Monday, August 3, 2020

July 2020 Entry

July 2020 Entry 

There's a new interface for blogger. I tried it out, but wasn't digging it. So this entry will be the last one edited on the legacy editor until it rolls over at the end of August. 

MISC========================= 

- Look at all the Twinkies I ordered (07.03). Been eating one per day. As of typing this (07.31), there are 31 left to eat. 


- Was messaged that during a recent meet up that one of them was recently in contact with someone who tested positive. 2 weeks of quarantine started (07.09). Were I living alone, this would have been less stressful, but the first day was full of worry and everyone not being on the same page of how to handle things. Thankfully I spoke with a friend who is a nurse throughout the pandemic and he suggested the easiest thing would be for me to wear a mask around the house. Took a while for me to remember to wear walking in the house. The other thing was me being paranoid about everything that was happening to me healthwise. Every sneeze, raise in temperature, or anything not regular freaked me out. Everything's fine thankfully. 

- The a/c went out (07.13-07.14). Unfortunately the stores were closed so parts to buy were not accessible. An uncle who specializes in a/c repair came by to bring a portable unit. I helped with setting it up and it made the upstairs feel good for that night. 

- My local GameStop called about my preorder for the new Paper Mario game. I told them I wasn't going to get it anymore. They did inform me that the $5 from the pro program is also going to waste and that I could now use it online for digital purchases (hinting that I can use it for eShop credit). The next day (07.15) I tried to use it. Wasn't working. Called the store and they directed me to another number for GameStop customer service. Spoke with 3 different people and...2 hours later was told that the ability to use the code online wasn't ready yet. Yeah...such a waste of time. I would say the worst part of it was the second person I spoke to as they almost immediately transferred me to someone else (why was I transferred to them in the first place). I did call my GameStop to let them know because they were telling all their customers about it too. Since then, the $5 can now be used online, but not for digital items. 

- 4 hours of sleep (07.23). I got 3 hours at my normal time, woke up to use the bathroom, and then couldn't go back to sleep. Of course whenever that happens, I do all my normal tactics to go back to sleep. They didn't work so I stayed up. Then I managed to roll over and get an hour of sleep before waking up when I normally do. 

- I don't know why, but I was compelled to watch old videos I have (07.26). Every now and then, I'd watch old video projects I finished, but only specific ones. This was the first time I watched more than that and even the raw footage. The main reason I wouldn't watch them in the past is because of the people that are in them. Most of them I haven't seen in a decade for various reasons. Still wasn't able to watch certain videos, but I sure did watch more than I did in recent memory. The ones I did watch were good memories. Would I want to reconnect with some of them? Yes...but it's still hard. A few of them, I have within the past year. I don't know. I've always felt it would be easier if they reached out to me as I've been apprehensive in the past when I had reached out to a few (or sometimes backing out on it). 



- We've been having random waves of rain. It has affected our internet a few times as well. The internet was out for 4 hours one day (07.29). Funny because it happened during my normal stream time, but I delayed it by half an hour. And here it gets delayed by 4 hours instead, ha. 

- Prime Movies Round 04 wrapped up. It was a good one. My Spy and The Beauty Inside were my favorites out of the bunch. If you want to be surprised by a movie, I cautiously suggest I Am Dragon, ha. Round 05 in August. 



WRESTLING========================= 

- Got some new Asuka merchandise (07.17). Not pictured are the new Edge sunglasses I also bought that came with the Asuka mask towards the beginning of the month. Shout out to Reversed2's awesome donation saying to use it on the Asuka figure. 


- Extreme Rules was alright (07.19). Great action in the ring, but some wonky endings to some of them. 

- Bon voyage, Kairi Sane. I'm glad I was able to see you perform live and in person a few times. 

WORK========================= 

- Agent Raynor emailed us about the company shutting down (07.08). I'm pretty sure all of us were holding out and hoping for the best, but for the type of business we are, the pandemic makes it impossible to do what we do in a safe capacity. I haven't really publicized it that much other than telling a few close friends, my initial Twitter post, and this post. But the email let us also know that we had a few days to go to the Downtown location to claim some items. 

