April 2025 Entry:
Here comes a lot of text talking about April.
MISC=========================
- Random note, some people still think I stream.
- Spam calls are back. It genuinely has been a while to be bombarded by them. The occasional 1-2 would happen throughout the week. Now it's back to 10+ daily. Also catfish calls. Same formula too. It's lame.
- Watched the Mr. McMahon documentary on Netflix (04.01-04.06). I was a little disappointed by it. It wasn't bad, but a lot of it was information I already knew. Not that I didn't learn anything new. Hearing retelling of stories I've heard many times was still nice. But I felt it was more about WWF/E and what was going on with Vince during those times rather than more about Vince himself whether it's good or bad. I think the final episode where they speak more about the allegations was the most I was focused on because of fresh/new information.
- NE and I went to see Mick Foley: 40 Years of Foley at the Improv (04.07). He brought up the event to my attention. At first I was fine with just tickets, but then he mentioned the VIP and it wasn't a bad price so we got those. The day of, I was 8th in line when I arrived around 6PM. There wasn't a line as just that number of people waiting. I started forming a line and others followed suit as more came by. Since it was windy, I put on my Kabuki Warriors jacket and the couple behind me asked who they were. We spoke for a while (learned how they got into wrestling, they were wearing Commissioner shirts, etc). It was nice to engage with strangers instead of just silently waiting. The wait wasn't too long as we were then brought in about 10-15 later and then another 10-15 before we started to pick our seats. I literally could have picked the same seats Agent Ocean and I had for Anna Akana, but I chose the opposite side of the stage instead.
Sat, ordered food, ate my food while waiting for NE. I later noticed that Vickie Guerrero sat down in the reserved area on the side of the stage. I always forget that she lives in our town so it was cool to see her. Close to 7 was when NE messaged me that he parked. Got up to meet him, mentioned Vickie Guererro was there, and purposely walked him on the opposite side of the venue so he could get a glimpse. I did make eye contact with her and faked a gasp and smiled. I didn't want to cause attention as I'm sure she just wanted to be a civilian and enjoy the show.
The show itself was very funny. One highlight was Mick asking a couple if they were going to finish their cheese stick and to throw it to him. She threw it, he caught it, he ate it, we cheered, ha. After the show, we lined up for the meet-and-greet. It took a while as the line was fairly long, which was surprising as the back of the venue was tarped off meaning it wasn't sold out. I kept debating what to talk to Mick about. It was either going to be about my first clear memory of him in a feud (him VS Heavy Metal Van Hammer when Van Hammer shot him with his guitar) or to talk about Sergio who recently passed away. After signing a poster for me and taking photos, I asked if I could tell him about someone who couldn't be here. I showed him a screenshot I took of Sergio's online obituary, which had a photo of him wearing a Mick Foley shirt. I mentioned how I met him, how open and welcoming he was, and (I think) how he would cosplay as his favorite wrestlers at almost every show including Mick himself. In my January entry where I talk about Sergio's passing, I mentioned we weren't close. Simply acquaintances. But I felt compelled to let Mick know about him. He did appreciate me taking my time to talk about him and give his condolences as I walked off the stage. I waited for NE to get his time with Mick (he got him to draw a possible future tattoo) and he asked what I talked about because he heard the "sorry for your loss" that everyone else heard. I briefly told him about Sergio as we walked out of the venue. We chatted for a bit outside before parting ways and ending our nice day.
- While looking up game soundtracks, one recommended video was a reaction video (04.13). It was a compilation of reactions to the ending of Final Fantasy X. Then I took a short trip down the rabbit hole of other reactions. But then I pivoted to Rakuen reactions. I don't know why, but having tears fall down at that moment on that day felt...needed...I guess.
- Went to get my taxes taken care of (04.14). I had made the appointment last month and it was for the same place I went last year. I had all my papers filled out beforehand and waited about 10 minutes after my appointment even though I was 10 minutes early. Got assigned a person and a few minutes into our meeting, after asking what my job was, he said "that's all you make? You should go back to school." That threw me off and I pretty much said nothing more or extra unless he asked questions. Even then I'd only give short answers. I texted Agent Ocean about that and we both had the same thought; rude. Maybe 5 minutes later he says "you owe $3." No sugar-coating it, no sympathy shown. Just you owe money and how would you like to pay it. It's not a horrible amount of money (looking back at old entries, apparently I owed over a grand in 2016), but that worker was what made it a bad experience. Take social cues and read body language. They do make sure someone double checks the work just in case and I told the guy that I was hoping he'd find a mistake. He did not, but he at least could tell I didn't care I owed $3 and how to pay it.
I sat in my car for a bit and felt off, but I had to leave as I was going to meet friends after. Apparently I should have left earlier as due to work getting busy, one wasn't able to join as originally planned. The actual plan had to be altered regardless and that was disappointing. Even after hanging out, it felt like another loss since things didn't go as planned.
Again, I sat in my car feeling off and thinking about passing on the final plan of the day which was trying a new boba place. I did eventually go to Okie Dokie Tea House and got an Oreo ice-cream float. There were only a few pictures online of the menu which only featured a few drinks so I was surprised to see my drink come with a full Oreo cookie, a marshmallow on a pepero stick, and a chocolate straw. I took a photo, ate all except the cookie, got an actual straw and drove off...into traffic. What would have taken 20 minutes was doubled. My original timing of today's events was off because I thought I'd be able to beat it by half an hour. I was wrong and that was strike three for the day. The rest of the day was lying down and watching videos. At least the drink tasted great.
- Felt very tired throughout the day (04.15). I figure it's from being out most of the day yesterday and constantly coming in and out of the heat. Other than playing some games and watching videos, I took it easy that day (except for helping dad move wood boards from the car to the garage, which was simple and short).
- Wrestlemania weekend (04.18-04.21). Watched a lot of wrestling over the next few days.
Caught the majority of the Hall of Fame the following day before NXT started. Saw all of it before Triple H's induction, which I watched the following Monday.
