November 2025 Entry:
Lots of activities and lots of work. I'm tired.
MISC=========================
- Sanic Cooking Stream happened (11.01). It was an unlock during a series of G's streams (I think a G-Con subathon). I was invited to go, but I declined since it was going to be on a Saturday. And then that week's schedule came out and I wasn't on the schedule for either location that day. I messaged G and I was added to the list of guests. It was myself, G, Rannchan, Kai, Triple-S, and Foximus Prime. Messages were going back and forth about getting ingredients and stuff. I made a donation to help them purchase rather than me buying so I won't end up buying the wrong thing.
The day of, there was a lot of preparations in the set up. I did what I could in terms of moving things around, setting up mics and cameras, hooking stuff up, etc. The original start time was noon, but it was actually around 1PM because of all the set up. Not the worst thing as Triple-S was able to join before everything started instead of popping in as it was in progress. The streamers featured were G, Rannchan, Kai, and Foximus Prime. Myself and Triple-S were off-screen to only appear to taste test. But we appeared on camera more often. He helped with food preparation and I was taking pictures throughout. I originally tried to hide myself, but later didn't care. The only big issue that happened was the original prepping of the chili as there was a lot of smoke that formed. I eventually opened the back door to let it out, but almost all of us would take time to step out and breathe. Other than that, cooking went well.
The food that was made included: (all rated out of 5 and averaged)
Pure Hydrocity = 2.8
Soleanna Special = 4.3
The Garlic Collector = 4.3 (my favorite)
Chao Rush = 2
Perfect Note (4 tasters) = 4.75
The Perfect Chili Dog (4 tasters) = 3
Gardon's Scones = 3.6
A Welcome Warmth = 4.3
This did take longer than expected, but it went well. No issues with stream tech (had to always tap the fridge to keep chat up, but all streams didn't drop). All food was prepared (chili took the longest at 4 hours and that's what we started with). At some point during the stream, Foximus Prime's friend who brought her there (was chilling in the living room working on their own stuff) had to leave early (feed his dogs) and this was around one hour before the chili was done. I originally offered to take her home just in case something did come up and here it was. I agreed and we moved stuff from his car to mine before he headed out and the stream continued. He...seemed off. Even though we had met before, he said it was nice to meet us. I've only met him once, but he's met G multiple times. Plus he seemed grumpy and even left his food trash on the floor of the living room. If there was any downside to the day, it was him.
Once everything was done, we started to wrap up everything. Things were cleaned, tech was unhooked and packed up, and things were returned in place. G rode with Foximus Prime and I and we dropped them off first. She was a bit away, but I sort of knew that ahead of time, but it was similar to if I were going to work at the sister location (just a different branch off point). And I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't willing to. It was actually our first time hanging out together without anyone so we got to learn a lot about each other the whole ride there. Topics went all over the place, which we were surprised about. She said what I've heard many times "you're easy to talk to." When we finally got to her place, I helped bring all her stuff in, briefly met her family, said our byes, and then it was a one hour trip back home (similar to the sister location as I mentioned, but a different branch off point). I got home a little before midnight. Good stuff.
I accidentally left my sunglasses at Kai's. I didn't realize it until the next day. Messaged Kai, they found them on Sunday, and I picked them up on Monday after work.
Sanic Cooking Stream 2 in the future? We shall see.
- Got my haircut in the morning (11.03). Originally it was scheduled for 8:30AM, but it got switched to 9AM a couple days beforehand, which worked out even better. We greeted each other and caught up (family, Kpop Demon Hunters, work, etc). It's always nice. Plus we realized I had been going to her for almost 20 years now so we've been around each other during the ups and the downs. As I was leaving, she asked if I liked peanut butter flavored things. I responded that I do and I like sweets in general. She hands me a bag full of candy. I thought she wanted me to take a few, but she said I can have the whole bag, ha. Very sweet of her. I counted them at home and there were 60 pieces of candy. This will be slowly eaten (at least one a day).
- After work, I headed out for a Friendsgiving event (11.08). It was also a White Elephant event...and also a surprise birthday for DW. Met some people again that were there for the murder-mystery party a couple years ago as well as a few other new (to me) mutuals. Good conversations and great food (all home made). We cut the birthday cake at some point and then it was White Elephant.
It was my third time participating in a White Elephant event. Other than the "two steals per gift" and only choosing to pick or steal during your turn, the gift rule was nothing more than $15. Remember those extra blind bags I got from GameStop from September? Together they equaled $11, ha. There were a variety of gifts with only a candle showing up twice. I was sitting next to DW and their first pick was a Snackle Winnie The Pooh. I was the first to steal, ha. Five turns later, it was stolen from me by SK. I took my new turn to steal what was next to me, which was a pair of gold sunglasses, a gold bracelet with diamond studded dollar sign, a gold bracelet, and two gold rings with diamond studded dollar signs. I mainly did that so that the person next to me could have another turn and I couldn't see anyone else wanting it. I put them on immediately, ha. So that did mean I did not choose a gift at any point and only did steals. There was one extra gift total because SK bought two. The final gift (mine) was decided to go to DW since it was their birthday. In the end, it was funny that we both ended up with what each other brought, ha.
The rest of the night consisted of multiple conversations as we all broke off into different groupings. The main talk that involved everyone was about celebrating BR and SK's 10th wedding anniversary next year. Crazy that so much time has flown by. Other than that, SK did ask if I wanted to give the Winnie The Pooh Snackle to her daughter, to which she slowly came down the stairs to receive. But we did bond as she was very delighted by the gift and showed it off to everyone...and then abandoned it within minutes. As guests started to leave, a few photos were taken (the ones I posted were after a large chunk left). But SK pulled me aside asking if I wanted the Snackle since I was the one who originally showed the most interest in it since I stole it. I said no at first, but she insisted since her daughter has already forgotten it and won't remember it, ha. So I walked away with two gifts, yay. Great way to end the night.
Apologies to my cousin who reached out a few days prior about their family being in town for a while. There was a possibility I could have gone to both events, but they were both an hour in the opposite direction. Plus the family plans did not have a definitive time. In the end, they showed up around 1:30PM from Florida and I was already at work. The meal portion would have been over and the place they were staying at was even farther. They were in town for a cruise and wouldn't be sticking around town much even when they returned. It sucks since I haven't seen these family members in over a decade. We tried, but it wasn't going to work. They also understood that I already made plans and that the planning was last minute. Perhaps next time.
- After visiting a friend during their break, I tried out Tap House 88 (11.09). It was close by and it's also been a while since I've tried a new (to me) boba place. Got a green apple slush. Drink was good. Much like another place, the service was slow. There was only a family of four before me and they only got drinks. I think my total wait time was 10 minutes. Good quality, slow service.
- It is hard to believe that it has been 20 years since Eddie Guerrero passed away (11.13).
- A friend was passing through town and asked to hang out last minute (11.16). A short visit to Boba Island (first time for me) to catch up and drink. They had a peach lemonade and a passion fruit lemonade available so I asked if they could mix it. They did with a small upcharge much like other places that are cool with mixing things. It was fairly good, especially the big chunks of peach.
- Found out that a few friends lost their jobs (11.18). Won't go into details, but I hope you all are okay.
- Toonami Abridged | Sailor Moon (11.19). This was something I didn't know I needed. Can't wait for more.
- Watched Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (11.01-11.28). Echoing what I've said online. I liked the first half of the second half. The first half did more sentimental retrospection. Those didn't stop completely in the second half, but there was more of a shift to introducing new characters and a little more action. Nothing wrong with a little more action, but having more mages added to the cast and disregarding Stark was something I wasn't too thrilled about. I was worried as the episodes were dwindling down that things might get rushed or left unresolved, but I found out there is a season 2 on the horizon so things can be expanded on then. I would recommend this one. Special thanks to WR for recommending this to me.
- Late night meeting with a friend. Got some boba at a new place neither of us had tried (Bobo Tea). Got an Oreo smoothie and we caught up. Glad that things are okay for them.
https://www.threads.com/@wingedvox/post/DRtMYUMDs8F
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. 19 this month with a few left for next month. Felt like there were more ups than usual. Out of the 9 ups, I added Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit, GIGASWORD, and Twilight Monk to my wish list. Onimusha 2 was already on my wish list, but I'm waiting for at least 50% off before I get it.
There was one small issue with the Threads thread as it seemed we hit a threshold of how many posts can be in a thread, which was close to 100. Basically the latest link wouldn't open so I would have to go to the original post from months ago and scroll through them all to continue adding new posts. Thankfully it resolved itself after a couple of days and resumed like normal.
- My copy of Gradius Origins arrived (11.02). I don't know when I plan to play this as of now. Thankfully compared to a few other collections, the number of games and the time spent for each game won't be incredibly long. Maybe it can be a one-off. We shall see.
- Picked up my copy of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment after work (11.06). Traffic at that time made it a 90 minute drive. But the newer staff greeted me and got what I needed ready. Along with Age of Imprisonment I collected the latest two amiibo; Samus and Samus & Vi-O-La from Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. I also pre-ordered the game and the Meta Knight amiibo for Kirby Air Riders. I wanted to also reserve the three Monster Hunter Stories 3 amiibo, but they weren't available. They're in the system, but not reservable. That does suck as other retailers don't even have it listed. Hopefully it becomes available again otherwise the search might be rough.
amiibo posts from now on will simply be the counter and the name. I felt it some time ago that trying to come up with a caption wasn't fun. Plus I don't want to keep saying X amount of amiibo left to collect since that can keep changing. But if there is a period where there aren't any being made, I will once again claim to have collected them all.
- Silt was a thumbs up from a Demo Showcase Short (11.05-11.06). Almost two years later (played the demo 11.24.23. All the positives and negatives I made back then I would still agree with. The underwater black and white aesthetic does give you the sense of dread as you swim around. Possessing different creatures is interesting, but there's not much overall. The puzzles are well designed, but can be hard to execute as you naturally move slowly. Retrying or dying and going through the slow process over and over does make it feel like a slog especially in the latter areas. And...the ending was a little underwhelming. It's not a long game at around 3 hours depending on if a puzzle stumps you. Originally it's $15, but I got it on sale for 75% off, making it only $3.75. It's not for everyone. If you're slightly curious, try the demo. And if you want to buy it after trying the demo, wait for a sale.
- You adorable! Elfin Clay 2 was the free-to-play game of the month (11.07). Straight up, pass on this. If it wasn't for the technical issues, the lack of players online makes it not worth your time. You can play the mini-games by yourself...but why?
- Got to try the Kirby Air Riders: Global Test Ride (11.09). Going in, I kind of knew how I would feel about this. It controls well, it looks gorgeous, and is fun. But it's not for me. I know City Trial gets praise for what it is and I totally understand why, I do think it's not balanced when you spend 5 minutes collecting power-ups to use in a 1 minute game. Felt that way about the Smash Bros version of it. So my couple of hours with the Test Ride was enough and I didn't try to get in on the other times available.
- ARTDINK GAME LOG was announced (11.11). The current plan is to bring Tail of the Sun and Aquanauts Holiday to Switch. Tail of the Sun is what drew me in because of the classic Game Informer Super Replay. While I do own a copy (bought it for cheap after watching the Super Replay), I never played it. Now I will. No release date for the US, but I'll be keeping my eyes out for it.
- Chibi-Robo!: Plug Into Adventure was the GameCube NSO/NC game of the month (11.09-11.12). My only experience with Chibi-Robo was with Zip Lash and that's only because it came packed with an amiibo (one of the best looking amiibo). I've heard a lot of good stuff about this game over the years and I get it. Other than a timer, it's very chill. Go clean stuff, collect things, finish quests, and repeat. It does suck that certain things happen only during day or night so you'd have to wait and do stuff in the meantime in order to advance certain quests or even the story. If I didn't look up how to continue the story, I would have been randomly cleaning stuff. If I played this back in the day, I would have made the effort to 100% the game as it's not particularly daunting. Purely time consuming. Good game overall.
- Picked up the new Kirby Air Riders amiibo (11.21). While I don't keep boxes anymore, it was a little disappointing to see the boxes damaged. Other than that, these are big pieces. I didn't know that Kirby could rotate. That makes me wish Bandana Waddle Dee could as well. I unfortunately did drop the Warp Star piece when taking it out of the box. It still seems to function. Speaking of function, they only work when paired and not separately, but only the character pieces hold the name.
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment was great (11.13-11.23). Much like previous Hyrule Warriors games, it was easy for me to get caught up in doing what needed to be done. It was a familiar flow of doing the story, but then going after side quests that popped up in between those beats. The most that popped up was 70+. However, I only did the ones that I could do rather than hunt for supplies needed to unlock them. In the end, I was still missing 166 quests, ha. I thought I had done a lot, but I didn't know the actual number until I looked at all the stats after beating the game.
I only cared a little about the story as I didn't really care for Tears of The Kingdom, but I like seeing how things lead to those events. But the build up to the large scale battles was done well. Speaking of those large battles, there were so many enemies on screen at once without an ounce of slow down (unless done on purpose via special attacks). I didn't realize it until late into the game when there were so many. Very impressive.
This isn't the first Zelda game I've played and beaten in November around Thanksgiving time. I can't remember all, but the original Skyward Sword was probably the first. And I played Age of Calamity 5 years ago and the DLC 4 years ago on stream. While I thought to possibly do more quests before beating the game to match up with those previous streams, I was content with wrapping it up when I did. I don't need DLC for the game, but I would gladly welcome it.
- Watched all of Dispatch (11.12). I tried to keep up with streamers playing it, but it reminded me of why I didn't do that many years ago (their pace, talking over scenes, etc). So watching it all in one sitting (and the alternate endings later) was satisfying. This would have been something I would have played myself if it were on Switch 2, but part of me kind of liked watching it.
- Luigi's Mansion was the extra GC NC game of the month (11.24-11.27). If I didn't beat Age of Imprisonment as early as I did, I wouldn't have considered playing anything else this month. I knew this one was short enough that it could be knocked out in 1-2 sittings. But since work was heavy Thanksgiving week, it took longer than expected where a couple of days were only about an hour of progression. The majority of the game time was the first day.
It's been 24 years, but it felt familiar. It may lack the modern polish of the later titles, but I never found it to be bad. It was my favorite of the series until the third game. I only had to look up a few things online a couple of times and the final fight took a few tries to win. Other than that, I did everything except receive the best possible mansion, but I've never been able to get the highest scores for this series. Great game to revisit.
- And BATTLETOADS was the extra NES NSO game of the month (11.27). Had plenty of time since there were no Thanksgiving plans. Since it and other NSO/NC games got released this month and I played the SNES NSO Battletoads games In September, I figured this would be a good time to do it since it's a short game. It's short if you have no troubles with it, which everyone will have troubles with, ha. While the Turbo Tunnel gets the most flack because it's early in the game, I don't mind it and always feel it's possible. I don't feel that way about Clinger Wingers. Even though it's a short stage compared to the SNES version, that doesn't mean it's any easier. I tried my best, but eventually looked up any strategies online (if any). The common answer I saw was pausing before each turn to anticipate and press the new direction you need to go so you won't lose speed. It works. Thankfully I stumbled upon it because that's the one I spent the most time on. Not that everything else was easy. Rewinds were used so much, ha. But the deed is done. I don't think I'll ever touch this game again.
WORK=========================
- 11 hour Sunday (11.02). I don't normally work Sundays, but so many staff members from both locations asked for time off. There were four of us at the main venue (myself, CP, AH, CS) and only two at the sister location (Agent Ocean and TJ). CP would remote for them when needed, which was thankfully less than half of the day. Not much to note other than we had two parties (no tips), the team that did really well the past Tuesday returned for another round (almost broke the record, but hit a big roadblock), and we wrapped up around 10PM. It was enough to keep us busy throughout the day with enough room to breathe. Shout outs to the team that helped keep things running smoothly.
- Monday was a horrible day (11.03). There were a decent amount of bookings, but there was a point where I was falling behind especially with the one room that had three bookings one after the other. KH was to be remote and when I asked for them to clock in, I learned that she didn't have it set up yet. She texted Agent Ocean and the ladies and in the end wasn't able to get it to work. Called up CG at the sister location and they were able to watch a game for a bit while I tended to customers and reset rooms. KH did volunteer to come in, but by that time I was fine and didn't need CG to watch anymore...but then tech issues happened in one of our rooms.
One, they weren't a great group of kids. They didn't try their best to solve things and would be reckless by throwing around some of the smaller props at each other. Then at one point the timer went back to the desktop and none of them said anything. I only realized it when I was trying to send them a clue and no one reacted to the chime (sent it multiple times). And then they finally shut off a computer that is important to the end of the game. It's not the first time it happened, but for some reason the password wasn't working. At that moment, I couldn't think of an alternate solution or even fix it with enough time while handling other teams. So I offered for them to end the game and give them a voucher for 5 they could use in the future. I asked CG to watch the one remaining game as I worked on fixing the computer. HL showed up shortly after and took over watching the final team in play at that time. I texted the higher ups about the password...and the password didn't change. I might have been a letter off on the keyboard. The only reason I knew it was still working is because I turned off the hide option so I could see what was being typed. Had I just done that, the team could have finished...but I honestly think they won't come back as this group of kids didn't seem like they were having fun to begin with. Yay for it still working, but I was burnt out. My posture was slumped, I was moving slow, and took my time doing what needed to be done at that time.
Before leaving, I took down the Halloween decorations and put them away (missed one small set of spider webs that I found two days later). I left about half an hour early...I think. That's how out of it I was.
And then later at night, I got some texts from Agent Ocean about HL being frustrated about the changes I made in our clues. I was already feeling better after that bad shift and now I had to defend myself about this. I was shaking. At that moment, I let Agent Ocean know about how the day went and how I wasn't at my best. And now this. It was hard to enjoy whatever type of media I was trying to consume to drown out thoughts. I just couldn't believe how poorly things went and how I performed that day.
- Special day this Wednesday (11.05). It didn't start that way because Agent Ocean asked if I could pick up an order from Sam's. Not the worst thing, since it was pretty much on the way. The traffic was bad, but expected. When I got there, almost all the curbside parking spots were full. I did find one (4) and let Agent Ocean know I was there so he could message them that I was waiting. And wait I did...for 20 minutes. Shout out to Agent Ocean for clocking me in early because of the pick up. It was still another 20 minutes getting to work so I arrived a little before 5:30PM.
But the main reason this was a special day was because we were going to film things. Someone reached out to us on Instagram about creating Reels in exchange for playing a room or two. Went back and forth with the owners and they were okay with it. In the end, the agreement was they could play two rooms if they make a separate Reel for each. I prepped the rooms and waited for them to arrive. Originally I thought it was just going to be the main person I was contacted by and her two friends she also mentioned. But two more guys showed up. Not the worst thing, but I would have liked to know that ahead of time. We discussed a few things ahead of time such as bringing extra clothes to change into so it looked like they were there separate days, what they could highlight (drinks, party room, etc), what not to film (answers, what's revealed when opening certain compartments, etc). They actually were very good in both rooms only needing minimal help.
In between games, we talked to get to know each other. I told my usual story of how long I've been in this business, The Scarlet Scam, etc. They mentioned where they (all but one) worked and it was at a Korean BBQ that me and HeXagon (especially them) go to. If they weren't managers, they worked there as servers. In hindsight, I did think one looked familiar and it's a high possibility it was her. But once they knew I had been there, they said I can have a discount whenever I go. I just need to mention who I am and where I work and/or to ask for one of them and they would return the favor, rad. Once things were done, we talked a bit more about the turnaround time and possibly doing this for the sister location if the owners like what they made.
Outside of them, there were two other groups. They were both great teams and didn't need that much help. Closed up for the night a little after 10PM.
- Had my evaluation (11.06). I was confident going in thinking I knew what my average score was going to be and still felt that way afterwards. They did bring up a few things I need to improve on such as using my authoritative voice more and to not worry about what others may think of me (don't let that stop me from doing anything). Plus to think of more ways to bump up numbers such as reviews and replays. Afterwards, they did tell me about another location that is actually near where I live. Unfortunately they aren't the owners even though they had pitched for it. They understood if I wanted to leave them for convenience, but we talked about how important loyalty is to me even citing events from the past where they made decisions and I proved my loyalty to them. Ideally, if that location needed me for a day that I wasn't working, I think it would be okay since Agent Ocean can do that for locations out of the city/state.
As for the rest of the day, there was only one team and I left at 5:10PM.
- Slow Friday (11.07). AH was back at work after the semester. Helped Agent Ocean fix the piano in one of our rooms (the sound wasn't going off and it wasn't properly saving the password). I also took the time to replace the light bulbs that were in for Halloween (I knew I missed something). Traded a shift for the following week with KH. I left at 11:10PM (one final couple that had not played an escape room before) and got home around 11:50PM.
- Opened for a slow Saturday (11.08). Agent Ocean was late to join at the beginning of the day, but there was only one team. Then nothing until 4PM where there were several teams at once. I did take the time to send off an email about old HER contacts (looked up old Bookeo emails I still had). While I was scheduled to work until 5PM (due to the Friendsgiving event), I stayed until 5:30PM because of the last team I hosted. It was a group of young girls, but it was mainly for the couple that brought them in. It was just fun riffing with them saying things like "you need to take him out on a date" even though they've been married for years, ha. Once they were done, I left shortly after to head out to the party.
- Productive Monday (11.10). There was only one booking. During that, I did an inventory count of shirts and wristbands. After the team left, I proceeded to do my part in setting up our holiday room. The team had done some of it like gathering a few of the other room's props and putting them aside while moving a few holiday items in. I did a lot of the heavy stuff which included removing server shelves, removing a cot, unplugging electronics (lights, computer, etc) that were to be removed, removing posters, and some small miscellaneous items that were in boxes and containers. One big thing I moved was a side table (tied the doors together). That and other items mentioned were placed on a simple podium with wheels and moved from the venue to next door. Inside the room already was a big shelf and I slowly tottered it across the rug from one corner to another. The largest item I moved was a fake fireplace from the lobby to the room. We didn't have a dolly hence me using the podium. Unfortunately the fireplace was too heavy for me to lift up and put on it. I could lift it up and move it, but that would have been too much. So I took our medium sized rug, placed the fireplace on it, and pulled it down the hallway to the room. It still took a lot of energy to pull it to the point that I laid down on the floor for a good minute after bringing it into the room. I moved it in place and put the rug back. It was a few minutes before I was going to clock out early, but I brought in a few more boxes and containers for the next 10 minutes before leaving around 9:15PM.
- Slow and busy Wednesday (11.12). When I showed up, I exited a team almost right away. They were a family that had visited not too long ago. They recognized me right away and it slowly registered who they were as I saw each of their faces. They were even more excited. They remembered the replay discount and wanted to play another room since it was one of the kids' birthdays. I made an error. There were 6 of them and I charged for 4 on top of giving a discount. I didn't realize that until after the mom paid and I went to prepare their room. By the time everything was ready, she handed me a tip and I mentioned how I messed up the payment to which she realized as well, but didn't say anything at first. We took care of it after their game. I asked how old the youngest was and they were of the age where a ticket didn't need to be purchased. So what I would have owed her I put towards charging one extra ticket to their second booking. But since it was discounted, we still owed them. To balance it out, they "bought" drinks. In the end, we got it down to 82 cents that they didn't need to worry about. In the end, they were glad everything worked out and that I was there. They said that when they initially showed up, they were bummed out that I wasn't there. Chalk them up to another group that wants to be there when I'm around. While we balanced out the math, I didn't mess with the numbers on the books until they left. For some odd reason, it ended up that we owed them around $3 instead. At that point I just paid that out of pocket with cash and left a large note in their booking in case there was a discrepancy.
While that team was in their second game, I was typing out notes about the Reels that were being made for us. Basically one mixed footage from both rooms they played while the other video only focused on one. I asked if they could make each Reel focus on one room instead. I messed up on my initial notes and said to "remove" the clips instead of "remove and replace" so a few edits had to happen. But in the end, they turned out great and we just needed to hammer out the release dates and edit their caption.
I typed out that there was one team that were celebrating their 9 year anniversary. The only thing I recall about that note is that I joked that I was on year 0...yeah. The last hour or so of work before leaving a little early was to remove a QR code still in the holiday room (not needed) and to prepare the locks that were needed and to put them where they were needed. As I stated at the beginning of this portion of the blog, slow (in terms of bookings), but busy (in terms of everything else).
- Somewhat busy Friday (11.14). It was myself, Agent Ocean, and AH. Other than taking care of the few teams that came through, we also concentrated on making more gift bags for the holiday room. We also got a new toilet and new faucets installed by one of the ladies' brothers (chill guy).
The biggest issue of the day was with the pizza company we order catering. There were small issues ever since they changed their website (not saving credit card information etc). But we eventually were not able to make online orders for a day out. Have to call them every time now. However, this time they said they couldn't even find our account. Not the biggest issue as we could always give all the information, but that meant we'd lose out on points for coupons/discounts. I asked for a manager, but had to wait a couple hours as they went on break. They never called back, but that's because they're constantly slammed with calls now. When I finally spoke to the manager, I let him know about the issues and that I even filed a complaint on their website. To quote the manager, "they f*cked us over" in regards to the website. Thankfully the orders got placed.
We had one team that played and saw the poster for the holiday room and wanted to play. I mentioned how the next day is the official first day of booking. The main reason was because we were missing a box that one of the ladies brought in during that team was there. After talking with Agent Ocean about it, we decided it would be okay if that team tested the room at half off. They were outside the door talking and I poked my head out and mentioned the offer and they were in. There was only one issue that was found with one of the decorations and that there was one missing. Other than that, they enjoyed the room. As I was doing my exit speech, one of them asked if I was a believer/follower. This would be the second time I've had a team talk to me about religion because they sensed something about me. I never mind talking about stuff like that. Plus the nice things they said were nice to hear. I let DW know about it and he was ecstatic.
After the last team was gone, I conducted AH's evaluation. It went rather well with nothing overly surprising from either side. Excited to see her further development on the team. Once that was over, we wrapped up our closing duties and left at 10:35PM.
- Two parties on a Saturday (11.15). I recall booking these parties over the phone so I was excited to see them come through. The first one was a group of girls that were very excited. However, things went downhill soon as the birthday girl was overly stimulated and felt a migraine coming on and left shortly after I gave my intro speech. The mom was checking to see if she could continue as she had her meds, but she also knew this would lead to vomiting and making things worse for her. So the decision was made for the mom to take the birthday girl home while the mom's sister stayed to drive the others home. In the end, Agent Ocean and I gave her a free ticket to come back some day.
In between the parties, I continued making more holiday bags and Game Mastered for a few teams before other staff members arrived. The second party was a large party. Almost as many adults as kids that were playing. They were all loud, but in that excited way of being there and having fun. The adults had plenty of drinks so that was more income for us. At one point, one of the adults accidentally walked into the glass partition door that separates the party room from the lobby. I checked on him and he was fine, but he actually moved the whole frame a few inches. They were able to move it back (he was very buff) and thankfully it wasn't damaged any further.
I left my shift right at 7PM. For some reason, I was in so much pain as the day winded down. I didn't do anything too taxing on my body so I wasn't sure what was the cause. Got home, ate dinner, took a pain pill, and went to sleep early around 10PM. Felt 80% better the next day.
- No bookings on a Monday (11.17). I did spend time replying to emails and phone calls, made some gift cards for a donation, cleaned, and prepared more holiday bags. What I did this time was actually bring all the materials into the lobby and place them in a circle as I walked around to pick and place each piece into a bag. It worked really well.
Plus this was the first time I used Netflix on my phone. I never thought of it before, but I didn't want to miss John Cena's last RAW. It was a good one. I left at 8:20PM and listened to RAW on the way home. Throwback to when I used to listen to WWE/NXT PPVs on my way home from work via the WWE Network.
- One booking on a Tuesday (11.19). The game was already in progress when I arrived at 5PM. This was actually a team that called the night prior saying that they chose the wrong day and asked to reschedule it. There was an issue with the opening video playing, but we needed to restart the system. I was their Game Master as Agent Ocean was conducting more evaluations remotely. I let him know I was going to edit/fix some of the grammar and wrong codes recently added for the holiday room.
After he left, I edited the clues, cleaned the rest of what was left on the checklist, and prepared more holiday bags. Did the same process, but I listened to episodes of Killing Voice with the volume cranked up. Since I needed to wait for some of the cleaning to dry up before putting stuff back, I left around 9:10PM.
- Agent Ocean called me in early (11.19). To be fair, he wanted to give me a couple extra hours since I only worked for three hours the night before. I had been meaning to bring that up in general as a 5-hour shift at the end of the night with zero bookings means leaving 1-2 hours early. We did have one booking when I got there. Halfway in, Agent Ocean left, but he let me know I'd be doing an interview too.
This would be my first official interview for the company. I had asked for the task a long time ago, but the most I ever did was be part of one interview with Agent Ocean, but only for a few minutes as customers arrived. While the company doesn't have a set of questions to ask, I looked up the old one used at HER along with asking for specific availability as Agent Ocean requested. The interview itself went well. The thing that stuck out to me the most was the question they asked of me, which was what advice I would give for getting hired. I gave a professional and personal answer and they really liked that. Yay for my 8-9 years of experience in this industry, ha.
During the interview, one of the ladies stopped by to drop off things and to talk for a bit. We first decided on the interviewee. While their availability was minimal, if they were willing to work every Saturday no matter what (and get more hours during the holiday season), then we can bring them on. If not, darn. She then talked to me about goings-on and worries she had. I mentioned how I gave the closer location (under different owners) more thought. I'm willing to work an extra day on a day off if they need someone and she was cool with that. Other than a few other tasks and checking the bookings for the following day, she left around 5PM.
I gave Agent Ocean my brief report on the interview, replaced light bulbs in our party room (yay, ladder), counted our wine (couldn't make the order as they were closed), and made a few more holiday bags before the last team showed up. When they did, it was a s simple surprise as it was two of their birthdays. We joked around as they got drinks and chilled before playing. They were good in the room too with only needing minimal nudges in the beginning. During their time in the room, I did have to count all the holiday bags made so far as I requested more materials since some ran out. I counted 350, but later added another 25 for customers that recently played that room. That final team had a good time, bought a hoodie, and gave me a tip, yay.
I did receive a phone call during that last team's game time. It was someone who visited the day before inquiring about the party room and prices. They asked if they could get a discount because they were on a budget. I did find one promo code that still worked and honored it for them. He needed to make sure with his wife and I told him I would call him back after the team was gone. Once the team left, I called him up and he confirmed what they wanted. I did have to call him back again as I forgot to ask what room they wanted to play. Once that was settled, I continued with my closing duties and then left around 9:10PM. I listened to more Killing Voice throughout my shift.
- Kind of a busy Friday (11.21). There were a lot of calls around the time I came in for my shift. One of them was from a very...combative talker who wanted to know how to keep getting discounts and why codes only worked once (they've been there multiple times). Even after explaining why, they said "I don't need you to explain how you do your job" or something similar and that she keeps coming back bringing new customers etc. In the end, I kept calm, but gave plenty of explanations as to why and how other customers can benefit etc. It was about a half an hour call and I'm glad I won't see them the next time they come to the venue.
Shortly after that, I got on the phone to place a wine order. I thankfully got the last person I spoke to months ago so they knew what we needed. Before I finalized it, they mentioned how reaching a payment threshold will get the wine delivered earlier. I double checked with Agent Ocean and they actually wanted to talk to them as we've been receiving partial orders at both locations lately and aren't told that. We just see that less shows up than what we ordered. So the person on the other line took note of the issues and will do their best to ensure it doesn't happen again.
After some work talk with Agent Ocean, it was determined that I would work at the sister location for Black Friday as too many of their employees asked for time off. At one point, Agent Ocean FaceTimed CG and SP to talk about other things. Before he hung up I asked for the phone and said "see you Friday." Both of them lit up in excitement. I've heard before that the staff requests I work there more, but it was hard for me to believe. It solidified more when one of the ladies told me the other day about it and Agent Ocean saying "why wouldn't you believe that."
When CS showed up for their shift, I wanted to put their digital art skills to the test. I knew we would need a print out and digital post about our store hours for Thanksgiving so that's what I tasked them with. No guidelines other than the days, the times, and the logo. They took their time and cranked out something in a couple hours (stopping to tend to customers in the venue) and it was good. I sent it to the ladies the next day and they really liked it (showed CS the texts to their delight).
And towards the end of the day, there were two return couples. The first one asked if they've seen me before and I joked "yeah, I work here." But then he brought up that we might have gone to school together. We did figure out that we went to the same high school, but were in different grades (them two above). Their name wasn't familiar, but they also said they were in ROTC (I wasn't in ROTC). They even showed me a photo of someone in their class that they thought I would remember, but I did not. I joked that they need to bring their yearbook next time, but they said they were planning to. The other couple was playing the same room after the first. They came in saying "it's our favorite guy" and I looked behind me causing them to laugh. They mentioned wanting to go to the sister location to play one of their rooms and I gave them a coupon for 20% off for that specific room. I mentioned I'd be working there the following Friday and they started talking about making that happen.
