April 2026 Entry:
So much happened in April.
MISC=========================
- Went to meet members of HeXagon at Handam for dinner after work (04.02). The real reason was that they invited someone from out of state that was going to the upcoming NMIXX concert with them. Very cool person to hang out with. It was her (LB), BL, NRM, NE, and myself. The manager of the venue greeted me kindly and inquired about work when it wasn't super busy. Our waitress was awesome too. She gave us an extra free plate of food that was just sitting around and took the time to talk to us when she had time (coincidentally she was from the same state as LB). We stuffed ourselves and headed out to Molly Tea.
I had not been to this area of Chinatown in years. For whatever reason, it was packed on a Thursday. Took quite a bit of time to find parking. Moly Tea itself was full. Myself and LB didn't get drinks and just chilled outside while others got stuff. Then we went upstairs to the crane game areas (checked out both but stuck with one). BL was the MVP getting a ton of catches. NRM did well too. I helped NE trade in his to get a Gengar plush he wanted by giving one that BL got for me (a basket with individual pieces of bread). Snapped a few photos together before heading out around 10PM.
- Caught up NXT Stand & Deliver (04.05). NXT never disappoints.
- Watched all 8 episodes of Terminator Zero (04.01-04.08). I'm half and half on it. The action was good (I wish there were more of it). I liked the art style (that hint of purple here and there was neat). But I noticed I kept losing interest in the story. Kokoro I couldn't get into at all. And while the kids had their respective roles and were performed well, I would have preferred the story to focus more on Eiko and Misaki. This is probably more for those deeply into the Terminator franchise. My knowledge is for the first four movies, but even then I don't have much of an attachment to the series outside of the first two movies.
- Finally bought The HUNTR/X Meal and Derpy McFlurry from McDonald's (04.09). I had forgotten about it for a bit, but came to a realization that there's a high chance it would be no longer available within a month. So I figured a good time to get it is after an opening work shift so I can pick it up on the way home and it not being super late. I went all the way to the McDonald's closest to my home (5 or less minutes). Sat in the drive-thru, pulled up, asked for the meal, and they said it was sold out. I never even thought that would be a possibility, but it makes sense. I went about 7 minutes away from my home to the next closest McDonald's. didn't have to sit in the drive-thru long until it was my turn. They thankfully had them, yay. Paid and waited in line. The person that handed over the food...they seemed to not want to be there. They had their back towards the window the whole time so towards the customers that pull up. And she had to hand me stuff twice and each time I thanked her...and each time she said nothing, That was...not good. It bothered me a bit, but I was glad I didn't have to go to a third location to find this even though I had one in mind.
Got home and immediately took photos. I remember thinking where the cards were and they were packed at the bottom. Although I was surprised it was a Saja Boys pack and not HUNTR/X. Like I'd expect a Saja Boys pack if I ordered breakfast, which I wasn't planning to do. So I chalk this up to the bad worker. Anyways, everything was good. I ate the Derpy McFlurry first since it was melting and it was tasty. The fries with Ramyeon seasoning was as good as others have mentioned. It reminded me how I used to use Ramen flavoring on random food growing up. The sauce for nuggets was okay. I preferred Demon over Hunter, but would be fine without them. Glad I finally got to enjoy the meal.
- The Heartbreak Kid: Becoming Shawn Michaels was a good watch (04.13). A lot of it has been told before, but the latter end of things when he transitions to leading NXT was all new. Plus seeing him with his kids was very heartwarming.
- Watched Wrestlemania 42 (04.19-04.20). I actually was back home in time to watch night 2 live. The next day I caught up on night 1 before going to work. Night 2 was better, but I don't agree with a lot of the criticisms of night 1. Overall, I really enjoyed it. I eventually watched the Hall of Fame a week later (04.26). Good stuff.
- Was supposed to meet up with a friend I had not seen in years (04.24). We had been chatting back and forth about going out to eat. I presented five options for them to choose from and they whittled it down over time. But we had to push back our meeting day a couple times due to work and other events (Easter, etc). Even for the day we solidified it on, I was tentative because it would be on a weekday before work and after a possible late work night. But I put a stamp of approval on it around 7PM the night before.
The day of, I messaged her saying I was heading out soon. It was only 15 minutes away in a place I was familiar with. I arrived around 11:04AM. Went in and got a table for two, checked out the menu, and waited...and waited...and waited. I messaged her a few times letting her know where the table was and making sure she was still on the way. No reply. No read message alert either. About 15 minutes in I thought there was a possibility she wouldn't show up. And I thought about whether I should order food for myself as the waitress stopped a few times to check on the status of my friend. 20 minutes in I decided if I don't hear back from her in 30 minutes that I would leave. And that's what I did. I sent her a message hoping that everything was okay, but that I was going to leave and we could reschedule. The reason for not eating is...I lost my appetite. I also didn't want to attach a memory of food to being stood up. And I could hear the staff saying things. "When is he going to order?" "Is he still waiting?" Even as I got up and was walking out the door, one of the staff members was in the middle of saying "thanks for coming" or "have a good day" but they saw I was clearly not in a good mood and stopped mid sentence. It was embarrassing.
Thankfully my friend was okay. They unfortunately overslept. And it's worse for her because that affected something with work she was supposed to be part of. No update on her work status as of typing this (04.26), but I also didn't say how I felt about it all. She apologized, but I didn't want to make her feel worse than she already did. Maybe I'll explain everything I just typed about my experience when we finally do meet up. We'll see.
- BabyVoX had a concert in California (04.25). I knew I wouldn't be able to go as I had asked for time off for the TWICE concert that would happen a week prior. I had a few friends encourage me to go, but I already accepted that I couldn't go once the date was announced. I tried to figure out if I knew anyone out there that would be able to go and I could only think of one person. PacificPyro was someone I met during the beginning of my Kpop fandom on the MVH forums. We kept contact ever since then through social media. While they weren't in the city itself, they were the closest one I knew there. They had plans already for a Final Fantasy event, but they were torn about whether they could also go to the concert. Once they solidified going, I asked if they could get merchandise for me by planning out to take a photo of the booth and share it with me. I showed them the previous post of merchandise they sold in Korea and mentioned my top 3 items (light stick, photo card pack, and shirt). I would take everything though if possible, ha.
The day of, he mentioned that there was no merchandise at all. That was surprising to discover. However, everyone got a free old-school color light stick (not their official one). He shared some photos and videos from his and his friend's view and it was great. I'm glad you ended up going and thank you for sharing your experience with me.
- Watched Queen of the Ring (04.29). This was on my watch list last year for the end of the year, but I had to push it back. Figured Wrestlemania season is a good time to watch it. I really liked it. My knowledge of Mildred Burke was minimal so almost everything presented was new to me. The action was less than I thought, but it was great when it was there. The only thing that I couldn't get over was seeing current day wrestlers portraying other wrestlers. It was hard for me not to think "that's so-and-so" instead of who they were acting as. Other than that, definitely recommend it for any wrestling fan.