Watched most of Stand & Deliver before going to work. Saw the last two matches on Monday. NXT always shines no matter what. I was surprised I teared up when Sol Ruca won. She's amazing. The women's fatal four way match, shout out to the diversity on display. Stephanie and Giulia have become my favorites in such a short amount of time. And my goodness, the talent and amount of false finishes in the men's triple threat had me jump out of my seat several times.
Crammed all of night 1 the morning after before lunch. My goodness, great action all around. A few moments got me emotional. One was Jey celebrating with Jimmy. The other was seeing CM Punk come out in the main event. And finally...Paul Heyman. That man has always been great and seeing him on full display at the end of the night was amazing.
I watched the first match of night 2 on the same day after work. This was the one I was the most invested in and I had to see it. I was very pleased with the outcome and got emotional. The following morning, I watched the rest of night 2. While I agree that night 1 was better, that's not to say I didn't enjoy night 2 at all. Becky coming back was awesome. The visual of her coming out was shot so well. And Joe Hendry, that ovation was wonderful. He was my guess for Orton's surprise opponent so I was delighted that it came true.
- Watched the Wrestlemania IX: Becoming a Spectacle documentary (04.23). I forgot it came out during Wrestlemania weekend. I didn't expect it to be close to 2 hours long. I really liked seeing all the backstage footage I've never seen before as well as hearing new interviews from a variety of people that were there at the event.
- Purchased presale tickets for RAW (04.24). A few members of HeXagon were interested in going (one had never been to a live show before). I was the only one with presale access, but I shared it with them so they could check out seating and prices. I did let them know that I wasn't going to purchase tickets the initial presale day of the 23rd because I wanted to make sure I secured a Switch 2 first. Even though I have the funds, I didn't want anything crazy to happen with the bank seeing two large purchases on the same day. They were cool with waiting it out. We at least made sure to know our price ranges and if anyone had any seating preferences.
After work on the 24th, I double checked to see if the seats were still available as the presale was two days long. Sure enough, they were still there. I figured it would be okay to go for it and I did and let the guys know. I made a group chat later (D-Generation HeX(agon)), shared the seating arrangements and prices, and let them know they could pay me when they could. Even though we're normally off on Mondays, I'll secure a day off early July just in case.
- After adding new music to iTunes, I realized the next day that there were issues with the sync (04.28). Only the new album I added was on my phone where the rest were still viewable, but not playable. A simple resync didn't work. Even checking certain playlists off and on didn't work. In the end I unchecked all my playlists, resynced it with no music, and then selectively checked different playlists a section at a time and synced them. I checked the first few batches and they were back on my phone. Repeated the steps with the rest and then everything was back and properly playable again. Never had that issue before, but I'm glad it was an easy fix that took maybe 15-20 minutes at most.
- I watched The Hottie & The Nottie (04.29). Why? Because they did a movie recap of it on the Keanan And Lakin Give You Déjà Vu podcast. It's a Step By Step rewatch podcast that I've been listening to for a while now. One day going to the sister location for work, this happened to be the next episode of their podcast I had lined up. While listening to it, I knew it wouldn't have been a movie I'd see back in the day or even now. It definitely is of its time and doesn't particularly hold up well. The one thing I was curious about the most was how unattractive they made Christine Lakin. Yeah...they really had to go all out to make that happen. I did like hearing some of the behind the scenes stories she told on the podcast. If you haven't seen this movie before, you're not missing much. I think they said they'd recap one of Staci Keanan's movies sometime soon so I might (might) do that when it happens.
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues? Like I mentioned last month, we finished all that was available at the time. Now we only do them as they exist. Only 5 demos came out in April.
- At the beginning/end of the month, I do a Joy-Con rotation. I have 5 sets (black, blue, red, Skyward Sword, and OLED). Basically, I wanted to keep them in use rather than sticking with one and the others sit. But it has become a struggle using black, blue, or red because only within the last two years did they start to have drift. I was lucky to not have any drift for so long where others weren't so lucky. It wasn't bad at first, but they progressively got worse. I always struggled going through menus when those were the main Joy-Con in use. Other than the black set, I might consider trading the others in and stick with the Skyward Sword and OLED Joy-Con controllers for the main rotation.
- Jett Rider was the first game finished this month (03.31-04.01). I did start it at the end of March since I had nothing going on. It was a favorite from a Demo Showcase Short and then I got it on sale for 80% off shortly after. Got my money's worth. It controls well, exploration is simple (maps available for each section and indicators on where to go), weapon variety was fun, and the challenge felt right (not too tough, but very achievable). Part of me wanted to do everything in the game, but I saw there was an in-game achievement of beating it in under 4 hours. I wasn't going to be able to do that even if I did a second playthrough. So I was satisfied with what I was able to achieve in terms of collection and beating the game. I do recommend trying the demo. And if it's something that catches your interest, wait for that deep sale. It was actually on sale for 80% off when I played it, meaning it goes on sale for that much quite often.
- The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct was loaded (04.02). We got a look at many games (1st and 3rd party, Gamecube NSO), we got details on the differences, we got new amiibo (heck yeah), we got a release date (June 5th), and more. Lots to like among various genres. I agree with others on the price being high, but that's just how everything is going nowadays unfortunately. It'll make me more selective on games at that price. I'll most likely not get or at least wait for a sale on the camera, but that's the one thing I wasn't interested in. As long as I can secure a Switch 2, everything else I need will eventually fall into place (controllers, games, etc).
My top 5 standouts include:
- Mario Kart World
- Street Fighter 6 amiibo
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (plus amiibo)
- Gamecube NSO
- Donkey Kong Bananza
Other standouts:
- Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of games
- Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (both Switch and Switch 2)
- DELTARUNE Chapters 3 + 4
- Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
- TERAVIT was the free-to-play game of the month (04.02). The long loading times got me worried especially as it happened a lot. Then there was a log of lag moving around in the opening area and that was pretty much the nail in the coffin. While later parts were smoother, the gameplay wasn't enough to make me want to try it more than I did. Combine that with the load times and lag and I was ready to exit out of this game.
- Mach Rider was the NES NSO game of the month (04.03). This was a difficult game. I didn't make that much progress in any mode. I was glad to at least beat a level here and there. But I had to accept defeat as I really wasn't doing well at all. Conceptually cool. If the enemies didn't feel like magnets that can wipe you out or if there were a few obstacles (and I mean this for the first couple of levels) so it could feel like it's getting progressively harder rather than straight out the gate, I think I would have made more of an effort.
- Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble was the Gameboy NSO game of the month (04.05). I've always heard positive things about this game, but have never played it back then. I see what they mean. The motion controls do really work, but they were too sensitive for me and that's coming from someone who really enjoys good motion controls. Most of the time I felt like I was battling the controls, which made me not want to explore to collect things. It was frustrating whenever precision was needed to progress. I'm glad I read about a warp because I think I would have tapped out early if I were to go through more levels. Now I only played with the Pro Controller. I should have at least considered trying in handheld mode to see if it felt better since it would have somewhat felt closer to playing it like the original Gameboy. I was just glad I was able to finish it rather than being disappointed having to quit at certain areas.
- Extreme G was the N64 NSO game of the month (04.06). Another game I've never played before. Knew very little about this one too. I was worried at first since it was difficult keeping up with the CPU players. It did control really well so I wasn't trying to quit early. Once I turned on a few of the codes available, I had more fun. Seeing wireframe mode is amazing. Having unlimited boosts was a godsend (minus the lava level). And while the game is fast on its own, using the XTREME code made it equivalent to F-ZERO speeds.
- I unlocked two more girls in Crush Crush (04.10). I could have unlocked at least one a while ago because the remainder costs 200 diamonds. For whatever reason I decided to wait until I had 400 and cashed them in. Just need 400 more to unlock two of the last three and just hope the last one randomly pops up eventually.
- Finished Suikoden off the Suikoden I&II HD Remaster collection (04.06-04.13/20). I was surprised with how fast it took me to beat. The 20 on the date was the original time frame I gave myself because I thought my main goal would take a lot of time. The main goal; collect all 108 Stars. Had a guide to help find them and add them to the roster as soon as possible. While that was the main goal, there were a few mini goals such as finding all the paint, books, window frames, and sound sets. Paint was easy to find as they were along the main path. I only missed one book, which was simple to backtrack and find. The last window and sound set required farming one enemy type (a different one for each) and hoping it dropped. Each one took about half an hour, but it was worrisome as there were a few times the enemy didn't pop up for a long time. Didn't help that the game froze while trying to get the window frame (and that was the only time it froze).
The HD coat of paint looks great. The music sounds awesome. The battle speed options and auto battle were nice additions. My main complaint was that there was no easy way to swap equipment/items from character to character. You had to do it one at a time. If there was a swap all feature, that would have been convenient. But I know I spent the majority of my play time in menus doing that (tried to play as the majority of characters, but probably used less than half). The other cause of time sink was playing Chinchirorin. It was the best and fastest way to earn money even though there were a few times I got greedy and lost a lot or all of my potch and had to reload my previous game file. I still really like that it's a game you an play in real life too, which is what I did with some cousins back in the day.
Story wise, I forgot most of it. I recalled a lot of the character roster and some of the villains. But everything pretty much played out for the first time for me. Only a few times did I think "oh yeah, that happens." I did enjoy it and can't wait to play the sequel in a couple of months.
- During one of G's streams, they were playing through the new releases on the Genesis NSO (04.13). They mentioned Streets of Rage was coming up and I off a whim asked if they wanted to play co-op. After beating Suikoden that same day, I was thinking I could fit in something else before moving on to the next scheduled game since it wrapped up earlier than expected. I looked at other digital games in my back log and ended up earmarking a few free-to-play cloud game trials and was going to play at least one. But then we played Streets of Rage. It was fun. Interesting to play with their stream in the background and hearing them say things even though there was a tiny delay. But it didn't take long for us to do one run through. And I think I needed to simply play a game with someone and this came at the right time. Thanks, G.
After that playthrough, I went through the effort to get the bad endings for all three characters. I had a plan of action and realized how long it would take. Then I recall seeing there was a level select code and I did that to go straight to the final level. It did require having 2 characters though so I wasn't super sure how to do that. So I chose 2 characters and mainly fought with one while the other stood still until it was time to move. Once the second player lost all their lives, I wondered how long I could keep it on the "continue" option before it goes away. It didn't go away until you walked through the last door to the final boss. That made it easier. Then it was a save state to beat it with one character, a reload, and then beating it with the other. Had to do another final level playthrough to get the last character in there, but at least it didn't take too long to achieve all of this and complete the game.
- Played Control Ultimate Edition - Cloud Version (04.15). This falls under the free-to-play category and demo category, but for whatever reason I skipped it during my time as a streamer. And I had not marked this on my spreadsheet properly so I figured this area after Suikoden and between the next game would be a good spot to finally try it. Like other cloud trials, this one had a 10 minute time limit. If you don't skip the cutscenes and choose to explore, you won't even see combat before that time frame is over. So I had to play it twice. The first time was in enhanced performance mode. The second time was in enhanced graphics mode. Both had bad lag (more in graphics mode), the subtitles were off sync (more in performance mode), the camera had a bad swing (too little or too much), and a few other issues. I had seen streams of this game so I knew how good it was supposed to be. The only positives were the voice acting and the combat. Pass.
- Next was HITMAN 3 - CLOUD VERSION (04.15). You could pretty much copy and paste the majority of the previous paragraph for Control. The lag was there for both, but it was actually more apparent in performance mode instead. However, the game gets right into the action and I liked that. It's great to just start playing the game and getting to stay on course or do your own thing (for 10 minutes). The auto save system wasn't consistent as in my second playthrough, I never got a second auto save to restart from. It definitely is more cerebral as you need to sneak, cause shenanigans, and move around in disguises and I liked that despite the slower pace. Not bad.
- I spent some time organizing my lineup for playing NSO games (04.16). With Gamecube being added for Switch 2, it was a matter of how to add it. Part of me thought about keeping the current lineup of NES, GB, and N64 for one month and Genesis, GBA, SNES for the next month and giving Gamecube its own. But considering how sometimes it has been tough to fit in the NSO games I want along with other games and a busy work schedule, I thought it might be good to give them more breathing room. So I altered it to be what it used to be before GB and GBA were added.
