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.

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- 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.

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- 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.



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- 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).

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- 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.

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