Sunday, December 1, 2024

November 2024 Entry

November 2024 Entry: 

November was very dang busy. 

MISC========================= 

- Out of nowhere, TV remote controller stopped working (11.07). I thought it was simply the batteries, but nothing was happening even with newish batteries. Checked online and found multiple solutions. Some were different variations of holding down buttons for X amount of seconds. I probably spent about 10 minutes until the last option worked. I was worried I would have to go buy a new remote, which wouldn't be so bad, just inconvenient. 

- I saw ads for an OREO Dirt Cake flavor from Nothing Bundt Cakes (11.07). Once I realized it was a limited time offer and it was a few days from going away, I made sure to stop by a store to get one. I did it on the same day I went to GameStop. I always knew there was one near there, but didn't realize it was a 2 minute drive away, ha. Made sure to order a bundtlet online just in case it sold out. Picked it up and took it to work and put it in the fridge. Could have eaten it there, but I wanted to not worry about doing work stuff or get interrupted while eating it. Ended up eating it the next day as a snack. It was really good. Ate half of it after doing things and then ate the other half a few hours before dinner. Thumbs up. 

I knew one of my younger cousins was involved with Nothing Bundt Cakes. I was waiting for her to respond after posting it online, which she did. We had a nice conversation about how it was the first one I actually bought (had eaten some before though), which locations she's involved with, and how customers where I work always touted it when they brought them for birthday parties. Now I have a coupon to get a free one for buying one before Thanksgiving. Just need to remember to use it and/or have a reason to get it. 
 

- I learned that KitKat cereal exists. And I also learned that Reeses's Chocolate Lava Big Cups exists. Found out Walmart sold both so I decided to go buy them after work (11.09). It's been a long time since I left work that early and the Walmart that had both was on the way back home. Easily found the cereal in the cereal aisle. The Reese's took a bit to find. I figured they would be by the registers, which they were. But there were tons of every kind of Reese's as well. It was tough to spot it without leaning it to see what was in that sea of orange. But I found them (there were a few rows of them) and bought two along with an apple Snapple. 

I tried both the cereal and cups the next day. The cereal reminded me of another cereal I've had in the past, but I can't put my finger on what. The chocolate lava cups were as advertised. While they didn't drip with chocolate, it was a lot of chocolate. 
 

- Watched The World Ends With You: The Animation (11.12). I knew of it, but needed a good time to watch it. Figured a good time would be before playing NEO: TWEWY. I played the Switch version of TWEWY on stream in 2018. I liked it. I was a little worried how it would translate to an anime. But they did a stellar job. They were very faithful to the source material. The aesthetic and look was 1:1. They used some of the music from the game, which is my favorite thing from the game. While I couldn't recall the story beat by beat, it was told well. My biggest criticism is that I think having more episodes would help flesh out the story. A 20 hour story crammed into 12 twenty minute episodes was very condensed. But they still did a good job with getting the important points through. If you liked the game, you will like the anime. Thumbs way up. 
 

- I had a coupon from the last time I went to Nothing Bundt Cakes (11.22). Basically a buy-one-get-one-free for a bundlet. I kind of wasn't sure if I wanted to get it, but it fell in line with picking up Marvel VS Capcom. Ended up getting Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle. Snickerdoodle was eaten within a week and it was alright. The Chocolate Chip was given to someone although I wish I ate it myself. Maybe next time. 
 

- Had an early Thanksgiving meeting that ended up not going well (11.27). But shout out to a good friend that showed up after to help with venting.  

GAMES========================= 

Demo Showcase Shorts continue. Abathor and Bakeru were added to the wish list. One stand out was Operation Tango due to it being strictly multiplayer online. There was no way to play it solo. I didn't know that beforehand so I just skipped it for now. I'll most likely contact someone that has time to try it, but I'm making it a low priority for the time being. 55 demos remaining. 


- Got Chex Quest HD for 20 cents (11.01). I knew of it and its popularity. After playing it, I'm sure it is popular for the chuckles of its existence. It's not a horrible game by any means, but it's nothing special outside of it being Chex branded. At least I didn't spend much on it. I'm sure I even used gold coins to pay for it. 
 

- Coloring Pages: Lumberhill Tales was the free-to-play game of the month (11.03). It is what I expected, a coloring game. You get 6 pages to color for free. If you want more, pay for the DLC. The amount of coloring options and palettes is impressive. Definitely for a younger child that likes coloring. 
 

- Beyond Oasis was the Genesis NSO game of the month (11.04). Never played it before, but I had heard some good stuff about it. It's not bad. Combat was a little too simple. You can get different weapons, but I mainly used the default knife since it was of infinite use. Most normal enemies can be combo looped easily. Boss battles weren't super tough either other than having to find out a pattern. Puzzles were challenging mainly because there would be lots of back and forth. The sucky part was that there were possibilities to soft lock yourself if you didn't have access to a certain summon. I only really had to look stuff up for the final dungeon since there were a lot of specific steps that needed to be taken to get through it. The leveling up system could have been better. I knew that hearts leveled up your rank, but I wasn't sure what made them appear. Number of enemies defeated possibly, but there were times that they popped up frequently or infrequently. Not bad, but I will not be revisiting it any time soon. 


- Got my copy of LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW: RePOP from Limited Run Games (11.05). But I figured to wait until I picked up my copy of  Mario & Luigi: Brothership to take the photo (11.07). I was surprised to get a keychain set with Brothership (didn't know). Brothership is slated to be played in January. LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW probably won't be played until May unless I bump it up. I haven't played it before so I'm not in a rush. 
 

- Metroid: Zero Mission was the GBA NSO game of the month (11.10). My goodness, this is so good. From the controls, to the music, to the quality of life improvements, to the way the original stages were modified to feel familiar and still new. There are a lot of positives for this game. The Zero Suit Samus portion was shorter than I expected. I liked it enough to appreciate it, but it felt good getting the power suit back. 100%ing the game was simple too. Cheers to the in-game map that marks where you've collected things. The game being fast in general made it not feel like a chore. I really enjoyed playing this and completely understand why it gets the praise it does. Thumbs way up. 
 

- Amazing Hebereke was the SNES NSO game of the month (11.11). Why? I don't know. I don't even recall seeing the Switch trailer for it. It's a simple multiplayer fighter where you can move in all directions. You have a punch, kick, and jump button. Each character has a different set of moves, but control fairly the same. There's not much to it. And it didn't take long for me to lose interest. The computer controlled characters were either braindead or did nothing at all even if there were multiple of them. Once I figured out I can just wall combo each fight until I won, that's all I ever did. There are 8 different characters total. I could have easily beaten it with all of them as it didn't take too long to play through once (less than half an hour), but I was not motivated to do so. Not worth your time. 
 

- Hit 500 consecutive days in Fitness Boxing 11.11). About half of those days were legit as ever since June was when I stopped doing the actual exercises and just turned the game on for achievement purposes. I wonder how many days will be reached when I'm actually done with everything. 
 

- Picked up my copy of Marvel VS Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (11.22). It's crazy that this is a real thing. While it's a fighting game, I could jump into it any time. I haven't figured out how I really want to tackle it, but I might spread it out starting next year (one game per month). 
 

- Finished NEO: The World Ends With You (11.12-11.26). This went on the secondary wishlist during Demo Showcase 72, stream 569 on 09.03.21. Then I got it on sale for $20 on 11.23.22). I thought of playing it on stream, but I did discuss it a bit with Reversed and he mentioned that it is a long game even if you do nothing but the story. He wasn't kidding. There's a lot to do in this game. For a while, I was fighting all possible Noise in each area (they respawn every time you leave one). I was also trying to eat every kind of food and buy every piece of clothing and upgrade every pin I got. For a while I was over leveled and fights felt easy minus a few big scripted fights. Halfway through the game, I realized I wouldn't be able to beat the game this month if I continued at that pace. So I decided to only go for chapter sidequests (even though I missed a few beforehand so I wouldn't complete all) and to only fight when required. At some point a few of the tougher Noise fights took a few tries, especially the last few main bosses. But that was also due to me not utilizing a few techniques at my disposal. During the last fight, I lost 5 times before coming up with a plan to gain a couple of levels to be a flat 60. A day later I was able to beat the final boss in one try and wrap up the game. 

It's a great game overall. I posted on Facebook a larger description of my negatives (so much long-winded dialogue, completion process, etc) and positives (music, art style, combat, etc). While it was taxing at times to read so much text, it made sense in the end. I do think they could have cut a quarter of it. But the positives outweigh the negatives as you can easily get lost in Shibuya trying to do everything. I would only recommend it to those that enjoyed the original game because characters and story tie in. 


- Got my copies of SNK VS. Capcom: SVC Chaos and Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection III (11.26). Valis I plan to play next July since that's when I played the first two collections. SVC...not sure. Part of me wants to spread it out and beat it with X amount of characters each month. The other is to knock it out in one month similar to what I might do with the MVC collection. 

