Monday, August 8, 2016

July 2016 Entry

More than half the year is over. More things keep happening. 

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- Ended the night and kicked off a week off work with some karaoke (07.03). I got to meet my friend's fiance for the first time. Had a great time kicking back and talking with friends. But one girl that was part of our group turned to me and a friend and called us party-poopers for not going up on stage and singing. Granted she didn't see us rocking out the whole night from our seats and enjoying ourselves, but that bothered me a lot. She left maybe 10 minutes later...and then the song my friend and I turned in an hour ago finally got called on. We rocked. Yes, that bit with the girl bothered me (and still does). I just don't like people telling others that they aren't having fun "the proper" way. I was enjoying myself until that point. The night was still fun, but that one thing was definitely crappy. 

- A cousin invited me to join some family out in League City for July 4th. Her sister was also in town with her husband and baby boy so that was added incentive to out there. Food, stories, laughing, and rounds of NES Track & Field. So much fun.   

- I asked a friend to hang out on during one of my days off from work (07.05). We did some random stuff. We walked around a cemetery for 30-45 minutes, went to Kung Fu Tea to re-hydrate and talk, went to the bat bridge (her first time, my second after many years), ate at a Japanese restaurant (it was okay), and then finished the night with rolled ice cream (delicious). And of course we were just catching up and learning more about each other the whole time. Lots of random things, but very good day. 

- Picked up and watched the Scott Hall documentary (07.06). Very touching and emotional. That man has gone through tons of struggles and it is great to see him being healthy and happy now. 

- One thing I decided to do during my week off was get a massage (07.09). Ended up going to a place I've never been to, but had decent reviews. It was also out of the way from places I normally go so it was nice to just drive off somewhere else. Booking it was funny since I originally made an email request the night before, called about it since it was getting close to the time I wanted, got it rescheduled to a better time, and had to get it re-rescheduled for a few hours later since my assigned masseuse went into labor, ha. 

The place was nice and the staff was friendly. My masseuse was nice and very talkative. She asked me about Pokemon Go of all things, ha. And when I mentioned working at HER, she was very interested. The massage itself was okay. The cruddy thing afterwards was that I actually was in a lot of pain the next day. That had never happened before whenever I got a massage.    

- I had been putting off getting new glasses for a while now. Finally went to the eye doctor this month. I was worried that something might have been wrong in general as my eyes were getting dry more often and I they were twitching more than normal. But there was nothing wrong. They recommended upgrading my prescription just for improvement and suggested I wear my glasses more often (which I do now). Oddly, my previous glasses broke the day before I picked up my new ones (07.17). I really like these new ones. When I was choosing them, I asked for help getting something similar to my sunglasses. The person helping laughed every time I tried a pair and shook my head around, ha. Just wanted to make sure they don't easily fall off my head like my previous ones. These new ones are great and my eyes have felt better since the change. 

- And I got some new sunglasses shortly after getting new glasses (07.20).  


- 8 months since my last hair cut (07.23). Both times were for weddings. But since those 8 months, my normal place I go to get my hair done closed down. Fortunately, my stylist kept the same number and informed me about where she was now located. We caught up a lot and talked about many things. We realized that I've been going to her for over 10 years now. We tied it back to that I brought a girlfriend to her once and she and I were dating over 10 years ago. Crazy how time flies. It was definitely good to see that she's still doing well. 

As stated previously, the reason for getting the hair cut was for a friend's wedding reception. Another friend met me at my place and we carpooled over. We were early, but we got to talk to the new groom for a bit before the crowd grew larger. Got to see my highschool assistant principal (mom of the groom). While she was greeting other former students, she came to me and couldn't pinpoint who I was exactly and sad that was a good thing, ha. I did let her know that she made me shave once though, ha. Caught up with other friends and their kids that were present before the festivities started. 

Good speeches all around. One friend (brother of the groom) actually mentioned the Houston Escape Room and pointed me out since he was talking about what happened during the bachelor party. Appreciate the shout out. I was also recruited to help with one of the surprises of the night. I was to greet, hide, lead, and unveil a mariachi band when properly cued. And there was just a lot of dancing at the end of the night. 

I enjoy weddings. Congratulations to the newlyweds. 


- NXT came to Houston for the second time (07.30). I invited my younger cousin who I recently reunited with last year at a wedding. He said he had not been to an NXT show. So I bought us pre-sale tickets and got as close as we could (4th row). He had never been that close before. The show was great. 


- Mojo Rawley beat Buddy Murphy 
Fairly good match to open the show. Mojo got everyone hyped.  

- Andrade Cien Almas beat Wesley Blake 
Another fairly good match between the two. 

- Bayley and Carmella beat Mandy Rose and Daria 
Very good outing for all 4 women. The duos started with dueling hugs. The most memorable part of the match was Mandy Rose doing a sit out Pedigree. Everyone gasped and it was great. Mandy and Daria were both pretty decent. With some more seasoning, I would like to see them on NXT broadcasts. 

