tuesday april 15

today i found myself needing to address an issue that i thought had been settled a week ago, when my friend who had initially claimed my extra war on drugs ticket had to back out due to a scheduling conflict. here's how i managed to turn what should have been a simple situation into a convoluted mess:

1. decided not to email the guy i'd flaked on a week ago, because i'd seem like a real flip-flopper if i messaged him to say that i had a ticket available after all. and, as we've already established, i care what he thinks of me.
2. posted a facebook message to my friends in the morning asking if anyone wanted the ticket. no one did.
3. published a craigslist ad in the afternoon, which i took down 12 minutes later after it immediately received four replies.
4. emailed the first respondent telling him he could have the ticket, then emailed the second respondent to tell him he was the runner-up and back-up plan if the first guy bailed.
5. became paranoid that one of these four guys was the same person i'd been talking to last week (i never saw his name the first time around) and decided to send text messages to the third and fourth respondents, so that they wouldn't see my name.
6. told the third and fourth respondents that they were each also the first runner-up, and that i'd give them first dibs if the first guy backed out. i honestly don't know why i did this, in retrospect. giving them such a glimmer of false hope is the stuff of supervillains.
7. sent out a tweet which mistakenly suggested i still had a ticket available to sell, prompting a friend who follows me on twitter but not facebook to text me asking for it. had to turn him down and felt guilty about it.
8. planned to meet the original craigslist respondent at the venue at 10:00, then found myself running way late when the the city experienced a power outage that knocked the subway out from jane to st. george. with cabs and shuttle buses in short supply, i decided to just make the 25-30ish-minute walk to lee's palace. 
9. ran into my twitter friend on my way to lee's -- he had been there looking for a scalped ticket, but was walking home after striking out. felt guilty again.
10. showed up at 10:20 to meet the guy who was buying my ticket and had been waiting for me for 20 minutes while the opener played inside.
11. cheerily called "enjoy the show!" after him as he was beelining for the venue door as quickly as possible after making the swap with me.