Monday, December 12, 2016

November 2016 Entry

November 2016 Entry 

Lots of stuff happened in November. Sorry for being late, but time to catch up. 

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- Watching Gary's last episode on Running Man was hilarious and sad (11.06). It was definitely one of those things that you didn't want to end. Hearing the emotions from everyone as they were sharing kind words, good stuff. 


- I had  ordered some Korean ramen from Amazon a while ago, but didn't eat it right away. Tried the Neoguri Ramen (11.12) and you can tell the difference in quality. Even the cup feels better. This one is spicy, but tolerable. Still waiting to try the extra spicy ones I have. It has fire graphics on the side and has been used in challenges before.  


- It's rare that I take time off from work, but I did for my cousin's son's birthday (11.13). It was held at a bouncy castle place. I actually hurt my ankle while racing one of my younger cousins (still hurts). But it was fun seeing all of us get into it. Afterwards, I carpooled with one younger cousin and found out she was into Running Man and Kpop. I didn't know that, but that's awesome. Ended up at my cousin's in League City and watched TV while making jokes and catching up. I stayed to watch all of UFC 205, which turned out to be very entertaining from top to bottom. 


- Normally, I don't get excited for movie trailers, but the trailer for the live action Beauty & The Beast looks great (11.14). It's one of my top 3 Disney animated movies so I will put some effort to actually see this when it is in the theaters. 

- Caught up on NXT TakeOver Toronto and Survivor Series on the same day (11.21). That was a lot of wrestling to take in. I only saw one spoiler accidentally, but that still didn't ruin those hours of wrestling for me. TakeOver was great from beginning to end and Survivor Series had a lot of unpredictable outcomes. 

- After 5-6 years of not celebrating Thanksgiving, I actually went to my cousin's and had a great time (11.24). Short explanation is that stuff used to always happen during Thanksgiving so I just stopped attending parties. Then I was playing different Zelda games each year Thanksgiving rolled around. When my cousin invited me, I figured why not. Nothing bad happened and that's a relief. 

- Friends gathered for a friendly game of Uno (11.25). Insults, smack talk, back stabs, and betrayals happened all around, ha. 

- I've been posting less of products I buy lately. It's not always good to show everything you buy. But I still do it every now and then. Like these new wrestling shirts (11.28). 

 

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- Finished the Spirit of Justice DLC (11.06). The game did freeze on me once and so I put off getting back into this case until later. Just another crazy case in the world of Ace Attorney.  

- New amiibo added to my ever growing collection (11.06). They added 7 more to the Super Mario Bros series. Got all except the 2 Kongs. Just not that big on them. I would gladly accept them if anyone got them for me though. The only Kongs I have are the Skylanders ones. 


- The First Skunk Bundle was free so I had it downloaded for a while, but did not play until November (11.07). A collection of 5 horrible games. Honestly, Snake was the best one. If it's free, download it for the My Nintendo platinum points. 

 

- I had been seeing and reading reviews for Gunman Clive and they have all been pretty good. I saw that the Gunman Clive HD Collection was on sale and already fairly cheap. Downloaded it and then played both and beat both (11.25). Pretty simple concept and had enough of a challenge. At the cheap price it is going at, I'd recommend it.  


 


 

- And I posted this at the beginning of December (12.01), but I'll link it with this month's entry. Click the link to read why I will stop using my WingedVoX social media accounts. My posting of game stuff on this blog will remain the same. 

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- Filmed Community Testimonials and released them publicly this month (11.01). While I enjoyed doing these, I will not like reminiscing about the editing and behind the scenes critiquing process. I actually don't want to go about them here either. All I will say is that they are getting views and generating interest, which was the goal of these videos. 
  

- We were still doing Facebook Live streams and we did our highly anticipated Silent Library (11.03). Unfortunately due to Agents being sick, we had to rehash how to go about it and change up the cast. It still went off well. We haven't done many live streams since then. We've just been busy with other stuff.  

- Hot Cop is alive and well, ha (11.04). Originally I wasn't going to do this group, but they started it with a joke and I was in to take over the session. I had fun, they escaped, and I got a hug, which was a first. Then I was bold, but she wasn't single. Oh well. Definitely my favorite group of women I've ever had. 

- We started a new series of social media posts for Instagram only. It is called Heard At HER (11.04). That new hashtag is to quote all the crazy things we have heard from customers over the years. It's...not gaining the traction that we had assumed it would. I kind of figured, but still wanted us to produce something new and different. 

- Not to leave any other exclusivity on other social media accounts, Facebook gets Weekly Escape Stats (11.07). This one isn't getting a lot of attention as well, which is disappointing. At least we are generating new content that our competitors are not.   

- We extended the Soft Opening for Episode 4 (11.13). Needed more testers and feedback. My fears for this room definitely came true... 

- We celebrated one year of the Hunks of HER (11.17). Can't believe something this silly we did is now a year old, ha. 

- Another new idea we started is the Design Jam (11.23). Basically, we hold sessions on puzzle creation. I'm not the biggest advocate of this idea, but I do understand the potential. 

