My honorable fight on the “Best Buy” battlefield

November 25th, 2005

I fought a heroic fight today on the “Best Buy” battlefield! To join the “get read? get set - go!” battle of the day, I rose “dark” and early this morning - it was still pitch dark when I dragged myself out of bed at 3am…I felt like I had just taken a nap as I had just gone to bed 2.5 hours ago. Fatal mistake - I had forgotten that I needed to wake up very early this morning, so I will still up at 11pm last night watching TV with Daddy and Mommy. Boo did not have the integrity and endurance I have and backed out of the fierce battle ahead.

After throwing on the clothes that I had carefully laid out last night (being prepared is of crucial importance in a time-sensitive mission such as this) and quickly washing my face, I was out the door by 3:20am (goal was to be out by 15 minutes). It was a straight shot to my battlefield - Best Buy - what usually takes us at least 20 minutes ended up being a 14 minutes drive as I flew on the lonely road. My confidence of beating the others and winning the battle was growing exponentially as I charged onward and saw very few enemies. When an enemy appeared, we would size each other up and step on our gas pedal.

As I turned the corner to the shopping center, however, I began to sense danger so I quickly scanned my environment and saw a long line in front of the battlefield already - there were already about 150 people dressed in armor - hats, scarves, gloves, ski jackets - waiting to fight!!! I was surprised to see such eager fights, as some seem to have been anticipating the fight since last night - they had a blanket (literally) all-body-suit that made them stood out. My morale took a dip, but I was determined not to give up so easily. Putting on my own armor as well, I took my shopping list sword and ran to the fighting line - as I got closer to the other fights, I realized that these gladiators are in it for the long-haul, as many of them were seated comfortably in folding chairs. It was quite a sight as one would have expected these people to be preparing to watch a July 4th fireworks show, and not be prepping for a battle.

The anticipation was immense - all gladiators were anxious to rush onto the battlefield and show the world what they are made of, but the gate remained closed. As other discussed why they are in this battle, I kept my motive hidden and quietly studied my battlefield map that Boo had drawn for me. I even visualized my plan of attack and the treasures I was going after (in order: 1.XBOX 360 - Boo had intelligence that there were few being held for today, 2. Toshiba Satellite 370 laptop which costs $378 - we had already booked online but was not sure if it would be cancelled, 3. Western Digital 160GB USB 2.0 External Hard drive). Business books are right on target when they say visualization is a powerful tool.

Although gladiators continue to join the fighting line, I did not pay attention to these latter ones as they are at a disadvantage. As we stood waiting, gladiators began to exchange war stories - I heard that some gladiators had brought their sleeping bags; some were also talking about how on the “Circuit City” battlefield, a few gladiators had even set up a tent! Despite the cold, fighting spirits remained high as gladiators took on different activities to keep warm - chatting with neighbors, playing puzzles, sleeping, etc. - all had 1 common behavior though: frequent yawning. Around 4am, a couple battlefield administrators starting walking down the line and asking for enrollments in certain events…unfortunately, I was not interested in any of the events they offered except for the one that had already reached quota (the one for Toshiba Satellite laptop).

When it was almost 5am, we saw quite some number of gladiators not in line waiting at the gate - all of us were afraid that these gladiators would outrun us to the battelfield, but fortunately, when the gate was lifted, the battlefield administrators fenced them off. Although we gladiators entered the battlefield more or less single-filed, as soon as we passed the narrow bridge, all gladiators (including myself)broke free and promptly displayed their fundamental skills of sprinting, scanning, pushing, and grabbing. Those whose skills were not as polished were faced with taken treasures, “fake” treasures, and second-rated treasures. Due to my visualization and instinct, I was able to quickly spot my one and only treasure (Boo’s intelligence was inaccurate - there were no XBOX 360) and claim it as my own without using any “pushing” skill. Having found my top prize, I went on to claiming little DVD prizes. Within 45 minutes, I had finished my battle and having registered my prizes with the adminsitrators, left the other gladiators to run about for their own prizes.

I continued to my battles on the “Office Max” battlefield and the “Cary Towne Center” mall, and returned home at 10:30am with prizes to flaunt. Except the battles had taken a toll on me and I need much recovery right now so I need to rest now - hope all of you fight some victorious battles on this Black Friday as well! By the way, did you know how the term “Black Friday” came about? Retailers gave that nickname to the day after Thanksgiving because it represents the official start of the holiday season, accounting for nearly 20 percent of their sales — the day when they go from red ink to black.

Entry Filed under: Diary