully) the last time I will have to take Chemistry.
I'm leaving behind a few great teachers, my Chem teacher who is sweet and funny, and really likes me, and my History teacher who is going to be on leave next semester, and after that I'll only have one semester left and probably won't be taking any of her classes. She's the head of the department, and I just love her.
I had a nasty nasty double ear infection which broke one ear drum, that I've just now completely gotten over. I can hear again!!
I'm still looking for suggestions on what to write to Lady Gaga's publicist, so if anyone has any, I'd be grateful.
I am looking into a summer school program at Cambridge in August. It's two weeks, and HUGELY expensive, (okay, not really...but still, I don't want to pay for all of it...) and I'm trying to see if any scholarships are available through my school. It's on Medieval History, and looks to be FASCINATING! Plus two weeks in England, a chance to see some of the friends I made while abroad, a CAMBRIDGE certificate on my CV, and a chance to have my work evaluated by some of the top scholars in the world!!! I HAVE to go.
If I do go, I've already started looking at plane trips. The cheapest plane ticket has a stopover in, get this, Madrid. Five hours on the way there, close to THIRTEEN hours on the way back. Anyone know of anything fun for an American student with no money and less Spanish to do in Madrid for 13 hours?
My idea of staying with a friend and cutting the trip cost in half has been shot down (I didn't really expect it to go anywhere...I'm a total introvert and would HATE to have a house guest for a few weeks...), and so if I go, I'd be staying at the college which would be fab.
My best friend really doesn't get the concept of facebook. I see and talk to her brother more than she does even though they're in the same city, and so when she and I talk, I'll comment on something he's doing and she'll pause...and say, how did you know that?? Helloo...facebook. If he posts it, I see it...*headsmack* I'm trying to get her to come on board, but she's a little identity paranoid.
I've kept up on all your worlds, even though I've not been commenting lately, and I miss you terribly!!!
If I don't get back before then, Merry Christmas to all of you, sometimes coming here is what keeps me sane.
As referenced in my most recent post, I've heard back from Lady Gaga's publicist, and he doesn't deal with press requests until 7 days before the concert. The concert I'm going to/want to cover is on January 8, so I can't re-pester him until January 1. The way I'm going to look at this is I have a little over a month to write the best, most impressive e-mail possible to get what I want.
And for this, I need some help, having never before made this particular type of request.
So: what I want to do is one of these three things, (or a combination of them):
1. Have a very short (5 minute) interview with her.
2. Cover the pre-concert party.
3. Be part of the press pool/press conference which covers the concert itself.
Ultimately, I want 1, or 2, or both. I bought a ticket for the show itself, so I don't really need 3.
So, my lovelies, can you give me any tips on what to write that would woo her publicist into thinking that Lady Gaga simply must talk to this rather insignificant reporter from this paper with a circulation of about 7000?
Blessings 'pon you all, and hope that you had a good Thanksgiving, (or, you know, not, for those who are not American...)
This is a whiny, pouty, and medically disgusting post, so if you read further, you've been warned.
Ugh. So, last week I had an itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy cold. Tiny sore throat. Tiny stuffed head. Minor aches, headache, etc. I decided to be proactive and irrigate the living hell out of my sinuses to get rid of the cold germs...love the lovely water pik, flushing the germs out of my sinuses...buh-by germs.
Anyhow, one of the nights when I irrigated, I got some water stuck in my ear canals. And then went to bed. Was fine for a little while the next morning until I decided to take a bath, put my head underwater to rinse my hair, and got more water in my ears. Within a few hours, I had a raging ear infection. Then I had two. Then a trip to the ER where they gave me drops for my ears. I should have been feeling better by Sunday. Guess what? I'm allergic to those particular drops. Like, itchy, burning, pain and death-wish type allergic.
Through all of this I've been taking OTC-NSAIDs. Aleve, Tylenol, etc. And I'm feeling sick. So Monday, I go to my regular doctor, tell her the whole story, she gives me different drops (which are working, thank all the dieties ever thanked), and tells me to take Dramamine for the sick feeling. Which works all right until Wednesday morning, when it abruptly and dramatically stops working. I think the problem is the pain killers, so I'm trying to wean myself off them, but if I don't take them I just want to curl up in a ball with my hands over my ears, whining. I hate whining. And through this all, I've not been able to take another bath for fear of getting even more water in my ears, plus positional vertigo, plus lack of energy.
So, round about Wednesday noon, I become concerned that the NSAIDs have damaged my kidneys, because I'm peeing blood, and I don't have a bladder infection currently. I know what they feel like, and this ain't it. So I call my husband at work, and he hies himself home to take me to the doctor AGAIN. But not my doctor, no, she's out of the office until this coming Tuesday. I go to the local clinic. The doctor there tells me that not only do I have a double outer ear infection, I have a middle ear infection in my right ear. And that I'm right, I don't have a bladder infection, and he doesn't think I've overdosed on Aleve, so he can't tell me why I'm peeing blood, but to be retested in a week, because 'sometimes these things just happen'.
Today, Thanksgiving, I've finally been able to take a bath, but still feel tired, miserable, and pretty out of it. I missed two paper deadlines in classes, two chem labs, a chem test, and the deadline for four articles for the newspaper. I have three weeks remaining in the semester to try to make up all this work, and to finish the work that was there already. I've been grouchy, out of sorts, and unclean. So, today I am distinctly thankful for my parents and spouse who put up with me being grouchy, for being here at all when I know that good and deserving people sometimes don't make it as far as I have, and for the chance that I will eventually regain the ability to hear, as it has currently deserted me.
Also, update on January trip to see Lady Gaga:
I've been in contact with her publicist, who says that he only deals with press requests seven days before the actual concert, and to check back in the new year. I have to wait until January 1 to re-pester him. GAAA! But at least I'm on the radar, so to speak.