- Our Thanksgiving turkey post-Thanksgiving. That is my hand. Other facilitators took a finger and added on. 


- And Agent Coda was our latest write for our monthly blog post (11.30). 

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- Happy Birthday, BoA (11.05). Forever love you.  


- Hyloyn - Paradise (MV) 


- TaeYeon - 11:11 (MV) 


- Took a road trip to Marfa (11.18). There was a lot of last minute planning although the plan had been stamped for months. The 2 friends I asked to go had not met until that morning when they carpooled to my place. We later called ourselves ARC Inc. I started the first driving shift. After about 3 hours, stopped at Buc-ees and switch with R. Then I got motion sickness (?) for some reason. I asked C to diagnose me and she suggested getting motion sickness medicine. We stopped at a CVS and I got some pills and a topical cream. Minutes later, I needed R to pull over as I threw up. The timing was just enough that I vomited while I hopped out of the car. Some got on my socks (left those at that curb side). It was similar to what happened on my road trip to Virginia. Felt sick, felt numb, felt dizzy, felt hot, and threw up. It was then that we figured I was allergic to motion sickness medicine. I still wasn't feeling that great so I took over the back seat for the rest of the trip to Marfa as C and R switched back and forth. Apparently I didn't miss much, but I felt bad that I was destroyed within hours of the trip. 

Once we reached Marfa (9 hour road trip), we checked in to our hotel, settled in, and I was feeling a lot better. I told both of them that this is what was going to happen. Since some of our plans were thrown off due to me being sick and needing to pull over a few times, we took some time to reassess our day one plans. After that was settled, I took on the driving duties since everything was close by and the others felt I could handle it. Our first stop was at Ballroom Marfa where we looked at some artistic displays. Then we drove out to the Prada store and took pictures around there and at the railroad tracks. We planned to return the next day as we didn't get the best shots at Prada since the sun was behind it. Then it was back to the hotel to change again and find a place to eat for dinner. I don't remember the name of it, but it was a little expensive. I didn't mind as I knew I needed more food in me. The darkness of night definitely came over us and the night time desert cold hit us hard. Back to the hotel again to bundle up (I had at least 5 layers on my upper body) as we prepared to see the stars at Marfa Lights. That was...incredible. The night sky was full of stars every where you looked. All 3 of us were in awe of what was in front of us. Words cannot explain everything, cameras could not capture it (we tried), but it was one of those in the moment experiences that I want others to see. That was a glorious way to end our first night in Marfa.  

Day two was a bit more structured. Went back to Prada and got some good shots there and along the train tracks and other nearby areas. Went to the Chinati Foundation and took more pictures around their structures. We then made a judgement call to eat at Marpho since we thought a good warm soup would do us well after the cold. Bad decision. Worst Pho I have ever had. Do not go there. After changing clothes, we made the 2-3 hour trip to Big Bend National Park. On the way, there were a lot of great nature sights. When we got to Big Bend, we pulled over often to take pictures and take in the sights. We climbed one rocky hill to get a good look at our destination canyon. That was a rough upward climb even with my walking cane. It was worth it. It didn't take much longer for us to reach the canyon and start our walk up to the deepest part of it. We were walking through mud, going through multiple paths, making our way through trees and brush, climbing stairs, and making occasional stops for pictures for half an hour to an hour. On the other side was Mexico. ARC Inc. took it all in and we were proud of our accomplishment. We even did a group hug on the way back. My knee started to hurt on the way back. Thank goodness for my walking cane. The sun was setting and the moon and stars were coming back out. We pulled the car over a few times to get out of the car and stare up at the stars. There were even more than at Marfa Lights. Magnificent. A nice Mexican restaurant was our last stop before the hours back to our hotel to end day 2. Although C went back out to Marfa Lights to see the lights one more time.   

Last day at Marfa came too soon. It was great that we did almost everything we wanted to though. ARC Inc. packed up and went to Marfa Burrito for delicious food to take on the go (highly recommend it). R took the first shift for driving to Waco. I took the second shift after a few hours and went the rest of the way. We passed by the escape room we were going to first before going to the suspension bridges in Waco. I got a little frustrated with being in an unknown place, the sun shining in my eyes, and a roundabout were all combined. At least I had time to cool off. The bridges were nice and looked great when lit up. We then went back to the escape room, signed in, and were informed that others would join us. 2 had done one of their other rooms there and they brought 2 friends that never had been to one before. We escaped The Santa Clause with 9 minutes to spare. It was alright. Not horrible, but definitely not the best either. My escape room record is now 15 escapes out of 19 rooms. After the others left, R and I thought to reveal we worked at HER since the owner shared a lot with us. He figured that we worked for one just by the way were talking and acting with him and the others. He showed us his other rooms and we invited him to come to HER if he was ever in Houston. C then took the helm and drove the rest of the way back to Houston. As it was the last stint of the drive, we all opened up and got into deep conversations bringing ARC Inc. closer together. R was dropped first and I drove back to my place where C left her car. I think it was around midnight that this wonderful road trip to Marfa ended.  






- And I made a bold move (11.22). The seeds are planted and now time will tell. Here is hoping for the best.  