Then I came up with a plan. Knock at X amount of characters whenever I can. Extra free time? Beat it with 1-2. In between games? Beat it with 1-2. Have time before work? Beat it with 1. And then I started to play it (11.28). I have only played this game a few times in the arcade. While I never beat a full run with anyone, I don't recall it being this difficult. On the first day, I had to take the difficulty down from 4 (default) and eventually end at 1 with only 1 round and giving myself max power and unlimited exceed. The CPU is still tough and you only get 4 continues (no way to change that) and there are no save states. There were a few times I got far only to lose all my continues on one character. It took over 2 hours to finally beat it with one character, Iori. And it was the bad ending. When I thought I'd at least get 3-4 in that span of time, I only did it with 1. It doesn't help that my input commands aren't registering consistently. What a hell of a start. But I will continue to take this route and knock out characters when I can. 
 

- WOLF OF THE BATTLEFIELD: MERCS was the (second) Genesis NSO game of the month (11.28). This was part of the latest (after a long hiatus) of Genesis updates on NSO. I was thinking of playing this of VectorMan at this time and ultimately went with MERCS since it was hyped up in Discord. I've always wanted to play VectorMan when I was younger. I haven't played it since so I figured I could wait a little longer. Both would have fit the extra day of games after NEO: TWEWY. 


- Another champion has been crowned in Fitness Boxing 2 (11.28). Karen is the latest to hit her 50 hours. Only 7 trainers left to get the achievement. It's closer in attainability as most have 15 or less hours left to go. 
 

WORK========================= 

- Agent Ocean bought me some Candy Popcorn M&M Minis (11.01). Thing is, he got them for me a week prior to the date I typed. The date is when I finally ate some, ha. They're alright. Simply popcorn fused with M&Ms. 
 

- A busy Saturday (11.02). Adding to it was that we were low on staff. So many had either requested the day off or marked they weren't available. There were literally 7 of us available from a staff of 20+. The majority of us were working 9-12 hours that day. It wasn't too bad, but you could tell fatigue and tiredness was setting in for some. The busiest portion thankfully happened when the final 3 scheduled team members arrived. We could all breathe a little easier from that point on.  

- Had a shift at the second location (11.06). Originally was scheduled from 10-4, but ended up staying until 7PM. It was myself and Agent Ocean along with KH and KA. They were paired together to do tasks while I was with Agent Ocean. At some point we all met the manager of the cleaning service we were going to have work with us. She was a stunner. A good amount of people working at the venue (builders, painters, us, etc) had plenty of compliments, ha. Bummer that she won't be there when the actual cleaning happens. 

Went to JAX again for lunch. Spoke with the worker we met previously there and another one we didn't (both have the same names). KH and KA left a little before 4 and I stuck around like I mentioned well after my shift. It feels great making progress and to see things shape up. Not only that, I get to chill and talk with Agent Ocean and the ladies. 
 

- We had our first remote Game Master happen (11.09). PH took two rooms to watch while he was at college. There were a few small hiccups at first, but it went rather well. Game Hosts need to be more diligent to watch the program for messages and groups' times. 

We also had a team return. They came in wearing Friendsgiving shirts and they mentioned how they did one of our rooms a year prior. They did not escape, but they had fun so they were there for round two. Some were very worried while others were ready to get down to business. I chose to specifically be their host as they were fun to talk to. I brought them into their room and gave my regular speech about rules and such. When I mentioned their white board and how they shouldn't draw on anything else, one of the ladies said "you'll see a penis before the night is over" meaning she was probably going to draw one. They all laughed and once that died down I said "I already saw one this morning" and pointed towards my crotch and they all busted out laughing. They were a fun crowd. When they escaped, you could hear the scream from out in the lobby. As I went to get them, the next group waiting to do the exact room asked what happened. I simply said that they won. Greeted the team and they were in high spirits from their redemption. As I brought them out, the team waiting started to give them high-fives. I like when teams react like that. All of them (I think) left us reviews too. If that was the last team I had that night, that would have been perfect. 

About an hour later a group of three came in. They mentioned how they did plenty of our rooms in Austin. We mentioned how one of our staff members used to work there and we brought her out. Thankfully she wasn't the one they didn't like, ha. After their experience, they stayed to chat for a bit and left reviews as well. As they were walking out the door, we overheard them say that we were better than the Austin store, heck yeah. 

- Myself, Agent Ocean, and RB started to set up our holiday escape room, Saving Santa (11.12). Thankfully, the staff members took down most of the original room. We moved everything in and started to put it together. There were a few bumps in the road as we couldn't find certain things or had to figure out how to change how to display things, especially a big mural. We pretty much got 85% of it up and other staff members finished the rest the next day. 

- Our first sets of the holiday room happened that weekend (11.16). It ran well. The issue of the day was our Star Trek room. There were issues with the screens at first. Every time I turned them all on/off, a different one would stay stuck on the desktop screen instead of properly booting up. I also had to remove a few panels to reset some of the PC sticks to get them to turn on. The other issue was the main door would not properly close. I was disappointed that the staff that reset the room didn't tell any of us until shortly before a session was to occur. Myself and CG took a few minutes trying things, but it just would not shut. Once we decided it wouldn't change, I spoke to the team that was to play the room (a mom and her son). I let them know that everything worked except that door. I said if they were okay not bypassing the door until the finish the first puzzle, they can play. Otherwise we would have moved them to another room. They were fine with it. I hosted them in and right away pointed out the door and that when they solved the first puzzle that they would hear a signal and then they could go in. Everything else went fine, but we blocked all the other available sessions so no one else could book it. 

- We closed down for the day so that staff could help beta test rooms at the new location (11.19). It was scheduled from 7PM-9PM. Took me two hours to get there and I knew it would be that way (checked traffic patterns the day before). I still got there first out of the few staff members that came. I ended up doing Antidote 2.0 with RB's family while the owners' husbands and some of their kids played 7 Deadly. The issues we ran into were purely human error (room wasn't reset, passwords were left out to view - we ignored them, etc) while everything worked properly in the room. KH and KA played Antidote after us. There were technical issues with 7 Deadly that they fixed before having KH, KA, and RB's family play it. I opted out since I technically played it with Agent Ocean as we tested to make sure everything worked. 

Before they went to play, I was given a box of things to take back to the original venue. When I went to put it away in my car, I ran into one of the employees from the Game Show: Battle Rooms. She was one of the two that ran our impromptu session. We talked for a bit and then I brought her into the lobby so she can see what has changed. She had visited not too long ago when I wasn't there, but she still was surprised with how much had changed. Then she offered to visit their venue, but only I was able to go, which I didn't need to since I had already seen it. But I met more of their staff and got to try one of the mini games for the other room we didn't play. I let them know of two possible events I want to throw there (one for the holidays and one to be determined) and she was thrilled. Plus we're all thinking of collaborating with them to help each other out. 

As the team was playing 7 Deadly, I chilled in the control room to see how things were run. Then I joined Agent Ocean and the owners in the lobby who were having a chat. From that point, I joined in on the business discussions and eventually CG and SP joined. We talked about several things such as reviews and an upcoming party. At some point another set of employees from Game Show passed by and I waved to them. I went to the door to greet them. They were throwing out trash, but brought up that the corporate team left a lot of pizza and asked if we wanted a box. I agreed and they came back later with a full box. Talking continued and everyone slowly started to leave. I gave CG a tiny silly gift for the opening of the store. It was around 10:30PM when we all left. Easiest drive home for me. Took a non-toll road path and it was less than an hour (expected with no traffic at that time). 

- I was prepped for a complicated return customer (11.21). They had called over the weekend to book a party and said that a manager told her she can use a Groupon towards the party room. One, none of the managers spoke to her. Two, you can't use a Groupon towards the party room. SP had gone back and forth with her multiple times even to ask her to use her Groupon on a normal booking (the room reserved for the party room) and do that. She even asked to be given the Groupon code to make the booking on our end. The customer did neither. They did make their deposit for the party room. During the talk at the new location, SP and one of the owners and I decided that the first thing the customer needed to do was provide the Groupon code. And if she could not provide it and was not willing to pay (we agreed to match the Groupon price if need be), then they can use the party room for two hours and that's it. 

I let the staff know that day what was up and that I would handle that customer the entire time. By the time she showed up along with her family, it still took her a good 20 minutes to get her Groupon code. I don't know what the issue was. If she had a code, she should have access to it. I even walked her through the process of getting a code and the difference between it and the purchase code. Eventually she got it, but it took a long time when I literally had a customer the week before easily show me their code on their phone in less than 5 minutes as a walk-in. Thankfully it worked. I was prepped for the worst case scenario just in case. 

We also made exceptions for her. We don't normally allow warm food because we can offer it via catering. They said the food would cool down while the kids played and I think they were taking advantage of the wording. If that were the case, everyone should bring in warm food because it will cool down. Not only that, but I couldn't find our plastic utensils. Eventually I found some packed utensils from a restaurant and provided them. The whole time she kept saying "if I knew you didn't have it, I would have brought my own." Unfortunately for me, we did have some as Agent Ocean found them. They were literally going to be the next drawer I would have checked if I didn't find the ones I did. Then one of the mothers wanted a coffee. I prepped it and poured it and then she asked for sugar. I handed her what we provided every single customer. She said she couldn't have those since she was fasting and refused to drink the coffee. At one point she left with a family member to go elsewhere to buy sugar she could use, but literally came back with a coffee. 

