PTSD

life ain't what it seems

This week, for my class, it's the start of three weeks of "relational analysis". The first part in this is learning about social networks. This weekend, apart from eating fried mac and cheese (delicious), being picked on for my lack of a costume (though I was wearing one), marked my own foray into the world of social networking.

Regular PTSD readers know my love for all things football (soccer). Well, mostly for Liverpool and, off and on, for DC United. Today's the second-leg of the playoffs and the final home match for United. I do want to go but the ticket's about $30, which is my grocery budget for an entire week.**

What do I do? I decide to go on a popular social networking website to see if there are cheaper tickets for sale. Oh, and it turned out there were, including free ones(and, since I was going alone, I just needed one). Perfect.

I mention this at E's Halloween gig last night. Comments ranged from (a loud shout of) "Priya's sold herself for a DC United Ticket" to "for soccer? Couldn't you find anything better?" to "sold herself on the Internet" to "You could have probably gotten more for yourself on EBay"*.

The thing is, football, to me, is to be watched either alone (conversing with people only during that particular time as you curse your/other team out and then forget about who was there) or with people whom I know (and who also like footy). The conversations, before, during and after the match, should be about football. As I've made it clear on PTSD, everyone needs a (non health-threatening) obsession in their lives and mine, compared to jumping off planes or climbing himalayas, is a fairly safe one.

The question then, after last night, was whether non-football-related conversations would be part of today's gig (and I really wouldn't know how to deal with this). Not having much in the way of social skills, I prefer to keep events requiring those and football-watching separate--one is nerve-wracking while the other is enjoyable. One is work (and stress), the other's fun. If the two collided, what would I do?

This decision was taken out of my hands. This morning I got notice saying that said ticket wouldn't work out. Fate is not in my favour, apparently. Or, perhaps it's just a sign that I should do uni-related work and not waste time watching football.

As an entry into the world of social networking, this wasn't much to write on (but note that I did so anyway). It was more entertaining to see how the expectations of/from a social networking site differed--on the part of the ticketseller, on my part and on the part of my friends. The result, however, remains that I don't get to see DC United after all.

I'm still tempted to go to RFK and see if people are selling tickets for cheap.***


* Maybe for next semester's tuition fees?

** I did think about bludging off my friends for this week but, since most of them feed me off and on on a regular basis anyway, thought that might be taking things a bit too far. And, as IntLaw put it yesterday, "I can understand doing this for Liverpool but for DC United?".

*** I once watched a Liverpool-Arsenal match in Liverpool when I outwaited a tout and got an almost-40 pounds-worth ticket for 10 quid. The bloke was a Liverpool fan who wanted to get into the stadium as quickly as possible. I was a tourist who didn't care if I got in in time to see the pre-match ceremonies (and he did) or even if I could get a ticket or not. However, I don't know if DC United has such (rabid) fans. Also, the ones who are so keen on the team will all have tickets (and probably won't be selling any).

posted by Priya @ 10:28 AM