(November 21, 2006) — If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past seven or eight years, chances are you know what a Playstation is. And chances are high you probably know that the new Playstation 3 or, PS3, was released just about four days ago. And if you knew that, chances are you heard about the madness that ensued in 40-60 hour lines this past week with gamers vying to get the new system. Well, I was there and I offer to you this humble memoir of my adventure. I live in Glendale, and the closest big city with big electronics retailers is Burbank; however, Burbank is crowded—so I decided to go to the Target in Panorama city. That’s the same Panorama City that’s home to triple homicides and a slew of gang activity; but for the PS3, that’s a small price to pay. So Target, Panorama City—I get there at about 6 p.m. Nov. 15, two days before the system is released. It’s cold, and I’m ready to sacrifice when disaster hits. About 30 minutes in, a security guard asks me to leave. Yeah right, I wouldn’t leave for anything. So I leave temporarily to get something to eat. Right next to the Target is Peter Piper’s Pizza. I order and wait patiently. I go outside to kill time when the manager of the establishment is leaving. He catches my brother sitting next to me who is smoking and begins to give a lecture—little did I know the advice he’d give us would be some of the most profound advice I’d ever receive from a stranger. He told us about a girl he once knew who told him to smoke, because it would make him more attractive. He, being naive and young, did it, and he had an allergic reaction. He was unable to see her for three days and by the time he did, she had forgotten him. There was his anti-smoking lesson. He told us something else, however; at the time all he wanted was that girl, but in retrospect he justified his loss by saying, “A man will let it go…” and as he was walking away into the dark parking lot he turned his head and finished by saying, “…and a dog will take it.” How shocking, a great piece of advice from a complete stranger. That was that. I ate with my brother and returned to the line. We were gone a little less than an hour and already we were third in line. The first night went fairly fast. We sat in beach chairs, wrapped in blankets socializing with those waiting in line. It was all good until the line, now with around 20 people—fell fast asleep. The cold was unbearable. I was seriously freezing. I didn’t sleep. The next day, people were beginning to get extremely restless because no one knew how many units the store was getting. That’s when John Pierre came out, the district manager. He was extremely helpful and gave us a number 12. There were 16 in line at that point and you’d figure those extra four would leave the line seeing as there weren’t units for them; however they didn’t. That night went faster. My friend visited the line with a portable generator, TV and Playstation 2. The game play went late into the night. That night I got sleep, though, in my car with the heater on at maximum blast. My toes were thawed and my energy was restored. That morning would prove to be the craziest of them all. Before the launch, JP came to hand out vouchers which would guarantee us a sale of the system; he had 12. There were still 16 people waiting. The four extra people were mad. They had waited around 30 hours for nothing and as the store opened to let the ones with vouchers inside they followed us in like vultures waiting for a credit card to be denied or a check to be bounced. It was to no avail, however. n other parts of the country, some PS3 fans waiting in line were assaulted, others shot—for what? The sake of a game. Though I got my Playstation 3 that morning, the pizza manager’s words stuck with me. “A man will let it go, but a dog will take it.” Perhaps it’s sometimes better to be patient with certain things.