Saturday, December 2, 2023

November 2023 Entry

November 2023 Entry: 

Oh, November. Emotions were all over the place. 

MISC========================= 

- We've had two tall pine trees in our front yard ever since we moved here. I didn't know we were getting them cut down (11.09). I realized when I heard the sawing outside, heard the timber fall, and felt the force of them hitting the ground. It needed to be done as the pines always got stuck in the gutters and it was never easy cleaning them out. The first 24 hours without the trees was odd, but now it's normal.  

- We had a power outage (11.11). It lasted 2-3 hours before I had to go to work. But the thing is, the power went out while I was using the bathroom, ha. Never had that happen in my life until that point.  

- Helped Agent Ocean move (11.12). I knew of him moving, but he asked the day of, which I was open to. From around 12-6 was helping load up the cars, driving to the new living space, and unloading the cars. It's been years since I've helped anyone move. I was surprised I wasn't low on energy especially since I didn't sleep much the night before.  

- I don't remember what the catalyst was, but I decided to try and relearn a few magic tricks (11.16). I know the thought crossed my mind when mentioning to a few coworkers that I can eat fire and used to know tricks in the past. Other than rewatching a few videos, I also decided to clean out my old magic bag. It was a specific bag I used to carry around with tricks and props at the ready. Unfortunately for some of the props, they are broken. For others, I couldn't remember what they were for. I salvaged what I could and threw the bag away. 

- 41 spam calls in one day (11.22). Normally I get 3-5 a day, which isn't horrible, but I could not believe the frequency of these calls. Even my coworkers were amazed every time I took out my phone for one of these calls. From as early as 8AM to around 4PM was how long it lasted. 

- Watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (11.29). Cheers to the person in a Facebook group that was giving out free movie codes. I've always heard tons of positive things about this movie and now I totally get it. I can't think of a single thing I did not like about it. Can't wait to watch the sequel at some point. 
 

GAMES========================= 

- The last of the THEATRHYTHM FINAL BAR LINE DLC was released (11.02). I predicted a long time ago that one of the last two mystery games was going to be Final Fantasy XVI and I was correct. A fitting bookend. With all the DLC out, I don't have strong reasons to come back to the game. There are a few things like completing missions, but trying to collect everything and even pass some of the harder difficulties is always what makes doing everything in the Theatrhythm games next to impossible for me. The game itself, wonderful as expected. Maybe if my backlog lowers, I can at least revisit this one for fun. 
 

- Started doing Demo Showcase Shorts on Twitter/X (11.03). Originally it was going to be 1 Demo A Day, but I mentioned how I can't commit to that (work, etc). Although I could have made that happen if I played multiple demos a day and then scheduled the posts on busy days. So far I've played 15 demos. While there have been a few thumbs up, I have only put one on my wish list (and it was on sale, but I'm waiting for a deeper sale). As excited as I was to do this as a way to go through demos, I'm disappointed by the lack of interaction from anyone. We'll see if it carries over next month or not. 


- Tears of The Kingdom amiibo (11.03). Ganondorf is hefty while Zelda is fairly light in comparison. 
 

- Bought WarioWare: Move It! (11.03) and it didn't take long for me to finish the single-player mode (11.05). It's good. Very reminiscent of Smooth Moves on the Wii. But it definitely would be more fun playing with others. 
 

- All the Game Summaries I wrote for games I beat on stream have now been archived (11.05). There were a total of 311. I only started doing them in 2020 so any that I beat before then didn't have a summary written. Combined with old reviews I made in the past, there are 449.  

- Tricky Doors was the first free-to-play game of the month post-streaming (11.07). It would have been played on stream, but there was a point that I stated I wouldn't play these find the hidden object games on stream. I used video guides to help as you couldn't adjust the difficulty to have unlimited hints (had to pay, which I put $2 into). Hours of game time for free. 
 

- The Mysterious Murasame Castle was the first NES NSO game of the month post-streaming (11.10). I knew of it, but never had access to play it. It's not bad, but I don't think I would have enjoyed it without online maps or stuff like rewinding available. 
 

- And much like the Theatrhythm DLC, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC came to an end. I was able to get gold trophies for every Grand Prix (11.13). Not all had 3 stars because I could barely pull that off on 200cc. At least with this game, I could return to it if others play it on stream and I'm not too busy.  

- Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution was the only thing I cared about during the latest Indie World (11.14). Not that there wasn't anything interesting. Although I can't recall any Indie World or even a Nintendo Direct where I only cared about one game featured. 


- Castlevania Legends was the first Game Boy NSO game of the month post-streaming (11.14).I kept double checking beforehand that it wasn't part of the Castlevania Collection and then wondered why it wasn't included. It's not bad by any means and it's not a must play game. Plus it's not very long so it can be something simple to work your way through in a few hours. 


- Excitebike 64 was the first N64 NSO game of the month post-streaming (11.17). I mainly chose it because it had a time of 2 hours on How Long To Beat. Wanted something simple and short. But I did not have a good time with this one as I could not get used to the controls at all. And I had heard good stuff about it from others, but I didn't see it. Oh well. They can't all be winners. 
 

- Finally got the Splatoon 3 Deep Cut amiibo (11.22). I say finally because it took a while to get them even though I had pre-ordered them. When I got Super Mario RPG, they only had Frye and Shiver. They mentioned Big Man was in transit and wouldn't be there until the end of the day. While I could have bought the other 2 then and there, I decided to wait and get all 3 together. Went the next day and now they only had Frye, no extra Shivers, and Big Man had not arrived yet. They had no ETA on when their packages would be delivered. Not their fault, but disappointing. So I left with only Frye. A few days later on my way back from work early, I remembered to call my GameStop and they mentioned they still had not received them. But they offered to check other stores that might have had them. It was low stock, but one had the 2 I was missing and they called them to hold it. It was on the way home thankfully. I checked out and asked if there was a way to transfer my reservation money, but the clerk said no. However, the (who I assume was) manager said he could do it. He had to do a long way of doing it that required refunding the purchase made minutes ago, giving me cash instead, making a call to my normal store to get confirmation, ringing up the purchase again and taking my cash I was just given, and I left with ten extra dollars in my wallet. Finally had the amiibo. 


- Picked up my copy of Super Mario RPG (11.17). Figured not to play it yet and make it the game I end the month with. It was amazing from start to finish. This is a prime example of what a remake should be. It's very faithful to the original (I recalled story beats, recognized areas, etc) and it had enough modern incorporations to make it a smoother ride. My big critique was that I felt overpowered without trying. It did make the latter half a breeze and never saw a Game Over screen. I probably could have finished it sooner had I not taken a few moments to do some sidequests such as Toadofsky, finding all the hidden chests, Culex, etc. Then the credits rolled (11.27). Sure, I could have tried some of the post boss fight rematches, but I was satisfied. Thumbs all the way up. 


- Fae Farm was the latest Game Trial on NSO (11.28). I had seen streams of it so I knew what I was in for. I finished up the first chapter and was fine putting it down. There was nothing wrong with it outside of long loading times. But if you know me, games like this aren't my jam. 
 

