Tuesday, January 1, 2019

December 2018 Entry

December 2018 Entry

This year comes to an end. Here's what happened during the last month of 2018.

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- Got new BoA merchandise (12.05). The album is nicely produced and has lots of wonderful photos. I didn't watch the concert until later in the month (12.18). Unchained has to be one of her more chill concerts. Very enjoyable.



- I started to feel ill the weekend Smash Bros came out (starting the day of). One of our coworkers was coming off being sick and I'm sure I caught it from him. It wasn't as bad like when I had the flu, but I was so worried it would get worse. Other than taking medicine, I decided to sleep for 12 hours (12.09). I woke up only 3 times throughout. Felt better, but didn't fully recover until a few days later. Again, not as bad as the flu in November, but I could not believe I was sick again after a short period of time.

- After a little over a month, I won another prize on Toreba (12.11). It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm assuming it is because of the holidays. No big deal. I'm wondering where I'm going to display it though.



- I got Christmas gifts throughout the week of the holiday. First was from my stylist, then from Agent Gig, got a random gift bundle from the OverBlood group, then my cousin on Christmas Day, and lastly from an aunt. Not all are pictured below. 







I did purchase a couple things for myself. One is a mic arm that will help for streaming. Voxgizer recommended it during a stream, but it was missing a screw adapter. A couple weeks later, it became available with the screw so I ordered it right away. The other thing I bought was a Momo cellphone lanyard. I was looking to buy something on Christmas day like I normally do, but other things I had on my wish list were on the more expensive side while the lanyard was a random thing I found on eBay for super cheap. Below is the full list of Christmas gifts.

Gingerbread milk chocolate truffles
Smash Bros. stickers and ALBW keychain
The live action Kenshin movies (digital)
Mic arm (bought for myself, coming early January)
Power Rangers calendar
Chun-Li die-cast metal figurine
Momo cellphone lanyard (bought for myself, coming late January or early February)
Boxer shorts (4 pack)

Christmas day itself was fun. I went to my cousin's place in League City. Caught up with cousins, ate some good food, talked about my cousin's baby, took pictures, beat everyone at Street Fighter (they have the Street Fighter and Pac-Man arcade cabinets), watched everyone open gifts, and ended with trying to play Mortal Kombat X. Fun times and lots of laughs.

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- Went to see RAW live (12.04). Met up with a friend. Fun as always, but one of the less memorable shows that have come to town. Although where we sat was cool. We were in the section that could see the wrestlers come out from behind the stage. I feel like we've sat in that area before, but I don't recall seeing the performers come out though. They announced that Elimination Chamber would be coming to town. This marked the first time I/we went to the box office after a show to purchase tickets. Can't wait to see the chamber in person.



- TLC was a great PPV (12.16). Every match was entertaining. Got 8-12 predictions correct. And of course the main event with the SmackDown women in a TLC match was incredible.


- Someone in the wrestling Facebook group I'm in posted a link for Doki Doki Wrestling Club. Oh my gosh...this is so good. All the references to both the wrestling world and the Doki Doki Literature Club game have been very clever. Can't wait for future episodes.


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- Don't know if I'll keep shouting out gaming YouTubers or streamers each month, but I did save the best for last. This one one is for G to the Next Level. I know him personally as we met in college. Always got a good vibe off of him. We both have interests and wrestling so there can always be something to talk about. We've hung out more here and there and talked more and it's good to hear him speak passionately about things he really likes and just catching up in general. We weren't super close back in college so it's good to get to know him more even if it's 10+ years later. 

He posted his first official video in April 2017. Ever since then, I looked forward to all his videos. I was excited when he announced he was making a channel. Being that I used to produce videos, I would watch his stuff and know the ups and downs he goes through in creating content. But his stuff always turns out great. It's awesome to see that he has an audience that gravitates to him and look forward to his videos.

If you aren't subscribed to him, do it. Not only does he make awesome videos to watch and learn, but he's an all around great guy that deserves all the good things that happen for him. Keep kicking butt, G. 


- I got Alli to say my Agent number in one of her streams (12.02).


- First Demo Showcase of December (12.06). Played 99Vidas, Forgotton Anne, Freedom Planet, OkunoKA, and Xenon Valkyrie+. I enjoyed all of them except for the last game. I played the Freedom Planet demo on the Wii U so I knew what it was like. But the coolest thing to happen was the developer of 99Vidas came in as I was streaming their game. One of the characters was saying a phrase and I asked the chat if they could figure it out. Then he chimed in saying that the phrase was "tomo essa cara," which is Portuguese for "take this." After saying who he was, he then challenged me to beat the demo without dying with a character of his choosing. Don't know if he was watching the entire time I was streaming his game, but I rarely died. So I took on his challenge and beat it. My prize; a code for the full version of the game, awesome. I mentioned I wouldn't get to play it any time soon due to Smash Bros, but that I would let him know when I do (first new game of January).


- Picked up my copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate after a work meeting (12.07). Originally I was going to go to the midnight opening, but I wasn't going to play it that night anyways. I've only been playing World of Light mode and that is a long mode. I beat the first half of it and then took a break to play other things before jumping back into it. I am enjoying the game. Don't know when I'll play with others online though. Been shying away from it.




I also hit a few milestones while playing Smash on different streams. 
1. Longest stream to date (9 hours)
2. Highest viewer count to date (24 viewers)
3. Hit 150 followers

Not only that, but 44 hours later, we have completed World of Light (12.31). 

