My First Perk for Being a Blogger: Opera Tickets

Taking a note from Tobold and Syp, I wanted to be extremely forthcoming about this with all you lovely people who take time out of your day to read my blog.

Yesterday, I received an email from the Nashville Opera offering me two free tickets to their production of Puccini’s Tosca at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) on October 6th in return for my blogging about the experience. That way, they get some word of mouth for their show, and I get free tickets. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

I believe, like Syp and Tobold, in being forthcoming with my readers so that they know what’s going on when the post about Tosca is published. I also want you guys and gals to realize that the review will be honest. Just because the evening is being comped does not mean that my review will be glowing (though I honestly hope it is because I am really looking forward to this performance). I’ll be candid in my views, good or bad.

I had previously heard about bloggers being given perks for their writing (especially Tobold’s free lifetime account to Warhammer Online), but I never thought I’d actually get anything like that. I’m incredibly happy to see that people are finding my blog, and that it’s potentially worth ~$120 (the price of two average tickets to Tosca).

That aside, it makes me feel good to have something like this come my way. I never expected it, and it came as a real shock. It does, however, make me feel like maybe this blog is somewhat worthwhile. If nothing else, it’s nice to be recognized as a legitimate writer.

As flattered as I am, and as excited as this opportunity makes me, I do find it a little odd. I mostly write about science-fiction and video games, yet I’m being given tickets to the opera. I do appreciate the opera and love attending any kind of live stage performance, but I think it’s a little funny given the general subject matter of this blog.

Either way, I just thought you all should know.