NES + N64
GB + GBA
Genesis + SNES
Gamecube
While the variety of games will be less in general, I will also not limit myself to only one per month if there's extra time due to beating games faster and/or a lighter work schedule. While the initial games set could have a theme, the extras don't have to and I've pretty much been doing that most of this year anyways. And the month for Gamecube alone makes sense as most games take up more time, any extra time can go to any NSO game I choose. When it comes to how I address them in the entries, I'll add "extra" to it.More breathing room and more leniency for NSO starting in June when the Switch 2 is out.
- Mario Kart World Direct was a nice watch (04.17). A lot of the information was stuff already known, but it was nice to get clarification on some things. Definitely didn't know about rewind, blue coins, and a few other details. Plus it clicked in my head that Yoshi's is basically Buc-ee's, ha
- Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order date got announced (04.18). It's now happening on April 24th, a Thursday. I should be able to head out to my GameStop before work (if I work) that day. When I went there, they mentioned they're opening up at their regular hours and almost everything releasing the same day as Switch 2 will also be reservable that same day. So that does mean the Street Fighter 6 and Age of Imprisonment amiibo can't be reserved until then (they checked). However, I was able to reserve my first Switch 2 game; No Sleep For Kaname Date - From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES. They had to double check that one as they were told not to take pre-orders for anything Switch 2 even if it was after the release date (including Donkey Kong Bananza). But they made sure, they put it in my order just in case, and processed it with the game I was there to pick up; Neva (Devolver Deluxe). Much like when I picked up Suikoden, I was the only one that reserved the game.
Afterwards, I planned to try another new boba place in the area. It was 5 minutes away in a small shopping center with other restaurants. Unfortunately since it was a small shopping center, the parking was limited and full. I went around a couple times and no one was leaving. The nearest parking in walking distance was possibly a 2 minute walk, but I figured to cut my losses and went home. Have to save that extra money for all the pre-orders I'll do in the near future.
- Fourth game in the MARVEL vs. CAPCOM Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics was MARVEL SUPER HEROES vs. STREET FIGHTER (04.15-04.21). I have never played this before. I knew of it, but I don't think I ever found it in the arcades or played any console ports of it. Coming from the previous games in the collection made it feel familiar enough that I wasn't completely lost with how things worked. Similar to X-MEN VS. STREET FIGHTER, the endings felt unbalanced (some had 1-2 slides, some had way more dialogue, etc). I still think the Marvel characters have a leg up on the Street Fighter characters, but it felt a little more balanced. What really was out of balance was Cyber Akuma. He is the reason I spent more time than I would have liked with this game. Very strong with a lot at his disposal. I did my strategy like last month where I would quick save before the fight, win with one character, load the save file, and beat it with the other. But Cyber Akuma was incredibly difficult to defeat.
The secret characters were interesting. Norimaru was silly and had an actual ending. Characters like Mech-Zangief and Armored Spider-Man had "endings" that basically said you beat the game with a secret character. I laughed, but was also let down. At least they had something compared to Cyber-Akuma where it rolled straight into credits.
- With more free game time, I looked through the rest of NSO games I haven't touched yet. Outside of ones I already have scheduled, there were at least 10+ (20+ for certain consoles) that were left. Taking a look at what else was played this month, I chose to play Densetsu no Starfy 1 (GBA NSO). I've heard of the Legend of Starfy in general and was surprised when all 3 GBA games were released on NSO at the same time. Unfortunately they were not translated. While it might not matter much for a plafformer underwater, it still would have helped. There were more than enough times that certain items needed to be found and/or brought back to certain characters in order to proceed. Other than those parts, it's fairly straightforward and boss fights were easy to figure out.
My biggest gripe is that collectibles were added after you beat the game. I wouldn't have minded finding them during my initial playthrough, but having them be added (as part of the ending) felt like padding so you can play the game all over again searching for them. If that's how it'll be for the other Starfy games, I'll be okay with simply beating the game and that's all.
- Went to my local GameStop to hopefully pre-order a Nintendo Switch 2 (04.24). I didn't want to go through the process of doing it online as I've never really had luck doing that. Plus I didn't want to have to wait on it to be shipped to me. I would prefer to pick it up and take it home. I left home at 11AM. My normal store is 15 minutes away without traffic. All I wanted was to be there by 11:30AM. If no one was there, awesome. If people were there, hopefully it wouldn't be too long a line. Got out to see a line. I didn't count, but simply got in line. I forgot to check the posting on the door to know how many systems they would have. All I knew was that most GameStops had at least 50 so I figured I'd be fine.
Once I was in line, I started to take out my earbuds as I had made sure to have a few podcasts ready to go. But the person in front of me started to chat me up. I asked if he knew the number of systems and he did; 50+ bundles and 30+ non-bundles. That made it more reassuring. At one point, one of the employees came out to give us numbers and jot down what we were planning to pre-order (which system, games, accessories, etc). That's when I got my number; 22. While I thought the initial talk was just a kind greeting, we ended up talking the entire 45 minutes in line. We talked about what we were planning to get, what we play, YouTube/streaming, where he was from, what we did for work, etc. The talk definitely made time pass by quickly. When we were close to the front of the line, I made sure to shake his hand and thank him for his time. Thanks, RelaxedRuthless.
Greeted the 2 workers who knew me for being a regular. Then it was the list of what to reserve; non-bundle console, Mario Kart World, Pro Controller, Street Fighter 6 amiibo (3), and Tears of the Kingdom amiibo (3, I already knew Yunobo wasn't available elsewhere and unfortunately it became the same at GameStop). I did want to also reserve a memory card, but the one they had cost a little more and wasn't the brand I wanted. And I wanted to pay off the system itself because I knew the total for everything would have been a big one. Figured to secure the system for sure and pay for the rest the day of. Left the store about 20-25 after entering the store. So my whole time outside and inside was about an hour.
