Tuesday, December 9, 2014

November 2014 Entry


Pardon the lateness. I've been pretty busy. It's the good type of busy though.

=========================

- Happy Birthday, BoA. Forever your fan and always proud of you. (11.05.14)
http://instagram.com/p/u-FBfln1PH/

- I gave my 2 week notice for my office job at D2K back on the 27th of October. The last two weeks weren't anything special, but felt slow as I had less to do. The office did have lunch brought in from El Pollo Loco in honor of my leaving. No hard feelings from anyone. The only negative was that the owner never said anything to me. Doesn't matter anyways. My last day was on the 7th and I've moved on to better endeavors.



- One of my favorite groups in Kpop is Cheon Sang Ji Hee The Grace. My favorite member, Lina, got married on the 22nd. Congratulations to her and her new husband. You deserve the love you are receiving.



- I wasn't able to watch Survivor Series live as it happened on the 22nd since I was working. Actually, I was able to catch the first hour since I was on break. I had also been reading on Twitter what was going on and knew I had to watch it when I got back home. Overall, it was a solid PPV capped off with the debut of Sting in the WWE. That was an amazing moment. Sting stepping into a WWE ring for the first time will live on in wrestling history.


I also bought tickets to the next WWE Live Event happening in Houston on 01.18.15. I enjoyed the last house show I went to and am hoping this one will be just as good especially being the week before the Royal Rumble.

- In case I've never mentioned it before, I'm not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving. Been that way for years. With that said, I have noticed a tradition I unintentionally have started for Thanksgiving, playing Zelda games. I only realized it this year, but it has been going strong for 4 years now. And with the new Zelda Wii U game coming out next year, this tradition might carry on for a 5th year.

Thanksgiving 2011 - Skyward Sword
Thanksgiving 2012 - Nintendo Land - The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest  
Thanksgiving 2013 - A Link Between Worlds
Thanksgiving 2014 - Hyrule Warriors

=========================

- Bayonetta came packaged with Bayonetta 2. Never played it, but had always wanted to. It was a good game. A little on the difficult side with a few too many chances of instant death were the biggest negatives. Overall, I enjoyed it a whole lot. I beat it on the first of the month and then moved onto Bayonetta 2.


- Bayonetta 2 (Wii U) - Review
I really really liked Bayonetta 2. It got rid of the bad things in the first one and improved on the good stuff. My time with it was short (beat on the 9th), but very enjoyable. It's one game I highly recommend is easily in the run for my game of  the year for 2014. I would welcome a third Bayonetta game so it can be a trilogy.


- Even though I got a good deal on the physical cartridge for Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness, I didn't play it. When it became available on the Virtual Console, I knew I was going to finally play and beat it and I did that on the 10th. It was good. Pretty much the first game that was on the GameBoy, but on the NES.


- The first batch of Mario Kart 8 DLC came out on the 14th. The new tracks were so fun to play. It felt good playing that game again after a few months of absence.

One unfortunate thing I experienced was the 104-1852 error. It basically prevented me from uploading video replays. I actually called Nintendo (after checking online) and they had never heard of that error code before. And I wasn't the only one experiencing it. Fortunately it got fixed after a couple of weeks and video uploads work again.



- Demon's Crest was also released on the Wii U's VC. After beating Gargoyle's Quest II, this was next on my list (not according to a back log list I made last month). I actually never got the true ending for the game before so that was my goal. It took a while because that final boss was brutal. I had to take a break since I had a case of the yips. But I did it and got the true ending to the game (11.17.14). It's one of my favorite SNES games and comes with a high recommendation from me.


- Can't recall why I was looking at import games on eBay, but I was. I ended up finding a good seller that sold everything (game, box, instructions). So I now have the Japanese imports of two of my favorite RPGs; Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI. Those were a pleasant reward to come home to after a long work day (19th).


- The 21st was time to Smash. Super Smash Bros for Wii U had finally been released. I actually ordered mine off GameStop's site since the bundle wasn't available for preorder. So I had to wait for it to arrive. But I went to my local GameStop to pick up the 3 amiibos I preorded; Peach, Link, and Samus. Those are cool. I'll definitely collect a few more amiibos down the line.

As for Smash itself, it is the definitive Smash game. Great from top to bottom. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to play it or any game really. That's also the reason why I haven't written a proper review for it yet (and haven't written this blog entry until the 8th of December). Regardless, Smash Bros for the Wii U is awesome and so are amiibo figures.



-  More Hyrule Warriors DLC came out on the 27th. It's always good coming back to this game. A funny thing did happen as I was trying to play it like Bayonetta instead of Hyrule Warriors, ha. It didn't take long to get back into the swing of things and just have a good time playing it.


- And in 2015, I will finally scratch off the missing link in my favorite game series. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was announced to come out for the 3DS. I know I'll be busy, but I will definitely make time to finally play Majora's Mask.


=========================

- The reason being so busy lately is working full time at the Houston Escape Room. It has been really good so far. If you've read past entries, you know how excited I am to be working there and am looking forward to all the good things coming from it in the future.

On the 8th, the owner had us meet up at Dave & Busters to eat, talk shop, and play some games together. We played so much from 4-player air hockey, Daytona USA, Guitar Hero, Pump It Up, as well as a few ticket games. We did spend a lot of time playing the on-rails shooter 4D game. It's still a tough game (played it previously a year ago), but the crew really got into it. I also ended up winning 3 stuffed toys in a last ditch splurge with the last of my credits towards the end of our stay there. It was a really fun time.


Our first beta group happened on the 11th. The owner was freaking out a little, ha. It went well. They were not successful, but we allowed them to have overtime to complete it (25 minutes over the hour). Afterwards, the owner along with Agent Z and I went to eat at Fu Fu to celebrate her birthday. We actually sat at a table with another group we didn't know. We casually joked back and forth with them before letting them know about the Houston Escape Room. They seemed interested, but we haven't seen them come through yet. Oh well. Good first day though.


