Running in circles

So long story short, I ended up buying Persona 3, which will officially mark my first dive into the Shin Megami Tensei world. After all the nice reviews and different method of leveling up (Ironically, you need to be social and get along with your friends in-game to do so), I've decided to pick it up.

Oh, and you get a free artbook and soundtrack as well for the same price as the regular game. Lucky! (^____^)V

....

Ahem, anyways...the long story of it was that I originally found a good deal at my favorite deal-finding site to go to some apparently-popular-in-another-part-of-the-Americas entertainment store, so I bit and waited. And waited. And waited. During the waiting, I perused the forums of the original post of the good deal at said deal-finding site, only to find that some people were getting battered copies of their game in the mail - most of the time in bubble-insulated envelopes, while a couple of occasions in just plain envelopes. Knowing that this fate may soon tear my yet-to-be-delivered game a new one, I opted to cancel my order and just buy the game at the local we-make-money-off-sloppy-seconds game store.

Of course, this transaction had to be done at least a week after the game's release date, since the employees there are taught to tell you that it's silly to buy a game on the release date if you didn't have the premonition of yourself actually going to the store and showing interest in buying the game so that you can place your pre-order in advance to ensure that the premonition came true. Oh, and it doesn't help that they coincidently have "just enough" copies for pre-orders only. I sense a connection between the two...

All in all, throughout my entire ordeal, I went from potentially saving a decent amount and getting the game on time to becoming a 2-week, online-cancelling, internet-searching, B&M-buying ordeal. Like running on the track to get from point A to point B, except that both A and B is the starting line; I end up in the same place, but now I'm exhausted.