Gods Garden 2

This weekend I headed out after work as usual on Friday night. Tonight we would be celebrating Emmet's birthday (which would actually be on Monday). Since it was his birthday party everyone was just gonna meet up at an izakaya right when we got to Tokyo, meaning there would be no time for casuals tonight. As a result, I started drinking with Emmet on the train at 5 pm right away.

We drank the whole way to Tokyo and then we got to Shibuya where we met up with Andy, Sam, Emmet's girlfriend Hiromi, and her friend. The 6 of us went to a Wara Wara izakaya and drank and talked for a good like... 3 or so hours. I probably slammed like 6 or 7 beers within that time and we ate lots of good food and stuff.

After that, Sam, and also Hiromi's friend both went home, so the remaining 4 of us went to Current. On the way to Current, in front of the West exit of Shinjuku station, we saw a fight break out. There was this old dude, a young dude, and another young dude in between them trying to break them up. They kept yelling shit at each other and taking a few swings here and there at eachother over the other guy who was in the middle of them. Eventually the young guy got a good head-butt in and also a few good blows to the face and the old guy was knocked down to the ground by a bike rack and his face was bleeding pretty bad. Then the other young guy was really trying to hold the dude back so Emmet sorta tried to stop them and eventually it seems it was over. That was like the first all out fight I ever saw in Japan which is pretty surprising. I have no idea what they were fighting about. No cops were around and lots of people stared but lots of people also just kept walking. After that we finished walking to Current.

Current was cool cuz Sawa and Chip were there, and so were some girls I know from Kansai, one of which is the bassist of Amorphis's girlfriend, and the bassist of Amorphis was there too. We sat with all them and talked for most of the night. Ryan (Letbloodrun) was there too in addition to several other regulars. It was a fun time at Current with nothing too extremely noteworthy. Emmet and Hiromi left sorta early to go to the love hotel.

Andy, myself, and a few other people went to PSY where we drank till like 6:30. The next day was Natsume's birthday party and I told them I was going to show up. I didn't... but we will get to that later...

So anyway we drank till like 6:30 am... and keep in mind that I started drinking at 5 pm... so thats like 13 and a half hours of drinking... Probably not the most healthy thing I could be doing, but aside from being tired I felt fine when I went to sleep at the manga kissa.

I woke up 6 hours later to my alarm going off and I didnt wanna get up at all, so I slept an extra hour. After the next alarm went off, I was feeling really strange. I dunno how to really describe it but just really restless and out of it and my stomach felt really bad and my head felt funny too. I forced myself to get up because I was already over time on the manga kissa charge and once you go over the time you reserved when you showed up, the extra time is like 50 yen for 10 minutes which is pretty expensive. So I got up, walked to the counter, and pulled out he cash to pay for my stay. Next thing I know I sorta blacked out and I came back to consciousness a few seconds later in the little hallway the leads to the exit and had tripped and knocked over a plant. Appearently I just simply passed out for a second. Sorta like that feeling when not enough oxygen is getting to your brain. I was confused and disoriented as hell. The clerk and some other random costumer dude were staring at me and I just said, sorry I dont feel very good, and just grabbed my backpack and headed to the bathroom and sat on the toilet. I sat there for like 20 minutes trying to regain my composure. The clerk dude knocked on the door like 3 times asking if I was ok and needed an ambulance. I said I was fine and just needed to sit for a bit. Eventually I felt more or less normal again so I got up and headed out. I left my wallet and my coat out there without even realizing it but the guy was nice so there was no problem. I told him I probably just drank too much last night and apologized for causing him trouble.

I checked my temperature and I didnt have a fever so I figured whatever it was had blown over. So, I met up with Sam, and his 2 friends Nick and Ken. Nick and Ken are Americans living in Japan who play SFIV. I saw them last weekend when I went to Taito Station. We met in front of Shinjuku Station East exit, and after a bit walking around, we found Loft +1, the venue where Gods Garden 2 would be taking place.

We waited in line for quite a while to get in. I could hear some pretty hardcore shouting going on above us (the event was in the basement and we were waiting on the stairs). Apparently some dude was pissed and yelling at some staff member cuz they wouldn't let him in cuz there was an issue with his ticket. It went on for like 10 minutes hah.

Eventually we got in and we were some of the first ones there too. The setup was nice. I unfortunately didn't get to take any pictures because my camera battery died, but here are the official pictures the staff took. I am in a few of them. http://web.me.com/tohoho/GODSGARDEN2/

Just to summarize for those who dont know, the event was divided into 3 tournaments. One was the Ladies/beginners tournament, one was the console character only tournament, and the other was the main last chance qualifier to get a spot to participate in the main tournament in which most of the competitors were already decided. I signed up for all 3, cuz... why not? I entered with Blanka (and Cammy for the console only tournament).

While we were waiting for things to get started I was just feeling gradually worse and worse again. I felt like I couldnt stand for too long or I started feeling sick, so I just sat down a lot. I also kept burping up this gross taste so eventually I just decided maybe I would feel better if I made myself throw up. So I went into the bathroom and did just that, and I threw up quite a bit. I felt much better after I did that though, so it was a good call. After that, I headed back in the event area.

