April 2024 Entry:
Quite a busy month.
MISC=========================
- Bought some Chewy Chips Ahoy + Reese's Peanut Butter Cups a couple weeks into March, but waited to eat them (04.01). I decided to eat one a day. They are delicious.
- Watched Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal (04.02). Great documentary. Hard not to cry, especially during the latter portion. You can tell how much he meant to so many.
I also re-upped my account for Peacock now that I'm making money regularly again. It's a small price compared to other services I discontinued around 1-2 years ago. It might be the start to getting some of those back, but for now just this.
- NXT: Stand & Deliver was so fun (04.06). I will continue to wave the NXT flag as I do think it's consistently the best wrestling program. Not only is the in-ring action awesome, but the variety of fun and serious is balanced as well as the ratio of featuring men and women.
- Wrestlemania XL was amazing (04.07). I wasn't able to watch night one as I was working. I basically watched both nights of Wrestlemania on the same day. That's a lot of wrestling to absorb, but I had a fun time. I cried twice; Sami winning and Cody winning. Lots of surprises all around and I don't think any match felt boring. If I had to choose my favorite match, it would be Iyo VS Bayley. My favorite part was Iyo countering the Rose Plant. I literally jumped out of my chair for that one, ha.
- Did my taxes (04.08). It was a simple process that took less than an hour. I only had to clarify what streaming was as the person helping was older. Bottom line, I got a refund. It wasn't a lot, but if you compare it to last year where I didn't make enough to even file, that's a plus.
Afterwards, I knew I wanted to get a boba drink (originally wanted ice cream), but wanted to find someplace new. I checked online to see what was along the drive and found a small place called My Tastes. I knew the area it was in, but would only pass by it. A nice small place. I was greeted by the worker who took my order. We chatted for a bit and I mentioned how I always passed by them. She mentioned that they used to be Vietnamese owned, but have been Filipino owned for about a year. Then we clicked on being Filipino. As she was preparing my drink, I looked at their menu and sure enough there were loads of Filipino food available (dining and catering). I'll make sure to support them.
- Contractors started work (04.09-04.20). The main things they were changing were the upstairs bathroom and the kitchen. I was told this was going to be a four day project. As you can see from the dates, that's not what happened. I knew it wasn't going to go that way as the kitchen had not been started until the second week and the bathroom was 90% done. When they were working on the bathroom, it wasn't so bad as the only inconvenience was that maybe they were in the way when I had to go up/down the stairs. But for the kitchen, many things were in the way. In general, the floors were dirty so I felt like I had to wash my feet anytime I had to do anything. Everything looked amazing once it was all done. Cheers on the new bathroom as it went from a tub to a standing shower, which I've wanted for a while now. There's so much more space. And I'm just glad everything works well.
- SNL - Beavis & Butthead (04.14). Wonderful sketch in general, but kudos to the makeup team. Add in the fact that almost everyone was breaking makes for good laughs.
- Movie of the month was Moana (04.15). Always heard it was good and I see why. The pacing never really settled as I never felt bored or thinking scenes were dragging out. Watching this after The Rock came back to wrestling leading up to Wrestlemania makes "You're Welcome" hit differently. Looking back on that promo where he said that, awesomely devilish.
- My mom fell down the stairs (04.17). Thankfully it was only one step that she missed, but she hurt her wrist catching herself and bumped her head on the window shelf. The shock of it was a lot for her and she was out of it for a few hours, icing down her pain. She was back to normal later that day and her wounds went away in a few days.
- Was supposed to meet friends to eat the Sonic themed food at IHOP (04.20). Unfortunately, the contractors came. One; I didn't know they were coming and didn't think they would because it was the weekend. Two; no one told me that they weren't going to present around that time. So I had to back out of the food event about an hour learning how things were going to pan out.
- Started watching Fuller House (04.21). I was okay not watching it, but the How Rude, Tanneritos podcast references it a lot (for obvious reasons). It wasn't until the episode with Candace was the guest where I felt I needed to seek it out. After watching the first two episodes late one night, I now watch one episode a day. I'm really enjoying it and feel I'm smiling (and/or tearing up) the majority of every episode. Wrapped up season one, four more to go.
- Too my mom to At Home to buy some stuff for the house (04.23). I spent that time swiping on dating apps in a different location (no matches). On the way home, I stopped by my friend's boba shop and got something for myself and my mom. I got a Watermelonada. I wasn't liking it at first, but once I mixed everything (instead of letting the chamoy and tajin sit on top) it worked very well.
- Hung out with the HeXagon crew (04.26). Originally this night was supposed to be for karaoke, but one of our members couldn't stay out late. Karaoke got rescheduled and we pivoted to dinner. We went to Itaewon Pocha and the food was great. After filling up there, we walked to a nearby boba place, but they had a sign that said they were out of certain ingredients. So we pivoted again and went to the closest Sharetea to drink and talk some more before wrapping up our night.
