October 2026 Entry:
What a busy month.
MISC=========================
- Another round of physical therapy (10.01). Not much to say. More of the same. The only different thing that happened were the workers commenting or asking to see my remaining bruises from cupping.
- Spent a lot of time on the phone (10.02). How much time? One hour with our insurance, a short call with the lawyer, one hour with the claims person, one hour with the adjuster, and a short call with the car rental place. So at least 3 hours. Basically our insurance gave us the okay to put in a claim despite not wanting to do it due to our premium going up. Let the lawyer know about it. The claims person got all the information they needed to file the claim. Then the adjuster got more details about the car mainly. And the car rental place now has a ticket from our insurance to help take care of things from now on.
The ball finally begins to roll.
- Thanks to one of the phone calls yesterday, I returned the rental car a few days early (10.03). Basically since insurance was going to help with payments, I needed to end the current contract and start a new one. Gassed it up again and brought it to the lot. There was only one guy in (another was going in and out handling the cars) and he was the one that had been assisting me the entire time. He was glad to hear that insurance was finally going to help me out. I paid for the previous contract as he started to set up the next one. He did let me know that none of the cars they currently had were going to be completely covered by insurance, which I knew ahead of time (insurance takes care of $XX per day while I pay an extra $3). Since there was a limited number of available cars around that price, he decided to let me keep the same car I had been doing. I was ready to part ways with this car and it's still mine, ha. I only have to pay $6 a day until my original car gets repaired. Not bad. I did worry about what car I'd be trading for, but now I get to continue with the one I've grown accustomed to.
Then it was back home around 10:30AM. I relaxed until heading out to meet with PC and BL for a random dinner. I asked HeXagon if anyone was able to hang out because this would be my final weekend before I started work. PC was the only one that confirmed so he and I talked about where to go. He suggested Mori Ichi for dinner and I had missed out on going there in the past so I was cool with it. I gave him two options for dessert and he chose Arici Gelato. BL later mentioned he could join and the plans were set. Met at Mori Ichi around 5:30PM. Good food. Their portions were worth it. Definitely see why it was recommended by others. Then it was a short drive to Arici Gelato for ice cream. We all got a cup with three scoops. I asked the two workers what their favorite flavors were and chose one of each (Speculoos and Mango) and I chose the last one (Rose Petals). Good stuff here too. At both places, we caught up and bantered back and forth about things. Just a chill time with them before departing around 8:30PM.
- Finally met up with SHL (10.05). It had been over a year since we last saw each other. The smiles on our faces when we saw each other. And that hug, long overdue. We met at Papa Yu (she chose it out of the the three options I presented). Not bad. They do take their time to make the food, which is very much appreciated especially since it turns out really good. We caught up on a lot of things (accident and work for me, pickleball for her). Once we were done eating, we walked over to Ranch 99 and walked and talked there. After a few laps, we sat down at a table and caught up on more things (life coach, her daughter, etc).
I missed her so much. One of the few people I can talk to about anything and everything. And we didn't even get to talk about everything this round. Met around 11:30AM and ended around 2PM. Hopefully the next time we meet won't be over a year of time.
- Started the day with a phone call with Fidelity (10.06). It lasted about half an hour before we hit a wall. I shared my screen to show I couldn't go beyond a certain prompt. So they suggested I call my bank to see if they can authorize the transfer. The call to the bank lasted about another half hour. The majority was getting passed around to different departments as one sent me to another then I got sent to the wrong one etc. Once I finally reached the correct person, they were able to help me and set up what needed to be done in order to prepare the transfer. In 1-3 business days, everything should be good to go.
Later in the day, I went in for physical therapy. I remembered this time to ask about getting the adjustment early instead of at the end of my session. I let the doctor know I was back at work. They asked about the pain management company that was supposed to contact me to which I said they had not. They made sure to have one of the receptionists contact them. They said they would call me back to set something up and I got the number so I could put it in my phone and not send them straight to voicemail. The rest of the session went on like normal except for the electrodes. They used a new device for it and it was very sensitive. Either too low or too high. Even when I said it was okay and I was left alone, it would jump to being too much specifically in my right shoulder. I mentioned it to them and they said they'll double check the device or at least use the older device next time. Set up my next session for next Tuesday and they assumed Thursday as well. But I mentioned I'm working again so even Tuesday might have to be rescheduled (I'd call if needed).
When I got home, I checked the tire pressure numbers on the dashboard. The driver side front tire was lower compared to the others. All of those were 40 at the least while the last one was at 29. I figured to fill it up at home now rather than later while I had it fresh in my head. Been a while since I had filled up a tire.
- There was a small power outage at home (10.07). For the first time ever, this happened while I was in the shower. I was almost done, but the power didn't come back on for at least two minutes. I was about to turn off the water and step out when they came back on. I stayed a little bit longer when that happened, ha.
The thing is, my PC was off when I came back to my room. I turned it on and it was very quiet. Not only that, an error message came on when the screen powered up. "Your device ran into a problem and couldn't be repaired." I had never seen that one before. I pressed Enter to continue and saw the options and decided to shut it down. I dried off more before turning it back on again. It was still quiet, but it powered back on and thankfully everything worked like normal. Later on in the day, I looked up UPS devices. I had one in my Amazon cart for a long time, but for some reason deleted it recently. Got recommendations from G and Reversed and found one that was on a Prime deal. It went from $170 to $113 at 34% off. I normally save my free 30-day Prime trial for the holidays for when I order gifts, but I figured this was a good time to do it to save that money and get it shipped early. I didn't double check, but I could have gotten it for $5 without re-upping Prime and it would have been delivered a week later, oh well. It should arrive towards the end of the month or early next month. Hopefully I won't have another PC issue until then.
I finished up references for CF that morning. He had texted me a couple days prior about it and I was okay with it. I forgot to do it the next day like I said I would, but set an alarm to get it done because of that. There were two and they were similar so I almost clicked the same options and typed the same things. Hope he gets those substitute teacher jobs.
And then I went to my ENT appointment. The appointment was at 11:30AM. And since I knew what they traffic and parking issue is like, I left earlier and got there around 11AM. There was a handful of parking spots available so it didn't take long to find one. As soon as I checked in at the reception desk, I was told "the doctor is an hour and fifteen minutes behind schedule." That was not great especially since it was like that last time I went there. I put in an AirPod and listened to podcasts and watched videos the whole time to make the time go by. I was actually the last person in the lobby (some arrived after me) before I was brought into a room around 12:30PM. There was still a wait and I didn't see the doctor until maybe 1PM. He apologized for the wait and asked how things were. I mentioned the accident and that's when we swapped stories. And during all that, he cleaned my ears with minimal issues or pain. He then mentioned that my CT scan is the best it has ever looked and that this cleaning was fast and easy (with minimal pain from my end). Basically what we've been doing has helped get us to this point. We're going to keep kicking the can down the road and maintain and hopefully nothing bad will occur as we go. He walked me out and mentioned he was sorry about the accident to which the receptionist apologized to hear about it. She and I then swapped stories, ha. Car issues of any kind are always relatable, easy to sympathise with stories shared. I went out to the other reception desk to schedule my next appointment. He mentioned that there was a closer location to where I live that the doctor goes to once a week (Fridays). So next April, I will be giving that location a try. As long as it is the same doctor, I will take the shorter drive (20 minutes). As I was leaving, I started to pull out my parking ticket to pay at the counter. The lady at the counter immediately told me how and where to actually pay. I joked saying "you knew what I was going for. You've said this to so many people, ha." We laughed. I asked about the newly built building and parking situation. The building looks great and it's awesome that there's more parking. We got into a chat about how it's already October and a nurse passing by chimed in and said she saw Christmas decorations being sold and set up already, ha.
