yay for cool friends and numero uno

4:48 am

jenny, wake up... it's time to get up...
so despite me actually encouraging her to stay home, jenny wanted to wake up while the sun don't shine and come with me to the used gear sale at rei... una amiga verdad!
we got our warm clothes on and trudged to the car and drove out to manhattan beach.

5:20 am

are you serious? we're going to be first in line!!!! this is so awesome... one of my life long dreams will be fulfilled... we parked and i ran and put our chairs in front of the store, first in line!!! then i ran back to the warmth of the car where we decided to stay until people started coming.

5:30 am

no people

5:45 am

no people, and people are always here by now... did it get cancelled? no, there's a sign right on the door.

6:00 am

still no people... wait, there's a guy walking, he's looking at our chairs... he's leaving and going around the corner towards the back of the store...

6:05 am

i go investigate and see what this guy is up to (while jenny sleeps in the car). i see him sitting in his chair near the back of the store "hi there, are you here for the used bear sale?" i asked.
"no, i just got out of jail and am looking to kidnap the first two people who are here for the sale."
don't be stupid, duh he didn't say that.
"ya, i am." he replied (i know, not as exciting as the other version)
"um, the line actually starts by the front of the store because that's where they have the sale now," i informed him.
"oh, not the back anymore, because whenever i came to these, they were back here."
"nope, they've had the last at least 4 in the front... but i do remeber when they had it in the back."
"oh"
"so, ya, i just wanted to let you know before people started coming and getting in line ahead of you since you are here now."
"did you just get here?"
"no, we've been here since 5:20"
"oh, okay i'll move my stuff over. thanks"

6:15 am

i'm sitting in my chair, first in a line of two. jenny is still in the car, and the guy is sitting there reading a paper. "you can go in your car until people start to come, i'll watch your chairs." he tells me. i was so grateful, and went to my car. as i opened the door to my car i looked back and saw the guy running off with my chairs!
again, not really what happened. he just sat there.

6:30 am

Still no other people!!!!!! (except for jail bird) now, you non UGS (used gear sale-ers) you have to understand that the line is usually up to at least 20 people by 6:00 am... always. so if there are no other people by this time, it's insanity!!! i could have had an extra hour of sleep and been second in line (but i wouldn't get to fulfill my life long dream... however i could dream an extra hour!)

7:00 am

finally more people!!! actually, by this time it was now a line of about 8 people. by this time jenny and i were both sitting in our chairs, freezing cold. i then left to make a bagel/tea/hot chocolate run.

7:15 am - 8:45 am

a blur of music, reading, and frozen toes. i also located the one item that i came to this sale for... a warm jacket for calvin!!! when they wheeled out the clothing racks, i saw it immediately, and it was love at first sight... it was green, and it looked warm!!! it was the only jacket on the rack that didn't have fur around the hood or on the sleeves, plus there were only 5 jackets. so i could only pray that it was my size, and that it was in-tact and not hanging together by a thread. we had a lot of people coming up to us, "so, how early were the first-in-liners here?"

my response: too early.

8:45 am

we put our chairs away and got the blood flowing (we were frozen). i played "eye of the tiger" on my ipod to get pumpd up... you've got to be ready for this stuff. i had a goal, and i was going to accomplish it. the game plan: power walk straight to the green jacket, and grab. no distractions... nothing else on my list... go green.

9:00 am

go! first in line, first in, first to the green jacket... i snagged it off the rack, and 30 seconds later 3 other women were at the rack going through the jackets, only to find a bunch of fur.
i hurried off to a corner with jenny and looked at the green. medium... good, my size. price... perfect, nice and low. damage? i looked and looked, all over the jacket... couldn't find anything. i read what the tag said "torn lining". i looked in side the jacket (found a cool feature by the way, it has a lining jacket on the inside that is removable... sweet stuff!) anyway, i find the mesh lining on the inside of main jacket, only to find a small tear in the mesh, affecting the jacket in no way what-so-ever.
victory!!!
i felt like pumping my fists in the air, "yo adrian, i did it!"
actually, i called my dad and said something more like, "yo daddy, i found it!"

9:20 am

we walked through the warms store for a bit, jenny checked the snowboarding stuff. an employee came up to us, "so, first-in-liners, find anything."and with a big smile, i shook my head yes. i paid for la jaqueta and we were off on our way home.

9:45 am

home. jenny immediately fell asleep on the couch, and i put on my jacket

can you tell who the morning person is??? jenny is such a trooper!