Happy 2014, everyone. It's cold.
Note: I'll be adding a break in between sections to make it
easier to tell what I'm talking about. After the intro, the first break will be
about general life stuff that happened (going out, work, etc). The second break
will be about gaming. And the final part will be any extra content and the
standard closing message.
=========================
- I had ordered a hat the last day of 2013. It arrived on
the 7th. Fiend of Fauxx's BAKA hat.
I also ordered a hat the first day of 2014. It arrived on
the 10th. $tress hat seen worn by Gary on episode 135 of Running Man, which featured Jackie
Chan.
I noticed after getting these two hats that I've been
collected hats over the last few years without noticing it. The $tress hat
brought the tally to 8. And as of typing this (02.06.14), one more has arrived
and another is on its way. This year will be the year I wear hats a lot.
- On the 11th, I went to a friend's place to help her
organize her closet. I'm good at organizing things in general (work/home). I
think I initially was just asking to hang out, but I didn't mind helping out.
It was a good time to catch up anyways. I mentioned at one
point that the latest Running Man (180) made me want seafood so bad. But I
wanted an authentic seafood restaurant, but Houston really doesn't have one. So we ended
up going to one that we've never been to for dinner, Orleans Seafood Kitchen. It was good and loud due to football being
televised. The food was good, but it still wasn't the authentic seafood
experience I wanted.
- I'm pretty sure I mentioned a few work projects in
previous entries. One was cataloging inventory and packing them up. At some
point after I finished, I was told I was to destroy them. It took a good month
before the finally bought me a sledgehammer for me to go nuts.
I started destroying things on the 14th. A few others got to
destroy stuff as well. It was a great stress reliever. After a while, it was
getting tiring. 3 hours into it, I had only destroyed 5-7 boxes. A lot of the
time went to cleaning up since pieces would fly everywhere. And I was just
getting worn out swinging the sledgehammer around. I also did get a few cuts
even while wearing protective clothing.
After a day off, I returned and a coworker had brought his
circular saw for us to use. The destruction location was relocated and we
worked out a system. Since it was faster using the circular saw, he would fill
up a trash can and I would go to the dumpster and dispose of all the debris. We
of course decided to just do it for 3 hours a day because even though it went
faster, we still were going nonstop. For me, going back and forth from the
dumpster 20+ times a day amounted to a ton of walking (and lots of steps
accumulated on my Wii Fit Meter, yay). Plus I told him I didn't want to use the
saw out of fear that I would zone out and lose a finger, ha. Unfortunately, one
of the parts of the circular saw was worn down. We started looking online and
my coworker even went to a few nearby stores to see if they had a replacement.
They did not. We ordered the part and we just had to wait.
We did attempt to use the circular saw the following day. It
worked, but crapped out after 3-4 boxes. We ended up just going at it with
regular hammers. That way we could both take part in the destruction and we
could also take turns going back and forth from the dumpster although I was
still the main runner. That was actually very fun to do. My wrists did hurt a
lot afterwards, but we had to get it done.
The following Monday, we continued with using the hammers.
We did face an issue with it being MLK Day. The dumpsters were all still full
from the weekend. So we spent a lot of time walking to other nearby dumpsters
and stuffing them as best as we could.
And then the next day was the last day. We used hammers
again, but we also got the part for the circular saw. At this point it was
mainly just CDs left and those were easy to destroy with either tool. And we
completed all the boxes. It took a full week to do, which was twice as fast as
my estimated 2 weeks with the sledgehammer would have gone.
Here's a before shot of all the boxes in the studio. (12.19.13)
And here is the studio after all the boxes were dealt with.
The remaining boxes seen in the photo were later moved to a different room to be kept. (01.21.14)
100+ boxes, gone. You can see more destruction photos on my
Twitter account.
- The weekend between the inventory destruction (01.18.14) I
went with a couple friends to the Shri
Swaminarayan Mandir. I saw it on a link of places to check out in Houston and a few of us
decided to go. It was really nice, but it was smaller than I had imagined.
Still nice though. You actually had to remove your shoes to walk around the
marbled area. I only took a few photos that you can see on my Twitter. Check this
place out if you're ever in Houston.
https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/424670617397252096 (picture would not upload)
Afterwards we went to Main
Event just to check it out. I actually found a free game of Terminator
Salvation while going around hitting Start on random arcades, ha. After a few
minutes, we went to Razoos for dinner. The wait was 45 minutes so we decided to
go to our back up choice of Japaneiro's. Japaneiro's
was also a 45 minute wait, but we stayed since we figured everywhere would have
a long wait. Our food actually took a long time to come out as well (maybe an
hour). We were told we were behind 2-4 boats (100 pieces of sushi). We actually
joked about getting one of those, ha. To compensate for our long wait, our
waiter offered us 2 appetizers on the house. Very nice. Shortly after, our food
came out. I stuffed myself. I had not been that full of food in a long time. I
actually felt dizzy, ha. We walked around the whole town center area
afterwards.
We then went to Target so the others could buy a few things
and then we ended up at Cafe 101 for some tapioca drinks. I ordered a hot grass
jelly tea that actually started off hot and gooey, but after a while it turned
into actual jelly. It was good and just an interesting drink/food to have. I'll
have to get it again some time.
- Last month, I went with a friend to the WWE TLC PPV. A month later, I ordered
the DVD. Oddly enough, the DVD wasn't available in Houston (the city the event happened in).
