How My Husband Missed the Most-Awaited Concert of His Life

“Kit, Steve Vai is coming to Japan and he's performing with four other legendary guitarists!” exclaimed my husband, Dan.

“Awesome! Where are they performing?” I asked, trying to sound as if I was as excited as him.

“Zepp Nagoya! We have to watch it!”

I had to use an exclamation mark after Nagoya, a 30-minute train ride away from our place. A few times in the past, we had to take a day off from work and travel far to watch concerts. We flew from Davao to Manila for Jason Mraz. We traveled to Tokyo for Eric Clapton and to Osaka for Diana Krall. We took a two-hour bus ride to see Missing Filemon perform (and got drunk with Fighter Wine) in Buda. Generation Axe in Nagoya is more feasible to watch than all those concerts.

On the day the tickets went on sale, we went to 7 Eleven to buy one. That was last week of February.

“Dan, I don't want to go with you. I'm not a fan. I've only heard Steve Vai's Whispering a Prayer, and I only recognize Nuno Bettencourt because his hair is more beautiful than mine. I'd rather let you buy the more expensive ticket and enjoy the music from a good view.”

He agreed!

I had to use an exclamation mark again because it was going to be his first time to do something on his own in Japan. For the past one year and a half, he hasn't taken a train by himself and he rarely buys something at any shop because he doesn't speak Japanese. Agreeing to my suggestion simply proved that this was the most awaited concert of his life.

Long story short, we bought the 20,000-yen ticket. Yep, 20,000 yen (about $200 or Php 10,000)!

He tucked it safely in his leather pouch. It was a treasure, his key to making his fanboy fantasies come true. I could imagine him throwing his hands into the air, with a rock-and-roll gesture. And shouting “Woooooo” after each song. And coming home to our apartment stoked.

So, how was it? Well, as the title says, he missed it.

That doesn't sound climactic, so let me repeat: HE F****NG MISSED IT!

Hmm, I want to emphasize that sentence a bit more, so let me repeat: HE F****NG MISSED IT FOR A #*$)#@($)@#*%$#%)#$(%#)(@($@#$ REASON!

“Kit, they had their concert last night!”

He could have placed the ticket in an accessible place. He could have checked the date and write the schedule on our toilet's pooping wall calendar. He could have done a 30-second internet search about concert date before, during, or after his online job anytime last March and created a Google Calendar or iCal reminder about it. He could have created a note and used any of my pretty washi tape to post it on the wall.

His brain kept nagging him he needed to check the schedule. Well, he did on April 4, but only to find out the concert was scheduled on April 3.

“Dan!!!” I replied with an angry voice. I wanted to scold him for wasting much money, but then I saw this “I'll regret this for the rest of my life” look on his face. I decided to calm down and be a good wife and thought of possible ways to use his ticket.

I called CBC TV and with my broken Japanese, pled to let my husband use the ticket in Osaka or Tokyo (other concert venues). Dan posted an image of his face holding his dear ticket on the Facebook pages of Zepp Osaka, Zepp Tokyo, Generation Axe, and all the pages of the five performers and asked them to give him a pass to either of their remaining concerts. If that doesn't sound so desperate, well he also tagged all of them on Twitter and Instagram. All these efforts got ignored, though. Apparently not all social media managers care (While I understand the reason for the disregard, I had to say that with contempt because empathizing with Dan's feelings is part of the marriage contract I signed six years ago).

The next two days, Dan went through the “I feel extremely sorry for myself” stage. We thought about the things we gave up for that ticket and how we could have used the money for other whims. We could have:

• Visited Legoland Nagoya on its opening day
• Bought four bean bags Dan have been eyeing on all this time
• Bought the limited-edition General Grievous Lego brick set
• Drowned myself in washi tape at MT factory
• Organized a pizza party for the entire family
• Saved the money for Cebu Pacific's one-peso fare to the Philippines
• Bought the 18,000-yen keyboard at Joshin

I can give you a long list.

We also realized that this outdid other epic fails in the family:

• When a Japanese stranger ran after my mother and taught her how to use the confusing flush buttons of the toilet she just used. Cost: 0 yen.
• When I had to take the taxi from Calinan to Davao airport because I got up late. Cost: 1,400 yen
• When we bought a Japanese keyboard protector for an English keyboard. Cost: 1,800 yen
• When my father forgot to remove his prepaid phone from the jacket he placed into the washing machine. Cost: 4,000 yen
• When my prepaid phone got soaked because Dan (or I) placed a bottle of tea inside the bag without its lid. Cost: 4,000
• When we missed our flight to Iloilo because we arrived at the airport five minutes after the counter closed. Cost: 4,500 yen
• When my sister gave some money to a swindler who told her she was on “Wow Mali.” Cost: 10,000 yen

I can also give you a long list.

To save our sanity, we tried to think it was nothing compared to how Yahoo, Nokia, and Kodak failed and lost billions of dollars. Probably it worked because Dan posted a photo of the precious ticket on his Facebook wall and told everyone he had fun in the concert with me – the highest form of brag (or fake news) he could come up with.

Note to Dan: Thank you for letting me use your laptop to write this blog post. I had fun mocking you on the long train ride to Kanazawa. And sorry for detailing your regretful experience. I need this to defend myself when I occasionally throw expired products from the fridge.