Later in the day, G and Rannchan picked me up and we went to eat at Tamashi's Ramen Sushi. It was on a short list of places to try. Our original choice was actually a ghost shop (order to-go, no dine in) so we pivoted to this even though G had been to one before. We all devoured our ramen fast. I had Tamashi's Menn Ramen which was a shrimp broth with shrimp and more. Very flavorful. After about an hour, we walked over to Sweet Memes that was about 5-8 minutes away. While I found many dessert/boba places in the area that were also walking distance, I purely chose this place because of the name. Unfortunately, there were no memes to speak of, but we all liked what we ordered. I had a Spirit Juice since I wanted something light and full of flavor (good stuff) and bought a Raindrop on the Boat. It was a featured dessert I wasn't familiar with. Unflavored jelly that had flavored flour and syrup to make up the taste. Not bad, but I wouldn't order it again. I experienced it, it was fine. Took some photos of Rannchan and G with their cute backdrop before leaving about an hour later to walk back. We stopped by H-Mart to check out the snacks. They had Kpop Demon Hunter shrimp chips, but only the large bags with all 3 members (2 variants) instead of the small solo packs. Maybe sometime later I'll buy a big bag. If they small solo ones were available, I would have bought them. They drove me back and dropped me off home. I claimed my Diana Pragmata amiibo, left some Turtle Chips for Rannchan, and left G's birthday gift early in case I didn't see them later. Good times.
- This has been happening for a few months now, but I noticed I make more typos lately. This is for anything whether it be a text message, a note at work, or even this blog. I don't know why it is happening, but I do catch it. Sometimes I catch it late, ha.
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. 16 this month. 4 ups, 6 sideways, 6 downs. Standouts include FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE (already own) and GRIDbeat! (shout out to Acclaim for following me after my post).
7 demos left on deck to try.
- Picked up the Super Mario Galaxy amiibo (04.02). Wow, they are large (not the largest, but still up there) and very well detailed. Some of the best amiibo ever produced.
- Thank you to The Gaming Historian (04.03). Thanks for all the years of entertainment and information. You deserve to take the bow that you did.
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 off the Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 compilation finished (04.01-04.05). These numbers here are the number of stars I had each day I played (50, 65, 70, 120). Yeah, big push in the first and last days. I had very little recollection of this one since I only played it once when it came out on the Wii in 2010. The only thing I really remembered was the overworld map. And just like the other Galaxy game, I wasn't going to do any post-game stuff (green stars bringing the total number to 240). While it's still a good game, my opinion of it has not changed; I still prefer the first Galaxy game over the second.
- Stumble Guys was the free-to-play game of the month (04.06). It's a Fall Guys clone, just not as good. I liked it enough to try it for a few games before putting it down figuring I got the most out of it.
- The Mystery of Atlantis was the NES NC game of the month (04.07). I've seen it before, but never actually played it. I definitely didn't know it was an import. The gameplay is super simple with the only complaint being that the jumps take getting used to. It's interesting how different doors take you to different zones rather than going straight to the next one (which they do that as well). That does make it tough at times especially as some are dead ends (I believe) or you fall into an endless pit (42th zone). If it was straightforward, I would have attempted to get the alternate final zone, but I didn't feel like researching the correct path. My time with the game was more than enough. Not bad, but I won't recommend it.
- Rayman 2: The Great Escape was the N64 NC game of the month (04.08-04.09). I don't really remember if I had this lined up on the schedule at first, but Reversed reached out to me about it and wondered if I had because he just played it (January). My only experience with a Rayman game was the Legends demo. This was the first full playthrough of any of the Rayman games. There were definitely better 3D platformers during that time frame. The thing is, it's not bad, but it's not great. The main issue would be some of the controls (the hover isn't great) and the camera (some specifically placed, the rest is adjusting it to help you). I think after the first level, I realized I wasn't going to go back and collect anything I missed. Only 2-3 times did I actually find all the Lums and cages in a level. In the end I had 778/999 Lums and 67/80 cages, which is not bad considering I didn't go out of my way to find the majority of them. But 6 hours was enough for me to be ready to put the controller down once credits rolled.
- The fourth game from Capcom Fighting Collection 2 was Street Fighter Alpha 3 UPPER (04.10, 04.15, 04.22-04.26). As you can see by those dates, this took a while. The reason being was twofold. One, the large roster of characters that you needed to beat the game with (plus a few extras). Two, going to Austin for the TWICE concert. I did try to do the bulk of the game before the roadtrip, but I realized it wasn't going to happen so I just took my time. Anything else that was originally scheduled after the game was extra. One thing I did notice while knocking out each character was that if I had a hard time and lost, loading the previous save would lower the difficulty. I noticed that right away, but would still try not doing that. But it was a relief to know that I was thrown a bone especially for fighters I wasn't good with.
- Played the Granblue Fantasy Relink - Endless Ragnarok Beta Test (04.26). Since the beta time frame was short (04.24-04.27), I moved up on the list. I liked it. It controlled well, there was no slow down with playing with others online, and taking down a huge boss was incredibly satisfying. Pulling off a Full Burst was so cool and pulling off a Primal Burst was even better. I played the same quest my team chose twice. The first time, we lost. The second time, we won, yay. I wish I was a little better at it as my teammates had to revive me many times. But I did get better acclimated to what I was doing during round two, which we got to end with a Primal Burst. Excellent note to end on.
- MLB The Show 26 was the latest Game Trial (04.27). I played the 22 Game Trial, but missed the 23 Game Trial. I don't remember what I thought of 22, but I really liked 26.The fact that there were so many game play options was amazing. You can customize it all. You want a more technical way to play, you can. You want it to play like a retro baseball game, you and I did. One of the reasons I have a hard time with newer sports games is how technical they are. But being able to play this like I could from the 80s and 90s was relieving and refreshing. On top of that, it was fast and snappy. I did one full game and it took about an hour to play through. It didn't feel like an hour and I didn't mind it. I got one run batted in (didn't realize it happened) and two home runs. While I won't buy the full game, I can easily recommend this to anyone that was interested.
WORK=========================
- Opening shift on a Thursday (04.02). I had a plan that I followed the entire day in terms of productivity. And I did accomplish everything. I made sure to sweep and mop the remaining areas of the venue. I contacted the new trainees about their schedule availability (apologies to Agent Ocean for misinterpreting what I needed to do). I stuffed all the Easter eggs with the paper slips I printed the night before while Game Mastering the first team. I worked on an Easter graphic to post on social media (I realized later on at night that I had a spelling error...). I took photos and messaged the entire team what to do and what the Easter promotion was all about. And it might not sound like a lot, it took my entire shift plus 5 minutes to get them all done. I gave a sigh of relief as I originally thought it wouldn't take that long, but also that I actually did complete them. Felt accomplished. Left at 5:05PM.
- Friday 3PM shift (04.03). I made sure the first thing I did was correct the misspelling in the Easter graphic. I asked Agent Ocean how the customers have reacted to the eggs and he admitted he forgot to put them in the rooms. For the teams that I missed out on while he was there, I emailed them their promo code that was to be given to all customers for finding an egg if they didn't get the special prize. I also realized the others on hand didn't mention the eggs when hosting a team in or asking if teams found the eggs when hosting them out. I was disappointed about that. But once that shift, we saw the reactions to the eggs being positive. Even if it was a free drink, they were delighted. I messaged the team at the end of the night to remind them about the eggs.
When it wasn't busy, I was tasked with going to a tech store at the nearby HEB to fix an iPad screen. It was dropped some time last week and there was a crack. The day before, it straight up shattered throughout the rest of the screen. It was still usable as the touch screen still functioned. When I brought it to the tech place, they realized that too. They said it would cost $99 to repair the screen and that it would be done in a couple of hours. We agreed and I returned around 6:30PM to pick it up. It worked. Pretty much seemed new. I was asked about a screen protector and I texted Agent Ocean about it, but he never got back to me so I left 10 minutes later. But yay for getting the screen fixed instead of having to buy another one.