As I was paying for the parking at the gate, I got a call from the place I got my MRI. They were setting up my appointment for pain management. The doctor is only in on Tuesdays so I set that up for after my physical therapy session. I was expecting it to be another place since they gave me a different number, but I at least know where it is and that it's not far off from the physical therapy place.
Final stop on the way home was to La Sipota. Did my normal check to see what dessert spots were on that side of town beforehand and they had many options that I wanted to try. It was about 20 minutes away and I got there around 2PM. I knew it was Hispanic operated. The girl that was working the register didn't understand me so she got another worker to take my order (Pink Punch Smoothie). More people came in as I waited. Minutes later, another customer got my attention saying that my order was ready, but because it was the previous girl, she didn't call out to me. No big deal. The drink was very good. I left close to 2:30PM and got home around 3PM. I was tired because of being out in the sun so I took it easy the rest of the day. The smoothie I got was large so it lasted for the majority of the day.
- HeXagon gathering at bbq Chicken (10.09). Some of us had eaten there together before. Met with NRM and BL at EvePink around 6:30PM. We walked around to different claw machine places to scope them out for a bit before getting a table around 7:15PM. PC joined shortly after followed by NE. Good food, good talks. After that, we walked to get some dessert. We had plenty of options, but they defaulted to me (the sweet tooth of the group) to choose. Out of the places, there was only one place I had not tried, but I wasn't as interested in it. I chose Korea Bing Su. I thought I had not tried it, but it was joined with Mochi Nut, which some of us went to months ago, ha. All good though. BL and I shared a large bing su and it was good. There was a lot of Hinge talk as I was swiping while eating (BL showed his and then NRM and then NE thought he should download the app). Afterwards we went to one of the claw machine places. NRM won a couple of prizes, but NE cleaned up and got so many one after the other. We split ways around 10PM.
Appreciate the chocolates from Italy, NRM.
- Caught up on Money In The Bank (10.11). I was able to watch all of the opening match before going to work and then finished the rest when I got home. Fun times and a solid card.
- Another round of physical therapy (10.13). One of the girls that's normally there wasn't. Other than that, it was fairly standard. Even after a week in between sessions, my body was okay minus the exercises it normally is hard with. I asked to do another round of cupping. This time the bruising didn't show up as much on the right side, but also didn't stick on as well for some reason. I scheduled my last session and told the workers at the front "thank you" ahead of time.
Next stop was Beard Papa's. The final stop was 10 minutes away from the physical therapy place (went there for an MRI last month). There was half an hour between those appointments so I figured getting a small dessert would suffice. Plus I had been wondering why this place has been highly talked about. Bought a Smores with vanilla filling and ate it in the car. It's not bad, that's it.
Once I was done with that, I went to my pain management appointment. Filled out some paperwork for about 10 minutes, sat in the waiting room for 2 minutes, answered more questions and waited for another 10 minutes, saw the doctor and their understudy (I think) for another 10 minutes, and was done. I was surprised with how short it was, but it literally was an assessment and the doctor gave options on what to do. The thing that stuck out was the doctor himself. I didn't like him. He was Filipino himself and asked where I was from (I said where my parents were from) and asked if I spoke Tagalog. I said barely and he said something in Tagalog and didn't know what he said and looked so disappointed that I didn't know. For a few answers I gave he would say "don't say that." And finally, he made a comment about my job. "People do that?!" I gave examples of why (birthday parties, team building, random activity) and he was very surprised and in a condescending way. Thankfully that was towards the end so it wasn't much longer before I left. He was very concise and to the point and that's fine, but the things I pointed out made that not a comforting experience. Drove home and was back around 4PM.
- Lots of texts and phone calls (10.14). None took too long, but there was a lot of gaps in time in waiting for replies with the texts. The phone calls were short and I got the answers to all my questions. First was for Fidelity as I was going to do the transfer. The amount we discussed was over the limit I was allowed to so now I'm on hold as I can't even do all of it within a month's time. The second was with Farmers insurance claim. This was the best news as the claim has gone through and we know what the estimate is. A few more texts later and we were told that repairs have officially begun. The last from a pharmacy. I had no idea that the doctor had prescribed anything, but they mentioned the attorney approved of them. I screenshot the messages and sent it to the attorney. They were able to respond hastily and verified that they did approve of them. Called the pharmacy, asked about the prescriptions (2 pills, 2 ointments), and gave them my address to deliver them. It's still odd that I wasn't in the know about the prescriptions to being with, that's why I wasn't sure if those were legit messages I was receiving. Thankfully it is covered by the insurance as I probably would have rejected them if they weren't. The pills I may hold off on while I at least try the ointments especially for my elbow.
- Watched Castlevania: Nocturne (10.01-10.16). I liked it. I did think there were too many characters, but at least they all had a part to play. The action was great and I was interested in seeing the direction the story went. Overall, I liked it way more than the original Castlevania animated series that I watched last year.
- Got a call from my dad in the morning that his car was stuck (10.19). Thankfully he wasn't too far away (AutoZone) for me to pick up. I didn't know he was with a friend although I wasn't too surprised since I saw an extra car in our driveway. I took them to O'Reilly nearby as they were still looking for a car part, but they didn't have it. We went back to AutoZone to test if he could get his car going and it actually worked. I was back home after about 15-20 minutes.
When I got back, I made sure to cancel my subscription to Hims. I had received an extra package from them for the same thing I was using for my hair. At first I didn't know what it was and thought it might have been some extras or promotional material. But it was the same thing and I didn't need it since I had not finished my original dosage (was still on my first bottle of two and now I have four). I didn't realize I was on an auto-renew plan. If I received a notification, I don't recall. But things like this are the reason I normally don't auto-renew on a lot of things (especially for products). I was already charged for it so I'm not worried about trying to get a refund. If anything, I have enough of the product to last one full year (started June of this year).
- Watched Enter The Fat Dragon (10.20). This had been on my watch list for Prime for a long time. Put it on early in the morning and I liked it. The "fat" part is only the main character gaining weight due to things that happen in his life. Other than that, nothing is skewed into him being fat. I was expecting a lot of fat jokes as that's how it normally is for a story like this. There were less than a handful. I honestly don't think him being fat affected the movie. I probably would have still liked it, but I don't know if it would have stuck out as much as the title and the movie poster did to grab my attention.
And today was the last day of physical therapy. Two months with a total of 16 sessions. As a thanks, I got the staff a cheesecake from Uncle Tetsu. The doctor gave me a big hug and then told the rest of the team about it. Throughout my exercises, different staff members thanked me for it. I also talked to the doctor at the beginning of the session. She did the general "pain levels" talk and recommended I do some of the exercises at home. I mentioned how my back and elbow have been in more pain now that I'm back at work, but it's manageable. She suggested using K tape. I never tried it before so she taped up my elbow to see how it feels with my exercises. She also had one of the staff members cut a band for me to use at home. A funny thing that happened during my exercises happened when I was doing planks. I had mentioned to them the first time I did them that I was bad at them. I feel like I got better, but was still shaky. One of the workers said "you can do this, Mr. insert name here." I then tapped the floor next to me and challenged her to do them with me. She hesitated at first and told the other staff member in the room that I wanted her to do them instead. She immediately got on the floor and went 30 seconds with me with no problem. I challenged the first girl again and she gave in. Not only did she do well (she thinks it was because of doing pilates lately), but she went longer than the 30 seconds, ha. They tried to get one of the receptionists to challenge me too saying that she's been building muscle. Unfortunately that didn't happen since she was busy with patients coming in. I was hoping eventually she'd be free, but the timing was just bad. Wrapped up my exercises and got my final massage. As I was leaving, I made sure to say thank you to all of the staff. I did feel sad too. I let a few of them know that during this whole accident (2 months to this day) that they have been the easiest people to work with as they were kind and accommodating and would talk to me occasionally about themselves. Gracias por todos.
