=====12.02.11=====
Went over to DW's to hang out and talk. I actually had to leave in the middle of Cesca's radio show because stuff was bothering me. JR showed up (because he lives there) and we ended up talking more about my business frustrations rather than the original thing I wanted to talk about. Although it felt good to vent those frustrations as I don't always try to let it get to me. It also led to me declaring my ventures for 2012 as far as video projects are concerned.
=====12.03.11=====
After BS' hiphop class, AN and I went to the mall. While we were there we ran into YD who was with JP. I ended up buying a new camera bag from the Sony store (my new tripod arrived on the 1st) and then ate and talked with my best guy and girl friend. It didn't hit me right away that that was happening because it doesn't always happen. Yay for talking and expressing ambitions. I also felt out of energy all day.
=====12.04.11=====
Finally beat Skyward Sword late at night (between midnight and 1AM). I made it my goal to have it beaten so I could pick up "Mario Kart 7" and devote gaming time solely to that. Skyward Sword was great, by the way. 5 out of 5.
I spent time wrapping presents. I suck at wrapping gifts so it was good I only had 1 real present to wrap. The rest were prizes for the upcoming Christmas party.
=====12.07.11=====
I got all gold trophies in the new Mario Kart. That was so fun and definitely brought back lots of fun memories of playing past Mario Karts. 5 out of 5.
Gearing up for the Christmas party, I did a few mic tests to try something out. It was successful, but in the end I did not use it. Good to know though.
=====12.08.11=====
I know I was doing something (maybe uploading or something that I had to start and wait for it to finish), but it was taking a long time. So I picked up "Super Mario 3D Land" and took a few hours to complete everything 100%. Definitely a lot of challenging levels in the end of the game.
=====12.10.11=====
Got a text from MIM saying she was coming into town. I invited her to the Christmas Party, but she was unsure about going. At least she let me know she was heading over instead of just showing up last minute, ha. She also brought her dog, Cotton. I'm a sucker for dogs especially active dogs. I was still planning to go to hiphop class so we just talked and caught up with each other before heading out there.
Last hiphop class for the year and it was a fun one. Gave BS her Christmas present and then headed off with MIM and Cotton.
We got ready and headed out for BT's...and got lost. Man, that was a little frustrating especially since night had fallen and signs were tougher to read. She was cussing, I was cussing...it would have been better were we in one car at least. But we finally got there.
Friends were there eating and talking and having fun. MIM left early to head back to Austin. BT set up a Munny drawing contest. All activities were delayed by hours due to people showing up late and food still being cooked and eaten. Not to mention that some activities didn't happen like playing "Quelf." We didn't get to the game show I set up and planned until close to midnight. But it happened and it was fun (except for one thing...).
=====12.11.11=====
Presents were handed out. I got a shirt, an Amazon gift card, and a 5LBS Gummy Bear (more on that later). It was late and we were all cleaning up and getting ready to go home. AC rode with me so I wouldn't be driving alone at night. Dropped her off and was soon home.
I should have just went to sleep, but I started exporting the videos from the game show. I stayed up until...5AM. I finished it later after waking up.
My gift card went to good use right away as I purchased 3 blu-rays. And I was even more productive by securing my first subject for a series of interviews I'm planning on doing in 2012.
=====12.12.11=====
The wedding I attended/worked back in November I let sit for a while. I started work on it and finished it on 12.16. I am actually very proud of this wedding video and it makes me smile every time I watch it. Check it out and congratulations to the new husband and wife.
=====12.15.11=====
Late at night (starting from the night before) I beat "Metroid II - Return of Samus." I found it funny that I was listening to SNSD music while hunting down Metroids in space, ha.
Met up with LN later for dinner at Grand Lux. Talked and caught up. Walked around a bit after and then went to Melody Club for some Salsa dancing. Well, she danced, I watched everyone. They were all so good, I couldn't hang, ha. Took LN back to her car and ended the night.
=====12.16.11=====
Downloaded all 10 free GBA titles thanks to the 3DS Ambassador Program. Haven't played most of the games so I can't wait to go through them in my spare time.
I listened in to Cesca's radio show like normal, but this was the night she was announcing the winner of her "12 Days of Soshi" contest. I submitted an entry and waited for her to announce the winner towards the end of her 4 hour show. And then she announced me as the winner, yay! Not to be cocky, but I just had a feeling I would win when I submitted my entry. You can read my entry at the following link (search for WingedCBAM).
http://soshified.com/forums/topic/46399-dj-cescas-official-thread/page__st__460
=====12.17.11=====
My PC monitor shorted out. It had been acting funny the past month or so, but it reached the point where it just refused to stay on. It had a good 4 year run at least. For the time being I used my TV as my monitor (not that great) and my laptop for internet purposes.
