May 2026 Entry:
May came and went. It felt like so much happened.
MISC=========================
- Went to Andy's Frozen Custard after work (05.09). Return customers came by the day before and highly recommended it so I added it to my list of dessert spots. I almost went the night before as they stay open until 11:30PM, but figured that's too late. Went after leaving work at 6:30PM. It's about 5 minutes away from work. I was surprised to see it was an outdoor venue. They had a lot of good stuff, but I chose a BootDaddy Concrete. It didn't take long for it to be made and I ate half of it outside on one of the benches. I ate/drank the rest of it on the drive back home. It's definitely good. I'd recommend it to others and go back if I'm feeling the need for something sweet while I'm at work.
- Watched Backlash (05.09). When I got home, I was able to catch the latter end of the main event live. I watched the replay later on in the night. Good stuff. Was it really Asuka's last WWE match? Lots of speculation. Whatever happens, I wish the best for her. One of the greatest.
- Watched The American Gladiators Documentary | 30 For 30 (05.10). I didn't know this existed, but I saw it when browsing the ESPN app. Got a few written down for future watches. This one though was different from what I thought it would be. There was definitely a story to tell. I didn't know of the negatives behind the scenes so that shed a light on so many things. I did wish they did talk about more positives, but I understand that they wanted to focus on something else. Still a good watch.
- We had a couple of power outages throughout the week (05.11, 05.12). The first one occurred on a Monday at 12:30PM. I was in the middle of playing Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones when it happened. I finished the chapter and stopped playing and was hoping the power would be back on, but the estimated time of the fix was 4PM. Around 3PM was when workers were checking all around the neighborhood. I was planning to leave for work an hour early at that time, but stuck around to talk with the worker who said it would be ready in about half an hour. It was not, ha. But they at least figured out what was going on. I left at 4PM and thankfully the power was back on when I got home later.
Then the power went out again the next day. This time it was around 8:30AM. It came back on within the hour thanks to the work they did yesterday.
Add to that an internet outage (05.19). This lasted from 8:30AM until I don't know as I had to go to work at 10:30AM. I was just glad it was up and running when I got home.
- I lost my Facebook Dating streak (05.12). I normally check my dating apps at least once a day and Facebook Dating keeps a streak. Sadly mine was around 260+ meaning that I've been at least using it for that long or for however long having a streak was a thing.
- Finally met up with CP after so many years (05.13). We caught up on so much. It was like no time had past. Although we did realize our trip to Marfa was 10 years ago, ha. She chose to eat at Oh My Gogi (good heavy meal) and then to Royal Roastery for dessert (good heavy dessert). It was just good talking for hours and hours. Hopefully it won't be another couple months of planning and years of contact before we meet again, ha.
- Purchased AEW tickets (05.17). They'll be in town on 06.18 (got the date off from work). It'll be myself, G, Rannchan, MG, and NE going. It takes place in the Financial Center. While the ticket layout shows how it will look seat-wise, I'm very curious to see how the ring and set up of the venue will be. Tickets were fairly priced and close to what NXT tickets cost. If everyone was down, I would have gotten floor seat. No matter what, there are no obstructions in that venue so the view should be good no matter where you sit.
- Had my yearly eye doctor visit (05.18). Pretty much the same as last time, but add in a longer wait. When I finally saw the doctor I mentioned how busy they must be. That's when she mentioned one of her nurses had to call off for the day so they were actually behind. She eventually caught up thankfully so no one was too upset in the waiting room. My eyes are better thanks to the new glasses, but the same in terms of my right eye being weaker. Nothing to worry about. Before I left, I asked if she knew of any good boba places. I mentioned where I might go and she never heard of it, but she said her go-to was Feng Cha.
I went to Creamery Teahouse after. It was on my list of boba places to try for a while for that area. They just opened for the day so they didn't have boba ready. I was craving green apple so I got a green apple smoothie with mango jelly and that was a great combination. The place also offers chicken so I inquired about it and said I'll try to come back just for the chicken.
My eyes were still blurry by the time I got home and took at least another good 1-2 hours for my vision to be normal-ish. Outside of playing games and watching videos, I gave my eyes a good rest.
- After leaving work early I went to Cheater's Creamery (05.23). It wasn't my first choice, but it has been on my list of dessert places to try for possibly half a year. The reason I ultimately went with it was because they offered Dough Boys only on Saturdays and Sundays. Those are a powdered sugar donut with a scoop of ice cream inside. And...it's no longer on the menu (it's still on the website). The worker explained that they started phasing it out for a while to move away from anything warm, only cold. While I was disappointed, I ended up getting a Cake Sundae. It was very good, but I wish the worker didn't put the lid on top of it so I could take a better photo. Other than that, good stuff.
It started to rain a lot to the point of flash flood warnings being sent to my phone. This happened on the way to meet another friend I had not seen since February. I ended up having to wait in a parking lot for about half an hour for the rain to die down and for me to make the rest of the way to meet. It was good catching up as always.
Got home a little before 7PM. Just in time to watch Saturday Night's Main Event. Good stuff.
- Met up with three members of HeXagon (05.24). Met BL at Pho Prime and soon after we got a table. NE was next to arrive followed by NRM. Two of us ordered from the Pho Prime menu while the other two ordered from the Crawfish Cafe menu. No one was disappointed. Great food as expected. Shout out to our cool waiter. He joked with us, said he recognized us when he obviously didn't, played it cool when a cute girl he knew came by, and ended up giving us the family discount. He also gave us a suggestion for dessert afterwards. While we had options, we went with his.
Met up at Bijou. All of us had been to that area for other places, but not to this shop. Great options. I went with the Biscoff Banana Pudding and the Nutella Banana Croffle. After we finished up our food, we walked around to two different claw machine places, went to a boba place that had a booth where you can take photos with your favorite idols, went to another claw machine place, and then retired for the night. I dropped BL off at home before arriving at home around 11PM. Good times with the guys.
- Went to Biff's Banh Mi & Pho before work (05.27). It had been two years since I went there with the HERetirees (Beryl). It wasn't busy so I was able to order my drink, wait, and walk out. I got the Angel's Passionate 'Bout Peaches Smoothie which had peaches and passion fruit. Delicious. Glad to see they're still around.