- Small meet up with a few members of HeXagon (10.21). Others were out watching a movie while BL, PC, and I went to eat at Pho Prime. BL asked the day before, but both of us asked for the next day (I wasn't feeling to great to go the day before). He asked to get pho and chose Pho Prime. First time for PC. Funny enough, both BL and I opted to get food from the Crawfish Cafe menu even though we both wanted pho, ha. I got a Smack Pack as it has been years since I had it and it was great and incredibly filling. Everyone enjoyed their meals and PC will definitely be back. Good talks with good food.
PC parted ways with us around 8PM. BL and I walked around the mall. It was empty and we both commented on how strange that was. We're so used to it being noisy and packed and it was a ghost town. Maybe less than 10 actual people were around (more were probably in the grocery store that we didn't see) and a lot of the shops were closed. I had mentioned possibly going to get drinks after and we decided to go after at Bambu. That had been on my list for a while and didn't know this location was close by. I ordered their yogurt drink and it was strong in flavor, but I should have ordered a medium or small. I was still full. I drank maybe half of it by the time we decided to end the night around 9PM. I ended up throwing away the rest when I went to get gas as I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it. It's fine, but I'd order something else next time I go there.
- Went to meet a friend after work and eat at Mama Chang (10.23). Nice small place. The server offered a slice of cake since it was their birthday. Gladly accepted it and gave a nice tip back as a gift. The food was very good. Typical Chinese food, but it hit the spot. Partnered with catching up with a friend probably made it better.
- 12 years sober (10.24). Per tradition, I like to treat myself with something. I had a few dessert places written down. Was leaning towards one, but there's a possibility I might go with a coworker in the near future. So I went to Alpha Dessert Juice Cafe. They had a lot of good options and in the end I went with the Candy Delight Milkshake. I ended up getting it in a mason jar (can take home) and it was a lot. It had plenty of good stuff in it and it didn't feel heavy. I took care of almost 3/4 of it before deciding to take the rest home. Unfortunately the store didn't have a cap to close it and it didn't fit in the cup holder of the rental car so I had to hold it on the drive back home.
- Got my Stephanie Vaquer shirt (10.25). It does have an odd feel on the inside like the graphic is scratching through. If I end up going to Survivor Series, that's what I'm wearing.
- Invincible season 4 watched (10.21-10.27). I ended up watching the last two episodes the same day since I had time. My goodness. The violence is definitely still there and the emotion is there. I did think episode 4 was boring, but I hope it has a pay off. Episode 5...I had to turn away from a certain scene towards the end. I actually had trouble getting that image out of my head as I was going to sleep that night. And I did think that season 4 would be the end of everything. It is not. Very curious to how season 5 will play out.
- Watched Masters of the Universe (10.29). I enjoyed the majority of the movie. The things I didn't like were some of the dialogue and when they were in the modern era. I get it, but definitely enjoyed it when they were on Eternia and fighting way more. Seeing these characters and toys I've only known in those forms brought to life was amazing though.
I also had to call the car rental place. It's been almost a month since the rental was under insurance prices, but we still don't have the car back. I called worried about it, but I was able to extend it under a negotiated price set by the insurance. It wasn't as good as it was for that month, but it was still cheaper than a regular rental. Extended it for two more weeks as we should know more about how much longer it will take in the first week of November.
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. 16 this month. 8 ups, 4 sideways, 4 downs. Standouts include Next of Kin: Epiphany and ANOMALITH.
14 demos left on deck to try.
- FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE kicks off October (10.01-10.04). The original on PlayStation 2 is my favorite horror game. I like how they modernized the controls to be similar to later titles. Although, I do think the limitations of the PS2 helped the game be as good as it was. I was making good progress in general, but I did realize that confrontations were taking longer to resolve. Once I hit Chapter 7, I bumped the difficulty down. Some fights still took a while, but it wasn't as bad. I was able to get the main ending (and the bad ending) around 16 hours in. Then I pondered for a few hours if I wanted to try to get more endings. The reason being was I knew I wouldn't get all because the last one required a full playthrough on the toughest difficulty while the others would allow the use of New Game + and Chapter Select. Even with that, it still took an extra 8 hours to get the other endings. Some of that was because I was still lost in some areas as I had not grown accustomed to the village completely.
The NG+ function helps because it carries everything over except game progression items. It made upgrading the camera easier as you could literally go into one are with a lot of beads, save, and NG+ again to retain them and respawn them. I didn't do that as I would just travel along the paths necessary and collect them as I went. Got a good chunk of the upgrades filled out. There were still more things in terms of numbers to collect and I did fairly well. But since I knew I wasn't going to get the final ending, I didn't make 100%-ing everything a goal.
The remake is good, but not perfect. I liked my time with the game, however I still prefer the original.
- Werewolf Online was the free-to-play game of the month (10.06). At least it would have been if anyone was online to play. I waited for a good half hour. One person kept dropping in and out, but would never join or start a game. Disappointing especially since they had four other games you could play outside of Werewolf.
And because of that, I figured I would try another free-to-play game. Next in the lineup was Crossout Legends. 6v6 vehicular combat. You have 3 choices of your vehicle, but Robot was the best. The other two controlled horribly. But all served a similar purpose of shooting. Then you can earn points and level up to get upgrades to your vehicle. It's not bad, but it's not great either. Easy mechanically to grasp, but the AI opponents were not challenging at all. Worth a try, but not worth too much of your time.
- Normally I don't play a Nintendo Classics game during October. It was always the reset month to play a collection or themed games for the month. But this time I decided to add a Virtual Boy NC game in the form of The Mansion of Innsmouth (Insmouse No Yakata) (10.07). This was never released in the US until now. The only thing not translated were the credits, but it's not like there was much text in the game throughout.
This was pretty much a first-person dungeon crawler. You needed to find a key to unlock the door to the next level. You have a gun to shoot monsters along the way. And you can pick up a black or and white orb. For the majority of my first run, I had no idea what those orbs did. I also thought I was walking around aimlessly. It wasn't until I got to the last level that I hit the Select button and that was the map, ha. One orb shows the rest of the map and the other orb showed where items were. When you get the key, it'll show you where the locked door is. This made the game way more enjoyable. I got Ending C. I looked up what was needed to get the other endings. I got Ending D and Ending B thanks to entering codes to get to the last level. I had to play one more full playthrough, but only taking the upper path of the grid to get Ending A. Information online said the reason you'd get taken to a different path was either a combination or one of the following things; ammo, health, and/or time. Either way, I made sure to get through the levels as fast as possible with as much health and ammo as possible. Thankfully once I had a flow, that run through was only another hour and I got Ending A.
The biggest criticism I would have is ammo. One is the lack of ammo. The other is that some monsters take a lot of bullets to be taken out. I didn't do the math, but it seemed like there would not be enough ammo to take out every enemy. Sure you can run away and that's what I did a lot, but it did get tough in the latter levels when they were in the way of items. Yeah, you can go the long route to circle around them, but I did run into a few instances of getting surrounded by two monsters in a corner so going any direction led to one.
