Extended

[serafaery]

*Edited to add:

Here's what happened. I was at the bar with my two bags - my messenger bag that I always take to work, and the backpack that the school puts their cameras in - it's just a really big camera bag. These were both hanging on the back of my bar stool with my giant down coat and hoodie.

I had planned to take the bus home around 8pm, but it slipped into 8:15 and just as I was doubting I could catch it, pHunk called and said "Pan Tourismos play first at 9pm - I'll give you a ride but you need to get home NOW." So I called a cab. Radio Cab, my favorite.

This is all augmented by the fact that I've had three rather potent drinks on an empty stomach. I know better than this, and was very self-consciously tipsy. But I couldn't make myself eat for some reason. I screwed up very badly, here.

So I'm sort of keeping an eye on the door and the boys are helping me. (This is my favorite bar, the bartenders are my friends, there were very few people in the bar and I never left my seat, so there's no way anyone could have taken the camera. I could have left it lying in the middle of the floor and no one would have taken it.) I realize "Hey, I have two bags, this will be awkward, I better get ready" and pull on my hoodie/coat/bag/bag - I'm quite certain I had the camera bag on when James alerted me to the cab. I darted outside as it seemed to be pulling away. It rounded a corner and stopped to let traffic pass. I opened the door and asked, "Are you here for sera?" to make sure it as mine. But it never occurred to me to check the actual brand of the outside of the cab. I was drunk + it was dark. Anyway he said YES, he was here for Sera, he just had to pull around the corner to let the car behind him pass. So I hopped in and threw all my stuff down and we rode home.

I tipped him well (as I always do) and gathered my crap and got out. Got home, said hi to the boys, threw my stuff down on my chair. Left behind everything I didn't want, and went, "Oh hey, I need the camera!" It was nowhere to be found.

I'm not panicking at this point because I am notoriously lucky at having things like this returned to me, and because I am notorious for leaving things in cabs. So I call Radio Cab on the way down to the show, frustrated and embarrassed, but not upset.

Then Radio Cab assures me that they never picked me up tonight - when the cab got there I never showed up. I described the driver and that didn't seem to help anything. "What color cab was it?" Fuck I don't know, it was just a cab. I thought it was a Radio Cab but now that I think about it, I don't remember the checkers. I don't remember yellow or green either, which are our other cabs in the city - I remember white, for some reason. But, it was dark and I was drunk.

So I call another cab home after we get to where the show is happening, as I'm extremely upset at this point and can't enjoy the show not knowing where the school's $1000 camera is. Radio Cab comes and gets me (in a very visibly/clearly Radio Cab car) and I keep calling around.

I had to break into my own house because I left my keys at home thinking I'd be with the boys all night. So that was fun.

Broadway cab lets me leave a voicemail describing the bag/camera, but I doubt it's them, because wouldn't I have noticed yellow? I guess maybe not. Maybe. They indicate they don't think they picked me up.

I call Radio Cab again and describe the bag once more just for good measure, even though it's pretty clear I didn't leave it with them.

Green cab says the drivers don't turn stuff in until later, but they'll keep an eye out. They also say that they didn't pick anyone up at the time/place I indicated and asked what color cab I took. I mention the white and they say it's probably Portland cab.

So, I call Portland cab. They ask me to describe the driver and say, "We only have Russians, so it couldn't have been us." Greeaaaat.

So basically, unless I was really completely colorbind and it was a yellow or green cab AND the driver is honest enough not to keep a huge beautiful piece of expensive equipment for himself, it appears to be gone. Like really gone. Gone for reals. This NEVER happens to me - it figures the one time it does is when it's this much of a big deal.

The thing that makes me really sad right now, other than the loss of the camera, missing my friends play (I was SO EXCITED to see them), the headache from too much to drink and nothing to eat, and probably getting another four month extension on ever buying a car, is that some student had reserved this camera for the weekend, and will be waiting to pick it up at noon today, to do his projects or whatever. He won't be able to and it is MY fault. ;_;

They shouldn't let employees rent popular pieces of equipment. Heh. Damn you for trusting me with your stuff! Can't you see I'm not trustworthy? Guh.

Oh, I also called the bar like fifty times making Kris triple check that I didn't leave the bag there. I THINK I remember putting it on to leave, so I believe I didn't leave anything behind. Someone would have grabbed it for me, really. They have done this for me before.

I dunno. Maybe I'll get super lucky and Broadway Cab will find it for me (it did kinda feel like a Broadway Cab), or maybe someone did snag it for me when I left the Someday but didn't tell Kris where they stashed it so maybe it's tucked away safe in the bar somewhere. Either way, some kid won't be able to do his homework. ;_;

...

As far as I know right now in my tipsy, desperate state, I just lost a thousand dollar camera that wasn't mine. Just saying. I'm upset. I skipped my favorite band and my favorite everything else to phone desperately to try to track it down, but of course, no one has seen it. Fun! Cuz I had an extra grand laying around. Yeah. Sure.