- We've had the new car for one year now (05.31). Time flies. On one hand, I have another bill to pay. On the other hand, the previous car was holding on for a little over a decade. I was already pouring money into it to keep it going. The new one has been great and running like a champ. Already over 10,000 miles and one road trip in.
- Watched the 2020 Punky Brewster series (05.22-05.31). The reason I watched it was because I heard on a podcast that Soleil Moon Frye did a documentary recently. That's what made me think about the 2020 show. I knew of it, but never watched it so I figured this was the time to see it while it was on my mind. I really liked it. The nostalgia was strong for sure. It was definitely rushed though. I don't know if they knew ahead of time they weren't getting a second season and tried to cram everything in or if they were trying to set up a lot for what could happen for season two. I wish there was more, but I liked what I watched.
- Watched Clash In Italy (05.31). Hot crowd throughout the event. I watched all of it until the final match as I had to head out to meet a few members of HeXagon at 4PM.
Some were going to a concert and some of us were planning to join them for food beforehand. In the end it was myself, BL, MG, PC, and KC. NRM was part of the original plans, but had church and work. NE was also supposed to join, but was feeling sick so he bowed out. The original plan also included Texas Roadhouse, but we pivoted to somewhere closer to the venue. I found DK Japanese Street Food (5 minutes from the venue). MG was there first, then me, and the rest were late since BL was going to pick the couple up but had car troubles. They finally joined us closer to 4:30PM. Food was good. BL suggested we go to milk + sugar after (5 minutes away from the venue). Great choice as the ice cream was delicious. Around 6PM is when they headed to their concert.
I went to meet a friend I had not seen since November. They had lost their job back then and they pretty much went off the radar to focus and get things back together. I was worried that something had happened, but thankfully they were safe. We caught up on as much as we could before I left a little before 9PM.
https://youtu.be/qWX-g4eU30c?si=OhdgIaN0SWHawVoo
https://www.threads.com/@wingedvox/post/DZBwOqJErFE
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. 20 this month. 9 ups, 8 sideways, 3 downs. Standouts include FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH (played it for 2 hours, already have it pre-ordered), PICROSS S KONAMI ANTIQUES edition (the music was excellent), The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales (gave it an up for the previous demo, put it on my wishlist to wait for a sale), and Resident Evil Requiem (amazing, the scary portions were definitely scary).
0 demos left on deck to try (minus the 3 multiplayer demos).
- Got the Diana amiibo from the Pragmata game (04.29). I did like the demo and have it on my wishlist. But of course I had to get the amiibo. It was released on day 1 of the TWICE concert. I was able to put it in my cart a few times, but it would sell out. I was messaging G back and forth and ended up asking them to get two if they were able to order them. They were able to, yay. We didn't meet up until late April and I almost forgot about it, ha. Thank you, G.
- Surprise Star Fox Direct (05.06). Wow, it looks incredible. Day 1 purchase, but if I continue with how I'm scheduling games, it won't be played until September, which is not bad. That month happens to have a lot of games dealing with animals so it would fit.
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown finished (05.03-05.07). Wishlisted the game after playing the demo in August of 2024. Then I got it on a deep sale of 50% off bringing it to $20 and then I applied a $10 off coupon. So I got the game brand new for $10. While I remember liking the demo a lot, it took a while for me to really get into the game. Nothing wrong with having the freedom to go almost anywhere, but the map overall is very large. A lot of times I felt I wasn't doing anything within the first few hours. Sure stuff was happening, but I wasn't getting anywhere. That's when I switched my mindset and went straight for the story with only a little bit of veering off for nearby sidequests or collectibles and that helped a lot.
As I mentioned, the map is large and there is a lot of back and forth for long distances. The early fast travel option helps, but you still need to make your way through a lot. The later fast travel is way more convenient especially with more traversal options in general. I will applaud the map for marking things properly to make it easy to see what you had left to find. And the Eye Marker is a nice feature to internally save a screenshot on the actual map.
Some negatives included bugs, game lag if you play for a long time, the game getting stuck on the loading screen, and some desyncing of dialogue if you happen to push the menu button. There's probably more that I can't recall, but I do think the game could have used more polish. Some positives include the fun and challenging combat, fast respawns, and the excellent level design that makes use of your abilities. I did get a little over 70% without having to go way out of my way, but I knew I wasn't going to collect everything. I definitely got my money's worth and ended up enjoying the game.
Shout out to Reversed who I used Game Chat with towards the end of the game. It was fun catching up with him, he got to see the game itself (he never used Game Chat before), and he saw me beat one really tough platforming challenge, ha. I also used Game Chat after I beat the game to talk to Rannchan and G. I don't know why, but I felt compelled to talk to someone after beating the game and I saw both were online. Nice chat.
- Rec Room was supposed to be the free-to-play game of the month, but creating an account for it was stopped months ago to prepare for the shut down on 06.01. Pivoted to Puzzles & Colors Games for Kids Toddler Coloring Book Draw Paint as the free-to-play game of the month (05.08). It was a simple jigsaw puzzle and coloring game for the young crowd as it says in the title. I didn't dabble with the coloring part as much as the jigsaw puzzles. I actually liked that the jigsaw puzzles would snap into place if you drag it over where it needed to be. The free-to-play version offers 14 different pictures and they can be finished very fast. Not much in terms of bells and whistles, but it is serviceable for a young player.
- Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters was the GameBoy NC game of the month (05.10). It plays just like the NES Kid Icarus, but it was easier. No complaints from me. Was able to do everything in a few hours. It was a good GameBoy game.
- Ordered the Splatoon Raiders amiibo (05.17). I tried pre-ordering it the same day I pre-ordered the Mineru amiibo, but it wasn't in their system. The worker showed me and it was only for online orders. I did have these in my cart on the Nintendo Store, but at one point Shiver was sold out. So I ended up pulling the trigger on them via the GameStop app. Would have included the Resident Evil Requiem amiibo, but both became unavailable. I believe I was at work when those originally became available to pre-order. It was a small window of time and I missed out. Hopefully it'll pop up again.
