July 2021 Entry
July went by fast. I also edited last month's post as I forgot about an interaction that happened with the movies I watched that month.
Also apologies for the dump of text the last few months. Whenever the format changed, I was never able to have videos and tweets and other media pop up like prior. If I did, the formatting and layout would look horrible. I'll keep trying, but then again, no one is saying anything for me to know whether they mind or not.
Also apologies for the dump of text the last few months. Whenever the format changed, I was never able to have videos and tweets and other media pop up like prior. If I did, the formatting and layout would look horrible. I'll keep trying, but then again, no one is saying anything for me to know whether they mind or not.
MISC=========================
- I deleted all my dating apps (07.01). I am still single. It does feel nice to not spend many minutes a day swiping and swiping hoping that a connection would be made.
- Batman: The Long Halloween Part, Part One was really good (07.02). I only knew of this specific Batman arc, but not the details so I was getting surprised multiple times. And I do like that there's still the mystery of who Holiday is leading into Part Two.
- I won a polaroid in an iceTokki stream last month. She had been doing this for a while and if I was in chat, I'd enter to try and win. I forgot what happened that day, but I know I wasn't feeling great. Ending up winning brightened my spirits. It arrived early July (07.03).
https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/1411442605209104385
- I was feeling better health-wise for a long time so I decided to try a Fanta (07.08). I cut it out since it was causing my heart rate to rise fast. I did take a long time drinking it, pretty much all day. Was totally fine until the next day when I could feel the effects that used to happen to me. It was nice to taste it again at least. If I were to try it again, I'd take it even slower.
- Reached level 100 in Ring Fit Adventures (07.10). Still not done with the adventure, which I did know was long. Maybe by the end of the year I'll finish it.
- On a recent episode of Knowing Brothers, they had 2 members from both BabyVoX & Shinhwa (07.22). It was great seeing members of BabyVoX after so long. The one thing that really got me was when they were doing dance medleys. The Shinhwa dances were all familiar as I kind of regularly did them over the years. But the BabyVoX dances I had not done in forever and I still remembered them. It made me tear up.
At the end of the month, I did attempt to see if I still knew one of the dances from BabyVoX. I chose Game Over as I remember singing to it in the car recently and remembering the hand/arm movements. 85-90% of it is still in me and that's fantastic.
- I don't recall how it happened, but I realized that the file numbers for clips I've been making for every stream was off (07.08-07.23).The one I noticed I was missing was for Tetra Escape and that happened early on so I had to make that and renumber about 600 files. In the end, I was missing 17, but that was because I did not make clips for all games until later on. I wanted to make sure that even for Demo Showcases that I ended up getting the full game of had them as well so I would have all bases covered. The process took the longest in the beginning, but the tedium became easily manageable after everything was numbered.
- I had meant to do this for a while, but I packed up old consoles I had on display in my room (07.25). It was mainly to clean and to create more physical space. Plus the consoles on display aren't seen by anyone even on stream. The last person I can remember saying anything about them was one of my best friends and her daughter and that was 3+ years ago. I still had the original boxes for my N64, PS2 Slim, Wii, Wii Mini, and Wii U. It didn't take long to do and I also packed away a bunch of controllers that were "at the ready." I still want to pack away the rest, but I don't have boxes for them. Don't know what happened to the GameCube and Playstation boxes because we used those boxes to set the systems on.
WRESTLING=====================
- The first SmackDown with a live crowd was amazing (07.16). The crowd was electric all night and it felt so different after 70 weeks with no physical audience. This was also the first live event in my town that I decided not to go to. RAW will be in town in October and I'll probably skip it too. Just not ready for big crowds yet.
- Money In The Bank, my goodness (07.17). So fun. MITB is always one to look forward to and it did not disappoint.
- In general, seeing crowds for all wrestling shows again is awesome. I do hope for the best with the performers and crowd staying healthy. It would suck to see the audience go away again and some shows in cities have already been cancelled. Again, hoping for the best.
H.E.R.========================
- It's not 1:1 of recent news in the gaming world, but it made me think of this story.