More beta testing happened throughout November as well as our first official week of being open. We had gotten back into our groove and things have been going well. There were a few glitches and mishaps we had to fix up (toning the difficulty down, glass and a lava lamp breaking). But all the groups have been enjoying themselves and the crew has been a great unit. We'll actually be expanding our family as we're bringing on a couple more part timers. Us senior facilitators have been sitting in and taking part in interviews. And with other helping hands, construction on the second and third rooms have been ongoing. The second room should be up before the end of the year.

This is where a lot of my time is now allocated. I've only seen the faces of my coworkers on a daily basis. I've rarely seen any friends since taking on this job full time. It's an odd thing. I used to be available to see anyone (if they were free), but now I'm almost never free (although others seem more busy than ever). I know I'll make time for them when possible. Although it would be cool to see some of them come through the Escape Room. Whenever I've told others about it, there was always interest. Some have even contacted me about it so I'm hoping to see those few come through before the year is over. So if you're reading this and haven't come through the Houston Escape Room, do it. It's a fun time and I'll be super happy to see you come by.

And since my time is mostly at the Escape Room, I have scaled down on other things like games. It's one reason I haven't played Smash on the Wii U that much or have written a review for it. And I haven't posted or shared as much on my WingedVoX accounts although I addressed I'd be scaling those back earlier. A scaled down version of reviews (just bullet points) might be coming soon and that's probably going to happen for Smash (if I ever get around to it). Wrestling took a hit as I have to catch replays now of stuff I normally watched live. Although I have expressed I'd at least be needing one Sunday off or to switch schedules with at least see PPVs live.

Other than that, I'm very thankful for the Houston Escape Room. The crew is great, I've met some cool people, I get to meet a ton of strangers, I get to be myself, and I feel that I can greatly contribute to the company. We all took this quiz to show that show how others view us and give us our strengths. Everyone's was pretty much spot on including myself. We even got cool nicknames and I'm the Secret Weapon. I know that this company will benefit and utilize me properly as well as everyone else. It can only get better and it definitely will and I'm glad to be a part of it.

=========================

- And that should be it. This entry was delayed so I took out/forgot some of the little details that happened in November. But you see why and where my focus is.


Thank you for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved.


Take care. DFTBA.

Posted by at No comments:

Monday, November 3, 2014

October 2014 Entry


A lot happened in October. And I didn't know where to place the following video, so I just put it here in the beginning.


=========================

- I always like receiving stuff in the mail, except for those gimmicks they send called bills. on the 3rd, two items arrived; my Holler album and my new Funko Pop figure of Jessica Rabbit. The poster for Holler arrived a week later after surviving the hail. And unfortunately the clear stand on my Jessica Rabbit figure broke so it's hard to keep her standing. Basically, you can't touch her or she'll fall. I'll have to look into finding a replacement stand.


- The Rock returned on RAW on the 6th and that was an awesome surprise. Goosebump inducing. His confrontation with Triple HHH on the 15th anniversary of Smackdown was great also.




PS: Hell In A Cell was a really good PPV.

- My dad had made a deal with one of my younger cousins to take our Volvo (Vy I) to try to repair. That car has been sitting in our garage taking up space for at least 10 years since my dad couldn't fix it. It was nice to see it go though as I memories came flooding back. It was my first car and I actually had a charm still in it that I took before giving the car up. Don't know if my cousin has fixed it up by now, but he was up for the challenge.


- My parents had another vacation lined up for this year. It was either a week or two after they returned from the Philippines that they went to Greece (10.16). The two weeks seemed to go by fast, but something felt off.

- One of my friends has been part of a dragon boat race team called Team Hokulele. I had not been able to see him race for a few years since the schedule would conflict, but I would always ask him about it. It definitely is something he’s very excited and proud of. The latest race happened very close to where I live to the point that he asked to sleep over since he didn’t want to drive an hour plus back home for that weekend.

I drove out that morning (10.18) to go meet him. At first, I couldn’t even find the event since it was behind the main building address. Thankfully I found 2 other racers from another team and followed them. Then it was tough finding him since Hokulele’s team colors were white, blue, yellow…but predominantly white. Lots of people had white shirts that day, ha. He told me over the phone where to find him. When I was close, his team members asked if I was looking for someone. Almost all of them exclaimed his name after I mentioned who it was, ha. He and I talked for a bit and he asked if I had my video camera. As a favor, I filmed his team races from the sidelines so that they can look at the footage later to observe themselves if they need to improve something or change members in/out etc.

I sat in and watched them race 3 times. They had to redo their first one due to a technical issue and then the third one didn’t happen until 1-2 hours later since there were a lot of teams racing. During most of the down time, I was talking to my friend’s dad and mom (mostly the dad). It was also their first time watching their son race and they were very into it. “I’ve got money on boat number two,” ha. I left around noon to get lunch and then rest before going to meet a friend at the Korean Festival.


(above photo is not of Team Hokulele as I couldn’t take a photo and film at the same time)

The Korean Festival…was okay. I was there from 3:30-5:30, but I pretty much saw everything within the first 10 minutes. It’s the same every year with the exception being the performances on stage (some friends performed and I was actually disappointed by it). And I think I only saw and talked to about 5 people I knew.

My main thing was that I was wearing my Running Man tag for the first time. I had my Song Ji Hyo tag and one of the hats Gary wore. I had it ripped off only twice, but I could feel that a lot of the volunteers were trying to be stealthy and rip it off. Some of them I could hear talking about it behind me. When I would turn around, they would immediately veer off elsewhere. I did make one new friend that day that was also a big Running Man fan. She actually asked politely if she could rip it off. I told her that she should have just ripped it off, ha.

I’m not sure if I’ll be going to the Korean Festival next year. It hasn’t evolved since its inception. The first two years were fine since it was new and I didn’t he flash mob thing. I missed last year because a wedding is more important to me. But I was very disappointed this year. The same booths are around as well as the acts. If they are able to bring in big name acts then that would probably be my only reason to go. Them getting Kim Tae Woo a couple years ago was awesome. I will give them props for the variety of music they played. I think the oldest I heard was “Get Up” by BabyVoX. I would hope they ended the event with “I’m Fine Thank You” by Ladies’ Code as a tribute to them. But yeah, there’s not much reason to go unless it was to go with friends for a bit. I wouldn’t hang around all day like I did the first two years. And while the Japanese Festival is almost the same every year, they’re bigger and their acts are different (for the most part) and interesting to watch. I don’t know, we’ll see how I feel next year for the Korean Festival.