Agents PQ, Majordomo, Blue, Blue-Heeler, Striker, and myself met that same day Downtown. It was good to see them all again. It was fun to laugh with each other. I didn't take a bunch of stuff, but the items I did take were from Scarlet's. You can see some of those items in the background of streams now. And I did make sure to take photos inside of The Scarlet Scam as well as actually say "bye" to the room. 



It's incredibly heartbreaking. I felt like I could have done this for many more years to come. Other than the one year that wasn't great, I was confident in with what I was doing there and those who I was working with. I don't think I'll ever find another job quite like this one.

First escape room - Mo's Safehouse (07.12.14) 
Interview (08.08.14) 
First day of training (08.09.14) 
Official on board (08.20.14) 

Year 1 - Learning and enjoying 
Year 2 - Honing my craft 
Year 3 - Proud and at my peak 
Year 4 - Lost and not confident 
Year 5 - Keeping faith and staying loyal 

Proud of: 
The Scarlet Scam. 
Training and bonding with fantastic Agents (not all of them, just being truthful). 
Being a leader and helping others shine brighter. 
Creating memories for ourselves and the customers. 
And much more. 

And for now...I don't know what I want to do for work. I don't know what job I could transition to where I'll feel I could be myself and have my skills utilized to the best. That's how good the Houston Escape Room was for me. I'm open to suggestions or leads. Otherwise I'll passively be looking for something.

Thank you, Houston Escape Room.  

GAMES========================= 

- Getting close to the end of the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection with Mega Man ZX (07.01-07.02). We're now in the DS games and the step up of a generation is very noticeable. Looks great, has anime cutscenes, more buttons to do more with, etc. The exploration is alright, but a better map would've been helpful. Overall, I enjoyed finally getting to play ZX. 




- First showcase of the month with Demo Showcase 43 (07.05). 
Croc's World 3 - Just like the previous Croc's World games, but you can also choose to play as a kangaroo now. 
Pocket Stables - Equestrian fun. Definitely was getting into it, especially watching the horses race. 
Speedrunners - A fun multiplayer obstacle racer. Took a bit to get used to the mechanics, but I can see this being insanely fun with multiple players. 
The Touryst - Looks good, played fine, but was too short for me to care anymore about it. 
Trials of Mana - A lengthy demo that you could play with all the characters. Played twice to see a different story. 

And I ended up picking Trials of Mana as my favorite of the showcase. I could have gone longer with one playthrough, but I wanted to see how much difference there was in another character's story and was pleased with the results. It looks great, the voice acting was top-notch, and I wanted to play it more. 

I forgot to post it on Twitter (did in Discord), but I ended up buying physical copies of Trials of Mana...and Collection of Mana as they were both on sale. So I have a plan with how to approach these, but I will start with Collection of Mana. 


- The NES game of the month was Solomon's Key (07.07). Never played it, only knew what the cover of the game looked like. Some of the level puzzles were difficult and I had to resort to watching videos to finish them. Got the worst ending, ha.



- Evan's Remains was a game I only kept an eye on because of a viewer named Evan (07.09). Jokingly we thought it would be fun to play it on stream, but it became a reality. While we knew there were platforms fashioned in a puzzle form, we were not prepared for the heavy story that was mysterious and emotion inducing. Pleasantly surprised. 




- QUByte Interactive sent another code for one of their new games, Dongo Adventure (07.09). Playing it in August. 

- Free game of the month was Dauntless (07.11). Very fun. An easier to access and more colorful Monster Hunter. Ended up playing with polly (a regular in chat). While I was having fun beforehand, playing with someone I knew was better (of course). Wouldn't mind playing it with others if I see them stream it. 



- Won a raffle in DuvyDesigns stream for a random drawing. I requested she draw the block character from GRIS (07.11). She knew who I was talking about as she played the game not too long ago and was also a fan of the cube character. 


- REKT! High Octane Stunts was...lackluster (07.13). It was the next Qubic Games we got for free last year. And I'm glad I didn't spend money on it. It crashed a few times and there's no singular goal to "beat" the game. Just get more points to unlock more cars. I ended this one after 2 hours. The one high spot was the generous donation from Reversed2 that I mentioned earlier in this blog. That made the stream worth it. 


