Trip to San Jose: Silicon Valley Pride

Though it’s been almost two weeks, my last post Emotion-Related Muscle Tension felt more important to post. This is more a fun post than what I’ve been publishing lately.

Anthony and I just before hitting the parade.

Anyway, I was invited by @actuallyanthony to attend Silicon Valley Pride in San Jose, CA for the event Cosplay Attends Pride—a group of dedicated cosplayers who marched in the parade and walked around the festival grounds to make the festival more … festive. Anyway, I also found out that Steve Grand would be performing.

Me as Derek Hale

Though it took me a couple days to decide, I made plans to go. I told my social worker about pride, and he thought it would be a good idea for me to go outside my comfort zone. Hell, going to a city I’d been to once before for a convention (where we barely stepped outside the hotel) and knowing absolutely no one. But, it meant I got to meet Anthony, as we’d been following each other for years on Twitter and Facebook, and that I could see Steve Grand perform again.

Sunset on I-5

I drove up I-5 after working all day (yes, I have a history of making some pretty poor decisions, but the festival/parade was on a Sunday, so I didn’t have too much choice). The drive was pretty brutal, but I made it in about 5.5 hours, which isn’t too bad.  No traffic out of town, and none getting into San Jose. I checked into my hotel and basically threw everything around the room (hot mess!) and showered before passing out. Early mornings are not my thing and the parade call time was supposed to be 8 am.

New friend Alice and I near the end of the event.

Well, that call time did not happen. I could have totally slept in until about 9 am. We didn’t get to the parade staging area until about 10/10:15. Oh well, I still had fun, even if my feet and back were murdering me by the end of the day. It took me about 3-4 days afterward to recover (#yoldie). Anyway, the event was a lot of fun and a meet some really cool people. Including Alice, pictured to the right. Pride events are not all that fun without friends, at least for me. So making new friends with Alice, Anthony, and Martin, I got to experience one of the most fun prides I’ve been to in years (sorry Karina! PDX pride wasn’t that exciting, even with the great company of you and Matthew!)

Photos on left: Black Widow and Thor, Black Widow with Derek Hale, Garnet.

I took plenty of pictures included. The cosplayers were super great—I felt a little out of place with mine, but I still had fun. Not too many Teen Wolf fans maybe … lol.

Anyway, it was a bit warm out that day and there was a lot going on. I made sure to walk around the festival out of costume (aka out of my leather jacket) to experience everything. By the time Steve Grand was set to take the stage, I was ready for dinner and a nap. But not to worry! I watched the show (though it was a little loud and I probably have hearing damage, oh well #yoldie). It was fantastic. I had only seen Steve Grand perform acoustically before when he came to LA. It was awesome to hear the band with him as well. Super high energy. He met people on the side of the stage afterward and remembered me from the aforementioned performance. He’s super sweet.

After the festival was over, and I said goodbye to everyone, I ventured out on the town for a couple hours before I decided to retire for the evening. I meant to visit friends in the area, and only managed to see Jenn. I wanted to get home and rest—more driving and an unsure place to sleep wasn’t going to work.

Even though it took me about a week to fully recover, I’m glad I made the decision to go. It was worth the time, money, and the little bit of pain and I had to endure to go.

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