News from the nerd front lines!

So on Saturday I did what all self-respecting nerds do when the need poses itself -- I lined up (or "queued" as the British say) for advance starwars tickets outside of the Del Oro. I only showed up 15 minutes before tickets went on sale so I was near the back. I thought I'd share a few observations.

1. One thing that stuck me as strange was the air of superiority that those in the back of the line held to those in the front of the line. The conversations were as such:
   
   "Did you hear that the guys in the front got here at five AM?"
   
   "Dude, no way!"
   
   "Way."
   
   "Dude, I'm sorry, but that's just too much. I mean, common."
   
   "I know!"
   
   At this point I felt like reminding my fellow back-of-the-liners that, no matter what time we got here we were still in line for a movie that doesn't come out for two weeks!. I think that when we got up on a cold Saturday morning to stand in line for Starwars tickets we forfeited our right to insult those that got here earlier than us. We're all this together, folks -- just embrace the situation.


2. Waiting for Starwars tickets is like standing in a police lineup for nerds. Del Oro's central downtown location and the way that lines must form down the narrow sidewalk -- you end up shoulder-to-shoulder, pressed up against the brick wall, while all of Grass Valley slowly drives by.
   
   Those that didn't give us "you freaks" looks, shouted questions at us: "What movie are you line for?"
   
   "Starwars," we mumbled.
   
   "Ha! Ha!" they'd laugh as if that was what they suspected. Then they just had to ask, "Is that out yet?"
   
   "No. Not for two weeks. We're just in line for tickets."
   
   Then it was their turn at the stop sign and the next would pull up to inspect us.
   
   After the millionth of that very question I felt like answering, "Herbie! We're all in line for Herbie: Fully Loaded!" But in the end I couldn't generate the indignation or the spunk.
   


3. At one point some guy came around the corner and yelled, "The movie's been canceled!" Was it the Antichrist making an appearance in Grass Valley? Maybe not but I see a dark future for that man.
   


4. I felt the most sorry for the two guys in the very front of the line (the infamous 5:00 AM-ers). I passed them on my way to the back: two friends in their late twenties, sitting in lawn chairs. Not what you'd suspect to find at the front of that sort of line: Ruddy, healthy-cheeked, construction-worker, youth-pastorish fellows. Directly behind them was the usual suspects, a hoard of pale, magic-playing, pierced, gothic, costumed teens. But they had beat that group!
   
   The expression on the two front-liners faces was the really sad part. They wore a look of resignation and perhaps sadness. Perhaps the same expression that is present at an addiction recovery meeting? "Drive on, walk past," it seemed to say. "We can't help who we are and what we love. Just leave us in our shame..."
   
   The Starwars line is not a pretty place. Only the strong of heart should try and endure it.
   

Next up, the line for the actual movie!