August Entry 2025:
What a month.
MISC=========================
- Watched KPop Demon Hunters (08.01). There was a lot of hype behind it and you know I'm not all about the hype and jumping into the hottest thing others are into. I found it surprising anytime a friend or family member talked about it knowing they weren't into Kpop. But it's safe to say that the movie lived up to the hype. The music is top notch throughout (I've played the playlist at work a few times to the delight of customers). There was a lot of thought put into how they leaned into the Kpop culture. I only wish I could have watched it in the Korean dub. It wasn't available in my options. I looked it up and it seems that it was available, but that and other languages were removed for whatever reason. The English voice overs were great though. Great movie.
- Watched all of SummerSlam (08.03). When I came back home during night one, the event was over. So just like Wrestlemania, I watched night one before night 2. Both had great moments (cash-in, TLC, Eddie homages, etc), lots of variety, and everyone put on great matches. We're on a rollercoaster.
- Last month I had an issue with my glasses where the screw came out. Fast forward to almost a month later (08.07) and it happened again. I was able to get it back in, but it was in a state that it would easily fall out if they were turned upside down. I called the glasses place and they advised me to come in. Went before work and it took less than five minutes for them to tighten both screws and to put in some glue to help hold it in better.
- I got sick (08.07-08.10). The way I got sick was almost 1:1 of how I got COVID and that was three years and one day ago. For anyone that reads this and you care about those you share a space with (home, work, etc), take care of yourself and/or be courteous and cover your mouth when you cough/sneeze. Yes, even at home. Because I see hundreds of customers weekly. I almost only get sick because of someone at home. While this was a cold and not COVID again (thankfully), I still lost a day of work and had to reschedule birthday plans with a friend. Threw up each morning (only in the morning when I woke up), coughed a lot, and the body aches were the worst part because my back sure did hurt the most it has in the longest time.
During that time, I drank the Day/NyQuil I had, took some pain relievers, drank a bunch of water and Gatorade, and ate a lot of soup. Pretty much what I normally do whenever I'm sick. I definitely couldn't sit in front of a computer to do normal things, but I had classic Game Informer Super Replays playing while I was lying in bed. Thursday night after work, I had an inkling that I might have finally caught the bug. Literally felt it when I entered the house. Friday I was coughing and I let Agent Ocean know I might have to call off work. Saturday...I was out. This was the worst day as everything hit and I had no energy to try to do anything. Sunday was better enough for me to sit in front of the computer for a few minutes, but I could tell I was past the worst of it. I was confident to tell Agent Ocean I could remote from home on Monday if needed. But I was pretty much 75-80% by Monday. I was worried the cold would last longer simply because the whole family got sick and it was cycling through us.
- Drove to EvePink to pick up the BoA - Crazier albums I pre-ordered (08.11). First time buying actual albums from them, but of course BoA is pretty much the only person I'm buying albums for still. Have to keep the collection growing. Speaking of the collection, I did miss the fact that the Louder version had two variants (flash yellow and blaze orange). Had I known that I would have bought both. Ended up with the default option of flash yellow. I know I can still get it elsewhere, but I'll probably make it a low priority. The photo books for the Louder version is thick, I was very surprised. The Crazier version had a wonderful flame design that I didn't capture in the photos. Just imagine (or look online) that when you open the album, the jacket cover is fire and it grows as you open it up. Good stuff.
- Made up for a birthday I missed with a friend when I was sick (08.15). The original date was the Sunday prior and we rescheduled for Saturday when I would get off from work. But since I was called off on Friday, we pushed it up. Nothing big other than going to Happy Go Lucky (shout out to HW for the recommendation). Had to get to-go so the photo is just shaved ice in a styrofoam cup rather than the fancy thing you see in photos. It was good though. Then it was just chilling and talking. Got some tips on simple massages that can improve blood flow, prevent sickness, and promote hair growth. This went longer than we thought as we didn't realize time was passing by. Fun night.
- After eating lunch, I went to clean my plate (08.22). I quickly noticed that there were ants all over the sink. It didn't seem like a lot, but then I started to move a washcloth, a cutting board, and the meat that was defrosting and they were all over. While I was moving some of the items around, I didn't notice that a lot had crawled onto my left arm. Thankfully I wasn't bitten, but it sure felt like I was. Spent a good 5+ minutes washing everything in the sink and the meat had to be thrown away. Yuck.
And unfortunately, the ants were still around at dinner. Again, I only noticed when I went to wash my dish. But I found the source; the corner of the sink island. There were grains of rice and a few other small grains back there. It was tough to tell since the ants blend in with the marble. But I made sure to clear things out of there and spray it. Hopefully it'll be fine in the morning.
- Picked up my copy of BoA's Crazier album, but the Peace B version. Other than the plush, I didn't realize it came with a digital way to download the album. Not bad. It's not in the photos, but the plush also had a zipper in the back with a small B rainbow emblem. Didn't feel like taking a new photo, ha. I only wish this came out the same day as the other versions of this album so I could have gotten them at the same time. But it is neat that I picked it up on the same day of BoA's 25th debut anniversary.