I waited until Saturday to order the memory card and screen protector. Originally I set a reminder to do this on Sunday to give breathing room between big purchases. But that morning I saw that the memory card went up by $10 and was out of stock. But later on in the day, the price went back down to $60, but was out of stock. However, you could still purchase it so I figured to get it while it was at that lower price. Hopefully it comes within the next month before the Switch 2 comes out. If not, not the worst thing. The screen protector was from a brand I've been buying since the 3DS/Wii U era and have used them for my Switches (original, Lite, and OLED) and even for my phones. They only got better over time so I'm confident in that purchase for my Switch 2. That ended up being delivered the next day.
This turned out better than I was hoping for. I didn't have to worry about the technical issues trying to order one online, my store had way more systems than necessary (there were about 35-40 people at most by the time I left), and the workers were professional and efficient with what they needed to do to maintain order and keep the line moving. The night before, I was okay if I wasn't going to get one because I knew I was risking it. The discourse over the Switch 2 was overwhelming and the pricing does hurt (the amiibo actually got to me more than the system and games, ha). I knew a chunk of people I personally know were possibly skipping it or waiting for a price drop. And if I didn't get it, it's not like I didn't have any other games to play, but I'm glad I have one coming my way.
- Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise completed (04.25). That's right, all achievements have been attained. For almost one year, I was getting the last set of achievements that were X amount of hours with each trainer and X amount of punches thrown. I could have done both at the same time, but for some reason I wanted to just worry about one over the other. The hours were easy as I would set a routine to go and let it run while I missed everything, ha. The punches, I needed to figure that out. I didn't know if there was a simple way to make gestures happen, but then I recalled there were some settings that could be turned on. One of them was to automatically count body punches. That still meant that standing straights, hooks, and uppercuts wouldn't be counted, but at least that meant there was some type of automation that could occur. I just had to pick the same specific set of exercises to run that had a good amount of body blows.
This went on for a long time. If I was in between games, if I was watching videos, or any other time I was at home not doing anything that needed my full attention, Fitness Boxing was on. Anytime I was close to the punch threshold, I would make sure to put Sophie back on to have her be the one to end with. During the last 10%-15%, each achievement went up by 1%. I was always hoping they'd give 5% at one time, ha. But they actually did that at 98%. It went from 98% to 100%. It came as a shock because I was ready to do another round from 99% to get that last 1%. I was delighted to see the final special messages come across the screen and to be completely done with it. It's done, it's over.
I do have the Fist of the North Star version of Fitness Boxing, but whenever I decide to play it or use it as legit exercise, it will be up to a certain point and not to 100%...at least if all the achievements aren't as daunting as it was for Fitness Boxing 2.
This also frees up a lot of extra time now that my Switch is not tied to being on Fitness Boxing. While Crush Crush is still eating up time, but it's only for a little bit to collect dailies. It's odd to have, but it is a sigh of relief to not have to worry about allocating so much time to it. Now I can add an extra game or two if I want or simply have more free time to do something else.
- Played Kunio-kun no Dodgeball da yo Zen'in Shūgō! (SNES NSO) (04.27). This is basically Super Dodgeball 2, which was never released in the US. I was excited to play it since Super Dodgeball is a classic and one of my favorite NES games. And then I played it and was disappointed. The controls felt laggy. Things like a simple catch was hit or miss. Throwing out supers was very inconsistent. I was able to do them here and there (my first offensive attack thrown was a super), but replicating what I did led to more regular attacks. And it was very slow. I'm sure it was slower than the NES game. Those factors made it almost impossible for me to get a victory. The best I did was defeat half of a team before losing. I can't believe how poorly it played.
Special note to cap off this month of games, this was the first time I played all 6 NSO systems in the same month. Sure, I didn't beat each game, but I tried. The fact that I had space in the schedule to play all 6 NSO consoles is still neat.
- With some extra game time in the schedule, I decided to take another stab at Xeno Crisis (04.27). I was looking through all the digital games I have left that weren't scheduled and there actually aren't. So I looked at games I played on stream that I didn't beat that I thought would be interesting to whip out and I landed on Xeno Crisis. Last and only time I played it was 05.14.22 so almost 3 years ago. Looking back at the stream, I was able to get to the next to the last level on Easy. Ended the stream with all cheats turned on and playing on Hard to get the bad ending.
Replaying it all these years later, it is still a challenge. Pretty much did as well as before by getting to the second to last level. That took a couple hours to do. It felt familiar, but I was also a little sloppy as there were multiple times I died twice on level five. Of course you can't die at all to see the good ending (Easy) or the best ending (Hard). And I ended the night with turning on the cheats again just like I did with the stream 3 years ago. Will I ever return to it? I'm not sure. Might pull it out randomly like this or accept that I probably need to look up the ending if I ever want to see it, ha.
- Imp of the Sun completed (04.28-04.29). This was the favorite from Demo Showcase 111, stream 954 on 07.04.23. Got it for 90% off making it only $2 instead of $20. I may have given this a thumbs up back then, but I would probably bump it down to a thumbs sideways. It's not that it's bad, but it's not refined. Combat was mindless. They stress doing combos, but there's no real need to think too much outside of occasionally reflecting projectiles. For some boss battles, you can literally jump and attack upwards forever until the move and then repeat again. Speaking of bosses, it is interesting that the whole map is open from the start. You can choose whichever place you want to go and even exit out if you change your mind. Nothing stops main game progress. Abilities gained help in getting to collectibles. Collectibles aren't too difficult to get as you have fast travel. If the map were more detailed (showing if there's anything or where you haven't been yet) would have been nice. Biggest positive was the Peruvian art style. Really stands out.
I absolutely did not like that the time still counted if you paused the game or went to the Switch menu with the game still open. I swear there was a 2 hour jump at some point. I've played a handful of games that do that as well and it doesn't sit well with me. Not the worst thing by far, but it makes me feel like I can't take a break.
Originally this was going to be the first game of May, but I started it on the 28th. The plan was to get through at least half of it one day, finish out the main quest line (outside of beating the game) the next day, and then find anything missing for 100% and defeat the final boss on the 1st. But since a couple of Game Trials became available for the first week of May, I figured if I wanted to play both, I'd need to just wrap up Imp of the Sun earlier. And so I did.
