i.phone.aftermath.

.tiff here.  Fully rested and attempting to recapture what exactly happened in the past 36 hours I was awake.  The 13 hours of non-stop sleep helped the brain cells recharge, but I have to admit everything is still a little blurry.

I arrived at 58th street by way of Taxi at 2 AM to switch places with Chico's housemate James in line.  My energy was pretty high at that point.  I fancied jumping around and running back and forth to check out the scene.  Although it never rained for more than 2 minutes total, sleeping line-waiters covered their chairs with umbrella shields.  A few had brought tents, and others just opted for the concrete sidewalk as their beds.  Sleep was basically not an option at that point, so I entertained myself with star coin collecting in New Super Mario Bros.

As soon as it started to get light, things get fuzzy.  Around 6am, media from CNN, Fox News, ABC, and others started to hunt down line waiters who looked like they had a story to tell.  A reporter from ABC asked questions to some line sitters like "Why do you smell the way you do?", and one Fox News reporter quickly went down the line person by person asking questions like "But why are you waiting so long?" or  "You aren't really crazy, are you?".  It became really irritating after a while, so I hooded up and put on my shades to avoid the press.

Following the news stations and bloggers were the companies advertising themselves with loads of free crap.  First, Apple passed out SmartWater and Krispy Kreams to peeps, but then non-Apple folks like FAO Shwartz, WIRED, Virgin Airlines, and more came to distribute their free products.  The police had assembled metal fences to separate us from the street, and I felt like a little baby in a cage grabbing out for free stuff as these people came by.  The assorted swag we took from the scene can be seen in the picture. Around 4 they started to moved us up to the front of the store where the media began to infiltrate the line.  Thankfully, Starbucks passed out cups of coffee to keep us going.  I'm sure you've heard the rest of this from everyone else on the internet, but it was really unlike anything else.  At 6PM they opened the doors.  A line of about 20 Apple employees lined the doorway and gave people high fives as we walked in line.  The press crowded around the entrance like a red carpet event.  As we spiraled down the stairway and the floor opened up, we saw apple employees on the floor everywhere, clapping and cheering as we came inside.  While we were entering, folks who already had their iPhones were leaving and were also cheered at as they left. Coldplay was being blasted around the store like the peak dramatic scene in a movie or TV drama.  I tried to record the madness, but my heart was beating so fast and I was shaking due to the overridden senses and the delirium I was experiencing due to my lack of sleep.

Chico and I got our 2 iPhones, and quickly headed out to Central Park, to catch our breaths.  We got a second wind after being released from the crowd of chaos, but then quickly passed out when we got home.  What an experience.  And I havn't even got to play with an iPhone yet!  One is going to my Dad and the other is going to Chico and James to sell (which they have succeeded in doing).  Time to go to the park and enjoy the outside before the humidity comes back to New York!