- My ex (the one I’m still close to) came into town on the 24th. She’ll be around on the weekends for a few weeks doing promotional work. We hung out that whole weekend (until Sunday morning) and had a fun time. It has been ten years since we have known each other so we were reminiscing on good times and celebrating that we’re still friends after all these years even after breaking up.

- My Japanese teacher passed away two years ago on the 23rd. I asked a few friends (who were former students) if they wanted to visit her. A lot couldn’t for various reasons, but I got one to come out (otherwise I wouldn’t have gone alone). We visited Sensei on the 26th. While he and I caught up earlier in the week, we caught up more in the car since it is an hour drive for us to visit her. I think we spent at least 15-20 minutes there thinking back on our time with her and sharing stories like we did last year. Her grave was covered in a lot of grass so I took it upon myself to take the time and wipe it off. It felt good visiting her again. Rest In Peace, Sensei.

- I gave my office job my 2 week notice on the 27th. Things for the Houston Escape Room have been rolling so this was a good time to do it. Those at my office job that didn’t know about my other job were shocked to say the least. The owner has yet to say anything to me about it. In fact, he had given me a task to do that was a big waste of time, which is very much reflective of how he operates. How fitting, ha. Regardless, I’m excited to be leaving for the Houston Escape Room. More on that later in this entry. 

- I actually did something for Halloween this year. I think I had not done anything for Halloween for the last couple years. It was last minute, but I ended up going to a small Halloween party hosted by some friends. My costume itself was also last minute. I had two ideas, but decided to save the one I really liked for another time. So I went dressed as no one in particular, but something I made up. I was a struggling 90s Asian rap artist who was a censored witness to a crime. No one knew who/what I was, but one guy did guess the early Asian rapper part, which made me happy, ha.

The party itself was alright. I knew no one there other than the couple hosting. People had interesting costumes, but it really was a mash up of a lot of us not knowing each other. The majority knew each other from their tennis club while the rest had to fend for ourselves, ha. One couple did have us play this game where you put an orange down pantyhose, tie the pantyhose around your waist so that it swing between your legs, and then hit a lemon from one side of the room to the other. Definitely interesting, ha. The night ended with a few of us playing King of Tokyo. Interestingly enough, I won…by points. I have never seen that happen before nor ever thought I’d win via points. All in all, an okay night. I just didn’t want to end up doing nothing that night. Playing Bayonetta was my other option. I felt that was fitting. I know one year I played Castlevania IV from start to finish so playing Bayonetta would have continued that trend.

=========================

- I was going back and forth between Hyrule Warriors, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, and Smash Bros throughout most of October. All 3 have a lot to do in them that I “scheduled” to play them on certain days. Tuesday was for Hyrule Warriors, Thursday was for Curtain Call since DLC would come out (and yes, I bought all of them), and the weekends (for a while) were for Smash Bros. Out of the 3, I went back to Hyrule Warriors the most on other days if I had free time. I had more fun playing it over the other 2. Plus it has more content. The weekend of the dragon boat races, my friend and I played co-op, which I had not done up until that point. It was a lot easier and more fun with a second player.

- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS) - Review
 
Overall, it’s a good portable version of Smash. I just couldn’t get into it like I could before. Not only that, but the Wii U version is obviously the definitive version. I know I’ll log in more hours when that finally comes out late November (if time permits). The recent 50 Facts video definitely added to the hype.


- I played and beat Mega Man VII on the 8th. The game was better than I remember it back when I first played and beat it in 1995. It didn’t do anything spectacular, but it brought the original series into 16-bit. I enjoyed playing it again.


- Wild Guns was the next Virtual Console game I needed to knock off my list. I did that on the 12th of this month. Yet another 1995 SNES game, but this one is one of my favorites that I forget to mention when talking about favorite games. I’ve only played Wild Guns 3 times; first when it was released, the second time when it was on the Wii VC, and third time via the Wii U VC. I had a little trouble this time around since I died quite a bit, but it is still fun. I’d like to try it with 2-players some time.


- Nintendo decided to release all of the GBA Castlevania games during the month of October and I bought all of them because I never played any of them. I had to go in order so I started with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001) on the 12th and beat it on the 15th. The game felt fast and a little easy at times, but I enjoyed it overall. Odd thing, I actually sequence broke the game without knowing it. There was an item I needed to not get damaged by poison water, which flowed throughout most of one area. I beat that area without it and another item before it. I did go back and get those items since I needed to. Yes, I used a map and (only a few times) a walkthrough to beat this game. I did pretty well getting 91% of everything. I did think to try for 100%, but I had other games to play.


- Club Nintendo added new downloadable games to their rewards. One of them was Donkey Kong for the Game Boy. I had always heard it was a good game. Donkey Kong has 100 levels and was pretty much the groundwork for the Mario VS Donkey Kong series. I downloaded it on the 13th and played a good chunk of levels. I set it aside to play and beat Circle of the Moon. I finally came back to it on the 22nd to beat it. This 20 year old Game Boy game impressed me and definitely deserves the praise I always heard it receive.


- Bayonetta 2 released on the 24th. It was my next big retail game I was excited to get. The original Bayonetta caught my eye (back when it came out in 2010) because of its unique style and that it was a Platinum game. I didn’t own a PS3 or 360 to play it on so I missed out. Thankfully it came packaged in for free with Bayonetta 2. And of course I had to start with the first one before the second. I did eventually beat the first Bayonetta on the 2nd of November. Very unique, indeed. Full of adrenaline action with a lot of cheap deaths (unfortunately), but I really enjoyed it. Bayonetta 2 will need to be played and beaten before Smash Bros comes out.


