Midnight Madness

36, Day 101 (Written Thursday March 22) ~ When I was younger staying up all night was a challenge and it was exciting. When you are young you think magical things begin to happen after midnight, but the truth is it’s just quieter since most people with any sense are asleep. When Jade and I first got married it was quite common for us to stay up until well after midnight watching tv or visiting with friends. With each passing year my willingness and ability to stay up late seem to be in a race to nonexistence. There are, however, a few rare exceptions.
I’m not exactly sure when it began, but the midnight release of movies and products seems to be a relatively new practice. The first time I can remember participating in a midnight madness event was for the release of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith. I grew up loving everything Star Wars and passed this on to my boys. I had been waiting since I was ten years old to see Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader and I couldn’t wait one minute longer. So the boys and I went to the midnight showing. There was such a buzz in the air as people my age and older, along with their kids, shared in the culmination of something that had been such a big part of our childhood. The anticipation was what made it so fun, along with sharing it with the people closest to me. Of course it didn’t hurt getting to watch all of the people dress up as their favorite Star Wars characters, that’s where I draw the line. Once the movie ended, we made our way back home in the early morning hours. I survived, but doubted I would ever do something like that again. Wrong.
A couple of years later I took a group of teenagers from church with me to a VBS I was teaching in Smyrna. This was also the same night that the latest Harry Potter movie came out. We had made a plan, they go with me to VBS, I take them to the midnight premiere of Harry Potter. You need a little back story to understand a few things about this. I am not a fan of Harry Potter. It’s just not my thing. Basically every kid in the youth group lived for it (I guess it was their Star Wars). I have never read the books (and refuse to, again, just not my thing) and resisted seeing the movies. I tried to watch the first one three times before I made it through without falling asleep. The youth group convinced me one weekend to have a marathon with them and watch all five movies on DVD. We did this about two weeks before the 6th was released at midnight. If the Star Wars people are geeks/nerds, the Harry Potter people are straight up freaks. I have never seen so many people dressed up in my life. It was like weirdo Halloween. My greatest moment of fun came, when standing in this massively long line, I asked the person in front of us if this was the line to see Happy Feet? I thought it was funny, they did not. Also, I loudly approached random people in fully Harry Potter regalia if they were up for a quidditch match. No one was amused, well no one but me. The worst part of sitting through a Harry Potter movie that began at midnight was the fact it was two hours and forty-five minutes long!!! I literally got home at 5:00 am, and of course, everyone in the car slept the whole way home.
My next midnight madness experience actually came this past year. My family spent the night at the Bridge Street Mall in Huntsville waiting to get an iPhone 4s. Kase is a card carrying member of the cult of Mac. If it is apple related, he loves it and knows all about it. I wanted to get an iPhone (my first), but I wasn’t in a big hurry. Somehow, Po convinced me to spend the night. It was a long, cold night with those kinds of people who know everything there is to know about this new product and loudly talk to everyone around about how knowledgeable they are (rolls eyes). Finally, a little after 6 we were allowed to enter the store, buy the phone and then get on with playing with our new phones. Jade went too, but she spent most of the night in the van sleeping.
This past Thanksgiving marked my first midnight madness, Black Friday, day after Thanksgiving experiences. I have gone a few times at 4:00 am to get Christmas presents for the boys when they were little, and once for a HDTV, but never at midnight. The good news is, I just went for the atmosphere and to witness the insanity (there wasn’t anything I was there to get). I mainly just hung out and listened to the experts on all the Black Friday deals, as they pontificated about their strategies and deals they were able to snag. Also, I was amused at those who actually ran interference by spreading false information about products to run off the competition. I put on my headphones, stayed out of the way of the crazies and laughed to myself at this display of greed and urgency induced frenzy.
This brings me to tonight. This is my most recent midnight madness experience, and has so far been my best. On our last long trip, Kase and I bought and listened to the audiobook of The Hunger Games. I loved it, he loved it and found out the movie was coming out at midnight at The Martin theater in Pulaski. Since the boys washed their moms car, I told them I would take them. They went early and bought the tickets and saved the seats, and I fell asleep on the couch at home. I did wake up at 11:15, hop in the car and made the five minute drive to the theater, walked in, took my seat and enjoyed the next two and a half hours. It was fun seeing half of Pulaski fill the theater, both young and old. The movie was good, not nearly as good as the book (but what movies ever are?), and the best part was the five minute ride home to my wonderful bed.
I can tell that my midnight madness experiences are getting more and more rare. I doubt this was the last one, but I’m getting too old for this, unless the circumstances are just right. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to take a nap.