January 2024 Entry:
2024 started with a rollercoaster of emotions and events.
MISC=========================
- Thank you for commenting, sb.
- Met up with a long time friend. I have known him since my second year of college. We'd been tight throughout the years, but had not contacted each other much in the last few. With the car troubles I had been having (3 doors making loud grinding noises when locking/unlocking), he was the person that I thought of to go to. Made small talk through chats and eventually brought up my car issues and scheduled a time to meet at his shop (01.07). It was good to see him again after such a long time. He gave me a tour of the place and then he inspected my car and immediately knew what was wrong. Then he looked up the parts to order and gave me a price, which I was expecting to be way higher. Thankfully it wasn't so bad considering they are old 2015 parts. Other than that, we caught up and it was as if we never had any time apart.
The parts came in on different days so it was just waiting for all of them before settling on a day for him to replace them (01.22). It may have been a cold and rainy day, but we spent the hours talking. I had to assist a few times mainly by holding one of the windows up so it wouldn't fall. He replaced the first part and there was no longer noise in the passenger back door, but the other noises were still loud. But when he replaced the one for the back driver side, the noise was significantly decreased and I could not hide my elation. The majority of the hours spent were for the front passenger side because of the panel itself and the window I had to assist with. That and he needed to stop a few times for some meetings for his other businesses. Those served as good breaks and I even took advantage of a massage chair they had. Everything was done by 7PM. It's amazing how the loud grinding noises no longer exist after a year or so. Thank you, friend.
- More friend time with one of my best friends' birthdays (01.13). She invited me and a bunch of others to Chama Gaucha on a Saturday. I made sure to work the morning shift that day so I can make it to the dinner event. I had never heard of the place, but apparently it has been around for many years. While I've met plenty of her friends over the years, I wasn't acquainted with a bunch. Thankfully I immediately met someone I was familiar with and we ended up sitting together with a few others I was more familiar with.
I didn't know it was a Brazilian Steakhouse where they bring the food to you and you decide to keep eating or not. Lots of good food all around. Got into a lot of conversations about my work and other similar activities. Some of the friends I knew for years even brought up old stories such as dancing and singing etc. When it was time for the cake, she made a speech and there was something she said that made me fake cough and she looked at me knowing why, ha. We all sang and then the rest of the night was final food as well as everyone taking photos with her as people were trickling out. When it was my turn, I said something to her that I even said that I wasn't sure I never said to her before and she reciprocated. She is a true friend of 20+ years and it's wonderful that we still are after all this time. It was between 9PM-9:30PM when I made my leave. Good night, good food.
- Spoke with a friend I made in middle school (01.14). We kept contact over all this time by being connected via Facebook. Chatted a few times, but I wanted to ask him again about something silly we did back in the day. If you're familiar with older episodes of The Simpsons, we mimicked something Bart and Milhouse did. While we talked about it a few years ago, I brought it up again. It led to a conversation about self-reflection and giving each other advice and talking about our experiences. It was good to talk about stuff. And now, I have my soul back. I mentioned it to him that even though it was something silly we did as kids, I wanted to eliminate any small/dumb reason for why things aren't going the way I had wished in life. Do I feel different, not really. But I have no excuses for things that I may have blamed on "not having a soul" or "the universe" anymore.
- We had some internet issues (01.15). Woke up to be informed that 20+ unknown devices were added to our wi-fi. For about 3 hours, the process of removing them and even changing passwords helped. But there were still momentary blips of more devices connecting. Some were apparently hard-wired, which made no sense as no one was connecting anything. I even got booted off at one point. In the end, more passwords were changed and the modem was replaced. An occasional blip popped up for the next few days, but everything was fine maybe 5-7 days later.
- There was a freeze warning for our city. Preparations were made like previous times. Everything was okay until we eventually had frozen pipes (01.17). When that happened, I needed to take a shower before work because it had been a few days so I took the extra water we had in buckets and had a cold scrubbing at best. An hour later, the pipes were back to normal. Took a normal shower just because.