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones was the GBA NC game of the month (05.11-05.18). Last March I played my first Fire Emblem game with the first GBA Fire Emblem. This was pretty much the same with a different story and different characters and there was nothing wrong with that. The difficulty was still there too, ha. On the 14th, I played through a chapter and did well until I realized I didn't collect a character more than halfway through when they were supposed to show up. I double checked the guide and yeah, I missed them or killed them by accident. So I reloaded my save...and double checked the name of the character I missed...and I already had her from a previous chapter...so I lost over an hour of progress. I almost restarted the game to play on Easy. I didn't mind the challenge, but some chapters did take 1-2 hours with constant rewinding. I'm glad I powered through to finish it up. The last couple of chapters were some of the easier ones as I started to use more of the better weapons and had a solid team I've been using for a good chunk. I originally had this slated to finish on the 23rd so I was surprised I finished it sooner. I don't plan to play through Ephraim's path as I feel I got what I wanted out of this game. Highly recommend this one if you're into strategy RPGs.
Another Fire Emblem game planned to play next year? Or sooner?
- The fifth game from the Capcom Fighting Collection 2 was Power Stone (05.20-05.24). My history with this game is very little. Never owned it, but played it a handful of times at gatherings. While I always thought it was cool, it never clicked with me like the sequel did. Not like it's tough to play, but it really was round after round of grab the stones. The only times I had any issues were fighting Valgas and Final Valgas. Those fights definitely added more playtime as each run clocked in at around 20 minutes with the in-game timer. In actuality, some of those run throughs were close to an hour. But all I had to do was beat it with character, nothing fancy. Good stuff, but I'm ready for the sequel next month.
- Had extra time in the schedule so we fit in an Extra NC game with Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (05.24-05.25). Not only is this another N64 NC game, it's the first one played under the Mature 17+ category. I've played this before. I'm pretty sure I rented it, but my memories of it are sketchy. But I did not enjoy this. The main thing was that I kept getting lost. Even with the map overlay, I found myself running around in circles because a lot of the settings weren't memorable. Not only that, I also turned on the invincibility cheat code. I knew I would need to in general, but adding respawning enemies while getting lost on maps didn't make for an easy time. I tried. I at least finished the first three levels. I at least put in the cheat codes to fight each boss of the game and called it done.
- And with even more extra time, I decided to also play Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (05.25-05.26). This was more of the same. The game played better and looked better with better settings. But the same issue of me getting lost had me resort to cheat codes again. I at least tried playing every level this time until I got stuck/lost and then skipped to the next level. I also fought every boss just like before. These actually took some strategy instead of simply unloading weapons into them. The last boss had a move to regain health unless you shot it in the head enough to stop it. That wasn't great as I was never used to aiming in either game. I did read there were two endings with one alluding to the threat still being present while the other saying the threat was gone. Using cheat codes defaults you to the "bad" ending and that's what I got. Not horrible, but I was glad to be done with this.
I did really like riding on the dinosaur tank thing in level 2, ha.
- Played the Game Trial for BALL X PIT (05.27-05.28). I knew it was a roguelite to begin with so I never dove into any gameplay of it. But I knew what the concept was so I at least kept my eye on it. I was glad it became a Game Trial because I now understand how addictive it is. Even the roguelite part of it wasn't bad. It could help determine if you get a good a run or not, but I usually fared well with the cards that were dealt. I ended up unlocking 5 characters (6 total with the default) and unlocked the third level. The only thing I didn't care for was the town building portion. You could ignore it, but that is how you unlock characters and earn permanent boosts. It's not bad, but it felt more like a chore. I could have kept playing it for the entire duration of the Game Trial, but figured two days and 5 hours was more than enough. It is now on my wish list.
- Still had more time for another game so I played an extra NES NC with THE TOWER OF DRUAGA (05.29). This...was not great. I think if it were faster in general, I would have been more into it. But it still has a few setbacks such as needing to find certain items to progress. I'm sure there's was a speed up item as I saw some videos of the character moving faster. My biggest roadblock was not finding a torch or whatever the light item is because floor 20 and 21 were in total darkness. That's when I knew I was missing something. So I resorted to using the cheat code to level select and add items. Trying to input the code itself wasn't easy (took a good 5 minutes of trying). Even then, it wasn't easy. I did manage to beat most of the levels and only had to skip some of the floors in the late 50s.
- Went to pick up my copy of The Disney Afternoon Collection before work (05.29). This most likely will be the next month-by-month collection I play next year.
WORK=========================
- Day 2 at the third location (05.01). It was raining. It was more than the day before, but not heavy. My original plan for food was a bust. I saw that there were two locations on the map and I went for the one closer to the venue. And I realized as I drove by, there was a reason there were two locations; the map had not removed one of them and that one happened to be the one I went to. Darn it. I pulled into a nearby parking lot and checked the map for anything else that was close by and ended up at Mamaka Bowls. It was a one minute drive from the venue. They had a nice spot to eat outside, but of course it was raining so no one was doing that. It was a place that specializes in acai/smoothie bowls. Not what I'd immediately gravitate towards, but I saw a couple things I would try from their menu. I still asked for suggestions and ended up going with the Bro. I tipped the worker directly as she was very helpful. Found a place to sit, swiped through my dating apps, was given my bowl, and I proceeded to eat it. It was very good. I thought I'd eat maybe half of it before going to work, but I ate the whole thing. When I finished, I waved over the girl that helped me to personally thank her and asked if I could speak to her manager. In a couple of minutes, she came out. I mentioned the food was great and then complimented her staff (all women) because I saw how hard they were hustling. I mentioned who I was and that we were their new neighbors and mentioned that they should come visit someday. I wrote down some email information for her to contact us (later DQ said she would stop by to give pamphlets to other surrounding businesses) and thanked her again before driving to work.
DQ arrived shortly after. Her main task was to set up the party room for our first party the next day. She was on the ball as she was also buying stuff we needed in general for the venue. When B3 and C3 arrived, they were helping around while also practicing their hosting duties with me. I took some time to clear up their front desk and put some of the important information and needed stuff around (pamphlets, QR codes to scan, etc). There was also a local news person that was invited to come by to scope the place out and to later come back and do a piece on us. I spoke to him for a bit as he had some extra questions no one else had answers to. I showed him recent videos influencers made for us as well as the first HER video where the news did a spot with us.