- I wrote a 10 Favorite Video Games Songs list. Inspired by watching My Retro Life's Top 10 Nostalgic Video Game Songs That Make Me Tear Up. It's not the first top 10 video game song video, but it was the latest that made me think of my own. Shortly after watching the video, I started to compile the list. Then I looked up YouTube links. I wrote a short description for each (1-3 sentences) because I didn't want to write about the history of it. At some point I realized I picked 11. Looked at the list and found one I could move to be an honorable mention...and then added another honorable mention. I wasn't sure how to order them as a top 10, so I figured to not list them in any order at all. Not from least favorite to most favorite, not alphabetically, nothing. The main change was that every other one had lyrics. I knew which one I wanted to start the list and which to end it with. And I'm satisfied with the list because of the variety of it and the fact that not many other songs were coming immediately to mind. I didn't want to spend any more time searching through playlists because if they didn't pop in my head yet then it must not be in that list. So many genres and series were left out, but I'm okay with that. This is my list...and I don't know if I'll share it.
I can think of a small handful of people that would be interested. Even then, that small handful might not even see it because of their time spent on social media or not following me on specific social media platforms. The simple fact that I haven't posted it yet is telling of how I feel about posting it. At the very least, I will post it in this blog, but not yet. I'll revisit the list here and there and if I still like it, it will be posted.
WORK=========================
- Sister location with KS (04.04). There was only one booking when we started. She asked if she could invite a friend to get a discount to play. I said sure, but suggested her friend play our newest room so that I could as well and get my training in. They were cool with it. While waiting for her, we cleaned. The new room is really good. For it being her first time and me not always being the strongest player, we figured out a good chunk while asking for help when needed. There was one puzzle we weren't sure of and actually took time after to figure out why it worked the way it did. We did figure it out and it absolutely made sense. We explained it to KS as she also wasn't too sure about the puzzle, but now she understands why customers have troubles with it and now knows how to go about it. Cheers to her friend for going to get us shakes and fries after. Double cheers for not knowing about the happy hour discount making shakes $2 off. Yay for saving money. The rest of the day was a slow one with 4 teams (including us). But we stayed the whole night because the last team booked one of the last slots. Other than that, good day.
- Had a manager meeting (04.02). It's been a while since one of those happened. Went over a lot of information (pricing, puzzle changes, etc). We all have things to do and it's good to have us all on the same page. We'll have more of these possibly on a monthly basis to check-in to make sure things are good or being addressed.
- Solo day (04.03). I did text HL that she was on-call, but she missed it and came in when she was supposed to. She had no tasks to do so she was fine with going home since she came back from out of town. While listening to podcasts and playing Kpop on one of our lobby screens, I got a lot done. Found previous year's Easter stuff, looked at new prop/puzzle changes (did not set them up), started a spreadsheet (task from the meeting), replied to voicemails, fixed an issue with one of our prop vents, order things we needed, answered phone calls, restocked cups, threw out trash, and facilitated for the one and only team we had at the end of the night (I probably did more). The team did show up early so I was able to shut down and leave an hour earlier.
- Slow Friday (04.04). I had things to do, but the others didn't. And while I knew this from previous experiences, if you don't ask/tell them to do things, they won't and that's a shame. I did have to emphasize that they needed to pay attention to this one team as I spoke with them before they started and they were escape room enthusiasts. To the point that their daughter opened up an escape room in a different city and were actually in line to open up our current business many years ago. Apparently me throwing in a curse word didn't startle the staff. Just snarky remarks like always of why "it's their fault" or "they should have known better" etc. Just do your job. I was expecting a bad review on my way home, but thankfully that didn't happen. But that might speak more to how I have little to no faith in some of our employees.
It may not look like I was doing much, but I was working on the spreadsheet I started the day before to find businesses around both locations and collect their contact information. I did this at HER and couldn't find that spreadsheet to use as a template, but it wasn't overly complicated. It just sucks when Google Maps isn't correct with information or even locations. But this will be a continuous project I can always add to whenever I have nothing else to do.
And since the day was slow, I left 3 hours early to no one's objection.
- First Saturday of the month (04.05). It wasn't super busy to the point that I could work on other things (editing the lobby video, editing a new business card, etc). Three teams I can speak on. The first was a birthday party for a girl. The mom is partially deaf and I saw the daughter and husband signing for her. I did let them know I have a cousin who is also deaf, but I only remember how to sign "I'm sorry" causing them to laugh. At some point the mom came to me and asked a few things. Then when she asked to buy shirts and pay, I typed out a reply to her as she was paying letting her know that the price was for everything and that it was all done. That made her feel really good. I did the same later when I gave them our business card letting her and the husband know what I normally say to all customers. She was again very appreciative of me typing out the message. I asked how to sign "thank you" and they showed me along with "you're welcome."
The second team was midway through the day. 3 couples for a date night. They were not shy about how they acted with each other and it was easy to tell they had some drinks beforehand. And of course they bought more drinks before going in. They were easy to crack jokes with, but they were also good about clamming up and paying attention when we had to do our hosting tasks. And to our surprise, they were functional drunks and did very well in the room and escaped with close to 10 minutes remaining. They were also excited to take their team photo. One of them took our "I was just moral support" poster to hold and covered the M to the delight of everyone. I gave him a fist bump on his creativity, ha.
The final team of the night booked the last spot of the day. 4 out of 6 were early while the last 2 were about 10 minutes late. But they were cool and I could also crack jokes with them too. They were confident in their skills and joked they'd be out in 10 minutes. They did really well in the room and made it out with 20 minutes remaining. They asked if they broke the record and I poorly explained that they did (compared their team's time with the previous record holder's time). I mentioned how I legit was working on the leaderboard today and will now have to edit it to put them on it. Outside of the bad explanation, they were a great team to end the night on.
PS: Sold a lot of shirts on this day (5-10). Probably the most I've sold in months.
- Half day with Agent Ocean (04.09). He meant to put me on-call, but I was already on my way when he texted me. So we split the shift; I opened, he closed. He was there the entire time since he was also on the way, but he just chilled while I did my thing (proofreading, etc). After the one booking I had finished, I clocked out around 6PM. He clocked in about half an hour beforehand. There were two more bookings for him to handle. I went out and got us some Dutch Bros. The worker that previously came to us suggested something off the menu last time I went and he was there to remind me of what it was; white chocolate + macadamia cookie shake. It was good, but very strong. I pretty much babied it the whole night and didn't even finish the last fifth of it. Dropped off Agent Ocean's drink, I chilled for another hour and did some stuff off the clock, and once both teams were in their rooms, I left early.
