| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Wow. Just... wow.
Shiro got us top-tier tickets to Halestorm/Evanescence tonight, including getting to sit in on the sound check and a post-concert Q&A with Evanescence.
This morning he got a text from Ticketmaster that we all have to be there by 3:00 pm for an 8:00 pm concert in order to qualify for all the stuff he paid a hefty sum for.
He's pretty darned pissed, and rightfully so. I'm a peon. I can drop a half day at the drop of a hat. He's an executive. He can't just cut work because he feels like it.
Stay tuned for more of this fiasco...
EDIT: Impus Major continues to be inscrutably wise for his age. We polled the group, and Impus Major's response was, "Honestly, I don't need all that stuff, and I don't want to have to sit around the arena for 3.5 hours just to get it. I'd rather just accept the good seats, see a good show, and let the rest go."
And that is what we decided on doing, because it will give US the most happiness.
What will happen to Ticketmaster after screwing over a "C-level executive of a Fortune 500 company" (as Shiro describes himself) should be quite entertaining. Shiro seems like a mellow, "Whatever happens, happens," guy. But he can get really mean when people cheat him.
Both put on a pretty amazing show. Lzzy is very personable. Although with COVID, she may not be as much as normal.
And the duet between Lzzy and Amy is always awesome.
Josh is pretty chill, but also exceptionally nice - particularly if you have CrossFit tendencies.
Jealous.
Edit: and I would totally see them naked. Cause Lzzy is all about the threesomes.
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I would also note that Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster and lost. While not Fortune 500 category, they have their own PR gravitas.
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Howdy there John!
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I would also note that Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster and lost. While not Fortune 500 category, they have their own PR gravitas.
My general rule of thumb is, "Cost them at least 10 times as much as they cheated you out of."
When U-Haul not only failed to provide me with a truck on the day I'd reserved it, but then had the gall to try to keep the $30 reservation fee because I'd never picked up the truck, I made sure all my friends and students knew exactly what had transpired. Thanks to one friend who canceled a move to Istanbul, I confirmed over $5000 in lost business for U-Haul.
When Home Depot not only mis-installed my $1300 kitchen floor, but then threatened me for complaining about it, I stipulated in my contract for the studio that not one nail was to come from Home Depot. I got all the receipts, confirmed every purchase, and have done that ever since with every home contractor. So Home Depot has lost over $100,000 in business from us.
Those are the two "big" examples, but it's all about making the company lose far more than they got by cheating you, and then making it abundantly clear to their upper management that you've done so. (U-Haul and Home Depot got physical letters to their corporate headquarters detailing their losses.)
It takes time, but it's satisfying.
EDIT: So typically Shiro would let the corporate events staff know that they shouldn't use TicketMaster for any events. It's easy to rack up tens of thousands in lost fees just by letting the events coordinator know who NOT to do business with.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I would also note that Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster and lost. While not Fortune 500 category, they have their own PR gravitas.My general rule of thumb is, "Cost them at least 10 times as much as they cheated you out of."
EDIT: So typically Shiro would let the corporate events staff know that they shouldn't use TicketMaster for any events. It's easy to rack up tens of thousands in lost fees just by letting the events coordinator know who NOT to do business with.
Fair. And for some things, effective and satisfying. But for concerts, it assumes that they can't/don't sell the tickets to someone else. In such case, the delta is zero for them. And both of your examples are fungible goods. Concert services not so much.
You want to see the Rolling Stones in person (for example), you pay ticketmaster one way or another. Or you don't see the Rolling Stones in person.
But now I am just being argumentative for no purpose. Enjoy the show. With or without perks.
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Several years ago now a buddy of mine had his Gen Con reservation cancelled at the J.W. Marriott.
At the time, he was in Sales and Marketing for the Chicago offices of ESPN. This was six months before the Super Bowl was to be held at Lucas Oil, and the hotel was using Gen Con as an approximation 'shakedown' for the rush of the Super Bowl.
So he politely asked to speak to a manager.
Didn't mention his employer at first until the manager gave the tired "Well, we're sorry but we can't help you" speech.