- A few friends always mention their back log of games that they have. I usually prided myself by not having one (or just a game or two), but thanks to the October Nintendo Downloads (which was awesome), I now have one. Granted, these are mostly Virtual Console games, I still haven’t played most of them. And 2 of them I’ve had for years, but just never got around to (one being on my list of shame…) In order of when I got them, here is my current back log of games.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones 
Dillon's Rolling Western 
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Bayonetta 2
Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness (YES)  
Demon's Crest (HELL YEAH)

I did check How Long To Beat to see the hours people are putting into these games. My plan of attack is this: Bayonetta 2, Gargoyle’s Quest II, Harmony of Dissonance, Demon’s Crest, and Aria of Sorrow. Who knows what else will come out soon that I’ll have to either bump these back or add somewhere to the list. As for Dillon's Rolling Western, I still haven't gone back to it since I last played it earlier this year. I think I was at least half way through it, but it got repetitive. In regards to Fire Emblem, I got it via the 3DS Ambassador Program. I have almost started that game many times. It would be my first Fire Emblem game I would play though. And Majora’s Mask…the only Zelda game I haven’t played. I have had the GameCube disc of it for many years, but would always forget I had it. And unfortunately I’m one of those holding out for a 3D/HD remake of it. I’ll play it someday.

- Happy 20th Anniversary, Final Fantasy VI (10.20). I wrote an article about why it is my favorite game of all time. It’s very scattershot, but that’s just how I felt when trying to think of stuff about the game.

https://www.facebook.com/WingedVoX/posts/710660735688596

=========================

- The Houston Escape Room, I’m so glad to be part of this company. A lot of stuff happened in October in regards to the room. I had a meeting with the owner on the 9th to just get caught up on things. It had been a while since all of us last see each other let alone seen him. Then on the 11th, he had us all meet at the new location. Finally, they had signed a lease. He had us walk in with our eyes closed and then revealed it. It’s really impressive compared to our old location. More rooms, more space, more parking, more everything. After that, I took the other agents to Korean Noodle House and then the City Centre and Barnes & Noble. It was good hanging with those kids again.

The owner made an official announcement on the 14th to inform people about the new location on our website and then on Facebook and Twitter shortly thereafter.

http://www.houstonescaperoom.com/blog/2014/10/14/reassembling

On the 17th, I had an interview with the owner and a few others for the manager spot. I stuck to my guns and was just myself since that has always worked in the past. I actually needed to ask to come into my office job an hour early and leave an hour early just so I would have enough time to eat, rest, and make it to the interview.

An hour after the interview was also moving day 2. This time we were to bring all the stuff from storage to the new location. We actually made it in one trip. It took a while to load and unload, but we did it. I was actually getting really tired and had to tag out and do smaller loads here and there. One of the agents had family members help with that as well as a few of the owner’s friends. Afterwards, we had a pizza party and celebrated one of the agents’ birthdays with a surprise cake. We then discussed things about what to do and where to place stuff in the rooms. And to wind things down for the night, the remainder of us played King of Tokyo. I won the first match by everyone dying and lost first in the second round almost immediately. I also played a few Smash matches with an agent’s boyfriend. He was really good. Things wrapped up a little before 11, but it was a very good and productive day.

Unfortunately, I did not get the manager position for the company. As soon as I read the email on the 24th, I immediately thought “I want more.” The guy they chose is good. He definitely has strengths that I don’t, but he has never been a manager before. I’ll help him along the way as well as keep plugging away as there may be a future spot available. We’re all working towards the same goal of making this company bigger and better.

We should be up and running officially by mid November so keep an eye out. I’ll definitely be promoting it as I’m super excited for what the future holds for the Houston Escape Room.

=========================

- Red Velvet redid SES' Be Natural. I didn't like Red Velvet's debut song, but with most groups, I usually never like their debut song with the exception being Cheon Sang Ji Hee. It helps that this song is familiar. Oddly enough, it was also the song that got me more into SES. I knew who SES was before and heard their songs, but Be Natural made me pay attention to them more. And I also have a bias for Red Velvet and that is Wendy. Funny enough, she was the one with blue hair in Happiness.



- Girl's Day released a new single and music video, I Miss You. It was good to see them again as I only really saw Yura via We Got Married (still makes me smile watching her on there) and Hyeri because of all the attention she has received lately.


- BoA has a new Japanese single (her 38th Japanese single), Fly. I find it odd that she always releases a short version of her new MV. I'd rather just see the full version, but it's better than nothing. It's hard for me to not like anything with BoA.



=========================

- I won’t get into all the details about it, but I had an anxiety attack this month. While I’ve had them before, it never hit me to this degree. I actually thought it was because I was drunk. Yeah…my alcohol tolerance is at an all time low so I might just quit drinking altogether or just have one drink/shot when I do drink. Anyways, from 2AM-7AM I was vomiting, dry heaving, having an upset stomach, I was numb all over, couldn’t keep any food or drinks down, having hot flashes, and just had troubles controlling my breathing. I was just out of energy and couldn’t sleep. That whole time I probably had 5 minutes of sleep as the hot flashes would wake me up. I really was losing it as I was crying just because nothing was working, I had no energy, etc.

Thankfully I wasn’t alone. My friend drove me to a nearby 24-hour clinic to get checked out. While we all knew it was an anxiety attack, I just couldn’t handle it at home and needed help. They ran tests to make sure it wasn’t anything else considering my heart issues over the last few years. In the end they diagnosed it as an anxiety attack. Glad it wasn’t anything else and very glad that they were able to get me back on my feet after a few hours. I’m sure the IV helped as I really had nothing in me.

A lot of things were put into perspective. I remember I had to explain to my friend that a situation like this is why I had to give up on things over the years. I quit dancing, I quit exercising the way I used to, I quit being as active as I once was, I quit eating certain foods, I quit drinking certain drinks, I quit being around certain people, and I quit certain jobs because of what could happen to me. And it bothers me a lot when others (to this day) would say “it’s not a big deal” and that I “should get over it” when I have had this and other situations to pull from to say that it is a big deal that I simply just can’t get over it. Were it an easy fix, I’d be fine now and not have to give up all those things I used to do. This is what I’ve had to deal with for years. It’s not that easy. Others forgetting that I have medical issues does not make them go away. Maybe it’s my fault for not always bringing it up, but who wants to hear that all the time.

