Sunday, January 3, 2016

December 2015 Entry


Here is the last blog entry for 2015. The speed of December felt very fluctuated. It went by fast at some part and then other parts were slow.

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- I was able to watch WWE TLC (12.13) live as it happened. The build to it wasn't that great, but the show itself was fun to watch. Kalisto with a Salida del Sol off a ladder crashing into another was an amazing thing to see. That is one for the highlight real for ages.


- A friend I had not seen since the beginning of the year texted me to meet up (12.14). I was a little hesitant as I wasn't cool with him from our last meeting. But we were able to clear up almost everything. And he made good on his promise that was 4 years old and I'm glad. I was worried if that was going to happen at all or not. We spent a good 2-4 hours catching up (walked around, loitered).

At one point, I turned to see another friend who I had not seen for a while. They knew each other, but only one remembered the other, ha. We followed him to his fitness place as we knew someone else there that was practicing her choreography for class later that day. I ended up talking to one of the trainers there and it got to the discussion about my back pains. He offered free advice and showed me some relief exercises I could do with a roller or lacrosse balls. Both felt really good. I looked those up immediately when I got home. 

- Caught the replay of NXT TakeOver: London (12.16) after coming home from work. TakeOvers never disappoint. While every match was great, my highlights were Asuka VS Emma and the entrance of Enzo and Cassidy. NXT has been amazing in 2015.



- The GeekCave Podcast was holding their end of the year podcast shows, which included giveaways for each one. I'll admit to not listening to them as frequently, but I had time to listen in on these. Out of the prizes in the giveaways, I was only interested in the one for their movie section of the podcast. So I entered it. They announced after a week or so that I had actually won (only person to do all the things asked of the giveaway, ha). My prize (12.22) was a Justice League print signed by the artist.


- Coming off NXT TakeOver: London and some sales on WWE Shop, I purchased an Asuka shirt (her second one) and a Sasha Banks shirt (finally restocked in my size). I tweeted it out saying I want to see a match between the two as they would put on fantastic matches (12.24).


I knew Asuka was pretty good at replying to tweets so I was hoping to get some type of response. Lo and behold, she retweeted it and it was retweeted and liked by many others following. So cool when stuff like that happens. Thanks, Asuka. 


- I was told last minute about Christmas Eve plans (12.24) at my cousin's. I was iffy because I had not done a Christmas event with family for a few years, but decided to go thinking it would be nice especially after the wedding last month. It was a small gathering, but it was good to bond with the family. One of my cousin's sons were getting attached to me (asking questions, playing with my keys, etc). I also did a Scam School trick on my cousin's girlfriend. It was alright, but I know I've been losing the Christmas spirit over the last few years.

- My Christmas post: Roundhouse Christmas episode (12.25).


- Friends were in town to celebrate their son's first birthday with family and friends (12.27). It had been a while since I saw them, but this would be the first time I met their son as well. It was even longer since I had seen many of the guests at the party (friend's family and friends). A lot of the friends had gotten married, had kids of their own, or were expecting soon. But I was very delighted to see another highschool friend there. We greeted each other with a very tight hug. She even said she was unsure about coming since she wouldn't know anyone so she was happy I was there. We stick with each other for the most part. I was able to float around and talk to others as well.

I was surprised by one of the who guests remembered me from doing a dance act for a festival over a decade ago. He asked if I still danced (no), but I said I could forward his email to others (I did not as he actually sent an email with someone else's name on it and then copy and pasted the same email with my name in the same email thread).

I made sure to get some baby time with my friends' kid. We were on the floor playing with cups. He also showed interest in my Connor's Cure bracelet. I did give it to him, but he would just throw it, ha.

One of the funnier things to happen was when were cleaning up to leave. My friend was making sure everyone was leaving with the various cookies guests brought. I normally don't take food home as I don't eat it or someone else eats it so I wasn't trying to bring home cookies. I ended up getting one of the boxes, but kept it empty. Those around me would snitch to get me in trouble with our friend, but I kept playing it off. And then another batch was brought out. They began pointing out how I took none. So I immediately took one from the batch and stuffed it in my mouth, ha. Then they were all emphasize that I took one. Good stuff.  

