I’m going to this? Somebody pinch me, please.

If you don’t mind, I’m going to bother you with a small portion of my life story. This is about my inability to win contests. Big, small, short, tall – I don’t win them. I’m pretty sure that if I was the only person to enter a contest, the contest holder would cancel said competition due to lack of interest and leave me high and dry. Now, it’s not like this keeps me up most nights, but I’m going to take you through a series of my life winnings and explain how everything turned around (hopefully…) yesterday.

I first won a contest at the age of 5. My mom, sister and I went to a Barbie event (yeah, I said it. Barbie event.) where we got to meet THE REAL BIRTHDAY BARBIE, snap some pictures, beg our mom to buy us some super neon Barbie clothes and accessories and revel in all things Barbie. During the event, we were given raffle tickets. Another thing you should know about me: when I enter a contest, I go all out. Daily entries? If I can, it’s done. I get excited and always always always think this is the one – I’m going to win! I only tell a select number of people because the more people I tell, the chances of me winning slips through my fingers. Well, 5-year-old me was correct. My raffle number was called and I was a winner! A real winner of a real contest! I went up to THE REAL BIRTHDAY BARBIE to collect my prize. She beamed down at me with her poofy dress, blue eye shadow and early ’90s teased, platinum blonde hair, smiled, and handed me…a Hotwheels car. Yes, the prize at a Barbie event was a Hotwheels car. And that, my friends, is when I learned what a buzzkill felt like.

The second time I ever won something was pretty recently. I won 2 tickets to “A Night with Flavor Flav” in L.A. I’ll keep this short and sweet. I live in Chicago. I would have to pay for my own flight and accommodations…for “A Night with Flavor Flav.” Needless to say, those two seats sat empty for Flav that night, bless his clock wearing soul.

Then yesterday, a miracle happened. Allow me to start from the beginning. I was leaving work the other day and saw a JumboTron on top of a truck outside of my train station, saying “Plot Your Escape” with a large, blinding countdown. I made a mental note and told myself to Google it as soon as I got on the train. True to fashion, I walked through the doors and forgot immediately. Luckily for me, I received an email from my manfriend (by that I mean we’ve been dating for almost 2 years) with “Mystery Concert???” as the subject. What was it about? It was about this “Plot Your Escape” madness. I went to the website and saw the following: 4 concerts. Countless Celebrities. 1 Epic Night. Also attention grabbing – tickets are free. Free?! That’s only my favorite price. Sold. Of course the artists weren’t mentioned, but the Ticketmaster event mentioned Grammy winning Artists. Farewell to an hour of productivity forever lost to Google searches, Twitter feeds, Ticketmaster browsing and constant clock watching. I learned pretty quickly that tickets went on “sale” at 11am CST for the Chicago show. So, I tried to get on with my life and work. At 10:57, I went to the Ticketmaster page, waited patiently for 11am, and somehow, someway, snatched up two of the 50 tickets for the event. I sent a celebratory text to said manfriend with exclamation points galore.

I found out seconds later that I snagged two tickets to a Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles surprise, intimate concert being put on at Chicago’s Union Station as part of a Jimmy Kimmel show. Concerts in L.A., Chicago, New York and New Orleans will be happening simultaneously and live streamed for all to see. That’s about all I know. And I can’t sit still.

Well, that and this is so much more exciting than winning a Hotwheels car or a night with Flavor Flav. Expect a full recap on Friday.

Other performers include:

New Orleans: Mary J. Blige and Gavin DeGraw
New York: Mariah Carey and P Diddy
Los Angeles: Nicki Minaj (Update: Minaj recently cancelled due to a sore throat) and Cee Lo Green
Chicago: Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles