Creepy Santa, Wal-Mart bags, Bacon, a Laptop, and oh yea...Freezing COLD Weather!!!!!!

So I know I haven't blogged for awhile....but I have been really busy plus I haven't had a lot to write about...well...I finally do. Black Friday.

Every year my mom and I go to Springfield to go shopping on Black Friday and I normally love it. It is usually the highlight of my whole Thanksgiving vacation. Well this year, I would have to say it was the most miserable Black Friday of my life. This year we decided to do something new....go up the night before and camp out at Best Buy. In past years it was always small stuff we were after like mp3 players or satellite radios but nothing over $200. This year however, since I am a senior, my grandma had given me the money to buy a laptop which would be my graduation gift. Well, I found the perfect one in the ad from Best Buy. It was a Sony VAIO worth $839.99 and it came with a laptop bag, a printer and anti-spyware software all for $499. I was stoked! But there was a slight problem...the ad said that the store would only be guaranteed to have 3 packages because it was such a good deal. So...mom and I decided to go up on Thursday night. Originally we said we would get there at about 10pm, but then we changed our minds as the time drew near. We ended up leaving at about 4 oclock. We stopped in Mountain Grove to get gas and some the hand warmers from the camping department that probably ended up saving our fingers from frostbite. I was really excited on our way to Springfield, afterall I was getting a laptop! But what I did not anticipate was just how cold it was going to be. I still don't know how I made it through the night. I mean sure...before I left I put on two pairs of pants, three pairs of socks, three shirts, and a hoodie...plus I brought several more layers and blankets but it still wasn't enough. There is a point at which addition layers or blankets will not make you any warmer. I am convinced that hell is not a place of fire and brimstone...no....hell is a place where it is as cold as it can be....because I am sure it is far more torturous to be out in extreme cold than extreme heat. Anyway....so when we got to Springfield I was pumped. When we got to Best Buy however, I was speechless. There were already a ton of people in line!!! I had been hoping we could stay in the truck for a couple of hours before we had to get out and get in line...but no....we had to get in line immediately. So we got our chairs and set them up along the wall right passed Chuckie Cheese's and right behind a couple with a tent even though it clearly said on posters on the wall that tents were not allowed. Within minutes I was already shaking! I was so cold....I honestly thought we would have to give up and get a hotel room before the night was over! After a brief few moments I left mom to guard our spot and went to the truck to get all of my additional layers. I put on coveralls, gloves, a hat, snowboots, and a huge fluffy winter coat....believe me it still wasn't enough. After we had been sitting out there about 30 minutes or so the line had continued to grow and we introduced ourselves to the people around us. There were two girls beside us who when they first introduced themselves the asked if we were from West Plains...and my mom said that she worked there and they said they were the Quiznos girls and they had seen my mom there before. After a little while it dawned on me who one of the girls was. Her name was Kayla and I had gone to school with her at Richards for years in West Plains. She was a year older than me and we had played softball together in the sixth and seventh grades. We weren't close friends by any means, but I still remembered her and I even remembered that she was our catcher! It was neat that even though we were in Springfield among thousands of people Black Friday shopping we ended up sitting next to someone we knew. At about 7 oclock a Best Buy worker came down the line and wrote down what items everyone was after. He also told us that we were 81st in line. The rest of the night passed very slowly. It just continued to grow colder and colder. Mom and I would take turns going to the truck every hour or so for about ten minutes to warm up but it really didn't help that much. As soon as I came back from the truck I would start shaking and my teeth would start chattering...then after about thrity minutes I would get so cold and numb that I couldn't feel anything and I would stop shaking. The night continued on and with the later hours came brief bursts of activity among the crowd and society. For example, at one point the creepiest Santa I have ever seen came down the line asking people if they had a light for his cigarette. The Hooter's girls also came by and gave out free hot chocolate. Then randomly people would drive by and shout about how crazy we all were for staying out in the cold. Luckily the police were there to keep order, but one car got away with something outrageous....it was a station wagon that looked like the owner had tried to pimp it out with tinted windows and a loud exhaust. As it came buy there rolled down the window and through what I am sure was a stink bomb because immediately the intense odor of rotten eggs was present. So to add to the worst night of my life it now smelled. But luckily it went away after a few minutes. I was very thankful that Lindsey texted me throughout the night too...it kept me from getting too bored. But everytime I would go to text it was painful because I had to take my fingers out of my gloves which had the hand warmers in them. At about midnight I had to go to the bathroom...BAD!!!! and since we had taken my mom's truck which is a standard I couldn't drive it anywhere to go to the bathroom....so I was forced to do the one thing that I loathed more than anything else...I had to use the porta-potty!!!!! UGH!!!! And to make matters worse I had so many layers on that I had to take half of my clothes off before I could even use it!!! I was disgusted by it...but I was literally in pain I had to go to the bathroom so bad. So I worked up the courage and went. It was nasty, but relieving. There is no telling how many diseases I could have gotten from that one experience. Anyway...at about 1am the boys two groups down from us who were probably high school seniors and one of which was pretty cute....started making bacon and eggs with the propane tank they had brought! I was starving!!!! It smelled sooooo good....but I couldn't have any. :( At 2am everyone started packing up their stuff and taking it out to their vehicles, because at 3am they were going to start giving out the vouchers for the big ticket items like my laptop. So the line, which by the way was way passed Petsmart by then, moved forward as people squished together and moved towards the door. My feet were killing me...they had gotten so cold I am pretty sure they were in the beginning stages of frostbite. At 3am it was chaos as they came out with the vouchers..."who needs a tv?" Hands flew into the air and people crowded around the employee with the tv vouchers. Others asked when the laptop vouchers were coming. Finally we heard "Who needs a Sony laptop?" I jumped into action and raised my hand. By the time the employee was down to me I asked her if it was the package or the laptop they had for $399 which was almost the exact same without the printer, bag, or spyare blocker. She said they had ran out of the package but she had one more for the $399 laptop. So I snatched it. I was overjoyed! That piece of paper guaranteed that I would be getting a laptop and even though it wasn't the package it was almost the exact same computer and it was cheap! After all the vouchers were handed out, the personal shopping assistants came out for the first 100 people in line....each assistant was assigned to three people. Our assistant's name was Sarah. She asked us what all we wanted and we told her that we wanted the laptop and a wireless router and a printer which after the purchase of the laptop was only $30! So Sarah went inside and gathered all the stuff so at 5am when we went it would be ready to go...at 4:30am they handed out Krispy Kreme doughnuts which I was so thankful for because I was starving! At 5 a sigh of relieve came as the doors were opened. Ky3 was there to interview people and do a report, but I was more concerned about my laptop and more importantly the warmth of the store. We were in and out! I bought my laptop and I was so happy! Afterwards we went to IHOP where we saw Miss Landsdown and enjoyed a delicious warm breakfast before continuing shopping for the rest of the day. The rest of the day was successful a and I ended up going back to Best Buy and getting a laptop bag and wireless mouse. I fell asleep on the way home and I was ready to take a shower and sleep when I came home. But I ended up playing with my laptop until 7 oclock when I finally went to sleep after being up for 37.5 hours! Was ir worth it? Now that I am warm and have my laptop I will say it was all worth it, but if you had asked me the same question anytime during the 11 hours I would outside I would have said no.

I am not camping out next year, but I am glad I did this year because now I have an awesome new toy! :)