While I’m fine now (other than having troubles going to sleep), that whole week after…I just felt lonely. I honestly didn’t know what I would do if my friend was not there with me the whole time. Sure, I could have called others, but I don’t know if I would have had the strength to try calling others at that time. I would hope a medical emergency trumps other priorities, but my own damn brother told my friend “Take care of him. I have to go to work.” Really? And people wonder why I, my parents, and other family members have a skewed vision of who he is.

I tried reaching out to friends during that lonely week, but everyone just seems busy more so than ever over the years. Sure, I didn’t say that I needed to talk or that I tried reaching out to everyone. The thing is that it has become commonplace with certain people that it’s almost impossible to see them. It’s not new for me to call/text a handful of people and have all of them not be available. It’s very discouraging to keep trying thinking that the next person will also say that they can’t. Yes, even just wanting to talk and catch up is a hassle. Again, I understand the priorities of others, but I sometimes wonder how many can put those aside when it really counts. Do I have to straight up say “I need help” or “I need someone to talk to” or something to make others rethink whether they can spare me some of their time? Because guess what, even that doesn’t always work. Social media doesn’t help as “always being connected” doesn’t mean “always available.”

I’m sorry if this is just a bunch of rambling, but I had time to think. And I wasn’t happy being alone at those times. Stuff like this keeps me up at night and causes me to worry, lose sleep, my heart to race, etc. That’s really when it’s the worse, at night when I’m trying to sleep. Because I’m there by myself with my thoughts. I honestly think that if I were in a relationship, I’d at least have a partner to rely on and feel more at ease. Being single for 10 years is another issue itself. I just wish I didn’t have these “I feel so alone moments” happen as frequently.

Sorry, I just needed to get that off my chest.

=========================

As you have read, October definitely had its share of ups and downs. I’m still looking forward to the positives. I just need a little help keeping the negatives away.

Thank you for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved.

Take care. DFTBA.


Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, October 4, 2014

September 2014 Entry



September, wow. I typed a lot for this entry and it took over the span of 3 days to complete. Just a heads up, there's a lot to read.

=========================
- Firstly, thanks to 6 (later 7) people that remembered. Thank you.

- My office job is okay. Like I said last month, it’s very boring. I do like the fact that they’re finally embracing how YouTube can be utilized properly for their business. Showing them detailed analytics was mind-blowing to them. I’ve been pushing social media for months and it looks like it might finally happen soon so that’s a plus.

- As I stated in my last entry, my parents flew out to the Philippines. They seem to go there every other year and somewhere else the years in between. They returned on the 28th of September. While they were gone, the days just felt slower for me. Plus I ate out a lot since I can’t cook. I tried. Most attempts ended not tasting good (I can fry up Spam pretty dang good though). But yeah, ate a lot of fast food. I also caught up with a lot of friends due to going out and eating whether they invited me or I reached out and contacted them.

- My friend since middle school (also coworker) texted me on the 5th. I was just about to eat dinner, too. Great timing. We went out to Saltgrass, which I had never been to before. It was alright. I ordered a drink and the spicy shrimp tacos (just had some steak not too long ago so I wanted something different). The food was good, but it was just good catching up with my friend. Sure, we see each other 3-4 times a week at work, but we mainly work and occasionally talk when there’s a lull. Good stuff.


- A pair of friends asked me to join them at Bite Macaron on the 7th. Unfortunately, that day was one of the worst rain days we had throughout the month. I got drenched running to the garage. I figured to drive through neighborhoods and avoid major roads, but I turned back home 3 minutes later. It was that bad. My friends understood. We ended up meeting an hour later than we had planned after the rain faded away. They were doing work and studying while we caught up. The owner/friend stopped by to see how we were doing and chat for a bit before going back to work. Then dinner ended up with us at BW3 talking more and enjoying lots of wings.


- Texted a friend to go have dinner at Pappadeaux on the 12th.  She asked around and got another friend to join us. It had been years since I last ate at Pappadeaux and it’s still good. Having it for leftovers the next day was good too, ha. After eating and catching up, we went to Main Event across the highway to just have some fun. While we only put in about $5 each to play games, we spent most of the time playing free games. Thanks to those before us putting in more credits than necessary.


- The 13th was a busy, but great day. First was the Houston Escape Room moving day. No, not to our new location (darn). We were meeting to move all our stuff out of the old location into storage. Moving isn’t always the most exciting thing to look forward to, but all of us were happy to see each other again and do something with the room. All our stuff had been moved to one side of the even tinier room since there was construction being done to it. After moving some stuff downstairs repeatedly, I took it upon myself to stay in the U-Haul and arrange/Tetris the stuff everyone was bringing me. Again, I exclaimed that I had not seen half the stuff we were packing, ha. It actually didn’t take that long before we were done.

So we took the U-Haul and one extra car to the storage area. Funny thing was that the owner wasn’t home so she left us a key somewhere. We had to find it. Intentionally or not, but we all went into escape room mode and started looking around with the owner trying to tell us where the key was over the phone. I found the key and passed it off and we were all laughing and saying things we always heard from customers that have gone through the room. It took less time to unpack the U-Haul, but we weren’t done yet.

We then drove to the owner’s home to pack up even more of the items for the escape room. Maybe less than half were personal items since he and his wife were moving. That was my first time meeting her and she’s cool. I once again took the role of arranging the items in the U-Haul while the others brought me things. This packing session was definitely shorter and we were soon on the road again back to the storage space.

After we unpacked again, we were done. The owner and his wife treated us to lunch where we talked some business. Not only that, all of us made the plans to go to Austin to check out the escape room there we heard about a few weeks prior. The owner and his wife wouldn’t be able to join, but they wished us luck and encouraged us to properly scout out the place.