- Hideo Itami beat Austin Aries 
Incredible contest. I don't think I've ever been part of "welcome back" chants. Hideo Itami seemed genuinely happy to be back. He even laid down in the middle of the ring after winning to soak it all in.  

- The Revival beat Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa 
Match of the night. The Revival were making fun of the crowd a lot, ha. So many false finishes that got me and everyone out of their seats. I can't wait for them to have a title match at a Takeover. 

- Asuka beat Nia Jax 
Finally got to see these 2 in person. Great match. Nia Jax even imitated a People's Elbow with crotch chops as she missed a leg drop, ha. I had my 2 Asuka masks with me that night and held them up during her entrance and after the match. I swear she spotted me and pointed at me after she won. So good.  

- Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura beat Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe 
Prior to the match, the announcer (gorgeous) let us know that it was Finn Balor's last NXT match and they played a nice video package before he came out. Nakamura came out next and it was a blast to sing along to his theme. He actually did his "yeaoh" on our side of the ring. Bobby Roode was next and that was the first time I got to see him in person. His theme song is awesome too. And finally the NXT champ, Samoa Joe, came. Always fun chanting "Joe."  

After the match, Bayley came out while Nakamura and Balor were still in the ring. She said some nice words about Finn and then talked and brought out all the NXT stars that got drafted (Mojo, Carmella, and Nia Jax). Some kinds things were said about all. The locker room came out to the entrance and showed appreciation to all. Finn thanked them all and thanked the crowd to end the night. It was great to be part of Finn Balor's last NXT match.  

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- Friend came to visit and dropped off my Little Mac amiibo a while ago, but I only opened it up in July (07.07). 


- Megaman Legacy Collection (3DS) - Review  

Finally beat all of the 6 NES Megaman games on Legacy Collection. It was great to play through that series again. Every time I always excel at the first 3 and have to look up stuff for the last 3. 





- Shantae: Risky's Revenge Director's Cut (Wii U) - Review  

Normally I don't review older games, but I felt like it. I enjoyed Pirate's Curse more, but that's because it was more refined. Risky's Revenge is good on its own. But yeah, I'm playing the Shantae games in reverse. I did download the GBC Shantae and will need to play and beat it before 1/2 Genie Hero comes out in September. 



- I was doing alright jumping back into Twilight Princess (07.10). Beat another dungeon and some other side quest stuff. I know I'm towards the end, just a few more hours to go. If anything, I'll make it a goal to finish the game before the year is over.  

- I had been following the news of DDRA being available in the US. A dear friend had returned from a month long trip and wanted to catch up so we put the 2 things together (07.31). It was great catching up with him and listening to his crazy stories. There were only a few people at the DDRA machine (6 total including us 2). Other than the girl playing for the first time, they were all Perfect Attack players. When my friend and I went up, I definitely played older songs and was throwing in bits of freestyle when appropriate. The only thing I didn't do were any bar tricks. We ended up only playing 6 songs (2 playthroughs), but it was tiring and fun. I'll try to come back when I can to play some more. 

========================= 
- We received a nice card of recognition from Yelp (07.03). Thanks to everyone that helped make this happen.  


- I had a week off I requested a while ago. That time was actually supposed to be for San Antonio that happened last month (wouldn't trade it). Unfortunately, I could not find anyone to do anything with during that week. Other than July 4th and the day after, no one else I contacted was available. Schedules conflicted. If anything, I did get to re-energize that week off from HER.

- 2 years have past since I went to my first escape room (07.12). It's been a crazy ride so far.  

- Another month, another monthly meeting (07.13). There were a lot of us that day including Agents Raynor and Husky Panda. And by this time, our latest trainee has now graduated to being Agent Ca$h. Agent Voxel also got to choose and host the activity for that meeting. We all really got into playing Magic Circles. 


- Agents Raynor, Majordomo, and I were invited to visit the Radio One studios (07.14). As of typing this (08.08), I can actually talk about and promote it. HER + 97.9 + WWE = contest to win tickets to RAW. Yes, things I like are combining. I will go into more detail in next month's entry. For now, click the links to enter to win. 


- Agent Gig has now been with the company for over a year. We surprised him with a special event weeks later (07.16). We deceived him to coming to work as we were closing stating that Agent Ca$h wanted to hang out afterwards. What ended up happening involved decorations, night vision, lasers, and a betrayal virus for him to eradicate. It was crazy fun. After we were done, Agent Ca$h had to go. Myself, Gig, Blue, and Obsidian went to Ninja Ramen for dinner. We had fun singing in the car and just celebrating a great Agent. 

- Agents Majordomo and PQ invited some of us to their new place for a game day (07.18). We played a lot of board games that day. Other than those 2 and myself, Agent Blue was there and Agent Solaire and his wife. Lots of fun. 