Afterwards, I went to a new boba place called Penguin 64. There were 1-2 others I was interested in that were on the way back, but this has penguin in the name so it won, ha. Nice small place. There definitely were penguin plushies around. The worker was kind and pointed out the menu since one of their TVs was out. I mentioned it was my first time there and asked how long they've been around (since April). While there were a good number of drink options, I asked if they could mix flavor, which they could for a small charge. So I ended up getting a Strawberry Passion Fruit Slush. It tasted really good. My only criticism for the place is that it was quiet. Music playing lightly in the background would have been nice. But I wouldn't mind going back there especially to try some of their food options.
- This Cowboy Bebop video popped up on my suggestions (08.26). Still good stuff.
- Stopped by Nothing Bundt Cakes (08.27). It's been a while, but I got their Touchdown with Snickers flavor. It is so good. Definitely recommend getting it while it's available.
- Watched Twisted Metal season 2 (08.20-08.28). Originally I was watching one episode a day, but watched the last four episodes on the same day. I really liked this. It did a lot of things that I wished the first season did. Season one was mainly character and world building. Season two featured high-octane combat, lots of older music and pop culture references, leaned into the humor more, and did a good balance of character building and action. Every character was great in their portrayal and presentation. My favorite was Mayhem (started following her on Instagram). And with the lead in for a third season, I'm very invested.
- Clash in Paris was great (08.31). It actually went longer than I thought it would. Other than the matches, the crowd was phenomenal.
https://youtu.be/gaDsv1NqqCg?si=l4KTr43uiKykmJTZ
- Had another issue with the latest iPhone update (08.31). It was similar to last time with the update getting hung up at some point. Repeated retries ended up in the same spot. While the solution last time was to use a different cable, that didn't work this time. I tried a few more methods, but the last resort would have been a restore. I double checked with support online and there was a live chat available (last time it wasn't). The person recommended a few things that didn't work, but ultimately came up with a solution that did (uninstall and reinstall iTunes). It did go slowly, but it worked. I asked a couple extra questions in the event restore is the only option and they provided proper answers. It just sucked that this took over an hour to figure out.
- Bought spare TV remotes last month. It's great to use the remote again. Sure, I now know how to navigate without a remote, but this is the preferred way. They aren't the exact model, but it's maybe 90% the same. It's unfortunate that there is some lag more often than I'd like, but it's still better than using the buttons on the side of the TV.
- Shower update: A new guy came by to check the shower. After his analysis, he said it was the shower pan and a hole that were causing problems. He's going to come by in the near future to uproot some of the tile to access the pan and make the water flow properly. Here's hoping.
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. 19 total with a few more still left in the chamber for next month. A couple standouts include Mina the Hollower (played both versions and couldn't really tell the difference) and SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance (pre-ordered from LRG).
Extra note about demos. I have them separated by sections like A-C etc. But one section hit their limit of 200. So I figured it was time to separate them by each letter. I didn't know until researching this, but you can actually make up 200 folders. This will make things easier to sort in the long run.
- 100% completed Donkey Kong Bananza (08.03). I was thinking to save the post-game stuff until the end of August after everything else scheduled was done, but I didn't want to lose the groove. But I also didn't do my research to see what would get that secret ending. I was going to go for only the bananas since I had about 70 left to get. But some of those were tied to getting all the fossils. Going for those, might as well get all the outfits and upgrade them to the max. Not only that, but some of the post-game quests required some gold requirements with one asking for 120,000 (had to spend a few hours farming gold in a specific spot). And some of the post-game missions were tough in itself such as boss rushes and elder rehearsals. Then I also needed enough banana coins to buy the remaining bananas to max out the skills. And then there were the discs. A lot were collected by random grabs, but there was a point that they became unavailable to pick up or buy. At that point, I needed 5-7 more...which were locked behind balloons in the elders' rehearsals (most time spent for discs). Yeah...that was more than expected. But I did get all the outfits (fully upgraded), balloons, discs, and bananas. The last few bananas were in the final extra dungeon and that was...okay. With everything gathered, I went to trigger the final scene...and it wasn't much. We traveled up to the surface and got a different ending photo. I thought there would be a whole cutscene, but there was not.
Would I recommend 100 percenting the game? No. Although if you want the challenge, do the post game stuff. Is this still a good game? Yes.
- Pronty was a favorite from a Demo Showcase Short on 07.28.24. Got it on sale 01.01.25 for 70% off. Then I played and beat the game (08.03-08.05). I was getting frustrated by it due to the difficulty. For one boss, I had no shot of beating so I went around elsewhere as the majority of the world is accessible. Another boss, I spent close to two hours on because I was close to beating it so many times. Once I realized I spent two hours on it, that's when I decided to bump down the difficulty. At that point, it was mostly smooth. I did die quite a few times before doing this outside of boss fights, but thought I was okay. But I could tell there was a big difference. I do think it's still a good game, but the difficulty will be the major factor especially if you aren't the type to tone down the difficulty. My other gripe was having to continuously push ZR over and over as that is the main attack button. Other than that, try the demo if you're curious.
