Thursday, October 1, 2015

September 2015 Entry



September felt long.

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- Thanks to certain people. I also chopped off 5 inches of my hair.

- Got some new Finn Bálor merchandise (arrived 09.03).

- Made plans to meet up with 2 different sets of friends (09.06). The first set was to meet 2 girls from the flash mob who I was still in contact with. They offered to take me out to lunch. Ended up meeting them at Jupiter (had not been there for a while). It was a long wait, but we just shared stories and caught up. When we finally did eat, we each ordered a waffle and shared a pizza (didn't take photos, but they were all good). We were also witness to some gathering where a large group was standing in line to take photos with local celebrities (didn't see who they were).


Went back home to rest for a couple hours (it was hot outside) before meeting with my other friends for dinner. Met them at their place. Caught up a little and played with their kids before going to Gringo's. It was during dinner that my friend started referring me to her son as "Uncle Arnell." It was really uplifting to actually be called that. Back to their place after dinner to play Mario Party 10 (now I've played all console Mario Party games). A fun and memorable day.

- My Ranma 1/2 Blu-Ray collection is now complete (09.10). Have I watched a single episode ever since I started collecting these? No, ha. But it wasn't that long ago that I watched all the episodes (English) on YouTube. If I'm ever afforded a long period of rest, I would probably start trying to watch all of Ranma again, but in Japanese.


- More merchandise arrived in the mail (09.17). Seems that I collect posters now instead of displaying them now.


- NXT came to Houston for the first time (09.17). Insanely fun. Went with a friend I had not seen in a long time and we met with others we knew there. It was pretty much all floor seating unless you were in the upper deck areas. It was also in a small building, which I only recognized once we were there. Last time I was there was to watch roller derby.

Our initial seats were great, but we sat directly behind a tall and big guy so we couldn't see much when he stood. Not only that, we were sitting next to a guy who was "smart" and was trying to be funny most of the time. I noticed that the final rows behind us weren't being filled. I told my friend that we should switch and move back there during intermission, which we did. We sat in the final floor row at the back towards the middle directly where the wrestlers would direct themselves were there a camera there. Every time I stood up, I pretty much was jumping around in the aisle since there was no one around us. And I screamed and chanted so much that night. NXT, please come back to Houston.   

Enzo Amore & Cassidy VS Jason Jordan & Chad Gable
I knew they would open the show. Enzo definitely gets the crowd hype. It was so fun to actually spell out SAWFT with a rowdy crowd.

Tye Dilinger VS Bull Dempsey
Everyone was behind Bull (screaming Fit along with his entrance theme). But everyone was also behind Dilinger (screaming out 10 at proper times).

Solomon Crowe VS Apollo Crews
A nice singles match. Crowe and Crews have excellent chemistry in the ring together. Good to note that after the match, Crews pointed to a banner in the rafters that said "Performance Center > Power Plant."

Baron Corbin VS Samoa Joe
When Baron Corbin came out, I turned to my friend saying "Oh my gosh, we're going to get Samoa Joe." It might have even been us that started the "Joe's gonna kill you" chants. Never thought I'd ever see Samoa Joe perform live so this was awesome.

Carmella VS Dana Brooke
Coming in from intermission, they had been showing clips of the Divas so we knew we were getting one next. Carmella looks incredible in person. She has improved a lot in the ring, but not at the level of the 4 Horesewomen. Carmella was actually the only Face that lost this whole night.

Blake & Murphy VS The Vaudevillains
Great tag match. The crowd was into posing with The Vaudevillains as well as counting as they did squats. And while the crowd had chanted "test of strength" during other matches that night, it finally happened in this match and got a great ovation. And Alexa Bliss looks incredibly pretty in person.

Emma VS Bayley
Fantastic women's wrestling match. Emma was well received and the crowd absolutely loved Bayley. I was jumping up and down so much for her. I even held my hands in the shape of a heart above my head during her entrance and exit.

Tyler Breeze VS Finn Bálor
Obviously a great match from these two. While we wanted to see the Demon, it's obviously reserved for Takeover events (and should stay that way). Being part of a live crowd and raising our arms up in the air during his entrance was amazing.


- The wrestling did not stop after NXT. Night of Champions happened the following Sunday (09.20). It was rough trying to find someone to go with to this as a lot of maybes turned out to be no and there were last minute purchases that happened that I wasn't a part of. I ended up texting a friend who wasn't into wrestling thinking that he would at least enjoy it and he took me up on the offer. Treated him for this event and bought our tickets two days before the PPV. He met me at my place and I drove us there. During that drive, we talked about what he did know about wrestling and his interest in going. I caught him up on a bit of things and then we just had normal conversations as we were waiting in line outside of the Toyota Center. Got to our seats (section 107, row 9, seats 1-2) and waited for the show to commence.


