February 2024 Entry:
Yes, it is the shortest month, but this month went by so fast.
MISC=========================
- ITZY concert tickets went on sale (02.02). This was my first experience buying Kpop concert tickets. Heard/Read many stories of how it goes so I was anxious. All of HeXagon were messaging back and forth and I was the one furthest back in the digital line. I think I was waiting for close to half an hour before I had an opportunity. A good chunk of the first few VIP rows were already taken, thankfully some of HeXagon got theirs, but none of us are sitting by each other unfortunately. By the time I got my chance, there wasn't much left in terms of VIP. I ended up buying one in the back row so I'd have a ticket. I did ask if anyone was able to find something closer to let me know. The leader of HeXagon called me later and let me know he got one for me that was closer and I bought it off of him. Thank you so much. Went from row J to row D. I still haven't done it, but I need to sell my row J. I'll push to do that more next month.
- NXT Vengeance Day was excellent (02.04). Of course they always deliver on matches, but that Trick-Melo interaction in the end, magnificent. I rewatched that clip so many times to look at all the reactions in the audience. We all knew it was coming and the reactions were worth it.
- I found out an acquaintance from the dance studio I used to go to opened up a boba place; Boba Societea (02.09). The only reason I knew about it was because she posted about finding a lost dog at their establishment and tagged the place. It's about a 10 minute walk for me, ha. Haven't done that yet, but I might some day. Went to visit and when I walked up to the counter she said "why are you familiar?" I responded with "because you know me" and she knew right away. Other than getting a drink (Oreo Milk Tea, good stuff), we caught up for a good half an hour.
I went there again after an ENT appointment (02.21). I would have gone earlier, but I wanted to pick up my ear medicine at the same time (it wasn't ready until days later). Had another drink (Berry Peachy, perfectly sweet) and we talked for a good hour about Kpop. I'll make it a point to visit at least once a month.
- Went to Activate with former HER Agents (02.11). Had seen stuff about it and thought it would be fun, but I did not anticipate how much fun we all had. We sweat, we laughed, we yelled. That hour flew by fast. We had some favorites and some that weren't, but there is still so much we haven't tried. I can't wait to go back and have told so many people about it.
Afterwards, we went to eat at Kura and walked to different stores in the area before splitting around 5PM.
- The X-Men '97 trailer dropped. I knew about this, but wasn't keeping up with it. However, the trailer sold me. I have a reminder set for when it debuts in March.
- Movie of the month (forgot to watch one in January) was Luca (02.19). It was on my radar after watching a React video where a few of the castmates gave it some praise. I had never heard of it before so I was curious. Not bad, but not one I'd recommend over other animated movies like Encanto.
- My copy of the MISAMO Masterpiece Japan Showcase arrived (02.19). Yes, I already watched it. Yes, I could have bought it from a local store. But it helped save on shipping for another item I got overseas. It was nice seeing all the stuff inside. It's been a while getting to open something and get a photo card so that was exciting. It was fun rewatching it (02.29). Everything had proper subtitles and I never saw the documentary video. Plus this was maybe the first time watching a concert DVD/Blu-ray/VCD where I only watched it. Normally I'd sit up and sing along and mimic dance moves, but being sick and not having much of a voice prevented that. It was still a pleasant energy pill.
- Been a while since we had a long internet outage (02.19-02.20). This lasted from 7PM to 10AM. It was one of those times where I wish I went out somewhere, but the time of the fix kept changing by an hour per hour up until 11PM when it simply didn't give an estimated time.
- This concept art of a new Batman Beyond movie looks amazing (02.20). I never knew I wanted a Batman Beyond movie in that style. It did remind me that I always wanted a Batman Beyond game in the style of the Arkham games.
- Went to my biannual ENT appointment (02.21). I was a few minutes late because there was construction I wasn't familiar with happening in my area. Still had to wait a few minutes while there before doing my hearing test. But a couple minutes after I sat down in the waiting area for my doctor visit, I was brought in to see him. Nothing bad to speak of, but he did clean things up like normal, but it hurt a little more than normal with a little blood (that's a first). To paraphrase him "your tolerance for pain makes this easier for me. And it may be what's helping delay needing to have surgery." He prescribed some medicine to help heal it up while it's clear. The medicine wasn't ready until 3 days later though.
- Didn't get to watch Elimination Chamber live (02.24). I actually woke up around the time it was wrapping up. Over the next few days, I watched two matches at a time as there were other things I needed to catch up on. Sure, I knew the winners already, but I've said this many times; I look forward to seeing how it gets to those conclusions. While predictable, it made sense. Onto Wrestlemania.