I think I got back home around 4. That was enough time for me to shower, check the internet and relax before heading out again around 7. This day was also a BBQ thrown by a couple of friends, kind of a second house warming. I was second to arrive and met a new friend. She was cool, but the owners’ dog was grabbing my attention a lot, ha. Their dog had grown more than twice its size since I last saw them a few months ago. Another friend joined later and we all went outside to get the grill going.

Once the food was ready, we dug in and another couple joined us. Good food and talking with new great people outside as the night was falling over us was quite the scene. We headed back inside after eating to play games.

We first tried King of Tokyo. It was new to all of us and it took a good half hour and a few go-arounds before we all got into it and wanted to kill each other, ha. I shook things up in the first game by attacking everyone (including myself) with a card and eliminated 2 in the process. I was next to go and the game ended maybe half an hour later. One of the guests’ twin sister arrived and joined us for our second round of the game. I think I was the second one out and the game went on for at least an hour.


After the game, some of the girls were looking around at the pictures that were hung on the walls. One noticed that a picture had date on it, the couple’s wedding anniversary. That just happened to be the same day. All of us congratulated them as they celebrated with a simple embrace and kiss. It was cool to be part of their anniversary. Was it planned, we don’t know, ha. The owners then gave us a tour around their home. It is very nice.

The twins left afterwards. The rest of us played Spin The Bottle: Bumpie’s Party on the Wii U I brought over. I played it once before with one friend, but I was really looking forward to playing it with more players. And everyone was laughing at all the silly things we were doing. It was great. We played 2 full rounds before deciding to wrap it up shortly after midnight. That was such a fun night. The day itself was great all around.

- My coworkers (plus the boyfriend of one) and I headed out on a rainy day (it rained a lot during September) for Austin to visit the Austin Panic Room. They all met at my place and we headed off around 10AM. The first stop was Kim's Teahouse so they could all eat drink something early. Then it was the 3 hour drive to Austin. I was riding shotgun while the kids studied (but mainly slept) the whole way. The driver and I talked most of the time and even gave each other brain teasers to work on.

We only had one stop at Buc-ee's. With everyone awake, we decided on where to eat and chose Bacon. The food was pretty good and everything had a hint (or tons) of bacon in it. We took our time as it rained again. Afterwards, we walked to Graffiti Park. It was awesome to see all the spray painted art people had created. The rain did make it muddy to traverse to the higher levels, but we did it anyways. It would have been more enjoyable had it not rained, but it is still something to soak in with your eyes.


After cleaning off our dirty shoes, we drove to Whole Foods for a bathroom/cleaning break and to get some candy. Then it was on the way to the Austin Escape Room. Along the way, we made up a story just in case they asked who we were. We had joked around about many scenarios like some of us were family or that some of us just met that day. We settled on being a band called the Happy Elephant Run (HER). We even went as far as assigning roles based on our Rock Band preferences (plus a keyboardist and our work manager and his wife were our manager and producer). I don't think we ever settled on what type of music we played, but we all agreed that we had a break up and I left to go solo and that we recently reunited, ha. We didn't even use the story in the end.

We were early to our room time, but it gave us time to talk to the people that ran the room. Cool people. They did mention that we had 2 others joining us, but they were late. We waited for 15 minutes before deciding to go in without them. They ended up joining us 5 minutes later while we were getting our instructions, ha. All-in-all, the Austin room and the Houston room are completely different. We were able to figure it out and escape with seconds to spare making us the 4th team to escape. 


Afterwards, we told them that we were from the Houston Escape Room. We talked to one of the main managers there and just swapped critiques and information with each other. It was all good since they had experienced our room as well. On the car ride to our next destination, all of us gave our impressions, our likes and dislikes, and whatever else we observed from going through the Austin Panic Room.

Hopdoddy was our dinner destination. We stopped by a toy store nearby first just to look around. Nothing noteworthy. The line outside Hododdy was very long. During our 30 minutes out there, the Hopdoddy crew was occasionally coming out to give quizzes for free drinks and food. I just kept shouting silly answers, ha. When we got up to the front of the line, I noticed there was a hula hoop that was never used during our entire wait. I reached for it and the staff asked if I can hula hoop (yes). Then they challenged me to jump rope through the small hula hoop. I took my attempt and passed much to the delight of others around. I earned myself a bell to turn in for free fries.


I made the mistake of choosing the Diablo something burger. While I wanted something with a little spice, this wasn't good. It just hurt. There was no taste. I was literally gulping my water and taking in my shake fast (the shakes are good). So yeah, I like spicy, but not to the point that it's painful.

Our final stop was at Dragon's Lair. It was a comic/card store. There were lots of tables with a lot of  players (Yu-Gi-Oh, board games, etc). The merchandise was nice ranging from cards, board games, plushies, figures, shirts, posters, etc. We spent at least an hour there and we all ended up buying something. I wouldn't mind stopping by Dragon's Lair any time I return to Austin.

We headed back towards Houston around 10. We had one final stop at Buc-ee's. On the way there, we spoke to our Houston Escape Room manager and relayed what we talked about earlier in regards to the Austin Panic Room. When it was my turn, he asked "what was the funniest thing you did?" I guess I left that kind of impression on the crew, ha. And we had a good talk the rest of the way home. It was a good way for us to bond and learn about each other. Hopefully we'll have the Houston Escape Room running soon and continue all the fun.

- On the 20th, an uncle came over to help me unclog our kitchen sink. That was the only issue I had while my parents were away. The thing is, I knew we had issues with the sink since it was something my dad was working on before he left. For at least a good week, I had to clean dishes from the nearby bathroom. My uncle came over and I think it took a good hour to fix. There was some minor blockage (due to someone always throwing their leftover eggs into the sink…) and we tried a couple methods to clear it. Since then, it has been working fine.

About an hour later, a friend from San Antonio came to visit since he was in town for the weekend. I gave him the gift I got from Austin the night before, a Theatrhythm figure of Tifa. They had Cloud and Sephiroth also, but I knew Tifa was one of his favorite characters. We talked a little bit and showed off our 3DS collections before we played Curtain Call against each other for a good hour. We also used that opportunity to swap multiple Quest Medleys with each other. It was good to see him and to play Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call with someone else.