- Agents Yeti, Blue, Majordomo, PQ, Widdershins, and I went to a newly opened escape room called Escape Hunt (07.25). It was alright. Can't say I was super impressed or disappointed with the place. My record is now 13 escapes out of 16 escape rooms. 

- Was asked to purchase new chairs at IKEA. Ended up going with my dad since I knew I wouldn't be able to lug everything by myself (07.31). It was my dad's first time in IKEA so I don't think he was ready to walk so much, ha. And the place was under construction so a lot was blocked off. Anyways, found the chairs, went to the service area and picked 12 of them, paid for them, and went to HER to drop them off. At least my dad knows exactly where the HER is now. 

- And our monthly blog was written by Agent Voxel. Take a peek at it. 

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- Got my copy of TaeYeon's Why album (07.11).  



- Whenever I fill up for gas, I always buy a drink and a snack. This time I picked Big Red Vanilla Float (07.22). It was delicious. I then checked online to see if I can purchase it, but it's a limited edition flavor. Did more research and could not find any place that sold it. Looks like I would have to be lucky finding it anywhere. The gas station I originally bought it from does still have it so at least I know it's there for the time being. If anyone ever finds it anywhere, please let me know. 

- It has been 2 years now since Grandma Gina passed away. Didn't do anything out of the ordinary that day, but it just happened to be a rough day at work. It is still unbelievable that she's not here. Although I have to thank her for being where I am now. This ties in with the Houston Escape Room. 

I was actually supposed to have my interview with them the day the funeral happened. I do remember thinking that when I emailed them about her passing that my chances to get hired were gone. It might have been a week or two after that I thought "would she have wanted me to miss out on the opportunity" and I don't think she would have. That's what made me reach back out to them to see if the offer for an interview was still available. And that's where I am now. 

She was a factor in that. I'm glad that I can tie her with HER. Thanks, Grandma Gina. 

And that's it for July. August will have a lot to type about. Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 
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Thursday, July 7, 2016

June 2016 Entry

Get ready to read a lot for this month. 

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- A friend had his bachelor party planned out for him (06.04). It was him and 3 others that started things off at HER to challenge Mo's Safehouse and I was their facilitator. One of them had been through Grandma's before, but the rest never did an escape room before. Them and a few strangers were able to escape. 

After work was over, I called them up to see if they were still together. I joined them as they were in the middle of a quiz involving questions about the bachelor (some that I had answered previously). It was just a hilarious time. I think we ended around 2AM.   

- Was feeling sick (or really tired from the bachelor party), but did a little cleaning in my room (06.05). I had done this years prior where I got rid of boxes I would keep from deliveries (in case I needed them). This time it was consolidating posters into fewer tubes and throwing out the rest. Didn't realize how many I actually had collected over the years. 

 

- The Eric Bischoff documentary was really good (06.07). Definitely humanizes the man and also gives closure on a lot of things that happened in his career. Worth the time to watch. 


- NXT TakeOver: The End (06.09) was fantastic just like all their TakeOver shows. The talent always performs to their best. The highlight for me was when the fans were singing along with Nakamura's theme song. Too dang good. 

And speaking of Nakamura, I bought a few new wrestling shirts. 


- Didn't have plans to go originally, but a friend asked me if I wanted to go to Comicpalooza (06.19). I had not been to one in 3 years I believe. At that time, I was working. This time, I got to enjoy it even if it were for one day. Ran into a few friends, but was for the most part enjoying time with my friend as he was in awe of everything and taking lots of photos (had to let him know of some convention etiquette, ha). I also made sure to hand out some business cards when appropriate. 

There weren't that many guests I was interested in seeing, but we did the rounds at the celebrity area a couple times. I walked by Arn Anderson and he looked at me and said "hey." I greeted him back. Classy. And Ric Flair was next to him so being in his presence was awesome. My friend was planning to go see Eliza Dusku, but didn't. We were really close to her at least, ha. And at one point, Kel Mitchell walked by me. But the coolest thing that happened was running into Taeler Hendrix outside of her booth. I wasn't completely sure it was her, but I asked and she confirmed. I brought up that I remember her debuting in TNA and she exclaimed and laughed "my Gut Check!" I then told her to keep up the good work before leaving. Very cool moment. 
 

Then it was home to watch Money In The Bank. Wow, so good. The MITB match itself was full of crazy moments. Then the end with Rollins winning and then Ambrose cashing in to become the new champion, so entertaining.  

- Sistar - I Like That (MV) 

Not my favorite of the summer hits, but I like it enough. If anything, I feel that this is Dasom's season to shine. 


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- Continued playing through Mega Man Legacy Collection. 2 more down, 2 more to go. 



- E3 had a lot of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I'm really excited and a little intimidated by the game right now. I do hope I'll have the time to play through it when it does come out. 


- A friend (and his wife and son) were in for Father's Day weekend. They dropped off a few gaming items he had been holding for me for a while; 2 PS2 games and one amiibo. 



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- With my PC back in working order, it was time crank out some videos for HER. The first was the long awaited trailer for Episode 2: Grandma Codebreaker. I recall Agent Blue actually getting emotional watching it. 