The kids were loud in their room. I was their Game Master because I told the staff I would handle this party from start to finish. It was honestly an easy session because they kept asking for hints before giving up and asking for the answers. But like I said, they were loud. I typed up something like "please do not yell because we have other customers that can hear you." And much like every time I sent a clue, they yelled that out loud too. There was one customer that asked if there were kids in the room next to them and I acknowledged that fact. 

The bright spot was the husband of this party. Super chill and awesome hair. He was very level-headed and made sure everyone was having a good time and was being an overall good parent. He even took care of the remainder of the balance, which wasn't much, but I had a feeling the wife would have tried to get out of paying for it simply for the forks and sugar incident. I did get to talk to her for a short bit at some point and she (in her own way) acknowledged that she is difficult, but they like what we do and offer. In the end, I'm glad it went as smoothly as it did. 

- This was the first Saturday without some of our staff that are now in the sister location (11.24). We still had a solid crew, but it was definitely a different energy. Some things to note include the possibility of a customer peeing on the bathroom floor. KA brought it up to me and I brought the father of the party in to check. Even as I was walking him I said "I should have checked first." Looking inside, it wasn't a lot, but you could tell there was a puddle. He even said it wasn't a lot, but...there shouldn't be any. I went to go get a mop and then one of the mothers of the party caught up with me and said she tried cleaning some of it up and that what's left was water. I took that as an actual sign that there was a bigger pee puddle than what me and the dad saw. I let KA know what was up and proceeded to mop. 

Next thing was we had a venue buyout. While similar situations had happened before, this was the first official one as it's now an option to request online. It was for a birthday and they had reserved 5 out of 6 of our rooms. They would have taken the last, but someone had already booked it before the buyout. In the end, not everyone showed up and they only did 4 rooms with the majority of adults taking 1 while the kids occupied the other 3. The execution of it all went smoothly with no hiccups to my recollection. In the end, they offered us one of their leftover pizzas (giant box of Russo's pizza) and tipped us $150. 

Then we unfortunately had some customers that were not particularly pleasant. I won't go into detail, but I was told that they were saying inappropriate things to their Game Host and Game Master who are both underage. Immediately, myself and HL said that they will not be handling that team and to not go out until that team left. Once that team was gone, I asked AI to write a report to have it on record. We also had a small chat about whether she thought I should have done something else like kick them out. She assured me that what I did was the best option to make it not be a bigger issue. And I apologized a few times to her that this occurred. 

To end the night on a high note, we had some return customers. This one couple has a lot of kids and myself and Agent Ocean had taken time to talk to them before and after their sessions almost every time. It had been a while since we had seen them because they had another baby. We got to catch up, I mentioned our second location, and even gave them some of the pizza we had. 

- We opened on Monday for Thanksgiving week (11.25). Small team with not a lot of bookings. The main downside was that the majority of teams were late. No real reason either. The only weather condition was it being windier than normal, but nothing to prevent teams from coming in. Even though we caught up timewise, it didn't matter as the next set of teams would be late. Ending the night on a low note, someone peed in the trash can of one of our bathrooms. We suspected this group of boys, which would be disappointing because the majority had been to our venue before. They were also respectful and attentive when speaking to me. Sure, it could have been any other customer, but they were high on the suspect list. 

- The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was busy (11.27). Not insanely busy as there was a lull. But especially after the lull is when things picked up. There was one point when one of our newer staff members was training/playing one of the rooms with his family and that's when I was the only one doing lobby duty while the other three were watching their games. And that's when all the customers were ordering drinks. So I was pouring drinks, checking people in, having people pay, hosting teams into their rooms, answering extra questions customers had, and going to reset rooms mainly by myself. Of course the Game Masters did their extras when they could, but their main focus was watching their games. Time sure did fly during that period. 

- Busy Friday (11.29). By the end of the night, all except one booking was booked. It's been a while since we had something like that happen. But it was a little rough as almost everyone on staff was low on energy after Thanksgiving. Then we had one issue with our Black Friday deal happening. It is something corporate needs to fix. 

- I had to go in early on Saturday (11.30). We had a booking at 11AM, but those that were scheduled to open were to come in at 11AM. I asked RB to come in early to which she came 20 minutes earlier that her scheduled time. Also one of the owners and her husband came to fix one of the props in Scooby, which they did. Once they left and the rest of the morning crew arrived, I went to HEB to buy drinks we were running low on. Didn't take long to do that. We definitely needed them as we had two parties later in the day. 

There was one big mistake I made. A group showed up early for Scooby, but I thought they were there for Star Trek. Why? Because both team names were Asian and the same number of people. The thing is, we didn't realize the issue until 20 minutes later when HL asked where her Scooby team was even though they were checked-in. We spent a few minutes figuring out what happened because I asked the team for the name on their booking and the responded and even one person stepped forward as that name. Not only that, the team said nothing when they were brought to Star Trek. Plus they were in there playing without second guessing or complaining that they were in the wrong room. If they were fine, no problem. And if they weren't going to say anything about it, neither would we. But the issue would be for the actual team that were to be in Star Trek. They'd have to start late and they did start about 10 minutes late. Thing is, they were a good team of kids and got out really fast, which helped us catch up on timing. 

Then there was a section of time where the lobby was full and loud and we were a bit behind because we were all running around. It wasn't incredibly horrible, but I knew some customers were getting agitated. Luckily none of them were mad or upset and that Agent Ocean showed up at the right time. He came from the sister location to finish out his work day with us. Things simmered down and the rest of the time I was there was fine. Heck of a couple of days to end the month on. 

Cheers to the customer that gave us cookie sandwiches. 
https://x.com/ArnellragasA/status/1863095036881383499 

ETC========================= 

- ITZY 3rd Fanmeeting 

I saw clips and gifs from the fanmeeting. Sat down and watched a playlist with the majority of it (official releases came later for some of the performances). A few things really got me. One was each member swapping their solos. They each fit really well. But seeing Lia finally sing her solo in front of a crowd gave me goosebumps. And then seeing all five of them perform the final versions of songs from Born To Be, that made me smile so much. 


- TaeYeon - A Letter To Myself (MV) 

- TWICE - I Got You (AmazonMusic, 11.21) 

- IRENE - Like A Flower (MV) 

- I had not had many matches throughout this year of being back on dating apps. Most matches were catfishes. But one day I had three matches within the span of 24 hours (11.10). 2 were from Hinge and one was a roundabout way on Facebook. 1 of them from Hinge was not very responsive (a response after many hours) and eventually we were unmatched after about a day. 

The other one from Hinge was very talkative. She eventually did the thing I was worried about, which was talking on a different app, which we ended up doing. That same time we matched, we had a short video call that lasted about 5 minutes. That was a first. But it was good to see an actual person and hear their voice. Then it was a lot of talk and photo exchanging for the next few days. I did get worried about a few things. One was how she told me how a previous match reported her account. She got into how she was being disrespected and what led to that. She even sent a screenshot of her getting that report and reiterating the reasons why it happened. A day later, I was sent a report notification about her and it was similar to others I've had in the past. I was surprised that it came days later rather than right away like for previous "matches." So I gave her the benefit of the doubt and kept talking. The other reason was how attached she was. She would say things that alluded to us already being a couple. I had to reiterate a few times that we weren't and we're feeling each other out. I would say how whenever we meet, we'll see how our vibes match and would try to set up a day to meet. But she could never settle on a day because she was always busy. And then all of a sudden she was going to head to New York for a fashion convention and to visit her aunt. She was going to leave that weekend and be back in 7-10 days. That made me skeptical because I've read similar things from other fake matches I've had. One of the last things she messaged me about was helping her choose a bag for her aunt...and they were expensive. Apparently money wasn't an issue for her. But I'll get to why I stopped talking to her soon. 

Then there was the one from Facebook. We didn't match on Facebook Dating. She left a comment on a post I made from beating Amazing Hebereke. I checked her profile and then I sent her a message and she replied a few hours later. We spoke for a bit via Messenger before she asked to speak on another app. She was very active with messaging and even left a short audio message the next day. She was receptive with posting and sharing photos. I tried figuring out a day for us to meet up to eat and she was excited, but she mentioned that she wouldn't be able to anytime soon because...she was going to New York for a fashion convention. She would be gone until the beginning of December so almost 2 weeks. Out of all of them, she was the one I was interested in most because of our back and forths and her looks. 

I think I would have kept talking to both if it wasn't for both of them going to New York at the same time for the same reason. That's when I decided to recruit the sleuthing skills of Agent PQ. She was very good at this type of thing and I even asked her in the past to do some research before. She was hesitant at first because she wasn't really on social media anymore, but did it for me (thanks). And within about an hour, she was able to find and not find information that leaned more on stolen photos usen and fake profiles. I needed someone to tell me to abandon all hope and Agent PQ did. I'm very thankful for her help because I didn't want to waste more time on either of them. It's a shame. I knew it was too good to be true to get all these matches at the same time. The one on Hinge that unmatched first that I barely spoke to was probably real if anything. I was excited to be talking to any of them, but my hope was that at least one was real. Yeah... 

