Thursday, December 5, 2013

November 2013 Entry



November has come and gone. For some reason it felt like a long month.

- A friend and I drove to Dallas on the 15th to try out a Korean spa called King Spa. We actually took her dog with us who was very well behaved in the car. After a smooth 4 hour drive, we dropped the dog off at a dog shelter before heading to the spa a few minutes away.


Shoes off and into the locker room to get nude for the bath/shower/hot tub area (mandatory in the bathing area). I remember the talks about going to this place, the big concern was the nudity. It was a couple minutes into the locker room before I saw someone nude and I was over it. It's just like any men's locker room pretty much. Yay, public nudity. Showered up and then soaked in the hot tub for quite a while. It was tough to leave the hot tub since it was so relaxing.

Met up with my friend in the main area. The main area had plenty of seats, couches, and recliners to relax in. You could watch TV (I recall seeing Barefoot Friends and Heirs playing), jack into their internet spots, eat in the food court area, and partake in the many different saunas. We went through all the saunas throughout the day (except one that was out of service). I'll just list the order we/I did things as best as I can remember it.

Yellow-Soil Crystal Room (nothing special, but a good starter)
Infrared Room (even less special, people were snoring in there)
Ice Room (it's like a freezer you see at a convenience store)
Pyramid Room (warm, ceiling goes up to a pyramid point)
Salt Room (warmer)
There was 1 other sauna that I can't find the name of (progressively warmer)
Bul Ga Ma Room (even hotter)
Oxygen Room (the air really was good in there)
Base Rock Room (very warm where you can lie down on the heated bricked areas)
Pine Salt Room (very simple and warmer than the Base Rock Room)
Fire Sudatorium (extremely hot)

I did get a scrub while I was there before going to those last three saunas (I think). The scrub was done in the shower area. Basically I had my skin (all of it) scrubbed by a scrubber using a certain type of glove. It really did get the dead skin cells off as I could feel them coming off. I even saw them laying in a few clumps on the area I was laying on. Took a bit for me to relax because...well, I was nude having a dude scrub me. I just started singing songs in my head while relaxing. Overall it was very good.

After that hour, I met up with my friend who was relaxing in the recliner area. I scheduled a Swedish Massage and then I went to eat since she already did. I just got spicy ramyun, nothing special (next time I'll get something different).


We tried the 3 hot saunas. We did make friends with a couple in a previous sauna and re-met them in the Pine Salt Room. We asked about the super hot room and we were told "hold your breath before you go in because it will suck the breath out of you." They were not kidding. We stayed in there for less than 10 seconds...twice, ha The first time I think we were just in shock. She ran out right away and I walked all the way in and back out seconds later. Crazy hot. We decided to try it again and make one lap around the tiny hot room. We did that, but my goodness...that was extremely hot. Anyone that visits the spa needs to just experience that at least once. I made a pit stop at the Ice Room to run a few laps and cool down.

We did check out the movie room. Different times were scheduled for different movies. We went in when they were showing Super 8. By the way, there is a kid room for parents to drop off their kids. Not much in there. We then split as my friend went to do her scrub. Minutes later I went for my Swedish Massage. Very relaxing hour. I did get a voucher for a free massage. It was for a few weeks after and I knew I wouldn't be going that soon again (mailed the voucher for a friend to use that was planning on going).


I seemed to be the only person wearing my key around my ankle, ha.

One final shower and hot tub session for me before changing back to civilian clothes and waiting for my friend. We had been there from noon to 7PM and it was incredible. Definitely going again. I recommend it to anyone that needs to get away from everything and just relax.


- The following weekend, that same friend and I participated in the Via Colori Scavenger Hunt. The Via Colori event was where artists were drawing great works of art in chalk along the sectioned off streets. The weather had unfortunately brought on a late start and even causing some artists not to show up the first day.

We took a look at the scavenger hunt card and just kept a few things in mind while making our first trip around the area. I think when we discovered our first item (a granola bar booth), we got excited and started to specifically hunt things down. I suggested we also take photos of everything we found just for memories. We ran into another group of friends that were there and they didn't do that well. They had 2 items while we had 7-9 by that time.

After a few more round within 3-4 hours, we decided to call it a day after finding a third of the scavenger hunt items. Ended up meeting another friend after a stop at the grocery store, had dinner at La Olla (which ended with a great piece of flan), a trip to Walmart, and then chilling.

Day 2 of the Via Colori event included 2 more friends. We first met up, ate at Brunch Cafe, and then headed out to the streets of Via Colori. More of the artists had made it and more of the art work was nearing completion. We went around once for the other 2 to see what was going on before looking for scavenger hunt items. Our list was nearing completion after a few hours, but we unfortunately could not find 3 of the things on the list. We still turned it in anyways. A lot of stuff happened and a lot of the art was amazing. My friend took a lot of photos of the street art. You can see some of them via the following link.


We ended the event eating Pho and then splitting after retrieving our cars. I ended the day watching Survivor Series.

- A coworker received a job elsewhere for much higher pay and to do what he likes, editing videos. I actually let him have my toy championship title for his last week and even brought my Rated R title on his last day.

 He also arranged to have drinks with some of the guys after work. I joined up with them at the Flying Saucer. I had myself a Big Sky Moose Drool. I remember asking a couple coworkers how they proposed to their now wives and those were good stories. And as we were all leaving one by one, we were wishing our former coworker well in his new job and that he deserves it. Congratulations, Brandon.

- I did get a lot of gaming in this month. One game that's not on this list of reviews is Senran Kagura Burst. I didn't beat it because it came out right before Mario and Zelda did and those 2 got priority. But I'll properly review that game when I do finally beat it and make mention of watching the anime series beforehand.

And I also downloaded and beat Contra III: The Alien Wars. It was re-released  on the Wii U's Virtual Console so I got it at the discounted price. By the way, the ability to link and save Miiverse photos is gone now so I won't be posting those anymore unfortunately.

The following are the reviews of the games I beat in November. Click on the links to read the more detailed reviews.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destines (3DS) - Review
I very much liked this game. It just felt great jumping back into the crazy world of Ace Attorney. The DLC was good too.

Sonic Lost World (Wii U) - Review
Did...not...like...this...game...at...all. Waste of money. Don't waste yours.

Wii Fit U (Wii U) - Review
Kind of odd to review since it's a fitness program/game. But I am using this as my main means of exercise. A month later, I feel better. Slowly losing a few pounds (yes, I've gained weight) and I'm slowly regaining flexibility and mobility in my back thanks to the yoga exercises.

Super Mario 3D World (Wii U) - Review
Such an incredible and fun experience. There is so much to like about this game. If you have a Wii U, you need this game.

- And in honor of the Korean girl group SES celebrating their 16th year, one of my favorite songs of theirs.


- November was pretty good. 2013 is almost over. Kind of crazy. Let's have it end on a nice note.

Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved.


Take care. DFTBA.

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