January 2018 Entry
Happy New Year.
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- A humbling reminder that 2018 did not start well.
- Continued my purchase of snacks every month and I got Rice Krispies Treats (01.04). All 3 flavors were great. The best part was there was an extra 3-4 packed in the box.
- Had some time to watch the Ranma 1/2 blu-ray I got with the movies and OVAs. Saw the movies on back to back days (01.07, 01.08). It took a while to get through the OVAs, but I finished them all (01.19). It was great to go back to one of my first and favorite anime series.
- And this is another reminder of a date that was supposed to happen (01.14) and then finally being unfriended (01.18). That same day, I met someone else, but there was a catch to it. Oh well.
- Finally got to order and eat a sushi boat with coworkers (01.28). We got through at least 80-85% of it. I wanted to at least finish my portion of the order, but I tapped out after eating the majority of it.
- Caught up on NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia (01.27) and that was fantastic. Continuing the trend of each TakeOver having incredible matches. The next day was the Royal Rumble (01.28). I was invited to go to a friend's place to watch with some of their friends. Both rumble matches were so fun. We were going nuts. One of the highlights was all of us getting into a group hug and cheering after Nakamura won. We were so tired too, ha. The women's rumble match was equally great. All I have to say is that my prediction for both rumble matches were correct. I've never guessed the rumble winner correctly and here I get 2 in the same night. Yay for all Japanese winners.
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- The OverBlood Facebook group I'm a part of was doing this last year so I decided to do it for myself in 2017. I kept track of all the games I beat that year. It would have been nice to hit an even 20, but 2017 was a busy year. Considering that Zelda and Mario were among those games, I am surprised I had time to beat as many as I did.
- I started the year by playing the Breath of the Wild DLC known as the Champions' Ballad (01.01). It took one week to beat it (01.07). That was well done DLC. I even spent some time afterwards upgrading some gear. Having the motorcycle made it easy to go after Star Fragments when they landed.
- We had a Nintendo Direct Mini (01.11). There was a lot of good stuff mentioned, but I only had 2 games from it that I reserved (The World Ends With You: Final Remix and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition). Finally get to play The World Ends With You (skipped it when it was originally released) and I don't mind jumping back into Hyrule Warriros as it was so much fun. I did consider also reserving Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. While it's a good game, I remember not enjoying it as much as Returns. If they bundled both together, I would have reconsidered.
- Continuing with more DLC, the first game I actually completed for 2018 was Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero: Friends to the End (01.15). Just like previous Shantae games, I was able to 100% it within a few hours. Not a bad campaign, but it definitely was weaker than the main game and Pirate's Conquest (to me).
To the End. pic.twitter.com/NMr43UTwcu— Arnell (@ArnellragasA) January 15, 2018
Friends to the End 100% completed. pic.twitter.com/LHQc76d6mn— Arnell (@ArnellragasA) January 15, 2018
- Friends got me swag from their time at PAX South (01.20). They were all items from three of my favorite game series; No More Heroes, Ace Attorney, and Shovel Knight. Super cool of them to get me things.
Friends got me gifts from PAX; a pin, a lanyard, and a shirt. All from favorite series of mine. Super cool. pic.twitter.com/rFwWZ63aH0— Arnell (@ArnellragasA) January 20, 2018
- Got a good deal for a Joy-Con Pro Controller charging dock (01.22). At first, I was only looking for a charging dock that holds 2 sets of Joy-Cons, but once I saw there was one for a Pro Controller and one set of Joy-Cons, that was the one I seeked. Yay for good eBay deals. The only downside to it is that the lights that show your controllers are charged stay on so I have to unplug it. Still a good deal.
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- We tasked a few of the Agents with creating a Puzzle Flyer in December. Agent Raynor and I then chose one to print and make a contest out of (01.01). The final puzzle and design was created by Agent Blue-Heeler. She did great. Anyone that solved it got a free shirt from us. Unfortunately, the turn out was fairly low, but we will most likely revisit it to unload the rest of the shirts.
- First Company Meeting of the year (01.02). It was crazy as Agent Blue fell ill. I and a few others helped him out while the others continued with the meeting. He ended up being fine, but it definitely wasn't something any of us forecasted to happen.
- Agent Majordomo's last day has come and gone (01.04). Had a nice talk with him on his last day. He mentioned that he will miss having our talks, but I assured him that we can still have them. He'll be successful no matter what he does and will be missed.
- The weather was really cold in Houston for a couple of days. We had to cancel work until it was safe again for Houstonians (01.16, 01.17). I still did some work from home such as listening to an Audible book I was tasked to read as well as some other things I could do out of the office.
- It has been a while since we had any wedding proposals and then we have two on the same day (01.21). I wasn't going to be part of these originally as I am off on Sundays, but I met with one of the proposers the day before and he requested I be there to make sure things ran smoothly. So that made it easy for me decide to come in on an off day.
The first one was conducted by Agent X. The team was on the J100 side doing ER1 while I was ushering in friends and family to surprise the proposee in J120. It was great seeing friends and family be equally nervous about every little bit as I kept them updated on what was happening. And then the payoff with the proposee coming in and being surprised and exclaiming, ha. She of course said "yes" and we all celebrated.
The second one was conducted by Agent Blue-Heeler in ER5. This one was a little different as those of there did not do any of the planning. But we were able to pull the proposer to the side before his session claiming a "payment issue." Blue-Heeler and I took him to the room, showed him where the ring would be, and walked him through the scenario of how it would play out. That greatly relieved as he seemed very worried. I let him know I would not be there for the result, but that everything will be fine. It was great to hear that his proposal was also successful.
I definitely enjoy doing these. I wish we did more.
- More marketing. We bring you the Couples Challenge (01.25). For the month of February, teams of 2/4/6 can compete for the fastest time in ER5. The team with the fastest escape time gets board games and 3D printed trophies. As of typing this (02.11), we have had a few challengers and more that have signed up. Hopefully more will.
- And the first blog of 2018 was written by Agent PQ (01.31).
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- Amber X Luna - Lower (MV)
- TWICE - Candy Pop (MV)
- Siedah Garrett X BoA - Man in the Mirror
- BoA - Watashi Kono Mama De Iino Kana (MV)
- Yuri X Raiden - Always Find You (MV)
- Red Velvet - Bad Boy (MV)
- BoA - NEGA DOLA (MV)
- BoA - Weekly Idol Ep 340
NEGA DOLA and her appearance on Weekly Idol was a kind reminder of how much I love BoA.
That's it for January 2018. Thank you for reading.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