- For those that watched the streams, you'll notice I'm still following the NSO pattern of playing games as well as one free-to-play game a month. Demos are played on days off and no priority days. Game Trials depend because we never know when those come out. If I can fit them, I will just like I did for streams. And new games get priority for wherever upon release. Everything else, the order of how that goes is now: 

Backlog (digital - 8 as of typing this) 
Free-to-play (24 as of typing this) 
NSO (NES, Genesis - alternating months - 11 and 27 as of typing this) 
NSO (Game Boy, GBA - alternating months - 13 and 5 as of typing this) 
NSO (N64, SNES - alternating months - 12 and 20 as of typing this) 
Backlog (physical - 10 as of typing this) 

Once the Backlog shrinks more or is gone, I'll fill most likely work through more of the free-to-play stuff to shrink that number. Then once that gets lower to where it can be one a month again, I'll work through more NSO stuff. Or maybe more NSO stuff especially since some games are shorter and I could probably do two in one day if I have the time. We'll see what happens. 

WORK========================= 

- My first time opening and my first time picking up Midori Hoshi (11.01). Note to self, nice talk. This was also the start of the week that Agent Ocean took a week off so I was making sure I was doing my best. Other than game mastering, I helped Midori Hoshi brainstorm ideas for the project they were given. One of the owners came by and I had a good talk with her about how certain things were going process-wise for work. Another coworker came for their shift, the owner left, and shortly after Midori Hoshi left. 

Not long after, I asked the coworker for some help on game mastering our Star Trek room since we didn't have any sessions. But our system was disconnecting and wouldn't reconnect. We tried restarting the PCs and the iPads, nothing. Contacted the owners to get some advice as I was never told what to do in this situation. One of them picked up and suggested shutting down the main PC that always stayed on. I knew that one PC was to remain on so I didn't think to restart it. Now it's a weekly task to restart that one so it actually gets some rest. After making sure everything was working again, we waited to see if the last session would get booked. We already cleaned and did things and chatted for a bit so I was okay with just chilling for the last half hour. Someone called saying they were going to come and it was my fault for not creating their booking online. They never showed up and we left. Interesting first day of being in charge. 

- Got to try out our holiday escape room; Saving Santa (11.09). It took place of TH3 C0D3, which I had to help move the props out to our storage building along with Agent Ocean (that happened shortly after he returned and before this day). The room wasn't bad. I was expecting it would just be the previous room with a holiday skin, but the props and puzzles and codes were all different. We escaped, yay. It wasn't completely ready as some other props and goodie bags and the mural needed to be done. 

Agent Ocean and I were working on a light prop that required sticking Christmas lights through a cork board and hot gluing them so they stick. It was not fun. A bunch of the lights I was inserting kept falling out after time or if I wasn't careful enough with the slack I was giving it. Agent Ocean then decided to at least glue the important lights and we got that done. But after doing it for at least an hour my back and arms were hurting because of the odd position I had to be in to do this. At some point, the other coworkers that were working on the goodie bags asked if they could use the Christmas tattoos on us. I was down. Not only was it a nice break from what we were doing, but it was also a nice team bonding moment. Agent Ocean also decided we were spending too much time on our project and suggested to the owners to buy something simple and reliable (thankfully). I took a walk outside to stretch my legs and think. 

Shortly after, I went to help Midori Hoshi with painting the mural. We were only painting the sky so it was all blue and little room for me to screw up. The blue was also similar or exactly the same blue we used for The Scarlet Scam, ha. It was also raining outside so the acoustics were amazing and relaxing in the building. Eventually the other coworkers left for the day. And since we didn't have any bookings, Agent Ocean took his leave as well, but made sure we had our stuff before locking up. Midori Hoshi and I were mainly quiet other than the music playing as we were many feet away from each other. Once they finished their section, they joined me and that's when our talking/therapy session started. Again, that's between us. But we kept painting and talking even when the battery powered light went out (used our phones at that point) and stayed longer than planned. Great times. 


- Saturdays are rough when I have to leave for home. If I haven't mentioned it before, it's quiet (whether I'm listening to a podcast or music) and I'm alone with my thoughts on my way home because there's nothing else to do. Well, loneliness kicked in hard (11.11). The work day itself wasn't bad. There were a few moments I enjoyed such as having to take out a big prop out of The Antidote because a group of kids were scared. But I wasn't closing so my mid shift ended at 8PM. Walked over to Happy Lemon to get a drink and say hi to Midori Hoshi. As I walked back to my car at work, that's when it all set in. 

At that point I went in to find Agent Ocean and simply ask for a hug. He was resetting with others. When he was done, I asked and the tears poured out. We went to one of the back rooms and I explained the recent issues of loneliness, worried about being forgotten, how I have nothing to do outside of work, etc. A lot of this was his first time hearing this as I've bottled it up a lot over the years. He gave words of encouragement, but did need to get back to work stuff as the staff was asking for assistance. I stayed in the back room for a bit before going out and letting him know I'll be outside of our door rather than taking up space in the staff room or lobby. When he was able to, he would join me out there and we would continue talking. I would also bid adieu  to any customers that were heading out with him. He learned of other things I did to cope. At some point I texted Agent PQ to see if she could talk and she was able to. Other than sharing a few laughs with Agent Ocean before he had to go back in, I let her know what was going on. We opened up about work frustrations at HER. Midori Hoshi was done at Happy Lemon and came back to chill at Escapology, but was surprised to see me outside. I didn't get a chance to explain since I was on the phone, but I'm sure they could sense something was wrong. 

After about an hour on the phone, I decided I should probably leave. Went back in to make sure Agent Ocean got a chance to say bye to Agent PQ. And I also made sure to say bye to Midori Hoshi who let me know I can rely on them. The ride home was easier with Agent PQ. I let her know of a few other things. She knows of something I never told anyone as of typing this (12.01). But...I could not believe how that all went. Thank you to those that were there for me. Thankfully the Saturdays since then have been okay. Not perfect, but okay. Maybe I needed to let it all out.  

- A customer gave us half the cake from her child's birthday (11.18). It was an Oreo cake too so I was excited to eat a piece of it later in the night. By the time I got to it, the staff had gotten their share, but someone decided to eat all the Oreo cookies. Not cool. Still a good cake, but c'mon. 

And today was the day I decided to try some magic tricks on the staff. One happened earlier in the day and it went off well. It was a new one I learned and I'm glad it went off well. The other I did with the rest of the team after we closed. This one I had done a long time ago. I had refreshed myself on it prior to this day and knew what I needed to do. While one coworker figured it out part of the way through, I made a mistake towards the end which ruined the big reveal. At least we all got a good laugh. Since I messed up, I explained what was supposed to happen so they could all try it if they remember it. 
 

- Lots of stuff happened the week of Thanksgiving. We opened up bookings all week except for Thanksgiving Day. I was only scheduled for 3 days. I ended up working 5 days, which included the whole weekend. The 21st and 22nd were opening shifts (11-4). Shout outs to a coworker for getting me food (11.22). That same day, a customer asked if I knew someone. I did. They had all done The Scarlet Scam back in 2017. He said that it's still his favorite escape room he has ever done. That made my day. 

The day after Thanksgiving, we had all except 6 sessions booked (11.24). I texted Agent Ocean if he and the scheduled team would be okay. We were limited as others had family in town of course. I said I'd be able to work if they allow. About an hour later, got the okay to come in from 3 to closing. Good thing I did join because all the sessions (+1) got booked. It was the first time all our sessions ever got booked so I was glad to be part of that history. 

A customer asked me if I was a ONCE (11.25). She saw my bracelet as I was doing my briefing speech and asked when I was done. I confirmed that I was and then the group asked who my bias was. I said I'll tell them after they escape, ha. After their session, they remembered to ask. Their guess was Jihyo (she's last). They were so surprised to learn it was Sana. Some of them went to the TWICE concerts earlier in the year and then I started playing their last album in the lobby for them to jam to. 

And then I had my first Sunday shift (11.26). I had heard stories about how Sundays normally go. I let the staff know that I want them to take initiative in doing stuff, but that it's okay to relax. I was given a list and I read it out so they all knew at some point. Some weren't taking the initiative as much, but at least they did something. Some of them opted to leave early on their own while others opted to stay to compensate in case there were last minute sessions. And I made sure I did my part and not just ask them to do stuff. And Agent Ocean was a call/text away as well as one of the owners, who I did end up calling to confirm one final task before leaving. But it was getting late so we left and then she called as I got in the car, ha. That call ended up being a good one as we talked for about half an hour as I drove him. It ranged from Sunday itself, some of the staff, as well as asking for advice. I ended it by saying something I've mentioned to a few in regards to how I feel about working there. "I think I'm where I'm supposed to be." And that's how my first 5-day shift ended. 

ETC========================= 

- Happy Birthday, BoA (11.05). 

- Happy Birthday, Momo (11.09). 

- Red Velvet - Chill Kill (MV) 

- Red Velvet Wendy - Leemujin Service 

- Red Velvet - Killing Voice 

Chill Kill is a good album. And while Wendy has always been my favorite in the group, her appearance on Leemujin Service and the group's appearance on Killing Voice has reminded me of why. 

- ITZY Lia - Blossom (lyric video) 

Get better soon, Lia. Anytime a new variety show video is uploaded and she's in there, I react with an "aww, Lia" or "yay, Lia." 

- Jessica - BEEP BEEP (MV) 

- MISAMO JAPAN SHOWCASE "Masterpiece" 

Even though I already watched it, I'm thinking of getting this for myself as a Christmas present along with an import of a game (free shipping). 

- TAEYEON Concert 'The ODD of LOVE' in Seoul 

How I spent my Thanksgiving; TAENGsgiving. 

- TaeYeon - To. X (MV) 

- In the past, I've mentioned how I interact less in Discord servers and streams. That is now leaking to social media in general. For example, I don't post my predictions for wrestling PPVs/PLEs anymore. I am sharing a bit more about work. And then all the clips from streams are almost uploaded to Instagram. So I don't know what I'll post on there afterwards. Maybe nothing? Maybe shift it to reflect images I post on Twitter/X instead of only sharing it as Stories. But then what of Stories? Although I may start converting all my VHS tapes to digital files in the near future. Maybe that can be the shift. Tune in and find out. 

That's a wrap on November 2023. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 




"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Friday, November 3, 2023

October 2023 Entry

October 2023 Entry: 

A new adventure began. 

PS: New bottom banner. The previous one has been in use maybe since the start of this blog and I haven't associated with the person that originally made it in years. Current one is a crop of something my cousin made for the final stream. Temporary depending on if I can find something else to replace it with. 

MISC========================= 

- Adam Copeland (fka Edge) is now All Elite (10.01). That felt like the biggest get for AEW. Crazy to see my second favorite wrestler in another company after all this time. 
 

- I won a giveaway for a free iceTokki shirt last month and it came by early this month (10.03). While I could have chosen different colors for it, I was surprised with my lack of pink shirts especially when I first got into SNSD. I wore the shirt for a few simple errands and also wore it as an undershirt on my first Saturday at work, ha. 
 

- Twitter/X Anniversary (10.05). 12 years now. I know more people are moving away from the platform because of how things have changed. Understandable, but I'll stick with it and maybe get the other one people are getting at the beginning of 2024. 
 

- Took my mom to the airport (10.10). Went to pick up an aunt who was going with her to San Francisco. Other than the two pockets of traffic, it was a simple drive. I actually took an odd route back home that kind of brought through an area close to work. Not super close, but it eventually hit the main highway I take. It was one of those "I have no idea what's around me" situation for about 15 minutes. 

- A day with one of my best friends and her daughter (10.10). It's been a long time since she and I hung out and this would be the second time I'd meet her daughter. We met to have lunch at Rakkan Ramen (a mutual long time friend is one of the owner's, but unfortunately wasn't there that day). Good stuff, try it out if you're in the area. Other than catching up, there was one moment where she had to stop her daughter from doing something wrong and she started to quietly cry. She sat her on her lap to face her and calmly talked to her about why she wasn't supposed to do that. As she was wrapping it up and her daughter was okay, I couldn't help but tear up and then the tears began to fall. She asked what happened and I simply said "what you just did, I want to do that." Tearing up as I type this. She knows I've wanted to be a dad forever. Seeing her be a great mother moved me and made me envious. She almost cried too, ha. As lunch was coming to an end, she suggested getting boba. 

Went to R&B in Chinatown, which is an area I actually have not been to in many years other than a simple pass by. Just the area we were in, there were so many new food and shop places (at least to me). The boba itself was good and the place was nice to chill in. I actually saved their cup and still use it to this day. Played a lot with her daughter (taught her how to fist bump and explode, got to touch fake spiders together, play hide and seek with her doll, etc). We then walked to the churro store next door. The regular ones were sweet and the chocolate filled ones I got were even sweeter. Since the store was playing Kpop music, my friend asked if there were Kpop stores around that we could visit. Back when we got into Kpop, there was only one small local Kpop store and they unfortunately shut down after a year or two (I can recall still seeing their posters on the walls after it closed). There was one a few minutes away so we went there. 

It was EvePink. This was the store my fellow ONCEs always talked about. I never bothered to look up the location for myself. Didn't realize it was 15-20 minutes away from my place. It was smaller than I would have expected, but it was loaded with tons of stuff. It was crazy to see so much Kpop merchandise in person. They mainly stay modern so no old stuff from 10-20 years ago (I asked the clerk). While I did find things I would have liked, I opted not to get anything. The closest thing I was tempted by was the ITZY light ring. The clerk was kind enough to open up a box and show me. I think if the price was $10-$20 less, I would have bought it. Maybe I'll treat myself to it for Christmas. 

