Oh my GOD, you GUYS. IT WORKED. I went to see Taylor Swift last night, in some sort of crazy stars-aligning miracle situation. I apologize in advance for the amount of all-caps in this post but I still just CANNOT get over it – my half-cocked plan of action actually WORKED. Crazy!

I spent all day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday on Kijiji, compulsively reloading the Taylor Swift search, looking for people posting tickets. By Monday new postings were going up at least every five minutes, either people with tickets to sell, or people looking for tickets. The going asking rate was still around $200 a ticket, and the going “willing to pay” price for people looking was around $100 a ticket, and actually things started to get kind of bitter on there as a few “looking” people started to bitch about how the “selling” people should get off their high horses and should be grateful to get something rather than nothing, while the sellers started to post snidely that NO LOWBALLERS were welcome, and eep. I emailed about 100 people letting them know I’d take a ticket (or two, my friend LuckySevens was willing to join me) off their hands for (admittedly) lowball prices but almost no one even bothered to write back.

So…Monday night rolls around. Here I also have to mention that I’d been really sick all weekend, like so sick I actually spent Sunday lying on the couch resting, which is nearly impossible for me as I have an overwhelming need to be busy at all times. But my head was pounding and I couldn’t eat anything because my throat was so sore I couldn’t swallow. It would have been so easy to just bail but Sir Monkeypants was AWESOME, he was all, “It’s an opportunity!” and “She might not be back for a while!” and “Do something crazy while you still can!”

So, having not eaten anything but yogurt for three days, I took all the Tylenol allowed by law and made myself a little sign in Word that said “SINGLE TICKET WANTED.” Then I drove down to the Canadian Tire Centre and (GULP) paid $15 for parking and figured I was committed now. I headed over with my little sign and hoped for the best.

There was a fairly big crowd milling around outside because there were stands set up where you could have your picture taken with Taylor Swift cutouts and souvenir stands and stuff, so I held my little sign and started walking around. I felt like an IDIOT, everyone staring at me, GAH. I figured I’d last maybe five minutes tops. A guy pulled me aside and pointed me in the direction of a scalper in a red hat – said scalper had a few single tickets but he wanted at least $250 for them, so I passed. I made one more circuit with my sign, ready to pack it in.

And then, A MIRACLE. A lady came over to me and said, “Oh, you need a ticket? We have an extra,” and then she GAVE IT TO ME. HERE YOU GO, WEIRD LADY. COME SIT NEXT TO ME. FOR FREE.

OH. MY. GOD. Pretty much my ideal plan, RIGHT THERE.

I mean, what are the chances of that actually happening? Like, nil, right? It was a crazy, stupid plan, right? And then IT TOTALLY WORKED.

This reminds me of a side anecdote about my Uncle Mark, who, at age 8, was caught smoking with his buddy Rob by his mother, my Nana. The hilarious part of this story is that Mark and Rob’s plan for trying smoking did not involve stealing cigarettes, but rather, sitting at the side of the road and waiting for a passing driver who was nearly done his cigarette to throw it out the window onto the road, and then they’d pick it up and smoke the last bit. And of course you would think, great plan boys, that is NEVER going to happen, and then that is EXACTLY what did happen not five minutes after they sat on the curb. The world is funny sometimes.

So, I rushed inside and the ticket was good, and I peed and ran to my seat where my new best friend was already sitting (Nicole T. of Manor Park, you are THE BOMB). She was there with her 15-year-old daughter and daughter’s friend, and there was a third friend who was unable to make it last minute, and they couldn’t find anyone else to take the ticket, so it was just available. I like to think it was fate.

And, GUYS, the ticket was also AWESOME. 300 level but really central AND I got to sit on an aisle which meant I had a great unobstructed view at all times.

Audience for Taylor Swift: 13 000 girls and women, about 500 men. But the girls were so cute! Many had dressed up or wore handmade concert t-shirts or had signs. Nicole’s daughter and friend had matching outfits of white tutus and sparkles and feather boas that they had made themselves, and they were so adorable. Some had even made magical glowing signs, like this one:

The opening act was Vance Joy and he was just adorable and I like his song Riptide. Still couldn’t believe I was actually there.

And THEN, OMG TAYLOR SWIFT.

She did not disappoint. Over two hours of solid music and she was onstage all the time unless she was quickly changing costumes. And she chatted up the crowd too, a combination of a) Ottawa is awesome! and b) you are all my personal friends and c) don’t let other people’s opinions weigh you down, because you are awesome!. I’m sure she says all the same things at every concert but it felt very sincere and heartfelt and honest and OMG I LOVE TAYLOR SWIFT.

(She totally loves me too. She said so.)

After the show I thanked Nicole again profusely because she is seriously, the greatest human on the planet next to TAYLOR FREAKING SWIFT, and then I dashed out – as a single you can make it out to the parking lot pretty quickly and I think I was the first one out of there, back home 15 minutes after the concert ended to nurse my ringing ears and take some more Tylenol. Today: aiming for solid food for the first time in days and sharing my pics with the girls. AWESOME.