Other than that, CS and I made sure to count certain props in the holiday room and decide on definitive ways to make it easier for the staff, which also included moving a locked box to the second area so that teams don't waste time on it (we did that last year). The final thing was replacing a box that the last team unfortunately broke the latch on. I sent a video to upper management so they would buy a new one while I put the older janky looking box from previous years back in. We left at 10:10PM.
- Busy Saturday (11.22). The very first team set a new record. They did so well. And then I had a string of bad teams. One was a late team where the last person that showed up was the only one doing work. We had to tell them to pay attention to the hints we were sending because they weren't reacting to them. Even then, the person doing all the work had to tell someone every time to read the hints sent as they were busy doing nothing except standing around. Then I had a family where the older son wanted to do everything. His younger brother tried to help, but the older one kept yelling at him to stop and even slightly moving him out of the way multiple times. Shame that the parents wouldn't stop him or encourage them to work together.
Then we had a large kid party. Almost the same amount of adults showed up, which is why they ordered a lot of pizza. Thankfully some of the adults were cooperative with coraling the kids in the lobby and party room. They had a good time watching them. I had some good chats with a few of the adults (shout out to JT). Shortly after they left, I went to do some in-room facilitation for a mom and her two young sons. I was there for maybe twenty minutes to help catch them up and then left to go back to doing other stuff.
Made another pizza order (yay for the website working again). Sent emails back and forth with our booking app client as there were a few errors with some email notifications. I felt there was more, but that's all I had in my notes. I left around 7:30PM.
- We had a power outage on Monday (11.24). It happened earlier in the day before I was supposed to go in. There was a brief tornado warning and that was enough to knock out one of the power lines in our shopping center. So it didn't only affect us, it affected every business there. I still went in as we were told power would be back around 6PM. ZM was there as he was taking a few shifts while back in town from college. He had gone to pick up a Sam's order and stuck around to accept the wine order. I took note of any damage around the building (there was a piece of a gutter and a lot of debris outside that I cleared up) and checked if there was any damage inside. There thankfully wasn't, but I noticed some of our ceiling vents had dust knocked out of them. After ZM put up the orders he got, I asked him to use the boxes to make new wristband boxes so they were all the same now (wine boxes). I cleaned the ceiling vents, swept up all that dust, threw out more trash, and gathered flashlights for us to use as it was getting dark fast.
I called up customers that were still waiting for replies from us in case the power turned back on. Unfortunately it still wasn't up by 6PM. They were understanding. And...we actually had a walk-in. Even with the sign outside and all the lights off, they thought we were still open. I let them know what was going on and how we blocked everything so no one could book.
At some point, one door unlocked (didn't realize it had a safety timer) and I took note of the rest of the rooms as they were left ready to play. But because the power went out, any maglocks were deactivated. And I also noticed that the trucks that were working on the power were no longer there. They were there when I pulled up, but not doing anything. ZM mentioned that earlier they cut a tree down to make it safer to move the downed power lines and allow cars trapped to move out. But then they were all of a sudden gone and we still did not have power.
ZM left around 6PM before the weather got worse. I locked the door and kept texting back and forth with one of the ladies and Agent Ocean. I let them know the customers were contacted and that I would slowly reset the rooms (in the dark with flashlights) and put what would be recharged in their chargers just so they would be properly powered up whenever the power would return. Once I was done, I left around 7PM. Texted the ladies a few more times to let them know what I noticed (no lights were on, no cars were around, etc). Thankfully the trucks were around working. They moved themselves to the other side of the parking lot on a small road to continue working in the rain.
One hour to get to work, 2 hour shift in darkness, and one hour to drive back home. Lame. 3 hours last week was my shortest shift. Didn't think it would be beaten so shortly after.
- Extra shift on a busy Tuesday (11.25). I took ZM's initial shift as they couldn't keep it. And it was a good thing I did. HL also came in at 2PM. While it wasn't super busy at first, it later ballooned to a total of 19 teams sprinkled throughout the day especially towards the latter end of the day. Agent Ocean ended up staying for 10+ hours due to needing to facilitate evaluations remotely, but he helped out even when his shift was over.
The ladies visited to drop off things. After that, they started putting up the Christmas decorations in the lobby. During that time was when a problematic customer arrived for their booking. I spoke about how they were over the phone earlier and here they were in person. They brought headlights for her friends (team of 3) to use as our "rooms are too dark" and provided pen and paper for note taking. At that time, our a/c was down because of the power outage so we made sure to fix a few things in general, but added a fan in their room to help accommodate. The ladies knew that they were problematic so we wanted to make sure to give them nothing to complain about. Made sure the room was clean (the previous team left food crumbs) and we repaired a light that was out. When it was time to bring them back, I was their host. As I was explaining the locks with my normal speech, they asked me to slow down (I already speak slowly). Agent Ocean told me later that he and one of the ladies who were nearby were trying not to laugh at that. During that same speech, they turned on their headlight to look at the locks I was talking about. I tolerated it for a minute, but then shielded my eyes showing them that I was being blinded and making her turn it off without me saying it out loud. When I brought them in the room, she immediately brought up the heat and I pointed out the fan we brought in for them. As I was doing my normal speech, she tried to interrupt with questions and I immediately stopped her saying "my speech might have the answers to your questions so hold off until then if you have additional questions." I say that all the time to teams that try to ask questions. HL later told me she laughed at that because of how I shut her down so fast. But I also took the team from her since she also knew how this customer was and that she would get pissed off. I said "she will piss you off so I'm taking this game." They weren't great. The problematic one kept telling her friends what to do, would tell them to ask for hints, when she wanted hints she would just say it out loud instead of pushing the button, she complained about how clues don't stay on screen long enough so she took photos, she would often say "we already did that" for clues when they had not done what I hinted towards, and would read the clues incorrectly. The only good thing was that they would put everything in the basket making it easier to reset. When I exited them, she immediately wanted to leave because of the heat. I gave my normal outro and gave them their extras. She asked about getting another coupon for 20% off, I said if any of them haven't left a review that they can do it, two of them "left" reviews (they only updated theirs and showed them to me) and I accepted it as I knew if I fought back it would blow up. I tried offering the coupon code for the sister location to which she openly said she doesn't go to that area. She wouldn't even take it to give to anyone else. They stuck around for a bit before finally leaving. Her friends are okay. She herself is a handful and I am not looking forward to them returning.
Wrapped up and left at 10:10PM. HL gave me a shout out on our team app. First time I ever got one, but I never wanted one. I'm the type that would rather be told in person and that's how I project it back. I still thanked her, but I simply was doing what I was supposed to do like I would any other day. It's just that today was busy and low staffed. My legs hurt so much after all that running around.