And then it was dinner time, ha. A simple meet up for lunch lasted almost the entire day. Throughout all the catching up we did throughout the day, we talked about people from our past and places we've been. We ended up going to Crawfish Cafe. It's been a long time for both of us. It did feel different being back in that area again as it was quite vacant. The owners weren't there, but the food was great. We then took a walk around Hong Kong City Mall, which was empty since it was late. Her daughter kept trying to avoid all the blue tiles, ha. It was around 9 when we called it a day and split. Hugs from her and her daughter before departing. I think we both needed this day. Thank you, friend. 


- I received my custom postcard from Rannchan (10.14). It was a reward for donating during her charity stream. I asked for nothing amiibo related as she had done one in the past. Went for a wrestling entrance and something to celebrate the 5 years and 1000 streams and she did a marvelous job. Thanks, Rannchan. 
 

- While walking up the stairs like normal, my left knee popped (10.15). A lot of my bones pop and crack regularly. This was different. First off, I normally walk up two stairs at a time. Secondly, I wasn't going any faster. But outside of the pop, it felt like electricity ran up the sides of my knee close to the thigh. It was enough to make me stop and take it easy the rest of the day. It didn't hurt at any point afterwards, but the pop became constant. It pops whenever I go down the stairs (not up), if I turn too fast, or if I extend it too far (stretching exercises, etc). More on this later in the entry. 

- The knee stuff happened an hour before going to the airport to pick up my mom and aunt (10.15). Not much to say about this other than my aunt got me a San Francisco shirt (I probably won't ever wear it, ha). And then a few days later, my mom and I went to pick up my dad from the airport (10.18). It's been one month since he went to the Philippines so it was good to see him again. He got me some two pairs of dress shoes (I only asked for one). Unfortunately they are a size bigger, which is odd because my sneakers are the same size. I can always stuff something in them whenever I finally end up wearing them. No formal events in the near future, but the dress shoes I last wore are fairly old and need to be retired.  

- Got invited to a friend's murder mystery dinner (10.20). Had not seen them since before the pandemic and before they moved and before they had a baby. No one had to dress up, but the majority did. I was Becky Lynch because I have a shirt, orange hair extensions, and it gave me a reason to bring out a replica belt, ha. It was nice catching up with others and meeting new people. Food was great. 

Then it was time for the murder mystery activity. DW was in charge of setting it up and let everyone choose characters. The character packets mention how the character would dress if we were given these ahead of time, but I did like that we could choose minutes beforehand. Less stress of trying to find an outfit. I was Ned the Stable Boy. When we all had the chance to read about our character, I knew I had to give him my "bro" voice I used on streams. As we introduced ourselves, I was super nervous, but was totally into character by the end of my speech. There were three chapters to go through where there was an audio clip played putting suspicion on characters (my character was never mentioned) and then a few minutes to go talk to whoever and give the predetermined questions and answers. I could easily tell after talking to others that they easily wrote off that I was the murderer. Other than my voice, I talk about the horses...and aliens, ha. By act two, I had my top three suspects. By act three, I had a definitive suspect. As we wrapped up, I was first to admit innocence and of course my character ended with the line of "ladies, I'm currently available." I was one of a few or the only person who guessed the murderer correct. I was thrilled to get the answer correctly. Great way to end the night as we slowly wrapped up and left. 
 

- Went to see a doctor for my knee (10.24). It was a short stay as all I did was wait, get x-rays, and then see the doctor himself to physically move my knee around. As I said many times, it only pops when I go DOWN the stairs (records show up and down) and if I turn fast and that it does not hurt at all. It's annoying. His summary, no surgery needed obviously, but he prescribed physical therapy (first day for analysis is 11.13). Thankfully the physical therapy place is close by too. 

Later in the day, I went for a massage appointment at Cloud 9. I had been thinking of how to spoil myself with my first paycheck. Didn't want to do anything too crazy or buy something super expensive off my wish list. But since it was close to a month of working, my body is still not used to feeling sore from physically moving around a lot again. And it's been years since I got a professional massage. Then it was about finding a place and this one was only 20 minutes away. And it was fitting too as this was also a gift for being sober for 9 years. Cloud 9, 9 years of sobriety. 

The massage place itself was nice. I got a 40 minute foot massage and a 40 minute body massage. The foot massage was really nice especially since I've been on my feet more. Just in case, I had to mention not to go for my left knee because of the recent injury. After that, it was to the private room for the body massage...and the power went out...as I'm lying face down...naked, ha. It was out for maybe 2-3 minutes. Once things kicked back on, the masseuse entered to start. Would have been funny if the power went out during, ha. While I normally like deep pressure, I had to ask for it to be lighter. Overall it was good and that 40 minutes flew by. The manager is Filipino and he knew I was based on my name so we chatted up a bit as he asked about the experience itself and recommended other workers for the next time I go back. Not sure when, but I'll be back. 

GAMES========================= 

- First official game played after streaming was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection (10.01-10.16). I was excited for this as there was a good mix of nostalgia and new as there were a few titles in the compilation I never played. Rather than talk about each one, you can click the links to see the screenshots and my thoughts on them. Overall, this felt great to finally play through.  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade) (10.01) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade) (10.01) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) (10.02) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES) (10.03) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES) (10.06) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES) (10.06) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES) (10.08) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (SNES) (10.09) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Sega Genesis) (10.11) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Sega Genesis) (10.13) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (Game Boy) (10.15) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Game Boy) (10.15) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (Game Boy) (10.16) 

- A DDR Classic Mini was announced (10.03). I normally don't go for mini consoles/arcades, but this one is really intriguing. Probably won't jump on it right away, but I will definitely keep my eyes on it. 
 

- My physical copy of The Artful Escape arrived (10.11). I think they threw in an extra set of guitar picks by accident or as a "sorry it took so long" gift. This was my favorite game of 2022. 
 

- 1 Demo a Day is a way I figured to work through all the demos I never played on stream (10.12). While I won't be doing that specifically anymore (won't play on a work day or other non-off days), I'll see how it feels. I can't remember how I used to run through demos before I incorporated them in streams, but I think I played them as they came. With a backlog of demos, I might do more than one a day if I'm feeling it. The Demo Showcase Shorts will be kept in one thread. 
 

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge was radical (10.17). I now first-hand understand the praise it gets. I'm open to playing it with others online, but so far it's been beaten and put back on the shelf. 


- Picked up my copy of Super Mario Bros. Wonder (10.20). It felt great to play a new 2D Mario platformer because I grew up playing them. There were only a few times I had to look up stuff, but I did 100% complete the game (10.26). And for the final-final stage, I did prop something on my TV to help out, ha. Is it the best 2D Mario platformer, no, but it is one of the better ones. 
 

- I started to archive the Game Summaries I wrote on Discord (10.23). As of typing this (11.03), I have archived the majority of them. The first one posted was for Sayonara Wild Hearts in January 2020. The last one archived was for Cellular Harvest for July 2022. I try to do a few chunks at a time rather than doing them all in one shot. As much as I like tedium, I didn't want to quickly run through this one as it's not a top priority. 

- The long awaited Coffee Talk Episode 1 and Episode 2: Double Shot Bundle is now in my posession (10.24). This got delayed quite a few times. I even had Episode 2 as part of the final month of streaming until it got pushed to October. I could have downloaded the digital version, but I figure with how much I'm spending on this, I can save a few dollars. I forgot how much stuff came in this. Impressed. 
 

