Obi Fight 2007!!

Went to Texuba again today. Texuba is a rare opportunity to buy kimono and obi at discounted prices. As taiko players, we wear obi as part of our costume, but they're really hard to find. You don't just go to Macy's and pick one out. You can't really make them. Anyhow, this time the Texuba orginizers swore they were about to go into retirement and that this would be the last time (again) that they would be holding this event. Ok, whatever. I don't know if you remember the last time I attended Texuba. I was green and inexperienced that time. But this time I knew exactly what to expect.

First off, you bring a friend. They're your back-up, your wingman, your right hand man (literally--you bring them to grab stuff for you). I brought Kris again this year because she has experience already and also because she's small, quick and nimble. Secondly, you get there early. Last time I was 5 or 10 minutes late and it was like showing up for an after-Christmas sale on MLK weekend--there's nothing left. Anyhow. We were there half an hour early and even that felt late. The first 20 people got some free gift, but there must have been 50 people there already. Thirdly, you go in there with a game plan. The night before I showed Kris some of the types of obi I was looking for and told her the colors we were looking for. Janet, who was originally going to be my wingman (or was it the other way around?), had to back out at the last moment but asked for black obi, so we added that to our wish list. I wanted green.

The competition: cut-throat resellers and pushy, elbowy crafter/artists.

When they opened the doors, we knew exactly what to do. I grabbed an empty laundry basket and went left and Kris went right. Then you go through the racks like the worst kind of crazy, rabid bargain shopper and start rifling through and just grabbing anything that looks remotely interesting. Every once in a while my basket would suddenly get heavier and I knew that it was Kris dropping a load of stuff in it. She's good. But man oh man do I hate shopping like that. You just have to go in with a sense of humor and know that the polite rules of society don't quite apply until you've signed the credit card receipt and take your nicely stapled bag full of goodies out the door. When I bumped into people I said sorry, but certainly didn't expect any sorry's coming back in my direction when I got pummeled. No harm no foul. After you grab everything that looks interesting, you sort through what you want and don't. We walked out of there with 10 beautiful obi:

Those two grayish looking ones on the bottom are actually green, so I'm happy. I don't think I want to do that again anytime soon though. Enough obi for now. And boy, are my elbows sore.