- We were visited by radio personalities from Radio One (06.08). At first I thought they were only from 97.9 (because someone who called the weekend prior mentioned only 97.9), but there were apparently a mix of 3 radio stations. They were a fun group. We also established a small little relationship with them so stay tuned for something in the future with us and them. 
 

- Cranked out a couple of videos from our 2nd Year Anniversary. One of them is viewable by the public. It's actually the short version of us making Rube Goldberg Machine (06.13). 
 

- Had our monthly meeting (06.15). Other than business as usual, I was in charge of the activity. I wasn't sure at first, but then came up with the idea of a quiz about Agent Blue since he was not going to be there. He was cool with the idea and was excited about it. We came up with a few questions and then I made a powerpoint for You Don't Know Blue. I was nervous about it, but it was a success. I also filmed it and edited it fast so Agent Blue could see it himself. 
 

- Much like we did for Mother's Day, we took special photos of dads during Father's Day (06.19). 


- And then we had one of the most draining weeks at HER (06.21-25). It wasn't just me, but almost all of us were feeling it. Some were sick, some got hurt, some of us were pushed to our limits and running on low. To top it off, we had a random act of vandalism (at least we hope it was random). One of our windows got smashed by a large rock. I give props to the whole staff for pulling together to make things run properly and to keep our customers happy. It was rough. While we were able to continue things business-wise, you could tell that the staff was out of it. Sure, we still joked around, but we weren't the same. Things are okay now, but it was a wake up call to beef up our security.   

- Agent Obsidian was chosen (by me) to write June's blog post. Click on the link to read it.  

========================= 

- Got my copy of BoA's Nowness concert. While I actually felt sick that day, it did make me feel better and cheer me up. I think I say it every time, but it seems like she has more fun than she did the prior concert. I know I always end up falling in love with her again, ha. This time around, it was a good mix of new songs and songs she never performed before during concerts. Definitely enjoyed singing along the whole time. 


- TaeYeon - Starlight (MV) 

TaeYeon - Why (MV) 

Starlight was alright, but it felt more like a song for the guy featured in it. Why is amazing though. I don't think I've ever been so into and proud of TaeYeon until now. Keep it up. You know you have my support. 

- Christina Grimmie was shot at a fan meeting after a concert (06.11). I woke up to the news that she was in the hospital in critical condition and I was worried. That did not last long as I scrolled down more to see that she actually passed away. I immediately watched the first time I ever saw and heard Christina sing.  


A small tribute I did for her was wear my Christina Grimmie gloves during work. I also called myself Agent 2264 (she was 22 when she died and her YouTube name was ZeldaxLove64). 


I played her songs for at least a day or two straight whenever I was on the road. Sang along and just remembered some good things about her life. I do recall she tweeted me at least once for something silly. There was a moment in time that she was streaming and playing Brawl against her fans and I tried to get in on that, but wasn't able to. I also remembered that she was in Houston not too long ago and I unfortunately did not go see her perform. One thing I knew I wanted to do in the future was ask her to sing at my wedding. While it would have been a long shot, it was something I would have tried to make happen. 

I didn't know Christina personally, but I was there from when she started at 15. The first time I heard her sing, I knew she was an extraordinary talent and knew she would make it big. I was part of Team Grimmie and a Frand. She did a lot of things and I was proud of her. I was bummed that she didn't win The Voice, but knew that that wasn't the end for her. The sky was the limit for her and she was taken away too early.  


Rest In Peace, Christina Grimmie. 

- I got see Alessandra again (06.14). Her mom and I did a few things before coming back to take care of her. It was very stress relieving. Her mom and I said a lot of things the whole time. We knew that what we were doing at the moment was at one time our future. But the fact that we were still friends despite not being together meant a lot to the both of us. In the end, I told her something that I have meant to say for a while and that she is my best friend.  

She texted me to come to San Antonio early to help take care of the baby as she packed. I had requested time off in the beginning of July to visit them, but things had to happen sooner. It fortunately fell in at the same time I had a 3-day weekend. So I left on Sunday (06.26) to go see them. The ride there was probably the easiest I had traveling to San Antonio. I took the new car (couldn't find the cruise control option...) and played DDR songs the whole way. 

I immediately got to take care of Alessandra and it was great. I've never held a baby as much as I have her. Had lunch at a nearby Korean place (pretty good). She's such a good baby in the car and was very tame in the restaurant. Back at the apartment, I got to continue taking care of her and I learned a lot. There were a few times I was left alone with Alessandra and I was calm yet worried. Fortunately, I was able to get her to sleep. Not only that, she slept on my chest. THAT was an incredible feeling. Moments like that are reasons I want to be a father. Ending the night with pho for dinner, so good. 