That's a wrap on November 2024. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 



"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

Thursday, October 31, 2024

October 2024 Entry

 October 2024 Entry: 

- October went by in a flash.  

MISC========================= 

- First show at the Improv in years and it was to see Anna Akana (10.03). Agent Ocean came along for his first ever comedy show. Beforehand, we went to try the Immersive Birdbox and specifically their Escape AI game. It was impressive at first, then it felt gimmicky. The story itself also started well like an escape room, but then ended with minigames for points. 

We were then first in line for the comedy show. I saw a mutual Kpop friend who was also there for the show and he chilled with us in line and ended up sitting behind us. We were front row with the stage being reachable. The opening act was Jenn Sterger. Never heard of her before, but her set was really funny. Good crowd interactions too. Then it was Anna Akana's turn and that was awesome. At one point she accidentally called the crowd Dallas and there was a bit of an uproar. She then talked to Agent Ocean to ask why it was so bad and he explained. She continued asking him about dating app stuff since that was the original subject and boy did that take off with Agent Ocean sharing about his recent break up and the crowd chiming in, ha. It was crazy. 

After the show, we decided to go to the back of the VIP line to be the last ones to talk to Anna. The whole time I couldn't think of what to say to her. I made sure to say I had been following her on YouTube for over a decade and that she was the first show I had seen since the pandemic. Got pictures with her, yay. Unfortunately the person taking the photos sucked, boo. On the drive home I thought of a bunch of stuff like how I tweeted her with the HER account. We then went to the merchandise table where Jenn was. Talked to her for a bit, bought merchandise (poster and socks), and took pictures with her too. She's coming back in December and I might go see her again. 

Great night of comedy. 


- And a second night of comedy happened. While we were there for Anna Akana, Agent Ocean saw that Martin Amini was going to be performing that weekend. He bought tickets for us and his brother and friend to go to the show (10.06). Fun stuff. I was shown a bit of his act and how he brings people on stage to make a match and "beso beso." Some of the audience participation was interesting in a good and bad way. We definitely laughed and cheered some people on, but there were some that we thought didn't need to talk or be up on stage. We probably could have had more people participate if some didn't take so long. I did picture what would happen if Agent Ocean or I were on stage. He would have definitely had multiple women come up on stage, I believe that. I would have been worried if anyone would come up if I were on stage especially since the crowd was a younger audience (20s-30s). 
 

- The HERetirees have planned to go to Dough Zone for the longest time. It was supposed to happen before the hurricane hit. Then a few reschedulings happened because of work or other events. Even the date we actually went was in jeopardy since Agent Ocean was supposed to work. But he was able to adjust things and we combined it as a pre-birthday celebration for Agent PQ (10.13). We first went to Activate. So much fun. We played some of the games we didn't the first time and we replayed our favorites. The biggest highlights I could recall are when we threw balls at increasing numbers and for hoops trivia, ha. 

Then we went to eat at Dough Zone. It was actually within walking distance from the GameStop I used to work at. We got a good amount of food and carried on some good conversations. Finally stopped at Kim's Teahouse for drinks and more talk before calling it a day around 6PM-7PM. Always a pleasure hanging out with them. 


- Went to Niko Niko's with the GGSN crew (10.16). Good talks and good food (I couldn't finish mine). It was good catching up with each of them. Not everything that has happened over the last few months has been great for everyone, but it was good to forget a few of our troubles and enjoy our company. 
 

- Agent Ocean informed the HERetirees about The Great Big Game Show having a launch party tournament. Agent Blue wasn't able to join us so it was just four of us. We planned to meet at 9AM when they opened (10.19). I was on the scene first and there was only one person (not team) in front of me. I signed us in and told the staff that the rest of the team were on the way. PQ and Majordomo arrived about 10 minutes later and we had not heard from Ocean yet. Another call later, he missed his alarm. The three of us chilled in the sun for about 20 minutes as Agent Ocean made his way over. Shortly after we needed to determine if we were to face-off against the staff (knew the answers), a team of two young girls and two staff members (who didn't know the answers), or against each other, which we did imagine rigging it to help one team get a really high score. We ended up going against the girls and staff. The experience for the launch party was an abbreviated 15-minute experience. The first round was a block stacking challenge (highest stack won), we lost. The second round was trivia while trying to make it across a board (each letter was the beginning of the answer), we won. The final round was shooting darts at a screen to get as many points as possible by hitting your colored balls, we won. Our final score was 5900 and we were first out of two teams, ha. Got our freebies and left. 

Agent Ocean left for work while the rest of us went to Snooze for food. Never went there before because I'm not the biggest breakfast person, but there was stuff I saw I liked. The drink I liked ended up not being as good as expected. The chocolate pancakes were good, but I couldn't finish it and gave the rest to Majordomo. We just caught up a little more before needing to split. Chilled in the car for a bit before heading off to work. 

At some point during work, I thought to check TGBGS' social media to see if they posted anything. There was a video and at some point you can take a peek at the current scores at around 7PM. We were fourth. Cheers to us for holding on to a top 10 spot, but that also meant we weren't first and were out of the running for the $1000 prize. The next day, I got an email congratulating our team on being 8th place and for winning four free tickets to get the full experience. We have yet to determine if/when we'll use them. 


- For the first time in years, I missed doing my daily push-ups (10.19). I thought I could possibly do them after work late at night, but I was too tired. But I also missed doing them in the same week (10.22). You'll read why later in the blog under the work section.  

- 10 years sober (10.24). The day itself wasn't going all that great as plans and timing (traffic, more customers, etc) were thrown off. The one thing I wanted to make sure was to get a passion fruit green tea to celebrate. And at the beginning of the day, I did text back and forth with MIM. While it was about other things, I did thank her for being there for me. She was the last person I drank with, she was there to bring me to an emergency room when I needed help, and she is still in my life. Thank you. 


- Dad asked me to assist on another fence (10.28). Different person (mom's friend), different part of town (half an hour away). My main job was to saw the wood planks for the fence. He measured and set a frame for me to easily set the boards in. Then he showed me how easy it was and always encouraged me to take my time and not go fast for obvious reasons. Other than that I also brought the wood over to him as he was nailing them to the frame and other small assists. There were a few times where our steady progress was halted due to different reasons (not leveled, having to move the support beams, etc). We started at 9AM and actually finished around 2PM. He has to go back another day to fine touch a few things, but my part was done. 

One thing that bothered me was my mom's friend. She called me by name and I felt bad that I didn't recognize her. Later after she brought us lunch (Popeye's), she asked what I do for work now. As I was wiping my mouth to speak, she mentioned if I still worked at the blank store. My dad replied, "that's his brother." Not too big a deal because it happens. But then she responded with "oh, I don't know which one you are then" and laughed it off. Overall she was kind, but that got to me. She's of an older generation and probably thought it was nothing. I just thought she could have responded better. Thank you for the food though. Your big dog was nice and playful. 


- Watched the Resident Evil series (10.30). My investment was up and down so much throughout. The first couple of episodes, not into it. The next couple of episodes, into. Then it bounced back and forth until the end. The main thing I didn't like was how they kept jumping back and forth from the past to their present time. Part of me wanted to see it play out sequentially. Another part of me wanted to just see the past parts. They did reference some things from the game, which I got a kick out of. Unfortunately, there won't be a season two and they were obviously aiming for it. It's not horrible, but I won't go out of my way to recommend it. 
 

GAMES========================= 

Demo Showcase Shorts continue. It wasn't a full month due to work and other things. One thing I will start to keep track of how many are left. As of typing this (10.31) there are 68 demos left to try. Of course more keep getting added, but the number itself has caught my eye a few times. So it'll be interesting to see how this goes.  


- Started playing the Castlevania Advance Collection and started with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (10.02). I had played this on the Wii U, but never finished it. It still felt as if I was playing it for the first time. I liked how it was simple to play. I didn't like that the DSS system was never explained so I never used it. I'm sure it would have made some parts easier. And as much as I would have liked to 100% the map especially since I was less than 10% away, that battle arena was very tough. Again, if I utilized the DSS system, maybe it would have been better. 


- Next in the Castlevania Advance Collection was Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (10.06). I never played this nor had I heard much about this specific title. The map was intimidating and I do wish there was a way to mark the map so I knew where certain locked doors were. That last bit I was missing was almost defeating, but thankfully I found it. And I got all the endings. This ended up being my favorite game on the collection.  

