Thursday, November 1, 2018

October 2018 Entry

October 2018 Entry

========================= 

- My cousin called me during a stream letting me know they were heading back home and wanted to meet up (10.01). We met after the stream was over to eat at Kura. It was their first time there and they indulged in it. Great to see them. 

It was during that event that I mentioned I wanted to see their sister's new baby, but just had not contacted her about it. That prompted them to tell her and she texted me to schedule a meet up. So that Sunday, I met their baby boy (10.07). It was nice to actually be at their home without a party going on. Got to catch up with them and talk about how things have been since having a baby. Didn't want to stay too long either since they were all tired so I was there for 3 hours.

- Took some time off from streaming to take care of things and to help out my parents. One thing I did set up was my Stream Deck Mini (10.14). I didn't want to use it immediately when I started streaming as I wanted to learn the basics, but this certainly helps stream line things. 


I later moved the icons around (Test did not work) and then added more TWICE gifs to fill in the empty spaces. On another day off of streaming, I tested out multiple action buttons (10.25). Had a small issue with a couple of the buttons not working, but eventually figured out how to get them to work properly.

- When Cheese Ballz announced they were coming back, I tried to order some. Amazon unfortunately was sold out. However, someone in a Facebook group posted that they finally received theirs months later and provided a link to purchase them. I immediately ordered them. A couple days later, they arrived along with a separate shipment of new Asuka masks (10.17). As of posting this (10.31), I have gone through 3 cans and am working on a 4th.


- Moving Toreba entries out of the gaming section since that portion will have more information. After a 2 month drought, I finally won a new prize from Toreba (10.22). It's a big penguin. It arrived a week later. 


And on the day it arrived, I won a new prize (10.29). 


- While trying to gift a sub on Twitch, my transaction wouldn't go through. Earlier in the week, I had received a text about possible suspicious transactions on my credit card. I did email my bank about it, but didn't receive a reply. But I decided to call my bank while trying to do the gift sub (10.25). It was around midnight when I did this. The person on the line did relay to me that they tried calling me about it (never answered because I was receiving way too many spam calls lately). She went over some of the transactions and I was following along with her on my online banking. There were 2 gas station transactions that were close to $100 at gas stations I don't go to regularly. She mentioned a few others that weren't recorded on there such as groceries. So they put in a report while cancelling my card and rushing me a new one, which arrived a little over 24 hours later. After registering it, I checked my online account again and saw more transactions appear at more gas stations for around the same amount again. I made sure to call my bank so those can be recorded as well. The second time I've had to get a new credit card in one year...geez...

========================= 

- Super Showdown was a great show (10.06). Definitely have to give up to the Australian wrestlers who got great ovations.


- A wonderful tribute to Eddie Guerrero before SmackDown 1000 (10.14). Of all the wrestlers that passed away, he is the one I miss the most. I think he'd still be helping the industry grow in some capacity if he were still around. 


- SmackDown 1000 was a fun episode (10.16). Truth TV, Evolution, Becky Lynch, and everyone else made it a memorable event. 


- Roman Reigns announcing he is battling leukemia was devastating (10.22). But seeing the out pour of support from everyone in the locker room, other sports, and even fans that hate him is incredible. Get healthy and see you back in the ring in the future. 


- The Mae Young Classic 2018 has been wonderful (10.25). Every match was worth seeing. And the emotion from all the ladies really gets to you.


- Evolution was incredible (10.28). Every match was fun to watch and everyone had a moment to shine. Becky Lynch VS Charlotte was match of the night. Ladies, you owned it. Thank you. 



========================= 

- Thanks to a friend posting a Facebook memory, I have fallen back into following Alli Flanagan (10.03). While she hasn't been making YouTube videos (ha), she has been on Twitch. So I watched a couple of her old streams (Mario Odyssey and Okami) as well as tuning in whenever she's live. And honestly...I adore watching her. She has a great sense of humor and her accent is charming. She's also great with interacting with the chat. I get very giddy when she replies to me, ha. For my stream I actually use an audio clip of her saying "bdoop" for when I get bits. The cut clip linked below was when she first made the noise. The sound clip I used is from this video (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/326782316 at 1:27:42). If you have a Twitch account, I do recommend following her (and on YouTube as well). 



- My second stream was Super Mario Bros. 3 (10.01). I did an all levels run. Not a speed run by any means. I also restricted myself from using certain items in certain levels and made sure to beat a Koopaling with the frog, tanooki, and hammer suit to get the alternate messages.



- The first new game to play on stream, Mega Man 11 (10.02). I didn't do well with guessing the robot master order, ha. I also did some chat interaction by having them select which boss and which item to buy at certain times. I would have actually been able to beat the game in one sitting, but I got a bad headache that made it no fun to play. Knocked it out fast the next day. That made it a short stream. I didn't think to do any of the challenge levels to extend the stream. Oh well. 




- Played Fortnite on stream a couple times (10.03, 10.05). Not much to note on the first one except learning some new things that were in the game. But the second one, I had a good partner help carry me in multiple matches. We got really close (top 5, I think). Other than Agent Striker, he has been a great duo/squad partner. 


- True Fear: Forsaken Souls - Part 1 was the first demo I streamed (10.04). I was surprised with how long the demo actually went for (around 90 minutes). There were a few freezes and I had to restart the game. And I only had to use clues towards the end because I missed a small part to click on. Shout outs to the developers for Liking my tweet. 

- iRetroGamer has taken down all of his videos. At first it was going to be a hiatus, but then he removed all his content so that he could separate himself from it and put his focus on being a family man. G to the Next Level made a great video to summarize things and to talk about the impact that Tyler had on him (10.07). He will be missed, but definitely not forgotten. 


- I took a look at the games I currently owned to see what I could play on stream. Didn't want to resort to Fortnite every time I had a lull in between games. There were a few that stood out such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (which I'll keep in my back pocket for a while), but Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection was what I chose. I did an all Ryu run when I first got the game and wanted to replicate that so I could showcase and play all the games again. So I did an all Ken run (10.07, 10.08). The first stream of the first 6 six games became my longest stream at the time and the latest I ever streamed (5 and a half hours and ending a little after midnight). I was so drained after that one, but the second stream was easier. 




- Super Dodge Ball came out on the Nintendo Switch app (10.10). I can't recall the last time I ever played the game, so I was excited to play it. My initial plan was to play the world tournament, switch to a demo that got released, and come back to play bean ball. But the world tournament went faster than expected so I played bean ball immediately after. After that, switch to the demo for Ninjin: Clash of Carrots. Not a bad game. Had the viewers interested and talking about the game (one had bought it and was telling me about it). After that, I went back to Super Dodge Ball to play the world tournament on hard mode. It definitely was more challenging and took longer to beat. But like I said, it was great to play one of my favorite NES games again. 



- Another demo. Played Word Puzzles by POWGI (10.11). I had played this demo on Wii U and 3DS before. The one cool thing about this was that the developer tweeted me back. I've had other developers like my tweets when I mention them, but never had a nice exchange with one. Pretty cool. 


- I became a Twitch Affiliate (10.12). I was at 40 when I decided that I can reach the goal of 50 before the night was over. I texted friends and family about making accounts and I went down the rabbit hole of F4F. That was frustrating as not everyone is good on their word about doing F4F. I swear I Followed double the amount that I needed and less than half actually did Followed back. The thing is, I did reach 50. I got a notification that I reached it, but the numbers were off on the achievement list. It said I was at 45 after I had actually gotten 46-50. I asked others what was supposed to happen next and it didn't happen. So...I had to get 5 more Follows before officially getting the invite to become an Affiliate. I made sure to fill out my application and I was an Affiliate. I was super tired after that, but I'm glad it happened. 


- Picked up my copy of The World Ends With You: Final Remix (10.12). Never played the game when it came out on the DS, but always heard good stuff about it. This game became my longest stream series capping out at 6 when I beat it (10.22). I really liked the art style, the story (got better and better), and especially the music. The combat, not the best with motion controls. I can see why it would have been better on the DS or handheld on the Switch with touch controls though. I think the game would have been easier and I would have finished the game faster if it weren't for the motion controls. Unfortunately, that also made me not want to do any post game activities. 



- Death Battle - Mario VS Sonic (10.17)


- Finally got my Solaire amiibo (10.21). I preordered it months ago and it arrived shortly after Dark Souls came out on Switch. It's a nice looking amiibo that accompanied me as I played The World Ends With You: Final Remix. 