He didn't yell, didn't scream, just said "I understand how these things can happen, it's alright, I'll just let my employer know that we can't rely on this hotel for the foreseeable future."
Now the manager panicked and asked WHO my buddy's employer was, had the Brown Pants moment, and threw an Executive Suite at my buddy at no charge for the weekend.
As it was Gen Con, we were gaming downstairs in one of the meeting rooms and it was crowded and noisy even by Gen Con standards. Several of us noted that due to the noise and crowding that we'd probably skip the next two slots because we were worn out from the first one.
Enter said buddy who goes "I've got a suite, let's have the tables I'm playing at adjourn up there for the next two slots."
It was Quiet and Amazing.
We'd missed dinner in our movement up to the suite, so the buddy called down to Room Service (figuring he could at least expense the Room Service so there'd be less suspicion of ethics issues). Room Service sent up a menu, we all placed orders from it.
Two hours pass with no food.
Buddy calls down. "We placed a Room Service order two hours ago, just calling to check on the... Oh. I see. Thank you. No, it's not a problem. We'll figure something else out."
Five minutes later the manager of the hotel is at the door with the 'live' menu and a notepad, and takes down all the orders. Since the buddy was trying to expense it, he said to not worry about price point, just order and we'd figure something out after.
I remember having a mighty fine tasty eight ounce Filet Mignon, and others likewise went for pricey items.
Food arrived in twenty minutes.
"Okay, so here's my card and you can charge --" "No need, sir, Management is covering this one, we're so horribly sorry for the inconvenience. We'll be bringing up a beverage cart shortly, as well."
While it may not have been the Best Gen Con ever,. it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I carry with me when I see hotels that are struggling but doing their best.
Hope you have an amazing, fun, and safe experience, NH.
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A quick follow-up for those who are curious: After reviewing the higher-level cleric spells in 5e, it looks like cleric is a perfectly reasonable way to go. Very much like Pathfinder, the first few levels of cleric are painful, but by the time you start getting 3rd-level spells you're getting some good utility.
"Unfortunately", from a story perspective, my young cleric has been exposed to just HOW evil and horrible things can be in the big, bad world (a hag corrupted a town to start murdering their own), so storywise she needs a couple levels of paladin to start some hag smitin'.
She's very, very angry right now, and buffing other people so that THEY can beat on the hag isn't very satisfying for her.
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Fair. And for some things, effective and satisfying. But for concerts, it assumes that they can't/don't sell the tickets to someone else. In such case, the delta is zero for them. And both of your examples are fungible goods. Concert services not so much.
Wei Ji hit it pretty much dead-on.
Yeah; we can't hit TicketMaster in the pocketbooks for concerts, because concerts will ALWAYS sell out. But TicketMaster *ALSO* manages tickets for corporate events, which can garner them tens of thousands of dollars per event. And, having worked with event coordinators, there are few things they love more than, "You shouldn't work with this vendor because xxx."
It's hard enough to choose a vendor. Being able to boot one for being a scumbag makes life easier.
So Shiro's company is easily big enough to do TicketMaster-level events. All he needs to do is convince the events staff not to use TicketMaster for one external event. Bam. 10x his loss.
But at this point I'll take Impus Major's approach, let it go, and enjoy the concert.
EDIT: Favorite-ever NobodysHome's Story Time about that sort of thing: United Health Care refused to pay my claims. For 6 months. I started a formal complaint to the state. HR heard about it. They reviewed my documentation.
The fricking VP of HR called UHC and threatened to cut their $50+ million contract over ONE employee. I got paid the next day.
And I guarantee the VP had a blast doing it.
** spoiler omitted **...
...Jesus.
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And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
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Have fun at the concert NH. - mumbles "you lucky mumble mumble" -
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Sad but understandable NH. Sorry for your loss ahead of time.