- Sponsored stream from QUByte Interactive with HexON (07.14). You fit pieces onto a grid. The puzzles are set up nicely and can provide quite a challenge. There were a couple of hiccups, but we ended up getting stuck on one of the latter levels, which a lot of others online also got stuck on. Gave it a good hour before calling it quits. It's not bad though. DuvyDesigns was watching and ended up buying it as it really piqued her interest. 


- Finally played the Cadence of Hyrule Octavo DLC (07.16). Decided to do this on the one year anniversary of playing Cadence of Hyrule. It was so good to be back in this game's world. 

And then a few days later during their Mini-Direct, Nintendo announces a physical release as well as season pass DLC. They're listening to me as I did say I wouldn't mind more reasons to play this game. 




- Second showcase of the month with Demo Showcase 44 (07.18). 
Coffee Talk - You're a barista in Seattle in a world where orcs, mermaids, and other beings live normal lives. 
Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories - I knew of this series from Game Informer playing Raw Danger. It was interesting to actually play one of these, but I felt really lost (had to look up a guide). The cool action moments are great, but trying to get to them...not so much. 
Kitty Maestro - This...was...bad. Probably my least favorite demo I can recall ever playing. 
Strike! Ten Pin Bowling - This was also bad. I even said "there's no way you can mess up bowling controls" and they messed up bowling controls. 
SWORD ART ONLINE: FATAL BULLET Complete Edition - Looks good, has good voice acting...but it offered very little game play. Played it for almost 2 hours and 15-20 minutes was me playing it. The rest was lots of talking. Yes, it's the first chapter of the game and the save can carry over, but that's probably the wrong way to go about this. The trailer had me more excited as it showed tons of game play that I didn't get to experience. 

Coffee Talk was the obvious favorite. The competition wasn't rough (3 thumbs down is a record), but it would have been hard to top Coffee Talk. I wanted to see and no more about the world and characters and I can't wait to play it (currently penciled in for September). 


- Played my Limited Run Games copy of Mighty Switch Force! Collection (07.20-07.23). 4 games in the whole collection. Played one game a day. Easy to understand mechanics, but the level design shines and is challenging. I would like to play Academy with others some time as I want to be part of that chaos, ha. 

- The power/internet went out when playing Bury me, my Love (07.25). That was unfortunate as it now being in two parts I feel breaks the flow. Had it gone out in the first 10 minutes, restarting the whole stream would have been fine. But the game is interesting. It sucked me in, it sucked the viewers in, and I wanted to see more of the possible 19 endings. After doing some digging and watching one extra ending, it seems like such a task to attain them all. Besides, it was good that I didn't go for one more ending on stream as the internet went out again 5-10 minutes after I ended. 




- To the Moon was the unofficial start to Star/Space theme for August (07.27). I only knew about this game because of supershigi producing music and singing a song for it. So I got it on sale and really enjoyed the emotional story it told. I teared up finally hearing supershigi sing in the game. Didn't know when it was supposed to happen, but it hit me. It's a story heavy game and has a few technical issues, but I do think it's a game you should experience either yourself or through watching someone else play it. And I don't know why I didn't tweet screenshots along with the normal post when I beat a game, apologies. 




- Pokken Tournament DX was free for one week so I added it to the schedule (07.29). Was going to start streaming half an hour later since the game wouldn't be available until noon, but then the internet went out for four hours. But things turned out well as there was a good turnout for it. Met some new people and got some matches in with SNERDAPERDS and polly58033. Definitely had more fun with it than from what I could remember when trying the demo years ago. I even played it one more time in SNERDAPERDS' stream. My favorites ended up being all the fire types, Mewtwo, and ultimately Pikachu Libre. 




- And the original kick off to the Star/Space theme for August was the SNES game of the month, Star Fox (07.30). I was worried the look of it would be a bit off putting after 20+ years, but it wasn't at all. Didn't take long for me to get back into the swing of things. Ended up doing everything in the game (all 3 paths and secrets). Good stuff. 