- The next game series I streamed was for Child of Light: Ultimate Edition (10.23) Originally played it on the Wii U four years ago. It was great to play through this game again. The visuals were still wonderful, the game play was simple with enough of a challenge, and the music is wonderful. Took 3 streams to beat it (10.26). I actually enjoyed it more this time around and it makes me really hope that the teased sequel is coming. 



- Played 3 demos on stream (10.29). First was Planet Alpha. It had great visuals and similar gameplay to Limbo. Played through it twice with the second run being a "speed run," ha. Next was Monopoly. It's Monopoly. It functioned and was a little slow. The demo was only 30 minutes so you couldn't finish a full game, but I enjoyed it. Just Shapes & Beats was the last demo. I had to end with that since I already had the full game and I knew it was so good. The demo only had 5 goals, which was the first few songs and the first boss fight. Played through it twice since it had been a while 


- And the game I've been looking forward to the most is now available; Save Me Mr. Tako: Tasukete Tako-San (10.30). It's a game where you're an octopus...don't know any other game like that. Didn't realize there would be such a crazy story about war in it as well as tons of action (octopus VS octopus sword fight and an opera). It's also done in the style of a Game Boy game. It includes tons of borders and filters (some are blinding, yikes). And the first stream I did, a friend of the developer was lurking and then mentioned a few things (started off as a runner and is now a full blown RPG). I'm having fun with this silly game. 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/329821579 

- Twitch so far...is interesting. It's weird that I now "schedule" my times to play for the sake of streaming rather than playing whenever I want. I did receive criticism right away for playing retro games and something not new and that bothered me. Everyone else can play whatever they want and even play the same game millions of times and it is okay, but I can't play whatever I want. That was ridiculous. I mentioned how I've played Fortnite and those same people that criticized my playing retro games didn't say anything about me playing Fortnite. It really bothered me at the time, but you can look at my video library to see my variety of games is diverse. 

Only other issue right now is that viewers can't hear any alerts that I have programmed. Asked customer service for some help with little help. Been checking message boards to see if I can find a solution. Hopefully this will get worked out soon. 

I like that I can make money now, but I'm not raking it in. I've made less than $10 so far. I have enjoyed interacting with more in the community (randoms and Overblood group), but I don't know how my growth rate will be. I need more Followers, I need them to give me free Bits, and I need Subscriptions. I'm enjoying the ride so far, but I'm not at the point to even consider making it an option for it being a main source of income. So if you are a Follower, please help me. I'd actually like more interaction in chat. Otherwise I'm just playing games to an audience of one, me. 

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- We started posting images from inside Naval Warfare on our social media accounts (10.06). 2 go up every week (Wednesday and Friday). It was a good idea as we learned that they aren't helping advertise us Downtown (lame). 


- Spent a few hours scraping paint off buckets (10.12). It was actually satisfying seeing the different colored flakes come off. Not only that, Agent PQ was playing anime music on the computer and we would go back and forth choosing songs. 


- October company meeting happened separately and on different dates (10.19). They had theirs early in the month and we kept forgetting to set ours up, ha. We eventually ended up going to another escape room and did 2 rooms. Escaped one, lost one. It wasn't that great. We had so many gripes, they couldn't explain everything, the things they could explain made no sense, and so much more. Pretty disappointing. My escape rate is now 80$% with 24 escapes out of 30 rooms. 


- Finally had a session on a Thursday, which meant I actually worked a full shift of 5 hours for the first time on a Thursday in months (10.25). That's all. 

- I put in a request for days off at the beginning of November due to my best friend coming in to town. Unfortunately I got none off (10.29). It was also the same time the manager was taking off for his anniversary with his girlfriend. I mentioned that I could still work at certain times, but in the end, none of the days I requested were granted. I understand why they couldn't be granted, but this is just crappy. Nothing approved this time and the last it was approved, I ended up having to go in anyways. At least my best friend assured me she would still make sure we have time to hang out even though now the time is way limited to what we were originally hoping for. 

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- Soyou - All Night (MV)


- Yuri - Into You (MV)


- Wendy X John Legend - Written In The Stars (MV)


- TWICE 3rd Anniversary (10.20)




This makes it my year and a half anniversary with TWICE. So I've been with them for half their time as a group. Thank you for being something to look forward to and for helping me during tough times. 

