Monday, July 1, 2024

June 2024 Entry

June 2024 Entry: 


June felt long and I know why. Because of Final Fantasy VI. 


MISC========================= 

- Finally went to the Sonic Speed Cafe (06.02). Had to pass up on a few opportunities due to bad timing. This time Foximus Prime invited me. G and TheDirector (first time meeting him in person) were also there. G had been there a few times already. It was a small place so the tables were taken and we ate outside at the standing tables. I got the Chatoix Hot Dog, some Fast Fries (Amy holder), and a Smashing Echidna. The fries and drink weren't much, but the Chaotix Hot Dog was really good. All of us also tried the Spicy Chilli Dog cookie. We were there for a couple hours just talking before splitting for the day.  


- WR had sent a package from Korea April 5th. It was traveling via boat so we both knew it would take a while. But it finally arrived (06.03). Lots of snacks that I'll be working my way through. He threw in some knick knacks like stickers, a key chain, and face masks. But the big thing was a TWICE latest mini-album; WITH YOU-TH. He mentioned there was a TWICE album in there, but for some reason I thought it would be an older one for some reason. It was a nice feeling going through it and anticipating which photo cards were included. The last album I got was from him too. Thanks for the friendship. 
 

- Cathy Kelley is one of my favorites in WWE. Been following her for a while. She tweeted out something about pizza shaped bandaids and on a whim I replied back asking where she got them from not thinking she'd actually reply. She did with a Target link. Part of me was thinking "do I lean into this and spend the money on something I won't think to actually use" just for the attention. It wasn't available in-store so I'd have to pay for shipping. I decided to add something to that order to make it free shipping. The bandaids arrived within a week (06.06). I tweeted a photo of them back at Cathy Kelley in the same thread and she liked it. And thus ends that story, ha. 
 

- Logan was the movie of the month (06.08). Damn, it was so good. I knew of the story, but it still surprised me how it unfolded. I could not imagine it if it didn't have an R rating. All the positive feedback I heard about it was well deserved. It was done brutally well. 
 

- The other item I ordered with the bandaids were sunglasses (06.15). The pair I had been using the last few years finally broke around the lens. Where it broke was also cutting into my skin and I didn't realize it for a while. For a few months, I switched to another pair that was normally reserved for special occasions. Then I noticed it actually has a little bit of bubbling on the lenses. Not big, but I noticed it. So I then switched to another pair that were simple black shades that don't enclose (?) my eyes. They aren't bad, but they were my reserve pair for a reason. The new pair are similar to the style I like and in blue. I like them. They were supposed to arrive for the ITZY concert and would have gone with my ensemble, but they showed up the day after, ha. 


- Suspicious activity was detected on my PC (06.26). It occurred when I was sleeping, but there were 3 successful log-ins from South America. While nothing happened, it's been the first time in many years that I've had to handle something like this. Simply had to change my password. Seeing my activity feed, I had also been getting hits from South America and in Germany over the past few months. My immediate suspicion was a new dating app I tried, but that would have only been days. The activity over the last month or so, I wouldn't know. Did a scan of the PC just in case and nothing was found. 

A few hours later, my WingedVoX Twitter account was accessed and the password was changed. Couldn't get into it at first, but then I did the "forgot password" option and was able to regain control again. I still submitted it to the help center in case they're able to find out how it happened. I offloaded the latest dating app after this since that's the only thing I could think of that was different in the last few days. It might be the reason, but I wasn't liking it (read more about that a couple paragraphs from now). 

- Finished watching all of Fuller House (06.27). I enjoyed this so much. Seeing these characters evolve from when I was growing up watching them to having new characters introduced to having returning characters, there was so much. Nostalgia reigned. Callbacks were supreme. I laughed and cried through all 75 episodes and 5 seasons. I needed this and I watched it at the right time. I will miss watching this on a regular (whenever I wanted to) basis. Bring on the bloopers. 


