As a child in the 70’s, I started seeing a strange advertisement in comic books. There was convention for comic book readers in San Diego. This captured my imagination and enthusiasm. Living in rural Missouri, I had no clue where San Diego was. But I knew that one day I would go to San Diego and to their comic book convention. This has been on my dream list for for over 30 years.
After many years of wishing I could make my way out to southern California during Comic-Con, last July my wife and I stared making plans to visit L.A. in July 2011. My wife’s family lives in Los Angeles and she has grown tired of hearing me talk about Comic-Con. She agreed for me to take four days in San Diego while the rest of the family would visit with her family. Last July, it appeared that my dream was finally going to come true.
This joy and optimism changed last fall when the San Diego Comic-Con ticket website continued to crash time after time. They would announce when the tickets would go on sale and with in minutes the web page would lockup. One Saturday when we were out of town, tickets went on sale. By the time I checked the website that evening, all tickets were sold out. They were sold out in hours. I was devastated.
I checked for tickets in 2009 and 2010 and could have picked up tickets weeks and even months after they went on sale. But I could not afford the air fare and hotel stay so I did not buy the tickets. This year was suppose to be the year.
Missing the ticket sales sent me into a bad mood for days. I was so close to fulfilling my dream of attending Comic-Con for the first time. Yet it was jerked away from my fingertips. There was a promise that more tickets would go on sale in June with the returned tickets. There was still hope.
By February, my family had our plane tickets to Los Angeles. I verified the dates to ensure I would be able to go to Comic-Con if I could score tickets. I began to get a bit more excited but tried to keep it under control. I knew I might not be able to get a 4 day pass like I desired but I should be able to get a ticket of some sort. Right?
Finally, June came around. I am checking the website, Twitter, and Facebook numerous times a day. There are always rumors of when it might be but it could never be verified.
A couple of week ago, I got lucky. I was hard at work when I saw the One Hour notice for 4 day ticket resales. I pulled up website and waited. As noon CDT struck, I refreshed the page. It seemed to take forever but I was able to log on. It was less than 15 seconds after 12 but I was number 2400 in line for 1500 – 4 day passes. How frustrating! I lost my usual laid back temperament and started stomping around work.
Every day after that I checked the website on the hour from 7 am to 9 pm. That was until last Wednesday. Work was really been busy that day and I was in a middle of a project for a client that needed my undivided attention. I had checked it earlier in the morning but I was unavailable for an hour and a half. It was during this time single day passes went I sale. By the time I discovered it, it was 45 minutes into the sale. I missed it once again. The dark clouds set over my head. The reality struck me that my hopes and dreams of Comic-Con for 2011 has come to a bitter end.
Why do they sell tickets in this manner during a work week? Some of us have to work for a living and are not living in our parents’ basement playing games all day long. Hard working People want tickets too.
Now I am heading to a nice family vacation without Comic-Con. It will be great to see the family, go to Disneyland, hang out on the beach, and enjoy a vacation away from work. But there is a pit in my stomach of unfulfilled hopes and dreams.
My wife has promised me that in the next few years, she will send me to Comic-Con. She has agreed for us to save the money for a boys week in San Diego. This is a serious offer that is extremely sweet of her.
I realize that this is just a temporary set back. I will attend the granddaddy of Comic Conventions one day. I will fulfill this childhood dream and mark this off my bucket list. Heck, I will even meet Stan the Man Lee and get to mark it off my list.
Now if any comic book creator needs a gopher, I am your man and will work for tickets. If you are a retailer at the Con and need a worker, I am happy to work for you. If you need someone to set up and tear down the convention, pick me. I am open to most jobs for tickets. Otherwise, I will get there eventually.
These have been a few down hearted thoughts of my complex mind.