- I texted another friend on the 23rd and we made plans to eat dinner on the 24th. I suggested a couple of places and she chose Yard House since she could walk there from her office, ha. I didn’t know she worked in the City Centre area until that day. I had not been to Yard House in a long time and I got to save some cash due to happy hour. The food was good and I got to catch up with my friend who I had not seen in months.

We stopped by one store in the City Centre (can’t remember the name) and then walked to Barnes & Noble nearby to look at the toys there. She suggested we go to Insomnia since they have more toys to look at and because I had never been there before. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were closing. The workers were kind enough to let us look around though and offer to ring up any purchases if we had any. We shortly left and then parted ways after returning to where my car was.

- The 27th was years in the making. I got to reunite with a friend I had not seen in 5-6 years. We tried to meet up a few times over the last year, but just had bad luck in making things happen. But it finally happened.

Originally, I was supposed to meet my two friends at 10 for a art crawl, but I woke up late. Technically, I woke up early, but fell back asleep while watching videos. So I met up with them at Dolce Vita for lunch. It was hard to miss them since the one I had not seen in years has bright blue hair, ha. It was great seeing her again over some delicious Italian food. We caught up for a bit and talked about how we all met each other.

The next stop was the Menil Collection museum. I only realized I had been there many years ago after seeing the entrance. It was a nice change to see art. I don't remember a lot of the things (not that they were bad). The one thing I do remember was this set of headphones playing different sounds of heartbeats. We then walked to a place with lights of all colors. It was pretty bland since there was nothing there except the lights, which would have been a nice backdrop for photos. The creator of the light display also did the ones seen in Marfa and I still want to go see them.

We then went to Agora. Again, years since I had been there. Most of the time I was talking with my recently reunited friend and it was good. We went through many topics and talking felt easy and open. The whole time, our other friend was drawing photos of us.


She joined in for the latter end of the conversation. We talked for hours and at one point talked about food. So I mentioned I was getting hungry and dinner plans were made. We met up again at Teppay. And yet again, years since I last ate there. Plus an old high school friend was there working. Her parents own the place, ha. So we ate and talked more and split ways around 8. Hopefully we'll meet again soon and not have another 5-6 year gap.

=========================

- Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright (3DS) – Review
I’m a big fan of the Phoenix Wright games and had always been curious of the Professor Layton series. The game was fine. I was really into it. Then the ending of the story started to unfold and I lost interest. It’s still a good game though, I just didn’t like how it ended.


- Mega Man X3 came out on the Virtual Console. I was so excited to finally play it again for the first time since it originally came out. I would have beaten it quicker, but I accidentally did something that locked out a secret from happening. I looked up a code to help with getting most the items, but I pretty much had to play the game twice to beat it once to do 100%. Great SNES game.


- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS) – Review 
As a big fan of the first Theatrhythm game, I was excited for the sequel. It lived up to my expectations. Unfortunately, I have not been able to do all or a lot of the game since Hyrule Warriors came out a week later and I wanted to dedicate time to that. I will continue going back to it when I have some free time or at least once a week when the DLC gets released and yes, I plan to get all the DLC like I did for the first game. Highly recommend Curtain Call. It’s a really great music/rhythm game.


- Warrior’s Way is one of the 3DS StreetPass games you can buy. I finally was able to conquer all the countries and also reach 9,999,999 members in my army. I didn’t realize there was a second wave of conquering the countries again, but harder. Guess I’ll still be going at it.


- Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) – Review
I had (and am still having) a lot of fun playing Hyrule Warriors. It took a while for me to get used to since I had never played a Dynasty Warriors game. It is repetitive and mindless (and my hand/wrist/arm hurts from so much button pressing), but it’s also very satisfying. Had it not had the Zelda characters, I would have skipped this game. I’m so glad I got it though. It’s a fun game. Along with Curtain Call, I’ll be going back and forth to this when I have free time or at least when the DLC gets released.


- There were a few other Virtual Console games I downloaded this month. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap was one. Mainly for collection purposes. It is one of the few GBA VC games from the 3DS Ambassador Program that I wanted to get again. I don’t plan to play it again though (unless I was in a game lull). Mega Man VII got announced and released during one of the Nintendo Treehouse events. I haven’t played it since it was originally released much like X3. This is on the top of my list to quickly run through on a day off or a weekend with no plans. Wild Guns got re-released on the VC. It’s one of Natsume’s greatest. I do plan to play through it again since it’s short. Right now, it’s next in line after Mega Man VII.

And with all the DLC for games I’m wanting to get and a string of Virtual Console games that are coming out that I want, I would greatly appreciate eShop cards as gifts, ha. I’m serious because I will definitely put those to use.

- I also got the Smash Bros 3DS demo that Club Nintendo was sending out codes for. I tried out everyone and played for a good couple hours after getting it and that was it. I’m excited to pick up the game October 3rd.

- During late August, I was looking to add a few game systems to my collection. I was able to find a good deal on a Wii Mini, a DS Lite, and a DSiXL. I’m still looking for a DSi and 2DS and ones I have my eyes on, but I’m just waiting (maybe next year) since I spent a lot of money in general during September.



=========================

- Earlier in the game section of this entry, I talked about adding systems to my game collection. Well…I bought a lot of stuff in general throughout August and the beginning of September via eBay, Amazon, etc. That includes stuff from Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and the US. And let’s not forget buying/downloading games (seriously, I’ll take eShop cards as a gift), blu-rays, food…yeah, I spent a lot of money this month, ha. The best day was when I had 5 packages delivered at the same time. It was a great site to see at the front door and thankfully no one took any of them.





- One of the things I got for free (yay, coupon codes) was my first Pop Vinyl figure. ThinkGeek only had a few series and the only one I was interested was Thundercats. As much as I’d like all of those (although not on my wish lists), I chose Mumm-Ra because evil is awesome, ha. After getting it, I added 3 more (from different series) to my wish lists and ordered one that was on sale at the beginning of October. Can’t wait for that one to come in. And I’ll keep my eyes on future releases that I’d like to get.

