The Thriller At The O2

Dear Anyone,

I'm so excited!!!! SP called me at work today and told me that Joseph had managed to get tickets to Michael Jackson's concert at the O2 Arena in September!

I don't think you understand what this means to me, and how stressful it has been to try and obtain even just one ticket. After it was announced that he would be doing shows in London, I made sure I instantly signed up to receive special codes, both on the Michael Jackson website and O2 (as I am a customer) so that I could book pre-sale tickets when they were released at 7am on 11 March, before the general release on 13 March. I received my codes the day before, so at 6.50am on the 11th I was up and ready with my PC and my phone. I was also liaising with Joseph, because we had agreed that we would both try to get four tickets each, keep the tickets with the better seats, and sell the others.

I was trying and trying and trying and trying on the phone, and trying and trying and trying and trying on the websites, and all attempts were proving fruitless for me. Joseph managed to get a little further than me, in that he was on the website, but was being told that he had a 15 minute wait. Then he finally managed to get through, but the tickets he was offered were on Level 4 - The Nose Bleed Section. There's no way either of us were willing to pay £50-75 to 'listen' to the show, so he let them go. I've already briefly experienced the view from up there when we were originally given those useless seats at the New Kids On The Block concert. No way, Jose. As much as I love the King of Pop, I don't have the money to waste like he does. Then again neither does he, if recent reports are anything to go by.

I had to give up eventually or I would have been late for work, but when I got to work you know I kept trying throughout the day. But to no avail. And as much as the news channels were reporting how quickly the pre-sale tickets had sold out, it was fine, because we still had another chance on the Friday.

I made sure I slept in the sitting room on Thursday night, and I also left the PC on to so that it was ready for me in the morning. This time I set my alarm for 6.30am, and I was liaising with Joseph and Roxy. She had two laptops and a phone in front of her - we were on a mission! But it was almost like deja-vu, except this time I managed to get through to being told I have a 15 minute wait on the website. The clocks clearly work differently at Ticketmasterland, because after an hour and a half I still had a '15 minute waiting time.' Once again work got in the way of my life, so I had to abandon my attempts and try again at the office. No joy, all day long. And I couldn't really focus on anything else during the day, because it was all that people were talking about. One woman at work was squealing with excitement, she had managed to obtain tickets, so I phoned her extension and asked how she'd managed it and which seats she got, and I know it sounds bad, but I felt better when she said "Level 4." I decided not to be upset about it, because really I'm quite fortunate, I have seen MJ in concert three times after all, it's just that I never thought I would be able to again. I felt bad for Roxy, because she never has and she really wants to.

Imagine my surprise when I received a voicemail from SP today, telling me to call her as soon as I could. She knew she had to mention in her message that nothing bad had happened, because she knew the seriousness in her voice would make me panic! So I snuck around the corner and called her to call me back. She asked me:

"What are you doing on September the 21st?"
"Nothing that I know of."
"Good, because we're going to see Michael Jackson."

Wooooooooooooohoooooooo! I had to compose myself as much as possible, being at work and all. It turns out that American Express were given a ticket allocation, and good ole Joe-Boy was able to purchase through them. I knew he wouldn't let me down! And he was able to get some for Roxy too, so we're all going!! "I'm so exciiited, and I just can't hiiide it, I'm about to lose control and I think I like it, oh yeah!"