The JT Experience: The Difference Between 25 and 31

Monday, August 6, 2007 (as recorded on MySpace the next day):

1:34 pm - Marissa to Becky (text message):  What ya up 2 tonight?

1:40 pm - Becky to Marissa (text message):  Besides not going to the justin concert? :) not much at this point!

5:20 pm - Marissa calls Becky.  They discuss how they should have bought tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert.

5:40 pm - Becky calls Marissa.  Confirms that there are no tickets available on Ticketmaster or Ticket Exchange, although there are a few very overpriced tickets on eBay.  It is decided that it is not worth it and instead, they should go to dinner and then open mic night at Mo's.

6:30 pm - Meet at El Porton.  Waiter is meek and uncomfortably subservient.

7:35 pm - Arrive at Mo's.  Find that no one is there, save a guy warming up with his guitar in the back and a guy typing on his laptap in the front.  Marissa and Becky politely look at the local artists' CD display before turning around and running out the door.

7:40 pm - Becky and Marissa stand around outside Mo's.  "What do you wanna do?"  "I don't know.  What do you wanna do?" 

7:41 pm - Marissa to Becky:  "We could go downtown and see if we could find Justin Timberlake tickets."

Becky (who has temporarily forgotten about JT) to Marissa:  "OH MY GOD!  The concert started 10 minutes ago!!  I'll bet we can get really cheap tickets!!"

7:45 pm - Becky drops off her car at her place and gets in Marissa's car.

7:50 pm - Becky withdraws $100 from an ATM at an Exxon after it has been decided that neither Becky nor Marissa are willing to pay more than $50 for a ticket.

8:05 pm - Arrive downtown.  Try to look inconspicuous while cruising for scalpers.  Finally find one. 

8:06 pm - The one scalper has one ticket.  He gets on his cell phone and tracks down a second ticket in the same section, but the seats aren't together.  Becky and Marissa dejectedly decide they won't be going to the concert.

8:10 pm - Pull in front of FedEx Forum (just in case!) and find another scalper immediately who has two seats together.  Bam!  $40 a pop and they're set.  A third scalper comes out of nowhere and sells Becky a $20 parking pass for $5.  She's skeptical.

8:16 pm - Sit in traffic.

8:20 pm - The parking pass worked!

8:30 pm - The tickets worked! 

Holy shit, we're going to see Justin Timberlake!

[Six years later...] Monday, November 18, 2013:

 

8:34 am - Emily to Becky (text message):  Are you going to try to go to JT tonight?!?!?

8:59 am - Becky to Emily (text message):  I don't know!!!

9:00 am - 1:45 pm - Becky researches nationwide ticket prices, speculates on how the cost of inflation will affect any real world sales later in the evening, reflects deeply on the rest of her weekly schedule and the pros and cons of a late night out on a Monday, contemplates how not familiar she is with Justin's newest album, checks her bank account, muses on the irony of her annual income being about half of what it was six years ago, again thinks about the fact that it's a Monday night...

1:46 pm - Becky to Emily (text message):  Much as I hate to say it... [...]

Holy shit, we're not going to see Justin Timberlake?!  (No, because apparently I have now reached a stage in life wherein I voluntarily abstain from trying to illegally obtain JT tickets on the day of his concerts.)  (Future Sex Love Whaaaaaaaat?!)

(However, if you're one of the lucky who are going tonight, enjoy the hell out of it.  Take it from someone who once shelled over forty bucks to watch him from the rafters:  Memphis's second favorite son puts on a damn good show.)