For lunch, I forget what the original idea ZH suggested, but I mentioned I'd like to try something specific to their town. That's when he mentioned Schmaltz's. It was a sandwich place that he said was better than Schlotsky's. Myself and the ladies never had it before so we were in. Myself, ZH, CBS, C3, and B3 hopped in a car and CBS drove us a few minutes away in the rain (if it weren't raining, we would have walked). I ordered their specialty; The Schmaltz. We got everything and went back to the venue and ate in the party room. Good stuff at a fair price for the size of the sandwich. ZH was telling us more stories of the recently released employee as we ate. N3 joined us earlier than expected as class was cancelled. DQ came back from getting stuff and ate her food.
Throughout the day, everyone was doing little things to help out where they could. But I made sure to spend the most time with B3, C3, and N3 to get them ready on their resets and speeches. We did what we did the day before with their resets and then did rounds of speeches. And just like the day before, not perfect, but getting there.
After the ladies told us to wrap up (6PM or 7PM), a few of us went to Torchy's Tacos. Initially all of us were to go as ZH wanted us to bond, but it only ended up being myself, ZH, B3, and N3. Good food and good chat. We talked about a lot of things (work related, personal related, etc) and shared photos of ourselves when we were younger. We wrapped up about an hour later and went our separate ways.
Different from the night before, I made sure to double check on food places before retiring for the night. I had multiple options, but opted to try again for what I missed out on this day, but at the other location. Went to sleep easier than the night before.
- Day 3 at the third location (05.02). Packed up the rest of my things before checking out at 9AM. Drove off to get gas (missed the first exit due to construction so I went to one further down). Then it was the drive to the waffle place I missed the day before. The path was taking me around to be the fastest path, but least scenic. When I got there, there was a line out the door and so many cars in the lot and along the side of the road. I turned around, went to a nearby parking lot, and searched for something else. I found places that were "opening soon" close to the venue and drove there. I parked and walked around and those "opening soon" places were setting up, but weren't officially open until 11AM. And that was the general time for everything around us. I could have gone to Mamaka again, but part of me decided to give up and just eat my caramel Reese's cups in the car. I waited until maybe 15 minutes before the hour for the ladies to pull up and open the venue. I told them about the food issue and they said they would get something for me after things were set up.
Soon after was when B3, C3, and N3 showed up. We did need to pull B3 aside as he wasn't in work attire (he texted someone to bring him clothes). It was fine the last few days as we didn't have customers, but we would that day. As LO was showing them around for the opening duties, the ladies told me about the last minute change to the party. They wanted to play first instead of eat first so I had to call the pizza place to change the delivery time. They were thankfully not busy and I was able to change the delivery time. I took the 3s around to make sure everything was properly reset. Then LB called out to me saying the pizza arrived. I mistakenly thought they needed the pizza earlier instead of later. The pizza delivery boy was no help as even when I made some suggestions, he didn't know how to reply. LB said to just order the pizza again for the party and the pizza that arrived was ours. I apologized multiple times and made another call to get the pizzas ordered.
At some point, CBS and ZH arrived and started to do things. Once it was close to time for the party to arrive, I asked the 3s what they wanted to do specifically in terms of their comfortability. N3 was going to check them in, C3 was going to host them in, and B3 was going to be their Game Master. As they started to arrive, I micro-managed them asking them to do things like make sure the customers didn't explore, guiding them to the party room, pointing out where the restrooms were, making sure the parents knew what they needed to do, etc. They did well and it was good for them to see how hectic it could be.
During all this, I received a text from HL. I screenshot the conversation to Agent Ocean who ended up talking to her. Shortly after, he let me know from this day forward I would be solely responsible for training.
Once the team was done, C3 went to get them and take the photo while B3 and N3 went to reset the room. At some point during their session, B3 would say how awesome it was to actually be a GM. The party went off without a hitch. Then there were a few other beta testers that were scheduled and we shuffled their roles. By the time I left, each one got to check in customers, host, and Game Master. And I made sure to take a step back and manage CBS to make sure he was checking on the staff and giving them feedback like I was doing. I also made sure to take care of some smaller things with CBS like adding all the staff members to the system so they can officially click on their names.
I found myself being more hands off towards the latter end of my shift. At one point I was in the control room with the ladies as they were talking about scheduling the bookings. They pointed out that the white board was done in permanent marker so they didn't know how to erase it. I casually mentioned to go over it with a dry erase marker and it will come off. Neither of them knew of this. LB went and tried it and was absolutely surprised that it worked. She ended up showing it off to every staff member, ha. As my shift was winding down, I took each staff member aside and asked if there was anything specific they wanted to ask or go over with me. Not only that, I made sure to let them know they were doing great and that I was only a call/text away. Specifically to ZH and CBS, I let them know they had a good crew and to make sure that they continue to enjoy working there. To all, I said that hopefully the next time I'm there, I'd be an extra person to help like I did for the second location. Clocked out at 6PM.
I walked to J-Petal next door to have my dinner. This was one place that was recommended I try while there.
Sure, I could have gone there anytime, but I figured this would be the thing to end my trip with. I even mentioned that to the workers there and they were hoping they would not disappoint. They did not. I got the Shrimp and Crab Poke Bowl. I had never had a poke bowl before and this was fantastic. Much like with Mamaka, I thought I'd only eat some of it and take the rest with me. Ate it all, ha. I complimented them and they were glad I enjoyed it. I mentioned that next time I would try their dessert and invited them to come by to the venue some day for team building.
Then I began my 3 hour drive home. This felt faster. I think it was because it wasn't raining like it was on my way in. There was only one pocket of traffic I hit about an hour in. It's been a while since I've driven and I see the day turn to night. I did stop at the big Buc-ees that I skipped because I went to the small Buc-ees. While I did look around for something to snack on, I felt I was fine with the AriZona sour fruit candy (so good). Once I got to a familiar road, I turned off the GPS and continued as if I was coming home from the original venue. I got home around 9PM.
- Solo Mondays are back (05.04). It felt odd being in the original venue again for some reason. The first thing I did was test the new black lights that were ordered because we lost a few while I was gone. The batteries did not fit. The thing that holds the 3 AAA batteries would fit without the batteries, it would fit with one battery, it would fit with two batteries...it would not fit with all 3...which defeats the purpose. I double checked with multiple of them just in case it was only a select few...it was all of them. I compared it to others that we had and they were smaller black lights. I ordered different ones that would charge via USB.