Stardust & The Ascension VS The Lucha Dragons & Neville
Fun match on the preshow to get the crowd hyped. I was only disappointed to not get a chance to see the Red Arrow live and in person.

Ryback VS Kevin Owens
The crowd was definitely behind Owens. The place went crazy when he won the IC Championship. Props to him and Ryback for putting on a good opening match.

Dolph Ziggler VS Rusev
Solid match. I thought I spoiled the ending of the match for myself. I saw the hanging mechanism for when and where they would drop Rusev's flag for when he would win, but that didn't happen. So I was surprised to see Ziggler get the win.

The New Day VS The Dudley Boyz
Excellent tag match. I'm glad to see The New Day being well received by the crowd. Woods on the trombone is so silly, but it works. Never thought I would see the Dudley Boyz in person let alone a 3D through a table. 

Nikki Bella VS Charlotte
The ladies delivered a great match. It was unbelievable to be there as Charlotte won the Divas Championship. And then having Ric Flair come out and celebrate with her, incredible moment. Paige and Becky Lynch look very good in person.

The Wyatt Family VS Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose & Chris Jericho
Everyone erupted when Y2J's countdown hit. I don't think anyone expected him to be the mystery partner. The match was good and it's good to see the Wyatt Family getting more momentum.

John Cena VS Seth Rollins
Cena and Rollins always put on great matches together. This one was no exception.

Seth Rollins VS Sting
And I never ever thought I would see Sting in person having a match. It was so good to see him still being able to put on a great match. Props to Rollins as well. Although you really could feel the arena get deflated when Sting collapsed. It was a scary sight. Glad he was able to finish the match. The craziness of Sheamus and Kane afterwards was fun and had the crowd on their feet until the end of the show.

My friend had a great time and I was screaming my head off almost the entire time. My friend mentioned that this was the most passionate he had ever seen me, which he enjoyed. He also saw things about wrestling that he never knew about like the connection with the fans especially the kids. We went to eat at FuFu afterwards and just talk a bit more before heading back to his car and split. Such a fun night and memorable week of live wrestling.

PS: Our seats were on camera. When I rewatched the PPV, I spotted myself a good 5 or so times in quick shots. But I was clearly visible when Seth Rollins came out for his match with Cena.


- After a late night of work (09.23), I had to get gas for the car. Stopped inside to get a drink and chips and a person next to me was staring at me. An exclamation from both of us came up as we recognized each other. Although I felt bad that I only remembered his nickname we gave him, Grando. It was cool seeing him after 14-15 years. Last I saw him was after he graduated highschool before he joined the military. We spoke for a bit before parting ways saying that we needed to catch up (soon hopefully). The whole way home, I was still in shock seeing Grando, ha.

- A friend and I were going to meet up (09.27). She initially contacted me the week before when she was in town, but it was too last minute to make plans. So I was looking forward to this meeting. Unfortunately, she got injured and we had to cancel plans. She apologized a lot because every time we tried to get together, something big happens and we have to cancel. And we were disappointed that it had been a year since we last saw each other. I joked that we talk more about meeting each other than actually meeting, ha. But we're both determined to try and hang out more once she's all healed up.

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- In regards to my WingedVoX gaming accounts (Facebook, Twitter), I know I've mentioned a few times that I would pull back from it or eventually stop. But I still find myself using it. While I have been more busy with work, the Twitter account isn't as active with retweets. Facebook has been easier to manage as I actually schedule almost every post to happen within different intervals. Although any Miiverse posts go up almost immediately. At some point I might have my Miiverse posts just post on personal accounts, but we'll see.

- Runbow (Wii U eShop) - Review
While I was on the fence about this game after trying the Nindie demo, I still decided to get it. And it is pretty fun. I have yet to complete the single player though. I tried online a few times and was instantly caught up in the hectic pace having more people on screen was. It is a game I'd like to try with others sometime just to hear all of us screaming, ha. I recommend it.

- Don't know what it was, but I decided to rewatch all of the cutscenes from Final Fantasy IV (DS) (09.08). It might have been because I watched all of Crisis Core and Injustice last month. It was good to see again. It did make me realize that there were a few other key scenes I would've like to have seen voiced.