- I didn't have any plans for New Year's Eve (12.31). I was okay with that. Had someone invited me out, I would have gone, but I was pretty content with just having a day to rest and recharge. Originally I told a coworker/friend that I would try to play more or attempt to beat Fatal Frame, but I didn't touch it. Instead, I caught up on episodes of Running Man.

I had skipped on episodes as the place that I was getting subtitles from decided to stop. It took months later for me to remember another placed that was subbing them. I finally caught up on a few episodes. I skipped a few episodes to watch the X-Man themed episodes. Those were absolutely incredible and hilarious to watch. I laughed so much and relived a lot of nostalgic moments. All the guests were good (I'm becoming a fan of Seolhyun) and the normal Running Man cast was as funny as ever. I actually rewatched parts of those episodes again as midnight was drawing hear. Highly recommend those episodes if you ever watched X-Man many years ago.

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- Got new amiibo (12.06). 30th Anniversary Modern Color Mario was ordered around Thanksgiving and came in. The Hammer Slam Bowser amiibo was part of the normal Skylanders Superchargers 3DS starter pack. Amazon had a great flash sale that was selling it for around 60% off.  I originally had the plan to trade in the game and the Skylander that came in it, but they are both not for resale. Oh well. Still got it on a great deal.


- Extra Creditz released some merchandise. I ordered a plush GAME (12.08). I tweeted them and the retweeted it out. Got lots of retweets and likes because of it.


- I ordered an Ike amiibo around Thanksgiving as well. It finally came in (12.10). While I originally thought to collect the Fire Emblem amiibo, for some reason I didn't. But now I'll get them whenever they're restocked.


- The Final Smash Bros Video Presentation happened (12.15). Went out with a bang. I actually listened to it on the way home from work at first. When Bayonetta's voice spoke, I screamed out "Bayonetta!" That was a delightful surprise. I made sure to watch the full presentation when I got home to see it in its glory. Great stuff.


I downloaded Cloud the next day and did my usual play of new DLC characters. I really like using Cloud. Nicely created character for Smash Bros.


- I didn't take a photo, but I finally got my copy of BIT.TRIP's Greatest Chips Vinyl (12.24). I was actually a little disappointed with it. While I have played all the BIT.TRIP games, I mainly really like the Runner games. So some of the songs were familiar, but not my favorites. Oh well. Impulse buying does that.

http://store.iam8bit.com/collections/vinyl/products/bit-trips-greatest-chips

- GameStop had a good deal (50% off) on the Skylanders Superchargers Wii U starter kit containing the Turbo Charge Donkey Kong amiibo (12.29). I'm glad I got these amiibo at a good deals. But in an ironic twist, the day after I got DK they announced that they would be selling the Skymiibo separately. Oh well. I pretty much paid around the same price for them.


- I wrote up my usual Games of 2015 for my WingedVoX page. It has to be the shortest game list I've made in the last few years as I haven't played that many games in 2015.

https://www.facebook.com/WingedVoX/posts/932937623460905

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- Since it was December, Agent PQ (formerly K) went to Target to do some Christmas decoration shopping (12.05). Funny that I was late due to heavy traffic (almost an hour) and the first thing she asked is if we could go shopping, ha.

Took a while to find the right tree and proper decorations (didn't find all the decorations listed). At one point, a customer asked me for help because I was wearing red, ha. But we came back with what we had and she and Agent Blue started putting up the tree.


Throughout the next few weeks, more and more decorations were strewn about the building. We did put one decoration per room, but nothing else was altered in them.


- The trailer for Mo's Safehouse went public in December (12.14). It was actually ready to go a day after filming, but I was waiting for approval. 


The trailer for Grandma Codebreaker will begin editing once we get an actress to do voiceovers. We have lined up so hopefully that will happen soon.