- That does it for November. A very memorable month. Thank you to everyone that read. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Thursday, November 3, 2016

October 2016 Entry


October 2016 Entry 

October seems like a blur. Even when going through to see what happened this month, things just went by. 

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- Two separate family events on the same day (10.23). First was my cousin's baby shower. She got married last November and will be having a baby boy and that boy will get fed well as he grows up, ha. Went there with my parents from about 1-3. We then went to my dad's side of the family as my younger cousin turned 18 and was having her Debut. It's crazy to realize that she's 18 now. She's destined for great things. Smart and talented. But my strongest memory of her will always be when she and her sister were with us during Hurricane Katrina. After the first day, she woke me up in the morning saying "wake up, sleep head." 

- Agent Coda had taken time off from work to perform in a musical at Rice. I knew I wanted to go support her. I had asked Agent Blue about going and Agent Majordomo even wanted to go with Agent PQ (they didn't end up going). So Agent Blue and I went to Rice to watch her perform in Spring Awakening (10.30). We had to find someone to let us into the building (needed student ID cards to scan at doors), but we made it to the basement where the performance was to be held. It was just a small crowd, but the performers rocked. Very talented group. The musical itself wasn't the most uplifting of subjects as a lot of bad things happen (you can look it up). Although there was one scene that brought a tear out in me. After the musical ended, others stuck around to greet their friends that performed. We saw Agent Coda as she was thanking friends for coming. Once she saw us, she was surprised as she didn't expect to see anyone from work there. She performed magnificently and it was great to see this talented side of her. 

- Sasha Banks became RAW Women's Champion again at the beginning of the month, but she lost it at the end of the month at Survivor Series (10.30). She's so damn talented, but I want her to hold on to the title for a long time. In due time. Ever since meeting her in person, I definitely favor her more. 


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- New amiibo are coming out this year and I reserved 9 amiibo (10.09). That includes Rosalina, Daisy, Boo, Wario, Waluigi, 8-Bit Link, Ocarina of Time Link, and the Wind Waker pair of Link and Zelda.  

- I beat Spirit of Justice (10.09). Not my favorite, but I liked it. I haven't written a review for it yet as I wanted to beat the DLC case first. I started to play that on 10.17, but the game froze a few minutes into the case. That's actually the second time that happened when playing. I did continue it on Halloween. It definitely is an interesting case so far.  


- The NX was officially announced to be the Nintendo Switch (10.20). I'm excited for it. Getting myself one on release day. 

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- Posted it last month, but we made Halloween Video to help promote our Halloween themed rooms and costume contest (10.02). 

- A few of us pulled some money together to buy a Keurig for the office. I then bought some tea flavors so that I can use it and not just drink water all the time (10.04). 

- Our monthly meeting happened (10.18). I was very proud to award Agent Coda with Agent of the Month. Despite only being with the company for 3 months, she proved that she deserved it. The look of surprise on her face was priceless (she gives great reactions in general). 


After the meeting, we all went to an escape room that none of us had been to (well, some of us had been to their Austin branch). I was part of the team that went to the Abandoned Classroom. We escaped and set a new record. Our other team also escaped their room, yay. That was actually my favorite room from that company. The ones I did with the company were lackluster so the bar was set low.  
  
My record for escape rooms is now 14 escapes out of 18 rooms. 

- We're doing a big social media boost for the company to attract more attention to us. This ranges from more Instagram posts, more promotions, more videos, and more. One of the big things that the staff has latched on to is doing Facebook Live. The plan is to always play some fun game and have some community interaction if possible. On our first one, we played the Lucky Black Beard game. The second one was playing BeanBoozled, which brought out some great moments. We did one that was to announce the soft opening of the 4th room. And we're gearing up to do Silent Library soon. You can see the videos on our Facebook page. 


- Agent Incognito brought his sister, former Agent Audrey, and some friends to test out Episode 4 (10.22). It's always great seeing Agent Audrey. 

- After we did our Facebook Live announcement of Ep. 4's soft opening, a few of us quickly got together to make a silly video to help promote it (10.25). I think we planned it in 3-5 minutes and then took another 3-5 minutes to shoot it. And it didn't take long to edit and show to the others. Needless to say, they all liked it.  


- And this month's writer for our monthly blog entry is Agent Ocean. 


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- So...dating apps kind of suck. At least for me they do. I've been on a total of 7-8 now, 4 at the same time at most, but currently only on 3. I have had zero luck. Only person had shown interest, but she didn't respond before time expired. Other than that, I only had cam girls "like" me. Plus I've seen friends on some and wonder if they're real (swiped right on a few just to see, but no response). I'm still using a few now, but I don't feel as motivated or attached to them to check all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if I stop using all of them by 2017.   

- Ailee - Home (MV) 

- Hyolyn - Love Like This (MV) 

- Gary announced that he would be leaving Running Man to focus more on his music career (10.25). As of typing this entry (10.31), he has wrapped up filming his final episode. While I wish him the best, I am bummed out. He was my favorite male cast member and I of course adored him and Song Ji Hyo as the Monday Couple even though that had been over for a while now. Good luck with your music, Gary. You will be missed. 7012. 