- Driving to work, I started to hear some rumbling noises. The car also felt a little off. This was halfway into my normal drive. I pulled over to check the tires and didn't see anything. But when I got to work, the wheels ended in a rotation for me to see there was a nail in the tire (01.18). It was on the back driver's side. Called my dad and took a photo for him to see and he assured me I'd be okay even driving back home. I drove the speed limit on the way home, but hit many green lights so I didn't stop as frequently. Thankfully the tire stayed intact and didn't pop. The nail was removed and the tire was patched the next morning.
- I wasn't able to go to a friend's gathering for the holidays so I didn't receive presents until later (01.19). The majority were snacks, which I have been rationing since then. I might not have mentioned it aloud, but I did remove any new games from wish lists as I didn't need more. But games for collection purposes are still up. So I was surprised to see a copy of Battle Chef Brigade there. Same with the Daria Funko Pop. I kind of had a feeling I'd get an amiibo, but I'm glad the packaging didn't make it obvious so I still was surprised to see Detective Pikachu. Thank you, friends.
- Signed up for the nectar app (01.23). I've been following Jubilee and nectar for a long time so I was interested in what the app would be. It's kind of like a dating app. So far...lukewarm about it. It's cool to now check your loveprint that way and search for others with similar or different loveprints...but there is no way to talk to them. We can connect and compare, but that's it. Unless I'm missing something, we can't chat with anyone through it. Can't even put much in your profile for someone to find you through social media or whatever. Maybe there are more updates, but right now there's not much to it.
- Ordered a copy of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (01.24). I specifically say ordered because most retail stores don't have them in stock physically anymore. Cheers to a friend for allowing me to use their Prime account for it. Watched the movie a few days later 01.26). I'm intrigued. Don't know when Part Two will be released, but I'll be there for it. But I didn't know I missed out on a few movies leading up to it. I did think at one point that I wasn't see that many DC animated movies the last couple of years. I knew I was skipping a few, but that might have made me miss out on new trailers. So at some point between now and Part Two, I'll watch Green Lantern: Beware My Power and Warworld.
- Met up with Kpop friends (01.26). It was raining hard going to meet them, but thankfully we all made it. A few of us met at EvePink first. Some bought things. I of course did not even though I was tempted. Then we walked to BBQ Chicken, which happened to be playing TWICE when we arrived. The other two members eventually joined and we all enjoyed some good food. Throughout our time there, other than normal chatter, we commented on the music videos being played. I was surprised to see a few songs being played as I think that most places that play Kpop would play current songs. The oldest thing played was probably 2NE1 and SNSD. If there were songs I knew the dances to, I'd do the gestures. After paying, we walked over to 10X Boba Tea Lounge for drinks and more silly talk. At some point I asked if there were any groups with 6 guy members. I thought of Shinhwa and the others mentioned a few more groups I wasn't familiar with. There were talks about our subunits (3 of us ordered the same drink, ha) and our roles in the group. I was dubbed the Main Dancer. As we left, I put my hand in for a silly gesture and they all followed suit and we dubbed ourselves HeXagon, ha. Our group chat later had mentioned our motto and our debut concept. Silly fun. Until the next meeting, HeXagon.
- Caught up on the Royal Rumble (01.28). I did my best to stay away from spoilers while at work, but I knew I'd see results when I got home, which I've always been okay with. It gets me more excited to see how things unfold. If I were still doing predictions (no real reason I stopped), I was correct on all except the Men's Rumble match, which I was going for CM Punk (even wore his shirt at work).
- Back on Tinder (01.30). While I'm seeing new people because of being in a different area for work, it didn't take long to remember why I stopped. It's boring to swipe endlessly one way or the other and get no reciprocation. Sucks even more because I see it in real time working for others around me. We'll see how it goes.
- I'm trying to get back in shape. Not just physically, but stamina-wise. I originally tried to start in December, but I was getting more hours at work. The regimen is nothing big, but here's the rundown:
50 push-ups per day
1 session of Fitness Boxing per week
1 session of dancing per week
It may not sound like much, but I can maintain it. The push-ups are done around noon. I used to have them scheduled at night, but with working nights, I'd get lazy and not do them when I got home. And at first it was 30, but I added more when I started to feel comfortable.
