Friends and long-term readers know I'm a video gamer and that I love, love, LOVE the Final Fantasy series (thanks, Bo!) Still, even though Alan says, "Sweetheart, you can get one if you want," nearly every time we're in Best Buy, I had held off purchasing a PS3. I thought I'd wait until my PS2 died or Final Fantasy XIII came out, whichever happened first, and that perhaps there would be a price drop and/or console improvements in the meantime. FFXIII came out last Tuesday and still, I held out for four WHOLE days. Saturday morning I woke up thinking that perhaps I might feel up to parting with some ducats and that it might be a good weekend to spend doing some serious gaming, Final Fantasy style. Much to my surprise, there is some kind of nationwide shortage of PS3s which somehow passed underneath my radar.

*in a Gir voice* I had no idea!

I thought all along that when I was ready for the purchase, Best Buy would have a stack of PS3s waiting for me to choose. I was very disappointed. I spent much of Saturday afternoon surfing the internet trying to find one somewhere - anywhere. I even looked at Best Buy inventory in South Carolina, Texas, Nevada, fully prepared to beg and bribe faraway friends for help. No joy. I'm being punished for trying to be fiscally responsible instead of queuing up for one on release day.

I am now on the lookout for any PS3 owners in my area who, for a case of beer or a bottle of wine, will let me come to their house and play FFXIII for a couple of hours. Alan prevented me from posting this to Craigslist, on the basis that it would attract too many underage boys. I was all, "Who cares how old they are? I don't want to take them out gambling, I just want to use them for their PS3!"

Alan said, "I can't allow it. It isn't safe; too many gamer guys have never seen a girl whose last name isn't .JPG."