PitchFest

So... I just got a call from British Columbia, Canada... I was hoping it was one of the ladies from the thrash band Kittie calling to express their immense gratitude for my years of patronage and dedication to their band... But, alas, it was something potentially better: it was a lady from the Great American PitchFest.

She said that this year's PitchFest would be from May 29th-31st.

Now, on the way hand this is a huge relief: I was wondering about this year's PitchFest ever since I tried to buy my tickets back in October.
She said that the website wasn't fully set up back then (which I what I thought) and that they were ready to process my payment now, as they had all the arrangements (hotel, dates, etc.) set up.
She asked if I wanted her to process my payment.
I hesitated, she sensed it and I asked her to delete my payment and let me re-buy the tickets when I was ready.
She happily agreed.
She was very kind, patient and understanding.

Now, why did I hesitate?

Well, for two reasons (one stupid, the other reasonable).

1.) I am a teacher and while the school calendar says that (provided we don't have any snow days) we will be out of school by May 22nd.
However, this is the Midwest and it is only late January; we could have months of snow ahead of us (though according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, winter is pretty much done). 
So... I am hesitant to buy my tickets until I am certain that we will be out of school by then.
This is just me being sensible: I want to do everything I can to get my writing out there and build my potential future career as a writer, but at the same time my life here is a solid reality.

2.) I have tickets for a concert (actually, the only concert I have tickets for in 2015) that not only marks the beginning of summer for me, but is also one of my favorite bands who I haven't seen live since 2012: Volbeat.
Now, this is a stupid reason to brush off PitchFest.
PitchFest could potentially further my career, get me an agent, but it will certainly allow me the chance to network, get my name out there, make an impression and gain some valuable industry experience and knowledge.
I've seen Volbeat three times before live.
Sure, I haven't seen them on tour for their most recent (and stellar) album, but who cares?! They will come back around. That is a certainty.

I have no problem shirking my Volbeat ticket (hell, there's still MayhemFest, which is rumored to have Motorhead on it...) and heading to PitchFest. After all, I know for a fact that I don't want to continue living in my hometown (St. Louis) and going to the same shows, at the same venues, around the same time of year, every year, and living with this loathsome routine (like T.S. Eliot said, "afternoons and coffee spoons").
I know this may seem like a crude reference, but when the terrible film XxX was released in theaters and Vin Diesel was doing press for it he was on some talk show and he talked about how he saved up his money working as a bouncer in New York in order to make a short film which got him in the door to Hollywood. The advice he offered people watching was not to blow their money on materialistic things that they felt would further their station in society (flat screen T.V.s, cars, etc.) but to spend it on their art in an effort to get themselves out there and springboard their careers.

Good advice.

I should take it.

And with that in mind I plan to get my tickets to PitchFest, my plane ticket and my hotel reservation ASAP.

However, this also brings up another reservation I have: money.

This is as personal as I have ever gotten on this blog (I try to keep it all about my writing) but I am not a rich man (I'm a high school English teacher and adjunct college professor) and I just recently (early December) paid off my massive (well, massive to me) credit card debt from last summer.
Now, I'll be layering on a bunch more credit card debt.
Granted, I plan to pay off everything I put on my credit card as soon as I put it on there, then live like a monk for the remainder of the summer (my nest egg still hasn't fully recovered from last summer), but it will still be hard.
It will be hard and there's no guarantee that I'll ever get to write for a living or do anything with my life other than teach and I don't want to always feel perpetually behind the 8 ball (financially speaking). On the other hand, if I never try, I'll never know. I need to confirm for myself that PitchFest is an awesome opportunity or a complete waste of my time.
One time going there may yield all the results I need to make my decision.

And, like I said, I plan to pay off anything I put on my credit cards in one fell swoop... I have my tax refund to look forward to, plus I have a college class to teach this semester (which is rare, as enrollment is always down in spring semester and I've only once in my five years teaching college had a class to teach in spring) and we have ten paydays left in the high school school year.

Really, I'm just thinking out loud with this... But I'm thinking (hoping) that I should be fine.

We shall see.

Like I said: if nothing else, I have to at least try.