- Third on the Castlevania Advance Collection was Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (10.07). This title was the one I heard the most praise for so I was looking forward to it. At some point, I realized I was at the final boss door and thought that was easy, but I stopped to fill in more of the map. And then I did some research only to find out that some of the map was locked behind needing certain souls. That's when I decided to finish the game sooner rather than later. At first, I thought the soul collecting mechanic was interesting. Early on I had to stop myself from trying to collect the soul of every new enemy I encountered. Thankfully I did because I thought once you killed X amount of an enemy, you get their soul. Incorrect. It's based on your luck stat if that soul drops. Even though finding enemies in certain spots wasn't bad and there were items to increase your luck, I did not want to spend possibly an additional 5-10 hours (or more) hoping to get the soul I needed. I may be the outlier, but that made my playthrough of the game sour. Great game overall though. The evolution of controls and graphics was apparent. 


- Last game in the Castlevania Advance Collection was Dracula X (10.10). I thought I had played it before, but I had not. I was familiar with how it played since it was closer to classic Castlevania. While I beat Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow only a day apart, I could have done that with Dracula X as well were I not scheduled to work a lot that week. I pretty much got one ending a day. Not perfect, but definitely a good Castlevania game. 
 

- Capcom Arcade Stadium was the free-to-play game of the month. This had been out for a while and I held it off for some reason that I don't recall. But since we're in October, it was appropriate to knock out a set of games/series like I had done for the last few years. 1943 - The Battle of Midway - came free with the initial download (10.11). I've definitely played the arcade version, but I never beat it. If I did, it took a lot of quarters because I spent at least 20+ credits beating this one. It's challenging and repetitive and free. 
 

- Ghosts 'n Goblins was next in my Capcom Arcade Stadium collection (10.11). This was free for a limited amount of time and I know I made sure to download it. Never played the arcade version of this. I'm definitely more familiar with the NES and SNES versions. Seeing the differences was neat. It still has that high level of difficulty especially in the latter half of the game. 
 

- STREET FIGHTER II - The World Warrior is also part of my Capcom Arcade Stadium (10.14). This was also free for a limited amount of time so I made sure to get it. Played this tons of times in the arcade, but I don't think I ever beat it. Mostly played against others. Blanka was my main before I knew anything. I thought he looked cool and that he could bite opponents, ha. But I made sure to beat the game with everyone. It took about 20-30 minutes per character. Having to unlearn each one of their moves to get back to the basics was bumpy at first, but things were smoother after at least 2 fights. Using old school CPU methods still worked for the most part. Yay for muscle memory. 
 

- Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium was the other free-to-play game of the month. Lumping this with the other Capcom Arcade Stadium. There has only been one game offered for free up to this date and that was  SONSON (10.14). The only experience I have with Sonson was using them in Marvel VS Capcom 2. I would have never expected the game to be a side-scrolling shoot 'em up. Simple for what it is, not bad mechanically. It just wasn't too interesting to do more than a single run. 
 

- My copy of Contra: Operation Galuga arrived (10.15). I double checked to see if I had this penned on the schedule. It was for June. I have since pushed it up to April, but it might get pushed more simply because it's shorter than other games in the backlog. 
 

- NecroWorm was a game that I wasn't specifically looking to buy. It was part of Demo Showcase 47 August 2020 and it was a thumbs sideways. But it was part of a deep sale combo with Liberated. For $2 combined, it was hard to pass up, especially since the sale for them separately was about $2-$5 each I think. I didn't expect to be blown away and I wasn't. Similar to Snake; eat all the items on screen and don't run into yourself. I only had to look up about 25% of the levels online. Thankfully everything was single screen so it was easy to follow paths. Played it to completion (10.16). I was underwhelmed with how it ended since it was a small text bubble congratulating you. Oh well, got my money's worth. 


- Liberated: Enhanced Edition was the favorite from Demo Showcase 71 in August 2021 (10.18). This was the game that was bundled with NecroWorm. My positives and negatives from the Demo Showcase still stand. While I liked seeing the story play out in the comic panels, I wasn't motivated enough to replay it to see different dialogue options. It's definitely not perfect, but it has potential to be great if it was better polished or if they made a sequel that was more refined. 
 

- Continuing going for Fitness Boxing 2 achievements. The latest was a big one with Sophie hitting 50 hours (10.20). That is the last hourly achievement to attain and I have 8 more characters left to do that with. Those are the major ones left, but I really should be "playing" it here and there to get more punches in. I'll think of something. 
 

- Played through Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (10.23). I was a little worried about this going in as I didn't have fond memories of the 3DS version. Apparently I gave that a 4 out of 5. Other than that, I didn't recall much from it. As I was playing this time, I could tell how it's been improved upon outside of quality of life. The one thing I did not like was the completion process. Unlike the first and third game, there are split levels instead of an overall connected world. If you reach the end, you get booted out. If you missed an item or a few, you have to play that whole level again from start to finish. Sure you can speed through and not suck up everything, but some levels are still long and would require 10+ minutes to wrap up a second or third time through. Thankfully I realized that early on and had a guide handy to make sure I didn't miss any...but I still missed some. Had I not decided to go for 100% (not including ScareScraper), my playtime would probably have been cut in half. 
 

- A Little to the Left was one of three Game Trials available this month (10.25). While I knew of this, I wasn't keeping it on my radar. Thanks to the Game Trial, I knew I could at least give it a shot. The concept of arranging things in a certain manner is good. Figuring out those certain manners was another thing. It wasn't always clear and I had to use an online guide to figure about half of them out especially for the alternate solutions. The thing that got to me the most was having to be very precise with a few of them. To me I had the solution, but because it was a little off, it didn't count and I'd have to figure out what was wrong. I did everything except for daily challenges and the DLC. It's not bad, but not particularly for me. 
 

- Tried out  Cursed to Golf (10.27). I had heard some good stuff about this. I see why people like it. I've played my share of golf games and I'm not the greatest at them. But I had fun with them. This is not for me. Mainly because it is a rougelike. If I could learn a hole to be better at it, cool. In this, if you lose, you have to play a completely different set of holes. Some could be similar, but I didn't run into that with my time with the game. And if it was just the one hole, not as bad, but you start over from hole one. Again, I see why people like it, but it's not for me. I wouldn't have tried it if it were not a Game Trial. 


- Played Vampire Survivors was the third Game Trial this month (10.30). The hype is real. I see how people get addicted to this game. Were I not that busy, I would have played more. I think I got about 10 games in. While it's not super expensive, I'll still wait for a larger sale. For now, it has been wish listed. 
 


WORK========================= 

- I have now worked 1 year at Escapology (10.04). There have been ups and downs throughout. It's not perfect, but I am in the industry I was well suited for. 
 

- We had two birthday parties (10.05). Nothing new there, but I didn't realize I hosted both of them and that they were all for young girls. I do recall one employee saying "this is all you" because they didn't want to host the one for the 10 year olds. They were fine. Once they listened it was all good. If I recall correctly, I actually in-room facilitated this one about halfway in. The second birthday of girls, some remembered me as they had been there before. They even gave me a Halloween ring to be part of their crew. As I left them after hosting, I said something like "good luck, fam/bruv" because they wanted me to say some current slang, ha. After their game, I was helping with bringing food into the party room. One time I left and walked into the glass door. I just continued off and tried to compose myself. As I was washing dishes, they all came out and gave me part of their birthday cake. I thanked them, but I thought of something to say after they left. Them giving me the cake was a good representation of how much they enjoyed me and a nice way to celebrate a year of working there. 
 

- A short week day (10.08). Other than a few sessions, my big task was to fill up lab bottles with different color resin for the second location. Agent Ocean had a hand in them too, but he also had his own tasks. It took the majority of the day and boy were my hands sticky after, ha. Since we closed early, I suggested we go to Zero Degrees nearby. It's not bad. Good boba options and familiar food options. Too bad they don't do split cups anymore because I've always wanted to try that. 
 

- I wasn't originally scheduled to go there, but I was asked to come to the second location to help out (10.09). They caught me at a good time because I was literally about to leave for work. Changed my clothes and it took about an hour to get there and help Agent Ocean and the ladies move heavy props from large crates into the building. It was definitely tiring, but I was glad to be available to help them out. Afterwards, Agent Ocean and I got some ShareTea in the area (it tasted so good) and went our separate ways. 


- A slow, but productive day with RB (10.10). I took on the task of all the game mastering so that she could get some social media stuff done.  

- Another group of customers offered us cake (10.12). The following Saturday, we also were left with some cake, but it was hit or miss with the staff. 


- Used another CVS coupon to get some work snacks for myself and Agent Ocean (10.17). Not bad. 
 

- Did work at the second location (10.22). Originally we were all to meet there at 9AM, but there was a huge traffic jam due to an accident. We started to show up a little after 10AM. But we made a lot of progress as we worked from 10-7PM. That definitely was not the original plan as I recall being scheduled until 5PM. But when things are flowing, don't stop the momentum. Plus the drive home was the shortest ever. Still was around an hour, but not 1.5-2 hours like other times. 
 

- 5 sessions back-to-back (10.29). Not necessarily a bad thing, but it was only myself and RB. While we preemptively planned what sessions we'd be game mastering, we didn't think of when the teams finished. While I had 2 teams and she had 3, when I had to exit out my first team she had to watch 4 at the same time. In the end I exited the first 3 teams and she got one or both of the last two. The biggest downside was that we had to ignore the plethora of phone calls that happened during that time. Agent Ocean was also texting to do a few things and I didn't reply until way later. 