- I put a pause on my exercise routine (Fitness Boxing + Dance Practice). I still do the daily push-ups and have even increased the total (sometimes on days off, I'll do it twice). The main point of the exercise was to get in better shape for the ITZY concert. Did I reach that goal? Sort of. Stamina-wise, I felt I was able to handle the concert and a little more. Weight-wise, I think I could have lost 3-5 more pounds before then, but I didn't hit it. Not for any real reason because I was still maintaining the routine and even making up for days missed. I think I was simply eating more on certain days. I plan to resume the routine (starting in July) with the next goal being HyoYeon coming to Houston at the end of August (ticket secured on 06.30). 


- I also paused and offloaded a few dating apps. I did it mainly because I thought there was a chance I would meet someone at the ITZY concert (I did not). Some may say I should have used them that day to see if anyone there popped up. But I stayed off the apps for a whole week just to have a break. Returning to the ones I still had afterwards, it felt very routine. I even downloaded a new one that was advertised to be Kpop centric. It is not, ha. Just like other apps, you can add your interests and that's all it was in terms of it being Kpop related. 

One other new dating I tried (and offloaded) did have the MBTI test on it as part of your information. I didn't realize it at first because I never took the test. I had no real guess as to what I was, but I was still surprised to see the result of INFJ. 

GAMES========================= 

- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. Another full month bringing the current streak to 119 demos. There were a few possibilities to miss some such as getting my haircut early for the ITZY concert. Unless the times for other scheduled activities are really early, pushing a demo early by an hour is doable. No particular standouts. Most of what I thought would be a thumbs up like Star Ocean lived up to it. I'll jump on the next physical sale for that. Ones that I anticipated being possible duds were. Colorful Boi did get added to the wishlist as it was a Meat Boy inspired tough platformer. 
 

- Played Ritual: Crown of Horns (06.01). There was a special offer to get the game for free and I jumped on that. It's good mechanically and there's a lot to do, but I wasn't interested in continuing. There's an audience for it, it's just not me. If I didn't get it for free, I wouldn't have known of it at all. 


- Machinika Museum was the free-to-play game of the month (06.02). It was the demo, ha. I thought it was something different, but I noticed the demo was removed from the eShop. I still had access to it so I redownloaded it and tried it again. Yup, the exact same thing. I did give the demo a thumbs up and was looking forward to playing this as I thought it was more. Unfortunately, I was let down. I'll still recommend others try it though. 
 

- Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine was the Genesis NSO game of the month (06.04). I had tried it as a kid and I'm not the best at match-3 games in general. But I didn't know how difficult the CPU was in the game. Even on Easy and even with a way to manipulate things outside of rewind, I could still not beat (I think) the 7th or 8th battle. That includes attempting the latter levels with passwords. I was hoping to possibly squeak by and beat Robotnik that way, but he was a formidable foe. 
  

- Kirby & The Amazing Mirror was the GBA NSO game of the month (06.05). Originally played this via the 3DS Ambassador Program. I remember getting lost and not really knowing what I was doing and quit a few hours into it. This time I had maps at the ready. I still went in blind. Once I hit a wall, that's when I referenced the maps. As someone who is not big on Kirby games, I liked this one. I wonder how it would have been with multiplayer. If you try this, I recommend having online maps ready. 
 

- Kirby's Avalanche was one of the SNES NSO games of the month (06.06). Coming off of Mean Bean Machine, this was easier. Still a challenge, but I at least felt I could win. Outside of the silly story where Kirby has lines of dialogue, I'd recommend this over Mean Bean Machine. 


- The Mega Man Game Boy games are now on NSO (06.06). I always thought this would be a part of a handheld legacy collection of Mega Man games. Either way, glad to have them. Just need to figure out when to go through them all. 
 

- Super Puyo Puyo 2 was the second SNES NSO game of the month (06.07). For obvious reasons, I added this to the list. This is the easiest of the three puyo match-3 games. There's a story, but it's still in Japanese. Other than that, it plays well and the challenge increased at a steady rate. Out of all 3, this was my favorite. 


- The latest Nintendo Direct was amazing (06.18). As a Direct airs, I have an email draft open to type out the things I was excited for. This was probably the largest list of 10-15 things. I narrowed it down to 7 as I was posting it online. 

Mario & Luigi: Brothership - Mario & Luigi is a great RPG series. I champion it over the Paper Mario series. Now it's being released on a console instead of a handheld for the first time, awesome. 

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD - This is my favorite Donkey Kong Country game. Tropical Freeze was good too, but I still preferred Returns. I didn't play the 3DS version, which had exclusive levels so I'm excited to play them for the first time on this. 

NSO updates - I'll always enjoy NSO updates. 

Marvel VS Capcom Fighting Collection - This was such a big surprise. I'm not the best at any of these fighting games, but I have memories of playing them in the arcades and creating fun teams. Plus The Punisher is really good arcade beat em up so that's rad that they included it. 

Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Yay, new Zelda game. Yay, they're reusing the Link's Awakening remake style. Yay, playable Zelda. But after having time to think about it, I'm hesitant. I got some Tears of the Kingdom vibes with the gameplay so I might not take to this as well. 

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection - I called it. This was the last set of Ace Attorney games that aren't on modern consoles. I didn't think it would be soon, but definitely eventually. And it's awesome that the second game is officially translated for the first time. 

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - And there it was. Finally we got to see something from Metroid Prime 4. It's got the new subtitle and it looks stunning. Can't wait to finally get to play it in 2025. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/kX3BkD5PVUM?si=r8U6l8sIR-IN4XMP 

- Crush Crush got an update on Switch (06.19)? I still check-in every day to do the dailies so nothing had changed. Then I noticed the phone icon was lit up and then there were 4-5 more girls listed on the main menu. Took me by surprise. The phone flings were from girls I had spoken to, but I forgot that I didn't receive the rest of their photos. The thing is, there was no wait time or anything showing how to progress like you'd normally get. But these are actually girls that were available already on the PC version. I just didn't realize they weren't on Switch. But most of those have met their end as the rest of it requires purchasing their LTE (Limited Time Events) and only one was added. While I had more reason to frequent Crush Crush, it's going to be the same grind until I either get enough in-game diamonds (at least one a day, each LTE is 200 diamonds) or I end up being impatient and spend actual money again. 
 

- Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster | FINAL FANTASY VI completed (06.09-06.26). Yes, that's how long I spent playing one game this month. It's been a while since something like that happened. Going in, I knew I was going to spend a lot of time with this because it's my favorite Final Fantasy game. The majority of time was spent making sure not to miss any enemies, learning spells ASAP (thanks Boosts), and getting to the end faster so I can have the proper Espers to max out stats. 

The biggest question was getting all the Rage abilities for Gau on the Veldt. That was never a thing I liked even back in the day. I know people online had deciphered how to make certain enemy groups appear, but that wasn't clicking for me early on. There was only one time I ever collected all the Rages on the SNES and that was because I had time. As soon as I would get Gau, I would learn all available Rages, progress the story, return to the Veldt and learn all the new enemies, repeat. If time wasn't a factor, I would have done it this time as well. In the end, I had 101 Rages before getting to the World of Ruin. I was going to aim for 100, but I'll take one extra, ha. If I were to improve the Veldt, I would have it split into different areas and each area has a specific set of monsters. That way it's not just any monster that can be found wherever you are. 

The experience itself was great. Clocked in close to 60 hours, which hasn't happened for me in a while. Took over 1100 screenshots, which has to be the most I've done for any single game I've played and took screenshots for on the Switch. I enjoyed the cast, I liked the improvements made to certain abilities, the opera scene looks and sounds amazing, and everything else. Something that surprised me was that I got teary eyed during Shadow's part of the ending. That never hit me before, but it did this time. I think it's because I'm older. And with that, the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster is completed. 

This is also the last time I might play Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. I had been playing the songs from the recent Pixel Remaster Final Fantasy game plus one not from that mix plus some DLC music. There's no real reason to go back to it other than to attempt and beat all quests, which is very difficult. So unless there is another reason to come back to it, it's also going to be shelved. I did find it fitting that Chrono Trigger/Cross DLC music were the last songs to be played. 


