i had a total Parent Trap moment this morning in Best Buy.

I've never really done any Thanksgiving rituals. when i was younger my dad used to take us to the parade downtown, but i haven't gone in years. we don't have a dinner and i never go shopping on black Friday. this year i really wanted to go to the parade, but my friend flaked out on me at the last second, and sister 1 didn't feel like getting up early to go to Manhattan (where she works) on her day off. so i didn't go. i spent the day hanging out with a friend. we actually had turkey for dinner (slightly flukey, i think) and i decided i wanted to go shopping Friday morning. there were a few things i wanted to get, and I've been waiting for sales.

so i convinced sister 1 to come with me (dunno how i did that, she wouldn't get up at eight thirty on a day off, but she was willing to get up at five. stranger) and we drove to the mall.

it was the oddest thing that at a quarter to six in the morning there was a full lot. we actually found a spot, but there was a news crew taking it up with their equipment. so we circled, and followed some people who turned out to be only loading their car and going back in for a second shift. i rolled down my window and was about to ask a guy if he was leaving, when he walked right in front of my car. i almost hit him. i didn't think it was then appropriate to ask him for his spot. so i circled some more. and finally found a spot.

the first store we came across was best buy. the line to get in stretched halfway across the mall. i have never seen Best Buy bouncers before. that's what they looked like. they stood in front of store, with their hands over their chest (sans sunglasses) and kept the line behind the ropes. (yes there actually were ropes up) so we skipped it and went to the other side of the mall. we saw people waiting online at the Verizon store, at Circuit City, and at Forever 21. Gap wasn't open yet, and Old Navy was too crowded and noisy. so i went to Macy's where i got exactly what i needed, and for like forty percent off.

on the way out, some woman was handing out energy drinks. we took them, but they didn't have a hechsher. so in the next store we went to, we left them there. i felt like Santa Claus. so if you come across an Ocean Spray Cranergy drink in Brookstone, you can thank me. we decided to go back to Best Buy. sister 1 is looking for a computer bag, and i needed some ipod accessories. we were looking around, and found the stuff we needed. the line went almost all the way around the store. so i got in line in front of the blue-shirted guy holding a bunch of white balloons, and sister 1 went to scout out for a different line. her line seemed to be shorter, so i attempted to hop over a display of boxes of something. unfortunately, i miscalculated the width of the boxes in proportion to the circumference of my skirt. i tripped, crashed, brought down the whole display, and tore my skirt. all the way up. i felt like the twin in Parent Trap who had the entire back of her skirt cut out. (and this has happened to me before. once on Succot i was walking past the shul's Succah and i tore my skirt on a nail, and the entire back got ripped) needless to say, i was mortified. i grabbed my bag, sister 1, and ran around to an empty aisle to asses the damage. it was bad. so bad that i couldn't even go to a clothing store to buy another skirt. at that point, shopping in an overcrowded mall for merchandise i didn't really need, at seven am didn't feel like so much fun anymore. so i left.

maybe I'll try again next year.