The tale of waiting in line

12:20- Donald and I arrived at the Target. There were 5 guys there already who had set up their chairs, and were staying warm inside a car. We added our names to the sign-up list, (#s 6 and 7) set up our chairs, got our blankets and stuff and settled in. Donald played some Mario Kart on his DS. Soon more people joined the line. The girl right after us didn't have a blanket or chair or anything, but was only holding the spot in line until her aunt got there to take over. People would drive by every now and then to see how many people were in line, and ask how many Wiis were supposed to be available. Donald read online that Targets were supposed to have between 10 and 50, so we figured we were safe. We passed the time chatting with folks. After awhile Donald and I moved our chairs back behind around a corner to stay out of the wind. At this point, it was probably aroung 45º.

1:30AM- I had to pee, so I went off to find a nice all night gas station. I figured I'd go home if I didn't find one, but I found one that wasn't far, and warmed up a bit while driving around. When I got back I played some Meteos. The line slowly grew. There were folding camp chairs, many blankets, hats, coats, coveralls, etc. One of the guys in the front pulled a shopping cart up and curled up with his blankets inside that. Two of the other guys in front pulled their camp chairs close together to overlap their legs and save heat. They had a pretty cozy looking nest. Several people had several blankets, and covered themselves entirely. Donald and I were pretty snug in our corner. We parked our camp chairs right next to each other and wore our warm coats. Then we covered our legs with our light jackets, and shared a blanket across both of us. The hardest part to keep warm was our legs, since the air circulated freely under the chairs. The whole line hibernated quietly for a couple hours.

3AM- Donald left to go to the gas station. I decided to get up and stretch, and hop around to warm up some. There was a general rousing of energy around this time, and several people got up to move around and talk more. Then it died down again.

4:30- I went back to the gas station, and brought Donald back a coffee. It was warm, at least. After I got back, Donald went up to the front to chat, so I tried to find a way to get comfortable on 2 camp chairs. I put my backpack on the other chair to lean on, and tried to form a pillow out of my second scarf. Mostly, I think I was leaning on a box of Cheez-its, which do not make a good pillow. I did manage to fall asleep for awhile, and was relatively warm. (hooray new boots!) More people arrived.

6- 6:30- More people showed up. The list eventually had more than 50 people on it. I couldn't really sleep anymore, since a loud parking lot sweeping truck had arrived along with a guy using a leaf blower to blow trash out from between the cars. At this point I was starting to get actually cold, so I got up to move around more. People were starting to mill around near the door, so Donald and I put our stuff in the car and headed to the door area. About 6:50 the first guy in the line got everyone to line up in order of the list, to make sure that the manager wasn't mobbed by people when he finally came out. This got all the people who had just showed up out of the damn way.

6:55- Manager gave out 15 vouchers. Person number 15 had been there with us since 2:30AM, so everybody after that was disappointed. Donald and I drove home for a bit, to eat and such.

7:45- We grouped up with our fellow stubborn people.
8AM- They let us in to go buy our Wiis, and go home to bed. I was pretty incoherent by this point, so it was good that Donald drove. It was a looong night, but worth it.

Wii is big fun! It comes with a sports game, which is way more fun than I thought it would be. I especially like bowling and tennis, but I suck at baseball. The controllers make the whole game playing experience totally different that before. It's easiest to do most of the motions while standing up, to begin with. My arm hurts. :(