30th
The Quintessential #colinmorrisblunder, part 2
I spent the next hour draining my cell phone’s battery (I literally used about 80% in 60 minutes) trying to salvage the situation via SMS. It’s not that I prefer to text when a phone call would be appropriate, but I didn’t have Shannon’s number and I was constantly updating three conversations with new information every 15 seconds or so. I’ll post a screen cap of my cell phone bill when it comes, if for no other reason than to justify having unlimited texts.
So, you may remember from Part One I was in the South Loop. The #tweetup was at Hopleaf, which is in the 5100 block of N. Clark Street. I had told Shannon and approximately ten other friends to meet there at 18:00; by now it was 18:30. But before I could go anywhere, I had to replace my expired CTA pass, a greater-than-usual challenge in my panicked state.
Shortly before this, Jenn’s plans to ride out to the suburbs with her sister for a family party fell through. She wanted to join us. I explained my predicament and she hailed a cab to Hopleaf from her apartment, which is only 2,000 addresses from the bar instead of 2,000 miles like I was. I gave her Shannon’s twitter name and she set to finding her, giving me periodic reports on her location and progress by SMS.
Meanwhile, Shannon, to whom I’d explained the situation in between profuse apologies, had decided to pass the time by exploring the neighborhood and hanging out in art and coffee shops. When I heard Jenn was on her way to Hopleaf to find her, I recommended Shannon head back. But soon after, I lost communications with Shannon.
I took the Red Line from Roosevelt to Argyle, then ran nearly a mile from Argyle to Hopleaf. I was more than an hour late by this point. I stopped in front of the bar, sweating and panting, where Jenn was waiting to sweetly and sarcastically remind me just how embarrassed I should be. Notably absent was Shannon, who I thought would be with Jenn by now.
Jenn and I showed our ID’s to the bouncer and performed a sweep of the bar for people who looked like Shannons’s Twitter avatar to no avail. We went back outside and I sent @ replies and direct messages to her, asking if she’d given up on us and left and assuring her I’d understand. No answer.
My skin burned with guilt. Shannon had ventured out alone to meet with strangers, who it must have seemed had stood her up. Who had, in fact, stood her up for more than an hour.
Then, a tweet!
| Tweet |
