Well, I was feeling ok until I read some of the posts that came after mine, so I couldn't take it anymore. I went ahead and used my PCGamer Beta key on top of my (10 month old) subscription.
That changed my status from "inactive" to "active" which makes me feel a little better.
I have a sneaky feeling that eventually Vets will be mailed their own beta keys - so I may have screwed myself. But at this point I'm feeling better. If another Beta key gets e-mailed to me because of my active account, then I'll just enter that one too!
I'd like to have given away my beta key to a buddy, but as a wise man once said "I gostta get mine befo you can get yos."