- Darkest Dungeon was the latest Game Trial (06.26). I realized there were a few more hours left in the trial period after I beat Final Fantasy VI. I gave it a fair hour. The dark aesthetic is so good and had me intrigued. The battle wasn't bad, but I was brute forcing my way through them. It sucked when my characters died, but I didn't care that they did. Not bad, but not for me. 
 

- Picked up my copy of Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (06.27). Planning to play it towards the end of October. In case I don't say it after playing it, the original on the 3DS (Dark Moon) wasn't a favorite of mine. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I did with the first and third game. I'm hoping to at least have a good time when I eventually replay it. 


- Hit a big achievement for Fitness Boxing 2; One Year's Hard Work (06.29). Basically you had to do a daily workout once a day for an entire year. I knew there was no way for me to do this for real. On days that I didn't actually do a Fitness Boxing routine, I had an alarm set to check in to the game and let the warm up plus the first exercise run without actually doing anything and then quit. It counted. I thought to possibly pair this with another long running set of achievements, which is to hit 30 hours of exercise time with each trainer, but I didn't want to put too much on my plate. One thing at a time. The closest I have is 27 hours with Sophia and that's legit time. Everyone is at around 3-5 as I was mainly using Sophia for a large chunk before deciding to switch back and forth. I will likely do something similar for the time achievements, but let them run through an entire routine. 
 

WORK========================= 

- Team CAB on a slow day (06.03). But it picked up with the last few bookings of the day. There were a few...issues, but we had a plan in place. Thankfully one of the owners offered to pick up the catering for us to make things easier. 

- Got a one-star review (06.04). I answered a phone call and listened to the customer wanting to book with us. They had mentioned their budget and I knew they wouldn't be able to afford it. I think I gave a nervous chuckle, but was carrying on like I would for any call. I let them know the price and offered to ring up a mock booking to give a total price. But because of that chuckle I was called unprofessional and they said they no longer were interested in booking. I mentioned it to LT and SP who were game mastering and they were on my side. I then called one of the owners to let them know to expect either a bad review or a call to corporate. Minutes after that phone call, the review came in. I let LT and SP know and they were flabbergasted. I texted the owner so she can check out the review. She reassured me that I was okay and not to worry about it. It just sucks overall especially since I literally got a 5-star review maybe an hour prior. 

As we were closing, I had one of my talks with SP since we never had the opportunity to. It was good to get an idea of how she felt about things at work and where her head space was. Thanks to LT for taking care of the rest of the closing duties as he knew what was going on referencing how he and I had a chat the week prior, ha. 

- Left home early one day (06.12). It wasn't on purpose, but my timing was off by half an hour. Even as I was getting ready, I wondered why my normal alarms weren't going off (didn't bother to check them manually). It wasn't until I got into the car that I realized I was early. Sure, I could have simply gone back inside the house, but I figured it was an opportunity to do a small errand and go to CVS. Got some batteries for my ITZY light ring before the concert. Of course it was still early so I took a short detour to Bep. Got a Hawaii Sunset for myself and got Agent Ocean a Strawberry Smoothie (what he got last time we went there). Arrived at work a few minutes early and apparently I just missed a big rush of kids. Other staff came a few minutes later to hear of the story too. Not too long after, some left and we started to do our thing. The highlight of the night was a kind customer leaving myself, Agent Ocean, and SP slices of their cookie cake. When they initially came in (normal booking, but we allowed use of the VIP room), I saw they had the box of a cookie cake and jokingly asked if it was for us. The mom said there was a possibility. And by the end of their stay, they had more cookie cake available and shared it with us. Yay for kind customers. 


- Got called off on Monday (06.17). It's unfortunately been a regular thing for the staff the last few weeks. Despite it being the summer, we aren't as busy as expected. Not that some weekdays don't get busy, but some are as if it wasn't summer time. So to be fair, everyone has the possibility of getting called off to save on labor.  