Speakers got packed up, papers were organized, tips were counted, phone calls and bookings and made (and remade, ha). No other sessions were booked and we were ready to leave until we realized we didn't reset one of the rooms. And that's when there were issues with some of the tech in there. There was a technical issue that occurred during a booking. Even though I reset the game, the issue still persisted. My solution at that time was to read out the clue for the team to figure out, which they did. We couldn't fix the issue with our knowledge. Not only that, but two other similar issues popped up. Message the group chat and one of the owners replied with what to try. I had never done that before so we FaceTimed each other so she could explain and see what needed to be done. It did fix the issue for 2-3 issues. RB tested it a few more times as I packed away what I was to bring to the second location into the car. Came back and joined RB and we came to a conclusion. The issue needs to be reset at the beginning of the day every time until we replace the PC stick, but it will run properly until everything is turned off for the day. That was 1 hour of testing and fixing and packing. At least we figured out what needed to be done. 

- Went to the second location two days in a row (10.30-10.31). First day was 11AM and that day went by fast. Agent Ocean and I got drinks at Dave & Busters during our break. Got a lot done, which was with the speakers. I became super itchy as I was doing stuff in the ceilings. It was tough to avoid the insulation and I wasn't properly dressed to be protected from it. It was mainly my hands and arms. Thankfully I wore a hat that day otherwise I'm sure I'd be scratching there a bunch. The second day was a short day (9AM-3PM). It was the continuation of what we were working on with the speakers the previous day. Ran into one hiccup where we couldn't get cables through the wall. That took a while. After that was figured out, Agent Ocean and I went to Walmart and Home Depot for a few supplies before returning to wrap up our final hour. 


ETC========================= 

- ITZY - GOLD (MV) 

One of their best. The song, the music video, the performances, and their outfits. It was a rare instance where I liked it immediately before seeing any performances. Way to go, ITZY. Welcome back, Lia. 


- ROSÉ & Bruno Mars - APT. (MV) 

Such a super fun song. 


- aespa - Whiplash (MV) 

- ITZY - Imaginary Friend (MV) 

- TWICE MISAMO - Identity (MV) 

Good stuff. My only negative was that the song was short. Other than that, wonderful music video and outfits. Can't wait to see performances. 


- SooYoung - Unstoppable (MV) 

Similar to Run Away from Tzuyu, I nodded in approval. This fit her so well. 


- Something I've felt recently and I could be wrong on this. I feel I've been part of conversations where there is obviously no interest in my part of the conversation. Not going to name names, but let's say there are three of us and I'm engaging with person 1 and person 2, but person 2 only really responds or says anything to person 1. Other instances with more people involved are the same except sometimes person 2 and person 3 aren't responding to me even though the conversation was turned to me or I know the answer etc. This isn't everyone, but I've noticed it from a few specific people and I can bring up multiple examples. I feel like it's been more so this past month, but again I could be perceiving things incorrectly. We'll see. I hope to be wrong about this. 

That's a wrap on October 2024. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 



"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

September 2024 Entry

 September 2024 Entry: 

- Whoa, this month was all over the place. 

MISC========================= 

- Got a massage at Cloud 9 (09.01). It had been a while since I first went there. I always meant to go back, just never did. Got a foot and Swedish combo and it was great. While I have daily pains in my lower back and feet, there was way more tension and pain in my right shoulder. 

Afterwards I tried a new (to me) boba place called Teapioca. I wanted to go to Gyro Hut a few buildings down, but no one part of CAB DJ was available and I still don't like eating by myself. I got the Cherry Blossom Lemonade Blast. Normally when I try a new boba place, I get the Oreo shake, but I originally planned to get it elsewhere soon. Plus the lemonade was a limited time deal (seasonal I assume). The drink was refreshing, but not one I'd recommend to someone over something they're used to. But I do want to go back to try their Oreo shake. 
 

- Plans didn't go well this day, but dinner at Made In Medellin made it better (09.02). I pass by Made In Medellin almost every work day. I do like Colombian food, but I was always putting it off. Went in and it was a nice small atmosphere. Literally heard music from when I went to Colombia. Although the workers mainly spoke Spanish so communication was tough. Basically their English was as good as my Spanish, ha. The worker that was helping me took out her phone and pulled up Google Translate and I did the same. I typed out a message letting them know I went to Colombia many years ago and wanted something that reminded me of it. Ended up ordering a Bendeja, which had beans, rice, arepa, plantain, chicharron, avocado, and beef. It was rich and filling. Took about a third of it home. I'll be back and might visit their other location and food truck. 
 

- Had a $4 coupon for CVS about to expire so I got some new snacks (09.04). It's been a bit since I've had Cakesters, but I haven't had the peanut butter ones. They're fine, but a little dry. Reese's Popcorn is as advertised and is a delicious combination. Most of the coworkers were surprised how much they liked it. 
 

- Linkin' Park is back with new members (09.05). The new singer is really good. She makes old songs sound refreshing and does the vocals justice. Got goosebumps during certain songs. 


- Tried another new boba place called Kravin' (09.06). Apparently they've been around for a bit, but I never knew of them. Nice small place. Good customer service. And a drive thru if you need your boba on the go. I of course got the Oreo Smoothie to see if they passed the test and they did. 
 

- Watched UNCONDITIONAL (Papa Joe) (09.29). This was full of emotion. Of course something suggested by supershigi makes me cry, ha. I'm glad I watched it. It made me think about things in my life. 
 

- It wasn't that long ago that I mentioned Diggnation on this blog (08.04). Seems like I wasn't the only one enjoying the reunion. They're now doing shows regularly again, yay. Not weekly, but at least once a month and that's more than enough for me. It's just cool to see them doing this again after so many years. 


- It has been 1 year since I last streamed (09.28). I knew the day was coming. I had gone back to old posts around that time and even watched the last stream a few times over the past six months to get a refresher of things I said. 

One thing I was looking forward to was the end of daily archive posts. All YouTube VODs were scheduled to go up a year after the original stream. I had a reminder set on my phone on when to post to Facebook and Twitter/X. While it was a small thing, it did feel good to permanently delete those reminders. 

I made a post about the one year anniversary (?). Link provided. But it was something I wanted to put out there. And after changing the subtitle of my social media name, that should be the final stamp on streaming. I don't think there's anything else to do or so about it. 


GAMES========================= 

- Demo Showcase Shorts were all over the place. Lots of reasons to not do a long continuous streak. I did have to re-sort the Demo Folders on my Switch since one filled up (200 max). Might have to re-sort them again since a few letters have more than others. As of typing this (09.28), there are less than 80 left. 
  

- The Best Friend Forever tradition continues (09.01). New year, new partner, new dog. This time it was Sacha and Mist (FKA Titan). I had already seen Sacha's story when I played it with Rannchan on her stream years ago. So I knew how it was going to play out. The main difference for this playthrough was me not voicing it out and learning of the fast-forward function. Streams were 5-7 hours long. This run was under 3 hours. Fast-forward only works for dialogue you've read before so that's the bulk of it. The issue that comes from fast-forward is sometimes characters don't appear/disappear from screen timely and sometimes dialogue choices are incorrect. Other than that, Mist became one of my most balanced dogs too with all 5s and a 6. Two more runs left. 


- My Brother Ate My Pudding! completed (09.03). Got it on sale for 50% off and thought it would be fitting to play it this month since I played the other 3 games on stream back in 2021. It plays pretty much like Mom Hid My Game. The silliness is there for sure. But just like the others, this is a short game. Going through all 30 stagest took about an hour. Getting all the Game Over screens added close to an extra half hour to it. Did I enjoy it, yeah. But I wouldn't recommend it at full price. 
 

- Added more to my Bust A Groove/Move collection (09.03). Got a demo for the first game, the alternate red cover for the second game, and a key holder of Frida. Out of those, I only knew of the red cover as I had seen it available to buy online. The demo is a nice addition. The key holders, I never knew they existed. Did some research and there are two sets. A-set has 9 and B-set has 8. Too bad the majority are alternate color versions of certain characters. I found a few on eBay and the cheapest goes for around $50. While I'd like these to be the next big thing I collect, I don't know if I'd pay that much for them. I technically got Frida for $25-$30. And while researching those, I found other Bust A Groove/Move strategy guides I wasn't aware of. Those are going for less than the key holders so I might aim to go for those because I've seen all those available where I have only seen a few of the key holders being sold. 
 

- Disney Speedstorm was the free-to-play game of the month (09.03). I think it was originally pencilled in for February, but it got bumped up to go along with the theme of the NSO games being played (not all). It's...fine. Seriously, it plays well. Lots of characters and customization too. But you either play the seasonal cups or random races to increase your stats and receive in-game currency. Were there incentive to beat things rather than buy things (in-game money or real money), I would have liked it more. 
 

- Got the new Splatoon amiibo (09.05). They're awesome looking. I especially like Pearl's outfit. I really want to see fans cosplay these outfits. And the amiibo collection is once again completed, ha. 
 