- BoA - WOMAN (MV)


Don't know what else to say. Still love this woman. Not going to stop. 

- Pamela Horton is someone I knew of. I first learned about her when she cosplayed as Bayonetta for Bayonetta 2. I didn't follow her beyond that, but saw her appear in different videos from others I followed. She recently started her own YouTube channel and I followed her there. She posted a "thank you" video about a GoFundMe that was started for her. I went and read it and it talked a lot about her recent health issues. I did know of some of what she was going through, but the GoFundMe was very detailed. It's great to see that many are reaching out to help her. Get healthy soon, Pamela. 



- That's it for October 2018. Thanks for reading.


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
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Thursday, October 4, 2018

September 2018 Entry

September 2018 Entry

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- Got stood up (09.02). Very lame. 

- Spent the morning catching up with a dear friend (09.03). He was off due to the Labor Day holiday. Went to Starbucks first and then to Chic-Fil-A. Did you know that on Labor Day Chic-Fil-A skips serving breakfast? That was a nice surprise. Anyways, we caught up on quite a few things. I really don't like info-dumping a bunch of negative things, but he assured me it was okay as it was better than keeping it in. He's a good friend. 

- Got some new clippers (09.04). Had these in my Amazon wish list for a while and finally decided to get them. They're pretty good. Quiet and smooth. 


- DEATH BATTLE - Optimus Prime VS Gundam (09.05) 


- Saw this pop up on Facebook and immediately stopped what I was doing to find a full video of the California Dreams Reunion (09.11). How did I not know about this? It was so cool seeing the cast together (minus a few of them). And hearing them sing the theme song live was so dang cool. 

- Ever since working at HER, I stopped going to the gas station minutes from my house. I'd always need gas closer to work so I would go to one frequently close to it. But since switching locations, the one closer to home was most convenient. It really had been about 4 years since I last went there. To my surprise, the older lady working there recognized me (09.13). Her mood changed the moment I stepped up to the counter. She greeted me warmly and even said how long it had been. I mentioned about being closer to downtown so she understood why she didn't see me. She ended the transaction with being glad that I'll be around again. 


- I woke up in the morning with horrible neck pain (09.21). It hurt so much to move the tiniest bit and my neck was extremely sensitive. Definitely had to remember to keep my neck stiff throughout the day. The only thing I can think that caused the pain was from rearranging my room the day before. Nothing else could have caused it. Took a good amount (not overboard) of pain pills over the next few days. I even bought some patches to relieve the pain. It got a little better as the days went on for the next week. 

- Got to catch up with another dear friend at Merchant (09.26). We were going to hang out at the beginning of the month, but she was incredibly busy. Part of our talk involved what she was up to. I was worried it was some bad news. Glad that things had been going well for her. She's a wonderful friend and I'm glad she's always there for me. 

- DEATH BATTLE - Nightwing VS Daredevil (09.26) 


========================= 

- The Mae Young Classic 2018 has begun (09.05). As of typing this (10.02), the first round has finished airing. I got 11-16 of my predictions correct. I definitely have not looked at spoilers as I want to be surprised. I actually only knew of a couple of things that happened due to news spreading. My top 2 main picks are Kaitlyn (welcome back, Houston represent) and  Deonna Purrazzo. 

- Went to a Smackdown house show with my cousins (09.15). Met up at one of their apartments that is across from NRG Stadium and then we took an Uber to the Toyota Center. What a fun show. All the matches were great. A non-show highlight was that Vickie Guerrero was in the audience. She was actually about 5 rows away from us. During the intermission, she was letting fans come to take photos with her. The line was really long. They also announced that they would be coming back for RAW on December 3rd. I purchased tickets from me and a friend to go. Excited for it. 


- Hell In A Cell  was an awesome PPV (09.16). I really was contemplating going and getting cheap seats, but I ended up having to work since I took the day off to go to the house show the day before. Randy Orton VS Jeff Hardy, wow (watch the clip). And Becky Lynch, you deserve it. 


========================= 

- Miss Click is a Twitch affiliate and YouTuber that recently became a Nintendo Ambassador. She was a recommended channel on Twitch and I decided to check her out. Shortly thereafter, I started watching her videos on YouTube and followed her on Twitter. She's cute and has lots of energy. Her reaction videos are amazing to watch, ha. But I definitely recommend her as someone to follow as she has great potential. 


