Spring was in the air today. It was a clear blue day and it was warm. It was a day to snub your nose at the groundhog. And I did. I thought about him far too many times today. Furry little jerk who had cursed us to the eighth worst winter on record! But today was our day, not the groundhog’s day. It was the day before the first official day of spring. And it was spring already! I didn’t get to spend much time outside, but I could see the sunshine from the picture window in my office, and I caught myself more than once gazing out longingly, counting the hours until the day would be over. There is almost nothing better than a beautiful Friday when you have Saturday off!
And once the bank closed, and I was buckled into my car, the countdown continued to the midnight DVD release of the Twilight Saga’s New Moon. Since I didn’t have to get up for work the next morning, I decided it would be a splendid idea to stay up late and get the movie the minute it was released! My only hesitation was that I would be forced to stand in line.
I recruited my best friend Melissa and my daughter into my plan, and we piled into the car at precisely eleven pm to set out for the most dreaded of all places…Wal-Mart.
We were going for total Twilight submersion, so before we were even buckled in, I plugged the iPod into the car stereo to listen to the New Moon book on the way.
We were parked and headed across the parking lot with more than thirty minutes to go before the film would be released to the public. The thought of standing had my knees throbbing with anticipation. My poor joints had been really bothering me lately (years of tripping over things, and falling down stairs had apparently caught up to me) so I had the brilliant idea to use one of the motorized Wal-Mart scooters to navigate the store.
I had never used a market scooter before, but I knew that standing in line would have been excruciating, so I was willing to give it a go. It was daunting at first, but after a quick lesson on how to operate the contraption, I was zipping through the store on my granny scooter and it was fun.
The scooter can turn on a dime!
I was doing donuts in the aisles, much to my daughter’s horror. But, it didn’t have much oomph. I was pressing the gas as far as it would go, and I was being passed by old ladies walking.
There is something surreal and amusing about riding through a Wal-Mart in the middle of the night on a motorized scooter. You see the most interesting people at that hour of the night in the one place that never closes. I overheard a woman dressed in a purple polyester sweat suit say to her companion that “it never fails…every time I come into the Wal-Mart, I get all hot.” The only hotness I saw in the Wal-Mart last night was the Edward Cullen posters pinned to every display.
Once we were situated in the line with only twenty minutes to go, we were able to participate in a giveaway. Out of the hundred or so people who showed up, twenty-there were awarded with an aluminum water bottle with Edward Cullen’s picture emblazoned across the front. All three of us won one! And we were given other little prizes too. I will be proudly wearing my Cullen crest tattoo until it washes off.
Finally it was time!
We queued up to the cardboard display table to collect our prize (in my case it was the Blu Ray ultimate fan edition.) I sat in my scooter and stared at the movie that was handed to me. This wasn’t right! After thorough research as to which store would be selling what special features, we still chose the wrong venue! Where were the deleted scenes? How could I go to bed without watching at least that? I will cop to the possibility that this very behavior might actually be bordering on pathetic. But that being said, I really don’t care. What’s wrong with being pathetic if it’s for a good cause?
Target was closed by the time we got there somewhere around twelve-thirty, so I will be arriving sometime up before eight in the morning to pick up my three disc set with the deleted scenes.
You can call it an addiction if you like, but I just gave up caffeine, Girl Scout cookies, and (preemptively) Easter candy, so leave me alone with the only real vice I have left!
I could have worse addictions than Twilight you know.
Until the next time…I will be preparing for my girl’s only Twilight party tomorrow evening!