- Had a solo day after putting HL on-call (04.10). There was only one booking made for the day and it was towards the end of the day. I did keep myself busy as I always have stuff to do. I ended up proofreading two rooms, I restocked our drinks, I did remote game mastering for the first time (sister location had a big corporate team, I did what I could with the bad lag), I showed a lady the VIP room for her daughter's birthday the coming weekend, and I ended up rescheduling the only booking we had (their baby-sitter cancelled). Even though I could have kept doing stuff like more proofreading or my spreadsheet project, I was ready to leave and left around 7:30PM.
Since I was out early, I figured I would buy more Rogaine at CVS that was on the way home. I remembered I had some coupons close to expiring so why not save on it. It's awesome that the coupons stack. Not only did I have one for $7 off Rogaine specifically, but I also had one for $6 off and 40% off. Paid less than half of the normal price which was already reduced by another 20%.
- I had to ask for a last minute day off (04.11). Spoke with Agent Ocean about it the day before, but my dad needed the car to do some work and it would be during my time at work. The time I would need to leave, anyone else I knew would be at work still. I checked JW's car rentals and it wasn't bad, but the cost would have been too much. Same for Uber, which I had never personally called before. Had to make an account to look at the price estimates. Basically the cost of taking an Uber to and from work would have been equivalent to my pay that day. I didn't mind the day off, but it was a rare time where things my dad needed to do and my work schedule didn't work out and I couldn't find a way to get to work.
- Kind of a busy Saturday (04.12). Two parties (I came in halfway through the first one). The second one was with the woman who did a site visit earlier in the week. The theme of the party was puppy adoption. After doing the escape rooms, they went into the VIP room where they got to eat and take turns picking a stuffed dog and then taking some beads to make a collar for their name. Secretly I was hoping they'd have at least one left for us to have, which they did. It was a dalmation. I asked the birthday girl to bring it to HL so she and her can make a bead necklace and name the dog. HL went with Ollie. I sent a photo to RB with a backstory to hopefully post on socials (hasn't happened as of typing this). Thought it would be cute and a way to hype up doing birthdays at our venue. They also gave us some cake. I set mine aside as I was busy doing other stuff. Only when I got home did I realize I never ate my slice of cake. Either someone else did or it was thrown away. In either option, someone could have asked if I wanted it or not. That's all.
- After 4 days off I had a solo day (04.17). I came in an hour early as management was asked to be part of an online meeting. If I didn't leave early, I'd be in my car during the duration of the meeting. But I set up at work and one of the top guys met me for the first time, yay. It was interesting, I learned a few things, etc. During that time, HL texted me asking if she was on-call again. I usually message staff before I leave work, but I forgot due to the meeting. At the time we only had 3 bookings and I figured I could handle it myself so I put her on-call.
And then I had many tasks to do. First I set up the rooms for the day. Then I spent a long time with voicemails and phone calls as they weren't tended to since possibly Monday (when we're normally closed). Then I was finishing preparation for a lot of our Easter plans when the ladies texted about the actual plans for Easter. I was literally almost done and then I needed to do much more. Some were easy (gathering prizes), some took a few minutes (creating gift card codes and making sure they worked), but reopening all the eggs to write letters on the slips included to indicate the prize a customer got took a good half hour even though it was an easy task. But there was an hour that I had to tend to two of the three teams that were scheduled close together (the other called to reschedule). I thought I could do some of the Easter tasks during the sessions, but I really had to pay attention to both teams. Neither were problematic, but I couldn't divide my attention moreso. There was a bit of relief after one team was done, but then we had a walk-in (a couple that's been married for 9 years and have never done an escape room before). I pulled up the other game in the lobby while tending to the walk-ins (explaining the room themes, processing their booking, etc). Shortly after, the other team was done and I exited them out. Then I had to set up the third room that wasn't any of the previously used rooms. Sent them in after about 5 minutes. During their session was when I did the egg task and it did take up the majority of the time they were in there, but I could easily divide my attention to both.
Once they were done, I locked the doors, shut off the majority of the lights, and proceeded to open reset four rooms. I texted Agent Ocean letting him know I was done with pretty much everything Easter related minus a coupon I made. but I still had to reset the rooms and take photos and send a message to the team about Easter. If I had to finish the coupon, I would be at work way later. He said not to worry about the coupon. Sigh of relief. Proceeded to reset the rooms and get the message out to the team. I unfortunately still stayed later than my shift (45 minutes extra) since the last team got out close to 9PM. It should not have taken me that long, but I definitely felt low on energy and my back started to hurt a lot. I literally sat on the floor typing out the message sent out to the team (by morning, less than half the team read it...). While I was expecting to be busy throughout the day with my tasks, I didn't picture myself being so ready to be done for the day.
- Semi busy Saturday (04.19). The Easter egg hunt started on Friday, but I got to see how it was received on this day. It was kind of lukewarm. I think it's because some prizes aren't as exciting compared to others. While the customers don't know what they get, I could see the looks of disappointment for getting only a koozie. But when they get something good like a gift card, they obviously light up. One customer almost missed out on a gift card because she said she doesn't do reviews, but a family member convinced her to do it. When I gave her the gift card she couldn't believe it and was definitely excited. But I also saw that the Easter idea was lukewarm for some of the staff. I mentioned less than half the team read my message about it and it was obvious some still missed it as they would forget to hide an egg (and not care) or not know what to do when a customer presented them the egg. It made me feel like all my hard work was wasted. At least the customers are liking it.
A nice positive at the end of the night was getting a slice of KA's birthday cake her mom brought. Last week someone ate my slice of cake. This time I was offered a piece and it was really good (strawberry ice cream cake).
- We decided to be open Easter Sunday (04.20). I think we were closed in the past, but we wanted to see if there was any business at either location. In the end, the main location had 4 bookings while the sister location had double. Underwhelming unfortunately. It's been a long time since I worked on a Sunday. I made sure to work on other projects while there was time to do so.