- 100% completed The Messenger (09.04). The game play was great, the music was awesome, and it was just a fun adventure. Highly recommend it. 


- Tried out the Mega Man 11 demo (09.06). I tried it on the Normal difficulty and had some troubles. So I bumped the difficulty down and was able to beat Block Man. It definitely got me hyped for the full game coming out in October (currently playing this as of typing 10.03). 

- Agent PQ went to San Japan and got me a Samus shirt (09.07). 


- Started the final installment of the trilogy with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations (09.09) While I was casually playing it when I had time, I did speed up during the last case to finish it (09.13). Still a great set of cases and a wonderful way to end the series. 


- Got some of my Toreba prizes (09.12). I named him Godot since I was playing Trials & Tribulations at that time. 


- Nintendo Direct delivers again (09.13). There were quite a few titles I was interested in. And since more release dates became cemented, I did have to decide on which games to skip out on (Luigi's Mansion, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe). But the biggest takeaway are all the Final Fantasy titles that were announced for 2019 (Crystal Chronicles, VII, IX, X, X-2, XII) as well as XV Pocket Edition HD being released that day (the reason I sped up with finishing Trials & Tribulations). 


- Downloaded Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition HD the day it released and played started playing it the next day (09.14). While I did know it wouldn't be exactly like the original XV, I didn't realize how short it would be. Below is a quote I said to a friend who asked my opinion on the game after I beat it (09.18). 

"I didn't play the actual XV, only watched all of the cutscenes. It's very condensed and simplified. Very much a mobile version of the game. I was expecting more of a challenge too (only had a few times where it was rough). I liked it to an extent. It's not horrible and it functions fine (minus some choppiness and long load times). But I don't see myself recommending this to anyone without the current sale (that's ending soon) or if you own and have already played the original." 


- The Switch online service started and I bought my subscription. The first game I decided to try out was Super Mario Bros. (09.18). Fun to play through the game again. 

While I was done messing around with the online service, I did jump back on when I saw a tweet from Arda Ocal challenging other to play Ice Hockey. So I took him up on the challenge and we had a competitive match (tied into a shoot out that tied so they removed the goalies ending with 8-7 and a victory for Arda). Other than some lag, that was so fun. I haven't played anyone else in any games online, but I definitely want to. 


- The next NES game I tried out was Excitebike (09.19). Had not played that game in many years. I couldn't get first place after for the last track though. Tried many times and at least was able to work my way from bronze to silver. 


- Had a coupon from GameStop for 20% off used games. I had been meaning to buy a copy of Shantae and the Pirate's Curse on the 3DS so I finally did with that coupon (09.20). Couldn't find new copies locally and the price for new online was too much. I called the store to make sure it was complete with the box and instructions, which it was. So now I have a copy to add to my collection. 


- Child of Light: Ultimate Edition announced a release date (09.20). I was on the fence before, but I want to support the game in hopes of helping push the sequel. I won't play it right away since it comes out on the 11th, which is a day before The World Ends With You and that will be the priority. But there is a gap of time between that and Smash Bros. So I will playthrough Child of Light during that period of time. 

- Had an itch to play another NES game on the Switch. I chose Gradius (09.20). I actually don't recall finishing the game back in the day. It was more obvious as the stages after the first were not familiar at all. But it was cool to finally finish the game for the first time. 


- The Ace Attorney Twitter account has been saying they were going to announce something soon. And they did; the Ace Attorney Trilogy will be available on all modern systems (09.22). I found it funny that I just beat the trilogy on 3DS this year and now I'll be playing through the trilogy again in 2019, ha. 


And to continue with the same theme, I ordered a copy of Dai Gyakuten Saiban and that arrived on the same day as the trilogy announcement. Continuing my yearly purchase of collecting all the games in this series. I'm only missing Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 and the original trilogy on GBA. 

- Wanted to play something short on the NES Switch app. Chose Donkey Kong (09.23) It really did not take long to finish. I continued playing until I lost all my lives. I was able to finish all the levels twice before losing my last life. 