I can't remember exactly when this happened, but it should be around year 2 of the company. One of our coworkers was leaving to teach (I believe), Agent Audrey. This was also around the time that I was taking more of a trainer role. I don't recall specifically if management at the time had exit questions, but at some point I spoke with her individually and asked her things. One of those questions was what she would change about the company. She said something along the lines of "it feels like a boys club here." During that time, she would have been the 4th female hired, but there were only 3 at the time and maybe 7 men. Not that we did anything horrible, but the ratio was not balanced.
Adding to this, I don't remember when I started doing interviews and taking on the majority of the interviews, but what Agent Audrey said always stuck in my head. I did not make it a goal to only hire more women. We had always been a company that was culturally diverse and open to any sexual orientation. Not that it mattered, but that is something that wasn't touched on during our time. Very diverse team.
Over the years, we hired some really talented women. The gender ratio was more balanced. It may have been years later when I was personnel manager and it came up in a conversation with the operations manager. She said something along the lines of "you can't do that." I understood what she meant, but I had to immediately remind her that I had not been hiring only women and that I definitely passed on hiring women who I felt weren't qualified and even fired women who didn't end up working out and that I did that for the men too. There was never "I hired her because she's a woman." If you were able to do the job and got along with the staff, great. Was I correct on all my hires, no. But my track record was high in the positives.
GAMES=========================
- I had been thinking about how to utilize Instagram for a while. After talking about it out loud in a stream I decided to do it. I created the account on the 15th of June and knew to start posting in July (07.01). Clips from every game will be posted. Every post will be formulaic with the text. And the clips are 5-60 seconds long so it's easy for people to digest. So far, so good. I'd like more eyes and interaction. If you're reading this and have an Instagram, I would appreciate a follow.
- More from the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle with Knights of the Round (07.01). GToTheNextLevel and RannchanDoesThings were my first set of dual guests to play with me. It was fun. There are a couple things that bugged me and it was all me. One, G was not properly centered for half the stream. Reason being that I showed him right before we started that I can move him to the upper portion of the screen, but had to adjust it and that somehow affected his position on the bottom. The second was on the stream's end because Twitch was having issues. The VOD didn't keep the last half hour. So I had to upload the original file, which means losing chat (not too many people showed up) and I couldn't cut off the extra minute and extra seconds unless I wanted to edit it. Those things be darned, I still had fun playing with friends.
- Won a giveaway for FLATLAND Vol. 2 (07.03). Could consider it a sponsored stream. First time in a while. And a few months since we ran out of QUByte Games games since they stopped giving me codes. Definitely the best of the FLATLAND games.
- Got my Santa Destroy Bundle from Limited Run Games (07.03). I was wondering if these would arrive before I started my revisit to the No More Heroes series culminating with the third game. So much good stuff. The magnets combining the boxes together was a nice touch.
- Our first community challenge was reached and it was for me to play the lowest scored Switch game on Metacritic; Vroom in the night sky (07.04). I get why it has a low score, but it's not horrible. It functions. I've played worse, but it seems like a game that was made when the original Playstation was released. But I had fun with it and actually completed it 100%.
- Can't wait to dive into The SilverCase 2425 (07.05). I don't recall if I purposely planned to play them after the No More Heroes games or if that was a coincidence.
- There was a free game trial for FUSER (07.05). I usually stream the game trials unless I can't fit it into the schedule. But I was super hesitant for FUSER. I usually don't care for DMCA stuff, but this was a strong contender for getting strikes. I read up on if it was safe to stream because I had seen people stream it, which was why I was excited to play it. The fact that I was worried in the first place even after reading on how you could stream it, I decided against it after talking to a friend about it. The game was super fun though. So many great music tracks that brought back nostalgia as well as excitement for newer songs. Definitely recommend trying it out if you're big into music or being a DJ.
- Nintendo announced the OLED Switch (07.06). It has a better screen, a better kickstand, and a new version of the doc. Plus it looks great in white. In the different circles I'm a part of, I seemed to be the only person that was going to get one. A few had asked my opinion on it and I always said that it's not for anyone that bought a Switch in the last 1-2 years. But for someone like me who is still using a day one Switch, this was a good time to get a new one.