Towards the end of the night, there were a few return customers. One was a couple that had come by twice already this week, but I let them know of the Easter egg special and they were excited to possibly win something (they did). When I came out, they were excited that I was there and that they were worried I wasn't. They expressed that they liked my energy and how I actually talk to them. I let them know about other customers saying similar things or only going to the sister location only if I'm there. The other return team was a family. I recognized the daughter as she had a hat on like last time and then the dad with his long beard and then the hot mom. They did well and were also excited about the egg they found. And our final team of the night was really strong players and breezed through their room. They ended up leaving a long review to end the night, which the ladies shared with the rest of the management team the next day. Left around 11:25PM.
- Saturday at 2PM (04.04). The start was slow as the majority of the bookings were in the middle and towards the latter part of the shift. The food of choice was Jersey Mike's.
The major issue of the day was one of our rooms going down when the rain was harsh around 4:30PM. It blipped for a few seconds and all the screens were off and all the magnetic locks were opened in the middle of a game. They were only a few minutes in, but I escorted them out to the lobby so that we could check out the issue. HL got the internet back up and none of the other rooms went down. But CS and I were trying to get the TVs back on and they simply would not. We also noticed a constant beep playing. Initially we thought it was a sound from another room, but it was coming from the ceiling. While HL called up the ladies for assistance, I took the original team into another unoccupied room to play (we also gave them credit to play again another day). But the sound was the battery back up. Got on FaceTime with LO to point out where the battery back up was in the ceiling. Once it was found, it was getting it to turn off and on. Tried simply unplugging it and it didn't work. Tried holding a certain button and it didn't work. Holding down the main power button did stop the beep. Turning it back on worked and it took a good 5 minutes for everything to be back online in the room. The next few teams had no issues. But as soon as I was about to walk a team in around 10:30PM, it crapped out again. I immediately saw the lights were off as I cracked open the door and I heard the beeping again. Thankfully they were able to play another unoccupied room. I let the ladies know again and said I would unplug the battery back up and leave the ladder in the room for them when they get a new battery back up.
Shout out to the family from the previous night returning to play the last three rooms. Yes, three, ha. I didn't get to walk them in for their first one, but I made sure to be their host for the last two games. As they were waiting for their third game, the little girl made a comment along the lines of "we won't get to see you anymore." That got me. But I did remind her that there's a holiday room and that our sister location has other rooms. After their third game, I mentioned the sister location again and said they could try requesting me like others have. He asked if it was okay to exchange numbers so that way I can text them when I'm there. I texted him later just to thank him and his family for being great. He sent a nice heartwarming message back and I made sure to text that to Agent Ocean and the ladies. It wasn't a review, but it's stuff like that that makes doing what I do worth it.
CA and I left around 11:20PM after closing things up. And with that, the Easter promotion is over. Now it's to wait and see who actually uses their discount/promo codes. Outside of free drinks and free shirts, only one team has used their code already. I'm hoping we'll see a good turnout especially with April being a slow month in general.
- Another solo Monday (04.06). Started at 12PM instead of 1PM like before since we had a booking towards the beginning of the day. At the start, I noticed a smell in the control room and it was coming from a basket of washables (cups, mop heads, rags, etc). The ladies have been so busy with the third location that they haven't picked those up for a couple of weeks. I took the basket out into the lobby to air it out and sprayed some Febreze on it to help with the smell. It was definitely worse in the control room since it's a small room. I also had to go up into the ceiling for the room that crapped out on Saturday. The battery back up was replaced by the ladies, but for some reason everything was off. I noticed it when the exit box lights were off. Thankfully all I had to do was turn it off and back on again and it worked the rest of the day.
There were only 3 bookings when the day started. In the end it became 8. It doesn't sound like much, but there was a chunk where 3 were in the same hour. I let her know that I'd need the assist an hour prior as a heads up, no response. When the time came, I texted her about which rooms to watch, no response. I texted saying I was back, no response. I immediately had to take the second team out and a few minutes later the third team. Throughout the day, I checked to see when she actually read the messages I sent. I didn't notice until the next morning so there's a high chance she never saw my messages and didn't help me. Disappointing as they weren't busy at the sister location and there were two employees on hand at the time.
Other than that, the latest alcohol order came in at the beginning of the day and I had to leave that stacked in the lobby until around 6PM when there weren't as many teams around. That way I could properly update the inventory list and move them to the back. And the one major thing I had planned for the day was to get the documents ready for the new trainees, which I didn't do until the final hour of my shift. Still was around for an extra half hour. Left at 8:30PM.
- Got a text early in the morning from Agent Ocean asking if I could work a double because he was stuck at the airport (04.07). I agreed to come in at noon (originally I was going to come in at 3:30PM). There was one booking around 12:30PM...and that was it. The rest of the day consisted of doing a merchandise count, an alcohol count, cleaning the bar and control room, and specifically cleaning the ice machine for the first time. That...was messier than expected. It was simple taking the tubes off knowing excess water would leak out, but I didn't know it would leak from other places. I already had the mop bucket to empty the tubes into thankfully. Then you have to wait a few minutes for the cleaning option to ready itself before pouring in water for it to clean itself with. That all happened while a person came in to pick up gift cards they emailed about, ha. The other task I did was schedule a social media post for both locations to go up on Saturday regarding the new promotion going on.
At 4:30PM is when the new trainees started their first day. Gave DF and YB their shirts, gave them a tour, showed them the training passport, and had them play their first game. They did well as a team (yay for communication). Then it was a few reps of having them reset the room. During their second runthrough of the game, I gave them iPads to see what the Game Master sees. I thought it was a neat idea for all of us to have iPads and see how things happen. After a few resets together, I asked them to rate themselves and it was a 3 and a 4 and I agreed. Then I had them reset solo and each of them rated themselves higher. Not perfect, but better. I was glad that in terms of resetting, they picked it up fast. Then I had them perform normal closing duties. Then before we left, we sat down and talked about their first day, how they felt about training, any questions or concerns, etc. I'm glad they had things to say and that they're excited to be on board. I left a few voice messages for Agent Ocean to know of their progress. We left around 10PM.
- Opened up at 11:30AM on Thursday (04.09). There wasn't much to do in terms of preparation. I did have a magazine ad person come through to ask if we wanted to be in their next publication. Took their information that they left and sent that to the ladies and DQ (seems like we'll pass). Other than that, I cleaned the rest of the lobby (minus mopping) and swept the bathrooms and hallways (minus mopping). I had 3 teams total during my time there. I edited and sent the new trainees the speeches document. I ordered some business cards and then prepared a cart for shirts for HL to add to when she arrived. Left at 4PM because I'll be hitting over time if I stay for all of my remaining shifts.
- 3PM shift on Friday (04.10). But work started a little early around 11:30AM as I received a message from DF. She said she thought about things and felt that the work hours we were asking her to work wasn't good for her. If she didn't have the other job and just school, she probably could have managed, but she mentioned a few other things like her parents not wanting her to be out driving so late at night and that she was incredibly tired the next day of school after leaving work at 10PM. Sent a screenshot of her message to Agent Ocean and we both decided that she didn't have to come in the rest of her scheduled days and that we would hold on to her information for the summer, but not guarantee that she would be brought on guaranteed. It was unfortunate news as she was really doing well on her first day. Hopefully she'll be able to work with us again during the summer.
It rained on my way to work. I believe a few bookings called to ask about rescheduling to a different time or day. There wasn't much in terms of bookings at first. One repeat customers who remembered me didn't leave a good impression this time as they forced their way into a latter part of their room. The mom was the main culprit as she was just a talker and very one track minded.