- A corporate group left a lot of ice after a lunch session (12.15). It was just sitting in our sink for a while until Agent Gig asked if he could melt it or throw it away. I said I would prefer he beat it with his fists.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_U7aDdoXVV/

- We had our annual HER Christmas Party (12.18). There was a small meeting for the staff beforehand where I debuted our Hiring Video (debuted publicly 12.21). Throughout the first week of December, I interviewed all of the staff (asking the same questions) and compiled their answers into a video. We created this in the hopes to gain more attention for people to work with us. It was great seeing everyone's embarrassed reactions to the video.


Then the Christmas Party happened. Agent Pow-Poper and myself were the unofficial hosts. It all started with dinner. Lots of good food was ordered. Then it was the HER Awards Show. I asked all the staff who was coming to pick names out of a hat a week prior. They were then tasked with making a fake award category (funny or serious) to present to whoever's name they drew. Barring me botching a joke and a technical error with one of the cameras, it turned out really well. Everyone also liked the awards that Agent Gig 3D printed for the award show.


Agent Pow-Poper also hosted games for us to play afterwards. Guests were leaving during different games. They were fun and he did a good job hosting. Another highlight of the night was seeing and having fun with former Agent Cat. Good to see she's been doing well and actually wants to come back to work with us. We shall see what the future holds.

- Not all of the Agents have seen Star Wars: The Force Awakes (I haven't yet), but we posted a photo to show our enthusiasm for it (12.23). I can't remember, but I think the photo was taken 3-5 months prior.


- Another escape room opened up in Houston. Some of the staff went to attempt it and did not get out unfortunately. So some of us were planning to "avenge" them. We just needed to pick a day to do it. It ended up being myself, Agent Blue, Agent Gig, and Agent Yeti (plus boyfriend and friend) (12.27).



Avenged. We all had a good time. I was expecting it to be bad after hearing some feedback from the staff that went. There were a few blah things about them, but overall I thought they were alright as a business and the escape room itself was pretty good. My record for escape rooms is now 8 wins out of 10.

- Went in on a Monday to get an electronic device installed (not saying what to avoid spoilers) (12.28). It took a little longer than usual because the worker accidentally drilled into the wiring. He had to go back out and get new ones (over an hour). At least I was productive, but I did forget to eat anything until I left.  

- We tried out the new electronic device the next day (12.29). Unfortunately, there was a snag as it wasn't working well with the locks attached to it (potential to break both). In my haste to stop it from breaking, I injured my index finger (nail ripped up a little and I bled). Agent Gig and Agent Chisel (name might change depending) quickly worked together to fix the problem. Glad we have them on staff.  

- Small highlight happened on the last day of work for 2015. I happened to be wearing my Girls' Generation hoodie (12.30). One of the customers complimented me on it and said she was a fan as well. Too bad we couldn't talk more, but it was a nice little thing that made me giddy.  

- And to close out the year, we had our final blog post of 2015 written by our Agent Gig. (12.31).

http://www.houstonescaperoom.com/blog/herdec2015

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- SNSD-TTS - Dear Santa (MV)


My copy of the album arrived on Christmas Eve (12.24). Nice gift.


- BoA - Meri Kuri (15th Anniversary) (Short MV)

What can I say that I haven't said over the course of 15 years. I love her.

- Jessica Jung - Sing A Song With Yourself (MV)

I was surprised to see Jessica in a new video singing again. I have missed hearing her voice. I watched it a couple times during the day. I also decided to watch and listen to this song to end 2015.

- Things to note for 2015:
I played fewer games. Honestly, I just don't play them as much anymore, but I was still able to dedicate part of this blog to gaming related things (amiibo). A silly resolution would be to play more games in 2016. There are a lot of games (and amiibo) I have scheduled to buy in the beginning of the year alone.

My one constant is wrestling. It definitely has been a great escape from real world things. 2015 has been a great year for wrestling (especially NXT) so that definitely helped keep this hobby alive.

The Houston Escape Room is where most of my life is now. If it has not been apparent from past entries, this is what I'm proud to be doing. I do hope to have more free time from it in 2016 (don't really see that happening) so that I can relax more (games, trips, etc). But all this hard work and the great staff/friends makes it worth it. Expect more to come from HER in 2016.

Thank you for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be beloved.
  

"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."


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