- Blasphemous II was the final game I played for the month (10.31). Felt it was appropriate for October and because I played the first game in October a few years ago. Gameplay and the imagery felt familiar. Story and depictions of certain things felt tamer. There was enough to be shocking and off-putting, but I think they held back. Made the effort to 100% as all signs pointed to nothing being missable if I took my own path. Cheers to all the maps and video guides online I found to help make that happen. Great sequel. 
 

WORK========================= 

- First day of work (10.04). Back to the universe of escape rooms, but with a different company. Oddly enough, I don't recall too much about the first day of work. The second day of work I can recall easier because there was a corporate event. Doing hosting duties felt natural to fall back into and this team really made it easy. The company worked for a food franchise and gave us some gift cards. I ended up getting two as the guy giving them said "thanks for telling me about the secret bathroom," ha. Yeah, you can tell I like a team if I can crack jokes like that with them. 

The first Saturday was busy. They made sure I know how busy a Saturday can be and they weren't kidding. I was mainly out front to check in and greet guests. Then I would shadow anyone as they were game hosting so I can see how they do it and what they say. I tried my best to reset what I knew, but I was definitely rusty with the majority of rooms. Antidote was the one I ended up being confident in first. 
 

My first official host/master happened during week two (10.12). I don't remember which room it was for, but I feel like it was either for Scooby or Mansion. Agent Ocean (yes, I'm still calling him that for these entries) was there helping whenever I had questions.  

Speaking of Agent Ocean, I had to take him home one Saturday (10.21). Not only was it a busy day, but he had a minor car issue. This was also my first time doing a 9 hour shift. I stayed longer to be his ride home. It took about 40 minutes to get from work to his place. Then it took another hour for me to return home, which was around 12:40AM. Yeah...I was tired. 

To wrap up the first month, I feel more confident in my resets for almost every room. If I'm not sure, I still ask whoever is resetting with me. I've barely remembered actual combinations, which isn't the worst thing, but I should at least try to be better on that. I do feel bored being a game master. While I've equated it to watching a stream that might have "no backseating" on, it really depends on the team. I haven't had enough reps to be ready to run two or more games at the same time. I haven't even been a game master for our Star Trek room yet. There are definitely better staff members than me at being a game master and I trust them. Game host and lobby duties, no problem. Outside of scenarios I have not been presented with yet and the occasional rude customers (one was cool until I didn't know alcohol and he laughed at me being sober for 9 years, and the one guy that didn't believe me being assistant manager), I'm in my element. Opening, I keep thinking I'm forgetting something or don't know how to turn on certain things in certain rooms. Closing duties I feel secure in. 

One thing I like about working again is listening to music and podcasts. Getting to hear old favorites I haven't heard in years, good stuff. If you never knew, I sing in the car and it's a good way to warm up my voice going in to work. Podcasts I'll do for my ride home as I come down from the day (busy or not). The one podcast I added is How Rude, Tanneritos! It's a Full House rewatch podcast and it's crazy how much I remember from the show as they talk about it. 


However, one drawback to this all is I feel very lonely going home. Sometimes a podcast isn't distracting enough and I'm not in the mood to sing. I have called a couple of friends to talk if they were available and I don't know if I can keep doing that simply because I don't want to be a bother or reiterate "I'm lonely" every time. It doesn't happen all the time, but I vividly recall that it happened at the end of the second and fourth week of work. I'm hoping it will get better over time. 

Overall, work is helping me gain my confidence again. I lost it during the latter end of HER and lost it more throughout the 5 years of streaming. If I must have a goal, I'd like my confidence meter to be 80% or more by the end of the year (at least pertaining to work). 

I do want to give a shout out to one person. Outside of Agent Ocean being a familiar face and energy, one other person has made this transition back to the world of escape rooms easier. Can't use Agent names to conceal any staff member's identity and I don't feel like using initials so I'll give them a nickname; Midori Hoshi. And if you're reading this and don't like the nickname, I can come up with something else, ha. The meaning of the name was what easily came to mind. We've already talked about how we clicked easily and how we've gotten to know each other by sharing stories etc. While I can trust the staff with their duties, I never have to worry about you and can rely on you every time. Thanks for being patient with me and my work questions while I was training. It's neat how we have a lot of similarities too. And we've already said things to each other in person and that's between us, but never doubt that I think you're a fantastic coworker, working with you makes the work day more fun, and you're the coolest. Thank you, Midori Hoshi, you know who you are. 

ETC========================= 

- TWICE Chaeyoung - Weatherman (MELODY PROJECT) 

- ITZY - Sugar-holic (MV) 

This might be my favorite Japanese single from ITZY. It's very chill. 


- Lee Hyori - HOODIE E BANBAJI (MV) 

Hyori with a new song? That was something I wasn't expecting. So good. 


- TWICE - 2023 FANMEETING ONCE AGAIN (10.22) 

- 1 month of not streaming hit on the 28th. The thing I worried about the most is happening; I have been forgotten. A small handful of people have reached out since then and by small I mean less than 10. Am I reaching out to them, no. I admit to have kept to myself. I lurk more and don't participate in streams like I used to. But it goes without saying that because of that and not streaming anymore, I am not thought of in that aspect. And I kind of felt this was going to happen making it another reason I do not plan to return to streaming. I tried it for 5 years. I was complimented on my professionalism, my consistency, my organization etc. I was never supported to the lengths that others that deserve it were even though I was told I should be on their level too. Even though there were positives, the negatives outweigh them. This will go down as something I don't look to fondly back on for a while. 

Speaking of being forgotten, that is a worry I've had in general. Streaming watered those seeds and they sprouted when I stopped. I'm worried that it's creeping into my work life. Sure, I've been there for a month and my coworkers know who I am on some level. Part of me wonders if I'm thought of after hours. Would there be reason for any of them to think of me outside of work...maybe not. For a few maybe. But it goes with the loneliness factor I mentioned earlier. Being forgotten has compounded my loneliness. So not even specifically coworkers, but just friends and family (been that way for a long time). Sure, I can reach out, but years of getting ghosted or no replies or not seeing anyone for months or years on end...it's a lot and it makes me hesitate to reach out. 

I really hope some of these worries shrink before the year is over. The last thing I want to feel is that I'm lonely as a new year rolls in. I've been there enough times, it's never been great. 
 

That's a wrap on October 2023. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 



"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Sunday, October 8, 2023

September 2023 Entry

September 2023 Entry: 

September was a big month. Time to recap. 

MISC========================= 

- Road trip to Austin (09.02-09.03). Just like last year, I visited a highschool friend. Now she lives elsewhere in the area. I realized 10 minutes in that I forgot my TWICE bracelet. There was a nice bead bracelet in the car so I wore that around. The ride there was smooth. My timing was also off by about half an hour. I remember thinking by the time this podcast finishes, I'm halfway there. I was not. That's also when I hit a pocket of traffic that slowed things down. Awesome house. And she was pet-sitting a friend's dog and bird. The bird was chill, but the dog was so dang fluffy and full of energy. She definitely was an added bonus to the whole trip. She liked the attention and liked cuddling. 