I'm going to see Lady Gaga on January 8th!!
The chance of a lifetime, I'm sure...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACm9yECwSso
Yup, I changed my mind. I'm just to darn busy. Here's a list of things I need to do other than National Novel Writing Month:
A Very Large Paper for my senior project
Correlating the data for my honors project
A Very Large Paper for my honors project
Getting my ass in gear and focusing on magazine production
Completing the classroom visits which will produce the submissions for the magazine
Filling out the form for the band which will come for Publications day (for the magazine)
Writing my newspaper articles on time
Researching Grad School applications
Folding and hanging up the laundry which is currently in a large (clean) pile on the bedroom floor
Putting together my portfolio so I can pass to my senior year
Finishing the work on the archiving project so I can get paid for it
Signing up for next semester's classes
Getting special permission to sign up for as many credits as I will be taking next year
Doing the work for the classes I'm currently taking ahead of time so I don't get that panicked adrenaline feeling
Tuning in to the lives of my friends, one of whom really needs a friend right now
Putting the coats back in the coat closet, the dishes in the dishwasher, and the books and papers back where books and papers should be
Spending some time with my poor beleaguered husband
Buying Christmas presents (this alone is a sign of how behind I am. Usually I have them bought and wrapped before September...)
Playing with my snake
And most of this is on a weekly basis.
I'm doooooomed.
I might actually do it. I might actually try my hand at fiction during National Novel Writing Month.
I hear a collective sad shaking of heads. She must be crazy, (all you, my faithful readers, are saying), to take on this when she's even slightly behind on all her other projects! When she has to schedule time for a proper bath, (instead of a shower), and when she has an unidentified mold source in her apartment that is driving her allergies crazy! We'll have to lock her away!
Well, yes, I'm kind of crazy. I'm also a good and fast writer. And I'm feeling a little 'now or never' ish about this, as I'm not so good with making things up. I used to lie a lot, and that's sort of like small fictions, but it was always realllllly close to the truth, and then I never did it more than absolutely necessary. And I stopped about 7 years ago.
Also, I figure the reward of working on the novel, (okay, fighting with myself about creativity vs. imagination), will push me to get caught up in the rest of my work. Either that or my ever-so patient and helpful husband, (who's helping me with characterization and plot), will cart me off to the loony bin, giggling maniacally.
So, I've not read the rules yet, but I figure I can ask for help as long as I do the actual writing, right?
If so, do you think that people would like to read a mystery about a brand new professor of archeology who gets embroiled in department politics and solves crime on a small commuter campus? She's smart! She's feisty! She's...a huge klutz! That sound of breaking china you hear? That's her coffee cup falling to the floor and shattering as she's listening in on a clue giving conversation! To be continued...
...they're going to yank my credentials! Kidding.
But seriously, I miss all of you! I've been incredibly busy with school; chem, magazine, history, philosophy, honors class, most of which need a three page paper a week.
Anyhow, more detailed post at a slightly later date.
Hugs!
This archiving project has thrown up some really great finds, such as a full set of log books from a local business during WWI. If someone down the road takes a look, figures out which business it was and does an analysis of wartime economics, it would be fascinating. Also, a hand inked music textbook from the late 1800s. Just amazingly beautiful, 176 pages of hand written lessons on music theory and practice.
And then there are the clippings. This woman was an amateur historian. A local amateur historian. And she liked to compile scrapbooks to show local people their history. So she clipped the local newspaper, (apparently), every day for the last, oh, 80 years or so. Had she also assembled all the clippings into scrapbooks, that would have been peachy keen. However, she didn't have time to do all that, so what she did was copy the clippings, to make sure that if they deteriorated, she'd still be able to show them to people.
And then she kept both the copies, and the clippings.
And this is where I come in.
This is good practice for what I hope to be my eventual career: archaeological field work. For never in my life have I seen a more filthy and abysmally tedious job. I've decided to toss anything after 1950 because of...microfiche. Yes, these clippings are handily archived already in several local libraries, on microfiche. Anyone who wants to study what their grandmother's life was like can go sit in a clean library and slowly scroll through the archived copy. No one in their right mind is going to do any sort of study sitting in a dark, damp, and grimy attic-type room with three foot high piles of clippings which are rapidly disintegrating into paper shards which tenaciously fling themselves into every gap in one's clothing.
I have already gone through one pile of clippings and found a grand total of five that I think this historical society should keep.
And I still have eight more stacks to go...
I haven't posted in quite some time, so here's some snippets from my life.
The text message from friend was a mistake. I e-mailed him and asked, and things have gone back to silent stalemate. Grr...
I've taken a rest of summer internship doing archiving work for a city nearby. It's quite rewarding except for a few things: 1. everything is covered in dust, (achoo). 2. they were amateur historians so not everything is in order and what is in order the *ahem* dear old lady put address labels into the front. Double Grrrrr... Those labels are NOT coming off. 3. I'm supposed to get part of my tuition paid for this but no one's stepped up yet and the date when my financial aid will hit and take care of everything regardless is coming closer and closer...
I have a cold. Which may explain why I was so cranky when my husband...
...left the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked with me sitting in the car to go deliver some parts.
I know, I know. I'm a big girl, should be able to stave off car-jacker/potential rapist if one should wander along, but...
...why make it easy for the bad guys? Why? When it's such a small matter to pocket the damned keys, why do this instead?
Thankfully did not react in manner which felt like, as that would have been taking the keys out of the ignition for him, hiding them somewhere in the car, and then locking the door. Bad, and counterproductive.
Anyway, I'm still here, I didn't croak. Though with this cold making me miserable, I would love to be able to just sleep a year or so. Hugs to all my reader(s).