There is a price ticket on everything that puts a whizz into life. ~Leslie Charteris

Saturday, April 1st. I was making my j-rock Internet rounds, which usually includes a stop at Batsu.org's Dir en grey forum.

My daughter (who I’ll call Ikuni here) and I missed seeing Diru when they were in New York last month, because we didn't find the presale code in time (the concert sold out in 12 hours!). Determined not to miss another, I now often check key websites for news.

Before leaving the forums that afternoon, I decided to lurk in the Hyde section. I rarely go in there on Batsu, because it’s not that active. But I did that day.

Then I clicked on a thread I’d usually never be interested in. The title said something about Hyde fans in Seattle. I don’t live anywhere near Seattle, so why I clicked on it I’ll never know. But, I did, and started looking over the post.

I next had one of those you’re-reading-but-not-really-comprehending moments. Phrases like “see Hyde in concert,” “San Francisco,” “Tix go on sale April 2” floated vaguely in my head. wwhhHAATTT!!??!! I read the post again…very slowly…then hit reply and started typing very quickly. Here’s the actual post:

OMG!!!! Where did you find out about this??? And where do we buy tickets? And is there a presale code? And will he be performing any place else?

Must. Have. More. Info. !!!!!!!! (insert little, white bubble guy pacing back and forth)

(Ikuni congratulated me later and said I posted like a true fangirl instead of a forty-three-year-old mother of four)

I didn’t wait for an answer. I headed straight to Tofu.com. Tofu’s forum members, though occasionally a bit cranky, share great info sometimes.

Once there, I saw that Tofu had signed Hyde! Then I saw news about the upcoming CD and…and…a CONCERT…in the States! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Oh, wait a minute. I remembered--we have no money. And we live hundreds of miles away from the venue. Deflation.

That evening, my parents came to visit. I told my mom about the concert. I told her that I was going to try and get tickets for Ikuni and myself, even though I had no idea how we might get to San Francisco. She smiled and said that July 5th was close to my birthday. Hope rose in my heart. We started to brainstorm. Ways to find money. When she left, I felt that we just might be able to go.

IF we got tickets. I knew, even with only one day's notice, that it would be a fight to the death. The venue was small, holding about 500 people. There’d probably be ten times that many battling online the next day.

After emailing Novel about the concert, I started preparing. I pre-registered at Tickets.com and set up a username and password at Virtuous. Tickets.com was not showing the concert yet, so I was afraid we’d have to go with Virtuous.

So, in case I’d have to type in my info at the time of sale I practiced, yes, practiced typing my credit card number. And, I must say, working in an accounting department does have its advantages. By morning I could type that baby in less than five seconds (heard on one of the forums later that someone had simply copied and pasted her card number--smart girl).

Okay, so to make a long story even longer, the next day I had to drive my son thirty minutes to his work then thirty minutes back home, arriving about a half hour before the sale. The problem--a thunderstorm. Blinding rain. Cars on the expressway slowed to a crawl. Agghhhh!

Thankfully, though, the rain let up and I made it home with a few minutes to spare. Ikuni and I sat at the computer, talking and laughing nervously, waiting for the clock to move toward 1:00 PM our time.

Five minutes till I started refreshing the Virtuous page. Refreshed, refreshed, refreshed…BAM…the page changed and I saw where you put in how many tickets you wanted. It had begun.

Fingers flew across the keyboard. Fingers got knotted on the keyboard. Damn! Brain stopped working. They wanted my phone number. My phone number? What the hell was my phone number??? Ikuni rescued me and called it out.

I typed. I panted. I clicked.

Congratulations it said. Success!! My arms shot straight up and Ikuni squealed and clapped.

I still can hardly believe we're going.