There was only one booking throughout the day. I spent the rest of my time doing various inventory counts. That took up the majority of my day. Left at 8:15PM.
- Opened on Tuesday (05.05). ZM was back from college. We caught up a bit as we were waiting for a field trip to show up. DQ texted me saying they were going to be about 10 minutes late. Shortly after we got a call asking where the venue was. They accidentally went to the residence of one of the ladies as they had the address of where to send their check and not the venue. They were about half an hour late so we blocked off the next set of rooms just in case. They apologized a lot, but we assured them they'd be fine. We didn't realize until they showed up that it would be elementary school students. We made every room kids mode, each of the three rooms they used had an adult in it, and they already had their teams split up. Once restrooms and waivers were done, we sent them in one at a time. They had one final request as they needed to leave by 2:20PM. So instead of one hour, they had only 45 minutes in the escape rooms. Things went smoothly and all the teams had a good time. Then one kid from the last team started to throw up in the lobby. Immediately went to clean that up. ZM sprayed the area with Ozium and Febreze as the smell was strong. Thank you to the adults for helping as much as they did to clean things up and to take care of the kid. Once they left, I cleaned while ZM reset the rooms.
I finally finished that alcohol order while ZM played our latest room as he had not done that yet. YB showed up late again due to traffic. The majority of the day was a cleaning day. I was trying to leave 1.5 hours early to save on labor, but multiple things kept happening. CG asked to take a call to find training documents that HL was supposed to make for the second location back in September and neither of us could find them. I sent him the ones we had and said he can either ask for the ones he needed or use the ones we had as a template for the different rooms they had. Then there was a timeframe that YB needed to pray while ZM was doing what he needed to as a GM. I also worked on editing some of the documents for the third location. And there were a few more things that escaped me that prevented me from leaving earlier. I ended up leaving a whole 10 minutes earlier at 8:20PM, ha.
- Opened on Thursday (05.07). Not the busiest day so I started with cleaning the hallways, bar, and one of the rooms. Then there were two bookings for one family/friends. They paid for two packages to watch their teams play with iPads, but since it was a slow day, I allowed them to watch it on the big screen instead. There was an issue with our pay system as it wouldn't print receipts. I replaced the paper as it was empty, but it was still not printing. After a few minutes doing it, the device died. Turns out the charging station wasn't plugged in all the way so it was simply out of power.
One of the teams mentioned how one of the puzzle set ups wasn't correct and they were right. Colored pegs were in spots they should not have been as it was impossible to make the props reach them. I took a photo of it and then a photo of the answer to compare. It definitely was wrong. Pulled the pegs off, applied some Gorilla Glue, put them in their correct spots, and then tested the puzzle just to be sure.
HL texted me saying she was going to be late as there was a long train in her way. How long? So long that she arrived an hour late. During that time, CA came in for her shift and helped with the remainder of cleaning while I also did one more room. I didn't have much else to do so I didn't mind cleaning more. Once HL finally arrived, I finished mopping and then left at 4:55PM.
- Closing shift on Friday (05.08). The main goal was to have YB gain more Game Master experience. He did a lot. Myself and AH were there to assist when needed. By the end of the night, he felt he was a 3 out of 5 in general, which is still good.
There was a group of repeat customers. I didn't recognize all of them, but I definitely remembered the guy I gave a Snickers ice cream to, ha. I greeted them with a "welcome back" and they all lit up thinking I forgot them. Much like last time we had some laughs, they did well, and did a replay with dinner in between. When they came back for their second game, they had mentioned they got some custard as two of them were still eating theirs. I asked where it was and they mentioned it was from Andy's Frozen Custard that wasn't far away. I made sure to add that on my list of places to try.
Our final team unfortunately went to a different company and arrived 30 minutes late. While they seemed in a sour mood to begin with, they had a good time and were laughing and having fun. During their game, a group tried to walk in. I had already started the closing duties as no one else had booked. I did open up the door and talked to them. They apologized, but I mentioned they could still play if they wanted to. I mentioned the price and I think that's what made them think again. I offered again if they wanted to play that I'd make it happen, but they said they would try again and book ahead of time. After the last team was done, all we had to do was reset that room as I did all the closing duties beforehand. YB and I left at 11:30PM.
We had a short talk afterwards as he came in for his shift with tears in his eyes. He mentioned why when he clocked in and we talked it out a bit throughout the day. AH even offered some good words of encouragement when she could. It was good for him to open up a bit more and feel more comfortable. Hopefully things turn out well for him outside of work.
- Opened on Saturday for the first time in a long time (05.09). It was relatively smooth. Early in the day I asked CS to make a graphic for Mother's Day that I scheduled for the future. YB got some more GM practice before it got busy. The rest of the crew was CA, HL, and AH. HL went to pick up a Sam's order when HL showed up. We all ate Chipotle for the weekend food. One team at the beginning of the day realized they played the room they signed up for already so we quickly switched them to a room they possibly played three years ago. And another team had played all our rooms and asked what their options were. I ended up scheduling them to play a room at our sister location and left all their information in the blocked spot for the team to know.
There was only one issue for one of our rooms. Answers were left written on the laminated sheets and some of the glass and I didn't catch that, which was odd. I don't know how I missed it. But it wasn't fair for the team that ended up playing that room since having the answers and not being able to direct them to do something else or straight up ignoring the answers wasn't good for game flow. They still had a tough time with other parts of the room that didn't have answers, but still had a good time. I still gave them a code for their family to return for free.
Ended up leaving half an hour early at 6:30PM.
- Got a text accusing me of specifically training new employees to do something (05.10). I thought I was setting boundaries. Apparently the accuser was tired of hearing that I do that. I chose to screenshot the text to Agent Ocean and he told me to say that he spoke with me and was very upset about it and leave it be. He mentioned that some names that were mentioned included someone that hasn't worked with us in over a year...so this has been happening for a while now or what? Plus I'm sure I've never talked to that previous employee about that subject at all. Agent Ocean says I'm fine and is okay with what I was saying.
This threw me off my day though and I was very overwhelmed. Since it was Mother's Day and a Sunday, I figured most were busy to talk, but I still sent a text to DW. Apparently I caught him at the best time and we were able to talk. It's been a while since we've spoken in general so I'm glad he was able to hear me out. I also messaged Reversed on Discord and we did a call too. It was good to get two different perspectives on how I felt. Thank you, friends.