The latter half of the shift was busier, which was good as YB got to interact with customers this time. He did well for the most part, but not perfect. We also learned that because of his religion, he couldn't play in one of our rooms. That just means he has to be even better with the rooms he can. But we at least got him to play in one more so he could start to learn it. We stayed a little later so he could do the closing duties again and have a little talk about training. Left around 12:20AM.
- Busy Saturday shift starting at 2PM (04.11). There were four birthday parties throughout the day. I wasn't there for the first one, but I was told it was the busiest. If that were true, each one got easier throughout the day. The meal on the company for the day was Chic-fil-A. While it was busy, it wasn't packed. Almost everyone except myself and YB and Agent Ocean left at least one hour early. This was a good busy day for YB to see how busy a Saturday could be. He still has some nervousness, but we thankfully had a few groups that were very encouraging. There was even one that I mentioned that he was going to exit out and he said he would get the next, but the group said they wanted to hear him say the speeches and he knocked it out of the park. We all applauded him. Towards the end of the night when I was doing specific closing duties, he practiced some of his speeches farther away. I mentioned that I couldn't hear him and he turned up the volume. That's when I said that was the voice he needed to use all the time. I'm glad he found that because earlier in the day I mentioned that he trails off when he talks. We left around 11:15PM.
- Another solo Monday (04.13). There were a few issues when opening such as an item left in a room without the batteries being recharged overnight, the party room HDMI cable was left out dangling, some of the house lights for rooms were turned off when they don't have to be since they're on a schedule, etc. I sent a message about the more crucial ones at the end of the night. I also spent a part of the morning trying to activate a safe. The batteries had died and they couldn't find the keys for it. I read the previous night's shift notes and thought there was no way we didn't have the key. After I set up all the other rooms, I started to go through the drawers. There were some in that room's drawer, but none worked. Checked the next drawer, those keys didn't work. Then the next room...that didn't have a safe...had safe keys...and those worked, ha. Once I opened it up, you could see that the batteries were loose. I replaced those and then had to look up how to reprogram the safe code. Did that and then tended to the first team. At that time, one of the ladies showed up looking for the basket of washables (Agent Ocean took it), the tote of props for the third location (HL took it), and to fix the safe (I did it). So she pretty much came for nothing, ha. But it was good to catch up with her a little bit.
There were only four bookings throughout the day. All of them used discounts. 3 out of 4 were return customers who all knew me and used my discounts (nice). The team that wasn't a returning team were from London (great accents). They had a great time, but were also flying back the same day. Before they left, one of them asked if we had a tip jar and I joked that my hand was the tip jar. She proceeded to give me all her cash ($8) as she mentioned they wouldn't need it in London. That was very nice. The two last teams both came in around the same time and both almost said the exact same thing about using my discount code. Throughout the day, I received around $50 in tips. I usually don't keep track like that, but after the first gesture and later gestures made me look and total it up, ha.
TR and VV were visiting to play some of the games since TR was going to work at the original location on Friday. There was only one room he had not played, but he also played the other two rooms VV had not tried yet. RB came by to be their in-room Game Master, which made it easier for me to take care of other tasks throughout the day such as cleaning the control room and bar and restocking and updating the alcohol inventory. There was only one issue at the end of the night with the last room they played. What I originally thought was an SD card issue was not the case. I tried unplugging and plugging everything back. I tried every remote possible for it. The issue still persisted. I mentioned it in my shift notes and texted Agent Ocean about it so he could check it the following morning. I left at 8:30PM and went to a nearby CVS to buy AAA batteries (for my TWICE candy bong). Cheers for using a 40% off coupon to make it cheaper. Cheers to the London team for basically buying those batteries for me, ha.
- Came in early on Tuesday (04.14). Originally I was slated at 3:30PM. Agent Ocean messaged me about how he was overbooked in hours because of me taking off and HL and RB going to the third location (all in jest), I said I could come in at 1PM and he was okay with that, but then later messaged me saying to go in at 3PM instead as he blocked off times before then.
When I got there, I got to work on fixing the SD card issue from the night before. One of the ladies was there earlier saying how they got the menu to pop up, but couldn't get the reader to work. I tried a few things such as the new card I made last night, the original card it has been using, and a backup card I forgot I made. All had the same issue of not finding the file. I even tried reformatting one card and the issue still wouldn't work. In preparation for this, I brought an old USB stick from home to see if it would work. Put the image file on it and it immediately worked. I messaged the management chat about the fix and ordered more USB drives as we only had one (plenty of SD cards though). This process took about half an hour to do.
Other than that, I worked on emails and replying to reviews (didn't get to all of them). YB's shift was at 4:30PM, but was stuck in traffic until 4:50PM. The original plan was to have him work on resetting the two other rooms he played, but in the end it was only one. That was good though as he got better at it. We also discovered there was missing information on the reset guide, which is odd because we've used that one for the last two employees. That threw me off and I was disappointed in the fact that it was written this way and that I didn't notice it earlier.
The day ended up being only 2 teams towards the end of the day. Would have been 3, but one had to cancel due to a medical emergency. One team was checked in with no issues by YB. I was setting up his room to reset at the time so he had to grab me from the back. When he did, he mentioned that they asked if they could see the party room and he said it was okay. I thought that was an odd thing for some reason. When I walked out, I did see them in the party room, but they were towards the back area...and I thought I caught one putting something into their purse. I did say out loud something like "everything okay" to catch their attention. I shadowed YB as he did their intro and went to the control room with him afterwards. I mentioned how I thought I saw them put something into their purse. I asked what they specifically said, which was what he said earlier about them asking if they could look at the party room. I FaceTimed Agent Ocean because I couldn't get the security camera footage pulled up. Then I spent most of their session scrubbing through the footage and could not even find them as the program was running incredibly slow and was off on the timer. If they did steal anything, they stole a pizza server. The only reason I know it would be that is because I originally ordered them some time last year and it was a pack of 4 and we only had 3. I mean...if that's what you need to take to make yourself feel better...okay.
After the last team left, we closed up. YB did well resetting his second room and the first room he played. Then he did a good job with other closing duties without being supervised. We talked a little bit about his progress and expectations while I'm not going to be gone. I let him leave around 9:30PM while I did a couple other things before leaving at 9:45PM. Made sure to get gas on the way home.
- All day Wednesday, brought food, HH photos, Drawbridge wouldn't work and couldn't log into server PC, Google reviews, replied to reviews, inventory, CA, cleaned, 4 sessions, cleaned, clocked out at 9PM, left at 9:30PM (04.15)
- Not a solo Monday (04.21). That's the first time in over a month. The only team that was scheduled was a couple that now only has one room left to play. Originally there was one more, but they made a mistake and thought they were coming in a week later. I rescheduled them again (the first time was that they went to a different company far away).
CA came in late due to the rain and traffic. But I let her know right away what the plan was, which was to clean and leave early if no one else books. While she cleaned, I took care of the merchandise and alcohol inventory. What made that go faster was I finally prepared a template on my phone to quickly do these counts rather than make a new note and spend time typing stuff out and then deleting them.
The only other major thing I did was think about the loss of 200 reviews. There was no reply from the ticket I submitted. But I remembered that we received two emails about our account getting some type of warning. I messaged the ladies about it and then they said to let the technical support person for the company about it since they also knew about the warnings we got. I copy and pasted and edited my email to her in the hopes that they'd be able to figure things out with this new information.
No one else booked so we left early at 8PM.