- Went to the sister location for work on this Thursday (04.24). Agent Ocean texted me while I was in line for the Switch 2 saying he was under the weather. Thankfully my time at GameStop ended when it did because I thought I would be late since I was a little out of the way from the sister location. If I were still going to the main location, I would have been early (was planning to try a new boba place). But I ended up being right on time. Worked with KM, but it was a slow day. Other than rain and traffic making it hard for the few customers to arrive on time, nothing special to speak of other than working at that location. I ended up proofreading a couple of the rooms that aren't at the main.
- Was almost called off on a slow Friday (04.25). Agent Ocean texted a few of us asking if anyone wanted the day off. I texted him separately saying I would take off if the other two didn't respond, which I expected them not to (they didn't). But I quickly texted him again asking if I could go to the sister location to proofread more rooms since they were also slow. He approved and I left shortly after. If I were to have the same scheduled hours, I would have been half an hour late due to traffic at that time. GPS thankfully took me around through a few less traffic-y areas, but there traffic was unavoidable regardless.
I arrived to the surprise of those there (had not seen them in a while), let them know what I was doing there, and met the new trainee (she's really good). I thought I could knock out the three rooms that were different from the main location, but only ended up doing two. The first one took over an hour to do. The amount of text surprised me. I had to look up a lot of cities that I wasn't familiar with either to make sure that they were correct or even real. I was almost done with the second room, but CG let me know that someone booked it and it was happening soon (they ended up being a few minutes late). So I had to take a few photos of the last few text props and analyze them on a PC (I tried on my phone and it wasn't convenient). Other than doing proofreading, I was pretty much out of their way. There were only a few times I helped with lobby duties and resetting at the end of the night. I was trying to leave by 9PM, but stayed locked in until 9:30 and ended up staying and talking until 10PM.
And much like on the way to work, GPS took me on different routes home. I wasn't familiar with the main exit and the surrounding areas. It took maybe 20 minutes before I could recognize where I was. Still hit some traffic due to an accident (car was flipped over, everyone was safe) and late night construction.
- Busy Saturday (04.26). It's been a bit since that's happened. Had some nice teams that were very talkative. Got a few reviews at the end of the night (didn't have to lay it on thick). Another team had a player that reminded me of a friend of mine that was into escape rooms too (I mentioned that I'll message her and even gave them a free player card). But unfortunately the day ended on a low note. Last team had an issue with one of the screens not displaying properly. When I went in to fix it, the team started to pick at everything they had complaints about. Even when everything was fixed and they were solving the last puzzle, they were mad that they didn't understand which code they needed to use (even though they're all labeled). They did escape with two minutes left, but they kept complaining about things. I asked if they wanted to still take the photo and they did not. I could tell they were done and wanted to leave. Talking to the staff, they said they were actually nice at the beginning and during the game. My time with them wasn't pleasant at all and it was definitely set off by the glitch that happened. What a cruddy way to end the day. To think I was actually planning to leave 30 minutes early.
- Last day of work in April was busy and simple (04.30). Just myself and Agent Ocean so you know we had it down. Four teams total, we talked about a lot of stuff work related, I got a project I wanted done (hopefully can be more consistent with it being monthly), etc. EZPZ way to end the month.
- Special mention of getting a grandslam set of reviews. Within a week, I had my name mentioned in reviews on Google, Tripadvisor, and Yelp. Not sure if that's the first time that has ever happened, but I'm sure it's the first time I've had it happen for me.
ETC=========================
- Rogaine update; other than buying another bottle (yay for coupons), I'm continuing my use and application of it. I'm really not sure if it's working. I do still lose little baby hairs, but I don't see the spots filling in. In the right light and angle, it looks like it's growing because there were a few times I thought it was really doing its thing when it was back to "normal" the next day. I'm just going to keep doing it and hope to see more results in months 3-4. Remember, I'm supposed to apply twice a day, but only do it once so the time frame for results needs to be doubled from 3 to 6.
- Red Velvet may still be a group of 5, but Wendy and Yeri did not renew their contracts with SM (04.03). It's nothing new and has happened with many groups, but it's still crazy news to read when things like this happen. Especially for a group like Red Velvet that has been around since the third generation. Hoping the best for all.
- Pop Culture Hyperfixations is a new YouTube channel I discovered. It had a video recommended after one finished and it was a Saved By The Bell video. Gave it a watch and instantly subscribed. Watched a few more videos based on American Gladiators and The Simpsons and knew it was a good one to recommend. Shared a few videos on social media and in text groups. That's how you know I like it.
- BabyVoX - Look Me Up
More BabyVoX content, please. I've seen other groups do this so seeing BabyVoX go through their profiles and history was heartwarming. And while I knew they were releasing newer versions of their classics, I didn't know it was already out. Immediately added them to my playlists. I checked if there were physical versions made and apparently not. I saw that there was a possibility that only a small country got them, but I can't find that article anymore. Checked around different online stores and found nothing. That's okay. If it happens, I'll get it. Otherwise I'm content with the music itself.
Listening to the album that day, it was wonderful to hear. The maturation of their voices, wow. You can hear it in everyone, but MiYoun's voice makes me speechless. She knows her range, she knows how to conserve herself, and she knows how to let it flow naturally. All of the re-recordings made me smile. It's nostalgic and new at the same time. Listening to Missing You made me emotional. Thank you, BabyVoX.
- Felt off almost all month. I think I was okay for maybe the first week. Outside of my gaming schedule, a lot of things didn't go as planned. Some were minor things, some were big things. But I think a lot of it boiled down to me feeling more lonely than normal. That may have been the reason I watched reactions to the endings of Final Fantasy X and Rakuen.
Adding to that would be watching a series of pregnancy reveals. I did enjoy watching them as some were very creative and silly with how they did the reveals. But my thoughts were "when am I going to get the chance to do something like that." And towards the end of the month I also saw videos of wedding proposals. I've been a part of making a handful happen for strangers in my life, but "when am I going to get the chance to do something like that." Yes, I'm still lonely and it's getting tougher to cope with.
That's a wrap on April 2025. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
