Right. So there we were, Fall of ‘03. The lines! Man, I tell you, I could tell you about the line, but you weren’t there; you had to have been there to really know. The place was crawling. Laptops everywhere.

They had us line up. There we were, hungry, tired and afraid, waiting for 8pm, when we’d rush in those doors, into God-knows-what. And we did, we charged; almost trampled a poor slob sitting on the floor checking his e-mail. Get in, get out. That was the plan.

All I can say is I’m lucky to be here, writing this. I don’t know what happened to the Joe in front of me; I lost him in the rush. I hope to God he got his copy of Panther, and got it installed, but it was every nerd for himself.

As for me, I made it out, though I don’t know how much of me is left. Those glowing Apples still haunt my sleep, probably always will. But I made it out — I’ve got my dog tags to prove it.

10.3. Never forget.