First & Last
Jul. 21st, 2007 09:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vollmusLAST NIGHT WAS AMAZING.
Preparation for the night began the week before. My sister and I stopped in at the local Borders to find out how exactly they would be coordinating the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We discovered a gem of information that made our 21st of July infinitely easier: they would be handing out line bracelets as soon as the store opened Friday morning. There was no question that Juli and I would be there when they did.
We were there, all right, forty minutes before what was supposed to be their opening at 10 AM. For some unknown reason, however, they opened at nine that morning, and we had been beaten to the front of the line. No matter; there were 150 orange bracelets, the first color in the line, and we were definitely early enough to get two of those. After that slightly annoying adventure, we returned home, and I went to sleep. (For some reason my sleeping schedule threw itself off base. I'm not too upset about it, though, considering it happened just in time for the release.)
We came back at 10:30 PM, prepped with information and filled with determination to be as close to the front of the line as possible. During our first Borders adventure, we had discovered that the line would be forming outside. Our second told us that lining up would begin at half an hour before show time. Armed with this knowledge, Juli and I sat ourselves down in the empty aisle nearest the door. Apparently very few were aware of the plan to start the line outside, because we were the only ones lurking near the door, and none were waiting outside. This was boding well.
As line time approached, my sister and I got more and more antsy in a very fun way. I ended up seeing quite a few high school friends there, though the only ones that actually acknowledged me and talked to me were Alex, Chris, and Lekhi. We had just started a game of cards when my sister informed me that it was 11:19 and time to head outside to see what was going down. I apologized for breaking up the game, told them it was great to see them, and then Juli and I quickly made our way out.
Outside we found a circle of Borders employees discussing how things were going to go down. We decided to stand pretty close to them, which would serve the dual purpose of finding out what was going down and claiming our spot in line behind whichever employee was going to be leading it. They realized what we were doing, laughed, and started up the orange line with my sister and I as numbers one and two. We also got some pretty slick glow sticks for no apparent reason, which made us even happier. Who could possibly turn down a free and unexplained glow stick in a moment of victory?
It's tiring to write in this much detail, so I'm going to stop now.
We ended up being the first two people to buy our books, even though a little girl and her parents ended up winning a raffle ticket drawing for the first spot in line. (The girl was so cute!) We beat them out because Juli and I had our cards ready when we got up to the counter while the guy had to fish for his. I doubt that had any effect on the little girl's enjoyment of the moment, which I'm glad of, because being the first to buy a copy had a great effect on my enjoyment of the moment. What a rush!
Juli and I basically ran out of the store and across the parking lot. As soon as the people lined up saw us with our bags, they started cheering for us, and they kept cheering all the way to the car. Lexi called as soon as we got in to see if I was in line at Borders, and it was very fun to say, completely out of breath, that no, I wasn't in line, because I was already out of it because I was FIRST. It was all quite exhilarating. Pretty soon after she called I told her I'd have to talk to her later because we were kind of in a rush to start reading.
My sister read aloud the entire way home, and I read all through the night. Some things were REALLY COOL, others were infuriating. Mostly, though, it was pretty good. I found myself disappointed with the lack of information she gave us about how everyone dealt with things in the end, but I'm not too upset.
The most amusing part of it? The entire thing reads like fanfiction.
Preparation for the night began the week before. My sister and I stopped in at the local Borders to find out how exactly they would be coordinating the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We discovered a gem of information that made our 21st of July infinitely easier: they would be handing out line bracelets as soon as the store opened Friday morning. There was no question that Juli and I would be there when they did.
We were there, all right, forty minutes before what was supposed to be their opening at 10 AM. For some unknown reason, however, they opened at nine that morning, and we had been beaten to the front of the line. No matter; there were 150 orange bracelets, the first color in the line, and we were definitely early enough to get two of those. After that slightly annoying adventure, we returned home, and I went to sleep. (For some reason my sleeping schedule threw itself off base. I'm not too upset about it, though, considering it happened just in time for the release.)
We came back at 10:30 PM, prepped with information and filled with determination to be as close to the front of the line as possible. During our first Borders adventure, we had discovered that the line would be forming outside. Our second told us that lining up would begin at half an hour before show time. Armed with this knowledge, Juli and I sat ourselves down in the empty aisle nearest the door. Apparently very few were aware of the plan to start the line outside, because we were the only ones lurking near the door, and none were waiting outside. This was boding well.
As line time approached, my sister and I got more and more antsy in a very fun way. I ended up seeing quite a few high school friends there, though the only ones that actually acknowledged me and talked to me were Alex, Chris, and Lekhi. We had just started a game of cards when my sister informed me that it was 11:19 and time to head outside to see what was going down. I apologized for breaking up the game, told them it was great to see them, and then Juli and I quickly made our way out.
Outside we found a circle of Borders employees discussing how things were going to go down. We decided to stand pretty close to them, which would serve the dual purpose of finding out what was going down and claiming our spot in line behind whichever employee was going to be leading it. They realized what we were doing, laughed, and started up the orange line with my sister and I as numbers one and two. We also got some pretty slick glow sticks for no apparent reason, which made us even happier. Who could possibly turn down a free and unexplained glow stick in a moment of victory?
It's tiring to write in this much detail, so I'm going to stop now.
We ended up being the first two people to buy our books, even though a little girl and her parents ended up winning a raffle ticket drawing for the first spot in line. (The girl was so cute!) We beat them out because Juli and I had our cards ready when we got up to the counter while the guy had to fish for his. I doubt that had any effect on the little girl's enjoyment of the moment, which I'm glad of, because being the first to buy a copy had a great effect on my enjoyment of the moment. What a rush!
Juli and I basically ran out of the store and across the parking lot. As soon as the people lined up saw us with our bags, they started cheering for us, and they kept cheering all the way to the car. Lexi called as soon as we got in to see if I was in line at Borders, and it was very fun to say, completely out of breath, that no, I wasn't in line, because I was already out of it because I was FIRST. It was all quite exhilarating. Pretty soon after she called I told her I'd have to talk to her later because we were kind of in a rush to start reading.
My sister read aloud the entire way home, and I read all through the night. Some things were REALLY COOL, others were infuriating. Mostly, though, it was pretty good. I found myself disappointed with the lack of information she gave us about how everyone dealt with things in the end, but I'm not too upset.
The most amusing part of it? The entire thing reads like fanfiction.