- R.C. PRO-AM was the NES NSO game of the month (09.05). One of my older cousins had this and we played it as kids. It was tough back then and it still is now. I only got as far as I did thanks to the rewind function. The CPU cars will naturally be faster than you even with maxed out stats. Which meant precision driving and slowing them down with missiles (if you had enough). I only got as far as I did (stopped after 24 as levels loop after) thanks to the rewind function. A few hours later I was informed that the maximum trophies you can get is 36 so I technically should bump this down to a finished rather than complete. But there was no way I was going to go for more. I was satisfied with what I did. 
 

- Picked up my copy of Ace Attorney Investigations Collection (09.06). Not sure when I'll play it, but I'll get around to it. But while I was there, I met one of the new workers who was Filipino. Not only that, I got to catch up with the manager who has been bouncing back and forth from another location. Glad he's doing well. I also made a snafu when reserving games. I accidentally reserved Echoes of Wisdom a second time. I realized it when I got in my car and checked my notes and saw that it was already marked off. Thankfully they were able to switch that second reservation to another game. 
 

- Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages was the Game Boy NSO game of the month (09.09). Only my second time playing it. Previously had it on the 3DS Virtual Console. I didn't recall much of it and wasn't completely invested in it as I was playing. It's not that it was bad either. They did a good job putting this adventure on the Game Boy. I did know that it links with Oracle of Seasons and that Ages was more puzzle based while Seasons was more action based. I chose to go alphabetically. See you in a few months, Seasons. 


- While cleaning and rearranging things, I found a Super Famicom (09.12). DC gifted it to me 10 years ago when he was cleaning stuff out. I remember picking it up and having a brief chat with him and his wife and saying hi to his son. But I'm lost on why I simply tucked it away in a corner rather than putting it with all the other game stuff I had been collecting. It's part of the collection now at least. 


- As part of the cleaning process, I unfortunately had to put away the majority of my amiibo collection (09.13). It took a few hours to dust and wipe down each one (minus a less than 20). Even the latest Splatoon amiibo are in there. Thankfully they all fit in the bin I was provided. The only ones I kept out were all the Zelda amiibo (reorganized and made to fit together, they were previously split), Detective Pikachu, the Yarn amiibo (Mega Yarn Yoshi, the 3 smaller ones of different colors, and Poochy), the cereal box, the Monster Hunter Stories Japan exclusives, the larger Monster Hunter amiibo (Magnamalo, etc), the Super Nintendo World Power-Up Bands, and the Qbby amiibo with the box. The new set up is less cluttered, but it really does suck to have this big collection simply relegated to a bin. 


- Mario Kart 64 was the N64 NSO game of the month (09.15). This still holds up for better or for worse. Rubber-banding in Mario Kart was never an issue I'd complain about, but they were so close all the time even in 50cc and 100cc. Muscle memory clicked in so much except for some of the short cuts (I took none of them). But this felt incredible to replay. I wish I still had my previous list of game rankings to know where this fell on the scale. If it's not in the top 3, it's definitely in the top 5. 


- The Last Friend was the favorite from Demo Showcase 104, stream 857 on 01.18.23. Got it for 75% off making it about $4 in April. Finally played and finished the game this month (09.17). Tower defense games aren't my normal jam, but I've liked a few especially if they had an interesting gimmick like Dillon's Rolling Western (hard game). The demo was fun and the fact that you get dogs with different abilities and weapons sold me. The actual game itself was as advertised. It never took itself seriously with the story and dialogue. The tower defense was simple to understand and offered enough of a challenge. There were only a handful of levels that I actually lost or didn't get 3-stars in. My main enjoyment was rescuing the large roster of dogs. Not only was it interesting to see what they offered, but I named them after Kpop artists/groups. I named them after members of TWICE, BabyVoX, Girls' Generation, ITZY, BoA, Cheon Sang Ji Hee - The Grace, and Red Velvet. For those unfamiliar with Kpop, that's 41 artists total. I named them simply in order of age rather than looking at the dog and thinking who it best fits (that would have taken too long). And I could have done everything in the game if it wasn't simply replaying older levels to earn bones to level up each dog and to get the remaining stars I missed. Solid overall. Try the demo if you're interested at all and judge from there. 
 

- Tried the SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream OPEN NETWORK TEST (09.21). Another free-to-play beta so I had to push it up the timeline in order to try it during the beta periods. I know nothing of the Sword Art Online series other than the name, but I enjoyed what I played. It's similar to a musou game, but you play with others online to complete quests and take down bosses with large pools of health. The tutorial was slow, but did a good job in teaching the player the mechanics. Co-op quest was fun, especially seeing so many other players at the same time striving to do the same thing. I did not get a chance to do a Boss Raid because not enough people queued up for it (I waited for 10 minutes). I felt this would have been what Phantasy Star Online could have evolved to (faster, more players, etc). If you're able to get into the beta trials, give it a shot (might not be available when you read this or there might be a newer beta trial or the actual game may be out to play). 
 

- Picked up my copy of Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (09.26). This will be the first Zelda game in a while that I won't play on release date. I honestly can't recall the last time that happened. I'm pretty sure if I wasn't still following a scheduled structure because of streaming I would have played it right away. But I do have my hesitations about it. Other than the initial announcement, I've kept my expectations tempered as part of me is worried I won't like it. It could be an after effect from how Tears of the Kingdom turned out for me. We'll see. Echoes of Wisdom is currently slated for December. 
 

- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy | Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice finished (09.18-09.27). Second playthrough ever since the 3DS in 2016. I read an old review I did for it and my opinion has changed for the better. The review was for the most part positive, but now it's more positive. The story was done really well. As it kept unfolding, I thought how cinematic it was. While I might have thought the characters were shoed-in previously, I liked them way more. That may be due to only being apart from them for a month rather than years. The pun names were wonderful, some of the best in the series. And I still agree with what I've said even back then; this is a good bookend for Apollo's trilogy. Speaking of that, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy finished. 

And this was never planned, but I beat each game in the trilogy on the 27th of the month. 


- And minutes after posting images for beating Spirit of Justice, my import copy of Ace Attorney Investigations Collection arrived (09.27). Currently I have these games scheduled for almost a year from now. I'm excited to finally play a legit localized version of the second game so I might push it up, but we'll see. 
  

- Super Mario Land was an extra Game Boy NSO game completed this month (09.29). The reason I chose to play it was because last year in August was when I played Super Mario Land 2. I almost played it last month, but it didn't happen. The game was shorter than I remembered. And I never knew there was an Expert route to play (second playthrough). More enemies mainly, but I was still able to run through it all. Good nostalgia kick. 
 

WORK========================= 

- The ladies bought a bunch of books for the new location. 187 books to be exact (09.04). Other than helping bring them in, we removed all of the book covers and sifted through them in case there was money in them, ha. We did find a few things like boarding passes and coupons. I made sure to put aside a Guiness Book of World Records from 1982 and a yearbook from 1950. The yearbook was interesting to flip through. And the Guiness Book is in the lobby now as a talking piece for customers. 
 

- Cheers to a group of ladies that were a walk-in towards the end of the night (09.07). They came from across the building to see if any spots were open and we had a few even though it was beyond the original time spot. It was one of their birthdays so they were out having a bachelorette party. The leader of the group, she definitely was the leader, ha. She was good at making sure the ladies were doing things, took care of payments, directed things, etc. She helped make the process smooth. Unfortunately for me, she had a wedding ring. But they were still a fun crew to end the night with. 

- I was keeping an eye on the latest set of Oreos to come out; the Oreo and Coca-Cola collaboration.They originally released on the 9th and I was checking stores nearby or on the way to work. A lot of places didn't have them or they had one or the other. Decided to check once again before work and found a Target that had both (09.10). Before that, I found the cookies at one store and the soda at another. I had never been to this Target before. It was 20 minutes away from work and not too out of the way. It seemed like a really nice one. I had not seen one with a pick-up section that was canopied off. Got in, waited for less than 5 minutes, and the worker brought out my stuff. Easy. Brought them to work. Agent Ocean and I tried the cookies and both had impressions about it. Specifically that it didn't taste as expected. Side note, we tried the soda the following day. He liked it and I had a tiny bit. It tasted familiar, but the little sip I had was bringing about a headache. I would have drank more, but yeah. Side side note; coworkers were back and forth on the cookies (some preferred the Sour Patch ones more like I do). And apparently none like the soda (I should have only bought one pack). 


The day was slow so we went to HEB to buy snacks. Been a bit since I've been on a snack run. The day itself was slow. So we did take that opportunity to close up early and try a food place Agent Ocean had been referred to by customers; Roll-Em-Up Taquitos. It was a ways away and it started to rain. But the place was nice. I liked their aesthetic. The worker that tended to us was nice and chatty making sure we got what we wanted. It was delicious. Definitely want more so I'll keep that as another place to return to in the near future. Agent Ocean and I walked around the area for a bit after before parting ways for the day. 


- Simple slow day (09.11). It was only myself and Agent Ocean. It reminded me of old HER days with us handling things. Thankfully we had 5 bookings total with 2 of them being replays. 

