What kind of a person does it take to stay in line for 11 hours, in the hot sun, with complete strangers? A crazy one!! Not a brave person, or a good friend, or anything like that. It takes people who are completely in love with Apple products and need the latest and greatest the moment it comes out. Oh yeah, I don't really fit in that category. I fit into the crazy person category. I am completely insane. Let me explain my day to you.
6:00 a.m.- I don't wake up. I unconsciously hit the snooze button.
6:09- I wake up. I put in my contacts and throw on some clothes.
6:35-I arrive at the Gateway in Downtown, SLC. I am amazed at how long the line is. I can see it goes from the Apple store, to Old Navy, and then up the street.
6:45- I stand in line. The nice Apple man informs me that this isn't the right line for me. This is the line for special people who have pre-ordered their iPhones. He tells me to head down to the street behind the Apple store, turn left and keep walking.
6:50- I'm walking and walking and walking. The line keeps going and going and going. I'm starting to get really nervous. Some strange people on a bench say, "Where's the excitement on your face?" I grunt back and keep walking. I finally reach the end of the line and tell the man in front of me, "This is a joke." I didn't know how true that was.
7:30- Another lovely Apple man walks by and begins telling us that our line should start moving soon. This gives me some hope. I had foolishly assumed that I could get in and out of the store in no longer than 2 hours. So I stay. And I freeze. And I curl up on the grass.
8:00(still a.m.)- The line moves!.. About 5 feet. I think a couple people might have left. Oh well, sucks to be them... right? I lay out on the grass and start wishing for the sun to come over the top of the building.
9:00- Line moves again!... About 5 more feet. The apple man comes by and informs us that we can put our names on a priority list and they will get back to us in 2 weeks. This gets many people's attention. But not mine. I don't have 2 weeks. I will be in Europe by then, which would defeat the purpose. So I stay, hoping that the line will move faster.
10:00- I make friends with a little boy! His name is Jershon. We make faces at each other for who knows how long. Then he tried to give me a high five for a while. Then we finally spoke. I will relate our conversation.
"What's your name?" -Jershon
"I'm JaNae! What's your name?" -JaNae
"I'm Jershon."
"How old are you?"-JaNae
He holds up 5 fingers.
"WOW! You're 5!?"-JaNae
We fall silent. A couple of minutes later.
"How old are you?" -Jershon.
"I'm nineteen." -JaNae
"Woah! That's old!"-Jershon
"Yep, I'm ancient."-JaNae
"Are you a mommy?"-Jershon
"um.. Nope. Can't say that I am."-janae
"Are you a child?"-jershon
"Yes. Yes I am a child."-janae
11:00- At this point, I have been in line for approximately 4 hours. I am officially committed. There is no turning back at this point. You can't just wait in line for 4 hours and then leave! How stupid would that be? Plus, I have moved to the other side of the street and I can almost see where the line curves. I'm staying. It's decided. At this point, I have got phone calls from Kacee, my mom, and Bryant. It's always nice talking to them.
12:00- Lydia called me. Bryant brought me a couple of crispy chicken sandwiches. The sun is out and it is getting really hot. The nice Apple people have brought by donuts and water.
1:00- I get acquainted with the man in front of me. His name is Mike. He works for the school district in Utah and Colorado, selling Apple products. He graduated from a school in New York 10 years ago. He's tall. Has nice shoes. Only times he has been out of the U.S. were to Canada and Mexico. He has a weird sense of humor. But he's nice. We continue conversing and sharing our thoughts on insanity.
The lady behind me had some sort of skin condition and claimed to be allergic to the sun. So we let her have the umbrella when the apple man came by. Her husband ruptured his Achilles tendon, so he has a cast and a nice little scooter thing. they are pleasant people. A little eccentric though. But who am I to talk?
There were 4 other adult men standing near who I talked to. But mostly about the line and the situation we were in.
3:00- I can feel my neck getting resunburned. New parts of me are getting burned as well. My face and arms and legs. I only put sunscreen on my neck though. It's already blistered and peeling. Pretty sure it's gonna be permanently scarred. But that's ok. I will get through it. MAYBE I WILL BUY AN iPhone for me?! Ha ha, it could happen. It would only cost me 600 bucks or so. What's the big deal? I've waited in line this long. I might as well reward myself. I text a few people and see what they think. Then the Apple man comes by with snow cones. I eat one and my practical common sense comes back. Why the heck would I spend that much money on a phone!? That would make me even more insane. I would never ever spend that much money on something I don't need. I have a hard time buying necessities like food. Good thing I ate that snow cone and talked myself out of it. The apple people were nice enough to provide sunscreen and umbrellas for shade.
4:00- I'm getting really frustrated. Why am I staying in this line?! I have been the end of the line for basically the whole time. It just keeps getting shorter. I definitely should have come now, instead of 9 hours ago. But that's ok. I'm here. I will stay. Only another hour. Catherine came by and brought me a chocolate shake (best shake in the world, btw). And she made me eat some fries. YUM! And then I accidentally left my phone in her car. That was a bummer.
5:00-I can almost see the front of the store! Almost there! A man is now coming by with small cups of salad and desserts. Inside I am screaming ("I DON'T WANT YOUR FOOD! GIVE ME THAT PHONE!") I joked about that with Mike. He agreed. Once you get that far and it's been almost 11 hours, you can only think of one thing: The phone.
5:35- I am in the front of the line. And it's almost surreal. Who'd have thought that I would finally be here! Well, they called me in and I told them exactly what I wanted, they got it. I bought it. I was out in less than 5 minutes.
You know what the really crazy thing is? I didn't buy this iPhone for me. It's for my friend Tobi. How did I feel at the end of the day? Exhausted. Totally spent. Sunburned. Surprisingly, not hungry. And slightly frustrated. Was it worth it? I'm not sure. I hope so. I would have stayed in line that long for any one of my friends. So I guess it was worth it. I will forget it all in a few days anyway.