- Short Tuesday (04.21). There were only three bookings and those were there the day before. During the first team's game, I worked on another phone template for inventory. YB was late due to traffic. We caught up and I realized not much training happened when I was gone. He didn't get to play another room and he was still relying on his phone. I set some hard goals for him he has to hit with the main one being not to depend too much on his phone now. He's on his third week and I know he knows what to say. He actually was able to do it as I had him practice his speeches while also working on his resets for the three rooms he does know. Hopefully he has the confidence to continue to not need it.
We left around 8:10PM. I went out to meet a friend afterwards and was late due to the rain. But it was a nice quick visit.
- Slow Thursday (04.23). 10 hour shift. Our shift notes mentioned an issue with a prop in our new room. I checked it out just to see and noticed that a spring had come off and was the reason you couldn't push it back the whole way. I got a magnet and a small enough screwdriver to fish it out and the prop could be pushed back again. I tested it a few times to make sure it popped out and in those trials, the same issue happened to another prop a few feet away. A spring came off along with a washer. Fished those out with the screwdriver and magnet, tested it out, and everything was fine. This took a good 10-15 minutes to figure out at the beginning of my shift. I then did the inventory, took care of the rest of the cleaning, made gift cards, and made and scheduled two new social media posts. All this was done by 4PM.
YB messaged me saying he'd be late. He was about half an hour late due to car issues. We made a game plan as there weren't any bookings until the end of the day so I had him play his fourth room. He ended up saying that was his favorite. Then I had him practice resetting the room a couple of times before the teams started to show up. What was only 3 bookings to end the night turned into 5. I messaged VV to remote for me as essentially I was solo. He thankfully wasn't too busy and was able to help watch two teams and shift around when teams were exiting. YB's task was to walk the majority of the teams in and to exit the majority out while I was Game Mastering. I also had him shadow GMing duties for the first room he played as he wouldn't be able to do anything else while I was watching games. It was busy and hectic, but he was good for the most part doing what was asked of him. 3 teams got out at the same time and I had him sit teams down in the lobby and take their photos and the whole exiting tasks one at a time while I went back to watch the remaining games. He did the same with the last two teams. I thanked VV for the assist. Then it was spending the rest of our time resetting rooms (I did 3 and YB did 2). He did a good job and said he preferred it being busy like that. Made sure we did all the closing duties and left around 10:45PM.
- 4:30PM, YB late again, can't play HH, called DC about it, RB left early, 9 sessions, 1 replay, not YB's best performance. last session at 11PM, sent message to DC about YB, left at 12:30AM home at 1:10AM (04.24)
- First time having a Saturday noon shift in a long time (04.25). Caught up with Agent Ocean as it has been a while since he's been going to the third location. Speaking of which, we talked about myself going there. I had to check with my parents about using the car because the possibility of carpooling would be there, there was also the possibility I go alone. Once I got that cleared and let them know of my availability, the current plan is that I would go there Thursday-Saturday for the next two weeks. I also had to reblock bookings for the coming week due to the schedules being shuffled a bit.
During the not busy portion of the day, I also replied and set up interviews for applicants for next week. One applicant wouldn't be able to do an interview until school was over at the beginning of May unless it was virtual, but mentioned they were actually in town and wanted to know if it was possible to come in later. Fortunately for her, it wasn't our busiest Saturday so I scheduled her to come in at 6PM. I asked Agent Ocean if he was going to join, but he said I had it and he also wanted to be on-hand in case more bodies were needed (only 5 of us were staffed). Her interview went well. It wasn't stellar, but it definitely wasn't bad. She mentioned how she liked that the interview was more of a conversation. While I knew I wanted to hire her, I didn't want her to think otherwise just in case Agent Ocean didn't like what he saw in my notes. But the fact that her schedule would be clear to work any day and any time helped a lot. He did end up giving her a thumbs up so I'll reply to her after I get around to the rest of the applicants.
YB was initially scheduled to come in, but some random mistake happened and he was taken off. He thankfully still came in and had a good day. He relied on his phone less and was able to take care of things on his own. He still needs to be faster at resetting, but I'm glad he's doing better.
The food of the day was tacos (chosen by myself and CA) and I got some flautas. The sauce was super spicy, but I still tried it a few times. Ended up leaving at 9PM. Long time in a while I didn't close.
- Solo Mondays are back (04.27). Had one family team book as I was on my way and they would the first sets of teams. They were easy to take care of though that I could make the large order of pizzas for an upcoming large corporate party on Thursday. During that time, the ladies were there to replace one of the TVs and to talk for a bit about my upcoming trip to the third location. They left as I exited out the family teams.
While taking care of the first team, the first of two interviewees came in. Had him chill in the party room as I took care of the other team. Once they were gone, it was straight into the interview. Pretty good one. We did bond over video games and his interview was solid. During that, the next interviewee showed up and I had him wait in the lobby. The first interview went over time by 10 minutes because of the family teams which mean the second interview was also starting 10 minutes late. Both were okay with starting later. After leading the first one out, the second interview started right away. His was alright. He's friends with one of our college student staff members and this would be his first job and it was very obvious. We also had a brief talk about video games too. Not a bad interview, but not stellar.
After the interviews were done, I finally reset one of the two previous rooms before the next team was to arrive. They didn't arrive. This was the third time that this team no-showed or was rescheduled. There was no response on the phone this time so I left a voicemail explaining the situation again. The final team of the day was a family with 3 kids and it was all their first time playing an escape room. It wasn't bad, but they needed the extra help. During that time, I searched for tables and chairs next door for the upcoming large party. We didn't have much so DQ ordered some. I also did a wristband count as I knew we were empty for one room. I didn't realize the rest were low as well with most being under 100. I set up a new order and sent a photo to one of the ladies to approve since it was an expensive order. It sat in the cart overnight as I didn't get a reply until I had already left work. The one negative of the night was one of the kids spilled their drink in their room and no one said anything. I only realized it because my shoes became sticky.
Left around 8PM. But when I was home I did text back and forth with several team members about getting wrist bands from the sister location. That didn't finish until the next morning to get verification that they had enough for us to take.
- Slow Tuesday (04.28). The first thing I did was place the order for the wristbands. I wanted those to arrive sooner rather than later. Even with the express shipping it will be 2-4 days. Next was taking care of the main inventory list so that Agent Ocean could order anything we need that is necessary for the big Thursday party. There was only one thing left to count (paper plates) before the interviewee came in.
This was the longest interview I did clocking in at one hour. They were great overall. Other than sharing stories she did have qualities that I saw as management. I even let her know that I asked extra questions that were reserved for possible manager applicants. The only downside is her schedule. Because her classes are in the evening (5PM and later M-Th), there is a high chance that she wouldn't get chosen or that her training would be limited to the weekends. I did let her know that fact too. It's not impossible, but it would be different (couldn't train with others or I would have to change my schedule to work more mornings). So while it might not be a thing now, I would hope she wouldn't forget us and that we'd be a good fit for her after her semester is over. After that, I made sure to send Agent Ocean all of the information from all 4 applicants. There were extra notes in the notes I sent, but I put more in the text I sent him. School is the main factor for all of them as some can't train during school. While I'd like to hire all of them, I'm hoping we at least pick two.