ETC========================= 

- Red Velvet - IRENE & SEULGI - Monster (MV) 

- Red Velvet - IRENE & SEULGI - Naughty (MV) 

Out of the 2 songs, I think Naughty is cooler with the dance and presentation. But as a song, I like Monster more. At first I thought the combination of these 2 would be a little odd, but they compliment each other very well. Some day, I'd like to see all members of Red Velvet perform these songs. 

- HYO - Dessert (MV) 

- Cowboy Bebop's "The Real Folk Blues" Special Performance 

- This was a rough month for multiple reasons. One was not feeling healthy. My body was actually in a lot more pain than it had been in a while. For a couple of weeks, my left arm actually felt numb. Thing is, it only happened late at night. It didn't happen every day so I would forget, but it happened more than it should have. Thankfully that stopped. But the majority of pain is in my hips and back. I know that's because I sit a lot more. So I'm making an effort to stretch more often throughout the day, adjust my posture when I sit, alter my position when lying down, and stand up or kneel in front of my computer if I'm in front of it for a long time. I'm also wearing my back brace more often, not only when it hurts. I developed a rash on the back of my right thigh too. It was worse at first as I kept irritating it. But putting lotion on it helps. It's very similar to the rash I had on my left arm last year. And it seems like more of my hair is falling out. Not in large clumps, but more than usual. Add in the 2 weeks of quarantine, my body wasn't feeling all too good. Thankfully I'm exercising a bit more. I've unfortunately put on a few pounds during lockdown and I've grown lazy to the lackluster "workout routine" I did in the past. Better than nothing. 

The other thing was that I'm feeling lonelier than usual. Not being able to see people face to face regularly for months has been horrible. This might have been the reason I ended up watching old videos this month. Being single during a pandemic doesn't help. I remember seeing an influx of new users on dating apps, but that just meant more people not to swipe right on me. I actually put a pause on dating apps this month because nothing has happened in a long time with them (I tend to pause once a year). My profile was changed to promote my Twitch channel during that time. I did get a few random new followers, but there's no way I can tell if they're coming from the dating apps. Pandemic or not, I know people are still connecting with dating apps because I hear/read about them. It's not happening with me...and I don't know what to do. I will go back to swiping in August, but not as much as I used to (only a couple times a day rather than whenever I have free time).

Obviously Houston Escape Room having to shut down was a big deal. Still going through the grieving stages of it all. I do wish streaming was a steady source of income. That's the one thing that has been consistent and steady ever since the pandemic started. While I hit 450 followers recently (yay), the number of subscriptions has gone down. Not that the subscriber count was ever super high, but I definitely lost a few the past couple of months. I'm at a steady 10. Can't stress enough that I would like more support in this venture. The average viewer count per stream has been consistently more than it used to be (3 to a 4 is an improvement) and I've noticed the viewer count during streams has gone a couple higher than usual. I do feel I'm doing well with it as people are gravitating to me and like for me and only because of the game/s I stream. And I have been enjoying it more because...well, I have to. I genuinely do, but it's all I have going for me right now. It's also the safest and best economic activity I can continue to do during these times. If I wasn't streaming, I'd be in such a rut. 

I don't know who reads this. I see the view count when I post a new entry. It's usually between 10-20. But I don't know who is reading this. I only link this blog on Twitter so I can only assume a few followers are the ones that read this. If you are someone that reads this and we're on good terms or haven't really gotten to know each other that well, reach out to me and let's talk. If you are someone that reads this and we've lost touched, if you're comfortable in trying then let's reconnect. I wouldn't mind the company from anyone especially now that loneliness is at a high point.

To summarize (the bad):
I lost the best job I've ever had and I'm unemployed.
My back and hips hurt a lot.
I'm still single...10+ years.

To summarize (the good):
I have a savings that will keep me afloat if I don't find work soon. 
My health is decent and thankfully not worse.
Streaming is keeping me sane as it slowly grows and I achieve/hit small goals.

- That's a wrap on July 2020. Thanks for reading. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 
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