- Ended the month getting sick (02.28). I was feeling it the day prior at work as I was coughing more and my throat was dry. Took some medicine after dinner and went to sleep early. Work up the next day worse off. It was the first time in 1-2 years I got sick. The last time I can recall was when I had COVID (August 2022). And it was the first time calling off from work in 4-5 years (when I worked at HER). All the coughing really destroyed my throat. I also took a COVID test just in case (02.29). Thankfully that turned out negative.
- I mentioned my exercise routine last month. It's pretty much the same. For my stretches, I added more breaths/seconds to it. And to the few that it can apply to, I added more reps. On my days off, I do an extra set of 50 push-ups. For dances, it's what I outlined previously and ending on Untouchable. There's always been a 4th song before that and it's either been Into The New World or Born To Be, but I won't be surprised if I change it out to fit my mood. I might add using the dumbbells I have next month, but it'll be small for now until I get used to it...or not at all, ha. We'll see. Getting sick probably set that back by a week or so.
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. Was able to do 26 this month. Very close to doing a demo a day, but the ENT appointment would have stopped it if it weren't for the internet outage that happened previously. But there was a streak of 37 that happened when the outage ended. It's nice to get the variety of gaming in this manner like I used to before I tried streaming. And even though I was still sick, I made sure to get one in on the 29th as that was the only day (other than my birthday) that I didn't stream. This felt like a small victory.
- My copy of Lil Gator Game came in (02.02). I forgot what was included with it so it was nice to unbox it and see all of the items.
- Eroblast Waifu Dating Sim was different from what I expected (02.04). It's one of those things where I don't research too much into it otherwise I would have known there was a puzzle aspect to it. I thought it was purely a visual novel dating game, ha. I did enjoy the dialogue you have and the variety of girls you can romance, but it wasn't long before I realized I was going to hit a wall with the puzzles, which you need to do to earn in-game currency to continue the conversations. So the game plan was to finish 4 different routes and I did and never went back to the game. Had each girl had their own set of puzzles rather than all puzzles being collective, I think I would've continued and tried to 100% complete it.
- Overwatch 2 was the free-to-play game of the month (02.05). I forgot which characters I liked using in the original Overwatch so it was almost as if I was playing it for the first time again. Felt good. I knew I wasn't going to play it too long (maybe a few hours at best), but all I wanted was one victory and I got it.
- Kid Chameleon was the Genesis NSO game of the month (02.06). This was rough. The controls weren't great, not all the costumes were fun, and the timer didn't make things any easier. There was some potential, but I don't think it reached the greatness it possibly could have been.
- Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 was the GBA NSO game of the month (02.09). This was also the last of the Mario Advance games. It's Mario 3 so it's wonderful. The addition of the e-reader stages was a good challenge. It's Mario 3, but more. Definitely a top-notch platformer.
- Prehistorik Man was the SNES NSO game of the month (02.10). Notice the theme of platformers. This just happened to be a platformer sandwich where the slices of bread didn't taste good. I didn't like the vehicle sections. Collecting food didn't feel fun, especially when the village chief talks down to you if you don't get a lot, but you can still continue to the next level. Now if it were necessary to get a certain percentage of food to advance, that would give more incentive to explore, but also add time to a game that isn't great.
- 1 year of Crush Crush (02.10). I don't leave it on like I used to all the time as I have an abundance of money to last for a long time. There are only 4 girls left to unlock that I'm hoping they pop up in through LTEs like they're supposed to. I may use the diamonds I've accumulated, but each girl costs 200 and I have 331 (as of typing this). Sure I can get one right now, but it would suck to use them and they pop up a week later. So the plan is to get 800 diamonds (that's going to take a long time) and hopefully 1-2 of them show up in an LTE.
- The Sora amiibo is here (02.16). It is bittersweet that the final Smash amiibo is now a reality. There are no new amiibo outside of Smash announced so there is more talk in the amiibo community about the future. Will the next Nintendo console have NFC? Will amiibo become a new product (Super Nintendo World power-up bands, etc)? The fact that Super Mario Bros Wonder and the upcoming Princess Peach Showtime aren't having one, it's hard to see a future. I wouldn't mind it continuing to help promote new games, but I wouldn't be upset if there's not much to collect for me anymore. I'm only missing 4 amiibo, the power-up bands (recently found a seller at a good price) and I don't plan to buy the cards.