During the interview, YB arrived (CA was called off due to low bookings). He mentioned how all of his current training is up to snuff. We went through his checklist to update them and then plan his next few steps. First was getting up to speed on how cleaning procedures work. I wiped off some of the extra tables I found for the party when the first set of customers arrived. YB was to take care of them (repeat customers) from beginning to end and that included being their Game Master. This isn't his technical first time as I had him shadow and push buttons for one team during the time I watched four games at once. But I told him to put on the headphones, pay attention, ask questions, and not to push any buttons unless I approved. During that explanation he interrupted me multiple times. I took that time to actually bring that up because he has a tendency to immediately ask a question in the middle of me explaining something. I said that he needed to be patient and to wait in case the explanation answers his question. I also mentioned that no one likes being interrupted. He apologized. I'm sure he could tell I was upset getting interrupted a lot. He did it one more time later in the night, but immediately apologized about it.
Other things that happened included DQ messaging and calling about the upcoming party. There was some miscommunication about who'd be around for the party and not. I figure if Agent Ocean had not figured things out yet, he would have said something. DQ's son also brought in the wristbands from the sister location, that was a relief. To wrap up the night, YB and I cleaned the hallway and lobby before leaving at 8:50PM. I got gas and snacks on the way back.
And that concludes my last work day at the main venue for the month.
- Business road trip (04.29). Initially I was supposed to go visit our third location a week or two earlier in the month, but it got pushed back due to technical and building issues. Not only was I excited to reunite with CBS and ZH, but I was looking forward to seeing the location itself and to have a change of pace in general.
The three hour drive started with a stop at Buc-ees. The closest one on the way was one of the smaller venues that I had never seen before. Definitely small like a regular gas station. Oddly enough, there was a big Buc-ees location about 10 minutes further down, ha. I didn't stop there, but kept it in mind for the trip back. After that was a 2.5 hour drive to the location for a total of 3.5 hours. It would have been just 3 if it didn't rain on the way. It wasn't too bad at least.
The third location has a large store front. There's no way you can miss it. I parked at the lot next to us and walked in. I saw one of the ladies first (the other showed up later) and she gave me the tour. During that, I met one of the new staff members that was recently promoted to assistant manager, B3. I don't know their last names so I'll go with their first name letter and a 3 for third location. Soon after I was greeted by CBS and shortly after by ZH. While there were plans for me to help train the new staff members, there were a lot of things going on that needed priority. I started by helping organize things, which helped a lot in establishing where certain things needed to be for them to later alter to what best fits them. Then there were a lot of other small things that escape my mind. I eventually met the other two staff members; N3 and C3.
There was finally enough time to help train them in hosting. They showed me that HL gave them bullet points for hosting...which was okay, but I sent them the speeches I had typed out and have been using for the last few trainees and they said that was way better. We all took turns saying the speeches and I would critique them. Funny enough, I stumbled on all of my demonstrations, ha. Then the latter part of training was having all 3 of them practice their resets. I would have them reset the room, run through the room to help reinforce how the game flows and where customers would leave things, and reset again. We did for the 3 rooms that were operational. They were good. Not perfect, but they would either rate themselves a 3 or 4 out of 5.
Other than shifts ending, the ladies wanted us to leave as we were all there later than expected. There was a lot to do so we were all focused in. But we made some good progress all around. The rest of us split around 9PM. I walked to Billy Bob's Burgers behind our venue (thanks for the recommendation, G), ordered a meal, and drove to the suite the ladies reserved for me. I had never been to that business before and it was a nice simple hotel. Nothing to write home about, but it wasn't bad by any means. They had a nice small food/drink shop, a gym (only place with a free water fountain that I visited multiple times), and pool. There were a lot of things around the area like plenty of food spots, a movie theatre, and a Main Event all with a few minutes away. I settled in, tested everything (only the vent in the bathroom wouldn't turn on), linked my YouTube account to the TV, ate my food, caught up on videos and social media, and went to bed around 11PM. Thus ending my first of 3 days out of town at the third location.
ETC=========================
- TWICE <THIS IS FOR> in Austin (04.16-04.19). The plan for this happened whenever tickets were sold. The months leading to it, the HeXagon members helped plan things little by little (Air BnB, where to eat, when we would leave, carpooling, etc). I requested time off two months in advance instead of my normal month in advance as I needed that set in stone. In the end, there would be 8 of us going, but some of us couldn't stay the entire time or only went for one night of the concert. Other than a few other Kpop mutuals saying they were going to the concert and that we wanted to try and meet, I tried to set up plans with a couple of friends in Austin to possibly meet up.
04.16 - I had my dad drop me off at NRM's. Coincidentally, I was following PC and KC in their car around the last couple of turns there, ha. He helped unload and pack stuff and went home. We made sure everything else was set and started our drive. NE was driving his car with nCT to meet us in Austin. Ouor first stop was Buc-ees for a quick meal. We also stopped at the next Buc-ees closer to Austin.
We unfortunately had to keep pushing back our lunch time as traffic and extra stops were needed. We dropped PC at Enterprise to rent a car and he eventually met us at lunch. Lunch was at Top Notch for burgers. I met up with long time friend CNF who I had not seen in years. We talked for a bit before she joined us inside to meet everyone and eat. Everyone was introduced and we shared a few stories about concerts. She had to leave to go back to work, but we kept messaging back and forth to possibly meet later on since this was a shortened meet.
PC and KC left to head to San Antonio for another concert. The rest of us decided to hit one of the dessert places I suggested called Bananarchy. When we got to the area, we discovered that the parking lot was $20 no matter how long you stayed. We discussed in our separate cars about the plan and decided to go to our Air BnB as we got a message letting us know about checking in sooner.
This was my first Air BnB and was I spoiled, ha. It was huge, which made sense since we were planning to have 8 people stay. We took a tour (shout out to the ducks), took photos and videos, settled on our sleeping arrangements (some were figured out ahead of time like me sleeping on the couch on the first floor), and took time to relax from the road trip. I took time to explore the whole Air BnB. If it wasn't locked, we could open it. And to the surprise of everyone, we were loaded. There were board games, toiletries, appliances for any type of cooking situation, and many many condiments/ingredients/sauces/
After relaxing for a bit, we went to the TWICE pop-up store. We found a place to park nearby and walked a street over to it. My first time at a pop-up store. It was cool to see everything on display and other fans in attendance. It wasn't overly crowded thankfully. There were incentive cards you get if you spent X amount of money so we were trying to figure out how we could all get them. NRM contacted a few friends (they asked for too much, ha) and I was purchasing stuff for others (a rug for HD) as I saw nothing I wanted in particular. We all were able to hit those amounts so we walked out with the random scratch card and random photo card. We took a few photos while there too before heading to HEB to get snacks and dinner for some. Back at the Air BnB, we snacked a bit and did a card reveal, which I believe was another first for me to do with others, ha. I ended up with a Tzuyu (gave to a mutual during the second night of the concert) and Dahyun (gave to KC).
CNF was able to pick me up and we ate at Vic & Al's. It was a few minute walk, but we had no spots in front of our Air BnB to park her car. There wasn't a lot of parking at the restaurant either, but we found something. The food was delicious (I had their jambalaya which the server suggested). It was so good catching up with her. It felt like old times when we used to always go out and eat. She's also one of the few that I talk to about everything (the pretty women around us, personal things, etc). After dinner, we went to Churro Co that was about 15 minutes away. Exchanged friendly banter with the cook, made our order (got something for nCT and NRM), and ate at one of the tables. More talk, more reminiscing, more catching up. After we finished, she dropped me back at the Air BnB. She asked to keep her updated about other lunch/dinner plans while I was in town and she would try to make it if she could.