And then I finally had a chance to play the Dark Souls stress test demo. Tried out all the characters (the dark knight was my favorite). Man, that's a tough game. I can see why people like it, but it's not for me. I'm glad I was able to try it out. 

- Donald Duck - Simple & Clean (too amazing, ha) 


- Remembering Final Fantasy VI 


- You'll read more about it more below, but I played and completed The Legend of Zelda (09.28). 

========================= 

- For the first time ever since I started working when I was 18, I had to come in to work (09.02). This was also a requested day off. There was miscommunication between the Downtown location and what we offer at the Memorial location. Agent Ocean informed us how he now had to set up for a gender reveal. I asked if he needed me to come help him and I did. While we were able to pull it off, it was just not pleasant to have to scramble and for me to have to come in at all. 

- Since we have not been getting steady customers, our hours have decreased more. Basically on any days our last available times don't get booked, we close up shop (all 3 of us agreed to it). So for example, if the latest session is 9:30PM, we can leave at 8:30PM because customers have up to an hour before the time to book. For me, my Thursdays are extremely short already at 5 hours. But with no customers, I leave at 2PM. So for the past month, all my Thursdays have only been 3 hour work days. It's not a good thing on all ends.  

- We had our first company meeting separately from the Downtown location (09.07). We technically did not have a meeting as Agent Ocean makes sure that myself and Agent PQ always are in the loop about major things. For our first company activity, we went to an escape room. We actually joined a couple of strangers (their first time, but they sure did contribute) and were able to escape with over 20 minutes remaining. My record is now 23 victories out of 28 escape rooms. 


And around this time was when Agent Hourglass stopped showing up for work. That was certainly a crappy way to quit a job. 

- Because the beginning of the month was bad, I reached out to a few select people. One of them was Agent Gig. He had been away from the company for a couple months in pursuit of his masters so we needed to catch up (09.09). Similar to the stories of catching up with others in this entry, it was great getting to see him again. But this conversation brought up a couple things. One I will touch on later. The other is how the Memorial location is and if he was able to help us or not. A few days later, the wheels were in motion. Shortly thereafter, Agent Gig was back with the company. His official first day was the first of October. While he is working a very limited schedule this time around and only at the Memorial location, it's great to have him back. 

- As mentioned last month, our new system still has bugs. While sometimes it is very minor and we can cover for it, it sure wasn't like that one Saturday night (09.22). It was Agent Ocean and I. His girlfriend and some of her friends signed up and they were partnered and battling against a group of strangers that all knew each other. Some hits weren't showing up on our end so we paused the game (I went in to the rooms to let both teams know) so that we can reset the system. We did that a total of 5 times. After the last one, Agent Ocean called it off. We explained what was going on and offered the participants to come back in the future for free. They were all having fun too...it was such a shame. Once they left, Agent Ocean was ready to go and said I could go too. I said I'll close up and he can go because he was pissed. So he left. Agent Blue actually was there and witnessed everything so he stayed to help me close up. And I was able to hand over a few gifts for the Downtown location before we split. That...was a rough session to say the least. 

- My thoughts on the company...it's only a matter of time. We're close to having actual escape rooms finished and ready to go and we're constantly making sure the new concept runs smoothly. However, if no one comes, those mean nothing. If everything we offered is the best in the world, what good is it if no one experiences it? That is the bottom line. We need customers to come. 

========================= 

- Hyomin - Mango (MV) 


- Amber - White Noise (MV) 


- Weezer/Weird Al - Africa (MV) 


- Dad went to the Philippines for vacation (09.06). He will be gone for one month. I definitely miss his food, ha. 

- It has been a year since my mom had heart surgery (09.11). She's a lot better since then and I'm glad. I can still think back during that time and start to tear up. It's something I'll never forget. 

- As I have mentioned a few times in this entry, the month did not start off well. I did have a point where I was frustrated and crying and reflecting on a lot of things. I was texting a couple of friends back and forth during this time and I am thankful they were there for me. One of them (my best friend) mentioned she would be coming to Houston in either in October or November and that made me incredibly happy. The other friend made suggestions about doing more things related to my hobbies. The main one being video games. 

I've thought about streaming on Twitch for a while. I definitely have had more free time due to less work so I had been playing games more. A few friends/coworkers have suggested it since I play games they don't play and they want to see. So I put it out in the world in the form of a tweet (09.05). I was just concerned that I would spend time, effort, and money into this and it would fail like a lot of projects I have tried over the years. No one replied to that tweet so I was a little down on it and wasn't doing much about it. 

