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.

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- 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.

In light of recent events, these items arrived in the mail together. pic.twitter.com/PwgIljJQeh
— Arnell (@ArnellragasA) October 3, 2014

- 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.

Bye, Vy (Volvo). You've lived with us for 20 years. Hopefully your new owners will get you up and running again. pic.twitter.com/ple8vXVZjD
— Arnell (@ArnellragasA) October 13, 2014

- 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.

pic.twitter.com/15HgFDIx0n
— Arnell (@ArnellragasA) October 18, 2014

(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.

I swear a good number of the Korean Festival volunteers were sneaking up on me to rip off my Running Man name tag. pic.twitter.com/1sI6YJ3e4h
— Arnell (@ArnellragasA) October 18, 2014

- My ex (the one I’m still close to) came into town on the 24^th. 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 23^rd. 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 26^th. 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 27^th. 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.

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- 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 8^th. 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 12^th 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 12^th and beat it on the 15^th. 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 13^th 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 22^nd 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 24^th. 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 2^nd 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

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- 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 9^th 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 11^th, 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 14^th 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 17^th, 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 24^th, 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.

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- 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.

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- 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.

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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.