- And that's it for October. The year is almost over. Let's close it out on more high notes. Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Monday, October 10, 2016

September 2016 Entry

We're in the last stretch of the year. September was packed.

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- Cool stuff came in the mail and more (09.02). 


- Got invited to a pool party with a group of friends I have not seen in a long time (09.04. Unfortunately, it ended up raining so none of us went in the pool (and I was really looking forward to jumping in). It was still cool to catch up with everyone. I finally got meet one couple's little baby girl. Me being the only single guy there, I was the only comfortable interacting with her, ha. Actually helped feed her. Hope to see more of these people sooner than later. 

I would have stuck around longer, but another friend invited me to go karaoke. It wasn't just a normal karaoke outing though as he was going to participate in a karaoke contest. He got a few of his good friends together to support as it was based on crowd response. Even got meet his mom and another friend's mom that night. They were cool. The karaoke contest was alright. The sucky part were the people that won. While the person that was chosen for second place might have deserved it, the third and first place winner did not. Specifically for first place, no one knew the song he was singing. In regards to my friend, they told him that he had the crowd sing the majority of the song rather than him singing himself. While I agree with that, he should have at least been in the top 3. And for those curious, I did sing a song before the contest with a couple friends; New Kids On The Block's Step By Step.  


- Wrestling has been great. Smackdown had their first exclusive PPV since the brand split. The matches were great, but I was really looking forward towards the Women's Championship match. My top 2 picks were Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch. And I made a bet with myself and that resulted in a new replica belt for me (09.18). Can't wait to bring that to the next Smackdown coming to Houston. 
 

- Had another day out with a friend (09.18). Started with lunch at La Olla, DDRA and other games at D&B, Happy Tea to chill and cool off, finding Escape Hunt (only wanted to confirm location and get prices, but ended up in a 25 minute conversation and getting insider information), Steel City Pops for something cool, failed hunting for art spots around town, going to a nice colored fountain, and then dinner at Grand Lux. Tons of conversation the whole time. I'm glad we're getting to know each other better as friends. Definitely a cool person to do random things with. 
 

- And I keep craving snacks. So I bought some (09.23). Smartfood Popcorn was because that was an awesome snack choice my friend introduced me to during the road trip to Virginia. Came with 3 flavors. White Cheddar is definitely the best and probably why there were more of them in the package. The Choco-Pies have just been a want for many years, but never got around to. Still haven't tried one yet. Saving them for after the popcorn is done.  


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- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice came out this month (09.08) and this has been the only game I've been playing all month. Any time I had extra time before work or no plans on my days off, this is what I would spend hours playing. It's great jumping back into that world.  
 

- And in related gaming news, I have added another import Gyakuten Saiban game to my collection; Ace Attorney Investigations II (09.26). If you've been reading my blog, you might have noticed I bought one a year. So I'm only missing two of the international titles now, which are Dai Gyakuten Saiban and Gyakuten Sabian 6. It actually would have made sense for me to get 6 to go along with the US release, but for some reason I wanted to get the second Investigations game more since that had been sitting in the wish list pile for years. 
 

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- The staff surprised me (09.01). I have a few inklings about how they found out, but I didn't bother to ask. I'm just grateful. There was only one other person to ever pull off a surprise on me. So once a decade, ha. Thank you, fellow Agents.  

- We held another surprise proposal (09.10). This was our first man-woman proposal. Agent PQ was part of this along with me. I'm trying to make sure each Agent gets to experience these special moments. The man had told his kids what was going on prior so they were in on it and knew whey I was helping them. The woman had no idea and was focused on what she was doing. Even when he was proposing, she was moving books out of the way. It took a few seconds for it to click that he was on his knees with a ring. She said "yes" and we all celebrated. Cheers to the happy couple. 


The surprises weren't over that day. Agent PQ is taking a sabbatical so she can concentrate on nursing school. We got some food together in our break room and decorated it a bit. Then it was just getting her into the room. Thing is she didn't notice anything even when Agent Ca$h said "surprise," ha. But it was a nice celebration for all she has done for the company.  

- Another monthly meeting (09.13). We actually had a lot to talk about. Afterwards, we went to Harbach, a beer brewery. Had some good food, those that drank enjoyed them, and a good number of us played some corn hole. 

On the way back, Agent Ca$h and Raynor and I had some good deep talks about personal subjects. We even stayed in the car for a bit once we reached HQ just to continue. After Agent Ca$h split, Raynor and I went into HQ to join Agents PQ and Majordomo and we started talking about stuff. At some point, Agent Chisel joined us and surprised us with his dog. That thing has a lot of energy, ha. He even destroyed one of the stuffed animals that was in our briefing room. Even after Agent Chisel left, we kept talking. I think we ended things around midnight.  


- We unfortunately had a Hell Day (09.17). A lot of the staff had taken that day off or were not scheduled to work and we had one call in sick. No one was able to substitute. Thankfully, Agent Gig was able to come in for the last 3-4 hours of a the day. 