Went with YD to a wedding reception of friends I made earlier in the year. Odd coincidence, the bride is sisters with a former coworker of mine who was there taking photos. It was a nice affair. Good food, met new people, and danced a little with YD. We left to go eat and drink at the Town & Country Citycentre.
Walking towards "Flora & Muse" we heard Salsa music being played outside. They had set up a dance floor and people were Salsa dancing. YD and I danced a few songs (with our limited skills) and had fun dancing outside in the cool weather. I had a nice cup of hot chocolate and YD had coffee and we talked about business stuff. We then headed to "Yardhouse" for a snack, a couple more drinks, and more talking. Took her home and ended the night.
=====12.18.11=====
Got up and picked up MP for PW's wedding. Had to hurry up and leave an hour earlier than anticipated since MP was asked to work the wedding. Met up with MA, who I had not seen since we used to all work together. It was great seeing him. He and MP were working together for the wedding. Saw other former co-workers in attendance and it was nice. Also met PW's mom for the first time. I spent time helping however I could with MP and MA, but I'd quickly stop and go greet former co-workers I had not seen in a while, ha (mostly the dudes since we were all tight). It was a nice ceremony.
Afterwards, I suggested that MP and I go to "Sullivan's." I had a gift certificate that was almost expired and we easily met their dress code. Good meal. We had a nice talk about things before heading back home.
Since my PC monitor was out of commission, I tried using my laptop to watch the TLC PPV. Unfortunately, my laptop caught something and viruses ran amuck. Luckily I had nothing important on it that I couldn't restore. Took 2 hours to reformat the laptop and re-update it to what it once was. That would have sucked so much if it got totally ruined.
=====12.20.11=====
I found a nice replacement monitor online at Sony's site so I went to the Galleria's Sony store to see if they had it in stock. Unfortunately they said it was only sold at their New York store or online. They had my second option, but I did have my mind set to just go out with the bigger and expensive one. I went to 2 different Best Buys to see if they might have them, but they didn't. Went home and immediately ordered it online. I just wanted to pick it up and have it ready to go that day, but oh well.
And...to quote what I posted on my Facebook about this venture...
"To all the retail workers today that purposely avoided my gaze, to the ones that went to another customer farther away even though I was closer and was about to say something, and to the ones that I asked for help and then went on to help someone else instead...have a holly jolly Christmas. To the one sales associate that actually helped me out, thank you very much."
The one that helped me out was at the Sony store. Thanks for your help.
I spent some spare time playing and beating "Wario Land 4." Not bad. 3 out of 5.
I had also been playing "Mario Kart: Super Circuit" on and off and eventually got all gold trophies in that, but I had (surprisingly) played that on the original GBA.
=====12.21.11=====
Woo woo woo, you know it! After months of not being able to order a pair of Broski sunglasses, I was finally able to a few weeks ago and they came in on this day. I actually like them a lot and have since then been using them as my normal pair of sunglasses.
I wore them at night since BT, AT(f), CC2, AC, and WC went to watch "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" at "Studio Movie Grill." It was an alright movie. It earns the R rating it has. 3 out of 5.
Afterwards we made a trek to "Red Mango" and it started to rain. I did an awesome baseball slide on the fake grass since the rain made it slicker. "Red Mango" was closed. We ended up going to "Memorial City Mall" to loiter. I did end up spending $10 on a large crane game in attempts to win a prize. Didn't win, boo. I think we left close to midnight.
=====12.22.11=====
Had a hankering to go back to that Korean place I went to for Thanksgiving. Invited AN, YD, and DS. And...I suck at giving directions. Plus it didn't help that I couldn't remember where the place was exactly. Well, when the eventually got there, they enjoyed their food of course. I really like that place. After lunch, we split.
YD and I met up later on at "Flora & Muse" (yes, again, ha) to talk business. That was fruitful. I always enjoy it when work actually gets done.
=====12.24.11=====
Christmas Eve was spent at a family member's home for a party. I was iffy about going because I was worried about seeing a cousin I'm not too fond of (that person being the reason I don't really like Thanksgiving). That person wasn't there, yay. I spent parts of the night taking photos with my new camera just to give it a thorough test on how well it can take photos.
It was good to see some of the family and catch up. I found it odd that I was drinking a beer with a younger cousin who I used to give milk to, ha. One of my aunts asked me a couple times about a girlfriend. I told her I didn't have one. She asked one more time so I showed her my phone's background photo.