Rejoined CT, NE, and NRM as they were eating their dinners and prepping for tomorrow (making more wristbands, checking on schedules, etc). The biggest thing was NRM trying to figure out the shirt idea he had many months ago. He wasn't satisfied with what he had and even figured to drop the idea. I showed him some photos I saw of others doing a similar idea from a few concerts back and that might have sparked an idea. While he had most of the idea down, hiding the excess wire was an issue. And after seeing those photos, he knew what to do. He got to work on one shirt, finished it up, and we all liked how it turned out. He continued and did about half the shirts. At some point CP and KP returned. They ate their food, we gave them the tour, and we all slowly retired for the night knowing what the plan was for the next day.
04.17 - NRM finished the remaining shirts in the morning before going with PC to drop off the rental car. On the way back, they picked up our Bird Bird Biscuit order for breakfast. BL eventually joined us, yay (he only had a ticket for night 1). Gave him the tour and had him settle in before he took us all to go to VIP check-in.
As we drove by, the line was long. We figured we would go to the cup sleeve event instead at Doka Bubble Tea (one of the dessert places I chose, they just happened to have the event going on). It was a nice small place with a couple of vendor tables set up with TWICE fan merchandise. We all got drinks and some got some merchandise. I got my cup sleeve and sat down and drank to wait for the others to be done. We walked next door to a card and gaming place to check things out. They did have a lot of stuff, but it was a quick stop before going back to revisit the check-in line. We ended up being wrong about the line we saw. That was for early merchandise and general admission. VIP check-in was around the opposite side. We parked in a nearby lot and all of us except BL went as he waited in the car. Reason being that the rest of us went is because PC was our main ticket holder and he needed to be present. We got checked-in and NRM stayed to talk to staff to ask questions (mainly if our shirts would be okay to wear or bring in at all, got approval) while the rest of us went back. I went with BL to go check-in and meet with NRM. Once we were done, we walked back to the car and headed back to the Air BnB.
We chilled and fueled up for about an hour. It was cool to finally see all of us in the shirts NRM made for us. It wasn't too long after that HD came in. He got the tour and helped us take photos of us before we headed out (HD only had a ticket for night 2). We drove to where we thought we were going to park, but the garage was full. We drove around a bit before NRM reserved a spot in a parking garage. We parked and made our walk to the VIP line. One thing we made sure to talk about was to not walk in a certain order spelling something else. I ended up doing our spell check throughout the night while mainly staying at the front of us or in the back. It was a long wait before we finally got inside.
We definitely got looks for what we were wearing in a positive way. It was awesome to see people realize what we were spelling and even showing it off at times with the lights. I even got to use that in my advantage to get a freebie from the merchandise stand. One of the vendors commented on our shirts and I walked up to talk and see what was available. I ended up getting the tour date shirt and said something silly like "I hope I caught you in a good mood to give me something free." He chuckled and gave me a blind bag pin. You were only supposed to get one if you spent either $75 or $100 and my one shirt did not hit those benchmarks. So the fact that he did me a solid was awesome and I gave him a $10 tip. I ended up giving that pin to HD the next day as it was for his bias. We walked around more seeing mutuals (found CT, yay) and getting freebies before getting in line as they started to make announcements for the pit to go in first and then the VIP crowd.
We got in our seats and settled in. But we did want to get a photo of our shirts lit up from BL as he was sitting almost across from us. NRM called him and we all stood up and turned our shirts on (NRM had a remote to turn them on/off). As we were posing, we got the attention of the crowd. They all started exclaiming and taking their own photos/videos of us. Some of us spotted that the staff were looking at us and taking photos. And by staff we meant the TWICE staff. That's when we knew our light up TWICE<3 shirts were a hit. I don't think everyone in our crew knew how much attention we'd get, but we're literally walking lights, ha. People around us were complimenting us and saying that we'd most likely be on the big screen during the dance cameras before the encore. There were discussions about what to do if we did have to dance and I wasn't worried because I knew what I was going to do. We did joke around at the Air BnB about needing to learn a dance, but that obviously didn't happen, ha.
It wasn't too long before soundcheck started and the members of TWICE took the stage. Everyone stood up and we turned the lights on our shirts as the girls performed one song. After the song, they were talking to the crowd and Momo looked in our direction and pointed to us saying how she saw some people wearing bright light shirts spelling TWICE. Sana commented that the lights reminded her of candy that she and Mina ate. They performed one more song and then left the stage. Mission accomplished. Wow. Not only did they notice us, but TWICE (specifically my top 2 biases) talked directly to us. We were coming down from the energy and excitement as others around us were wanting to share photos and videos of that moment. We asked a mutual friend to take a photo by the front rail and that's when someone came by asking if they could take a photo with us. Again, I don't think our crew knew how much attention we'd get and here we are having another ONCE ask to take a photo with us, ha.
One funny thing that happened during the wait was that they started pumping music into the venue. I spotted that one of the camera operators started dancing to Dance The Night Away. I pointed it out to the rest of the HeXagon members and we started to cheer her on. She saw us reacting, stopped, and looked behind and above her thinking something was going. Then she looked back at us and we pointed and yelled that we meant her and she covered her face in embarrassment as others sitting around us started to cheer her on. She eventually resumed dancing after coming out of her shy spell.
During the wait for the show to start, we chilled for the most part, some went to get drinks or go to the bathroom. At one point nCT and NRM came back saying that they took a photo with Mina's parents and pointed out where they were sitting, but being hush about it as the parents didn't want too much attention. Of course those around us heard and everyone was looking around. The rest of us eventually saw them go to their seats, take a few photos, and then head back out to go walk (or go see Mina) before the show started.
Then the concert started and it was so fun. The 360 stage is interesting. It lends itself to creativity, but it does demand your attention especially if you're trying to keep an eye on your bias or whether the group is facing you or you see their backs for certain parts of a song. I thought I'd really dislike it, but I didn't mind it.
Just as expected, we were on screen for the fan dance portion before the encore. Before it happened, a couple of the HeXagon members said a few cameras pointed directly at us as things were being set up (I missed that). We were literally the first ones shown on screen. We slowly got up and started to dance as Alcohol Free started to play. While I knew the dance...I didn't recall it at the moment so I did my default Mina retro dance (I wonder how many people realized that). But when the chorus came up, I did the "champagne, wine, tequila, margarita, mojito, mimosa, pina colada" parts. And then during "I'm drunk in you," I proceeded to slowly body roll and the crowd erupted, ha. Again, I don't think the members of HeXagon knew or were ready for the type of attention we would get from our shirts and this was something I don't think any of us were thinking would happen. Shout outs to the others for grooving.
Once the concert ended, we wanted to take another photo at the front rail (backs towards the stage). It was then that ONCEs started to ask to take photos with us. This happened for maybe a good 20-30 minutes as we were trying to make our way out. We would either have them join us at the sides or in the middle of I and C. Thankfully we had someone that would volunteer to take photos for us or it would be a friend of the one that wanted the photo doing it. We didn't have a system set up to receive the photos or give the photos, but we would usually mention to follow NRM on Instagram. BL finally met up with us and we made our way out. Of course more fans kept talking about our shirts and asked for photos as we were walking around and I kept making sure to spell check us along the way. We piled into the car and made it back to our Air BnB.
The original plan was to go eat at HiWings after the concert. It would have been open, but we opted to place an order and have HD pick it up for us. It was a bit of a scramble as we didn't figure that out until 15 minutes before the concert started. During that time, NRM's signal was bad and I used my phone for the order. Leaving my phone on for that chunk of time drained the battery faster for some reason and I actually wasn't able to take any photos during TWICE's final song and bow. HD was back from picking up the food not too long before we returned to the Air BnB. We all indulged in the good food and reminisced about what had happened before retiring, seeing BL off, and turning in for the night around 1AM.