That wasn't the only thing. Anything and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Some of the props and puzzles broke so we had to go with a Plan B, one of the briefing doors came off the hinge and myself and Agent Obsidian hurt ourselves trying to quickly put it back on (that thing is heavy), and we had a good amount of rowdy groups that night. The good thing is that we all survived, a lot of things to malfunctioned were fixed up before we closed up, and we did a damn good job pulling together despite everything. 

I feel like we've had a few other Hell Days since then and they have been happening on Saturdays. At least I am confident with our team that we can get things done.  

- We at HER always look for ways to help out the Houston community. Agent Obsidian and others put together a Pet Food Drive to help donate food to the Houston Humane Society (09.20). I'm glad we had people donated. I think the next time we attempt something like this, it will be more successful. 
 

- One of our newest trainees graduated to becoming an Agent (09.28). Her name is Agent Coda. She was deserving of being brought on to the team. She definitely is a different breath of fresh air that has already been making an impact on the company. Not only that, she has been the fastest member to become an Agent. Expecting more from her as she grows within the company.  

- We jumped the gun, but we started gearing up for Halloween at the end of September (09.30). Other than decorations, we're going to alter our escape rooms for the holiday and have another costume contest. 
 

And earlier in the month, we filmed a video to hype the occasion. 


- And this month's writer for our monthly blog post is Agent Ca$h. 
 

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- Red Velvet - Russian Roulette 

The music video didn't sell me, but the performances did. Plus I subscribed to a Red Velvet subtitle channel so now I'm just delving deeper into liking this group. Hi, Irene.  

- Eh Bee Family 

I first heard about the Eh Bee Family from when there was an Adults React video. From there, I subscribed to them and would watch their new videos as they came. But then I saw that video posted above. I spent a good amount of September watching all of this family's videos on YouTube. To me, this is an ideal family I would like to have some day. If I ever got to meet them, I would be very happy. 

- A message to my best friend. Stay strong. I'm here to help and support you and your daughter. You know I'm here for you whenever you need me. Hopefully I will see you both sooner than later. Love you both. 

- And that wraps up September. Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved.  


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Monday, September 12, 2016

August 2016 Entry

A very eventful month. 

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- Bought The Killing Joke (08.02 08.15) and watched it a couple weeks later. Some parts were a bit blah, but I enjoyed it overall. 



- Had a bit of an altercation with a homeless person on my way home (08.05). I had an extra drink with me and was stopped at a light where a homeless person was asking people for whatever. I rolled down my window, called out to him, and held out the sports drink. He then curses at me that he wanted money and not food. Cursed at me a bit more, yanked the bottle out of my hand, and hit my side view mirror. He continued cursing at me as I was driving away. Not the best way to end the night.  

- The Cruiserweight Classic has been going on for a while now. At first, I wasn't really into it because I wasn't invested in a lot of the contestants. I kept watching though to keep up with it and I'm glad I did. The matches have been highly entertaining. Johnny Gargano VS Tommaso Ciampa is a must see match. Every match thereafter has been incredible. Now I'm invested and want everyone to win, ha. 

- Hung out with a friend I made via the last flash mob I was part of (08.07). We had hung out a few times and she also enjoys escape rooms. Originally we were going to go play DDRA and go to a museum. Unfortunately, neither of those happened. First, DDRA was out of commission. Second, the museum exhibit we wanted to see was sold out. 

She had not seen much of the First Colony/Sugar Land area, so I drove her to see the town center and First Colony Mall before we went to a near by park. After the park, we ate at Jupiter and Ben & Jerry's. Then we went to my place to continue all the talking we were doing. Out of all the times we hung out in the past, we never really got to know each other. So this was a good time learning about one another. 

- Didn't get to see it live (as usual), but NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II was amazing (08.21). There was just so much to like such as a GTS, Bobby Roode's entrance (my new ringtone), the tag team title match, Bayley VS Asuka, and Nakamura's entrance. 

SummerSlam was interesting. Disappointed that Sasha Banks lost the Women's Championship. AJ Styles and John Cena had a great match. And Balor becoming the Universal Champion was awesome.  


- In preparation for a road trip, I let my parents know that we did not have cruise control on our new car. They contacted the car dealership about it (08.22). Turns out that we were not offered it. They were pretty upset about that and other options that they were not told about. I was told they raised some hell over there. In the end, they got their way and ended up with a trade in for the same model car with cruise control and other features thrown in at no extra cost. However, I was yanked around back and forth as I needed to be there to sign for it. Halfway there, I was told to go back home since there needed to be clearance that would have happened the next day. As soon as I got home, I was told to come back out as things could happen now. There was already a lot of chaos going on because of the car and this made me flip out. So much time was being wasted. and a lot of crap was just happening. I got there finally and just wanted to sign papers and go home. My mood was apparent to everyone. It took another 2 hours to get everything done and my mom still kept trying to negotiate. It was so frustrating. In the end, everything was signed and the new car would be ours 2 days later. 

I've been to car dealerships with friends and those always turn out fine and sometimes fun. Every time I go to car dealerships with family, it is horrible. Everyone gets mad and there is just so much time wasted. 

