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Cherry Blossom Festival
Location: San Francisco Japan Town, California

Saturday: Arrived to San Jose in some light drizzle/rain at 5, after picking up my checked in baggage. Rob was nice enough to pick me up and when we went to his apartment to drop off my bags. We chilled at the apartment for a little bit playing SF Anniversary collection and Megaman on the PS2. Then Rob had to go to mass and abandoned me from 7-10 PM at this little strip mall with a Borders, EB, and Starbucks. It took so long that my DS ran out of batteries. So in the meantime I harassed moo on the phone and AIM. I also read about kittens and how to breathe properly. Finally after walking around the streets of San Jose for a little bit, Rob picked me up again and we went looking for a place for dinner. All the bars had full parking and didn't look particularly safe, and the regular restaurants long closed at that hour. Therefore, we went to McDonalds. I ordered a 20 piece chicken nuggets while he ordered a chicken snacker, fries and a sandwich. Then off to the Capcom USA building for a mini tournament. Rob schooled me in the first two rounds of SFA2, but I started sweeping the rest. Rob noted SFA2 to be a draw. We then went to Champion Edition SF2. Tiffy called while I was playing him and that was total ownage by me. Even without having to use cheapness M. Bison, my Dhalsim took out each one of his challengers. Then off to SF3. Rob easily won first match with Hugo, but as I re-adjusted, there was hardly any chance at a come back. Same for MVC2. Rob took two straight games with his Zangief, IronMan and Juggernaut. Then Rob foolishly asked me to use my Sentinel and it was all over after that. Sentinel Iceman Cable for the cheapness win! And to round out the day Rob worked me at Puzzle Fighter because I totally forgot how to play that game ha ha. Went back to the apartment and ZZZZ on Rob's really squishy couch.

Sunday: Woke up with sore shoulders and my heart dropped. Peeked outside and it was raining. The performance today is an outside performance and so any rain will reduce crowds and if bad enough, rain out the performance. Woke up at 7 AM and Rob drove me over to Stella's place. Rob got lost on the way there and we ended up having to call Stella for her to come out. I brought all my bags with me so we wouldn't have to hit Rob's house on the way back. It was drizzling at Stellas, but when we went to the Fremont BART station it was raining. $3.00 fare to get to Castro Valley. On the BART ride there....RAIN. Lots of it. Stella and I had fun chatting even though she was running on one hour of sleep. We also had two bags each. In Castro Valley, RAIN. But the lovely Kim and Mich were there to pick us up in their SUV and take us into downtown SF. Still. RAIN. Lots of it. I snuck a little something into Kim's bag. Stella was laughing the whole time when I was fiddling around their bags. Rain rain rain up until we came into the city at about 10:30 and it was amazingly dry. We parked under the Miyako and headed up. Ami, Annie and Kimi were already waiting and I think getting ready with some make up. I located our contact and acquired our rehearsal/dressing room, Spring Room 2. It was quite roomy and all we had to do was close the curtains. There was even a second atrium into a kitchen that could be used for a second rehearsal room. We spent that time prior to the performance getting ready, and rehearsing, and nursing poor sick Annie. Ami and Mas left to get Angela from after mass. Easter does tend to be an inconvenient time to hold a performance. We neglected to do our potential sound check and that was a good call because the dance group in front of us at 2 PM ended up using all their time. So we all arrived at 2:20 and the winds were blowing but the sun was actually shining at times. There was still cloud cover all over but for our performance at 2:30 PM, the sun shined down on us. We performed under a large tent on a 40' x 30' nice solid stage. The AV crew were awesome and when one of the Shure mics went out, they had batteries on hand to get it back online again. The performance went off without a hitch and we got a good crowd. Afterwards everyone needed to disperse to get on airline flights or work or school. Angela, Tiffy and Kimi went up to the Miyako gardens for a little bit for pictures but then the rain started hitting. We were incredibly lucky to get our performance in before it did. And it rained for the rest of the day. Lydia, Mich, Kim, Mas, Ami, Annie & Kimi all had to leave but Tiffy, Stella, & Angela, stayed and we had a dinner with DJ Murai from Japan, Kiyoshi, Moo at a Japanese restaurant. Afterwards we did some shopping and Rob showed up. At about 6:30, Rob, Stella and I departed. Rob first dropped Stella off at the Fremont station which delayed me getting to the airport, and I cut it close but still made it for my 9:02 flight back home. It was still raining hard in San Jose. All in all, very positive experience because of the small window of no rain during our performance.