- Mario Golf was the GB NC-NSO game of the month (08.06-08.08). Pretty much rounding out the golf games from last month. There wasn't a lot of Mario in this game as I thought there would be. Sure you could choose to play as Mario or Luigi, but until you unlocked the Peach Tournament, everything else was a golf game. I did like the overworld you could walk around in although I didn't spend much time talking to everyone or practicing anything. Just jumped into the tournaments and won them. The game itself was quick and snappy. Take the skeleton of any golf game and you have it here. It wasn't over complicated by anything and didn't overstay its welcome. Thumbs up from me.
- Wrapped up the NSO Online Playtest (07.28-08.10). Overall, I didn't enjoy it. It's not my kind of game. There were some things I liked such as seeing how much of the world was changed while I was gone and the new recreational activities that appear each day. However, neither of those were interesting enough for me to play for more than 5-10 per day. I answered the surveys every day and the final one once it closed and I was honest with my feedback. If you enjoyed it, I'm glad you did. It just wasn't for me.
- Played the Drag x Drive: Global Jam (demo) (08.10). It pretty much was what I thought it would be. Cool use of the mouse controls that worked really well. But getting used to the controls was what was stopping me from enjoying it more. I understood the controls, but I never felt I was a hundred percent fluid with them. I see the appeal though. I hope it does well and brings in some crazy hype from players that are really good.
- F-Zero: GP Legend was the GBA NC-NSO game of the month (08.12). I only played the Story mode, but I really enjoyed it. The playable characters crossed over with others' stories. And the fact that all of them weren't exactly the same type of race (some repeats) kept my attention. It wasn't easy by any means with some races/missions being really tough. If they were all the same type of lap format races, I would not have liked it as much because that would have been a repeat of the Grand Prix. I did think about playing the Grand Prix as well, but I think I was fine with what I consumed.
- The first game in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection | Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth finished (08.14-08.25). My memories of playing this game on the DS in 2010 are muddled. I thought I didn't like it, but an old review says I gave it a 4 out of 5. I could remember my criticisms of Edgeworth sounding different for each phrase he shouts and that I didn't like how some of the scenes were literally hours of talking in a room or hallway instead of being confined to a courtroom. And of course the dialogue can get long-winded per any visual novel. I didn't completely dislike it, but it ranked low in the series for me.
This made me appreciate it more. The quality of life improvements helped. Getting to choose between pixel or HD model graphics was nice. And having the option to let the game play itself like other Ace Attorney collections is nice. I did think it was odd that you can't toggle it off/on during an investigation without starting over, but it made sense later on. From what I can tell, the game can play itself, but has to follow a specific walking path. Not the worst thing, but I can see others being thrown off if they wanted to simply switch back and forth like the other collections. Seeing familiar characters show up is always a treat for Ace Attorney games. Same with any music getting reused/reprised. I didn't connect with some of the new characters because from what I know, they're one and done. But I'll find out soon with the sequel.
- ESWAT: City Under Siege was our Extra NC-NSO game of the month (08.28). Never played it before, but I have seen it streamed multiple times. While I've heard many good things about it and it looks great, I came out of this with more negatives than positives. It's slow. The invincibility frames are almost non-existent. It's tough. The overall experience is short if you run through it. Although because of the difficulty, I think that's what extends someone's play time with it. The thing is, it's not a bad game. Lots of potential to be greater. For me, another notch on the belt.
- Sonic Racing: Crossworlds - Open Network Test was fun to play (08.28-09.01). It took me a bit to get used to drifting (had Mario Kart reflexes I needed to wean off of). It also took a few tries with items to figure out what each one did. Not much trouble against the computer until the third level of difficulty. Playing against others online shows how good some players really are. The gimmick of choosing which course to do for lap two is unique and I liked it. The thing I had some hesitation with was configuring my gadgets. That concept is cool too, but I would always want to try new ones rather than sticking with what works best for me. I didn't play the last day as I felt I got enough out of it and nothing would have changed my mind, negative or positive. Overall, good network test.
WORK=========================
- Starting the month at the sister location (08.02). It was slow for a Saturday with lots of pockets of no bookings. We got some Freebirds for our work meal (I got the Walking Taco, which was...okay). I brought my Switch 2 for CG to try some Mario Kart World. And there weren't too many issues. Customers were fine for the most part. We had one solicitor come in during a busy portion. They had a shopping basket of snacks that they were trying to sell. I was close to them and they asked if they could have something to drink. I went to get a bottle of water and told SP what was going on so she could keep an eye on them too. Thankfully they left shortly after and didn't bother any of the customers.
The highlight for me was the throuple coming through again. Not only that, but they brought friends. They ended up doing the room I recommended and had a great time. They were a delight to talk to. I let them know that I was going to be working there the next Saturday, but it's a maybe for them as one will be at a retreat. You'll know later in this entry if they showed up or not. And I did give get to talk to one of them one they were away from their friends. I let her know that they are always a treat to host and while I'm excited to see them, I know at one point they'll have no more rooms to play and that might be it. They're one of the few customers that want to be there if I'm there and they go out of their way to tip me personally. I look forward to the next time they'll be there, but I am not looking forward to when they have no reason to come back.