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Reminds me recently my apartment charged me a late fee(which is apparently 10% of my whole rent) because they cleared everyone's electronic payment data and I don't religiously check my email. I called, was told "It's your own fault and it'd be too much for us to call people to notify them." I said okay(Too much to call,but they can send someone to enter my apartment and pin a notice to vacate apparently). Wrote a scathingly bad 1 star review where I aired out pretty much every inconvenience I've had up to that point then called to inform them of what I did and why I did it.
I've always made my payment on time for 3 years because I do autopay so I don't need to think about that nonsense. I actually had a decent opinion of the place despite the little setbacks.
Logged into my resident account and noticed they gave me the late fee back but I'm not changing the review. I told em I didnt care if they gave it back now. Principals yo.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
Holy crap.
Big hugs.
And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
I'm so sorry, my friend.
e-Hugs and prayers.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
I'm so sorry, my friend.
e-Hugs and prayers.
Yeah, like Tac said. Though honoring her wishes is hard, but for the best. Alas that these dark days must be ours.
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So.
This is a big day.
** spoiler omitted **...
Treacherous? No, absolutely not. As long as someone puts their 2 weeks in, businesses don't really have any leg to stand on when someone leaves. Unless you had some kind of contract in which case I would be more worried about legal stuff.
Emphasis mine, obviously. That depends entirely on the state. I'm not a lawyer, again, obviously, but a lot of states are Right to Work states, and neither the employer nor the employee have to give any notice or any reason to end employment. I have no idea if NY is one of them or not, and I haven't investigated to find out.
This is both a good and bad thing.
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
My condolences.
But Im glad she's going on her own terms.| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Eve texted me today to let me know that Hermione's horse is dying.
Combination of old age (he's almost 30) and Cushing's disease.
And, thanks to WW, she won't get to see him to say goodbye.
And of course she texted me this in the middle of the school day, so I had to hide my weeping from my students by inventing a need to go to the supply closet.Can any part of my life not Spocking suck for ten Spocking minutes? Please?
*hugs*
*extended hugs*
Let me know if there's anything I can help with. Even if it's just listening to you vent. Seriously. You have my number.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
In my opinion, for whatever that's worth, you are doing the exact right thing.
May her passing be as painless as possible given her situation.
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I'd have to echo the general sentiment about your hiking partner passing, NH.
There's a natural tendency to try and make one's self part of the passage of any being from this world.
To support others, to be there in shared misery, to remember the good times and the bad, etc,et al.
We've been conditioned by media,society, and culture to 'be there to the very end' almost as if expecting some 'miracle' or 'magic' to happen when... it's not going to.
Worse, we've also been shown a level of drama around it, as if passing without drama is some sort of crime or sin.
His psycho ex-wife tried to sue to get the power-of-attorney removed from my aunt because of that, and at the funeral they were crying crocodile tears and making a big fuss "Because he wouldn't let us see him!" -- despite his wishes to not be seen which were made clear to the entire family.
That's kind of stuck with me about how I definitely don't want to go out.
Having family or friends there? I'd feel horrible leaving everyone behind -- or not hanging on for 'x' to show up to say their goodbyes.
Remember the good times, remember the bad. If there was a trail you and your friend particularly liked traveling make it one of your next trips.
Find ways to get closure without drama, and you'll thank yourself for it, even if it feels rotten now.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd have to echo the general sentiment about your hiking partner passing, NH.There's a natural tendency to try and make one's self part of the passage of any being from this world.
To support others, to be there in shared misery, to remember the good times and the bad, etc,et al.
We've been conditioned by media,society, and culture to 'be there to the very end' almost as if expecting some 'miracle' or 'magic' to happen when... it's not going to.
Worse, we've also been shown a level of drama around it, as if passing without drama is some sort of crime or sin.
** spoiler omitted **
That's kind of stuck with me about how I definitely don't want to go out.
Having family or friends there? I'd feel horrible leaving everyone behind -- or not hanging on for 'x' to show up to say their goodbyes.
Remember the good times, remember the bad. If there was a trail you and your friend particularly liked traveling make it one of your next trips.
Find ways to get closure without drama, and you'll thank yourself for it, even if it feels rotten now.
I can't favorite this enough.