Other than that, I did enjoy this Virtual Boy game more than I thought I would have.
- Hello Kitty Island Adventure was the next available Game Trial (10.10). I looked up how long it would take to finish the story and it seemed doable. It's a simple game where you talk back and forth with various Sanrio characters. You give them gifts, fulfill any requests, and more to level up your friendship level with them. I had a few guides ready to help with specifics. There's also an option to have an in-game light that give you a trail to your quest's destination. Got a solid 3 hours in. Then I hit a roadblock. It wasn't mentioned in-game, but you can only give X amount of presents a day to each character. So at some point you can't upgrade your friendship level with them until 24 hours pass. That's real time, not in the game. I tried. I thought sleeping in your home would let you do it, but that did not count. The time frame also applied to some items you pick up meaning they won't respawn if you go back to where they were. There are items that can help reset those items, but I didn't have any. You could time travel by altering your Switch's clock, but I wasn't going to do that. Once that realization came about, I decided to quit where I was. It's not a bad game, but it stops you from beating it as fast as possible.
- Had DOOM + DOOM II for free because I owned DOOM 1993. Finally got around to playing it. I didn't realize they had more than just those two games, which is awesome, but I was only interested in the main games.
Beat DOOM (10.11). I started with God Mode on and on Nightmare difficulty. It was fun having everything at your disposal and mowing down tons of enemies. But it got to the point of wandering around to find keys to open doors while having the map up. After a couple of hours, I started to use No Clipping. Even then there were parts where you still had to activate buttons and doors to find the exit so I was constantly turning on/off clipping. So not the smoothest playthrough, but considering what I did, it was fine.
Next was DOOM II (10.13). More of the same. Used the same cheats to run through the game faster. The one thing I realized was that the levels seemed more familiar. That's odd because I don't recall playing that much of DOOM II in general. It definitely felt more refined compared to the first game. Stumbling upon the Wolfenstien stage was the highlight for me.
- Ghouls 'n Ghosts was an extra Genesis NC game for the month (10.14). Not originally part of the line up, but I had an extra day for a one-off and it fit the month's theme. Never played this version of the game before, but I really liked it. Solid in gameplay. I didn't know about the differences such as the stages and weapons. Good thing I looked up whether playing on the lower difficulty mattered or not (saved time by playing on Professional). The initial run to get the true ending was over in about an hour thanks to rewinds. It was short. Then I tried the various codes available to see if they worked and saw that you can turn it into Japanese. It changed the title and some text in the options. Other than that, the game was the same and the ending text was not in English. That second run through was even shorter since I knew what to do and expect. Probably the "easier" of all the GnG games. Still difficult, but a very good adventure.
- Picked up my copy of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse (10.15). I was able to finally preorder the upcoming Kirby Air Riders amiibo. I also remembered to use the coupons in the app. There was an extra one for a free Red Bull, which I didn't know about, but the cashier did. I ended up giving it to him and he was very thankful.
- A week later, picked up my copy of Final Fantasy Resonance (10.22). I was glad to see the worker I've known there for the first time in a long time. They have been at other locations again helping them out. I mentioned how I recently transferred and we're actually closer to each other with the mall location. So if anything, I might drop by to say hi here and there. I unfortunately didn't have anything to preorder as everything on my list is already set. I tried asking for Mega Man Dual Override, but it's not in the system yet. Oh well.
- Castlevania: Belmont's Curse completed (10.15-10.26). It wasn't easy the entire way through (definitely died a handful of times), but once I got in a groove, the majority was smooth sailing. I did get the bad ending first (10.18). Didn't know there was one as I thought I was simply walking to what might have been the end area. But I'm glad that happened as I at least knew where the "end" was.
I do need to mention the negatives I had with the game. One was the lack of a bestiary. Not the biggest thing, but that's a staple for the series so it was a bummer that there wasn't one. The game crashed a lot for me. It would happen randomly (after dying, after saving, after exiting the map, etc). Thank goodness for the autosave otherwise I would have lost a lot of progress many times. And then the music. It was okay and the pulls from classic Castlevania themes were nice. But I never felt I had to listen to the music and usually would have YouTube videos or podcasts on as I played.
The positives were good though. Voice acting was great. The art style is awesome. Areas looked good. Boss fights were challenging, but never felt impossible (the most I ever died to a boss was about 5 times with at least one with no deaths). The variety of weapons were fun to switch between. The magic cards were neat to try out, but I ended up finding my favorites (Brauner). Relics were okay, but mainly stuck with the same three the entire game.
I rarely had to look up anything until it was time to clean up. That was nice as I usually resort to searching online as soon as I get stuck. The last few days of play consisted of getting the remaining weapons, finishing Works of Mercy, and finding the remaining relics. The final day was filling out the rest of the maps. By that time I only had one at 100% while the rest were missing 3 or less percent. I had to find specific guides that pointed out where all the collectibles were in each area. It was satisfying to find them, but it did take a long time to find the 1-2 things missing in large maps. And of course I didn't do one thing to trigger the true ending. Did everything else up to that point, beat the game, got the good ending. Then it took a few minutes to do the last thing I left and beat the game one more time to watch the true ending.
Went through the gallery afterwards before removing the cartridge. Did I like it, yes. Is it perfect, not to me. But I enjoyed my time with the game.
- Indie World Showcase (10.28). Not the greatest one (not even a "one more thing" moment). My standouts include:
- Winds of Viridia
- Sword of Sea
- Petal Runner
- Demos (Winds of Viridia, Haunted Paws, Petal Runner, Raccoin: Chaos Max Edition)
- Picked up my copy of Coffee Talk Tokyo (10.28). The physical release had a few delays and I was still worried it would happen again. Not this time. Got mine after work. It is scheduled to be the last game I play this year much like I did with Coffee Talk 2.
WORK=========================
- A week before when I originally asked to work, I finally got a schedule (10.02). They use a different system so I need to get used to reading it and using its functions properly.
- First day of work (10.05). The commute was so short, ha. 15-20 minutes. I did spend more time finding parking. I normally park at a farther one in that town center, but decided to try the one closer to the venue. However, it looked blocked off so I couldn't find anything and ended up going to the one I regularly go to. I met DG (assistant manager) for the first time. JL greeted me next (I had met in passing). And DA was there too (previously was our team's GM). Da showed me around a bit and mentioned what we'd be doing. JL left shortly after and I was shadowing DA as he GM'd. It was for the last room I played so I needed to see how it ran. He left when his shift was over and DG took over.
When the team was done, she said I could go get them and that would be my first exit. It didn't take long to get back into what I normally said at the previous locations. I did need to figure out the exit speech in the lobby as they do say certain things we didn't elsewhere. Shortly after, the next team arrived and she asked me to intro them in. The team was doing a replay from earlier in the day so they were familiar with what is said so I mentioned it was my first day at this location so if I miss anything I would apologize. Most of what I said came back naturally. The main thing I forgot for them and the other two teams that night was the end game or exit box. While they were playing Haunted House, I practiced resetting Narco. I asked DG to check it after and she said it was pretty good. After the Haunted House team was done, we had a good chat after. I had a good chat with almost every team that night and that was nice to get that feeling again. The other two teams played Scooby-Doo and Mansion Murder. I took them back and reset Haunted House. Now I had to get used to how they reset things according to their sheets. Not only that, a few props were either different or non-existent. So I did need to ask a few questions. Otherwise it was fine. Same for the other rooms although I again had to ask DG about a couple of things just to be sure.
