Timeshifting, or The Concert that Almost Wasn't

I had a horrible afternoon but at least it got me thinking. The short version of my mishap was that at 2:45pm I realized that the post office closes at 3pm. This is important because the post office is 15 minutes away, and they had my overnight'd Weird Al tickets. (Yes, I'm seeing the concert again.)

I made it, by the skin of my teeth. And on the long and heart-pounding ride home it made me realize what a backseat time has taken in my life.

Of course it's technology's fault. As the days roll by I get more and more accustomed to things working on my schedule. I timeshift my favorite shows with DVR and watch them when I'm good and ready. I buy books and music online whenever it strikes my fancy. I can do my work during business hours or on Saturday nights if I so choose. While there is a basic human schedule that ties pretty strictly to daylight, at this point it's only a suggestion.

So it's a rude awakening when I physically need a ticket in my hand to get into a concert, and the post office refuses to just shove the lightweight envelope in my mailbox or in my front door. And while I can't blame the venue or the USPS, I have to say that I do prefer the kind of situations where it's on my time. I'm thinking about how I bought my tickets online for Dark Knight and didn't have to turn my room upside down looking for them-- they were at the theater. I'm thinking of the sites that let me print off my own bar-coded ticket five seconds before I leave for the event.

Today was a wakeup call-- a hard, cold realization about how my own expectations have changed. And now it's time to breathe deeply and get ready for another leg of the Straight Outta Lynwood tour.