- 4:30PM shift on a Monday. Not a solo Monday again. ZM and CP were there. Both had not worked in a while due to college so it was good to have them around. They didn't do much so I had them clean. I showed ZM how to fix things in one room that he wasn't sure about. ZM left shortly after meeting two of the new trainees; HP and AB. I walked through some stuff on the PCs while CP was in the room. She mentioned a frequent customer as an example and I was so glad she did as I will now use that customer as an example from now on, ha. I had them play one room while CP was their GM so I could do other things. She eventually left as I was teaching them how to reset the room. They did well. We sat down and talked before they left at 10PM. I had to stay unfortunately as ZM set up all the rooms when he didn't need to and since the trainees couldn't undo those rooms, I had to. I ended up leaving around 10:20PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Tuesday (05.12). Got to see Agent Ocean for the first time in a long time. He wanted to talk, but we needed to get the staff to do things. CA was not called off for the first Tuesday in a long time. Her and YB took care of cleaning throughout the day. VO was in for the first day of training and played a room immediately with a friend (same as HP and AB). During that time when they were all busy, Agent Ocean let me in on some news (congratulations). So things in the near future will definitely be interesting. We talked about possible future plans to make sure work was fine including concerns about one employee in general, which apparently the ladies know about too. So we'll see if something comes from that because that is the biggest point of contention I have at work.
We actually had a fairly busy Tuesday. VO got in-person customer training as HP and AB did not. Not only that, but YB got some more training as a GM. I also showed a few inventory tasks for CA to tackle so I was training everyone, ha. CA and VO left at 8:30PM. YB and I took care of the remaining customers and stayed a little later to finish mopping the areas he and CA cleaned earlier. Left at 10PM and got gas on the way home.
- 4:30PM shift on a Thursday (05.14). As soon as I got in, HL had to leave. I texted Agent Ocean as it was a familiar feeling with a previous employee that would leave as soon as I arrived. He called me later and told me a bunch of stuff that happened, geez. Add that on top of what we discussed on Tuesday and the future (for me) will be less stressful in one aspect if things continue.
Today was the first day to have all three trainees together. Had them play another room and ran them through the reset after. I also started to individually break them apart to learn other things as there are things they need to know solo. During all that, CA and YB cleaned the rest of the venue that had not been done yet. All of them left as scheduled around 8:30PM. I stuck around as AM from the sister location came with his girlfriend to play in one of the rooms we have that they don't. Afterwards, I gave him a tour of the venue and pointed out the small differences between our duplicate rooms. Left around 10:20PM.
- 4PM shift (not 4:30PM) on a Friday (05.15). After HL left, it was the first time in a long time we had all guys closing. Even back when there were more guys on staff, it was still rare for the guys to close together. Usually there was 1-3. On this day there were 5 of us (myself, ZM, YB, AB, and VO). And it was another train everyone day. YB got a lot of GMing training for the one room he had not been to (4 total), AB and VO played another room while, and ZM got to GM for that game since he hasn't been able to yet. Other that that, it was the busiest day for the new trainees. They weren't perfect, but I did allow them to do some things solo like having AB host solo when CP arrived with her friends to play the latest room. While I had to give commands at times so they would do things, they both said this was a good day for them because they actually got to interact with so many customers. I kept them longer until around 9:15PM since this was was a good opportunity to get all that experience compared to a day when there were zero customers. ZM left shortly after. YB and I left around 11:15PM.
- 10AM shift for Saturday (05.16). It originally was an 11AM shift, but there was a booking made for 10:50AM and no one would have been there. I didn't mention it to anyone and just went in early, but I was texted by one of the ladies on my way about it. I was less than 5 minutes away from the venue, ha. I asked her to clock me in early. When CP arrived, I walked her through the reset of the room she just played as well as helped her learn how to Game Master it. After one game, she felt comfortable doing it for the rest of her shift.
One issue we had was a number of not completely fulfilled payments. I quickly realized that it was always the tip left over that wasn't paid. When customers came by, I mentioned it to them. One of them actually said they weren't given the option to pay for it. That's when I took a photo, mentioned it on our Manager chat, and then the other locations mentioned a similar issue. I put in a ticket with our booking system to check in on it.
We had food ordered in again. I put in my order second and we waited for the rest to put in theirs. By the time the food arrived, one was missing...mine. Myself and CA ordered the same thing, but the quantity only showed one. While the team put in a complaint about it, I wasn't told about my food being missing until about half an hour later...and no one offered to give me any of theirs. None of them. That bothered me the most as myself and Agent Ocean (who wasn't there) would always give part of our meal if any food was ever missing. Luckily there were still some girl scout cookies from earlier in the day before leftover so I ate those. Still disappointed by the staff.
We had a birthday party that ordered Chuy's, which required a custom order. HL put in the order the day before, but mentioned how difficult it was for her to place it and we had to pick it up since they had no one to deliver it. I called at the beginning of the day as we didn't get a receipt. Our order was in the queue. I inquired about the possibility of delivery. They had to call me back since the manager was busy. He finally got back to me and mentioned how much it was; 15% of the cost of the order. I said we would just pick it up as originally planned. But I later realized how we were actually low on staff for a Saturday. I called him back and asked if it was still doable and he said I was lucky, ha. When HL arrived, I mentioned how I got it changed to delivery. She asked how much and I said it was 15% of the cost. Then she asked why aren't we still picking it up since it costs so much. I mentioned we are low on staff at the time of the party and other bookings. I knew either way she'd complain, geez. Shout out to the birthday party mom. She was very organized and made sure everyone did what they needed to do (sign waivers, use the restrooms, group up, etc). I made sure to compliment her on that. She left a big tip for the team too.
Two sets of customers remembered me. One recalled my voice from over the phone saying I helped plan their booking for the day about a month ago. The others were return customers that I always call by their last name. They were in the lobby while I was resetting. I came back out as they were ordering drinks and recognized them from behind. I told the staff that were tending to them not to serve them drinks and the customers turned around and were excited to see me. I mentioned I would most likely be gone by the time they were done with their game and they were sad about that. But...I ended up staying an extra hour to help the team (no one realized I was supposed to be off the clock). I hosted them out and then signed them up for a replay for another room later in the day. I tended to a few more teams and finally clocked out at 7:45PM. I stuck around to talk to the couple and learned a lot about them. I did offer to go nearby to get custard on me, but they declined. But it was nice to connect with them (learned about their kids, expecting to be grandparents, how they got together, etc). I finally left at 8:20PM. By the time I got home, I pulled up their game remotely and watched just as they started. It was fun to see them play as the wife was very worried about getting scared, which happened many times, ha.