We talked about various things as teams were playing. She had also worked at an escape room previously, we shared how we got into escape rooms, we mentioned different things we've done for our respective companies, etc.
After the last team, DG went over some of the closing duties (cleaning, locking up, etc). The main different things included counting the register (they accept cash) and letting each room playthrough. I had not counted money at a job since GameStop (20-ish years ago). That will take some getting used to. Letting each room play made sense as it would let you know if there is a big error that needs to be addressed. Other than that we took out the trash and she showed me how to lock up. Not a bad first day. Thanks for taking the lead, DG.
I asked a lot of questions throughout the day in regards to their processes, comparisons with the previous locations I worked at, how/why they did things a certain way, etc. Their processes amazed me. I let Agent Ocean know in a voice message that he knows how thorough and tedious I am. This team is the same and more so and I like that, ha. It's simply amazing how on the ball they are and how enthusiastic they are about getting things done. I've said this to multiple new coworkers, but this is like a breath of fresh air. To top things off, I left the parking garage at 11:10PM and was home at 11:25PM. Wow. Great first day.
- First opening shift (10.08). I was actually first to show up. Unfortunately I didn't know any passwords for the computers so I just had to wait for JH to show up. I did walk around the rooms to make sure I knew where all the exit boxes were. Shortly after, JH walked in. We greeted each other and started the day. I mopped the lobby and hallways while he set up the rooms that were booked. Once we officially opened the doors, I took care of more cleaning duties while he did some manager stuff. He showed me more of the opening duties and had me practice the morning register count. My first time using a coin and cash counting machine. Customers came in to get general information. Another set came in at some point to ask questions about their upcoming corporate booking.
We talked about random things throughout the day (company culture, health, etc). When we shared work stories, he did express a lot of surprise at how some things were done where I previously worked. He mentioned that DG gave short feedback about me and that I was really good at talking to customers. He also talked about how the staff wanted me to join D&D and he said don't be surprised when they include me in things (yay). My original plan that I discussed with him about what I would be doing for work that day was to run through and practice resetting Narco before the customers arrived, but the trade off with the talks was still a positive.
The first set of customers had made two bookings to play one room and then another. They looked familiar, but I wasn't sure. I asked if they had played escape rooms before and they mentioned they played all the ones at the previous location without knowing I worked there. I said I just transferred and they were excited. As they played those rooms, I shadowed JH as he was their GM. When they were in their second room, DG came by as she and others were meeting to go to another coworker's play later on. Shortly after, I reset Narco solo. There was only one prop I couldn't find and JH had to come in and find it. Thankfully things seemed more familiar. DA showed up too and played games with DG. Once that team finished their second room, I asked JH to help walk me through it since Mona was familiar. It was interesting to see the differences (pointed them out as we were resetting). It seemed easier than I thought it would. By that time, IB showed up for her shift followed by SC (met him when I was there for my interview). A birthday party arrived so JH and I were helping set things up. That was the last thing I did before clocking out. I stayed a few minutes after before heading out around 5:40PM. Shout out to SC for dabbing me up, ha.
And then I couldn't find the rental car. I thought I parked on level 4...and it wasn't there. I walked up another flight and it wasn't there. One more flight, it wasn't there. I didn't go to the roof because I knew I didn't park there. Went down to level 3...and it was there. Wow, ha. The ride back home was full of traffic, but it was still only about 30 minutes. It felt odd being home that early from work. Literally didn't know what to do with myself, ha. I actually filled out all parts of this blog entry up to this point.
- Opening shift at 10:30AM (10.09).JH and I handled things. Per my request, I did Game Master duties at the beginning when it was slow while JH was doing manager tasks. Felt good to be back behind the computer. Other than that, I was doing hosting duties for the rest of the day when it got busier.
Highlights included getting my first rebook (ended up getting 3 that day), helping set up a gender reveal (added a skeleton wearing pink to the end of their game), and meeting KF (she and I bonded over a lot of things like games etc). I stayed a little after my shift was over (from 5PM to about 6PM) just to talk and be silly with the others that were there. Dropped some lore about myself so most now know I can dance.
- 3PM shift on my first Saturday (10.10). JH was sick so he stayed home so shift trades and adjustments were made to compensate, but we were good in general. One topic that came up rom SC and DG was my age. At that time I think only JH and DG knew. The rest made their general guesses with KF coming the closest (under by 2 years). Lots of talking with the team and getting to know each other particularly with MA (our first shift together, met when I went to play Narco) and KF (bonded over Kpop, showed TWICE photos).
In the end, I got one rebook and was tired for the majority of the shift. Left around 11:10PM after helping with closing duties for DA and DG. This was a reminder of what it will be like eating a late dinner after work.
- 10:30AM opening shift on a Sunday (10.11). My first opener without management. DA was there early and took care of most of the opening duties while I counted the register for the first time solo. But DG showed up not too long after. It wasn't too long before she noticed that we were on the new fall booking schedule and that customers could have been there earlier than we were scheduled to be. Good thing she caught that.
Some of the highlights were DG and I talking about wrestling (might go to either AAA or Survivor Series together), getting one rebook and my first of two reviews where my name was mentioned, a customer from the previous location showed up (she immediately said "wait, aren't you from the other place" and we laughed, she's the one that reminded me of CP), and I hurt my finger closing one of the doors in Batman (KF was there when it happened as she was helping me learn the reset, it was bruised but didn't hurt by the end of the day). I left around 4:40PM.
Instead of going straight home, I wanted to treat myself by getting either boba or dessert. Rather than trying some place new, I decided to go to the mall, which is a few minutes drive away. Out of the options I went with Kokee Tea. Walked around to find it (it was close to the food court) and ordered an Oreo Milk Tea. Basically I wanted a small and pretty much guaranteed good reward for finishing my first week of work. Got home around 5:30PM.
- 9:30AM shift on a Monday (10.12). DG was there before me taking care of things. I counted the register, mopped the floors, and started to clean the windows. I was almost done before the first set of customers arrived an hour early. I did notice the influx of kids on a Monday only to find out from a few parents that it was a holiday (some schools had only one day while some had the whole week).
It became busy. After the first 2-3 teams, the rest were one after the other and I barely had time to rest (just kept moving and doing). And that's where I started to fall behind on time. It was a combination of being slow on the resets I wasn't too familiar with and starting teams late because of that. While DA showed up to hang out on their off day, we didn't make him work, but having an extra person would have helped in general. And at one point JL showed up too, ha.
Met HH for the first time. She had not worked there for three months due to being part of a play. I was wondering if she would remember me as she was the staff member I interacted with when I originally scouted this location. Others thought she would remember too, but unfortunately she did not, ha.
Both DG and I decided to stay later (her for sure while I was there chilling). Reason being is that HH and MA would be closing together and both were the most fresh in terms of experience outside of me and KF. I ended up talking a lot with JL about things in general (dancing [showed off 2 out of 3 flashmobs], work, interviews, perspective, etc). He apologized for keeping me an extra hour longer, but I didn't mind. He said it was raining earlier so waiting for that to simmer down was good. Plus it was bonding with the team. While I was mainly talking with him, others were obviously listening and chiming in. It was good. Before I left, I mentioned to HH that she reminded me of a former coworker (Agent Coda) in multiple ways and that she was a good person. And I talked to MA a bit about wrestling before heading out so he, DG, and I might go to one of those November shows together. Shift ended at 5PM and I left around 6:30PM.
- The team started doing D&D sessions before I officially had my first day. I was invited to join, but I knew how large a commitment that would be. But not everyone had joined yet so they were still asking around about stuff. MA is the DM and I pulled him to the side saying I would make a character and that he can drop me in. He was excited about that and even said he had some ideas of what to do.
