Sunday, February 20, 2011

7 months of planning and waiting ends. Part 1.

It's actually very intriguing looking back at the history of the making of ten days of vacation; which as the followers of facebook might have noticed that vacationing ended at 12:01 this morning. And when I say "this morning" I mean whatever day I started writing this blog. I suppose 2-22-11? Actually it was more like 1:30 in the morning because I had to finish watching Karate Kid before going to bed. Great movie by the way.

The facts are these:

The mid year of 2010 brought news to the Claynation. Wait, I'm sorry, I should have mentioned this was going to be another Clay Aiken blog. But before you stop reading I promise there is other noteworthy material for those who are not fans and are tired of reading blogs dedicated to Clay. Anyhoo. Facts.

It was brought to our attention that Clay would be appearing on a PBS special in many cities. Awesome right? Yes, yes it was. It was then found that some PBS stations had several packages to pledge for. One such package for some channels was for two tickets for a concert and two meet and greet passes. For obvious reasons we all know that there was an upcoming tour now right?

Which brings us to July 27th when I get an email from a lady in Cleveland Ohio about group sale tickets for a Clay Aiken concert on February 19th at the Palace Theater. At that time I was still living in Ohio so of course I would be interested in tickets! Response and deposit sent and the continuation of emails and updates on the Cleveland concert would continue through to February 18th 2011.

Then enters Pittsburgh. I have several friends that I've been "talking" with for years now on a message board. Conversation started and it was decided that Pittsburgh was a good meeting ground for those that could make the trip. With that in mind I purchased my tickets for that concert on August 24th. I got my tickets via email and first concert was set!

Well, as it turned out I decided that I would be moving back to Texas in September. With that knowledge a new opportunity arose. I had missed the PBS special in my area but it just so happened that the Houston show had not aired. On September 8th 2010, from the comfort of my room in Columbus, Ohio I called the PBS station in Houston, Texas. Obviously I couldn't see the show or know what kind of things they had pledging so I kindly informed the PBS lady that I was out of town (very out of town) and was wondering what packages they had. They had this, this and this. And I not at all quickly decided on the 2 concert tickets and 2 meet and greet passes. Being that I've wanted to meet Clay since 2005 it was a hard decision to make I can assure you. Or not...

So in the end, or the beginning, as of September 8th, before I even moved to Texas, I was set to have two concert tickets to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. And of course two meet and greet tickets for Houston. This was panning out to be the best concert series I've ever been to!

So between July 27th-September 8th planning was taking place. There would be tweaks here and there before the concerts but for the most part it was time to wait.....