- 11 hour shift on Tuesday (05.19). I did multiple inventory counts throughout the day, booked some party reservations over the phone (DQ was grateful for that) all before YB came for their shift. He was one hour late so I had him stay an extra hour to make up for it and to help for the last set of teams that ended up booking. I also had him take his assessment tests throughout the day to knock those out since he's almost completely done with training.
The trainees played another room together, but we only did one walkthrough of the reset as there were actual customers for them to get face-to-face interaction with. They did well. One team that got to have a good experience with were previous return customers from College Station. I didn't recognize them right away, but eventually did and welcomed them back to their delight. The trainees were impressed with how well they did in their room. They ended up coming back later to get the replay discount, but as they arrived, someone else started booking the time they wanted online. We thought it was one of them, but none had it in their basket. I said if the team didn't book online by 9PM (5 minutes from when they came back) that I would delete the basket and give it to them. One minute before 9PM, the in-progress booking went away and we snatched it up. When they finished their second game, I let them know about the third location and that the grand opening was the next day. They said they would try to go there if they could.
I had the trainees stay one extra hour (10PM) to get more interactions with customers. I did say if any of them had to go they could, but they all stuck around. It was great to see them doing well and enjoying their time with the customers. But I didn't want to keep them too much longer so they wouldn't go home too late. They clocked out and left and YB shortly followed after. I stuck around because we had one more team that was still in. And of course that didn't go as smoothly as one person spilled their wine very close to the end of their game. At least she mentioned it to me and pointed out where. After resetting the room and mopping up the wine, I closed up and left around 10:40PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Wednesday (05.20). First time in a while that I had to work on a Wednesday. HL left at 5PM and took the leftover Valentine's Day wine/champagne to the third location (I taped up the box to be less flimsy). I texted Agent Ocean about coming in an hour later the next day as there were no bookings and to help prevent overtime and he approved (I blocked booking slots to compensate).
It was just me and CS for the day and she asked to train her in some of the extra closing duties as she now has a password for the alarm. Walked her through using the password to arm and disarm the system, tip tracker, restarting the server PC, etc. Got her to GM and clean a little bit for the day while I was working on social media stuff for the third location (got the guys to send me photos of the grand opening banner outside to use). Got a few more texts back and forth from them for things throughout the day. CS asked to leave early to study for their next exam so she left at 8:30PM.
There was only one team left and they did fine. But one drawer in their room opened farther than it should have, exposing the guts behind it. I took a photo of it and sent it to Agent Ocean. It can still lock, but any extra strength will further open the drawer to the state it was in. He said it was an easy fix, but he wouldn't be able to do it until Friday since he would be at the third location the next day. So we left it alone and blocked the next day's bookings for the room to not have it further messed up. I left around 10:15PM.
- 10 hour shift on Thursday (05.21). Took care of some cleaning before others joined. We went from only one booking to six, which is good so new trainees got more face time with customers. But when they arrived, I had them do the online courses together. YB was late so he had to play catch up while the other three were together.
Once they were done, we worked on individual training (hosting duties, speeches, resets, etc). When there were customers, I had them do everything possible with them outside of GMing, which YB took the majority of and I took on a few for the rooms he couldn't. I did have HP do a little bit of GMing as she also couldn't help the others reset a room she had not played yet and she did fairly well. VO has been progressing well and delivered one of his best speeches to date prompting me to dap him up. AB has been leading the pack so I threw a few more things his way to see if he could handle them.
Spoke to them individually before letting them go at 9PM. Just before then, a customer spilled their wine in the lobby. The team was quick to clean it up. After the trainees left, I spoke to YB a bit about being late again because this was an issue when he first started. He was good last week and now he's been consistently late again. He understood and I let him leave after. I left at 10:25PM and got gas before going home.
- 4:30PM shift on a Friday (05.22). Agent Ocean was at the venue. He was actually supposed to be at the second location, but accidentally flipped them, ha. But it was good to see him and he got to finally meet the new batch of trainees. When they arrived, I had them play another room for training.
As that happened, SC arrived. Agent Ocean informed the team that he'd be stopping by both locations as he was there for the grand opening of the third venue. He put out the invite for anyone that wants to come by and meet him especially since a lot of the young staff see him as a celebrity. I was excited as I haven't had the chance to meet him outside of a virtual meeting. He knew who I was based on recent email exchanges, so that was nice. He got to see the little nods to him the staff had in our control room and remark about them. We mentioned the trainees and he went into their room to greet them in the middle of their game. After that, I gave him a tour of the venue. It was good getting to talk to him one-on-one. I told him I've always wanted to pick his brain. He did say I'm welcome to contact him through email especially about ideas as I've told him I would email the ladies all the time with ideas. Not only that, he mentioned that he went to the SL location (15 minutes away for me) and he mentioned that it was open as he just came from there. I didn't know it was open yet, but I knew where it was. He said I should be a secret shopper, ha. SC couldn't stay too long unfortunately (only half an hour at best) as he had a flight to catch and possible traffic to tackle. But it was great getting to meet him in person.
Training commenced for the trainees in multiple aspects. The room they just played, almost all felt confident in their resets after one solo go at it. They got more face time with customers too including their first large group of kids. For better or worse, they were a handful. CP and HL left early at 8PM as there weren't too many bookings. The trainees all left at 9PM as scheduled. YB asked to leave early at some point. I had him stay until 10:30PM to do closing duties after the last team arrived. I left around 11:40PM.
- 11AM shift for Saturday (05.23). There weren't a lot of bookings while I was around, but enough to keep us busy. Not much to say other than a light sensor being removed "accidentally" from a prop in one room. CP heard the team say oops and heard a noise and that was it. When they were done, I checked on it and they also pulled out a wire. I took a photo and sent it to Agent Ocean who mentioned that he'd need to see the wiring guide to figure it out. I tried applying what I knew by screwing the wires back in. No go for either one. I at least taped it back so that it would hold in place, but let the staff know they'll have to trigger that manually. I had to leave early due to being incredibly close to hitting over time. Had I stayed to 5PM like I was supposed to, I would have been over by an hour. Thank goodness I asked to come in later on Thursday otherwise it would have happened for sure. I left at 3PM (one of my shortest shifts ever).