- Early Monday morning again (08.04). There weren't a lot of bookings at the beginning so I messaged the scheduled staff about leaving early (opening shift) and arriving later (closing shift). And I found about five different issues while opening. There were two big things to note. One was that they didn't order the pizza for the party we had that day. That meant they didn't check the next day's bookings and they didn't follow up with the customer even though I left a note for that. So I had to call that morning to make sure the headcount and pizza toppings were up to date. Also there were issues ordering the pizza as the company was having issues online and in-store so the ladies couldn't order it until 2PM (five hours before the party). The other big thing was that the control room was dirty. Skittles, wrappers, utensils, etc all over the floor. This mess was left from the same people that complain about the types of snacks we get, the lack of snacks when there aren't any, and that it's dirty...yet they won't clean up after themselves. I let Agent Ocean know I was sending the message to the team beforehand for him to approve. But I also revised the list of things to add how to prevent them instead of sending out a list of things I found wrong. It's ridiculous. No one said sorry or anything even though anyone can look at who worked the previous shift.
Other than that, I sent RL to buy some paper plates before we had customers since we had none (again, bad party prep). But throughout the day, more bookings were made that kept us busy. Shout out to the family that came in (1 mom and 3 kids). They were very friendly and asked a lot of questions in general. One of them was interested in possibly working with us so I let her know to submit an application, but to be prepared to have to work on the weekends. After exiting them, I left around 4PM. This was also my last day working with RL before he goes back to college.
- Another morning shift, but this time with PH (08.06). It wasn't super busy when we first got in, but I managed to sell a few replays. Cheers to the one team that had each team member leave me a shoutout, they even came back after my shift was over to do one more round. But the main thing about that team is that one player mentioned they have played so many escape room games from different businesses. I asked if she ever went to HER and she said it sounds familiar. She started to describe one of the rooms, which happened to be the one I designed, The Scarlet Scam. After their second game, she showed me her team photo from when they did The Countdown. She couldn't find the one from The Scarlet Scam, but I showed her the trailer, to which she was very excited. She started to rattle off other things that were in the room (art piece, USB, etc) and that made my day.
Left early again and drove home in some harsh rain. This was also my last day working with PH before he goes back to college.
- First time having a closing shift in a while (08.07). Called of IB since there weren't a lot of bookings to begin with and there already three of us there. Even after ZM left for the day, HL and I were able to handle the handful of bookings that eventually populated. Quite a few wallk-ins. Yay for one hot mom coming through (did a replay with a couple of her kids and she said she had a better time). The last two teams were good ones to end on. One was a walk-in from out of town. They paid with cash and we have been cashless since 2024. But we happened to have the close to $10 in change to accept it, which meant I took the cash and paid with my credit card. I don't do that all the time, but this was the first time I paid triple digits for a transaction. The other was a team of military customers varying from ages and cultures. While some were using the restroom, I spoke to the main person and how their time in service was. It brought up conversations of MIM and her time in the army and how she wrote letters to me. Some time in the near future, I will read those letters again.
Still left a little early, but stayed the majority of the shift compared to recent days. This was also my last day working with ZM before he begins college.
- As I mentioned earlier about getting sick, I messaged Agent Ocean about setting up my PC to do remote work in case I happened to end up being sick that Saturday (08.08). I ran into a similar issue I had when setting it up at the main venue so I had to wait for Agent Ocean to be free at home to FaceTime me and troubleshoot. We eventually figured it out, but he also heard how I sounded and knew to be ready if I messaged him the following day about my condition. In the end, I couldn't even do remote work since that's how bad I was feeling. Sucks because they were busy at the sister location that Saturday. Plus I missed out on cashing in another BOGO coupon I had for The Sweet Swirl that I was going to share with them.
- My first remote day from home (08.11). I was scheduled for the sister location and was going to clock in when CG did rather than an hour early since the venue would still be closed. But then I decided to check in on Agent Ocean at the main venue and he was busy. Emphasis on "he" as no one else was scheduled to come in until noon after the big school group. I messaged him saying I can remote for him otherwise he'd be watching four teams all by himself. He accepted the help and I watched two teams. Apparently they were the two not so good teams as the other two teams he watched went in later, but got out first. That actually worked out as I would have had to check in on his teams while he exited mine if they got out in order.
After those teams were done, SC came in for her shift and I swapped over to the sister location where CG had clocked in. I messaged him via one of the game screens and he would talk back to me, ha. There wasn't much booked until later. Even then it was a Kids Mode meaning he would take it since that involves a walkie talkie. I continued proofreading hints until that team arrived...and then two walk-ins happened shortly after meaning we watched three teams. After two of them were done, there was one more walk-in. I mentioned possibly leaving early to save labor, but I pretty much stayed on for all but half an hour of my shift. By that time, my eyes were super dry. I let him know that and I clocked out after that final team was done. He had more that booked later in the day, but he had another coworker come in for their shift so he was fine.
My thoughts on working from home remotely; not bad. Very little distractions from anyone immediately around me, but that also meant I had to be very focused and not mess up and relay messages to those at the venues. Since I only have one PC monitor, I can only watch two teams at a time to make it seem presentable on my end. And thankfully my PC is powerful enough to run the games without any hiccups. Totally would do it again if it was necessary.