There is a series of WWE Pop Vinyl figures, but I was only interested in the AJ Lee one. It’s no longer available on their site (I put it in my cart though when it was up) or on Funko’s site (even though they have other WWE figures) and goes for $30-$40 on eBay. No thanks, that’s too much. Hopefully it becomes available again soon.


- I was catching up on older episodes of We Got Married. I don’t remember why, but I wanted to watch all of the Sunhwa+KwangHee couple since they were one of my favorite couples. I didn’t get to see all of their episodes when they were airing though since I couldn’t find someone properly subbing them. And thanks to watching their episodes, I grew to like the Yoon Se Ah+Julien Kang “Cherry+Shoulders couple.” Watching their runs end brought tears to my eyes (yeah, I’m a sucker for romance) especially for Cherry and Shoulders since I wasn’t expecting it. Watching Sunhwa and KwangHee’s final episode reminded me that I saw theirs before, but I saw it without subtitles.

- Running Man has been fantastic lately. Episode 212 had that insane rollercoaster in Taiwan. My jaw dropped when they rode that. Episode 213 had the female drama actresses and they did so well. I really liked Lee Yuri the most. For not watching dramas, I actually knew a couple of them, but I don’t recall from where (probably other variety shows).

=========================

- I’m starting to like Ailee now. I knew she was a great singer, but I just never really invested time in her music. And I know it’s mainly because she was on Running Man recently that I took a shine towards her. She’s a phenomenal singer regardless so I’ll start to follow her closely now.


- The unfortunate tragedy that happened to Ladies' Code is unbelievable. You don’t have to be a fan to feel bad for these girls. One car accident killed two members and injured the other three. You hear/read stories told by Kpop artists about getting into accidents on the road due to rushing to their next schedule. To me, there is nothing that important that I would need to drive recklessly on the road for. If I’m late, I’m late. Going faster does not make me not late. This accident could have been prevented. The lives of two young girls should still be going on. Ladies’ Code should still be performing and having fun with their careers. That’s not what happened though. The only thing I hope is that the industry (and anyone driving in general) just be more careful on the road.

I admit to not being a fan of Ladies’ Code, but I knew who they were. I was more familiar with RiSe since she was part of the earlier couples on We Got Married and was on an episode of Running Man. I rewatched that episode after the news of her passing came to light. Regardless of my limited exposure to her, I can’t forget her a big and bright infectious smile.

Rest In Peace, EunBi and RiSe.


- SNSD-TTS recently came back with Holler. I like the style, but the songs haven’t caught my attention like the first TTS mini-album or other songs I’ve been into lately. Regardless, I’m still waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail.


And at the end of September, the announcement of Jessica not being part of Girls’ Generation came out. Very shocking. I actually got a huge headache after reading about it. She’s also my bias of the group so I was crushed. But I want to say I took the news easier than what I’ve read from fans/SONEs online.

I think it’s because I’ve been through a lot of group/band break ups in music, not just in Kpop. In Kpop alone, there were a lot of groups that I followed and a lot happened to be from SM. HOT, SES, DBSK, CSJH. And now you can add SNSD to that list.

Other than the shock of the news, I’ve just read reactions from fans…and it’s crazy. Some have completely abandoned the group, some are still supporting, some despise SM, some are blaming individual members, and so on. That negative chaos more than the news is what has disgusted me. I do feel sorry for the truly dedicated SONEs that are taking the news hard and are just overly emotional. There’s nothing wrong with it. If they were there from the beginning, they invested 7 years of their life to SNSD. The emotional attachment is there. You wanted the best for the girls in all aspects. Even if you knew it had to end for whatever reason, you wanted it to continue for as long as it could or for at least (what would have been) the ideal 9 years. It really sucks for those who have invested a lot into the group monetarily and emotionally.

The thing is, we don’t know the complete story. We’re going by the little information we’ve been given. Sure, both Jessica and SM have given official statements, but there’s more to the story. I was reminded of what my office manager/friend said to me in a conversation before. “There are three sides to every story – yours, mine, and the truth.” That was my only public contribution to the whole situation. We won’t know the complete truth until more is said by any/all parties involved.

Also…I didn’t take it personally. While I wouldn’t have wanted Jessica or any member to leave, this is a business. To paraphrase CM Punk and his infamous pipe bomb, in any business “you’re just a spoke on the wheel. The wheel’s going to keep turning” whether you’re part of it or not. It is cold hearted to think of it that way because in the end they’re people. But you do sign a contract and you do know what you’re signing up for. In the end, it’s your choice whether you want to continue on or not. Some people just burn out and sometimes you are “forced” to leave. I don’t feel betrayed by any party involved.

I’ve been a fan of Girls’ Generation since 2009. Jessica wasn’t always my bias, but she had been for the majority. My interest in the group has been the same as it has been with other groups just on a bigger scale, but I haven’t been as a big a fan as I used to be. I used to want to meet SONEs and share our interest and I would buy almost anything they put out. That hasn’t been the same for a few years. I haven’t interacted with any SONEs in a long time and I only buy their albums and maybe a photo book.  I’ll admit that I haven’t watched or listened to any Girls’ Generation songs/performances since the news broke out. I’ve only looked at photos and some of those were heartbreaking to look at since you can see the emotion on their faces. That’s just my way of dealing with it. I know I’ll get back to them soon because it’s inevitable. They’re pretty much second to my strongest connection to Kpop, which is still BoA. She has been easy to stick with since she’s a solo act and doesn’t do a whole lot. Once she’s done, she’s done, but she’s been going 14 years strong. When BoA decides to stop being an artist, I will respect her decision and hope the best for her in the future. Girls’ Generation, to me, is up there with BoA. And until more news and information comes up from this situation to make me skew my opinion, my support for them will continue. Stay strong, SNSD. Stay strong, Jessica.


Thank you for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved.


Take care. DFTBA.

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)