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That all sucks, the horse and hiking partner.
My brother had to go through the same thing with his horse, except my mom was the one being insensitive.
And yes, NobodysHome you are correct for not injecting yourself in the situation, your brothers are just being nosey a*~%$!*s.
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I'm almost done with the current job, at least until they get their swimming pool installed.
Just another half day!
It's taken awhile but it is amazing, which is only reinforced when the boss is giving tours to companies from Texas and New York while you're working.
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About to go home. Good night, everyone.
g'night John Boy
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Back on 'Curse of Strahd' last night, with an expanded group of players (which will expand still further, if two of the current members' boyfriends also join).
The GM does enjoy throwing monsters with silly amounts of HP against 2nd level characters, but I suppose we can always run away (also, Turn Undead proved its utility, halving the number of Doru we had to face at a stroke).
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Our problem with Strahd (and other adventures with a particular group) is we have no sense of scale.
We see something big, we do a very quick plan and take out things well above our fighting weight.
Our GM needs to outright stop some trains of thought with 'This is an inappropriately levelled encounter for flavour. Please consider this in your plans.'
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JalapeñosJalapeños turn red (or orange/yellow) as they ripen. We typically eat them green, which means unripe. When allowed to fully ripen, they tend to get hotter and sweeter.
Another fun tip is after you harvest them bundle them with string and hang them in a dry place, not only will they class up the place and give your kitchen a rustic flare but it'll add to their flavor and dry them out for cooking.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
A nice, long life. May she rest peacefully when her time comes. That said, I am aware that some people make very unusual requests in their very final days that can be a shock to others, dementia or no. Sometimes they are contrary to things they said earlier, or are outburst-y. Long before dementia set in, dad had a health scare and we were worried for a moment, he demanded to simply be left in the woods. When family told him we couldn't do that, he did get a bit...grumpy. It was hard to tell if he was serious or not. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if he had passed then.
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It is a rare concert where the warmup band comes on and you think, "Hey! These guys are pretty darned good!"
It is a rare concert indeed where Amy Lee gets outperformed.
And on a night where Amy Lee turned in a solid performance, seeing her get outperformed was... mind-boggling.
As Impus Major put it, "Lizzie Hale is two bad-a** m*****f*****s in one body."
Excellent concert. There wasn't a single greatest moment; there were two, both in Lee and Hale's duet:
(1) Lizzie started in on the duet. Her voice resonated through my spine. The audience erupted. She nearly burst into tears of happiness right there. As both Lizzie and Amy went to great lengths to tell us, they hadn't performed live for nearly two years (this was only their third performance on the tour). Having a live audience again was SO special to both of them. And Lizzie right there, in the middle of the "highlight" of Halestorm's set, just plain nearly lost it because she was clearly SO happy to be in front of all of us.
(2) Almost the same exact moment. I'd've always said, "Well, Lizzie has the growl and the energy, but Amy has the voice. Holy carp. Lizzie's intro to that solo. Nearly the entire audience cried with her.
If they come by your town, SEE THEM!
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In a separate note because I want nothing negative associated with Lizzie and Amy (and Plush, the solid opening band), the "VIP Tickets" were (almost) an unbelievable scam.
Honestly, I'm used to ticket prices for Sabaton, Alestorm, or Gloryhammer. So $17 for the floor, or $40 for the VIP seating. Taylor Swift can pull $800 tickets, so I know bigger bands charge a lot more, and our uber-special tickets were well below that.
But for something around 5x normal ticket price, we had to show up by 3:45 pm to:
- Get to go in and watch the sound check
- Listen to a moderated interview with the band
- Spend the next 2.5 hours in the lobby with no amenities and no in-out privileges.
We showed up late enough to miss the sound check and interview, but early enough to spend 2 hours in the lobby. It was a terrible experience.
But our seats were front row center. We literally could not have had better seats. So I guess we just consider that the seats were what we paid for and that's that.
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As Parkinson's (or possibly ALS; it's been around 15 years) started ravaging his body, he didn't get bitter or angry, he simply asked, "Well, I can't to that any more. What can I learn to do now?"