- I used Google Translate for a team recently (06.20). It's not the first time either. The team did know English, but seeing them for a few minutes in the lobby made it obvious that they spoke Spanish natively. I hosted in English and even ran the session for the first few minutes in English. Before they got into the next portion of the room, I pulled up Google Translate. The first hint I sent them in Spanish, they accidentally were trying to translate it into English, ha. After that, it was all Spanish clues and I could tell how things were going smoother for them. They still needed the typical amount of help most teams do, but I could tell they appreciated the hints being in Spanish.  

- What a day (06.28). Can't go into all the details, but we managed the busy night. A highlight that happened around the middle of the shift, during some downtime I went to my car to get something for RL. There was chatter in our group chat about Oreo Sour Patch Kids. He was stoked and even those present they were skeptical were curious to try. It was a nice uplifting moment. While he and others (even the next day) weren't the highest on it, it was still good to see them be brave to try it. Cheers to those that liked it like I do. Oreos and Sour Patch Kids are two snacks I really like so I was curious to try them. Thanks RL for reminding me they exist so that I can actually try them. 

The following day was also busy, but we left around 11:30 (the previous night we left closer to midnight). We had another Spanish speaking team and I advised LT to use Google Translate since I used it earlier in the month to help a team. There were some hectic spots when lots of teams arrived early or at the same time. We were down a person, but we were able to manage again. Shout outs to the last two teams of the night. One was there the night before and they chilled in the lobby after doing Star Trek. I had a nice chat with them about general escape room stuff. Then the last Mansion team was 30 seconds off from beating the record. There was an exciting energy in the air with them and then it was combined with the other team. Good way to end a busy Saturday night. 

ETC========================= 

- Sunmi - Balloon in Love (MV) 

- Nayeon - ABCD (MV) 

I'm all in for Nayeon's latest promotions. While I'm not normally sold on the music video (performances sell me on songs), this one had me almost instantly. So I was very excited to see her live performances of the song. Pop was fun, but ABCD is awesome. 

- aespa - Live My Life (MV) 

- Red Velvet - Cosmic (MV) 

- ITZY - Born To Be World Tour (06.14) 

Started off the day with a haircut (10:30AM). It's been a while. Originally I wanted to get one about 3 months prior, but that's when I got really sick. While I could have gone anytime after, I figured to wait for the concert. It's always nice catching up with my stylist. After that, it was back home to eat a little and relax before going to meet HeXagon at Sushi Masa (2:15PM). Never been there before, but it's pretty good. I was surprised with the size of the restaurant itself (apparently it used to be an Outback Steakhouse). I didn't realize that we were doing the all-you-can-eat option and only ordered a little. But that might have worked out for the best as I needed to eat something after the haircut as that ended a little after my normal lunch time. Good food and good chat before heading off for the venue (4:00PM). I was unfortunately the only one that didn't have a parking pass so the plan was to drop off my car nearby and carpool with NRM and BL.  

There were already fans at the venue. It was cool seeing different eras of ITZY represented through outfits (I was doing an homage to Ryujin's Akaraka performance outfit as best as I could with what I had), people dancing, and handing out freebies (thanks to anyone that gave freebies throughout the day). We walked over to check in for VIP. Simple process. It was hot outside so we all went back to the cars to chill for about an hour before going to line up. The line snaked around. Unfortunately we were on the side of the building where the sun was shining down. Thankfully the line was making its way around and we were probably in line for 30-45 minutes before getting inside. We immediately got into the merchandise line, which was moving at a steady pace. All I wanted were the 2 ITZY shirts and I got them. I debated on changing into one of them, but decided to stay wearing my Bust A Groove shirt and keep the ensemble going. Then it was waiting in line again before they let the VIPs in for the soundcheck (6:30PM). 