The second day was more baby care and packing. A familiar face showed up to help take a few things and then my best friend had another friend show up with her 4 kids to help pack and take stuff with her. The familiar face left with his friend and then I was asked to pick up my best friend's step-daughter while her friend took care of the 5 kids (yeah). This was something I was a little worried about as I never had one-on-one time with her step-daughter. I've seen her a couple times and she knew I worked at an escape room, but never really did anything together or talked. When I picked her up, I made sure to properly introduce myself. It was a little quiet in the car, but I knew 2 things I wanted to try. One was ask her how to return to the apartment. Sure, I had a GPS, but I wanted us to talk and I also wanted her to feel important. The other was to talk about the escape room. When she found out I worked at one a few months ago, she was excited since she enjoyed the app games. She was also excited about finally getting to go to one with us and a friend. So I talked to her about what to expect and to come up with a plan (tell everyone what you find, don't be afraid to move things, etc). I could tell she was pumped for it. She even asked questions that we get from normal customers, but it was different hearing it from her. 

After returning and a bit of time for more packing and eventually for the extra kids to leave, the four of us headed out to pick up the step-daughter's friend and then go to the escape room. We were unfortunately told that babies were not allowed. They mentioned that it was on their website that no one 7 or under was allowed (it was not) and they stated reasons why. However, they let us continue as we were the only ones signed up for that session. They even put another lamp inside for the baby as the room we chose was a little dark (not really). Other than making sure the baby was okay, I wanted to make sure that everyone was important to the team. I made sure that the step-daughter and her friend opened up locks when we found answers. I made sure my best friend did important things that i was weaker at than her. All of that was apparent and we were a great team. We were unfortunately one step away from getting out. Everyone had fun, but were bummed out for not getting out. My escape room record is now 12 escapes out of 15 rooms. 

Dinner afterwards was nice. Some strangers gave us coupons for free kids' meals and dessert since they us coming in with a baby. And the step-daughter and her friend were very open to talking with me. The step-daughter went as far as to tell me she tried crank calling me a lot over the past few months, ha (I never picked up). My best friend even asked if she wanted to stay the night at her friend's place again since it would be the last time she could. The looks on their faces lighting up was great. 

Day 3, more alone time with Alessandra. This was also the first time I changed her diaper. Never changed a diaper before. Just to fast forward a bit, I changed her diaper again later in the day, but did not make it snug...so she pooped on me, ha. That girl, such a little gas machine. Another of her friends came by to help take things. He stuck around the whole time and was a cool dude to talk to. But yeah, mainly more time with me and Alessandra. I tried to get her to sleep to Zelda's Lullaby (almost worked) and I played with her a lot while watching the Game Show Network (yay for Family Feud and Deal or No Deal). I was also given a gift to take home with me. She sat in the passenger seat the whole ride back to Houston. 


I actually planned to leave back for Houston at 2PM, but I couldn't leave. I changed the time to 6PM, but it was delayed since it rained. But as it was getting closer to night time, I was feeling down. I knew eventually that I would leave and that soon Alessandra and my best friend would be moving to Buffalo. I was thinking of a speech to say to my best friend and I was getting emotional just thinking about it. When it came time, I hugged both her and the baby together and did not want to let go. She could tell. We had one more hug outside in the rain (felt like out of a movie). I was really emotional at that point and couldn't say anything I wanted to. I left driving away in tears and it took a good while before I stopped crying on the road. I did text everything to her once I got home. I then enjoyed a nice night of rest in my own bed.  

The whole ride back, I kept thinking of what happened the past 3 days. I spent the most time ever in my life taking care of a baby. So many firsts happened like changing a diaper, feeding a baby, doing anything to entertain a baby, putting a baby to sleep, waking up in the middle of the night to calm a crying baby, and so much more. I got to be a dad. It was amazing. To my best friend and Alessandra, I love you so much and I miss you. Can't wait to see you again. 

And that is it for June. It ended with one the most physically (bad) and emotionally (good) draining weeks I can recall ever having. Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 
 

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Thursday, June 9, 2016

May 2016 Entry

May has ended. Felt like a lot happened. 

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- Payback (05.01) and Extreme Rules (05.22) were fun events to watch. Definitely great talent on the roster. AJ Styles has been having great matches. And Seth Rollins has returned. I really can't wait for those 2 to have a feud somewhere down the line.  

Eric Young's debut on NXT (05.05) was great. So far he has only had his match against Samoa Joe. Hope he gets used more in the near future. 

And Smackdown will finally go live starting July 19th. Having the brand split again will be interesting. This should make for further character investment. Wonder who will be on RAW by the time they come back to Houston at the end of August.  

- Got my copy of SNSD's Phantasia concert (05.11). It took flipping through the photo book to realize I already watched the concert. Wouldn't have been the first time I've done that. Just saved some time. I might go back and watch it though if time permits. 




- I don't know when and which video it was that made this happen, but I have been binge watching REACT videos. I have been watching a few here and there, but all of a sudden I started to just watch them back to back. I really enjoy the Teens more than the rest and I have my favorites (Tori is absolutely my ideal daughter). I've recently been bouncing back and forth between Kids and Adults as well. And an odd thing is seeing older videos to see some of the Kids graduate to Teens and Teens to Adults. It's actually pretty amazing to see them grow and evolve. 
  

