It's here at long last. After what seemed like an excruciating wait for the past 6 weeks, the Wii is here. Not only is it here, it is now in my possession. I was afraid I wouldn't get one at all. Reports on the internet were grossly inaccurate regarding the number of units shipped which got my hopes up about buying a Wii on launch day. I began my search in Hattiesburg after the Cowboy Mouth show. Knowing that Wal-Mart would start selling at midnight, I went by at 1 am thinking there would be a chance. But, Wal-Mart only got 12 unlike the 53 that were reported on the Internet. We got home at 4 AM and finally went to sleep around 4:30. I made sure to set my alarm for 7:30 so I could try Target. Honestly, I didn't expect to get one at Target since the night before we saw several people camping out. I got there right at 8 as the line was going in. I finally found an employee who confirmed all 24 tickets had been giving out.

I decided to drive down to K-Mart on the south end of town thinking no one would think to go to K-Mart. I didn't think they would open until 9 and when I arrived, there were very few cars in the parking lot. Wow, I might actually luck out. As I exited my car, a few people were leaving the store. I found out they opened at 8 as well but there was no one there. This really would be my lucky day. When I got to the electronics department there were only a couple of people there. They were quick to dash my hopes and shatter my dreams. K-Mart only received 3 units. There were more than 3 people there so they had a raffle. The guy leading the line didn't even get one. That is so completely unfair. I hung around to talk to the sales associate to see when they would receive more. They didn't even know they were getting that shipment, so it was anyone's guess when more would arrive.

I left there disappointed. I knew there was no chance Wal-Mart had any left. I knew Gamestop was a strikeout as well. However, I did hear that Circuit City had 18. When we drove by the night before, there were only 6 or 7 people camped out and when I drove by at 8 AM, people were putting up their gear, so I figured I had a chance. As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a few people gathered outside Toys R Us next door where there had been none at 8 AM. Rather than going to Circuit City where I could see no one, I stepped up to the crowd and was greeted with "We're putting people's names on a list. You would be number 5" by a young and geeky (but cute geeky) college girl. "How many do they have?" I asked. "Nine," she said. "My name's Jason Smith."

Here it was 8:30 AM and Toys R Us didn't open until 11. Erika knew I was going out, but she wasn't awake when I left and I was supposed to bring home orange rolls for breakfast after getting my Wii. Honestly, I was expecting to grab one quickly and be back before 9 after everything I had read and heard about there being plenty of units available. I kindly asked if anyone minded if I ran home for a minute so I could take the orange rolls (which I hadn't bought yet) and let Erika know what was going on. They didn't mind and held my spot in line while I did what I needed to do. When I came back I began the 2 hour wait. I started by playing Mario Kart DS with a group of guys. I really sucked, but it was fun and passed the time. Eventually it got too cold to play with our fingers all curled up from playing, so I spent the rest of the wait talking to the geeky girl's boyfriend. He was in band and we chatted about the differences between now and when I was in band.

The geeky girl clearly wasn't thinking when she rolled out of bed that morning. She was wearing very thin cotton capris and flip flops along with her North Face jacket (which covered up a pink tank top and a thin Victoria's Secret hoodie she admitted later). Within the first 30 minutes I was there, she had a thin bath towel around her waist and her feet in her purse. I'm not entirely sure how she avoided frostbite. I guess it wasn't as cold as it felt.

At 10:30, we all lined up to await our tickets which were to be given out at 10:45. One of the managers came out and told us what was going on which was very nice of him. At 10:45, they cleared out the foyer into the store so that we could at least take shelter from the cold. The minutes ticked away as we got our tickets and were finally allowed into the store to shop. The entire processional made their way back to the Wii area of the store to browse the accessories and games.

By 11:20, I had my Wii in hand and was on my way home. I was so giggly and excited I could hardly contain myself. Unfortunately, real life took over when I got home and I spent most of my day taking care of other obligations such as cleaning and paying bills. I haven't gotten a chance to enjoy it as much as I want to, but I've had fun with what I've played so far.

Wii Sports is frustrating at times due to the sensitivity of the controller. It's very hard not to try to react as if you are actually playing the sport. I still get carried away playing baseball wanting to swing the remote as hard as I can to hit the ball even though it only requires a simple wrist flick. Excite Truck is the most difficult thus far. Again sensitivity is an issue as the smallest moves with the remote turns into exaggerated moves on the screen. The controls are so simplistic and natural, but it's very hard to reprogram your brain to move the controller after spending 25 years mashing buttons.

Was it worth standing in the cold for 2 hours? Definitely! Would I do it again? Yeah, but I'd stand in line a lot longer. Call me crazy.