- Opened on a Wednesday (08.13). Some of the countdown screens needed to be reset (still not sure why this happens every now and then). One of the ladies came by and we had a short talk (me being sick, plans for the retreat, etc). HL joined for that discussion. After that, I started working on making a new Inventory List and consolidating it with other spreadsheets. During one of the games I intro'd, I accidentally started the game by pushing the wrong button, ha. That hasn't happened in a long time. The team was okay with it as it didn't take long to get it back to normal. Left early...but could have stayed longer since there was a crash outside of work right before the bridge. I basically sat at that cross section for 15-20 minutes before I could turn around to drive away from the crash. Filled up on gas and bought a Gatorade and that was that for the day.
- A slow Thursday meant cutting hours (08.14). Called off IB, I came in an hour later (109 degrees out and I forgot about school zones), and KH and HL were to leave at least an hour early. HL ended up leaving earlier since they only spent a couple hours wrapping up projects. KH asked to leave as soon as I arrived so I was there solo.
It wasn't bad at first. Replied to reviews, answered phone calls, replied to messages, cleaning, etc. We only had two bookings throughout the day and we didn't get any extra. My first team showed up a little late and around the same time was when Agent Ocean asked for remote assistance. He was going solo at the sister location, but got a bunch of walk-ins. So I ended up watching three games (1 for me, 2 for him). My final team arrived early, but I sent them in at their scheduled time. At one point, Agent Ocean was watching 3 games and so was I. We kept messaging back and forth especially during the points when we had to exit a team out so the other would watch the rest of the games. As things dwindled down, I watched 2 and he watched 2. The 2 I watched were one for each of us, but playing the same game, ha. I actually really liked that as it was like they were racing against each other. I just had to make sure to send the right team the right hints and not accidentally send it to the other. After my 2 teams were done, I closed up the main venue, but stuck around for Agent Ocean's last team even though he said he was good. I watched them and alerted him in the room he was resetting as they were getting closer to finishing. Once they were out, so was I. Slow day ended up being busy.
- Got called off on Friday (08.15). Was supposed to go to the sister location, but they weren't as busy. There was also a possibility that I needed to go to the main venue as IB requested I take his shift. But at the time there was only one booking so Agent Ocean and I decided that the others scheduled could handle it and any extra bookings if those occurred.
- Opening with Agent Ocean on a Saturday (08.16). That's rare. Plus this was the first time I had seen him in almost a month. Not bad at first with a few bookings, but it picked up a few hours in and IB was late. We hustled, but he and HL came in when HL's shift started around 3PM. Having more bodies definitely helped especially when there were a few technical issues. Our food for the weekend was Freddy's, which I forgot I got at the sister location a month ago.
The highlight of my day was a family (mom, dad, three kids). I learned that one of the kids was named Scarlett and of course I mentioned The Scarlet Scam to them. She seemed very excited that there used to be a room with her name. They were a fun family in general. I made sure to exit them when they were done. They had a good time. Scarlett was super energized about everything. I gave them information about having a birthday party with us and showed them the party room. And before they left, I showed them the trailer for The Scarlet Scam and they enjoyed it. Scarlett later said she looked it up on her phone and it was the first thing that popped up. Her excitement and attitude is what I want in a daughter. I definitely hope I see them again.
- The weekend of the first Leadership Retreat (08.17-08.19). I was worried about not being able to go due to being sick the previous weekend. Same with others that also got sick throughout the week. But I packed the day of and had my parents drop me off. It was their first time seeing the venue so they had questions on how to get there and back. I almost forgot my daily bag in the car (thanks mom for bringing it in). We did know the work day was going to be busy so a Agent Ocean and HL helped out the team before we headed out around 4PM (Agent Ocean, HL, KH, and myself in one car). We met up with the sister location team (the ladies, CG, SP, RB, and KW) at Buc-ees. Got some food (I only got popcorn), used the restrooms, and drove the rest of the way (thanks Agent Ocean). The ride there wasn't bad (5 hours). Music was blaring the whole time and I took in the scenery on our way to Baten Rouge. It's been a while since I had been to or driven through Louisiana, but some things looked familiar. We arrived at the hotel 20 minutes before the other car and we had to wait as we needed the ladies to check us in and to valet the cars.
