My latest randomness

Alright, so I'm getting into the fun spirit of this city I'm in and decided to do something completely random. Here's the background: During my first staff meeting at work, my boss, Kellie decided she was going to start rewarding people occassionaly for coming to meetings on time, so she had a pair of concert tickets and she put everyone's name in a hat who was there on time that morning and someone drew and I got the tickets! They were for Ryan Adams and the Cardinals (who are they?)...and so my roommate/coworker, Shana and I were going to go and have fun seeing a show we had no idea about. But turns out the concert was canceled because Ryan Adams got sick (go figure?), so Kellie got her money back for those tickets and told me she'd make it up to me. I really didn't care either way, they were free tickets after all, so if she made up for it, fine, if not, no biggie. But like a week later she came up to me and said, "I don't know if you'll like these tickets, but it's Tori Amos." Now come on... lol. Not only do I actually know who Tori is (as opposed to someone named Ryan Adams and some red birds or something...), but I actually like Tori's music so that was a MUCH better trade-off as far as I was concerned. hehe. So then it was a matter of someone coming with me. Shana doesn't really know Tori's music so she told me to take Rozie. Rozie didn't tell me for the longest time whether or not she was going to come, and in the end she said no because it's a school night and she had pictures the next day and no transportation anyway. But by then Shana had made plans already that she couldn't break, so I was stuck going alone. I even asked all of my co-workers if anyone wanted to go at the last minute, but no one could. So guess what I did? I posted an ad on craigslist for a random someone to go with me. Here's the ad I posted:

Hello! I have an extra ticket (lawn seat) to the Tori Amos concert in two days. Thursday, 6:30pm in Woodinville. I was going to take my sister, but something came up and she can no longer go. Since I just moved to this city and don't know anyone else to ask after my co-workers (none of whom can go, obviously), I am going to the concert all by my lonesome. I don't mind, but it seems kind of unfortunate to not have company.

So if there is anyone out there who is a Tori fan and wants to also attend a concert solo and sit next to a cool stranger, let me know. I would be happy to meet you at the venue with the extra ticket and a smile and friendly conversation.

Please note: This is not a date! Men or women are welcome to respond, but I have a boyfriend and I'm not looking for anything, thanks. Just some new fun with a potential new friend. I am 23, female, and an occupational therapist with a fun-loving and free-spirit attitude. I don't mind spending the evening with anyone of any age, as long as they are happy, healthy, and amusing. So respond to this email and let me know if you would like to come along and please defend why you should be the one to go so it helps me decide (from the million of emails I'm sure to get, I'm certain...haha).

Also note: Price of the ticket is negotiable. If you are really into the new-friend and shared company attitude, I may not make you pay for the ticket at all, but otherwise, the ticket is $30.00. Thanks.

Any questions, feel free to ask! If I don't get any replies, I'll be enjoying the concert solo anyway, so for those of you already going, enjoy it too! Tori rocks!

Samantha

So I got two responses initially, both guys. One guy was from India/Calcutta who was visiting the U.S. for the first time for a few weeks and wanted to see Tori but his friends didn't. But he needed to be picked up because he didn't have a car, and with a concert that started at 6:30 and I don't get off work until 6, it just wasn't very likely that it would have worked to go get him. So I chose the other guy, Jason.

Hi, my name is Jason. I'm not sure how to prove why i'm the person you
should take to see tori. Favorite music is alone the lines of Pink Floyd,
Ani Difranco, Bjork, Radiohead, the Cure, Tool, Portishead, and Tori. Also
not too recently I've gotten into Tom Waits, Aesop Rock and Sage Francis
recently. Uhmmm... I've been listening to Tori for 15 or so years. I'm 27
born in Seattle, grew up in California. I work at a club on the weekends and
am an artist in my free time. Let me know if your interested in seeing Tori
with me.

-Jason


After I emailed him with my number, he called me on thursday during my lunch break to get directions to meet me at work and when I got off at 6 I waited while he found the place and then we took my car and drove to the winery venue...ended up getting there close to 7pm, and we were glad Tori had an opener (a group called "the dittybox" or something, very interesting music...kinda odd to be mixed with Tori though, not sure if I approve). That morning, a girl named Amy had also replied to my email saying she had a ticket but her friends had been unable to make it so she was sitting alone and offered to sit with me. So we got each other's cell numbers (I love my cell phone!) and Jason and I called her when we got there and found where she'd saved us all a place on the lawn. So yeah, I sat and enjoyed a concert and a nice bottle of wine with two total strangers. But they both ended up being totally cool people. Jason is a VJ (mixes video to music for clubs, shows, and other events) and does his own artistic stuff in his spare time. We found out we both know sign language so we may get together again sometime to practice some ASL since we miss having people to communicate with in sign. Amy is a Flash developer (computer stuff for those of who unfamiliar with the term) and is currently contracted with Premera/Microsoft, and she's originally from Roanoke, VA, so she actually knew exactly where Greenville, Valdese (well, more or less) and Andrews, NC all are. They both live in the city, rather than the east side like me, but we all agreed to keep each other's contact info and if may try to do something together again. It was a really enjoyable evening. A gamble that turned out nicely. And I didn't mind giving my ticket away to a total stranger, cause I didn't pay for it in the first place...hehe. And I made two new friends out of the deal too. Pretty cool, huh? Randomness rules... :-D

And Tori was amazing too. I love her acoustic piano playing! And she did an awesome version of "Ring my Bell" and a decent version of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" (which I was appalled at first that she even dared do a remake of, but then I had to admit her version wasn't too bad). It was pretty cold out after the sun set and sitting on the ground wasn't too comfortable, but with the slight wine buzz I had and good kebab chicken in my tummy, it was still tolerable to be outside. At least it didn't rain. :-)