Agh. For three days, I have tried to obtain one, simple copy of the Gameboy Advance game It's Mr. Pants. For three days, I have struggled more than any mortal man has struggled, and experienced more than any mortal man may claim to have experienced. I am victorious.

Day 1:

We embark to the foreign land of Canada, and hope to communicate with the strange beings that inhabit it. We start out getting the usual supplies we get from Canada(meaning Alpine Gum, those Vitamin C things you just can't find in the US, and some chocolate). Then, we piece together that there is a mall somewhere in the town by communicating with the locals there. After arriving at the mall, we realise that it's almost closing time. Our troop rushed into Zellers, and scoured the store for the treasure we seek, but to no avail. We ask the clerk, who speaks an unknown language(we presume it was French-Canadian), and only understood enough English to tell us that she had never heard of such a game. We travel throughout the mall, and find an electronics store at last! But alas; the Canadians had closed it up until the next morning. We briefly searched the city for a gaming store, and stop at one that looks promising. But they didn't carry Gameboy Advance games. We started our departure, and were ready to go home empty-handed and broken-hearted, but I spotted another gaming store! We went in, interrogated the clerk, and she pulled up an image of the game on her "computer". Joy! I though, At last we are at an end of our expedition! She said, "Is this the game you're looking for?" I eagerly nodded my head. "Sorry, we don't have it." And alas, we could do no more that day.

Day 2:

This time, we went at it from a different approach. I looked up the number of the nearest Canadian Wal-Mart, and quickly disconnected from the internet(my grandparents haven't heard of cable modems). As they and my companions(siblings) went out into the snow, I dialed up the number. Someone answered in French. "Do you speak any English?" I asked, hoping that this call would put an end to my quest once and for all. "Err... A little bit," the woman replied. Too excited to care, I quickly half-asked half-yelled "Do you carry the Gameboy Advance game It's Mr. Pants!?" "What?" I repeated my demand slowly. "Let me transfer you to electronics". I waited a couple seconds, and was answered in French. "Do you speak any English?" I asked again. Same answer as last time. "Do you carry the game It's Mr. Pants for Gameboy Advance?" "What?" "It's Mr. Pants, for Gameboy." "Pants?" "Yeah." "Please hang on." And then I was put on hold. This wouldn't have been bad, but I assume that they assume that all Americans are fat, and listen to country music, and thus concluded that I would like nothing more than to sit on hold listening to country music. But I sat, knowing I would soon be rewarded, or so I thought. I was on hold, for at least 17 MINUTES, listening to COUNTRY MUSIC. When he FINALLY picked up, his answer was simple, "Nope." And then he hung up. Damn Canadians...

Day 3(well, Day 2 only around 9 PM):

I got my grandfather(who has a credit card) to try my last hope; eBay. I did a simple search, came up with nothing. I tried again, and got the results I had hoped for. I checked out some of the cheaper ones(auctions, not the stores), and one was for $9.99. I jumped on it, but it turns out that A, it was from Thailand, and B, it said "May not come with box or manual", meaning Asian bootleg copy. So, I did the store thing. My grandparents needed a birthday present for me(March 11th, so they were in a hurry), and my grandfather was happy to fork up the 20 bucks required, plus around ten for shipping. After much failed attempts at guessing the password, we did the email form where it emails you the password, and then makes you guess things for the sake of torturing you. We got the questions right(thank god; it wasn't so simple for the next thing), and logged in. We set the appropriate information, called up my dad to find out his address(he has a new apartment, so I didn't know it offhand), and set it up to ship there. Next, we had to log into PayPal. Uh oh. Again, we couldn't remember or guess the password, and so we did the form. The questions got harder for Round 2 of eBay's quiz show from Hell, and we tried desperately to guess/spell correctly the answers of the two questions. No luck. Then, after a few more failed attempts, we got a sinister message, and the stakes were raised: "You have two more attempts left, or you will have to fax PayPal customer service. Hahahahahaha!". Uh oh. Obviously, we had no idea what the answers were, but tried anyway. "You have ONE more attempts left, or you will have to fax PayPal customer service. Hahahahahaha!" We tried again, failed again, and were screwed. But my grandfather's determination(and partly to spite my grandmother, who wanted to use the phone) proved to be worthy of Mr. Pants, and he went and set up a new PayPal account. Victory! After much hassling with the email(first one we tried was used by his other account, second one was invalid, and the third one FINALLY worked), and changing some incorrect address information, we completed the stupid thing and went to bed.

Day 3(really this time):

Finally, everything seems to be going according to the bloody plan, and I'm back with cable internet at my Dad's. All I have to do now is wait for it to arrive. Nothing else can possibly go wrong now... can it?