- Continuing playing the Pixel Remasters with Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster | FINAL FANTASY II (02.18). I've only played Final Fantasy II once on the Playstation with Final Fantasy Origins. It was my least favorite Final Fantasy. While I did enjoy this playthrough, it's still at the bottom (for now). The boosts helped with the leveling system. Completed the bestiary and collected all the chests just like I did for the first Pixel Remaster. And since I only played II once, the story beats still surprised me as they happened.
- My international version of the Apollo Justice Trilogy arrived (02.19). It got delayed a couple of times so it and my MiSaMo blu-ray came about a month later.
- Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase happened (02.21). Not much to say other than I was satisfied with 4 new demos and that Rare games are now on NSO. If nothing more interesting gets added to the libraries, I have the majority of those scheduled throughout the year.
- EA SPORTS FC 24 became a Game Trial (02.21). I wasn't asking for it, but I was interested in trying. It's pretty good. Super technical, but I was able to do enough to win one game. The only issue I had occurred when no players were visible during a few replays. The camera would still move and pan around as if the play happened, but the field was empty, ha.
- Wrapped up the Another Code: Recollection by beating Another Code: Recollection | Another Code: R - Journey into Lost Memories (02.25). I had more critiques for this one. You could buy things that didn't matter. The environment was larger, but you would be cutoff by Ashley saying what she's supposed to do and then the camera resetting. There were fewer puzzles and the ones that were there were simple. I know the story of the first one was out there, but I couldn't get into this one the same way. And there were more characters, but I didn't care for the majority of them. Other than that, all the positives game-wise about the first game like the in-game hints etc are still there. The credits sequence was wonderful. Do I recommend the collection; sort of. It's one of those that you can watch the story and still get it and not need to play it.
- I decided to start playing THEATRHYTHM FINAL BAR LINE again. There are a few reasons. The first is at the end of the month when I've played through all the games I scheduled and have extra time and it could be a one-off (I had been thinking to add more NSO, free-to-play, or more digital games depending on what I'll have at the time). Last month I felt I could have played something, but kept stopping myself. The other reason was because of the Pixel Remasters. So I will at least play the music from that Final Fantasy game. Not only that, I'm playing all the songs on Expert. I'm also working through some of the quests I couldn't do previously (some are still tough). And I will be playing other songs not from the first six games (DLC, other Final Fantasy series, etc). Will I attempt to 100% this; I'll make the effort, but won't guarantee it. I've never 100% a Theatrhythm game simply because there's a lot to do and it will be impossible for me to SSS every song on every difficulty. If anything, the end goal outside of playing the songs of the Pixel Remaster games, the goals include completing every quest, beating every song on every difficulty, and getting all the collectibles. That may take a while, but it'll be a nice game to come back to occasionally even after I'm done with the Pixel Remasters.
WORK=========================
- It was awkward (02.17).
And it was also the longest into the night I stayed at work. Me and one other coworker who volunteered to stay longer left around 12:30AM meaning I got home close to 1:30AM.
ETC=========================
- TWICE - I GOT YOU (MV)
I really like this song.
- ITZY - 5th Anniversary
- TWICE - ONE SPARK (MV)
The dance at the end is immediately eye-catching/
- TWICE on Today Show (02.23)
It still amazes me to see Kpop on US TV.
- ITZY Concert (02.24-02.25)
Seeing clips and photos from the start of their world tour is getting me hyped up. Can't wait to go to their concert in June.
- Laura Shigihara - When You Wake Up (MV)
- I mentioned last month that I was back on dating apps. Since then, I've been using Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble. I've used them all before. And...it's not fun. The experience is just like how it was for 5 years before the pandemic; lots of people to swipe on, but the only ones that match with me are catfish/bot accounts. And it's not like these apps don't work. I hear and read all the time that people I know are getting matches and going on dates. I'm at the point where I was back then where I question why I'm not getting swiped right on. I've had friends take photos to use and I've had friends write my profile. I've put what I'm looking for and even more or less. I've blindly swiped right on people who I wouldn't even swipe right on (not attractive to me, no matching interests, etc) with no response. I've sat in my car for 10+ minutes when I'm in different areas to swipe at the different people in that location. I've tried pursuing and I've tried not pursuing. It's too familiar and it's just as unsuccessful. I don't know. I know I've typed this before too, but for any new readers of this blog, no one I know has anyone they would match me with. And I don't need to hear how someone hopes I find someone because I've had people hope for almost 2 decades now. That doesn't do anything for me.
I'm romantically lonely and I am losing hope.
That's a wrap on February 2024. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