The whole event was on console and they had about maybe 16 setups total which is pretty nice. Some were for casuals most of the day while others were for tournament only. I met a few other SRK guys who I have seen post before but never actually met such as Bull410, Reno, Abelity, Kim1234, Chritorisu, and a few others. Also, much to my surprise, MIU was on staff at the event and he seemed pretty shocked to see me there as well lol. I said hi to him and chatted a bit. I said hi to Nemo too, since it had been a while since I had seen him. I havn't seen him play Guilty Gear since SBO ended. I also saw AdverseSolutions who I hadn't seen in a long time. Also, out of nowhere, Tokido came up to me and said hi, saying he remembered me from several years at EVO. It was cool talking with him too... nice guy. Everyone seemed pretty cool. I got a game of casuals in vs Bull410's Goken and won, then played Abelity's Abel and won, and then I fought Reno's Honda and it was pretty close down to the last round and the power went out and we couldnt finish our match lol. Oh well.

The first tournament was the ladies/beginners tournament. It was 2/3 single elim. When it started, I was playing Chritorisu's Claw for like 2 matches in casuals while I was waiting, and he beat me both of them. Then they called my first match of the tournament, and it ended up being against Chritorisu lol! So we went right off the casuals machine in the middle of fighting each other and had to play each other in the tournament. I dont remember too many specific details about the match but I think he won the first game, I wont he 2nd game, and it went down to the very last game, very last round and I won. I honestly thought he had me but I managed to squeeze out a win.

Next up I had to play a Japanese Gief player who's name I don't remember. This one was also close but I managed to win, taking this one also to the very last round. Blanka should dominate that matchup but I still struggled, probably because the guy is just a better SF player than me or something.

After winning this match, they told me I had already made top 4! The other 3 people to make top 4 were Reno, Sam, and Abelity. I was expecting Choco to get top 4 but I guess she got taken out by Abelity. Funny how the only ones to make top 4 in the ladies tournament were gaijin males, lol. They said top 4 wouldnt start till 6 so we had a little time. I was gradually starting to feel worse again and had absolutely no appetite. I still hadn't eaten all day. I just struggled to keep it together and tried to have fun anyway. I checked my temperature and I now had a fever of about 37.8 c (or 100 f). I thought about going home but wanted to at least finish playing the beginners tourney since I made top 4.

Eventually they started the main tournament last chance qual. This one was one match, round robin pool style. My first match was vs a Boxer player and he beat me 2 rounds straight. I hate Blanka vs Boxer matchup. The guy was good though.

After that match was over I sat down for a bit almost falling asleep and then they called my name over the mic to play my next match over the live stream... vs Itabashi Zangief! LOL... man I felt like shit and knew I was gonna get rocked, and quite frankly, I did! I got about maybe half his life off at best on the first round and then he got in fast and perfected me the 2nd round. I was sorta too fucked up to care. I shook his and, went to go sit down again, and then they call me back right away to fight a female Viper player named Kayo Police again on the live stream. Fortunately this time I won, both rounds straight. I shook her hand and they took a bunch of photos and then I went back to sit down.

After more waiting, they called my next match vs a Sagat player who beat me, and then my final match of the pool was vs a Honda player who I managed to squeeze a win out of. So for my pool, my record was 2 wins, 3 loses, which I guess isn't that bad.

After that was over and they announced the pool winners (I dont remember them all but Itabashi Zangief dominated my whole pool). I wanted to watch more Mizoteru Blanka action, espessially since I missed him beating Nemo, but whenever he was playing I was busy playing my matches or something. He won his pool though. Im sure detailed results are already posted somewhere else anyway so theres no reason for me to get too into details here.

Anyway, I went out to the AM/PM with Sam to get food, and tried to eat a sandwich but couldn't even finish it all cuz I had like no appetite. I just drank lots of water and sports drink. We sat outside a bit and then we had to go inside to finish up the finals of the beginners tournament. First match was Reno vs Sam. Someone told me I was supposed to fight Reno so I was sorta surprised. Anyway, it was a good match but Reno took the win. Up next was me vs Abelity. When they called me up they mentioned how I was like sort of a well known Guilty Gear player or something. I was feeling like shit but I tried anyway. I don't think I played terrible (at least by my own usual standards, since I don't consider myself good at SFIV) but my biggest problem was that I wasn't mixing things up enough. I kept doing the same block string patterns and mixups, and I completely just forgot about doing jab into piano electricity like the entire match. I dunno how much it would have mattered but Abelity played really well and I took a round each match but he beat me in the end 2-0. After that, it was Reno vs Abelity for the finals and Reno took the win. His prize was a brand new Super Street Fighter IV arcade stick. So I ended up tying for 3rd with Sam since they didn't have a tie breaker. And just to note, I am not trying to use me being sick as an excuse for losing, I am just telling it like it is. Abelity deserved his win against me for sure.

As soon as it ended I figured it would be best to start heading home since I had a 3 hour train ride ahead of me to get back to Gunma. I said bye to everyone I knew and thanked the staff and told them how I had a fever and was sick so I would have to withdraw from the console only tournament. I really would have loved to stay and watch the finals and everything and chill some more with everyone but I had to get home and get some rest. Theres no way I would have made it through the rest of the night there anyway.

I stumbled to the station and passed out the entire way home, and then slept for like 12 hours.

I spent the rest of Sunday with Ryoko watching X-files on DVD and started to feel a little better but still not 100%.

At the time of writing this its now Monday and I slept like 11 hours last night. I got up and went to work today and my fever is gone now and I seem to be more or less back to normal. Not really sure what the problem was but I guess I should try not to drink for 13 and a half hours next time.

I'll be back in Tokyo next weekend for Bosch's Birthday party at Current, AC/DC live concert at the Saitama Super arena, and of course, more Guilty Gear (and maybe SFIV) casuals! See you next time!