Once they arrived, the ladies got out to get us checked in. I joined the other car to check in with the others. Eventually the rest of our car joined and one of the ladies came back. I realized it had been a few minutes of us waiting so I went in to join the other lady to see what was going on. I asked if everything was okay and she said no. Apparently only their rooms were booked while the rest of us ours were not despite there being a receipt and a card on file. While there was some stress, I joked around a bit and even learned how long the person checking us in had been in the hotel industry (6 years). She mentioned how the main manager on the phone was smiling and laughing so that was a good sign, ha. And it was. He had good news and they were working out the room situation. As that was happening, I got the word to tell everyone to unload so we can get the cars parked. The team went inside as I checked each car and put it under the ladies' names and I handed them the valet vouchers. Soon after, we got our room keys. Agent Ocean and I distributed them. A simple game plan was made for when to meet up tomorrow and we all went to our rooms. Agent Ocean and I helped bring the ladies' belongings to their room and then we headed to ours. As we were unpacking, I checked to make sure the toilet worked properly, ha. Once we settled in, I called the front desk to ask if there was anywhere we could eat. They mentioned that if we were to go out, most places were closed or about to close, but that the restaurant in the hotel was still open for another hour (The Kingfish Grill). We went there, got seated, and ordered. Agent Ocean worked on the schedule for the week as we ate. I had a creamy chicken rigatoni (had not had rigatoni in years). By that time, the sister location crew came by. They were going to go walk around the area before ending their night. When they left, the rest of our car came down to eat. Once Agent Ocean and I finished, we explored the hotel (found the gym and pool) before heading back to our room to retire for the night. I didn't get much sleep as Agent Ocean snores. It's not the worst I've heard, but it was loud and inconsistent in frequency. Meaning if I was able to fall asleep, it would be interrupted every now and then once his snores happened. Oh well.
Next day, we had a full itinerary. The breakfast at PJ's at 8AM was optional. Agent Ocean and I were first there. I got a chocolate muffin and a lemonade. The sister location crew showed up shortly after and got their orders in. Agent Ocean and I left early to meet with the ladies as they were setting up the conference room. It was nuts to hear that renting an extension cord cost...three digits. We didn't do that and Agent Ocean was able to figure out how to properly set the TV up. The sister location crew eventually joined up and the last two showed up close to the meeting time. We started with an ice breaker of 2 Truths and 1 Lie (I used what was in my dating app profile) and got into the meeting (9AM-12PM). Won't go into all the details, but there was some good information shared and some good round table discussions. We then walked to Town Square Pizza for lunch. Good stuff. I forget how it was brought up, but I asked CG to label all of us as a different Avenger. I got labeled Hawk Eye at first, which I was okay with. But then one of the ladies said Dr. Strange and everyone thought that fit better, ha. Back to continue with the second half of the meeting (2PM-4PM). More of the same, but still great overall. Good to know of the direction of the company, new titles/roles, expectations, next locations, etc. After we wrapped up, we dispersed and were to meet up again for the next event at 5:30PM. Agent Ocean and I helped the ladies clean up and I gave some extra notes about what I noticed from the staff as the meeting went on.
Then it was a short drive in the rain to 13th Gate Escape. We have heard lots of things about it. Only one of the ladies had been there before so that's how some of us knew of it. We were scheduled to play Cutthroat Cavern. We were told it was large enough to have all 10 of us play together. And they were correct. Not to spoil things, it opens up to be such a large venue. Honestly could say that the complete size of the room ended up being as big as one of our venues. There were so many times that we were amazed. There was only one major malfunction as a prop wasn't properly delivered and they had to come in and give us what we needed. They didn't tell us that a locked door we would have gone through to get it was no longer in play so myself and a few others kept wondering about it. For me, I worked the hamster wheel (yes, for real), I put some of the wall together, I got cut by a small door closing, and I dug through the sand. There was probably more, but those are what I recall doing the most outside of being a flashlight bearer. Overall, very impressive. Then it was out to dinner at Capital City Grill, which was walking distance from the hotel (literally next to PJ's). Good food (I had the seafood pasta) and good talks. It was back to 13th Escape Gate as we all wanted to do a second room. We knew this ahead of time, but had to split into two different themes. Six of the ten wanted to do The Asylum which was horror themed. The other three weren't into horror and I was in the middle since I'm 50/50 on horror themes. I ended up going with the other three to play Disappearance of Flight 13 to which some joked that it would be my horror because of my fear of flying (it's a game, I was going to be fine). And I really liked that room. Definitely looked like a plane with the chairs, overhead storage, etc. The biggest surprise...the plane moved. When that started happening during the introduction, we all looked at each other shocked and at some point held hands together, ha. It was a tough room, but we did great as a team. My explorer skills kicked in more hear, I would hand things off to others, I helped figure out a math problem of all things (ha), I danced and sang for a free hint (it was written how in a book I referenced a lot), and I would keep spirits up when scared or in doubt of themselves. We asked for more clues once it was down to the last 15 minutes and I'm sure they gave us a few extra minutes to finish it. An interesting thing is that there are three endings to the room we played. One was the losing outcome. The other two depend on what you choose to do to finish the game. Top notch. We met up with the others and we opted to play one more game together called Tomb of Anubis. This had a great opening reveal. But shortly after, many of us understood why this was their toughest room. Basically every puzzle was difficult and took a lot of time. There were so many times that less than half the team were working on the main puzzle while the rest of us wandered around trying to find stuff. The room is very impressive, but the difficulty was such a turn off. After that, we took a team photo and headed back to the hotel. Met in the lobby and the plan was to meet at 9AM to check out. More snoring from Agent Ocean, but not as bad as the night before.