- It had been planned for months now, but I and a high school friend were going to meet another high school friend and her husband in Virginia (08.25). Since I can't fly, this was going to be a road trip; 20 hours going and 20 hours returning. My friend came to Houston around 11AM and we officially started the trip around noon. 

I took the first shift as she works late nights and had not slept since the day before. My shift was a total of 8 hours split into to rounds of 4. Our first stop was in Louisiana to eat at a Chic-Fil-A. Towards the latter part of our meal, a grandmother that was a few tables away from us fell. The table behind us called for help. Myself and one from the table behind us assisted in moving tables around to give room for everyone. A fire truck and medics arrived. We left shortly after to get back on the road. 

When night time fell, that's when we swapped. We did stop for a late night meal at Waffle House at 3AM. During that shift, I attempted to get some sleep. It was shortly disrupted as we got pulled over for going to fast. We were in Alabama at the time. It was an unfortunate thing to happen. 

The sun rose and we decided to swap again at another stop. My stomach wasn't doing too well so I got some Pepto before continuing my drive. I had to wake my friend up within the hour as I really wasn't feeling that good. I pulled over at the closest rest stop (the first one we went to) to take a break, throw up, and calm down before continuing. She took over driving so I could try to recover. This resulted in me asking her to pull over so I could throw up or use the toilet and buy medicine (Dramamine, then Etronol and Sea-bands). We were thinking I was just having an upset stomach or was having motion sickness. Partnered with those was also extreme cold or hot (more hot than cold), hot flashes, dry heaves, numbness, and no energy. We were also contacting our friend in Virginia for medical advice and just to keep her in the loop of what was going on. I was trying to do whatever it took to get better, but nothing was working. The only good thing that happened during this time was stopping at a Sheetz (always saw iJustine going to them and never went to one before). After a couple hours, I just couldn't take it any more. We pulled over at a hotel and asked if I could just lay down for a bit. During that time I asked if we could go to an emergency room/urgent care. Luckily there was one 10 minutes away. 

As we were pulling in, I told her all my symptoms just in case I couldn't speak for some reason. She was helping me walk in to the urgent care and I started crying. It was a mixture off all emotions. I hated that we were there, but I was glad something was finally going to be done to help me. Couldn't walk after getting paper work done so I had to be wheelchaired into the doctor's office. After diagnosis, it was determined that I had food poisoning. They gave me a shot that would help with my nausea and actually help me sleep. The shot itself really hurt. Even with little energy, I was still able to tell everyone that it really hurt. No other shots/injections have ever hurt me that much. After further observation, I was cleared to leave. i was wheelchaired out and our road trip continued again. This was very reminiscent to when I was last at an emergency care. While I was glad it was being taken care of, it made me doubt my body again.  

I was knocked out the whole way. She woke me up hours later to bring me into a CVS to sign for the medicine that was recommended for me (Promethazine). Minutes later, we finally arrived at our friend's place in Virginia. We unloaded our luggage and settled in. Our friend's parents-in-law were also there and offered advice for me (the mother-in-law is a nurse). I called my mom to let her know what happened. Then I joined them downstairs for some soup and water. Unfortunately, we did not continue with our original plans for that day, which included going to an escape room. Although my friend's husband still went since they had other friends that signed up to go as well. I'm glad that our reservation didn't go to waste. After talking for a bit and playing with the baby (as best as I could), I took a much needed shower and then slept for 13 hours. 

The next, I was fine, back to normal. We continued with our normally scheduled plans of going to DC. We ate at Chop't to eat light before walking around and taking in the sights around us. As we were walking, I asked if I could push the kid in the stroller. I just wanted to get as much dad experience as I could. I only tagged out once towards the end of our time in DC. While we were walking towards the monuments, there was a family walking around with posters saying "Free Hugs." At one point, they turned around and asked me to take a photo for them. After doing so (they were impressed with how I was situating the photo), we hugged and took photos together (can't find them online). Very kind family. 

Lots of walking in the heat. The baby boy got to meet a horse up close and play inflatable sports, the girls did some volunteer work, I was pushing the stroller around and catching up with the husband, I enjoyed a slush and ice cream, we enjoyed the monuments, but we were ready to go back hours later. Our friend wasn't feeling that well either unfortunately. We stopped by to get some boba and returned home to rest for a bit before going to dinner. 

Dinner was in Korea town at a place called Iron Age. They had lots of seating and many monitors playing Kpop videos. There were quite a few songs and groups I did not recognize. The first group I recognized was AOA. Eventually Sistar19, Sistar, and f(x) songs played. I was actually dancing a big to Electric Shock "on stage" (tables were elevated off the floor) and got some looks. Only did it for a bit before we left (2 hours after eating all you can eat). After dinner, we went to a nearby trinket shop. I looked at all the Kpop stuff they had. Ended up buying a gift for a friend. I did ask the cashier if they had any BoA stuff. His reply; "she's old." Ouch, ha. Yeah, most of their stuff was recent artists and groups. 

