linderellas

Every year I tell myself I’m just going to sit at home and wait for online sales. Every year I’m at Walmart at three a.m., combing their electronics sections in case someone missed one of the cheap-ass televisions that sold out minutes after they opened. Surely I am not alone. What gaming goodies did you end up buying? I started off Black Friday right — I went to Walmart on Thursday morning, hours before the actual Black Friday sale started. The aisles were lined with things no one was allowed to buy until 5 pm, so I bought none of rummy nabob those things. I did pick up a pair of games — Grand Theft Auto V and Shape Up for the Xbox One — but I paid full price. This is because I am stupid.cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"e3616d04-4972-4839-a63a-c6975e2e9731","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.kotaku.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"1664687071","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"culture","SECTION":"","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"culture","TAGS":"","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")}); Later, after family dinner was done, I set off into the night with one mission — do not buy a television. We have five televisions in our three bedroom apartment, and my wife is convinced I have some kind of addiction to screens. That’s just silly. Also true. So I went to Walmart, where I picked up some deeply discounted Vtech cars and a playset for my kids, some fleece pajama bottoms and a hooded sleeper for the wife, a jacket for myself (I’d forgotten to bring one and it was 40 degrees out) and not a single television. Oh I stood in line for one, but I was too far back. I also put one in the cart, but put it back. Okay I did that three times. From there I hit Toys’R’Us, where LEGO Galaxy Force sets were 50 percent off. I’d been eyeing these but wasn’t invested in the theme enough to spend full price. They only had one left, so I picked that up, and some sort of Elmo thing for the kids. Then I went to Target, where I walked up and down the aisle with the televisions in it a dozen times. There rummy noble was a 46 inch Westinghouse LED for $23o. Why could it not be mine? Because I have a 46 inch Westinghouse LCD hanging on my office wall? That’s no excuse. With first the Westinghouse and then several other television sets of varying brands and sizes in my cart I shopped. The Nerf gun I wanted was sold out. The rummy satta LEGO sets I wanted were sold out. I wound up buying chocolate covered Lay’s potato chips and a $15 artificial tree. After dropping off the televisions in the television aisle, I checked out and went home. Once home, I boughta TV from Amazon. Just something small for the bedroom. And since I had come home before purchasing it, IT DID NOT COUNT SO THERE, EMILY. I survived Black Friday without buying a television, technically. How did you folks fare?