Black Friday

Yup, I participated. Boosted the economy. Although, my experience last week shows me that there's no recession. No lack of lines. No lack of people. No lack of money to buy things. It's a lie. A great big ugly lie. Don't believe it ... I saw it with my own two eyes. Trust me. Doesn't exist.

My night started off at around 7pm Thursday night. Shami and I got all the gear on (yes, you need "gear" ... it's a complicated process.... and shouldn't be duplicated unless you are an expert - or WITH an expert). This entailed long underwear under our jeggings. Ugg boots ... under shirt ...shirt ... sweater ... gloves ... hat that covers ears ... scarf ....coat... and last but NOT least hand warmers. It was going to be a long wait ... in 18 degree weather.

(us under the blanket in line at Toys R Us)

First stop Toys R Us. They opened at 10pm. We got in line around 7:45 ... in it for the long haul. Oh .. not to mention the blanket we were both securely wrapped under. More of Shami's family showed up for this part. Those two hours actually passed fairly quickly .. adreniline had something to do with that... and perhaps the company. We were about 50 back. We went, we saw and we conquered. Pretty quickly ... it was a success.

(Shami ... if she looks cold - well, it's cause she was)

Next on list was Walmart. Got there around 11pm. A bit chaotic in that place (when is it ever not). I also realized that you really don't even need it to be a certain holiday to act like an ass in that store. We all know how I despise Wally World. This night .. CERTAINLY didn't help that love grow any.

I wanted a lap top. Really bad. $198. A steal. They had maps. I found exactly where I needed to be ... FOR when it opened at 5am. EXCEPT the line was already forming. SERIOUSLY?? So what choice did I have but to stand there? I was about #10 back. Shami had scoped out where the Itouch's would be. She sat there with her sister ... #1 in line.

Sitting on the cold Walmart floor ... IN THE FREEZER SECTION ... waiting for 5 am .. amongst the ever polite Walmart shopper ... wasn't really my idea of fun.

(the map I stared at for 6 hours. I was at "c")

Around 1:30 but butt went numb. Good thing I still had my coat on. Chilly. At that point I found my hand warmers still in my pocket from Toys R Us. That helped.

2am they announced they would be handing out 'vouchers' so that those in line would be guaranteed a lap top but couldn't purchase until 5am. They would pass those out during the next half hour.

Sweet relief I was thinking .. I could go find Shami ... walk around .. go to the bathroom ... GET SOME FOOD...

THEY LIE LIKE IT'S COOL.

No vouchers. Waited and waited.

3am ... they announce that there are only 41 laptops available. You can have two each. They'll start counting people off ... soon.

4am ... they FINALLY start counting off the 41 lucky individuals. Cept the rules changed again .. only one per person. That sent some ugly ripples through out the crowd. Then they counted the 41 .. roped us off ... sent the other 1,000 VERY VERY unhappy people away. Then they placed a walmart worker at different points down our line. So we wouldn't get out of the line. They gave us a piece of paper that every 3 minutes we had to show them to prove we were supposed to be in that line. If you got out of that line, you would lose your place. IF you REALLY had to go to the bathroom .. they gave you a bathroom pass. Never experienced anything like it.

4:45 am.. had become pretty tight with the couple in front of me. Know their life story .. met their grown son and his girlfriend. That was a bonus cause the son waited at another station and got his family PLUS me a camera that was selling for $49 - SCORE!!

5:00 am .. got my lap top. Delirious at this point. Met up with Shami to get my Itouch's. Was almost jumped by three girls over her sister saving my spot in that line. Left with all I wanted ... but shaky.

Was it worth it?

I'll let you know Christmas morning when my daughter opens her gift ... and will probably say something like "but this isn't the BRAND I wanted ..."

Why is it called Black Friday anyway? Cause I felt like blacking out when it was all over?