Okay, it wasn’t last night, it was a few Saturday’s ago when a combination of Twitter and Foursquare really did save my life.
After attending a lovely #Felafeltub dinner at Jasmin’s in Lakemba (with Twitter folks) I went to meet MrO at DJ Lianda’s Newtown home.
The bass was pumping, and I had to make a few phonecalls just to get inside. As soon as the front door opened I was greeted by Fleabag and Nubia, two gorgeous dachshunds.
I’m allergic to dogs, and I instantly remembered that I was only carrying my mini-handbag, which has no room for Ventolin.
But Flea and Nubia were barely taller than my stilettos and didn’t seem to present an immediate threat.
Lianda’s tunes were so good that I soon completely forgot about the dogs… until I realised that I was having an asthma attack for the first time in many years.
My choices were:
1) Leave the party only minutes after arriving, and catch a cab all the way home to Bankstown to get my Ventolin (a very unattractive choice since MrO and I rarely get to go out on a Saturday night) or
2) Find some Ventolin, quick smart.
Then I had a brainwave. It’s Saturday night in the Enmore/Newtown party district… Odds are, I’ll know *someone* on Foursquare… right!?!
I whipped out my trusty [sic] iPhone and checked 4sq. There appeared to be a swarm of revellers at the Botany View Hotel, and I instantly recognised the names of two lovely ladies I’d met IRL – @Alegrya and @Damana. After a quick Twitter stalk, I realised that it was @Alegrya’s birthday so politely chose to bother @Damana instead…
Within a few short minutes @Damana replied to say that she had located a Ventolin puffer, and an incredulous MrO (aka social media skeptic) escorted me the few short blocks to meet up with @Damana and consume multiple successive shots of aerosoled lungs.
As soon as I could breathe, I thanked @Damana profusely.
@Damana had bravely and loudly asked everyone in the vicinity for Ventolin – and a stranger (who we later found out was @gigglznwrigglz) kindly answered the call for help and handed over her own puffer.
Breathing freely, I wished @Alegrya Happy Birthday and thanked her for letting me crash her party and playing a part in the life-saving efforts… then headed off back to DJ Lianda’s for a few more hours of music and freedom.
Oxygen is truly underrated, as is the connecting power of social media.
@Damana’s tweet a few days later, says it all:
Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing the other ways Foursquare proves useful in future.
September 13th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
This is literally the first time that I have seen a good use for Foursquare which I had otherwise completely forgotten about.
Of course, these days Twitter is probably used even more. A friend was trying to get me and decided his best bet was to DM me at about 9.00 pm on Twitter one week night. He was right.
Sooooo – does that mean you are going to be a-blogging lady? I do hope so xxx
September 17th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
@lawandshoes I’m more likely to check Twitter before email these days… which is a huge shift.
Not sure if I’ll blog per se, but it is nice to have a space for thoughts that are longer than 140 characters
February 5th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
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