Final day. Woke up and showered and packed up. We were first again and others eventually met up in the lobby. The plan was to go to Whataburger for breakfast. Drove to one about 45 minutes away on the way back (instead of 15 minutes the opposite way). I ended up getting nothing as I thought we'd be dining in. Can't eat too much or else my stomach won't feel good on the long drive. Ended up listening to podcasts on drive back. Got back around 2PM. Parents were outside waiting, but I was bringing in all the luggage into the building. Then my mom needed to use the restroom so I ended up being the one to lock up. I drove us home and unpacked. I set up some videos to relax to, but ended up taking a nap while watching the Kirby Air Riders Direct. Felt good in general, but sleep that night was easy to fall into, yay.
- First day back after the retreat (08.20). Originally it was supposed to be myself and HL, but she texted about the low number of bookings (1) and if it was okay for her to be on-call. I agreed. A couple more bookings popped up by the time I got there and in the end I had five spread throughout the day with one being a replay. Shoutout to the teams using the new promocode.
One customer was a former coworker for one of the ladies at their optometry business. I also learned they worked for another Escapology in Maryland. After their game, we talked for a bit and I offered the replay for them and they took it. After I showed her a few things that we use now since they last worked for the company. And she also inquired if we were hiring. I told her to submit an application and to be ready to work on Saturdays. I let the ladies know and she remembered who that person was. Who knows, she might be joining us sooner rather than later.
Since the bookings were spread out, I tried my best to do any extra work I had planned. Got a few things done like replying to a few reviews and upgrading and sending out the Inventory List to the sister location. I also did something I learned from Agent Ocean, which was to take an iPad with me as I reset rooms to keep an eye on active games if they asked for hints. I ended up staying an extra hour to reset the remaining rooms and close out.
- Took the day off since we were low on bookings (08.21). There weren't a lot of bookings and there still were two others scheduled that could handle them all.
- Slow Friday (08.22). I ended up Game Mastering the first two games we had as Agent Ocean conducted interviews. AH and KH eventually came in for their shifts to relieve me of being a GM. I got to finally do our drink count for the Inventory List. Tedious task, but it didn't take too long. The teams throughout the day were fun overall (helps to be able to crack jokes with them). Left an hour early at 8PM.
- Short staffed Saturday (08.23). There were only four of us (me, Agent Ocean, HL, and KH). Myself and Agent Ocean were able to handle the beginning as it wasn't super busy, but consistently busy and that's really how it was throughout the day. Agent Ocean mentioned how it was like the old days of Memorial HER when it was just us two running things. The two parties were loud, but easy to tend to. We also sold our first of new packages (watching your kids play on an iPad and a drink package) so those are awesome to see that people were interested. Our meal of the day was Golden Chick. Never had it before, but the chicken tenders were pretty good. Even though Agent Ocean and I were planning to leave an hour early due to it not being super busy, we both left after 7:30PM. Our shifts were to end at 8PM. While I could have stayed that extra half hour, I was exhausted. Like I mentioned, it was consistently busy so I barely had time to relax. Sucks that it wasn't like our normal busy Saturdays, but I'm glad that we were busy enough.
- Came in on Tuesday and it was immediately busy (08.26). HL filled me in on the fact that our countdown timers and hint system weren't working properly. This isn't the first time something like this had happened, but it seemed worse as there were delays on the screen or no functionality. I had to go into one of our rooms to stop a team, lead them to the lobby, and see if I could fix it. I couldn't so we gave them the option of playing another room (although it would have had the same issue) or giving them a walkie-talkie to receive hints and timer updates. They went for the latter and continued again with their game. At the same time, we had a walk-in and I had to set up that room, which had the same issues going on. They also only had cash and we didn't have enough change to give them. They said to keep the rest ($5) as tip. I later paid it with my credit card during the final session of the day. And I also was going back and forth with a team of three young girls that needed help. After setting up the iPad for their dads to watch, I opted to stay in the room with them as an in-room facilitator. They had a great time and it relieved HL from watching three teams to two teams. At some point I got a phone call from a customer I helped on the weekend. They mentioned they were coming in, but wanted to pretend he had never been there since it was a surprise from his coworkers. No worries there. There were issues with the room they wanted to play (moreso than the others) and I let them know we could move them to another room. I just had to choose any available that wasn't the one the guy played recently. While there were still screen issues, they were the only team at the time so I went to reset our server. Things popped back up, but not fully for them since they were in progress. But thankfully that helped with everything else.
And during that session, HL and I hopped on a FaceTime with CG to talk about the training program we're working on. We had a few things to discuss such as being more detailed, the quizzes and how to go about them, fusing some of my Trainee Tracking into it, how to utilize other training material provided by the company, etc. HL will draft up something new to present to us to go over in the near future.
After that meeting and after the previous team left, I was able to finally take time to reset rooms. We were missing a key in one of them. I looked everywhere even reopened things I locked just incase. HL called the last team that played there and I eventually got a call towards the end of the night saying that one of their team members accidentally pocketed it. That itself was odd as they were storing everything they used in the basket. Even though a replacement is in play, they are coming by on Friday to return the key.
