!!!!!!!!!!

At 3:00, I began calling. Used our home phone, Kim's cell, and Skype on my laptop, with my three hands simultaneously. Around 4:00, Kim had to leave and needed her phone. The hour was getting late, my friends, as the shadows grew longer and... anyway, 4:30 rolls around, and I'm like a robot about to short out, now even surfing the net while hitting my redial on the phone, and on the Skype whenever I happen to notice it's crapped out.

And then I hear the woman! Oh my god. Where's it coming from? The computer! I've gotten through on Skype. I immediately start thinking of the "issues" you face in this situation: 1. Sometimes Skype ends a call for no reason. 2. You have to speak your address and other info during the process, and you never know if they'll will pick your voice up through your little laptop mic.

But I began the process. When they played back what I said for my address, it was maybe 80 % clear. But I couldn't risk re-recording. The longer the call, the more likely Skype cuts out on me, ruining everything. I complete the registration process, and start checking for tix.

I try game one. Sold out. Game two. Sold out. Game three. Sold out.

DO NOT LET ME HAVE GOTTEN THROUGH ONLY TO FIND OUT NO TICKETS ARE LEFT!

But I figure, if they were all sold out, surely a message would've said that in the first place.

Game four:

"There...are...FOUR...ticket categories...for...this...game."

Woohoo!

PLEASE LET AT LEAST ONE CATEGORY BE OF THE UNDER-200 DOLLAR VARIETY!

"For....two...hundred...fifty...dollars...."

And the next two options were mega-expensive seats, too. But the fourth option was 175-dollar grandstand. Sweet.

Only separate singles available. So what? I'll take two, please. (That's the limit.)

Now it's a race--let me get my confirmation number before Skype kills the call for no reason!

I made it out! Two tix to GAME SEVEN of the WORLD SERIES at FENWAY PARK!

For all three rounds, I scored on the phone sale.

Now, let's talk about that game: Should we lose the ALCS, it won't happen. Should we win the ALCS, but see the World Series end in four, five, or six games, my game won't happen. But it's good to know that if it does, I'll be there. At game seven of the World Fucking Series. If not, I get a really cool ticket for a game that never was played, for a non-refundable fee of 15 bucks--plus I'll get 350 bucks credited back to my card as a nice little gift.

Note: Should we make the WS, you can rest assured I'll be rooting for a Red Sox sweep. And if we're up 3-2 going to Game Six, I'll be rooting for the Sox as hard as ever. I'll only get excited about actually attending this game if and when the other team reaches three wins.


[tickets shown are not authentic and are used for display purposes only, as real tickets will not arrive in mail for several days]