Then I met up with Agent Gig. We talked about it because I recently sent him a photo of me and Agent Ocean watching an old stream of his. We started spitballing ideas and basically came up with an idea to which he said if it became a thing, he would be on board and help. He even went out of his way to help me get started by gifting me a mic a pop filter (09.11). 


So I started to rearrange my room (09.12). The set up had been the same for many years now. Earlier in the year I took down a bunch of posters. Had I not done it then, I probably would have at this time. I only did a little bit, but it helped free up a lot of space and made things easier to access. And there sure was a ton of dust, yuck. But I stopped after that initial adjustment and left it alone for about a week. I mainly wanted to see if the slight change in my bed's position would make it tough for me to sleep or not. It didn't. 

I continued rearranging the room, but to completion this time (09.19). Things were thrown away, lots of dust was swept and collected, and everything except the TV and the stand it is on was moved. Basically, all shelves and drawers are now on one side of the room, my bed is up against the wall with the windows, and my computer is now opposite the bed closer to the TV. I also had to change the direction of the vent because the a/c was blowing directly on me where the computer now resides. The biggest downside is that bed creaks a lot more. 

The other thing I was holding back on was ordering equipment. I did ask around and got some recommendations for a capture card and a webcam. I even bought a deck to help with streaming (have yet to use it). But I did try out all the items to make sure they worked when they arrived (09.24). Unfortunately, the cord for the webcam was too short for where I wanted to set it up and where my computer was. So I ordered an extender as well as a clamp to position it above my TV (09.26). 


Spent some time setting up OBS and a few other settings and did a few test recordings to make sure things were at least working for me. Then I had my first test stream (09.26). I played Super Mario Odyssey since a new outfit became available. Stream went smoothly with only the mic being very low for some reason. I was glad that the stream was running reliably though. I had a second test stream the following day and played Fortnite (09.27). Same as before with the mic being the only bad thing. 

I was able to figure out the mic issue (it was turned down very low on my computer for some reason, never used the mic function before). And I'm glad it worked out because with or without a mic, I was going to have my first official stream (09.28). My game of choice, The Legend of Zelda on the NES Switch app. I completed the game in about 5 hours. No hiccups on stream other than me having to fix an overlay graphic. 


And that is how I began streaming on Twitch. It's going to take some getting used to. I don't talk while I play games and I make it a point to mention that on stream. However, if people talk in the chat, I'll talk with them. Otherwise I'll just play the game. So if you tune in for a stream, say "hi" and keep me company in the chat. Shout outs to those that have already.

I am also figuring out a way to schedule sessions too. I just have to now because the way I was playing was "nonstop" with a lot of breaks in between (eat, catch up on social media, watch videos, etc). Now I have to play in a sitting. While I can take breaks, it won't be as convenient as before. Plus I do find it a little blah for a streamer to take a long break and leave the stream on (just my opinion). It's safe to say that I will start a stream at the earliest at 1PM. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I'll play until wrestling comes on. Streaming is definitely based around my work schedule. Definitely won't stream Saturdays unless it was really late at night. 

Over the last couple of months, I have definitely contributed more to the channels I watch (bits, subscriptions, gift subscriptions, hosting, etc). Seeing the out pour of community support on various channels is amazing. The one thing that helped push me to want to do this was a recent stream on VampyBitMe's channel. She was celebrating her one year anniversary on Twitch. Her friends started gifting subs to pretty much every person on stream. She cried, she wanted to giveaway more stuff, and it kept coming. It was insane. Having followed her for years now, seeing this happen live was inspirational. The craziness starts around the 2 hour mark and goes on for a while.


I need support. As of typing this (10.03), I'm not an affiliate. I can hit all my other goals, no problem. But getting 50 followers in a month is the one that will take some extra effort. So if you are reading this and you want to help me out and you have a Twitch account, please give me a Follow. Please tell others that you know would be interested in this about it. I know this is something I can really put a lot of myself into, but I need the support to get things off the ground. Once that happens, any additional support would be greatly appreciated. 


- That's it for September 2018. This was a long and emotional and event filled month. Thanks for reading. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."

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