It was made available to preorder on the 14th. I almost missed out on it as I was resting (more details later in the blog). Wasn't able to preorder it from retailers during the first hour. Sometimes I had the Switch in my cart, but then it would be out of stock. Oh, and the power went out minutes before the initial retailers started selling them so I was doing this with my phone. Different retailers started to stock of it each hour. Thankfully I was able to preorder one at Target. I would always check any other time more were in stock at other stores in case I wanted to swap to another retailer or possibly pick it up instead of having it shipped, but I figure it's better to keep the preorder I have.
- Demo Showcase 68 (07.06)
- Fire 'n Ice was a good puzzle game (07.07). Learned that it was the sequel to Solomon's Key, which is why we played it on this day (one year later). It was certainly challenging. Had to watch a bunch of video walkthroughs to get through the main game, which took 8...hours. Didn't expect to spend that long on it, ha.
- Another "sponsored" stream with Vectronom (07.09). Last month we were given a code while playing the demo so I figured we should try it sooner rather than later. Very fun. Can be rough on the eyes because of the colors, but thankfully there are filters you can use to help with it.
- Got the Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin amiibo (07.10). Was surprised that they arrived on the release date. amiibo just gets better and better.
- No More Heroes, my goodness (07.11-07.13). It was absolutely amazing reliving this game after such a long time. All the things I really liked and the few things I didn't like were rushing back to my memories, The characters, the music, the fighting...so good. And we did whatever consists of 100% minus the new stuff that is available through new game +. The only thing missing was Heavenly Star, but it's understandable (still got the instrumental in with the BRB music). And I wish the first stream of it didn't get split in two because of the internet dropping. But otherwise, this reminded me why it's one of my favorite games. Can't wait to play Desperate Struggle next month.
- 10 years later, we're back in Skyloft with the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (07.16, 07.17-21). It's one of the rare Zelda titles I never played a second time or 100% in one shot. Motion controls were never an issue for me back then and playing with them again actually felt familiar (just like with No More Heroes). It was almost as if I was playing it again for the first time as I remembered some story beats, but out of order. And similar to the No More Heroes playthrough, I wish the 3rd part wasn't split into 3 parts (2 internet outages). However, this was wonderful to replay and I have a fonder appreciation for Skyward Sword.
- Demo Showcase 69 was nice for multiple reasons. This was the first time 3 developers replied to my going live tweet (07.23). It was for the 3 demos in the middle and one of them even became my favorite out of the showcase.
- Viviette was the winner of last month's Viewer's Choice Vote in Discord (07.24). It was interesting like I remembered with some good puzzles (some I had to look up). We got 2 of the 3 endings and checked off all, but one item off the checklist. The sucky thing was the turnout or lack thereof. Considering this was voted on, I would have expected a few more people to show up, but only one person did and only for a little bit. Good game though.
- World of Tanks Blitz is a fun free-to-play game (07.26). A simple game to get into with quick queue times. Definitely see how people can sink tons of hours into this to buy and upgrade all their tanks.
- Made sure to buy my copy of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (07.27). I still find it odd that I'm not playing it right away, but I will eventually, that's for sure.
- Got Akane for free thanks to an ownership discount (07.28). Fun one-hit-kill arcade action. Got as far as I could with a 400+ kill count. It seemed I was getting better per hour, but I had no idea when it would end so I stopped when it felt proper.
- Finally received all my Shantae stuff I ordered from Limited Run Games (07.28). They did well with the packaging for each one. Glad to get it, but I don't plan to play them yet as more Shantae stuff (mainly clothes) are being sold now. It would be cool to have those when playing the games.
- Another free game from an ownership discount with EQQO (07.29). It was interesting, but it definitely would have been better to play with the touch screen. Great story, animations, and music.
- Stunt Race FX was our SNES game of the month (07.30). I either rented it or borrowed it from a cousin back in the day. It did not age well. It works, it functions, but it definitely is of its time. And when I made the highlight, I thought I cut off the extra seconds like I usually do. I didn't realize it until seconds after deleting the original VOD and by then it was too late. Odd that the first and last stream of the month both have the uncut timing. At least the interrupted streams where the internet dropped or the power went out were still able to have their hard cuts on time.