It was back to home base. We were resting up and getting ready to leave and get back on the road. Got to talk with the husband more. Our friend was still recovering a bit, but did make sure to talk to us before we left. Thanked them for their hospitality and left at 10PM. It was fun, but we needed to return home. 

The trip back was better. I took the first shift. We also made sure to make our driving shifts shorter to about 2-4 hours each. While it was still dark out, we made sure to switch and sleep. I think we were again in Alabama when the sun was out. Other than the rest stops for gas, we stopped at a coffee shop called Octane. Everything about the place was great. The decor, the product (coffee and tea), the staff, all great. I even went as far to give them a business card to HER, ha. Highly recommend them for anyone in Alabama or Atlanta. 

We had one other major stop for lunch at Penn's Catfish & Chicken. Very good for fried seafood. It was at that time that I called up Bite Macarons to see if they can do me a favor by staying open late so I can pick up macarons for the next day. I would need them early in the morning before they opened. They said they would ask a few workers to stay a little later if we can guarantee being there between 9 and 9:30PM. Called them hours later into the trip to let them know that our time of arrival had not changed and to confirm pick up. 

Other than rain slowing us down (it rained at some point on our way to Virginia too), it was a smooth ride. There were some nice nature scenes that we passed by as well. We finally got to Houston at 7:30PM. It really put into perspective how big the city is as we did not get to Bite Macaron until a little after 9PM. We even passed by a Tinseltown that I did not know existed. But yeah, finally made it back home. 

The worst part of the trip was getting food poisoning (from the Waffle House food). Otherwise, everything went well. The car ran smoothly and survived the whole way. Shell became our main stop for gas since they had good bathrooms and were usually lit up well at night. Not that we didn't stop at other gas stations if we needed to. And I had a great travel companion the whole time. We talked about everything and grew closer. There were a lot stories to share, music to play, and just memories to be made. I've been on shorter road trips with others, but I knew for this long one, I needed someone that could hang and she was the right person to pick. Thank you for riding along with me and taking care of me. You are a great friend and I'm glad to have known you for 19 years. 



- Went to RAW live in Houston (08.29). Met up with friends there. As I was walking to the entrance, a camera man from KHOU stopped me and asked if he could interview me (stood out because of the NXT title). He just asked some simple questions like what do I think of the belt design, how long have I been watching wrestling, who I thought was going to win the Fatal Four Way, and a few others. As I was being interviewed, one of my friends stood behind the camera man to try to get me to laugh, ha. Our other friend joined us shortly after (great to see and hear he's a fan of Nakamura). 

The show was exciting. We had a lot of being silly and chanting along. The ending with the Fatal Four Way, Triple H showing up, and Kevin Owens winning (my pick)...so damn crazy. The best RAW I have been to that I can remember. 

After the show was over, I spotted a friend that I made from back in my GameStop days. Good to see he's doing well and is now a father of 2. He told me to get ready for the next video game tournament he's going to throw, ha. And you'll read about the promotional event we did at HER later, but a couple of the contestants found me and said what's up and thanks. Cool stuff.   


========================= 

- I'm a big fan of the Ace Attorney series. So I thought it was cool to see that the day of Phoenix Wright's first trial (08.03) actually rolled around. Can't wait to play Spirit of Justice soon. 

- I finally got around to playing the original Shantae (08.22). I was hoping to beat it before the release of Half Genie Hero, but I was actually having a lot of trouble playing this game. I died a lot and did not get far with the few hours I played. Tried to beat it in one day like I did the other Shantae games, but it did not happen. But with Half Genie Hero being delayed, I have more time to try and beat it (although most of my gaming time I make will be devoted to Spirit of Justice). 

 

Yeah, not much gaming this month. I did try a few demos if anything. 

========================= 

- I tried something bold and reached out to a customer (08.05). When this person came to HER, I was immediately locked on to her as she was really pretty. Even in the room, it seemed like she was flirting as she would move in close to me and made skin contact. I did want to tell her in person that she was really pretty, but there was not a good time since she was there with coworkers. Asked a couple of coworkers how to approach the situation. Unfortunately, nothing came from it.  

- We had been in talks with Radio One about collaborating. As I mentioned last month, we partnered with them (97.9) and the WWE for a contest to win tickets to Monday Night RAW in Houston later in the month. At the beginning of the month was when we officially started promoting the contest (08.08). More on the actual event later in this entry. 



- Got together at Agent Majordomo and PQ's place to play Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes with other coworkers (08.08). A few of us had been wanting to play that for a while now and it was frustrating and fun. 

- We had our first alpha test for our fourth escape room (08.10). It's great that it is in a stage to be tested now.  


- Got sick out of no where. Felt miserable all weekend. Called in sick on the 13th and 17th. Thought I was okay on the 16th and went in, but it got worse.  

- Another month, another meeting (08.16). Our activity this time was to test out the fourth room. My escape room record is now 13 escapes out of 17 rooms.  


- We conducted our second surprise wedding proposal (08.20). It went off really well. Everyone on the team knew what we were doing and the person to be proposed to was extremely concentrated on what she was doing that she did not notice. The proposal was a success. 