- 4:30PM shift on a Tuesday (05.26). The team was informed of a turned over semi on one of the main highways. I normally don't take that route...but I was planning to go get boba around the area. I made my way there, but saw that the ETA was longer than an hour. I pivoted to my second boba choice on the way to work...but even then the traffic was heavy and I would have been late so I abandoned the boba trip for the day.
As I arrived, YB was leaving. He mentioned how he hasn't slept well lately and was even dozing off during his shift so HL told him to go home, which I probably would have asked him myself. AB trained in his last room with friends. HP did more GMing and practiced resetting the last two rooms she played with her family the past couple of days. Normally VO would be training with them, but he asked to take the day off since something came up with his family last minute. I trained both of them on a few other things when there was downtime otherwise I had them interface with the customers. I fixed one of the TVs that had an issue over the weekend, which wasn't too bad (just surprised no one knew how to fix it). Nothing else particularly happened. I left at 10:10PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Wednesday (05.27). There was only one booking at the beginning of the day so HL called off CS and I called off PH. When I arrived I did inventory and cleaning. HL left about 1.5 hours later and it was just me doing other things.
We had one group that called about matching the Groupon price. It was lower than our normal price matching rate, but I decided to honor it since there were no other bookings. They unfortunately were late as they knew they would be so I blocked off the time after them. At the same time, there was a walk-in. Got them signed up after I took in the family. Brought the second team in and watched the two games in the control room. I locked up for the day as there was less than half an hour before closing. But another family called and I saw them standing outside. I let them in, they asked what was available, and I booked them. They said they came from another escape room and were disappointed. They quickly searched around and found us and that's why they came at the last minute. By that time, the first team finished up so it wasn't going to be super hectic with three teams at once. The rest of the night was fine. It was unexpected to have 3 teams at the end of the night, but that's good for business. I closed up and left at 10:35PM.
- 4PM shift on a Thursday...although it felt like a Friday (05.28). More training of the new batch of trainees. Some got more Game Mastering time and seemed fairly comfortable with it with little gudiance. I asked both CA and CP if they could leave an hour early as it wasn't super busy and they did. HP had to leave early to go to her boyfriend's graduation. VO got to play the last game with a friend. We ended up with 16 bookings. Busy for a Thursday on the cusp of summer. I did need YB and AB to stay later as otherwise it would have been a lot to handle by myself. They each stayed until 10PM and I left around 10:15PM to wrap up other things.
- 4:30PM shift on a Friday (05.29). I was 5 minutes late due to going to GameStop beforehand and traffic. But the day wasn't busy in general since many are most likely at graduation events. YB had a shorter shift, CP left early, and I asked SC to leave early since we were lacking in bookings. AB and VO worked on resetting their last room, which they got done fairly well. But they needed work on another room, which is the most to handle out of all the rooms.
As the night went on, it was apparent no one else was booking. I did ask VO to stay a little later to get some GM time in and then he left around 9:30PM. The last team came in at 9PM and were done by 10PM. They weren't great in the room (complained about getting too many hints even though they needed them), but they brought up one lock was not locked and that was my fault since I locked up everything after VO's last test reset. I apologized for it as I saw them out. I was very hard on myself for that mistake. At least they enjoyed themselves. I did start to wrap things up during that last session, but still had a few other things to take care of before leaving at 10:30PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Saturday (05.30). The final Saturday meal of the month was Schlotzky's. This was a slow Saturday. 24 bookings total, but the majority were towards the beginning of the day where the night was sprinkles of bookings. It was good to see some of the college students back, but it did suck to hear so many asking to leave early. It really made me think of the phrase I shared with Agent Ocean some time ago; some people want a job, but some people don't want to work. At least they did things when asked because if they refused, I would have let them leave with a few words letting them know my perspective. I was the lone survivor of the night with the last team with a 10:20PM booking. They were nice, but not good at the game itself. They enjoyed themselves, but didn't tell me they spilled their drink on a desk. I only found out after when I was resetting the room. I was upset with that and pounded down on the desk. It wasn't horrible, but it was a sucky way to end the night. I left at midnight and didn't get home until 1AM because of traffic lights being off. Heck of a way to end the work month.
ETC=========================
- Tiffany Young - Summer's Not Over (MV)
- Tiffany Young - Leemujin Service EP. 214
This was an amazing watch. Tiffany is shining brighter than ever.
- aespa - WDA "Whole Different Animal" (MV)
This took a while for me to get into. Eventually it made its way as an earworm for me.
- ITZY - Motto (MV)
Same as WDA, it took a while for me to get into. But the whole album is great and full of variety. The single that stands out to me was Yuna's.
- aespa - LEMONADE (MV)
I wasn't too big on the previews of the song, but getting to hear the full song made it better. I'm still not a fan of the chorus, but everything else is great.
- Momo falling, I could watch this forever, ha (05.23).
- I stopped using Rogaine once I ran out back in the beginning of the year. After using it for half a year, I did finally get some hair growth. I had more of the shampoo left so I continued to use it. I also ignored checking my balding areas in the mirror to not be self-conscious. But sometime in late April I noticed that more hair was falling out in the shower. Some days it was more than others, but it was similar to previous clumps of hair falling out before using Rogaine. And then one day (05.21) I caught a glimpse via the cameras at work...and I almost had a panic attack. It is now worse than it was before using Rogaine. That really messed with me and I contacted a friend that mentioned using HIMS for their hair. I got my consultation (05.24) and picked a spray to use rather than a pill. I'll start using that next month. If you notice me wearing a hat more often, there's a reason why.
- I had a dream about my maternal grandmother, Inay (05.17). That has never happened before. She passed away when I was in highschool so almost 30 years ago. In the dream, I walked into a room where she was sleeping. I slowly walked towards her to verify that it was her. As I got closer to her face, she woke, smiled, and laughed. And that was it. I remember who she still is and how she smiles and laughs. I miss you.
That's a wrap on May 2026. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
