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."