Once things were all reset and more relaxed, I finally put music on in the lobby. Whenever I've been by myself I would either put video game music on or Kpop. This past month I have been playing the Kpop Demon Hunters OST. The amount of times customers would start singing while they're filling in their waivers or waiting in the lobby has been immense. There was one time a group of kids were singing and dancing around the lobby to it, ha. It's a good ice breaker and that's what it served as for the final group of the night.
As I was wrapping up, I decided to take a peek at the sister location to see how busy they were. CG had a final team in...and it didn't sound great. The guy was kind of talking down to his girlfriend/wife, he kept saying how the hints we give aren't up to par (he used different words), and he was overall grumpy. I messaged CG saying I'm keeping an eye on things just in case. Thankfully they weren't so bad as he lead them out, but I was anticipating the worst.
- Short Wednesday with Agent Ocean (08.27). Originally he asked if I would take the day off and work on Sunday instead. I counter offered with working this day, taking off the next day, and working remote Sunday. He agreed. There really wasn't much at the beginning. We set things up, I put away a new shipment of wristbands we got (updated the inventory list), we figured out a few things that needed to be bought, and talked about some of the staff (ridiculous). He went to go buy some supplies while I GM'd for the team that called saying they were coming in (return customers). Helped Agent Ocean put away some of the things he bought after the team left. He then chose to save hours and leave early as we only had one more. They were a nice family. The parents had lots of tattoos so I talked to them about it before going in. Cheers to these two teams tipping us more than they needed to. I closed up and left early around 8:30PM.
- Horribly slow Friday (08.29). At first it was myself and Agent Ocean taking care of tasks. The majority of my time was spent proofreading and editing the new Training Passport we're going to use for new trainees (titled sections to match our Game Master system, added/deleted sections and notes, fixed spelling errors, etc). KH came in for her shift...and left 20 minutes later to get food. I pointed at the time at Agent Ocean and he knew what I meant. I did that later in the day to note that she didn't do anything until almost two hours later. At some point, the ladies showed up to drop things off and to see how things were going. As they left, one of them said "I hope you get some tonight" to the laughter and delight of all of us. She meant bookings, ha. I left at 8PM (two hours early) shortly after Agent Ocean left. We ended up getting one booking towards the end of the night. But this is probably the least busy Friday in company history.
- We have a new trainee, CS (08.30). They're friends with AH so that's how they knew we were hiring. They would also be the first to be trained under the new regimen. Unfortunately, they were scheduled to start on a busy Saturday. It's not the absolute worst thing, but when it got busy, there were times I had to leave them alone because they couldn't do anything. We also had to not do certain things on the training list as there was no available space for them to do it. Other than getting some paperwork done, they were shadowing me the whole time. By the end of the day, they were able to do the lock wall, walk teams to their room, and exit teams and take their photos. They just need to be smoother and more concise with what they say in those tasks. The last thing we did before they left was make a set of bullet points to study and use for the intro speeches for teams.
Outside of training, I was tired. Cheers to the birthday party that left us cupcakes and cookies. Our last earned meal was Raising Cane's. Teams for the majority were easy to work with with a few being return customers. I left half an hour early.
- I was remote on-call for the final day of the month (08.31). While they were busy at the beginning of the day, they didn't ask for assistance. Glad they were able to handle it.
ETC=========================
- BoA - Crazier (MV)
I like the song and I like the album overall. I only wish she made music show appearances. This might be the first time in her career that's ever happened. But it might be because she was also gearing up for another Japanese album release.
- BoA - Good for U (MV)
- TWICE - Like 1 (Animation Movie)
- Two Kpop concerts were announced for September; BabyVoX and Wendy concerts. It is mind blowing that BabyVoX is having a concert in 2025. I'm hoping friends in the area and vacationing there during that time can somehow get me some merchandise. As for Wendy, she's coming to town in November, wow. I don't care where I sit, I will be there to see my favorite Red Velvet member.
- BoA - Debut 25th Anniversary (08.24). That means 25 years of Kpop for me. If you never knew, I pretty much got into Kpop when BoA debuted. I knew of Kpop maybe a year prior as I have heard of songs from HOT, SES, FinKL, BabyVoX, etc. BabyVoX may be my first favorite Kpop group, but BoA was the person that got me invested. Here's to many more years with you.
- Rest In Peace, Adrian (08.24). I unfortunately had to hear about your news via G's stream. I didn't know it was you at first and I kept hoping it wasn't. But then G said your name...damn. You were doing so well too in your battle against cancer. Last time I saw you was during the holiday season last year. It was the first time I saw you since you were going under treatments.
The day I heard of your passing was also the day of NXT: Heatwave. It was during the Blake Monroe VS Jordynne Grace match. It was hard to watch as I was processing the news. It wasn't until the main event of Oba Femi VS Je'Von Evans that I could feel okay and even thought a few times "I bet Adrian is enjoying this match." Even when the bell rang at the end, I looked up, pointed towards the skies, and thought "thanks for watching that match with me."
I knew if you were going to be at a gathering, I would get to have some laughs with you whether it be about games, wrestling, or life. You were always great to talk to and you treated me well and that's all I could ask for. Thank you for that. You will be missed, RowdyRoddy.
That's a wrap on August 2025. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