Fitness Boxing is the same, but only for one day. Depending on how I feel that day, I'll either do Normal or Hard. The dancing was the main addition. In general I wanted to get back into it. I had always been learning from my chair, but rarely did I ever get up and do them. It was tough at first because I was jumping straight into tough ones. Then I realized I should see if I had any muscle memory for older choreography and that has helped ease me back into it. There are 3 specific older dances that I'm doing;
BabyVoX - Game Over
SNSD - Mr. Mr.
Shinhwa - Perfect Man
Game Over is always my warm up as it's not too intensive. Mr. Mr. is similar to me in difficulty, just need to remember the movements. Perfect Man steps it up and that is usually when I start to feel tired. After that it's been 1-2 songs of whatever I feel like. More often it's been ITZY's new stuff (Born To Be or Untouchable). I make sure to take a break between each song so I don't over do it. The session itself is under an hour, but if the progression goes well, one hour will be the minimum. At some point, I want to put BoA into the mix (Sweet Impact, Quincy, Do The Motion, etc).
I might add more such as minor weight lifting or add another day of Fitness Boxing or dancing.
GAMES=========================
- 2023 Games Year In Review. See all the games I beat and my top favorites for multiple categories. I'm not sure if I'll still do a summary like this for 2024, but we'll see. It should be easier, right?
- Demo Showcase Shorts continue. By the end of the month, I had done 28 (what would be close to 5-6 Demo Showcases). I bumped it up like I said I would. As long as I have nothing important to do in the morning (work, appointments, etc), I will play a demo and type up something about it and schedule it to post. I've only made one mistake and that was for Ultra Mega Xtra Party Challenge. I accidentally left it as a thumbs up when copying and pasting. It should have been a thumbs sideways.
And I have added a few games to my wish list since this project started. 3 to be exact. I believe each has gone on deep sales (over 50%), but I didn't want to pull the trigger on any. Maybe next big sale.
- First purchase of the year and first game beaten; Ravaa and the Phantom Library (01.01). Good sequel. They definitely went for bigger levels this time. It's speedrunnable, but I didn't feel the need to try. If you liked the original, you'll like the sequel.
- Guardian Tales was our free-to-play game of the month (01.04). It's not bad. I find it cool that others reached out after I posted about how they spent many hours playing the game. I honestly never heard of it beforehand. But it's a good free title to try.
- XEVIOUS was our NES NSO game of the month (01.05). For some reason, I thought there was an ending. There is not. It loops forever. Once you play the first few levels, you pretty much have seen everything it offers outside of different enemy variety and difficulty raising.
- Blaster Master: Enemy Zero was our GameBoy NSO game of the month (01.08). It's a very good rendition of the NES Blaster Master. Controls really well and doesn't sacrifice much to fit the handheld screen. Backtracking is a chore. Other than that, it comes highly recommended especially if you liked the NES Blaster Master.
- GoldenEye 007 was our N64 NSO game of the month (01.14). This was tougher than I remembered. I used to be able to do all the missions for the hardest difficulty, but I was struggling. I screwed myself a few times with accidentally save-stating at points where I or the companion character can die in one shot. It did radiate the nostalgia I knew it would, but I wish I enjoyed it as much as I did back then.
- Picked up my copy of Another Code: Recollection (01.19). When this got announced, I was super excited since I never played the originals.
- Also picked up the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 amiibo (01.19). The first Xenoblade amiibo to not be from Smash. Noah and Mio look fantastic. I am a little extra careful with them because they feel fragile compared to other amiibo in general. I include the Detective Pikachu amiibo in this as I knew I was going to get more soon. Detective Pikachu is a large amiibo. I knew about the tail coming off, but I didn't know the hat felt like a different material.
Only 5 amiibo left to acquire.