Backpacking turned into nature walks and bird watching. Nature walks and bird watching turned into painting. Painting with a brush turned into digital painting. Digital painting turned into getting specialized software to paint when he could no longer hold a brush.
Once he had finally exhausted all of his options, he decided it was time to go, so he invited everyone from across the country to come to his hospice. We all gathered and took turns telling stories of our lives with him. Little anecdotes. Stories about hikes. More significant stories about life-changing events with him. He listened to them all with bliss, because he could still listen.
After two solid days of storytelling, he said goodbye to each of us personally, asked us to move on and be happy with the life he'd lived, and waited until everyone had their chance, then asked to be allowed to die.
That was a classy man, and an amazing demonstration of how to die.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, like Tac said. Though honoring her wishes is hard, but for the best. Alas that these dark days must be ours.And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
I'm so sorry, my friend.
e-Hugs and prayers.
Paraphrasing and I cannot find original for proper attribution - but ask yourself "are you trying to comfort them or are you trying to comfort yourself?"
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
We have a conversation in my company's Yammer (which is like an inter-company Facebook) where someone is griping about how Spotify is blocked on work computers.
And someone else responded, "I know! And so is Pandora and iCloud! So annoying!"
And someone else added, "It's strange that YouTube is not blocked while those others are. I guess there's educational content on YouTube, but a lot of people just default to listening to music there."
One IT peon pointed out "Can you imagine the bandwidth consumption if everyone was in the office was streaming music?"
The original guy responds with "Instead I'm streaming music from YouTube right now and using 15x more bandwidth!"
And the second guy said, "Me too!"
*********
I read that this morning, and all day long I've been wondering if any of those people had talks with their managers about appropriate use of work computers, and how each employee signed something saying that they understood and accepted these sorts of things.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
We have a conversation in my company's Yammer (which is like an inter-company Facebook) where someone is griping about how Spotify is blocked on work computers.
And someone else responded, "I know! And so is Pandora and iCloud! So annoying!"
And someone else added, "It's strange that YouTube is not blocked while those others are. I guess there's educational content on YouTube, but a lot of people just default to listening to music there."
One IT peon pointed out "Can you imagine the bandwidth consumption if everyone was in the office was streaming music?"
The original guy responds with "Instead I'm streaming music from YouTube right now and using 15x more bandwidth!"
And the second guy said, "Me too!"
*********
I read that this morning, and all day long I've been wondering if any of those people had talks with their managers about appropriate use of work computers, and how each employee signed something saying that they understood and accepted these sorts of things.
Less than a month after Work From Home started, Global Megacorporation had to block NetFlix, Disney+, and other video streaming services because people were eating up bandwidth using them...
...while on VPN!!!!"I know -- I'll connect to the corporate network, and THEN do my video streaming so IT is sure to notice me."
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
In a separate note because I want nothing negative associated with Lizzie and Amy (and Plush, the solid opening band), the "VIP Tickets" were (almost) an unbelievable scam.
Honestly, I'm used to ticket prices for Sabaton, Alestorm, or Gloryhammer. So $17 for the floor, or $40 for the VIP seating. Taylor Swift can pull $800 tickets, so I know bigger bands charge a lot more, and our uber-special tickets were well below that.
But for something around 5x normal ticket price, we had to show up by 3:45 pm to:
- Get to go in and watch the sound check
- Listen to a moderated interview with the band
- Spend the next 2.5 hours in the lobby with no amenities and no in-out privileges.We showed up late enough to miss the sound check and interview, but early enough to spend 2 hours in the lobby. It was a terrible experience.
But our seats were front row center. We literally could not have had better seats. So I guess we just consider that the seats were what we paid for and that's that.
I remember wanting to see King Crimson when they came to town, but the cheapest tickets available by the time I found out about the show were around £80, so nope.
If you paid more than that, you got a CD, and a complementary glass of sparkling wine, and a warm scone, and a painting on velvet of Robert Fripp gazing soulfully into a puppy's eyes, or something very similar.