- I was asked to come in early again (11.26). Before I arrived at work, there were already more bookings than the previous day. I arrived at 3PM (was supposed to come in at 5PM). To my surprise, the ladies were there helping out. They were assisting where they could at Game Hosting/Mastering and resets. To my recollection, they were there for at least 2 hours to assist myself, HL, and KH. As a thanks for us working on a busy day before Thanksgiving, they bought us Chili's for dinner. Other than it being a busy day (running around resetting and hosting like the day before), I did manage to do a few other smaller tasks like making social media posts. It did suck that we were behind for most of the day, but most teams were understanding with it being the day before the holiday and a bunch of families coming through. I even had to turn a call away as everything we had at the end of the night was booked. In the end, we had 34 teams (the most in months) and left at 10:20PM.
- Worked at the sister location for the first time in months (11.28). CG asked to come in half an hour early at 1:30PM because it was already busy. One of those situations where you walk in and immediately start working. There were four of us with a fifth staff member joining at 5PM. Low staff and being Black Friday was the main reason I was staffed there. The owners did buy us dinner again and we all decided on Katz's (haven't had that in years). But I did get a second meal towards the end of the night brought by a customer who I helped over the phone. Their team were restaurant workers and worked on Thanksgiving and this day was their Thanksgiving to celebrate. He joked about the turkey that he made and I joked that he should bring some and he did (I ate it the following day and it was great).
The day itself was very busy with there being less bookings towards the end. Here and there, I had discussions with CG and SP about work things in general since it had been a while since the manager conference. We just made sure that things were okay and talked about how we could help each other. In terms of how long it took me to get into the swing of things with how to do stuff there, not too long. There were a few rooms I had to take the time to remember how to reset properly as well as their latest room that wasn't there when I was last there. It's a copy of one of our rooms, but structured differently. But I did feel more confident in my resets for those rooms as time went on.
In the end, it was myself and CG taking care of the last few teams. We wrapped up and clocked out at 11:45PM. I got home at 12:55AM.
- Busy Saturday for my last shift of the month (11.29). While I was on my way, Agent Ocean texted me how far away I was as he was running late. I got in 20 minutes early and started working right away. Minutes later, the first crop of teams started to show up along with Agent Ocean. I prepared all the rooms while he checked them in. Until 1PM when CP joined us, he and I were incredibly busy with at least 5 of 6 rooms being active the entire time. We were behind, but the customers were understanding and had a good time.
There were two teams that were problematic. One was a family where the son was...not great. An older teen, but he kept poking at things that everyone was doing wrong or that he was told to stop doing something that was right (to him). When I went to reset the room as CP was exiting them, the girlfriend was away from the others, the mom collected her things and walked out saying "this was not fun," and CP told us later that the dad was trying to discipline his son as they were walking down the hallway. Their team photo was only of him and his girlfriend as the others weren't having it. The other team was another family where one of the two boys simply didn't like escape rooms. He kept saying "I don't like escape rooms" and "do I have to do this" and other similar phrases. Anytime I had a pause in my speech he would say something. The mom kept trying to shush him. I even offered to let him watch the game from an iPad, but the mom didn't want him to be by himself. At some point, HL found him outside the door of the room in the hallway and told him he can't stay in the hallway prompting him to slap his forehead and go back in the room. When I went to get them out, he was better. It might have been because of the surprise gift bag. But even when I mentioned they could do a replay or come back to play another room, it was back to his phrases.
The only other thing of note was having to call a customer back. There was a birthday party the day I wasn't there that I had booked. I mentioned them visiting to get information and calling them another day to confirm. He mentioned needing to save money and asked for a discount, which I gave (15% off). There was an issue the day of because there was a smaller headcount and they wanted to not pay as much. The solution was to not pay for the half that didn't show up, but to charge a little extra for the pizza we had to order. I called the day before Thanksgiving to make sure of the final headcount and put the pizza order in. Because of the lower headcount and even charging for the extra pizza, they were given a large discount overall. The staff even gave an itemized as the wife asked for it. But she called this day to ask about it again as she thought they were to get more back and specifically asked to talk to me. Once I got the stories from Agent Ocean and HL, I made the call. I listened to her side of the story, explained what I was told, and even gave a breakdown of every possible price (without the discount, with the original headcount, with the new headcount, etc). Then she brought up that they didn't receive their third pizza. That's when I put her on hold. I asked HL and she said she told them to talk to her about the third pizza when they were ready and they never did. She said to charge one less person for food to compensate. Agent Ocean to do it for two less people because in the end...they didn't give them their pizza...and I later saw it in the fridge...meaning our staff didn't even eat it...so yeah. I got back on the phone, told the wife we'd be owing them about $15. She didn't seem satisfied and I basically gave another break down of every single thing and ending with emphasis that we owed her $15. The last thing I remember saying was either "yes" or "okay" as I was letting her know of the refund process (takes 1-2 business days etc). And during that explanation, she hung up on me. That...that was the worst thing about it. I spend my time to explain everything, emphasized how much they actually saved, and the fact that we owe them money...and I get hung up on. Frustrating. I processed it shortly after.
The day was busy so I didn't realize how late it was getting. Shout out to the return customers from months ago returning with their family. I left at 7:30PM (half an hour after my shift ended). Said some parting words to Agent Ocean as he also stayed later. But we did what needed to be done for the busy week and we were tired.
- I've been posting stories on the company's Instagram account. I started doing it after my evaluation as a small extra thing to do. Always a simple image with simple text and a simple link (related to what I'm trying to push) and a simple instrumental song. Some hit better than others and the ladies have said nothing about it. So I'll keep doing it. Worst thing, it does nothing. Best thing, we get a few extra bookings out of it.
https://www.instagram.com/escapologyhouston_cypress/
ETC=========================
- ITZY - TUNNEL VISION (MV)
The song took a while for me to get into, but the choreography caught my eye more. Cheers to the girls for getting first place (11.21). Wearing sunglasses for their encore, that's totally speaking to me.
- aespa - Amazon Music Live S4 (11.13)
Stayed up late for this one just like I did when TWICE was on Amazon Music. It's one of those things that still surprises me; easy access to Kpop. Not only that, I forgot that I could watch it on the TV until a couple minutes in. Great stuff.
- EZ (BabyVoX) - EZ LIKE QUEEN (Official Performance Video)
- 2025 WENDY 1st WORLD TOUR <W:EALIVE> (11.04.25)
Met up with BL, NE, and PC at Jang Geum for lunch beforehand. They were out of a certain meat to our disappointment, but there were plenty of other choices to go for. Just caught up with each other. Went to Somi Somi after (I didn't get anything and it was PC's first time). Sat outside to continue talking before splitting around 3PM. NE and PC went home as they didn't have to go early for VIP check in. I met with BL at their work since it was close by to drop off his car and then I drove us to the venue.