One of my absolute favorite videos was Teens VS Food - Crickets. 


 - A friend asked to borrow some video equipment some time ago. It took a while for us to meet up again, but he finally came over to return the stuff (05.28). We had a nice talk to catch up. It's good to hear that he's still involved and enjoying Dragon Boat racing and training. And it's good to see he's still doing fine in all other aspects in his life. Still one of the most genuine people I know. 

- Went to an escape room, but not with coworkers. Friends that have been to ours and enjoy them got a Groupon and asked me to come with them. It was my first time doing an escape room with others ever since my first escape room. It was interesting working with others. We made it out with just under 8 minutes left. Great doing that with them and catching up with them. My record is now 12 escapes out of 14.  

- And I don't remember when I started taking it, but I'm taking Biotin now for my hair. Don't see the difference yet. Hopefully soon.  

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- Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Wii U) - Review (05.09) 

I received a free download code from a gaming Facebook group during the Nintendo Humble Bundle. I had always been curious about the Shantae games so this was a good time to see what it was all about. I did enjoy it and ended up 100% the game in one sitting. I was attempting to do it all in one day, but it did leak into the first hour of the following day. I do plan to buy and beat the rest of them some time soon. 

 

- The next installment of the Ace Attorney series got announced, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice. (05.11) Definitely getting it when it comes out and devoting time to beating it. 


- I have a document that is a list of all the games I own (physical and digital). I added a category to it about which ones I reviewed. (05.12) There were a lot. Doing game reviews was (and still is) a nice outlet). You can see how my writing style changed over the years (over a decade of reviews). I was really surprised to see that I actually reviewed 23 games in 2005. That's almost 2 games a month, crazy. Now I'm lucky if I even play a game in a month let a long beat it.  

- Retro City Rampage DX (3DS) - Review  

This was an alright game. I played it a couple times here and there and finally beat it (05.22). I remember I was really interested in the game when it was first announced, but felt a bit underwhelmed when I actually played it. Not a horrible game, but just not something I would highly recommend. 


- It has been sitting in the game slot of my N3DS ever since it came out, but I finally started playing Mega Man Legacy Collection (05.23). My goal is to beat one Mega Man per week if time allows.  


- Friends/Coworkers went to New York. I mentioned they should stop by the Nintendo Store while they were there and they asked what amiibo I was still looking for. They ended up going to a few other stores before finding a Lucina amiibo. Yay.  



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- We celebrated HER's 2 Year Anniversary at the beginning of May (05.01). It's not true to the actual date (which we debate about, ha), but better to celebrate it than not. We had crawfish for our meal, went around writing questions to draw and answer from a hat (I ended up having to dance again), tried make a Rube Goldberg Machine for an activity, had a little talk to wrap things up, and played a few rounds of Guesstures. A memorable event.  

- I mentioned last month that we did a promotion for Teacher Appreciation Day. Along with that, we did a Houston Astros Tickets Giveaway (05.05). We'll probably be experimenting a bit more with these types of advertising ventures.  

- Just like last year, we did a small little thing to make Mother's Day special.  

- We had to release a trainee this month (05.17). It's unfortunate as the trainee was getting better. Just couldn't meet our expectations we laid out in the time frame given. Training people is interesting. It's more interesting seeing some exceed expectations. The ones that struggle, we help them if we're able to. In the end, they are provided with the tools necessary and they have to utilize them properly.   

- Finally have my PC up and running again (05.27). Thanks to Agent Gig and Agent Yeti's boyfriend, the issue(s) was finally resolved. Pretty much started editing on it as soon as possible so you should be seeing some new videos soon. Feels good. 

- One of our best Hunks of HER photos taken was provided by Agent Voxel. He was actually being very silly that whole night and it culminated in the photo you see. Agent Obsidian and I laughed so dang much, ha. Great way to end the night.  

- And this month's HER Blog (05.31) was written by me. Since we were celebrating our 2 year anniversary, me being chosen was appropriate (according to Agent Majordomo).  

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- Tiffany - I Just Wanna Dance (MV) 

- Jessica - Fly (MV) 

Jessica - Love Me The Same (MV) 

I do like Love Me The Same more as a song. But after seeing her performance of Fly and hearing the fan chants, I grew to like that song more. Wish she did more performances at least. 

I also received both Tiffany and Jessica's albums at the end of the month (05.31). I like both, but I'm leaning towards liking Jessica's more. Don't know if it's because she was my bias when she was in SNSD, but I just like it more. But if you want to talk about all 3 solo albums from the SNSD members, I actually like TaeYeon's the best as of right now. It might be because I listened to it more. We'll see if my mind changes after listening to Tiffany and Jessica's albums more. One thing that's for sure is that Tiffany has been looking so damn hot.  