ETC=========================
- TaeYeon - Weekend (MV)
- I did a giveaway in Discord to celebrate 500 streams. To enter, I asked to DM me their favorite memory from the 500 streams. At first I was going to give only a $10 gift card, but thought to add more and chose to give a code for GRIS on Switch as well. Out of a possible 90 people who could have seen that message, 2 entered. One entered the first day of the giveaway and the other a few days before it ended. And it's not like I didn't remind everyone either. I mentioned it on almost every stream that month and pinged everyone a week before the stream ended. I've had problems doing giveaways in the past, but I thought these incentives were really good. Plus I was excited to read what others had remembered from 500 streams. Didn't happen. Yay for the 2 memories I got to read at least, but this was very disappointing and I probably won't do any giveaways for the time being.
- Got my second dose of the vaccine (07.14). The CVS I went to for my first shot didn't have any more of the one I needed. They called around and found a Walgreens that did and said I'd basically go as a walk-in, but they're expecting me. It was only 10 minutes away and funny enough, it's a Walgreens I go to sometimes as it is on the way to the GameStop I go to. The way I went there wasn't the same, but when I got to the intersection, I knew where I was. Waited for a bit, got the shot, waited a bit, bought some tea, and went home.
Carried on the day and then went to my ENT for a follow up. A couple weeks ago, I went to get a CT scan so we could see how things have changed from when I got the original 2 years ago. Thankfully there was only the improvement from then that we had been working towards and nothing to further worry about. We talked for a bit and decided to continue doing check ups twice a year, but to disregard the hearing tests (unless there was a significant drop in hearing) as my tests had always been getting better and had plateaued. And before seeing the doctor, the nurse commented on my shirt which had the Korean finger symbol for heart. We talked a bit about Kpop, but we were definitely different generations, ha. Also when she took my temperature, she mentioned it was higher than normal to which I replied that I just got my second dose.
Definitely knew of how hard second doses hit people. I was fine until around 8PM. I noticed I was very cold when eating dinner. Afterwards, I basically wore winter-wear because I was that cold. Then my body started aching. Asked my dad to massage me and I felt a little better, but the fever and aches got worse as the night went on. Took a pain pill and tried to sleep it off, but I had to throw up. Tried to drink more and eat just a little, but threw that up as well. Basically couldn't keep anything down. And I basically couldn't sleep so I went to my mom's room and asked for help.
It was hitting me badly. I was too hot, too cold, I couldn't keep anything down, I was in a lot of pain, and my heart palpitations were bad. I lost it and started to cry. My dad yelled at me. "Why are you crying," "everyone goes through this," etc. I was under the realization of "what if I was alone in this moment" and "what if all the recent heart stuff I worked to get normalized the past few months was ruined?" All I wanted was help and I got yelled at for not being able to take care of myself. I cursed back at him and he left while my mom continued helping me. I was having her help me back to my room and propping myself to sleep in a comfortable position multiple times throughout the night. At different points, I was either using an ice pack or a hot water bottle to help with the extreme temperatures I was feeling.
Over time, I started to feel better and the main thing was stomach pains that were keeping me up. I'm usually able to sleep off being hungry and I was trying to, but it hurt a lot. I was actually dozing off and then jolted back awake because of my stomach. With the lack of sleep, I was still losing it. I remember whispering saying "just one last thing, it's almost done, we're almost there" as in once the stomach pains go away, things will be fine. It didn't hit me until 5AM that maybe I was hungry. I had thrown up everything prior and wasn't able to keep anything down. Maybe I could keep things down now. So I slowly made my way downstairs and got some bread and brought it back upstairs to slowly eat. It was at that time my dad came into the room and apologized for yelling at me, which was good because he rarely apologizes.
I pretty much slept all day. I woke up maybe 4-5 times throughout the day and felt a little better each time and was able to eat more. I cancelled the stream for that day obviously and stayed off of social media outside of news on the Switch OLED (yes, I preordered one during this time). But after not being able to sleep until 6AM, I needed that whole day to sleep.
That was rough, wow.
- That's a wrap on July 2021. 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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