At first we were told we weren't allowed to take photos or videos during the VIP soundcheck. NRM asked a staff member about an hour beforehand and they said it was okay. Then before heading in, the staff let everyone know it's okay as long as we don't stream it. So that was cool to know. We got inside and the venue was nice. Small, but nice. Then we split to go to our seats. To my surprise, NRM was able to find a seat next to me and didn't tell me until we sat down, ha. I kept wondering why he kept saying he'll get his poster from me when he sat down because my assumption was he was sitting elsewhere. A few members of HeXagon knew and said they were trying to keep a straight face about it. It was a wonderful surprise. I was ready to attempt and make friends with those around me, but it was great to sit with a friend. Something else we noticed was that there was no Row A in our section. We were Row D, but we were definitely the third row. Others were confused too. NRM figured it out and then we started to let others know about it. 

And then ITZY came out. They performed 3 songs total (Swipe, Boys Like You, Not Shy) with a couple of short parts for 2-3 before the last one. Greedy me wishes they played more songs that weren't part of the actual set. I would have really liked to see them sing Bet On Me live since that is one of my favorites. But it was still cool to see them vibe without going full out. 
 
Then it was a short intermission before the actual concert started. Non-VIP ticket holders were coming in, more freebies were being handed out, NRM was meeting more people (he knows everyone, ha), and we were all chilling. We took a group photo before heading back to our seats. Below will be the set list. I won't go into detail about each song like I did for TWICE last year, but I will say a few things about certain songs.  

+ Born To Be 
Appropriate to start with this song. It's so good. 

+ Racer 

+ Kidding Me 
One of the few songs I wasn't familiar with. I've heard it, but didn't know all the lyrics. 

+ Mr. Vampire 

+ Swipe 
One of my favorites overall. It was cool to see them perform it during the soundcheck and then go full out on it during the actual set. 

+ Wannabe 
The song that really grabbed my attention. While I had been following ITZY close to when they debuted (someone recommended them to me close to when their activities were wrapping up), it was Wannabe that made me want to dive into them. Seeing them perform this was very heartwarming for me. 

+ Mine (Chaeryeong) 
Seeing Chaeryeong perform this live was neat. I really liked the mirror theme they went with.  

+ Run Away (Ryujin) 
The solo I was looking forward to the most for obvious reasons. It was cool to see the stairs, it was cool seeing Ryujin clear the table, it was cool seeing Ryujin walking down the stairs, and it was just cool seeing Ryujin rock out. The sad thing was I accidentally tapped on something on my phone and I wasn't in photo mode right when Ryujin walked to our part of the stage. So my head was down trying to figure out what happened to my phone. Once I figured it out after a few seconds, she was already heading to the other side of the stage, darn it. 

+ Yet, But (Yuna) 
This solo is actually my second favorite of the solo songs in general. Not only was the song catered for Yuna, but the music video was fitting. And of course the performance was too. 

+ Crown On My Head (Yeji) 
Yeji is an amazing performer. Not just during this solo, but throughout the entire concert. Her solo was definitely a highlight of her skills. 

+ Untouchable 
The song I made sure to learn the choreography for. It's really one of their best songs. Top 10 for me for sure so seeing it live was awesome. 

+ Gas Me Up 

+ Dynamite 
Saw clips of the performance as the tour has been going on. It was so cool seeing the full dance in person. 

+ Psychic Lover 

+ Don't Give A What 
The other song I wasn't familiar with. Again, I heard it, but didn't have it memorized. The light poles that the background dancers used helped emphasize the fun.  

+ Loco 
This song is low on my list of favorite ITZY songs (not that it's a bad song), but it's way better live. 

+ Not Shy 
In the past, I had said Mafia in the Morning was ITZY's best song at the time. My thoughts on that have changed. It's still a favorite of mine, but I think Not Shy is a better all around anthem for the group. Not only that, it gives the fans a song to yell ITZY during it. 

+ Cake 
Another song that I think was enhanced because of the live band. 

+ Sneakers 
I still call this their cutest song. Seeing them have fun with it makes it more fun for me. 

+ Kill Shot 
Such a dang good song and dance. 

+ Escalator 

+ Love Is 

+ Be In Love 
The girls singing on the stairs was a nice bit of imagery. And yay for the mosquito dance, ha. 