- Super Mario Maker has taken up most of my game time. Ever since I bought it (09.11), I have at least put in an hour each day (most I've played it in one day was 5 hours). At first I thought I would spend more time playing levels, but I think I've spent an equal amount of time making levels. There is something about it being so easy and accessible to do that draws you in to making more. As of typing this, I have 7 courses uploaded and 2 of them have yet to be cleared by anyone (other than myself). If you have the game, send me your course codes and try out the ones I created.

- Run Devil Run (V2) - 8DD5-0000-0042-3766
- 6 Coins - 1459-0000-0032-3553
- Learning How To Swim - 3BE0-0000-0042-39CB
- Castle Hassle - 4E73-0000-0042-4D4D
- Up In The Sky - 4895-0000-0058-FD29
- To The Left - 2B85-0000-0061-928D
- Confined Spaces - 8365-0000-0078-6599



- Thanks to a coupon from ThinkGeek, I bought the Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past comic for half the price (09.15). Unfortunately, I'm treating it like a strategy guide and have not opened it to read. Guess that qualifies it as a collector's item for me.


- Yacht Club games finally released their latest DLC for Shovel Knight; Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (09.17). Plague Knight plays completely differently from Shovel Knight and it's great and challenging. Makes it feel like a whole new game. I haven't finished it, but I think I'm a little more than half way done (as of typing this). Everyone that bought Shovel Knight should get and play this FREE DLC.


- Add more items to my Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney and DS collections. I ordered the Gyakuten Kenji Premium Edition DSi. It also came with the Japanese version of the first Gyakuten Kenji. I had my eye on this for a while but finally got it (09.23). Everything works and is in great condition.


- And add 6 new amiibo to my collection, which brings the total up to 33. Ganondorf, Zero Suit Samus, 30th Anniversary Mario Classic Color came in first (09.12). Then R.O.B., Mr. Game & Watch, and Duck Hunt came together in the Retro 3-Pack (09.25). Next ones I'm looking to get are the 30 Anniversary Mario Modern Color, Chibi-Robo (pre-ordered), the Yarn Yoshis (if not all, at least Light Blue), the 3 Mii Fighters (if they come in a 3 pack), Mewtwo (maybe), and Mega Yarn Yoshi (maybe).



- And there was new Smash Bros DLC that came out (09.30). This included new outfits (not planning on buying any) and new stages; Super Mario Maker, Pirate Ship, and Duck Hunt (3DS). It's always fun jumping back into Smash Bros when new DLC is released.

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- We picked up 2 new trainees at HER. Haven't taken photos of them like we had been for trainees in the past. I think from now on we will take their photo when they are done with training. Felt bad after a couple of them had left and we had touted them joining the team.

- We received a note from the parking company that the lots we normally park at (those of us with parking passes) will not be available for a week and that management was training. Thankfully they gave us an alternate lot to use. We also found out why the lot would be unavailable for a week; Taylor Swift. Her concert was in town and so were her stage trucks (09.08, 09.09). We did think it would be funny to invite Taylor Swift to HER. While I tweeted her myself, we didn't pull the trigger on HER contacting her. It would have been cool were she to reply. That would be the greatest advertisement we would had not planned, ha. 



- Since school is back in session, we had a few days where there weren't any bookings for all the time slots. While we remained productive, silliness did ensue (09.08).


- We had been emailing a teacher back and forth that is actually teaching a class in how to build escape rooms at school. She even got the kids in her class to take field trips to HER and she had come with friends (I wasn't there for any of it). But we were also invited to come speak in front of her class. Originally, I wasn't part of the plan, but since I am in charge of the 3rd Room, I was nominated.

Woke up early to head out to League City (09.14). Met up with Agent M and we waited for the teacher to come bring us in. Once the bell rang, we were introduced to the class. I was Agent 262228 for the day. The 40 or so kids paid attention as Agent M gave his slideshow presentation. I was mainly there to answer questions. Their questions and participation was good, but we did get some of the typical questions we get from customers. One thing I distinctly remember was being asked the escape rate percentage. I asked them how many had been to HER (2/3) and how many have escaped. The answer was 1 and it was their teacher and they were amazed by that number.

We took photos with them (haven't posted since we don't have permission yet) and the kids gave us some of their puzzles on paper. Immediately on seeing it, I already knew one of the answers, ha. Turns out most were plagiarized and that was something the teacher spoke about at the beginning. And the teacher's enthusiasm sparked my interest in having her be a beta tester for the 3rd Room. Once we start the next batch of trials, we'll invite her and her friends to come back. Plus the teacher can come back to her class and let them know how to ask for feedback.