- Finally, the day of the contest was here (08.24). Agents Majordomo and Agent Ocean (officially brought on to the team) were to run the sessions. Agents Widdershins and Ca$h were taking photos of the event. Agents Incognito and Obsidian took care of anything extra. I was the liaison between Radio One and ourselves as well as making sure things ran smoothly. 

Radio One came in to set up a small table with merchandise and equipment. Spoke with them a lot. Some of the contestants started to arrive and sign in. Lastly, DJ J-Que arrived. He did some radio spots live on location and also did giveaways for 97.9 merchandise by asking wrestling related questions to the contestants. 

I was a little disappointed with the lack of interaction between the contestants though. Thought that there would at least be some wrestling talk going on, but there really wasn't unless they actually spoke to me. I was also bummed that some of the contestants didn't show up. I don't understand that. It sucks that they took spots that someone else would have been excited to have. Although I was told I can call anyone I knew to fill in some spots. I made a last minute call to a friend I knew was wanting tickets to RAW. Unfortunately, he could not make it, which sucks because even if he were late, he would have been placed in the team that ended up winning.  

Overall, the event was a success. It was good to dip our toes into a promotional event this big. Now we know what to expect for future events we may plan with others. 
  

- It was almost a month later (on purpose), but we celebrated Agent Incognito's 1 Year Anniversary with the company (08.31). We set up a little Pokemon mission for him to do while the others set up a surprise dinner for him. 


It was also the first day for our new Agent In Training. She has been progressing well and is fitting in nicely with the team. 

- Agent Solaire was the writer for this month's blog post. There's a photo of us playing Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. 


========================= 

- SNSD - Sailing (MV) 

- Yuri x SeoHyun - Secret (MV) 

- The Ballad of Jessica Blue is the last set of videos that Christina Grimmie made before she passed away. It was great to see new stuff from her. I'm sure all of Team Grimmie enjoyed them and still miss the heck out of her. 


- 16 years of BoA (08.25). It's crazy to think that she has been a major part of my life, almost half my life. Continuous support from me to you.  


- Agent Majordomo was asking me about my latest vacation I had asked time off for. In particular, he wanted to know when I would be back. He was saying how Agent Raynor wanted us to do an activity the early Monday after. I started to decline since I figured I could participate some other time. Later on, he called me in to do a video call with Agent Raynor (08.19). He was also asking if I could come back sooner for the activity. At that point, I said I could try. I also noticed that Agent Majordomo was filming me with his phone so I figured something was going on. It was then that Agent Raynor said that they had been setting up something with Radio One to thank me for the work I've put into the project. They were able to set up for me to meet Sasha Banks. 

When I returned from Virginia on Sunday night, my friend got picked up as I got a late order from Bite Macarons, I went home, showered, ate dinner, and then drove to Agent Majordomo and PQ's place to spend the night there. Were I to stay at home, I would have had to leave at least 2 hours early (5AM) to get through the morning traffic to get to the Radio One studios. Caught up with both of them before heading to bed. 6 hours later, woke up, got ready, and Agent Majordomo drove me to the studio. 

We went up to the studio since we had been there before. Right there waiting outside the door were 2 Toyota Center workers, a WWE person, and Sasha Banks herself. We made eye contact and I immediately went shy and couldn't do/say anything. I rarely get star struck, but I definitely was during this instance. We were all outside for maybe 5 minutes before they had someone let them in. Our contact (gave a box of a dozen macarons to) let us in through another door minutes later and we all met up again outside of the radio booths. During that time, we were catching up with our contact. At some point the Toyota Center workers asked when our radio spot was going to happen. That's when our contact mentioned that I was actually there to meet Sasha because of our collaborative promotion. That's when she and I formally exchanged greetings. I was still shy, but the talk among all of us was about escape rooms. Some of the Toyota Center employees have been to HER and Sasha has done one in Orlando (I knew about that and challenged her via Twitter). 

After minutes of waiting, 97.9 was ready to bring us all in. I got to stand 2-3 feet away behind Sasha as she was being interviewed. It was a good mix of her being in character and being real. I'll admit that I did take that time to check her out more (not that I wasn't sneaking peeks when I could). She was absolutely gorgeous in person and wore a great dress. 

The interview itself wasn't that long, but it was cool to be part of. Afterwards, she took photos with the DJs and then took pictures with me. With her heels on, she was little taller than me. That's why I thought she squatted down. I told her she didn't have to, but she said she was "popping a pose," ha. I requested we take a silly photo by making a heart. It was at that point she called me out for wearing a Bayley wristband and for having an AJ Lee phone cover. We laughed and I said I had her gear as well. Agent Majordomo took photos with her as well even though he wasn't going to originally. Then I gave Sasha a box of 2 dozen macarons before saying the following (as best as I can remember): 

"I have been a wrestling fan for over 30 years and you are actually the first wrestler I have ever met in person. All I ask is that you take care of yourself. Thank you." 

And that was it. While I was hoping I would get more time to just talk to her about wrestling, Kpop, etc, it was an absolutely amazing experience I will never forget. 






That is it. August was eventful. If I'm catching up with anyone, the stories from this month will be what I mainly talk about. Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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