- The new Super Smash Bros Ultimate amiibo arrived (12.10). amiibo are looking better and better. Ridley is easily a top favorite amiibo that I own.



- Unfortunately, Agent Ocean was also having issues with his stream alert noises not playing. So he did a good amount of research and we both tried different methods to fix it. He did find something a couple days later and my alert noises finally played (12.17).

- Second Demo Showcase of the month (12.19). Played Game Dev Story, Instant Tennis, Katamari Damacy REROLL, Mahjong Solitaire Refresh, and Pic-a-Pix Pieces Christmas. Instant Tennis was a poor version of Wii Tennis (which is way better). Pic-a-Pix, I'm not good at those games so I just cheated and colored everything and asked to see what was right and wrong. Mahjong was not bad, but not was not the standard way you play. Katamari was fine, but too short (one 4 minute level). Game Dev Story was the demo of the stream. Got the chat to interact and help me create games that turned out really well. I did like the Hot Springs version of the game better, but this was not bad either.


- Added the Diablo amiibo to my collection (12.20). It's a good one.



- Got to finally play NES Ninja Gaiden (12.21). Not that I never played it before, but it was the next NES game that came out on the Switch app that I wanted to play on stream. The last time I played it was on an emulator possibly a decade ago. It felt just like the original. Kept a death count and did minimal save stating (mainly in the final act). 137 deaths later, the game was beaten. Just like previous NES streams, I played another game from the list that was chosen by the chat. They chose Ice Climber. That played just as I remembered it too. Tough game.


And thankfully my NES controllers came in for me to play these 2 games on. They actually came in 25 minutes before the stream, ha. They are the exact scale of the original NES controllers and felt and played the same as well. 



- The tradition of the 12.31 Super Replay continues with God Hand.


- I played a lot of games this year. Probably the most in the past 5 years. Below is a Tweet with the list of games I beat. The count is 44 or 75 games depending on how you want to count (compilations as 1 or several games). 



Something I used to do when I reviewed games was make a list of "best of" and such. Since I played a lot of games in 2018. Below are a few categories where I gave my top 3 of. Didn't want to get too crazy about it or add any descriptions. If you wish to know why, feel free to ask. 

-----Top 3 Disappointing Games of 2018----- 
3. Pocket Rumble 
2. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy 
1. Runner3 

-----Top 3 Re-releases of 2018----- 
3. Shantae: Half Genie Hero: Ultimate Edition 
2. Child of Light: Ultimate Edition 
1. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition 

-----Top 3 Favorite Games of 2018----- 
3. Thumper 
2. The Messenger 
1. Save me Mr. Tako: Tasukete Tako-San 

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- Both locations had their monthly meetings (12.04, 12.07). Downtown actually came to the Memorial location to play Naval Warfare for their activity. Glad they finally got to try it out. The Memorial team went beat a wizard themed escape room. Not a bad one. Other than a small snafu that happened when we arrived, I would recommend it. My escape room record is now 81% success rate with 26 rooms escaped out of 32.


- On December 1st, I ended up going to the Downtown location after hearing they were low on staff due to one being sick and one no-showing. This was halfway through my shift at Memorial. During my time there, I got to speak to those that were there about how things were and got a lot of negative feedback. It prompted me to email the owner that night to meet up and discuss things. I even mentioned I would go visit him if he couldn't come to town.

We ended up meeting over a week later (12.11). It was a good 2 hour conversation in a little sandwich shop. I got a lot off of my chest, I let him know of the staff's frustrations, I made suggestions, etc. He mentioned how he also realized that things need to change. The following week, he came back into town to talk to more staff and one who had just left (we'll miss you, Agent Striker). There was a plan for me to return to Downtown temporarily as well as a few others suggestions. As of now, the start of changes happening there is going on and I'm not needed for now. Hopefully things will take a turn for the company in general. I am still concerned about the direction of the company, but I'm glad things are in motion for the better. 

On the 30th, I went to pay Downtown a visit. I just wanted to say "hi" to those that were there, but it immediately turned into them talking to me about their concerns. It was similar to my visit earlier in the month. Some things were repeats while some things were new. In the end, I stayed until they closed and emailed the owner again when I got home. Let's see what happens from this instance. 

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- TWICE - The Best Thing I Ever Did (MV)


- Jessica - One More Christmas (MV)


- BoA - Amor (MV)


- Tiffany Young - Peppermint (studio session)


- DBSK - Truth (MV)


- Happy Birthday, Sana (12.29). 


- 2018 was better than 2017 thankfully. It wasn't the best though. An easy way to sum up the year was that I worked less and played more games. Work has its moments, but I do lean to it being still on the bad side as there are always frustrations. I am thankful for the coworkers that I see all the time and their dedication to the craft as well as the ones that still contact me and think of me at the other location. 2019 might be the make or break year for work. 

Streaming has been great. While I still hope for more and have some gripes, the people I've met have been wonderful. I appreciate their continued support and words of encouragement they provide. There are too many people to thank, but I will say thank you to my fellow friends I know in real life that also stream (TheDoubleTakeOfficial, ClottyCola, and y0nderboy). Thank you for helping me and my community grow.  I'm also glad to have different sets of audiences and that some crossover and are becoming friends themselves. I do look forward to streaming and seeing who shows up (old friends, new friends, surprises from developers, new audience, etc). More importantly, I'm glad they are they enjoying the content, but just me as a person. Thank you.

- That's a wrap on 2018. Let's see what 2019 brings.


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."

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