I finally filled out part of the character sheet on a day off (10.13). I had an idea for a character and input the necessary information. Before I sent it to him, I doublechecked posts made in the Discord...and there was a prompt for the game. It was pirate themed and my character wasn't specifically structured to be part of that type of scenario. I was a little too lazy to fix things so I sent my sheet to MA mentioning that he can adjust whatever to make it work. We shall see how it goes.
- 9:30AM shift on a Thursday (10.15). I was there first. JH texted me saying he would be late. The day itself was fairly normal. I got one rebook and there was a corporate team we got in with little issues. At one point DG came by to drop off drinks for inventory. SC was called in early for the corporate team as JH needed to leave early for a doctor appointment. He left after the corporate team was done and they were eating in the party room. DA stopped by to hang out and HH came in for her shift.
After the corporate team was gone, I started to clean up the party rooms. We forgot to add trash bags to the trash cans and the corporate team dumped all their trash into it. That included desserts, drinks, and wings. It was gross. At first, it wasn't so bad transferring the top half into a trash bag. But then I grabbed some tongs to pick and move the bones because...yeah. I also had to clean the inside of the trash can itself since there were various sauces all around and there was no way I was leaving that to gather bugs overnight. That whole trash can thing took a while to do itself, causing me to stay for an extra half hour. I let JH know about it and he apologized and was okay with me getting that extra half hour. Not the worst thing in the world, but not a fun way to end a shift. I left at 5:30PM.
- 9:30AM shift on a Friday (10.16). Opened with JH again. He thanked me for the trash issue from the previous day. He offered to get me Starbucks, but that's not my jam. He Venmo'd me money saying lunch or whatever is on him, rad. The morning was slow so he pulled up some of my old streams, particularly Overwatch. He was going over memories of playing the game and critiquing my skills, ha. He was curious about my overall gaming skills and asked a lot of questions before pulling up a game he liked playing called Dodge For Your Life (or something like that). He played up to a certain area before finally handing the keyboard off to me. It took a few minutes for me to survive the 30 second barrage and he was impressed. I basically found a "home base" to return to so I wasn't going all over the map dodging barrels.
We had a few customers in including a group of parents and friends (took 3 rooms). As I took the second of the three teams in, the power went out. We took all the teams out and had them wait in the lobby as we were figuring out what the issue was. JH was making calls and I went to our neighbors to check on them. Turns out the whole town center was experiencing a power outage. We weren't sure why, but it might have been the harsh winds knocking something out. JH announced to the customers to wait along with us and hopefully things will be up and running in 10-15 minutes. That did not happen. So the plan was to block off the remaining bookings, call customers that had bookings happening soon to reschedule, and then give the refund/reschedule options to the customers. DG and DA showed up as they were in the area. It wasn't soon after that we figured everything out with the in-store customers. Once the last set of customers were gone, DA and I played a round of Connect 4 (I won, yay). We still had a few people walk in and we had to explain the situation. The power finally came back on an hour later. We started setting rooms back up while JH was calling customers back. We unfortunately had issues with a few screens not turning back on right away. KF showed up for her shift while we were taking teams back. Her team had to switch to another room as the main screens for Batman were out. JH took the remainder of his shift troubleshooting it with IT over the phone. I clocked out at 5PM when I was supposed to and joined him while he was on the tail end of things. Ended up leaving at 5:30PM.
I went next door to JuiceLand (first time there) and ordered an Originator. This is what I spent on the Venmo JH sent me and it was just enough. Crazy day, but a good way to end the day on.
- 3PM shift on a Saturday (10.17). Busy day that was unfortunately filled with mistakes. Not just from me, but other team members as well. Thankfully none were too bad (taking a team back when a game was still happening, locks not being set during resets, etc). One nice positive was talking to a customer and her daughter for a long time after their second game with us. Their family is very into escape rooms and I gave recommendations of places to try, an app they can use to track what they've done, and general talk about the industry itself.
DA and I had fun trying out tongue twisters and Spanish. I even challenged him to try some Japanese ones since the vowel pronunciation is the exact same. And throughout the day, MH and I had some good talks about multiple topics. I left around 11:15PM.
- Picked up an extra shift on a Sunday (10.18). JH texted me about taking his shift and I was cool with it. Went in at 4:30PM. It wasn't a super busy Sunday. MH got to leave a little early (went to Renaissance Festival). KF clocked out for her shift early too, but stuck around for her friends to pick her up to go to the UNDERTALE concert (other customers mentioned they were going too). DA and DG stuck around after clocking out for many hours practicing Spanish with each other. And as SC and I were getting ready to close up shop, we had a walk-in and another team called saying they were showing up. We were pretty much ready to leave around 11PM, but took in those two teams. DA and DG finally left and we just had these teams to take care of. We had done most of the closing duties, but still had to stay way after our shifts to finish the rest. I had to call DG about doing some closing duties as I only performed them on my first day training with her. We finally left around 12:30AM. Thankfully the drive home is shorter now compared to when I used to work at the other location.
- 11:30AM shift on a Monday (10.19). Opened with DG. During the opening process, I spilled the mop bucket not once, but twice, ha. I also did my first official deep clean (Scooby) since working there. It was a slow day overall, but we eventually had 5 teams. Got a lot of reviews from them. While DG invited me to a Mystery Movie Monday, I had plans to go pick up a cheesecake from Uncle Tetsu (she knew how far that was going to be for me). Left around 6:05PM, got to Uncle Tetsu around 7PM (was there for less than 5 minutes, got a cheesecake and Mango Cheese Tart for myself), and was home around 7:45PM.
- On the way home the day before, I realized I still had a walkie-talkie on me (10.20). While it was no big deal as there were plenty at the venue, I still let them know so the staff wouldn't waste time searching for it. After physical therapy, I went by work to drop it off since it was about 5 minutes away. As I got closer, I turned on the walkie-talkie and said "cool guy coming in" and DA and DG heard me, ha. Stuck around for about an hour talking to them before heading out. I had to excuse myself as DG actually thought I was working that day, ha. But it was good to learn more about them.
- 11:30AM shift on a Thursday (10.22). DA and I met in the garage. We both never had to park that far up before, ha. No bookings until others showed up. In the meantime, he took care of deep cleaning while I got permission to rearrange the storage room (mainly for the drinks and snacks). As I was doing that, there were at least 4-5 different sets of walk-ins all asking general questions about the venue (pricing, rooms, etc). I figured at least one had to be a secret shopper. One was an ice cream vendor asking if we wanted to see ice cream (and other food/drinks) in the venue. I would have, but it's not my call.
The majority of my time those first few hours was rearranging the drinks. First I moved the sodas together and the other non-alcoholic drinks together. Then it was putting all the bottled alcoholic drinks together. I chose to put those on the floor too as if they were to fall from the shelf, that would be bad. The shelf itself contained the canned alcohol with a few tiny bottles. I messaged DG about what I wanted to do with the loose bottles/cans. Apparently they had an extras box, but I didn't notice. So I used empty 6-pack holders to hold the loose 1-6 bottles and placed them on top of the full boxes of the same drink. I had to rearrange these a few times as I forgot a set of drinks and needed to keep things alphabetized or to make room in general. Once the drinks were all set, I put the snacks together. But I moved some props around first as I wanted all of these to be together. Basically the drinks and snacks were now all on one side while the majority of the props and extras were on the other. The final thing was using a broken piano bench as a table to keep the snacks off the floor. When DG showed up (chilled before watching a movie), she approved of the final set up, yay.