Also, the TLC PPVs are only in DVD format in the States. They were only on
Blu-ray in the UK.
Very odd.
Anyways, I finally got my copy through Best Buy's online
store. It was good to see what I missed from sitting ringside and the
commentary. I didn't see myself in the crowd, but I saw my friend as he pulled
up his camera to take a photo before the main event.
https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/426454720782151682 (picture would not upload)
- The monthly Game
Nights continue. This one happened on the 25th and we were just a party of
5. We caught up with each other before heading out for dinner at Steak 'n Shake. When we got there, we
saw a sign saying there was no running water. So we decided to walk to a nearby
restaurant when we noticed that the parking lot wasn't full. We figured that
the whole area didn't have running water and that's why it was easier to find
parking, ha. We ended up going to La
Olla. This location wasn't that far away. If I had not mentioned it in a
previous entry then I'll do it now, La Olla is the best Colombian restaurant in
Houston. It
reminds me so much of Colombia.
Then it was a quick stop at Starbucks before I drove us all
back to the apartment. We played Bears,
Munchkin, Kill Doctor Lucky, and Catchphrase
till around 1:30 in the morning. Munchkin proved to be a nail biter like last
time. I also liked it because I was super buff for the majority of it, ha.
https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/427297593064837120 (picture would not upload)
Kill Doctor Lucky turned into Kill Ash Ketchum since one
person brought his collection of Pokemon for us to use. I actually won using
Metapod. I killed Ash in the Foyer with a powered up Monkey Hand.
https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/427316278127099904 (picture would not upload)
- The Royal Rumble
(01.27.14) was fun. The opening match with Daniel Bryan VS Bray Wyatt was the
match of the night. The Rumble was fun, but lackluster. And of course the
audience (and the internet) got deflated when Daniel Bryan wasn't in the actual
Rumble match. And that unfolded a series of events that make this an
interesting/odd time in wrestling. Hopefully things turn out okay before
Wrestlemania.
=========================
- I wrote a list of my top Games of 2013. It's only lengthy because of the numbering. If my
gaming continues on like it did in 2013, I'll make another list like this for
2014.
I also learned a couple things while writing that list up.
One was that I beat 6 Zelda games in 2013.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Oracle of Ages/Seasons
Legend of Zelda
Wind Waker HD
A Link Between Worlds
And since I started writing full reviews again, I found out
I only did 6 despite beating so many games in 2013.
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
Phoenix
Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies
Sonic Lost World
Super Mario 3D World
A Link Between Worlds
NES REMIX
- On the 3rd, my Legend
of Zelda Box Set: Prima Official Game Guide arrived. If you read the last
entry, this was my Christmas gift to myself. This thing was heavy and
magnificent. See the rest of the unboxing photos on my gaming Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/WingedVoX/status/419230027029704704 (picture would not upload)
- I did another unboxing on the 7th as my copy of High School DxD First Press Limited Edition
(3DS) came in the mail. And as stated earlier, you can see all the unboxing
photos of this and other future items on my Twitter account dedicated to
gaming.
https://twitter.com/WingedVoX/status/420676854333206528 (picture would not upload)
I also ended up beating Super
Mario 3D World 100%. Every single bit of the game is done. Tons of lives
were lost on Champion's Road. It was an amazing challenge to end the game on.
- Mega Man X2
came out for the Wii U's Virtual Console service. I downloaded it on the 2nd at
the discounted price and beat it 100% on the 8th one more time.
- Senran Kagura Burst
(3DS eShop) - Review
I finally beat Senran Kagura Burst. I beat the Hebijo
storyline earlier in the month and then beat the Hanzo storyline on the 21st.
You can read my review of the game with the preceding link. I'm looking forward
to the sequel.
- A friend of mine was selling some of his Nintendo
collection and I was able to get a couple that had been on my wish list for a
long time. Those being Gargoyle's Quest
II (NES) and Demon's Crest
(SNES). I initially was going for just Demon's Crest because I didn't know he
had Gargoyle's Quest II. The person that initially wanted that dropped out and
I snatched them both up. I met up with my friend on the 24th to get the games.
https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/426850494498082816 (picture would not upload)
The next day I searched for Gargoyle's Quest on Game Boy on eBay. It arrived a few days later.
I already had the VC cop on my 3DS, but I wanted to own all three in physical
form.
https://twitter.com/WingedVoX/status/429006088097112064 (picture would not upload)
- Since there was no major games I wanted for January (next
game I want is Tropical Freeze that comes out late February), I looked at some
games I owned I haven't beaten. Out of three, I chose Shadow of The Colossus. I'm slowly going through it. As of typing
this, I've only downed 3 Colossi. I'm liking it and it's holding up well for a
PS2 game.
https://twitter.com/WingedVoX/status/428730069758914560 (picture would not upload)
- And on the 30th, I downloaded both Spin The Bottle: Bumpie's Party and The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past. Both were discounted. I
can't wait to play Spin The Bottle with others some day and when I have time,
I'll run through my favorite Zelda game for the billionth time.
https://twitter.com/WingedVoX/status/429000593110102017 (picture would not upload)
=========================
- So other than January being cold, it's been nice. Other
than everything I mentioned above, I actually have been making headway with in
planning a secret project I've mentioned before. In February, the wheels have
been turning and stuff looks like it will happen. Please stay tuned for that.
Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be
loved.
Take care. DFTBA.