After settling in, we had lunch at 600 Degrees Pizzeria. It was her suggestion as it's one of her favorites. I see why. The wings were really good and the pizza slices were very large. A full pizza pie would be way too big. Next was Austin Wonderspaces. But we didn't realize we had to make an appointment ahead of time. So we saw the next available time, which was about an hour later. Signed up and paid for it and drove out to what would have been the next destination with Toy Joy. We first went to their dessert bar area and got some ice cream and candy. Then we walked around the store. There was a lot of stuff there. Saw some really cool figures from games and cartoons/anime. Tons of miscellaneous merchandise too. I didn't see anything I wanted myself, but my friend saw potential gift options for others. Then it was back to Austin Wonderspaces. I'm not one for museums. I like them, but it's usually not something I'd plan myself. If someone else did, I'd go along if invited. But this one stood out as it was interactive and that's why I suggested it. 80% of the displays had something you can do whether it was contributing a small part to a large piece, walking through it, viewing, etc. Almost everything was picture/video worthy. You could stay as long as you want and take your time, but we actually spent close to an hour and were done. Then we went to a small store called 3 Star Candy. She got a bunch of specific type of bottled drink and I got a simple orange soda, refreshing. After that, it was back to her place to relax before dinner. 

Plans changed. We were both still full from lunch. Yeah, 5 hours later, those wings and pizza were still sitting well, ha. The original plan was to go to El Monumento for dinner. Instead we went to HEB to get some stuff she needed. It was a new and very large HEB, impressive. While we were still full, we still went to Frozen Flamingo for dessert as we both agreed it was a good way to end the night. Went back to her place, watched the first two episodes of Zom 100 (both of us were not impressed despite hearing it was good), and then called it a night. 

The next day started with a walk around her neighborhood. It's nice and quiet with lots of room for growth (she had mentioned what was being built around). Then it was time for lunch at Catfish Parlour. Great stuff (took the leftovers and eventually ate all of them within a few days). Game X Change was close by so we stopped by there. Found a Sonic figure for a friend and got a Christmas gift for another that I don't think they'd expect. Then it was back to her place for me to pack up and eventually leave around 3PM. It was hard to leave the dog (seriously, I actually miss her). But much like last year, it was great hanging out with a friend I've known for 26 years. She was a great host and it was great catching up again. 

The ride home wasn't bad. It started to rain a bit during the last half hour, but at least it wasn't the rainstorm the entire way back like last year. The proceeding link is for a thread of photos I took during that trip (food, museum, dog, etc). 


- I reached 900 stream followers (09.04). Normally I push the goal posts back by 25, but I figured to just put up to 1000. And for the last time I mentioned how cool it would be to reach 1000 followers by stream 1000. Spoilers, that did not happen. 
 

- I received an email from Escapology about a delay (09.05). Not going into all the details, but my spot to be a fulltime manager had to be changed to part time and Assistant Manager for the time being. Will things change, eventually. But at least for the rest of the year, this will be my position. It's not horrible, but unexpected on my part. 

- Drove my dad to the airport (09.06). His first time traveling to the Philippines since the pandemic. We were there at 2AM...and he had to wait until 4AM to check in. I was told I could park in the normal parking lot, but when I got there, the attendant informed me that parking was closed until 4AM. So I sat in my car for about 2 hours in front of the passenger pick up (drop off was blocked due to construction) waiting for my mom to return from staying with dad until he was all checked in. Once that was done, we were home around 5AM. 

- Went to Escapology to do their Star Trek room (09.06). This was the first time (since my very first room) doing an escape room that were not former HER Agents. Rannchan and Kai were the team. Triple S was supposed to join, but was sick and G was busy. We did escape. The first part was when I was worried because I felt we were there for too long. Other than that I was impressed by the room. In terms of resetting, it seems to be one of (if not the) easiest room to reset. Afterwards, we went to Happy Lemon to get drinks and a waffle and talk before heading back. 


- 10 streams remaining (09.11). Oh, that dang smoothie blend off, ha. Good times. 
 

- Ring Fit Adventure finished for the third time (09.13). They mentioned it already that it was the final runthrough and nothing more was added. The final boss battle was long per usual, but felt the easiest. Do I plan to continue with Ring Fit, no. There's plenty of reasons to keep playing it, such as collecting all the clothing and titles, but there are unfortunately a few missions I physically can't do. So I figured to stop now instead of only ending up with 99% of things. Instead, I will put more focus into Fitness Boxing. The larger achievements require time put in with each trainer while the rest happen upon checking in and putting in said time. And with work happening soon, I may be doing it on specific days so it's not sporadic. Not only that, I will only be doing the Intense difficulty from now on. 
 

- Nintendo Directs are always great for me (09.14). Even if the big announcements aren't for me, there's usually 3-5 games I look forward to. This time it was Trace Memory: Another Code Recollection, Princess Peach Showtime, Congra: Operation Galuga, F-ZERO 99 (totally called that this was the next 99 game), and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door remaster. 
 

- Picked up my copy of Blasphemous II (09.15). I plan to play it during the latter end of October to align with when I played the original game a few years ago. 
 

- One final trip to Escapology to do Antidote (09.15). It was another HER reunion with PQ, Marjordomo, and Blue to do the last room at the place as part of my training. We escaped (didn't beat the record) and we totally skipped a whole step, ha. It was also good seeing familiar faces from the staff and seeing them in action. We went to Happy Lemon afterwards to recharge and went back to Escapology to continue catching up with Ocean. We ended up reminiscing a lot and sharing HER stories with the staff there. PQ, Majordomo, and Blue left and I decided to stick around for closing. That turned out well as I ended up driving a future coworker home, which wasn't too far away. Felt good bonding and to find another alternate path to and from work. 
 

- I realized I did not add any off-stream games or movies to this month's schedule. The games made sense as I didn't want to get too busy with games this month, but I figured I would have stuck a movie in there. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was what I decided to watch (09.17). This was really good. Shed tears in the end. Still not sure if the first or third movie is my favorite in the trilogy. If I had to choose, I'd lean closer to the third movie. Thumbs up. 


- Another internet outage (09.19). Seems that it's happening at least once a month, which isn't too bad. I was thankful that it wasn't on the day of the final stream. 
 

- 5 streams remaining (09.21). From the Friar's Club Roast on my birthday. I recall thinking this would be a fun annual thing to do for that group of friends when I first mentioned the idea. But when no one was stepping up to be the first, I figured there was a high chance it wouldn't happen again. I totally get that everyone likes being the center of attention especially if the idea is to poke fun of said center. Mine wasn't brutal by any means. More funny than harsh. I can still remember some of the technical issues that happened as well as my cousin crying (I'm sorry). Overall it was a fun event, but one I don't go back to watch that much even nowadays. 