As we parked, BL looked up to see if any extra seats were released and there were. We already had second row, but some first row seats were available. We walked by the box office and asked if there was a way to upgrade our seats even though our seats cost more compared to everything left being discounted. They said there wasn't and that was that. We went to check in and there were a good number of people already lined up (20-25). Got our extra merchandise for VIP and I got my signed polaroid that I won (1 of 15). I'm glad the person handed it face down. I huddled BL close as I counted down to turn it over for the reveal, ha. I did ask if my bag was too big, and the person said I'd have to ask security. As we were walking back to the car, I flagged down a security card inside the building. He opened the door and I asked about my bag and he said it was too big. Back to the car to put up our stuff and for me to figure out what I needed from my bag. I took photos of what I had collected, we charged our phones, and talked Kpop as we waited. We actually got in line around 5PM. But we decided to go back to the box office to ask a different person about the seats. They mentioned there would be an announcement about it for VIPs after the sound check. Got in line, got some freebies from other fans, and eventually made our way in once the doors opened.
We sat in our seats for VIP. They cut off the first two rows and simply had everyone sit as they filed in rather than in our actual seats. In the end we filled up 4-5 rows and BL and I were in the second of those rows. As we waited, there was a point where a stagehand joked that he was adding to our VIP experience. He held a tape measure to the person in front of me and said to pull it back by four feet. Four feet was beyond him so I took the initiative to take the tape measure and pull it until it reached four feet. After that was done, we speculated what it was for and I don't think anything came from that during the sound check or the actual show. Eventually, Wendy came out. Wow, star struck. She spoke with us before singing the first of 3 songs for sound check. She spoke a bit in between each song too.
1. Queen of the Party
2. His Car Isn't Yours
3. Chapter You
Short and sweet. BL and I went and joined the merchandise line. They made an announcement that there were no signed albums. Very disappointing especially since BL wanted one and we were going to get one for NRM. I ended up getting a shirt and a flag. We went to the bathroom and then BL bought drinks (thanks for the water) as we waited for general admission to be let in so we could say hi to our friends. Originally I was going to wear the flag like a cape, but it was a little short. BL suggested I wear it like a leg flag instead and that's what I went with. Very unique. As we waited, BL did try asking again about the extra seats as no announcement was made about them. I stood away watching our table we commandeered. It looked like there was a possibility as the person he spoke to went to the box office to talk to someone else. A few minutes later he got an answer and unfortunately they wouldn't let us upgrade to the first row seats. We continued waiting and saw some friends trickle in, but it was close to show time so we went to our seats. I also forgot to mention receiving freebies from fans, but I don't recall every time it happened. Thanks to anyone that did hand out free stuff. As we waited in our seats, we were able to identify where other HeXagon members were (NRM was two rows behind us). Shout out to the person that sat next to me as we talked quite a bit before the show.
1. Fireproof
2. Hate^2
3. Queen of the Party
4. Why Can't You Love Me?
5. Best Ever
6. Chapter You
7. His Car Isn't Yours
8. Better Judgement
9. Vermillion
10. Like Water
11. When This Rain Stops
12. Believe
13. Goodbye
14. Because I Love You
15. What If Love
16. Two Words
17. Airport Goodbyes
18. Light Me Up
19. Wish You Hell
20. Sunkiss
21. Best Friend
22. The Road
23. EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
My goodness, Wendy is amazing. There were so many times I simply closed my eyes and listened. The only times I didn't sing were during her OSTs since I wasn't familiar with them. Our seats were great. While the seat in front of me wasn't occupied, there was unfortunately a speaker in the way (you can see it in almost every photo I took). There were great parts in between songs where Wendy would talk to us. The highlight was probably the crowd telling Wendy about Whataburger and Buc-ee's (one fan in the front row showed images on their phone). She asked if Buc-ee's was on the way to her hotel and I asked "where's your hotel?" She didn't hear that, but everyone around me did and laughed, ha. She did hear me one time though. She mentioned how she wanted to do R&B in the near future and how she needed to practice doing R&B scales since she wasn't great at it and I said "try some." She looked at me and asked if she did a little before stopping herself. Yay for getting that interaction.
Once the show was over, anyone in VIP was to wait in their seats while the rest exited. Unfortunately we weren't able to take a HeXagon photo because of that as only myself and BL went in on the VIP perks. The staff started lining us up according to our colored wristbands that denoted what kind of VIP perks we were to receive. New friend was lined up in front of us with a few other girls that were getting nervous the closer we got to the door to do the hi-wave. You could hear fans in front of us screaming in joy upon waving passed Wendy. When it was our turn, someone in front did take a little longer so Wendy's attention was toward them and there was a possibility she would have missed us. But I got to salute her as I walked by and went back in line for the next portion. The girls were a bit out of it due to the hgh of being that close to Wendy, but I directed them to come back in front of us to not lose spots in line. Next up was the group photo. BL and new friend mentioned how it will usually take months for them to release the group photos, but our came within a week, nice. It was a group of 9 and Wendy taking the back row in the middle. I was farthest to the side in the front row with BL next to me. It was done nice and easy and again the girls in front of us were super excited as some were literally right next to her. We got back in line as the final thing was single polaroid photos. You can tell how nervous everyone was as we moved closer and closer. That's when I was feeling it too, ha. BL was preparing me saying to have a couple of poses in mind in case she didn't want to do one. And if I were to say anything, make it short. The two poses I had in mind were the People's Eyebrow and Stephanie Vaquer's La Primera pose. What I wanted to tell Wendy was that after being into Kpop for 20+ years, she was the first person I got to do this type of experience with. I didn't say any of that. I don't think I even told her my name. I recall putting my stuff down, greeting her, and asking her if she could lift her eyebrow while showing her. She wasn't sure, but tried and asked if it looked good. I didn't realize it at the moment, but I leaned in to look since her bangs were covering it meaning our faces were inches apart. She was doing the eyebrow and she was proud and we took the photo. I thanked her for the great concert, got my stuff back from the staff along with the developing polaroid, and walked out of the building as that was the last of the VIP perks. I waited by the door for BL. Once we reunited, I said by to the new friend and we walked to the car as the polaroids developed. I wish I thought about the poses more because...it's a far away polaroid. You can't really tell she was doing it, but I knew she was. But that means I most likely won't ask for that pose in the future from other singers. Not the worst thing honestly because like I said, our faces were inches apart. We took a couple other photos, walked to the car, checked to see if other HeXagon members were still around (they weren't), and drove to BL's car. We took one more photo together holding our polaroids before splitting for the night.
Thank you to the new friend (obviously not dropping your name) for being cool to talk to and interact with a few times during the concert. Thank you to BL for being an awesome concert buddy and making things more fun. And of course, thank you to Wendy. As expected, you were phenomenal. Continue to do what you do and I'll keep supporting you. Hopefully you'll come back. If you do come back, I'll be there.
That's a wrap on November 2025. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
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