- And lastly...I started using a dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel (05.12). I won't get into any details about why I never used one before until now, but I had to dive in. Plus I didn't want to use anything common. A friend of mine recommended Coffee Meets Bagel because she has other friends that use it. Did my research and thought it was different from the ones I hear others use. Don't expect to hear/read constant updates about it. If something positive happens, you'll most likely know. Until then, stay tuned.  

That's all for May. Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

April 2016 Entry

We’re already a third of the year in. It’s fast at times, but thinking back, it felt slow.

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- Didn’t get to watch NXT TakeOver: Dallas live, but I listened to it on the way home from work and finished it the next day (04.02). Great matches from top to bottom. American Alpha winning the tag titles was a great way to start the show. Zayn VS Nakamura, I’ve rewatched that match so many times. The crowd was amazing and it was reflective of the action they got.  

Wrestlemania 32 (04.03) was good. A lot of memorable moments. Great IC Title Ladder Match to start things off.  Wrestlemania moment with Mick Foley, HBK, and Stone Cold. The Women’s Championship being revealed and the match between Becky, Sasha, and Charlotte was amazing. Shane of course had the spot of the night. The event did end on a sour note, but I think most were expecting that.  

RAW the following night (04.04) was fun, but a little tame compared to previous years. Still very memorable with cool debuts. Enzo Amore and Big Cass, that was much anticipated and lived up to the hype.

Smackdown (04.05) was live in Houston and I went with a dear friend. The Main Event and Smackdown tapings were fun. We chanted, cheered, and booed a lot. I was going nuts as usual. I also realized I was sporting only Women’s Division gear (Sasha shirt and rings, Asuka mask, and Bayley wrist bands). Only downside was that this was the second live event I sported Sasha Banks gear and she wasn’t there. Maybe next time as me and two friends will be going to RAW at the end of August.


- I’m a fan of the Naked Gun movies. It was after watching those that I learned that it was based off a short lived TV show, Police Squad. When someone online mentioned that there was DVD collection of it, I had to buy it (04.11).  Didn’t watch it right away, but I did watch all 6 episodes in one sitting as well as the extras. Great comedy. Highly recommend it.


- My parents went with aunts and uncles for a 2 week trip to Barcelona (04.12). It’s always interesting with them gone. The main difference is I buy more fast food, ha.  

- Picked up the latest DC animated movie, Justice League VS Teen Titans, and Straight Outta Dudleyville (04.12.16). I really enjoyed the DC movie. While this iteration of Robin has been my least favorite, this was his best movie. All of it was done well. Can’t wait for The Killing Joke.
The Dudley Boys documentary was a good one. I was really surprised that they spoke about their TNA careers for a few minutes. No mention of Aces & Eights, but they talked about Bubba/Bully being world champion. Defiitely a good watch for fans of the Dudleys.  


- Went to the Japan Festival (04.17) for the 8th year in a row. Called up a friend I made from those flash mobs I used to coordinate to come with me. While we had gone a couple years ago together, this time was more fun. More of the same stuff as usual, but I enjoyed it a little more than recent years. Surprisingly, I did not see anyone I knew this year. Usually I’d run into someone I had not seen in a while, but not this time.

One thing we did that I normally don’t do is stick around for the cosplay contest. Not that I have anything against it, but I wasn’t really interested to watch them. We also stayed to watch a Jpop star perform. I forget her name. Had I liked her music more, I would have bought one of her mascot plushies that I thought looked cool. The weather started to get cold and rainy so we left as they were announcing the winners.

We ended up going to eat at Ramen Jin for dinner. I like the aesthetics of the place, but think that Tiger Den has better ramen. During the rides in the car and dinner, we were just catching up with each other and learning more about one another. We even made plans for future hang outs. But we weren’t done with stuff yet.

I suggested we go to eat rolled ice cream. Unfortunately, they’re closed on Sundays (but the Open light was on…). We ended up walking around and came across a bunch of massage places. After thinking about it, we tried out one of them. Originally, we were just going to get foot massages, but we opted for the back as well since it wasn’t that much more. It was the first time for both of us to be massaged with hot stones. Yeah, they’re hot. Gradually got used to it though. We ended the night by running through the rain (it got heavy during our massage) and heading home.   



- My PC is still out of commission. I did finally send the motherboard to get checked (04.22) so I’m still using my laptop (as I type). I did feel dumb in not thinking to hook my laptop to my monitor so that everything would be easier to read. My eyes really were hurting from reading off my laptop for so long.  

- Jo Koy was back in Houston and I found out about it the week of. I asked Agents Majordomo and PQ if they were interested. They accepted and we were set to go watch Jo Koy (04.23). Sucky part of the night was waiting in line. The show was to start at 11, but the crowd wasn’t let inside until a bit after midnight. It was okay though as I saw some familiar faces waiting in line.