- 0 streams remaining (09.29). And then there were none. Originally the photo from the Roast was going to be my last photo, but I thought this one at Marfa was more fitting. The way I'm looking up, the scene itself, something about it felt like a good start rather than the end. In terms of this series of posts, I'm still surprised not everyone caught on with me counting down. Even then I was hoping the photos would spark more conversations (thanks to the few that did ask about some of them) as well as give a peek into my past. 
 

- The final gift I received from streaming; Octoling amiibo (09.30). Shout out to Reversed2 for it. amiibo count is now at 217. The number of gifts received through streams totaled to 6 with the total number of gifters being 4. 
 

- Ate at Lopez with Kpop friends (09.30). Initially it was supposed to be to celebrate my 1000 streams and starting a new job, but I said it doesn't have to be about me and just a good night chilling. I did choose the venue at least. I mentioned it to them, but I swear I've sat around the same area the last 4-5 times I've been there, ha. 
 

GAMES========================= 

- I am so glad I did not have to adjust the stream schedule for this final month. Only added one game to it and that's all. 

- Round three of playing Best Friend Forever (09.01). Continued choosing another partner and a different dog. It's still fun to jump back into that world and learn more about the other characters. Robin's path was unexpected, but felt appropriate. 
 

- Demo Showcase 113 was the final Demo Showcase and final Viewer's Choice (09.04). Spoilers, they all got thumbs up. Yay for making a historic moment happen on the last one. And it wasn't a lie either. I enjoyed all of them. I did choose an ultimate winner, but added all to the wish list. Cheers to those that did the redemption and chose the last set of demos. 
 

- The final free-to-play game of the month was Fall Guys (09.07). Originally slated for February, I felt this was a good last one after looking at the list. I'm glad others jumped in to play because I would have been a little bummed if no one was interested. And after playing it, I now understand how it's not as easy as it looks, ha. 
 

- Crusader of Centy was the final Genesis game of the month (09.09-09.10). For those that don't know, a physical copy of this game is around a grand. So getting to play this without paying a lot of money for it. It's pretty good. Only negative is that it can be cryptic. I was thankfully following a guide. Not beat by beat, but had I done that, I would have stopped the first stream shorter because I actually did things ahead of time and we were maybe 2/3 of the way through rather than 1/2. But I'd rather have a shorter final stream than the other way around. Glad to have completed it. 
 

- Thumper was my last choice to replay something during September (09.12). Every September, I've always done a vote in Discord for them to choose what game for me to replay (beat/played before streaming). This time I made the call. Thumper is a great game that I don't hear people talk about often so I was glad to get some new eyes on it. The game is still hard as heck. While I was playing normally, I had to resort to playing practice mode, giving myself X amount of tries before moving on because it was going long. Plus my arm was hurting. I mentioned it on stream, but I am one of those people that presses hard on a button for no reason. 
 

- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ was the final GBA game of the month (09.14). WarioWare games are always fun. The first game wasn't my first WarioWare (that goes to Twisted, which I showed off a bit on stream). But you can tell that this was the foundation for the series. 
 

- Fifty Words by POWGI was the favorite from Demo Showcase 32 (09.16). I accidentally kept calling it a crossword game when it was actually a word search. Originally wanted to play it on the 18th as that would have been on the anniversary of playing Word Wheel by POWGI on stream. And based off that stream, I was thinking the viewers would enjoy looking for words with me as they did when I played the demo. That didn't happen until maybe the last 30-60 minutes. I still enjoyed it myself, but the lack of audience participation surprised me. 
 

- Joe & Mac + Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics were the final SNES games played on stream (09.18). The main reason was this also featured the final guest on stream; DanAngelo (FKA DoubleTake). Not only was he the person that pushed me to stream in the first place, but Joe & Mac was one of his favorite SNES games as a kid. It was actually the reason I didn't attempt to play those games any earlier because I knew I wanted him to be part of that in general. And with the last 3 years featuring guest spots from other former HER coworkers, him being the last with all those reasons felt appropriate. 

With that being said, boy were both of these games difficult, ha. I know I've played the first game back in the day, but I don't think I played the sequel. If I did, it might not have been that much. 


- Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics was not the original plan for this day (09.20). I wanted to play Coffee Talk 2 on the 22nd, 2 years after playing the first game. But I have the physical version pre-ordered and that unfortunately kept getting pushed back and didn't want to double dip. I wasn't sure what to replace Coffee Talk 2 with. At first I thought to do a medley of games I played before streaming and show off the endings. It would have included at least four games depending on how long it would take to finish the final stages/fights and to have credits roll. Choices included Super Mario Odyssey, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Breath of the Wild, and more. I liked the idea, but wasn't sure if I wanted to settle on just 4 games or fit in as many games as possible. 

Ultimately, I landed on Clubhouse Games as that is literally 51 different games, ha. Not the exact same idea, but it also fell into that category of games I didn't play on stream, but not before streaming. The original plan was to run through all the games win or lose mainly because some games are short and some are super long. Then I would have opened it up for others to join. Due to the timing of things, no one was able to, but at least people were around to comment throughout. 
 

- THEATRHYTHM FINAL BAR LINE was excellent (09.21). While it was a game I played through and had credits roll off-stream, I knew there was a high possibility that I wanted to feature it in September. Originally I was thinking of waiting for all the DLC to come out, but the last 2 wouldn't be out until later in the year. But I waited long enough so that the Xenogears DLC tracks were available. 

For this stream, I tried Endless Mode at first to see how far I could get. That lasted about an hour. Then I opened it up for song requests from chat as I played on the higher difficulties (previously only played all the songs on Basic). Cheers to chat for picking a variety of songs. And I saw my first Game Over as the Ultimate difficulty was definitely tough (even the difficulty before it). 

Before the stream, I checked to see if there was a list of songs that might not have been cleared for streaming. And there are actually 2 lists from Square-Enix. One was a set that wouldn't allow for monetization or would allow the other party to monetize from it. The other was a list of not playing at all due to copyright reasons. The majority were songs with lyrics, but not all. I didn't realize it until I was about to wrap things up, but the song I wanted to end on fell into one of those lists. While one was safer than the other, I made sure that if anyone requested a song to check those lists too. Sucks, but better safe than sorry. But I was delighted to play one of my favorite rhythm series on stream. 
 

- And then there was Rakuen: Deluxe Edition | Rakuen (09.23-09.24). When I had decided to stop streaming, Rakuen was a top contender to be my last stream. But since it's on the longer side to be a one-shot (8-10 hours), I wasn't too sure. Not only that, but (I think) it wasn't on the Switch yet. I'd been part of supershigi's streams for a while, and early on I recalled making the comment of "Switch version when" or something similar and was met with a reply of "we're working on it." So I always held out. When it was finally announced, she also announced Mr. Saitou with it. She mentioned it was shorter than Rakuen so I kept that in the back of my head and waited for times to pop up on HowLongToBeat. 2-3 hours was perfect. So I could now play Rakuen in two streams without having to cram it into one super long stream. 