Once all that was set, we just waited for the others to show up. I showed DA videos from HER and he asked a bunch of questions about it, which I was okay to answer. We got on the topic of internet cafes at some point and started to watch videos about them when JL and SC showed up. We continued to watch more videos and talk before I clocked out at 6PM. I chilled with them for a bit before heading out at 6:30PM.
- 11:30AM shift on a Friday (10.23). There wasn't much to do so SC and I decided to deep clean things. We chose Batman since it was supposed to be done on Sundays, but DG mentioned nothing gets deep cleaned on weekends. Then later mentioned that it was deep cleaned on Monday. We were almost done too, ha. We switched to cleaning the lobby further (games, mirrors, etc). That's when a drink vendor came by to talk about selling more drinks at our venue. If anything, I hope I sold them on booking a team event with us.
No bookings were scheduled until 3PM when DG and KF arrived. Stat-wise, I got one rebook. I also made a mistake on reviews. DG pointed out that if one person on a team leaves a review, they get to spin the wheel of prizes. I thought it was per person and let a team of 7 spin it 7 times. She told after and it made sense since we'd be giving out a lot of free stuff. The only other big thing that happened was a customer removed a frame in Mona. After they left, I saw that it was something simple to do and put it in the holes the nails were slotted into. DA showed up for thier shift at 5:30PM. I clocked at 6PM and left around 6:10PM.
- 12PM shift on a Saturday (10.24). When I arrived, there was a road blocked leading to the venue. They were setting up a stage and set for an event happening later. I let the team know in Discord and apparently it's a road that gets blocked a lot. Thankfully customers were still able to reach the garage through other entrances.
The beginning of the day w/SC and MA was slow. I did learn about the (redacted) and now know to offer it in certain instances. Boo for a prop's head breaking off in Haunted. Speaking of, both Haunted and Mansion were fully booked and many people walked-in or called asking to play it. During one of the slower points during the day, we were all looking up stuff online. I brought up adding "the hedgehog" after our names to see the images that popped up. Thankfully the team liked what came up for them (and those that weren't there) and that nothing NSFW didn't show up, ha. Almost made plans to get dessert with KF, but she had to head home after to take care of things (maybe in the near future).
Shout out to the one group that I sold a bunch of drinks to. It's not that we made profit, but I got to have fun joking around with them. They would have been a rebook had they not had extra plans already, but they definitely seem curious about booking a birthday party for their kids in the future. Clocked out at 8PM and headed out at 8:15PM. I would have chilled a little longer if I weren't very hungry, ha.
- 5PM shift on a Tuesday (10.27). First Tuesday shift. It was an extra shift as JH texted me to see if I could go in since we would have a big team coming in. It would have been from 5PM-10PM. This made my schedule 6 days in a row. Came in and saw JH for the first time since his surgery. First thing we did was inhale together, ha. Glad it went well. DA and DG were organizing a lot of things. My recently organized drinks were moved to the proper storage room. DG mentioned other things she wanted to change and move around
(extra chairs, extra flooreing, etc) and I did those later on in the day. This was also my first time meeting LA as they only worked 1-2 days and those were usually my off days. SC came in for their shift as well. He brought up going to see MA's show that I knew of, but didn't know it was happening. So the plan is for us to go see it after work on Friday.
The day progressed and JH, DA, and DG left at their respective times. When the big team arrived, I took care of them. It was 24 players and they were all going to pay their ticket upon arrival. In the end, only 6 showed up...yeah. The main organizer mentioned and showed me that the invite was sent out and only 12 replied to participate and only half showed up. I mentioned what the possible options were and texted JH and DG about it to get an answer before the team was done with their game. I realized as I was resetting a room that the team was paying upon arrival when I thought we possibly needed to give them a discount. JH and DG understood at that time and then we all realized we basically lost possible bookings since they were originally going to take 4 rooms and ended up only in one. I pulled the organizer out of their room as they were playing and let her know what was up and she was very relieved. I knew to tell her at the moment instead of later so she could enjoy the game instead of worrying about anything. JH mentioned since the group was smaller that I or LA could leave early. I opted to leave early. I clocked out around 8:50PM, but stayed for that group to make sure everything was alright. They had a good time and left a few reviews. I left shortly after around 9:30PM.
- 11:30AM shift on a Wednesday (10.28). First Wednesday shift (I have now worked every day). JL came in instead of JH. There was an issue with the schedule as MA was on it, but was starting their show this week. JL mentioned JH was going to train him on Game Mastering, but it was more of a shift to have JH cover the later shift for MA. But I said I can help train him with some simulated run throughs since there wasn't a team scheduled during our shift.
Once we took care of the opening duties, I worked on fixing a spring that came off the night before in one of the boxes for Lost City. I was surprised that I kind of knew what I needed to do. It took a bit for me to find a good screw and nut to fit. Then it took a while for me to fasten it properly since the space inside the box was small to work in. But I was proud of it. It wasn't the exact same as the other springs in that room (realized it later), but it got the job done. Then I started to help JL with deep cleaning Mansion. We spent a good chunk of the shift talking about things (food, relationships, work, etc). It might be because he's Asian too, but I find it easier to open up to him. Not that I'm not trying with others, but he and I definitely have had a few 1-on-1 talks about deeper topics. Shout out to him for also giving me some free food (it was free with his food order).
A customer called about Kids Mode. It's not offered at the current location. They called back later and I accidentally said the former location, oops. But I was able to help her out with their booking (learned of a new discount code too). It was (as she put it) the fun aunt and her sister with two kids. They ended up buying drinks and snacks too. JL was their Game Master and I basically was coaching him through it (being specific about what you type, which prompts to select, photos over text depending on the team, etc). He did well and the team had fun in Scooby. They ended up rebooking to play Lost City (or as they put it...Egypt, ha). Helped JL with their Game Mastering, but he seemed to understand situations better especially knowing how this team was previously. Again, they had a good time. Shout out to them for leaving a review. They seem like they'll be back.
HH and JH showed up for theith shifts. JL and I clocked out at 6PM, but we both stuck around to chill. I was around until 6:30PM.
- 5:30PM shift on a Friday (10.30). As soon as I came in, DG commented that I always look cool coming in with sunglasses. And shortly after, JH asked to take a photo of me. I put on a different pair of sunglasses and my jacket and posed. It looked very good and I asked him to send it to me so I can use it on dating apps. DG was chilling waiting for DA to clock out so they could go to MA's play.
Highlights of the day rebooking cool customers and being so close to 1000 reviews. SC and I would have left early, but...there was a guy that showed up a couple of hours earlier without a booking and waiting for his date to show up. He was there for a while before leaving. We weren't sure if he would come back. As we had most of the rooms closed up, they called. It was the girl asking if it was still possible. I put them on mute and asked SC's opinion. He said he'd follow my lead. I allowed them to come in. They were very thankful. Honestly, I felt bad as I thought he was stood up, but now it was more that he messed up. Good thing they left us reviews. SC and I had most things closed up so it wasn't long before we locked up and left around 11:45PM.
- The episode of Ryan's World when they visited the old location has finally been uploaded. I only knew of this because some customers played at the new location and mentioned they worked on a children's show that was close to the previous location. Once we figured out that part out, I asked about the episode and they said it went up a couple weeks ago. It was nice getting to talk to them about that as I was the main person involved when the project actually happened.