All in all, it was a good experience. Never thought I would ever be invited to a school to talk about what I do for a living. 

- And it finally happened. We had our first batch of beta testing for the 3rd Room (09.15). Episode 3: The Scarlet Scam was put through the paces. I was a little nervous driving in to work that day. As we were doing final preparations for it, one important part of the room wasn't functioning and I was getting frustrated. Agent Ro could tell. I reminded him that I was feeling similarly frustrated like when we did the KHOU shoot. We were able to apply a "band-aid" solution, but it was definitely a big concern.

The first team to be our beta testers were actually Agent Ro's wife and friends of the business, a total of 6 (one of them had not done an escape room before). Agent Ro was there as well, but he wanted to just sit back and take notes since he knew where everything was (did a dry run through days before). It was cool to see the room in action. I did have to give them nudges as it was apparent at one point that they weren't making a lot of progress. After time was up, we asked them questions and got a lot of great feedback. I thanked each one of them for coming to beta test the room.

Before they left, I brought them into our conference room where our team meeting was in progress. For a lot in the room, these were all new faces. So we did some introductions and got some laughs from what some of us were saying. I now have the phrase "I brought that in" in regards to Agent Yeti, ha. The crew left and the meeting continued.

Afterwards, the staff were the next group to beta test the room. Everyone started acting like our common annoying customers and asked the typical questions. It was alright for a while. Unfortunately, I didn't know if some of them were still pretending, but I was disappointed with the team and how they were going through the room. Sure, I gave them an extra rule; to not solve puzzles they personally worked on, but to help others that didn't know figure it out. That took out some key players and also showed weaknesses of others. Not only that, the "band-aid" solution we put in earlier in the day actually fell and broke. A few other things happened that I was just frustrated by and I wasn't having fun. Agent Ro could see my frustration and said not to take it out on them. It was...overwhelming and I couldn't hide it. After the team escaped, I left the room to cool off. I did apologize for my b!tching, but in the end thanked them.

As we were all getting ready to leave, I did go up to a few Agents in particular to personally thank them for being integral in the 3rd Room getting to this point. Ever since then, we had been making fixes and changes to prepare for the next set of beta trials. We are a little delayed, but we'll hopefully get the next beta testers in soon.  

I did make it a point to apologize to Agent Ro because he had seen me at my worst. He told me something that I had never heard before. Basically that my anger was reflective of my passion for what I do. I'll remember him telling me that for a long time.


- We had some a/c issues again towards the end of the month. Similar to the other time, we closed early (09.30) and made plans to go to another escape room. Agent Yeti and I were out shopping for Halloween items so we were out already. We also went off to eat dinner (finally got to talk to her on a personal level) while the others ate dinner elsewhere. Met up to tackle the other room at the business we went to last time we closed up due to the a/c.

Glad to report that we escaped and set the record for that room  by escaping in 24 minutes (one hour time limit). I even started my new thing, which is roll out of the room when we escape, ha. We went to Honey Bee afterwards for drinks and to talk about the room. It was a general consensus that we were disappointed with the room. While most were able to say at least one thing they liked about it, I couldn't. The room was underwhelming overall for me. That room unfortunately is ranked as one of the lowest on my list of escape rooms I've been to. At least my record is now 7-2.


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- Red Velvet - Dumb Dumb (MV)


- Amber - Beautiful (MV)

- Gary - Get Some Air (MV)

- SNSD - Lion Heart/You Think
Lion Heart came first (09.01). You Think came in about a week later (09.09). And both had Yuri as the random photo cards, ha. Never had that happen before, but I was thrilled since I had been liking Yuri the most during these promotions. And as it was posted earlier, the posters came in later in the month.

I reawatch their episodes on Weekly Idol a lot. I leave it on as background noise sometimes.



https://youtu.be/5nmPXL6aWr0

- September was full of trials and tribulations. Honestly, my body has felt tired more than usual. I also haven't been exercising like I had been for a couple months now so I've lost muscles. The tiredness really takes over. While I get Sundays and Mondays off consecutively, I might have to request a longer period off. Might not be possible unless we hire more full time workers. Plus the 3rd Room probably would have to be officially released before I can do that.

There definitely have been some good things that happened this month. Almost forgot to mention that my dad is back from the Philippines. It was definitely different without him and it's good to have him back. Other than that, I think being called "Uncle Arnell" for the first time is something that will stick with me.

Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved.

 
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."

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