04.18 - Everyone woke up early-ish as we were planning to eat at Interstellar. It was the most anticipated food stop of all the ones we decided on. But we knew there would be a line and a wait. The plan was to get in line at 10AM and that we'd hopefully be inside by 11AM when they open. Because of the rain from last night, it was cold and a few of us didn't bring jackets (me included). We waited in line for 2.5 hours...yeah. I reiterated a few times that if it was just me and one friend, we would have left earlier and gone somewhere else. This was also the food stop that LL was trying to meet me at. I texted her asking what she wanted and that by the time she was done with the dentist and joined us, the food would be ready. But in the end, her boyfriend had surprised her by showing up the night before so she wanted to spend time with him. Plus since we were still waiting in line, time-wise we didn't know how plans would actually go. So we decided that we'd meet the next time she was visiting. That probably turned out for the better as that was only an hour into our wait. The team had to decide what to do as we also didn't want to miss out on the food and check-in time. So we adjusted our plan to order to-go and eat at the Air BnB. Although that changed when we finally got inside as there were a few possible seats. But once we saw the people in front of us fill in the majority of them, we stuck with the to-go plan. It felt good to be inside out of the cold and finally get our food. We drove back, settled in, and ate. You could tell we were all hungry and tired and cold as the drives back and the initial part of eating was in almost complete silence. Once we had food inside us, you could see us reenergize, ha.
We took some time to prepare our things before getting in our cars to drive to check-in for soundcheck around 2PM. They had pre-purchased parking tickets to get ahead of the curve. Then it was another walk to the venue and a short wait in line before waiting inside. The time frame for check-in was a little different as the venue was compensating for the rain. That rain didn't happen until a few hours later. nCT who originally wasn't going to the second night found a cheap last minute ticket the night before. Since it wasn't VIP, he had to wait outside for the second round of check-ins. The rest of us found a spot to chill at. I found CT and her friend and introduced them to the rest of HeXagon. They would stop by a few times as they were making their rounds finding mutuals. Other members ran into a few mutuals (one being JC's brother BC who stuck with us for the most part) and some random fans that recognized us from the night before (shout out to Damn Gina). Funny that we were still recognized without our shirts, ha.
During all this, NRM would find staff to talk to them. Other US stops on the tour that had two nights that didn't fill out on the second night had the same thing happen; during soundcheck, they would allow other VIP fans to join in the pit. NRM was hearing positive word from the staff that it might actually happen for us. Once they started calling in everyone for soundcheck, we all split to our respective seats. CT ended up sitting right next to NE, awesome. NRM and I were seated together as this was the ticket we got him for Christmas (almost all of us forgot that fact, ha). A few minutes after we were seated, we saw several staff members getting the attention of people around their section. We overheard the speech given to the section next to us and was then told directly to us. "The girls would really like to see more of you closer so they're inviting you to join in the pit if you'd like for soundcheck" or something like that. NRM and I went down. We waved to CT and NE. CT at least went down to get a photo taken. We made friends with those around us as we stayed close to where our section was. There was a father and daughter that joined me and we got to talking. They also recognized us for being the shirt group the night before. I mentioned how I would help get his daughter interactions. Soundcheck started and it was amazing seeing the members this close. Everyone came by to our section at least once during their two songs. Anytime they came by, I'd point to the daughter and almost everyone greeted her. The highlight was when they were throwing out shirts. We got Jeongyeon's attention and she waved at the daughter and ended up throwing a shirt to her. It was awesome. The dad thanked us and I mentioned how if I had a daughter, I'd be doing what he's doing.
After soundcheck was done, we all met back at our previous hangout spot in the hall. We talked about what happened, who went into the pit, etc. nCT finally joined us. We chilled before going in for the show. Shout out to the Chic-Fil-A cow for walking around (we cheered and got them to dance). Just like the night before, we realized we should order our food for dinner. It was already decided to be Home Slice Pizza. Now we had to figure out what toppings we should get. Instead of asking it generally, we offered a couple of options and ended up with one pepperoni and one supreme. We had it sit in our cart until the end of the concert so we could see the how long it would take to be delivered. It was my second time using my UberEats app and third time using my Uber account.
The concert itself was just as fun. Seeing things from a different angle was interesting. Where NRM and I sat was where Jeongyeon and Momo (our biases) would perform their solos and that made it extra special. One funny thing was before the performance of Takedown, NRM and I kept yelling "seal the honmoon." Some fans behind us kept laughing and saying "no way they're singing that." And once the words came on screen and the opening line was sang, they couldn't believe it and exploded with cheers like everyone else. A big highlight was Jeongyeon playing Rock Paper Scissors with NRM. He made a poster that asked her to play and I held it next to him so that way she knew to play with him. We tried it a few times, but ultimately got it during the encore. He ended up losing, but he got that memorable interaction. To make things better, NE got interactions from Mina (his bias) from the signs he made. Throughout the concert, I found myself cheering for all the dancers for whatever reason. For not being sold out like the night before, the energy felt bigger as if it were.
We met up at our spot again and walked out together. BC would be joining us for dinner at the Air BnB. He and I walked together on our way back to the parking garage. We learned that we went to the same dance studio many years ago. While we can't pinpoint it, there's a high possibility we might have been in the studio at the same time and never knew it. Getting out of the parking garage sucked. There was unfortunately a blockage a few cars in front of us putting movement to a halt. nCT got out of their car and directed traffic. He was upset though as some people just don't know how to drive. It was a reminder that while I like parking garages, getting out of them is usually never good. We thankfully made it out and made it back to the Air BnB a few minutes before the pizza arrived.
Just like the night before, we chilled, reminisced, and enjoyed our meal. At one point I toasted to NRM for getting us all together and being the leader of HeXagon. We also toasted NE (at Interstellar, he received a phone call letting him know he got hired at a new job). And we finally toasted TWICE. BC left and we all wrapped up before going back to our rooms. The plan was either stay up late or wake up early to pack. I packed the majority of things that night before going to bed around 1AM.
04.19 - The final day. Slowly everyone brought their stuff downstairs. Final showers were taken, we double checked our instructions of how to leave things, we loaded up the cars, and took final photos before bidding farewell to our Air BnB. nCT left a bracelet for them as a small thanks. For my first Air BnB, I was spoiled. Thank you for setting the bar so high, ha.
We left around 11AM (or 10AM) before heading off to Kerbey Lane Cafe for brunch. There was a lot going on in the area because of the farmer's market so parking was tough. 2-3 of us parked at the nearby HEB and walked over. We got a table that was outside under a canopy. Good food and good service. BC found us. We originally invited him to join us, but he had plans to meet at the farmer's market with friends. We took a group photo with him before he rejoined his crew. Once we were done, we said bye to HD while the rest of us walked through the farmer's market (all the food smelled so good) and back our cars. He said bye to NE and nCT and drove off.
The final stop was Buc-ees. We NE and nCT was there a few minutes after us. I thought to get an ICEE, but ended up not. Different from the last time, there was someone in a Buc-ee costume walking around taking photos with patrons. Our final group photo was with Buc-ee. It was another 40-60 minutes before I was dropped off first. We all messaged each other when we all got home respectively. I unpacked my things and resumed normal life.
Closing thoughts - What a great weekend. Good food, great friends, fun music, and memories for a lifetime. Thank you TWICE, thank you to all the people we met, and thank you to HeXagon.
[Food]
[Soundcheck]
[Night 1]
[Night 2]
[Friends]
That's a wrap on April 2026. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