I can see why it took a while to post that video. They played the Scooby room and that has imagery and audio they could not use without getting some type of copyright strike. They ended up doing a voice over whenever audio clues were happening. I was very thankful that they blurred out an answer to prevent spoilers (they were fairly good in general with that). And unfortunately or fortunately, I did not appear in the video despite me signing a waiver and the cameraperson filming me at points.
- 10:30AM shift on a Friday (10.30). When I came in, I noticed that one of the small baskets next to each room had fallen. It was easy to put back on and I know why it happened. The other thing was that the music was still playing the lobby. Odd since we turned off the actual computer. Oh well, minor things.
We had a couple of corporate teams to start the day. Nothing too hectic thankfully. Extra teams trickled in and out as well. At one point, DA, DG, and IZ (don't remember her actual last name) showed up. Had not seen her in a while and she was only there for a little bit before heading out. I did make a mistake where I accidentally locked a key away with the lock it unlocks. Unfortunately we didn't have spare keys so I had to use the bolt cutters and replace the lock. The other issue was one of the screens in Scooby was not working properly. You can hear the audio still and the TV isn't broken as you can still pull up the settings menu. DG and I figured it was the sprite player. Replaced that and the HDMI cord and it still wasn't working She figured that it was the power plug and she wasn't sure how to properly wire it. Thankfully we have a back up for that clue.
Around that time was when a YouTuber I wasn't familiar came in. They inquired about the rooms and what they wanted to do (3 couples meeting for the first time in an escape room). I gave them a tour and then talked to them about what they need to figure out. I used examples of what I did for Ryan's World and the news (no spoilers, can certain audio be used, etc). Gave them JH's information to contact. I'm kind of hoping something will come from it, but won't be bummed if nothing happens.
Then a large corporate team came in around the time KF showed up. They were all dressed in costumes and it was great (first time for the staff to see something like this at work). I did make one mistake. I exited a team out and DG asked if I wanted to grab the next team. However, I didn't know that team was out (might have missed it said over the walkie-talkies) and I went to reset the room from the previous team I took out. I looked at the iPad and saw that the team was still in there. I felt so bad because it was at least four minutes. I congratulated them and apologized and they weren't bothered. I apologized to our staffed and explained why I felt bad (comparisons of their reactions to the previous location's reactions). I then took the large group photo of everyone and they left satisfied. The rest of the shift was fairly chill after that. DG pulled up an app where you choose different aesthetics for a situation (food, decoration, etc). It was interesting that most of the time we all chose different things.
Once the rest of the staff showed up, SC and I clocked out at 6PM and headed to UH to see MA's play. Thankfully we left when we did as it was high traffic time, but not standstill traffic thankfully (took 50-60 minutes). It's been a long time since I had been to UH and the GPS took me to a section I wasn't familiar with. Even the parking spot was different from what was described (outside under a bridge as opposed to a garage). I missed the garage across the street, ha. I paid for parking and waited for SC for about 10 minutes. When we got into the building, we followed signs to the room we needed to find, but still got lost. Thankfully someone asked if we were looking for the play and pointed us in the right direction. We checked in and got our seats. DA and DG told us to sit in a certain spot where they did and to bring a pen. But someone was in that spot so we had to sit closer to the middle of one side in the front row. The show itself was very good. The first act seemed longer and MA's part in it wasn't big until the second act. But there was one part where MA screamed at both sides of the stage and he went straight for us, ha. Good show overall. We waited for MA afterwards and met some of the cast (some want to come by the escape room). MA showed us the backstage area too, which was neat. We invited him to eat dinner with us, but he already had things to do. We left around 9:30PM.
Met up at Cafe 101. Our original choice would have been closed by then. This was the safest and easiest option rather than looking for something new for me. Plus it was close to where we live and I haven't been there in many years. I arrived first (had to park many floors up a garage). Got a table and waited. The building and set up was pretty much the same. The lighting was darker for sure. Their menu has definitely expanded (makes sense), but everything that used to be there still existed. Not only that, one waitress from way back at the beginning of the company was still there and she was our server. SC showed about 10 minutes later and we ordered. I chose the same fried rice I chose back then. I would have chosen the same drink I got back then too, but it has soda in it. I asked if she could replace, but she said she couldn't so I chose a different drink I was familiar with. The food came out fast as usual. Good stuff. Cheers to SC for having his first legit Asian meal, ha. The drinks arrived later and were good too (strong flavors). We talked about a bunch of stuff in general, which was nice. We wrapped up around 11PM and asked for the bill. I took care of it and thanked him for inviting me out and being the first person from work I hung out with outside of work. It was then that I asked the waitress if she used to work there a long time ago (just to be sure) and she said yes and that she remembered me. Her words were along the lines of "you came here all the time and then stopped showing up," ha. We talked about some of the previous waitresses that worked there at the beginning and where they are now (only one we had not heard or seen from or had social media connections with). We exchanged IG accounts (she couldn't find hers while searching for it and brought her phone over, she misspelled it). SC kept quiet the whole time and "let me do my thing," ha. Fun night.
- 12PM shift on a Saturday (10.31). The day before, I decided to dress up as Edge since the majority of staff were going to dress up as something. My Rated-R belt doesn't fit like it used to around my waste, which surprised me. But that morning, I cleaned and brought up other Edge merchandise (shirt, sunglasses, and wristbands) to wear.
As soon as I came in, there were two parties going on for HH and SC. As I reset one room, I had to take off the belt and put it down and that's when I decided I would only carry the belt and sunglasses if I was hosting a team in/out.
HH told me about the issues that occurred with the parties (with one in particular). It sucked, but she did well handling things. The first party left with no problem. The second one did ask to talk to a manager afterwards. I said none of them were going to be in until later, but that I could listen to her. She explained her disatisfaction with things (not getting the party room showed, not being told of things in the room they played, etc). I apologized on the company's behalf and thanked her for bringing things up citing that we can only get better and prevent something like this from happening again. After she left, HH and I cleaned up the party room and she asked what she said. I reinforced that HH did nothing wrong and went by the book. It was our fault for not giving all the information up front to avoid miscommunication. Shortly after, JH texted HH and called SC as we learned there were more issues (they signed up for 7-8 players and they let all the kids in totaling around 14 according to the number of minors signed in on the waiver). Thankfully everything was a lot easier after that whole ordeal.
Shout out to KF who did an awesome drawing of SC and me that SC posted in Discord when we were at MA's show. She was dressed in a monkey onesie and we all encouraged her to lean into it and make monkey/banana puns, ha. DA showed up early followed shortly by DG who had cookies for us, yay. When JL came in for their shift, they were working on their costume for almost the entire shift, ha.
The rest of the day was alright as staff and teams were coming in and out. Shout out to all the rebooks and reviews we got throughout the day. Got a few people compliments on my belt (many spun it, some took photos with it). I was definitely tired when I clocked out at 8PM. I decompressed for a bit with the crew before finally leaving at 8:30PM.
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- The video of Martin Amini's show that we went to is finally up. I ended up watching the others that were from our town. It was nice to experience it again and see it from a different perspective.
- A breath of fresh air. That's what I've telling everyone that asks about work. It's been close to a month and the list of positives are amazing. Have I been perfect, no. I still make mistakes and I still apologize for them. But many have told me over and over that it's okay. I have let them know little by little about the negatives of the previous location and the reaction is normally shock. I won't go into so many details in this blog, but if you've been reading past entries, you could only imagine. I just have to be less paranoid of what others think about what I say and my performance as many have complimented and liked anything I've brought to the table. To sum it all up, I'm in a good place. Thank you, team.
That's a wrap on October 2026. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