Then she said that my fiancé is very pretty, ha. Yes, I'm linked to a famous Korean singer.
=====12.25.11=====
How I spent my Christmas:
"Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" and "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children."
I really didn't feel the Christmas mood this year. I think after the annual Christmas party, that was it. I wasn't being a Scrooge or Grinch, I just didn't feel the Christmas spirit this year, which bugged the heck out of me.
=====12.27.11=====
Received an early morning text from JW. He was receiving AIM messages from me and he text me to make sure. There was a sure sign that he knew it wasn't me and that I was hacked; the fact that I don't use acronyms like "LOL," which was used. I don't even get on AIM itself anymore unless it's through Gmail chat. LL text me later on in the day saying she got a strange link from my hacker. Hopefully those were the only 2 people effected that day. If anyone else got a weird message from me via AIM, sorry. I changed my password right away to be sure.
=====12.28.11=====
Once midnight hit, I decided to change New Year's Eve plans. For 10+ years we had family and friends come to our home to celebrate. This year I had about 5 people confirm and 5-10 Maybes and 40 that didn't respond. I can't make plans with a bunch of Maybes (who later were all not joining) so I changed it. Citycentre was having various activities and a fireworks show going on and I wanted to be there for that.
Today was also my Christmas as 2 important packages came in. The first was my prize from winning Cesca's contest earlier in the month. It finally came in a week+ later. The second one was my new monitor.
I set up my monitor first. Cleaned my computer area a little and then put the monitor in it's place. I measured ahead of time to make sure. But it is pretty big. I went from a 17" monitor to a 27" one and it is fantastic. The resolution is great (tried out a few HD videos to make sure) and everything just looks crisper and clearer. There is one tiny dead pixel on the screen, but I won't complain too much about it. This thing is way better than the older monitor (plus video editing is easier on the eyes).
Cesca and I made plans for there to Skype and watch and talk as I unboxed her gift. Before then, I took a good hour+ to plan where I wanted to place video cameras. The original plan was to make an unboxing video (up in the air). Later on at night, Cesca was available to watch and talk as I unboxed everything. First off, it was packaged very well, ha. She baked some macarons and some gingerbread men. She packed a couple of Pepero sticks and candy canes. There was also a container of hot chocolate that I'm saving for a special occasion. Then there was a stocking full of goods. There were a few jingle bells inside and a Batman drawstring bag. But the best thing was a small Dukong toy! It's so cute. I didn't have a permanent place for it at first so I would actually take it with me for a while. That gift made me spazz a little, ha. Other than all those, she wrote a nice card for me, aww. I was so glad to get this prize. It brought my spirit up from a lackluster holiday season. Thanks, Francesca.
=====12.29.11=====
My "Mr. Taxi" repackaged album came in and came with a Tiffany photocard, sweet.
Made plans and met up with AN at "Ruggles." It was a nice day to eat outside and enjoy that delicious cake I ordered. After some time talking, we split.
Met up with DW and JR at Chipotle at night. Casual chat turned into "the night's still young." That turned into plans to go karaoke. We started asking a few people back at DW's and I met RH there. He joined us and we were joined by others as well as LN and her boyfriend.
The waitress actually knew who SNSD were (I was wearing my Girls' Generation hoodie). She asked me a few times about going to Korean concerts and who we liked. LN and I had a bit to drink...and it was fun, ha. She said I got meaner (she gets louder)...but she's a tough grown up and can take it, ha. AN joined us late, which was awesome. We all had good times on the mic. I also saw an ex-girlfriend there. She still doesn't like me for whatever silly reason it may be (let it go already).
People were starting to leave and AN and I went to "House of Pies" to eat. I always forget that their food is good. An hour later, he took me back to my car and that was the end of the night...around 3AM. Fun night.
=====12.30.11=====
Went to "OK Cafe" for some work. Technically, I wasn't there to work, I was there to eat the food that photos were being taken of. MC, AT(m), CC2, YD, and DS were there as well. It took longer than expected due to some miscommunication. I did get to eat some free noodles and have a free drink at least.
Afterwards, we made plans to go to the park (minus CC2). We just walked around for the most part. DS and I talked for a bit while the others threw the frisbee around. Then plans to get Gelato were made.
At "Gelato Cup," I ran into a few of the flash mobbers there and ended up talking to them. One of them bought me gelato, yay. The others left and the flash mobbers wanted to do something. So...I took them to "Dave & Busters."
None of them had ever been there before so they enjoyed themselves. On the way there and taking them home, we had interesting conversations. Gosh, kids these days just know more than they should, ha.