- Finally dove into the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters with the first FINAL FANTASY (01.21). For those that don't know, the first Final Fantasy was the first Final Fantasy (and maybe RPG) I've ever played. Rented it a few times and I think I owned a copy at one point. I knew how tough it was because I used to use Game Genie codes. So knowing that there were boosts in the Pixel Remasters, I turned those on right away. Nostalgia was strong as there were a lot of familiar things up to a certain point. I also found a good guide to use for all the Pixel Remasters and it served as a helpful reference. At first, I didn't aim to get 100% because I could have beaten the game earlier than I actually did. But the bestiary being accessible from the start was handy as well as the guide stating where all the monsters were. It was all down to Warmech with its 3/64 encounter rate. Spent at least 2-3 extra hours alone trying to get it to spawn. When it did, I jumped out of my chair. By this time, my team had been at level 99 for a while so the fight lasted only a few seconds. But I'm glad it happened because out of all the Pixel Remasters, this was the one I knew I could possibly 100% compared to the rest. Good start to one Pixel Remaster game a month.
- My copy of Castlevania Advance Collection from LRG arrived (01.24). As much as I'd like to dive into it right away (who knows, things can change), I have it scheduled for October. Yes, I still keep a schedule despite not streaming anymore.
- Picked up my copy of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy (01.25). This may be sprinkled throughout the year. Or at least start after all the Pixel Remasters are done. Regardless, using the auto mode the whole way through to simply enjoy the story. I've played the original Apollo Justice 2-3 times while I've only played Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice once.
- Initially I had planned for the Pixel Remasters to be the last game I play each month. But the first Final Fantasy was short so I figured not to limit myself too much. So I pushed up playing Another Code: Recollection | Another Code: Two Memories (Trace Memory) (01.26). The only thing I had to look up were the QR origami (QRigami) locations. Other than that, I used the in-game assist option to figure out where to go. It felt slow at first, but I was interested in seeing how it all played out. I was correct about one of the characters and very wrong about another, ha. And I was surprised to see that credits don't roll and that it immediately starts the second game right away. Once I realized that, I stopped to save it for next month. Curious to see how it ends.
- Sue and Puchi have arrived (01.31). They are from Rakuen by supershigi, one of the last games I played on stream. Won't spoil her role in the game, but I did make sure to listen to her song again (and tear up again). I don't know why, but I felt she arrived at the right time for me.
WORK=========================
- Had a stressful day from the start (01.12). After a short series of events and not getting any help, I took a lap around our shopping center. I didn't take it upon myself, but I ended up being a game master the majority of the day. I didn't want my demeanor to be apparent in front of customers or to accidental death glare at any coworkers.
- This part will be vague, but I was pulled into a meeting (01.17). Something seemed off as soon as I walked in and I was worried because the last few days I felt not as welcomed by a few (that could have been me overthinking though). I listened, I told my side of things, I didn't make excuses, I took responsibility, and I shed some tears. That day of work was tough and so were the next few. Each day it got easier, but I overall felt miserable. To this day, I'm still worried because a definitive answer has not been given and I'm watching everything I do and being cautious of everything I say.
Friends did come by to do one of our rooms (I knew ahead of time). Because of the meeting, I wasn't able to greet them or even watch their session. At least I was able to talk to them after. Thank you for the gifts and the hugs. I needed them.
- Got an extra day off (01.24). No bookings, that's just how it goes. Business definitely became slow again after the holidays.
ETC=========================
- ITZY - Mr. Vampire (MV)
- ITZY - UNTOUCHABLE (MV)
I promised myself I was going to dye my hair pink like Ryujin's if ITZY won first place. They actually did. I wasn't too sure about it so I figured just the tips of my hair. I texted my stylist to see what she thought and she heavily suggested not to. Not only would it take a lot of time, which I knew it would, but she mentioned how unhealthy my hair is. It's not impossible, but I'm taking a risk if I did do it. So no pink hair unfortunately.
- 2024 started off rough. It can only get better from here, right?
That's a wrap on January 2024. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
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