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JalapeñosJalapeños turn red (or orange/yellow) as they ripen. We typically eat them green, which means unripe. When allowed to fully ripen, they tend to get hotter and sweeter.
You see, that's what I read in some places online but from what I saw there were conflicting opinions on that. The thing is, it turned red-colored on the plant a few days before I harvested it and it seemed to continue growing at least a little bit. That was about two months before I had to say goodbye to the plants as winter temps arrived. I just don't get why leaving them in place didn't work, after eating that one red one I looked into it and decided I wasn't harvesting any of the decent-sized ones until I no longer had the option.
Regardless, I'm determined to figure out how to grow them like that consistently even if it takes me years. That little pepper gave me a kind of gardening high that I'll chase to the grave if I must.
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I've only been to one concert in my life.
They Might Be Giants did a show at Gen Con 50 in 2017.
It was bad enough that I had taken the ticket I had for Claim to Salvation and had gone from clump to clump of people outside waiting to play, looked for an 8-slot GM, found one who very nearly broke into tears as I just handed him the ticket. They tried pulling out money and I told them "Have fun, tell a great story, enjoy yourself, I don't need the money."
My goal at that point was go the eff back to my hotel room and sleep, and pray the headache would go away..
We went back to the room, then Fromper pointed out that they had an additional ticket for the concert, and I sat there for about ten minutes as the head pain wasn't abating and determined that one lives only once and there was never going to be another concert like this.
So I went.
The songs were amazing, and towards the end of their second set they made the apologetic announcement that they weren't going to do 'That Song' because folks were still processing and it'd ruin the evening -- and they weren't sure if they could guarantee the safety of the security team if they did, much less themselves.
So instead they performed not one, not two, but three encores at the end of the show.
Best choice I could have made, despite the migraine.
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I've only been to one concert in my life.They Might Be Giants did a show at Gen Con 50 in 2017.
** spoiler omitted **
We went back to the room, then Fromper pointed out that they had an additional ticket for the concert, and I sat there for about ten minutes as the head pain wasn't abating and determined that one lives only once and there was never going to be another concert like this.
So I went.
The songs were amazing, and towards the end of their second set they made the apologetic announcement that they weren't going to do 'That Song' because folks were still processing and it'd ruin the evening -- and they weren't sure if they could guarantee the safety of the security team if they did, much less themselves.
So instead they performed not one, not two, but three encores at the end of the show.
Best choice I could have made, despite the migraine.
SWEEEETTT!!!
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The only time I've ever had a VIP ticket to anything was Cirque du Soleil.
My friend got us tickets as an apology after she convinced me to go on a girls' weekend in Yosemite with her and three other gals I didn't know, and then bailed out the afternoon we were leaving to spend a weekend with her boyfriend instead.
The other girls weren't hikers, they were the "gift shop and restaurant" kind of national park visitors.
The VIP pass to Cirque was good... they had a special tent for before the show and during intermission with acrobats, clowns, singers, and abundant free champagne in giant test tubes. I had fun.
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I've never been a VIP.
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The Other Captain: Hey, that's my shovel!!
Me: WAS your shovel!
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We've done surprisingly few, considering Shiro's tendency to loudly exclaim, "Oops! Wrong button! Guess we're going on xxx!"
Muse has a really solid VIP thing, where you get catered food and a tour of the Muse-eum with a lot of their old stage kit, plus a nice place to hang out before the show. As I mentioned, this one was utterly forgettable.
Other than that, our "VIP" badges typically mean access to all the seating areas, so we can go sit down if we want, or go to the floor if we want, without having to buy two tickets. And those types of passes are typically less than two tickets anyway.
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At least until next spring.
But I immediately started my next job as I'm one of two crews (the Firefighter Lead Foreman is still going) still building stuff so it was a long day.
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Aiymi got me a VIP ticket for an after show meet with Steve Vai for one of my birthdays. That was pretty cool.
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I'm not hugely into his music, but he is a fantastic guitarist, and does seem like an interesting fellow.