Black Friday

"Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically the busiest retail shopping day of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the Christmas season. Most retailers will open very early and usually provide massive discounts on their products, and offer door buster deals to draw people to their stores"

source: wikipedia

Oh my goodness.... my body clock is so out of whack. It started on Wednesday night when hubby and I were invited to a friend's house. We got home pretty late and I was unable to sleep. I had the worst case of indigestion since I was a child. The pain was so bad that I was actually woken up in the middle of the night with the pain. Times like this I am so grateful for hubby's medical background and his patience. He stayed awake with me and treated me till I felt better. By that time, the sun was starting to rise but we were only going to bed. We slept in till noon.

During the day I felt sort of jet-lagged. Every time I tried to read or do some work, I felt nauseous. We ended up taking a nap in the evening. I wasn't really looking forward to the plans we had made to join in on the annual black friday (see definition above). Hubby was excited to see the many electronics items that were on sale. A kodak 6.1 megapixel camera was selling for $98 from a regular price of $150, and ipod dock was only $28, an LCD tv was selling for only $179 from their retail price of $349.99. The factory outlet where we normally shop was opening at midnight and was having discounts on top of the normal sales too. So we dressed up for the cold and headed to the factory outlet. But 2 miles before the exit to the factory outlet, the freeway was jam-packed with cars!! It took us 30 minutes just to get 5 inches ahead of where we were. Other cars were cutting in front of us and not waiting in line. I had a feeling that there were probably no parking left at the factory outlet and even if we did get to the outlet to shop, all the good deals would've been gone! Sorry as I felt, we had to turn around which was actually harder than we thought it was going to be. The other side of the freeway was worse than the side we were on. But because there was no other way to get back home, we spent an hour an a half in the traffic jam to get back home.

Today I read in the papers that a lot of ppl were walking from the freeway to just go to the outlet while the driver of the car tried to get their cars off the freeway and into the parking lot of the factory outlet. So much for getting a good deal. Poor hubby had to drive all those hours though. He still didn't want to give up and we actually stopped at the local department store that were having a lot of discounted electronics store. The store was opening at 6am and we got to the store's parking lot at 3am. There was one guy sleeping in front of the store so we joined in the line behind him. I was so sleepy and cold. Hubby had to endure my whining and requests for him to keep my warm. While waiting, we leaved through the store catalog to see the stuff that was worth buying:

But it was sooooo wet and cold. The temperature was not that cold really, but there was a really dense fog. And after an hour or so out in the fog, I started feeling like there were beads of water forming on my face and on my nose. I kinda got cranky coz it was cold and wet. I got even more cranky when three women suddenly joined the one man who was in front of us, half an hour before the store was due to open. Hello.... we've been waiting in line for 3 hours in the cold and fog and u just get in front of us like it's your right because one person saved a spot in line for your whole family?! Pissed off ok. Some women behind us made comments like "How much did you pay him to hold your spot in line?" And the lady who just joined the line then quipped back "Oh we're related." As if that justifies her cutting in line front of us. I muttered "Oh yeah, but we've been waiting out here all night while you stayed in the warm van of yours." They gave me dirty looks but didn't say anything. Obviously they knew they were in the wrong. I think if it wasn't for people like them, fights for the limited cheap items wouldn't occur. There wasn't a fight for items inside the store. But just having those ladies cut in line really made me want to get ahead of them for the items that were sold. I didn't care if the ladies got their stuff or not. In fact, when we were all walking towards the electronics section of the store, I heard the woman who cut our line say "If I don't get what I want I'm going to kill all of you." It almost sounded like she was laughing but obviously she meant what she said. Or else, she wouldn't even say it right? Yeah, lady go kill people for things you don't get!

Hubby and I just snaked around the aisles, grabbed the stuff we wanted and left very quickly. Quick and simple. Luckily I'm small and almost invisible. I could really make my way around all these other people and just grab the stuff that I wanted. We left and were happy with our purchase. Other people were still waiting for special electronics that were behind the counter.

Arriving home at 6:30am with our purchases, I thought to myself - how on earth did I get myself involved with the madness of shopping here in the US. I almost feel like I shouldn't even be involved in all the rush for cheap stuff coz I definitely don't need any christmas presents and I'm not buying any chistmas presents for anyone else. I'm feeling so jet lagged coz of the lack of sleep and I so want to just focus on my school work. But it makes hubby so happy that I want to be by his side and get all the stuff we can get our hands on. And I have to admit the part where we rush into the store and get the items we want is exciting. I just wish I didn't need to wait 3 hours in front of the store to get the item though. penat lah.....

For now, I'm just resting at home, nursing the jet lag. Hubby is at work believe it or not and is on call tonight. I just hope he gets some rest and short power naps. Or else he would be up for 36 hours straight. Not good...