I've been part of supershigi's streams for years (followed her on YouTube many years prior) so I knew of Rakuen itself, characters from it, and more importantly the music from it as she would perform them regularly. Her community is pretty good about not spoiling the story. The only thing I knew was that most people cried from playing the game. So there was a bit of anticipation as to when it would possibly happen. It didn't happen during the first stream (cheers to the surprise 90 minute Just Chatting section as I was trying to wrap things up). But the tears flowed during the end of the second stream when I finished the game. The game itself is very emotional and there were moments that I did get choked up. But when it happened, it happened and I could not hold the tears back. Not only that, but knowing the songs ahead of time and then hearing it played in context with what was happening on screen amplified the emotions tenfold. Wow. Thank you to supershigi and her community for joining in during those streams. 
 

- Continued the tradition of playing PAC-MAN 99 for the last few 99th numbered streams (09.26). One last round and one final time to play it online before it goes offline. All I wanted was one more PAC-ONE. While I traditionally went around 5 hours for these streams, I already had the mentality to go longer. And it happened around 4 hours into the stream. I could have played more, but decided to end my play of PAC-MAN 99 on that high note. 

I had a back up plan in case I got the PAC-ONE early and that was to play F-ZERO 99. A few had asked if I was going to play it at all on stream because it would have been the only time I could and the fact that I had correctly predicted it would happen. I would have been fine not playing it on stream at all. The game itself is great. Played it for a couple of hours and enjoyed it. But I realized I wasn't getting into higher spots. It was one of those things that I would have needed more time on to get better. I knew what I was doing and how to survive (only blew up once and it was during my last race). I just needed to learn when it was best to use a Super Highway on each track and how to eliminate more opponents efficiently. 

I also wanted to go long for stream 999 as it was also the last time I could send the stream over to someone else. Thankfully schedules aligned and I just had to wait for G to start and then do it. 


- 5 year anniversary, stream 1000, final stream (09.28). I said that a lot throughout that 8 hours and not to my surprise, some didn't know it was the final stream. I've mentioned it before, but I wasn't hiding it. However, people will social media the way they social media. 

Rakuen: Deluxe Edition | Mr. Saitou was the final game streamed. Knowing things from supershigi's streams, I was really looking forward to it, especially since it takes place in the Rakuen universe. While there was still some emotion there, it definitely was more on the silly side and that felt like a great way to end on game-wise. It was great seeing characters I've heard of and hear songs I've only heard out of context again added to my enjoyment. Thanks again to supershigi and her community for joining in. 

Read A Review was something I knew others were looking forward to. Lasted a little over an hour (originally 2 hours, but Mr. Satiou went a little longer). Got through 6 of them, which was less than I wanted. Really thought it was more. To think I was going to make the redemption buy-1-get-1-free, but it wasn't needed. 

Quiz Kit was what I was looking forward to the most behind Mr. Saitou. Only seen iceTokki do it in her streams and thought it would be neat to see how much people knew through stories, instances, etc in 1000 streams. I made 5 quizzes with 10 questions each (easy, random, medium, random, hard). The only one I knew that would have the lowest scores (and it did) were the hard questions. I even stated that viewers would be learning facts that they never would unless I mentioned them, but I did want to include them. Had to rush this short too again because of Mr. Saitou taking more time. I had explanations for every answer I chose and I did still give some, but had to speed things along so that at least the last segment got an hour.  

Q&A (Just Chatting) felt appropriate to end on. I did state to still keep things TOS and not to talk about topics I normally stray away from on streams. I also prepared myself in case certain questions were asked. Other than the main ones of "why are you stopping" and "what are you doing after," any other question I thought might have been asked were not asked. I am thankful no one asked anything inherently negative. I did wish more serious questions were asked, but people want to know what they want to know. Cheers to anyone that asked questions and shared memories. 

I also prepared everyone knowing that the last 15-20 minutes would be Emote Only Chat so I can say a few specific things without interruption. I might have forgotten a few things, but I got some main points out. Made sure to say a few specific quotes that I wanted to share. I also wanted to make sure to end on time. I expected an overrun due to the possibility of people coming in (interesting fact; no raids during the final stream). And the one main thing I wanted to make sure people saw was the final image that I commissioned my talented cousin to create. With the last stream ending, a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I was able to sleep decently that night. 5 years, 1000 streams. Done. 


- Stream Trailer 1000 (09.30)  

ETC========================= 

- ITZY - RINGO (MV) 

- With streams being over, I will reorganize the blog a bit. The GAMES section of this to contain purchases again. It might have been confusing for some (I assume, no one has mentioned it to me) and for myself as I'd have to check older posts to see where I put them. I will most likely add an ESCAPOLOGY/WORK section similar to the older H.E.R. section when I was working there or for other previous jobs. It's not much, but I figured to mention it and have it written so I don't forget. I almost wrote a whole paragraph about work at the end of this entry, but I'll save it for next post. 

- Instagram posts will continue. With the 1000 streams, there ended up being 1143 clips made with the last one being Mr. Saitou. Once that's done, that's it. And I decided to post on non-work days. So similar to non-stream days rather than a constant daily post. I'll keep using the account to post stories. Will I ever post anything non-stream related? Only if I have something specific I want to share from that point on. Or maybe a year later I'll post anything I feel like. 

- Post-stream life so far. Firstly, after the stream, I felt nothing. I did my normal post-stream routine (changing clothes, highlighting the VOD, etc). It wasn't until maybe an hour later that I was walking around and I stopped and put my head against the wall. At that moment I wished someone was around to high-five or hug me. But it speaks to a thing I grew weary of while streaming; once the camera was off, it was just me again. While I have mentioned in plenty of streams that people can contact me outside of the stream, part of me felt like that wasn't going to happen. I truly felt alone. 

A small number of people have reached out and said words of thanks and well wishes. Or if I popped up in someone's stream since then and they knew, they audibly said something heartwarming. I even got a special shoutout read during one of supershigi's streams and it was really sweet. The downside...a lot of people I personally invited didn't make it. Or if I talked about it in someone else's stream (they asked so I talked, not specifically self-promoting) they didn't show up. I said earlier how I didn't get any raids. I didn't realize that fact until after. And it was disappointing for me to not see others that knew, but still streamed themselves during that time. They could have been there beforehand for a few minutes or after their stream if it happened during my 8 hours. There were many reasons to join even if you didn't know it was the final stream (5 years anniversary stream, 1000 streams). 

I typed more frustrations, but I deleted them. I didn't want to dump on it all especially since there were good things. However, I didn't want to leave the negatives out completely. I don't have anything against those that didn't show up or didn't know. I am very thankful for those that did even for a few minutes to say anything. Some are still finding out that I don't stream anymore because they'll give me a shout out in their streams and I will mention that I don't anymore. I feel this will happen for a while along with maybe a few people asking about why I don't post in their Discords about streaming anymore. Some still believe I'll return to streaming. And while I've said the door is always open, part of me now doesn't want to at all. Right now, there is absolutely no reason for me to come back after the at least one year hiatus. If I don't return, that's possibly a good thing. I want my life to be busy and better that I don't even think about returning to a stream life. 

As of typing this (10.08), it's been a little over a week of not streaming. I don't miss it. 

That's a wrap on September 2023. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 



"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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