- 3 out of 5 members of CAB DJ hung out (04.27). The original plan was to go to Activate, but we rescheduled so more can join. Much like HeXagon, the plan pivoted to eating at Japaneiro's, which we've done previously. It's another one of those places I don't eat at too often so it still remains special. But I did eat prior so I didn't get much. Only miso soup and their Oreo Tempura (which was wonderful). Good talks, gentlemen. Hopefully Activate happens for us sooner rather than never.
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. 30 demos meaning we did one every day of the month. Yay, it finally happened. Combine that with what was done last month, the streak is at 58. And at some point during this month, I reached the end of all the demos that were still downloaded on my Switch. Any after that point were downloaded and immediately archived to save space and be downloaded later.
One special note; Puzzle Bobble Everybubble! had to be skipped because it was a limited time demo that was until June 30th from whenever the demo originally was available, which I assume was a year ago. Never knew that it was a limited time demo. I thought to still post about it and mention how that was a negative, but that's not necessarily fair since I didn't get to try the actual demo. Sucks that it was a limited time (that doesn't normally happen), but I can't comment on something I never played in the first place outside of not getting to play it.
- The Legend of Dark Witch finished (04.01). The demo was played on stream 275 Demo Showcase 39 on 05.04.20. Got it on sale. I was going to play this back-to-back with Dark Witch Music Episode: Rudymical since they were in the same universe, but vastly different game styles. I liked it, but bumped the difficulty down to Easy. While 100%-ing wasn't a big task to attempt, it would have taken time to gain the in-game credits to purchase everything.
- INAZUMA ELEVEN: Victory Road World Wide Beta Test Demo "Leave Your Inazuma Mark on the World!" was the free-to-play game of the month (04.02). It wasn't bad and definitely added more to do than a normal soccer game. I think it would have helped were I familiar with the anime. Although I did enjoy seeing different super moves happen.
- I've wanted to update my spreadsheet. The amiibo tab was missing one thing; links to the photos I took. I've wanted to do that for a while, but thought it would take a long time. But one night, I started the task of amiibo chronicling (04.02). I learned a few things.
1. Sometimes I would post on my main account or the WingedVoX account. Not sure why.
2. I forgot a lot of the photos I took back in the day when I tried to be thematic in some way.
3. I didn't always give a caption.
4. I never took a photo of the cereal box and counted that as an amiibo figure. That made me worry that I was counting things wrong this whole time. After doing some research, I was correct on the number of figures, but like I said, I counted the box as one.
5. It wasn't that bad to chronicle. Yay for this blog and the spreadsheet to reference and make the process easier.
- Virtua Fighter 2 was the Genesis NSO game of the month (04.05). It wasn't great. I ended up putting it on the easiest difficulty and giving myself infinite health. Beat it with everyone and there are no endings. Only credits. My experience with Virtua Fighter in general is minimal. I only played the first and second game in arcades. The Genesis version is easily skippable.
- Golden Sun was the GBA NSO game of the month (04.12). Always heard good stuff about this series and I understand why. The weakest part to me was the story, but it wasn't bad. I liked getting new summons and that the game was straightforward for the most part. The decisions didn't matter much outside of different dialogue before getting back on track with the story. The only one that mattered was an early one that gave you the bad ending. And it wasn't difficult. Never had to spend time leveling up. The toughest fight was the optional super boss. I do plan to play the sequel eventually.
- A Space for the Unbound was wish listed back in March. I found out there was a physical copy coming out soon after both standard and collector's editions. It was too late to preorder it from GameStop so I went with Best Buy. Unfortunately there was a delay to the delivery as the stock was low. A couple weeks later, I got on the Best Buy chat and inquired about an update and it was similar to a chat I had a few days after it was supposed to be released. They had no estimated restock date so I had them cancel my order. I double checked the price difference between them and Amazon and it was the same. I immediately ordered it there and received it in a few days (04.13). Lots of good stuff packed in. Unless another game gets precedent, I plan to have this be the last game I play this year.
- KILLER INSTINCT was the SNES NSO game of the month (04.14). Bought this when I was a kid (still own it) and still listen to the soundtrack on occasion. Definitely paid a lot of tokens and quarters to play the arcade version back in the day. I forgot a lot of the combo strings, but it started to feel familiar for a few characters. It was rough beating it with every fighter. It's a decent port, but the arcade Killer Instinct is tremendously superior in every way.
- Indie World happened (04.17). Nothing super spectacular made me jump out of my seat. But I will be keeping Yars Rising and Lorelei and The Laser Eyes on my radar.
- NBA 2K24 Kobe Bryant Edition was a free Game Trial (04.18). I was very impressed with the amount of customization at your fingertips (character, shoes, etc). I had some Clutch City moments seeing those old school teams being available and recognizing the players. The game itself is good, but I was not good at the game, ha.
- Cheers to The Gaming Historian (04.19).
- Got a Daisy Power-Up Band (04.20). It took a while to find one at a decent price by itself. Funny thing, I knew the photo I was going to take for a while (at least a month) so I was excited to finally do it.
- Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster | FINAL FANTASY IV completed (04.22). I was looking forward to this one as it is my second favorite Final Fantasy with my favorite Final Fantasy character; Kain. The Pixel Remaster was fantastic. I liked the little touches they added. The story is shorter than I recalled because I was blasting through it. "I'm already a Paladin? Whoa." The things that took the most time were getting the Pink Tail and leveling up the final team to 99 (most hit it while going after the Pink Tail). And a lot of the original Final Fantasy II dialogue came back to my brain as I was progressing through the story. Good stuff, good stuff.
- Splatoon amiibo figure collection complete (04.23). Refer to last month's post about getting the Inkling Boy and Girl via a Facebook Marketplace transaction. Shortly after that happened, I checked eBay for the best/lowest price on the alternate colored Squid. Considering how much I saved on the other two figures, I was okay spending a little more for it. Got it for less than $40, which was amazing. The only caveat was that it took a month to be delivered from Japan. It was worth the wait and the saved money.
- Progress has been made in Crush Crush (04.26). The only girls left are from LTEs (Limited Time Events) and from finishing their text exchanges. The texts had been done for a long time. LTEs are random. Once old LTEs started to repeat, I did more research and found information that the ones I was missing don't show up anymore as they were actually limited (I think). That meant the only way to attain them was by spending diamonds (one form of in-game currency). I've been doing my dailys for this game and you usually get at least one diamond a day. Each of the girls costs 200 diamonds (do the math). I had just under 400 and figured at some point I'll use them for the girls. I accidentally used diamonds to get one (I swear I was on a different screen) and figured oh well. And by finishing their path, I earned more diamonds to get another. Now I'm back to less than 20 diamonds. Unless those last two actually do appear via an LTE, it'll be a while before I meet them.
- Mario's Super Picross completed (SNES NSO) (04.28). This was originally played on stream 830 (11.30.22). Back then, I used a guide. This time, I used a guide. As much as I'm more favorable of Picross in general, I'm still not great at it. But since I had the resources to do it all, I figured why not. Started back on this game at the end of March and did have credits roll, but there's so much post-game content. So for anyone that likes Picross and has access to this game, you have a lot to go through. Now to think of what else to try and tackle for when all the scheduled games of the month are done with.
- My Gold Mario Power-Up Band arrived (04.29). Most of these sell for $80+. I was lucky to find it a little under that price complete with the case and map. Part of me wants to find the cases for the other bands now, but I won't be as persistent or willing to spend a lot for them. But for now, the Power-Up Band collection is complete. When Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong come out, I'll do my best to acquire those as well.
- Flicky completed (Genesis NSO) (04.30). The game loops after the credits roll and I was fine to not keep going. Watching others play it, I thought it was simple. The difficulty is deceptive. Combine that with well designed levels and you have a good game on your hands. I understand why others get addicted to it.
WORK=========================
- Friends came to do Lost City (04.10). For one of them, it was their first escape room and I was glad they came to finally get a taste of what I've done not just for the last few months, but the industry I was involved in for many years. Cheers on escaping and I'll see you all next month.
- Snow cones have been abundant at work (04.17-04.24). Across the street from work is a gas station with a truck that sells snow cones. There are 80+ flavors you can choose from and combine (if you want) as well as a few other snacks. As of typing this, I've had 5; Green apple + Passion fruit, Dreamsicle + Cream soda, Chocolate + Hazelnut, French vanilla + Almond, and Godzilla on Ice (Grape + Lemon/Lime). All have been enjoyable, but my first one is still my favorite. 2 of my favorite flavors and I never thought to mix them and it was magnificent.
- To wind up a busy Saturday, I did 2 in-room facilitations (04.20). It's not something we offer, but Agent Ocean and I made the call to do it for these groups. The first group was a drunk group that had been to our facility before and we knew they would need the help. They had fun. The other was a mom and son who were coming from out of town. I was basically playing in the room with them. They had a good time too, especially since the mom was glad that her son (I think he was 7) was opening up to me as progress was made because he was super shy at first. Agent Ocean and I think we'll probably offer this when appropriate because it definitely can help alleviate some stress for the Game Masters and the players themselves would have a better time. He and I would probably be the only ones taking those on as that's what we did at HER.
- Arrived at work 15 minutes late (04.28). One of the rare times I've been late. Not only was I coming from far away after hanging with CAB DJ, but there was an accident on the highway. If the accident wasn't there, I might have been either right on time or maybe only five minutes late.
And it's been a while since I was a Game Host my whole shift on a Saturday. It felt nice.
ETC=========================
- Happy Birthday, Ryujin.
- ITZY - Untouchable (Good Morning America)
- WENDY - [WENDY'S PLAYLIST] WISH YOU WELL - Band Live Ver.
- My coughing has subsided. It's still there either when I wake up, but more during the night. Either way, it is less. Not only that, but I am finally off the ZzzQuil (04.20). I was weaning myself off of it. Even on super late nights coming home from work and feeling exhausted, I would still need to take some. There's barely any left in the bottle too, ha. I am glad to know it still works for me. Just need to remember that it takes a while for me to come off of it.
Other than that, I found it amusing how the majority of events planned for this month had to be rescheduled or changed completely. Lots of things happened in general and I was mentally prepared, but things going out of whack multiple times was surprising. It wasn't horrible, but it was manageable.
That's a wrap on April 2024. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
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