I made it back in time to catch Cesca's show. We agreed earlier in the day that I would go on air with her and talk about the prize. That did happen and I also messed around with her on air rather than messing with her through the shoutbox, ha. Ah...so entertaining.
=====12.31.11=====
"OverBlood 2" Super Replay Episode 01! Yeah!
I actually didn't feel too good throughout the day. I tried to take a 3 hour nap, and got only 25 minutes, blah. So I took my time getting ready and meeting up with friends at "Ra Sushi."
AR, YD, AT(m), MC, MW, and AT(f) were there. Sometime later, CC2 joined. I also reunited with a friend from another highschool's Japanese class (same Sensei). We were so happy to see each other after almost 10 years. We exchanged greetings, numbers, and then I went back to my table out on the patio.
We all had a few drinks, but then we played some rounds of "I Never" for drinks...and I pretty much answered "yes" to almost every single question asked, ha. Yeah...it was fun though, but I drank the most out of everyone that night and it was apparent. Thanks to YD for helping me. AR left at some point and the rest of us went downstairs to the main area where people were dancing.
We ran into LN and her boyfriend as well as SH. I danced and talked with SH a bit before our group decided to head back upstairs since it was very crowded. JP joined us and YD left. Then it was time to countdown and midnight hit. Then there was a 15-minute fireworks display that was enjoyable to watch.
MW and AT(f) offered me to stay at their place for the night since they lived close by. I thank them (especially MW for driving my car there) since I didn't have all my faculties with me. I was aware of what's going on and I'm able to recap all that happened that night, but I'm not stupid to try and drive home in that condition.
And that's how 2011 ended.
=====Royal Flush Media=====
Leave comments and leave us feedback, please. Thank you.
=====WingedVoX=====
And now something else to advertise. Some of the business talk I had mentioned throughout this entry pertains to me making videos for YouTube. Most likely this was inspired by people I like watching like Vampy, iJustine, WongFu Productions, etc, but I really need to do this for myself to have a creative outlet. Not only that, but a lot of the videos I made in the past were private since I wasn't allowed to show them. These will all be shown publicly.
I do have a small number of friends that helped push me and support me in this and I thank them a lot. But I've always said the reason I stopped trying and attempting things was due to a lack of support. Either lack of support or just negative reactions towards wanting to do something ("why would you do that," "it's a waste of time," "that's stupid," etc). So all I'm asking for is support from my friends and family.
Subscribe to WingedVoX on YouTube.
Thank you. And I know I usually post things like videos the month of, but here is the first video under the WingedVoX name. Enjoy.
=====Final Thoughts=====
- I received a pin set from Club Nintendo. They are awesome.
- Vampy, iJustine...you 2 rock! (especially in this case, iJustine)
- There will be no season 2 of "Miscellaneous Misfits." The little reception I got from the first season killed any motivation I had to keep going. I actually had video ideas ready to do also, but since there wasn't much response to season 1, no season 2. Plus with doing the WingedVoX videos and some other side projects and possible RFM work, there won't be time to do more videos for a select audience who barely watches them.
And if you haven't noticed, this blog is no longer under the "WingedVoX" name, but rather another title called "Forever Graceful Impact."
- I was so happy to see MIM. We did see each other during the summer once with others, but this time there was more one-on-one time to catch up. That's what I like doing; catching up and learning about my friends on a personal level. But it was great to see MIM. I'm glad we're still good friends and that we can talk about our past relationship and be happy for each other in what we're doing.
And her dog Cotton is so fun! Interacting with him solidified that I want to have a pet of my own some day like when I raise a family. I had a dog when I was a child, but I don't remember playing with it. But yeah, I like fun pets I can play with.
- 2011...not one of my better years (maybe that's why I drank a lot New Year's Eve, ha). It wasn't all bad by far, I have some great memories. There were just a lot of things that happened that made it not a great year. The biggest thing to talk of is my health. That derailed A LOT of things. I'm a whole lot better now, but I recently came to the conclusion that I should not ingest a lot of sugar at one time. Funny that I used to eat spoonfuls of sugar and take shots of syrup when I was younger, ha. I guess it all finally caught up to me.
While 2011 wasn't my most stellar year, I made lots of plans to make 2012 better. I've said this quote to a few people already. "No resolutions. Just goals." And that's what my 2012 will be about; me fulfilling goals.
And I totally forgot why I came up with this next quote, but I'll share it anyways. "You don't deserve everything. You deserve only the best things."
But in all seriousness, hello 2012. No resolutions. Just goals.
Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be thankful, and be loved.
Take care.