- Unfortunately I had an extra day off (09.17). Agent Ocean messaged me that we were going to close for that Tuesday since no one booked. It reminded me of old HER days when we simply went home early because he had no bookings.  

- Worked on a Friday (09.20). Haven't done that in a while, but we were low on staff. Plus having lost a day previously this worked out. It wasn't overly busy, so some staff stayed home and even were asked to leave early as they day progressed. At the end, it was myself and Agent Ocean. We had a cool team to end the night on. One of the team members said it was good to see me again and I played along. It took a bit before he said he wanted to do the room I showed him before that it clicked who he was. He was there a couple weeks ago with his son and friends. We were chatting with the team before sending them in. They were fairly good in the room. I complimented them on the teamwork I saw with one puzzle that usually takes other teams a long time to do. In the lobby, we gave them free small bottles of water and a coffee. Then I brought up if anyone wanted to try the Oreo Coke drink and someone did. I brought out a one can for them to share and they gave the puzzled reaction most give. Some liked it, some did not. Then it was more friendly banter about their kids. They were there for maybe 20-30 minutes after their booking before they decided to call it a night. We'll see some of them at a future date for some of their kids to play again. 

- Busy day with low staff makes for quite a work day (09.21). It wasn't so bad, but there was an incident with a couple of the staff members where mistakes were made and voices were raised. I spoke to both at separate times to get their stories, how they felt, and what to do to improve. On a positive note, the two parties we had were simple to handle (compared to hellish parties). Shout out to the second party as the dad was part Filipino and we instantly bonded. Other than tending to them a little more, he and I had a 15-20 minute conversation as the party was winding down and the building wasn't too busy. Apparently he really appreciated it as he not only gave a big tip (so did the previous party), but he gave me a personal tip. Hopefully he'll come through again in the future. 

- We started to schedule staff to help the build out in the Woodlands. The first day it was myself and Agent Ocean (09.24). The drive there wasn okay. One hour as expected, but I forgot about school zones since it was an early day (got there around 9:10AM). We actually stopped by the Game Show Battle Rooms first to introduce ourselves and they were kind enough to show us one of the rooms that wasn't in use. I was intrigued. 

Then we went back to our location (a block down) and met the ladies there who gave a tour and a general plan of what was going on. They needed to buy something so Agent Ocean and I walked over to a breakfast place to get him some food. Ate outside then went to Dave & Busters (across the street from us) to check it out. The ladies returned with what we needed and Agent Ocean and I started on the metal sheet walls that were to go up in Antidote. We had a process of measuring, spraying, cutting, laying out (carefully to avoid bubbles and open spaces between sheets), and repeat. We did that until we were done with the roll we had and it was close to clock out time anyways. 

We cleaned up at Dave & Busters because our bathrooms have yet to be installed. While we walked around there before, I didn't see the DDR machine until this second visit. Agent Ocean and I played our 3 songs (Brilliant 2U, Afronova, and Break Down). We were tired (me more than him), but it warmed my heart to play DDR after so long. Then we walked over to eat at Crawfish Cafe. Never been to that location before, but Iiked the layout. And of course the food was delicious. Caught up as we ate. As we were wrapping up, I said we should go back to Game Show to see if the other room was available to preview. 

We walked in as another team of three (from a church group) were being shown the room and they said we can check with them. After being there for a couple of minutes, the manager we met earlier said "do you all have 45 minutes to spare?" Basically offered us a free game if everyone was able to. We were brought out to the lobby to get the full experience. Initially we thought we'd be in our groups we were with, but they mixed us up by picking different colored poker chips. Agent Ocean was paired with one other member and I was with the other two. We all came up with nicknames and team names and were brought in to play. It was super fun. I had a blast. Our team wasn't doing too well at the beginning, but we ended up winning thanks to the last game being conveniently enough points for us to win the whole thing, ha. Definitely want to come back with friends and/or coworkers. Thank you to the staff for allowing us to play. 

The drive back...around 90 minutes. It was traffic time so it was expected. 


The second day felt fast (09.26). NL was there first and I was there about 10 minutes after 9AM. The ladies weren't there until about an hour later so I gave a short tour of what I remembered. Then we walked outside so he could see what was around the area. Then we helped move some boxes in and then waited for the ladies to arrive to give directions. More of the metal sheets with what was left. It went by smoothly as I remembered how the process went with Agent Ocean. Although there were a few times NL would skip a step and I had to remind him. CG and SP showed up late due to bad traffic. They jumped in to help. Once we were done, we were tasked with replacing blue tape we used with gorilla tape as it was way stronger. It didn't take long to run out and NL and myself had to wait as CG and SP went to get more (and since they knew the area better than either of us). NL and I swept and vacuumed Antidote in preparations for setting up there. Yay for more gorilla tape. 

We all went out to lunch with the ladies at Crawfish Cafe. Good food again, but I'm pretty sure the ladies didn't like it. The others did for sure. Ate, caught up on stuff. Went back to start putting up the metal sheets in Antidote. It took a bit to get one up because we had to measure it, cover more of it, and work together to hold it up and nail it. Even then, we had the wrong nails for the nail gun so we had to stop. It was close to the time to end the shift anyways. Fast day. 

The ride home...was bad. There was just a vast amount of traffic. About half an hour of slowly moving along the feeder before there was a steady flow on the highway. It would have been a 2 hour drive back home, but I stopped by Tea Villa for a drink (always saw it on the way to work) and then went to GameStop to pick up Echoes of Wisdom. 


- 46 sessions (09.28). Only 2 bookings at the beginning of the day weren't made. It was going well with a few minor hiccups here and there. But then something happened around 7PM. We became behind schedule for a few rooms (teams were late and would still insist on buying drinks), some resetting mistakes happened, props were being damaged, etc. A few of us stayed 30-60 minutes after our shifts ended to help out. You could tell that myself and some of the night crew were exhausted. We have our suspicions when things might have gone awry, but we were able to push forward and make things happen. It has been a while since I've felt that exhausted during and after a shift. 

ETC========================= 

- TZUYU - Run Away (MV) 

I clap and nod like a proud father, ha. 


- aespa Karina - UP (MV) 

You have had my attention previously, but now I'm locked in. 


- HyoYeon - Retro Romance (MV) 

This is one of her best. Extra points to the stylist. 


- Late in the first week of September, I noticed I was itching more than normal. It was either in my hair or my back or legs or everywhere. Didn't think too much of it until it was more consistent and becoming more. It was only happening in my room. If I was out or at work, no itching. So I did start to plan to clean things especially since a lot of stuff did collect dust. One thing I thought was that my gaming chair was a source of dust. Reason being that when I did clean it, there was quite a bit of dust and hair stuck in the cracks. At one point I even realized "I'm really itchy when I sit in my chair." While I did clean it, there was still a frequency of itching in it. While I had been planning to get rid of the chair at some point, this was a turning point to swap it out. It seemed to have helped at the time. 

One night at 3AM, I woke up being incredibly itchy on my wrists and ankles specifically (09.12). I tried to sleep it off, but it was too much and I took a shower. Afterwards I brought down my laundry to make sure to get it ready because it was full. That day off, I spent it cleaning around (sweeping, wiping, etc), threw out a bunch of old boxes (was holding to use for gifts), and the laundry (clothes and bed sheets) were done. It seemed to have helped, but not a lot. 

Opened the windows to air out the room too. I wasn't itching as much. Then night time rolled in and the itching grew. It was getting late so I drank some ZzzQuil to sleep through it. The next day, I went out to buy cleaning wipes and dust mite spray (09.13). The main task was to dust and wipe down all the amiibo and pack them away in a tote. It was mentioned already, but it took about 2-3 hours to do this. I wore a mask the whole time so I wouldn't inhale the dust during the process. While I still don't like that the majority of my amiibo are packed up, the new setup isn't bad. Then I cleaned a few other things like old papers and organized a few parts of my room to make cleaning dust easier. Did it help? 

The next day, everything was fine (09.14). The itching went from 80% to less than 20%. Figured all that was done helped. The minor itching wasn't bad either so I wanted to ride it out to see if it would come back after I came home from work. Unfortunately, it did. It wasn't super bad, it went from 20% to 70% or more. 

The following day, the plan was to bring the mattress down and lay it out in the sun (09.15). My dad helped bring it down and we put it up against a wall outside in our backyard so that the sun beamed down at it. Then we beat the mattress to get any deep dust out as well as respraying it again with the dust mite spray. A couple hours later, we flipped it and did the process again. We also cleaned the bed frame as it also was carrying dust. About 5 hours later, we brought the mattress back up. To think my mom wanted to do this process the day before when I had work (she said it would take an hour). I'm glad I "got my way" because we took the time to clean things properly. And my bed sheets were washed again for the third or fourth time during this whole process. I also removed and cleaned my a/c vent just in case. This seems to have done the trick. The itching went down drastically. 

Am I still itching? Not as much. It still is relegated to my room, but it is tolerable. I'm just glad it's not incredibly harsh like it was at the peak of the issue. 

That's a wrap on September 2024. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 



"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."