+ Boys Like You 

+ Dalla Dalla 
One thing I had in mind for this was to get a photo of them giving their thumbs up. Coincidentally, that became the last photo of the group I took. My phone was down to 1% when that happened and a notification popped up saying there was no more space on my phone (there was, it was more about the battery). My one small regret happened when the confetti was shot out and raining down on us. It was an awesome sight and I held my VIP bag into the air to catch it. I noticed a few around me started to do the same thing. But I was too preoccupied with that that I wasn't paying attention to ITZY as they were finishing the song. Thankfully I did refocus to watch them walk back as the stage doors were closing. 

After the concert, I gathered more confetti, ha. HeXagon reconvened and we eventually made our way out. The group got larger and we decided to take a photo by the sign. Then we started walking to our cars, but split into two groups. Some hung with KQ to listen to music (danced a bit, security guards got into it, etc) and others chilled with NRM. I bounced back and forth between the two. Once the traffic died down, we finalized plans. NRM, BL, and myself opted out of eating with the rest. I was dropped off at my car, made it home, drank so much water, and ate dinner before settling down and ending the fun night. 

General thoughts:  

+ Photos 
I took a total of 447 photos during the concert. The majority were during Ryujin's solo. But I had a method of when I wanted to take photos because I didn't want to watch through my phone the entire time. It was simply to take photos at the beginning of a song up until or after the first chorus. There were exceptions as I would take photos whenever the members were walking around instead of dancing and they came to our section. But that was a lot of photos. No wonder I had no battery at the end of the concert, ha. 

+ Live band/Dancers  
Much like for TWICE, this added to the overall vibe. It is nice to hear a different variation of the music rather than simply the instrumentals. Cheers to the bass guy that NRM and I cheered on and got acknowledged during sound check. And to all the dancers, you all kicked so much butt. 

+ Translator 
During the comment sections, the members were mainly speaking English. But for the last one, they spoke more Korean and had a translator. It was most likely so that the girls can speak freely and get their emotions across without having to struggle with their English even though they can say a lot. At some point I thought the translator sounded familiar. I asked NRM if he thought that the translator was Lia. He was shocked, but quickly debunked it saying she sounded a little different. I think in my head I wanted Lia to be there and that was me reaching out. 

+ Yeji 
Throughout the night, I was throwing up the "too sweet" symbol. For those not familiar, it's similar to a pose they do in Ringo with their hands, but "too sweet" has been a wrestling thing for a long time. I did that during the TWICE concerts too. I was hoping the girls would return it thinking I was doing it from Ringo. They probably didn't see it, but there was one moment that Yeji looked my way. She stared for a few seconds and then threw up the rocker gesture. I nodded and then she went off to deliver more fan service. I could have interpreted it incorrectly, but I'm pretty sure that was for me. I wish I could recall which song it happened during so I could look for more fancams of it to help confirm her doing it. Whether that was for me or not, I'll take it. Thank you, Yeji. 

+ HeXagon/NRM 
Shout out to the HeXagon crew. We weren't all there and there were others thrown into the mix that day, but it was a fun time. Thanks for the fun and for being cool. 

Special shout out to NRM. While I was able to secure a ticket, it wasn't as close as I was hoping. He was able to find one and said it's mine (paid him back obviously). BL ended up getting my original ticket. I was worried to be sitting next to no one I knew so his surprise of sitting next to me was rad. I won't forget something he said after the concert was over. "This guy was singing and dancing to everything." I'm glad he got to see that side of me as not a lot do. Closest would be if you sat next to me at a live wrestling event. Not only that, it was really cool to see so many people that knew him. That's a testament of how likeable he is. Thanks for helping with all the ticket silliness. Thank you for your kindness, NRM. 

+ ITZY 
There's a reason you are one of the only groups I listen to during this phase of Kpop. You are all amazing performers. Don't ever doubt your talent and how you make so many people happy with what you do. I hope Lia is doing well and that the next time you're in town, it's all five of you. I'll continue to cheer for all of you. Until next time, take care of yourselves. 


That's a wrap on June 2024. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 



"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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