It was the first time either had seen Jo Koy live and it was my 3rd. Some of the opening acts were the same from when I last went with my cousins. Jo Koy himself was great as usual. 40% of his jokes were recycled, but it was still enjoyable. I laughed so much that my throat hurt, ha.   

- One of my closest friends and I finally found time to catch up (04.24). We met to eat lunch at Cool Runnings, a Jamaican restaurant Agent Obsidian had recommended to me. The food was so good. Spent a good amount of time catching up and talking about work stuff. Afterwards, we drove out to get boba drinks and talk some more. We stayed there for a long time since the rain started to pour.  We joked around that it rains whenever we hang out, ha.

Our last impromptu stop was HER so I could show her how much has changed since the last time she was there. She was very much impressed especially since she knew where we first started. Definitely felt good showing her something I’m so proud of.  


- More female wrestler merchandise (04.25).  


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- I’ve been using Miitomo every day since it was released. There really isn’t much to it, but I do like the rewards you can unlock. Coins you earn can go to costumes, games, or discounts. I know eventually that those will add up. I have enough coins to download WarioWare Touched, but I just haven’t pulled the trigger on it. I have until July 1st to get it anyways.

I do enjoy taking weird pictures with Miitomo. If you follow me on Twitter, I’ve been posting them there.


- The Mr. Restti amiibo was cheap on Amazon, almost half off. So I decided to get it and take my obligatory photos with it (04.05).  


Same type of deal on Amazon for the Dark Turbo Charge Donkey Kong. It came with all the Skylanders stuff and those were actually cool (04.08). There were more and I preferred them over the normal set.  


- An extra reason for buying the Mr. Resetti amiibo was to get an early access code for Mini Mario & Friends amiibo Challenge (04.08). It’s pretty much the Mario VS Donkey Kong/Mario Minis concept, but with different amiibo characters of varying abilities. I tried it out and had some fun with it. I occasionally go back to it when I have a small bit of time to spare. The only cruddy thing is that you can’t 100% the game if you don’t have all of the required amiibo.

- The Mega Man cartoon on DVD lowered in price so I decided to snag a copy (04.15). While I knew it was bad back then when I watched it, rewatching it now…it’s so bad. I’ve only watched the first disc of it…it’s bad. Worse than I remember.  


- I played a bit of Twilight Princess when I had time (04.19). I don’t know why I’m trying to 100% it. Following a walkthrough probably helps with that. I really intended to just play the main story, but I find myself getting sidetracked. I’ll beat it eventually. Perhaps I should set a deadline for it. Maybe when another big game gets announced so I’ll know to set time aside for it.  


- Bought Star Fox Zero and decided to get the Fox and Falco amiibo as well (04.22). I told myself I would only get them if both were in stock when I went to get the game and they were.  


- Star Fox Zero (Wii U) – Review
https://www.facebook.com/WingedVoX/posts/1003524373068896
Had my first play through of the game on the 25th and beat it. I enjoyed it a lot. It was a tough adventure and my body was actually aching afterwards.  I understand the criticisms over the control scheme, but that was something I adapted to easily. And while I liked playing the game a lot, I only have gone back to play it once to use the amiibo. Someday I’ll go back and unlock the rest of the stages.  It just isn’t a high priority since I have other games I need to play.  


- Star Fox Guard (Wii U) – Review
https://www.facebook.com/WingedVoX/posts/1007925855962081
The extra game that came with Star Fox Zero is quite enjoyable. I found myself getting sucked into it quickly. The game mechanics are so simple to understand and the game offers quite a challenge at points. This will be one I’ll go back to when I have pockets of time to spare to play.


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- A few things happened on the first day of April. The last thing that happened was that the Agents that were closing were tasked with painting the walls of escape room 4 (04.01). It was actually fun to do and definitely a different thing we’d be doing whether it be work or fun.  
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDqXGZZIXbJ/

The other thing that happened earlier was that a guest was hitting on me a lot. It was very interesting. I played along as much as I felt appropriate as I was still working. The main thing I did do was tell her my real name afterwards. Agent Obsidian was very disappointed that I didn’t ask for her number. It was…odd. While all signs pointed that she was interested, I did feel like she was putting on a show for her friends. Plus it was April Fools’ Day (stupid reasoning, I know). I could be wrong and should have just gone ahead and ask for her number. Oh well.  

- The first of April also signified Agent Yeti’s 1 Year with HER. Since she had that day off, we planned a surprise for her the following night (04.02).  It helped that Agent Majordomo had friends occupying the conference room for a special birthday gathering. I asked that he and Agent Blue decorate our briefing room while she was doing tasks in the break room. Agent Widdershins and I were busy doing some cleaning so she wouldn’t have to.

Once the briefing room was decorated, I had Agent Majordomo “ask” all of us to help him with a problem he was having with the doors leading to that room. I filmed Agent Yeti going in to see her surprise. Her reaction was great, ha. I also got her a silly gift of a children’s board game called Yeti In My Spaghetti. We then proceeded to play a couple rounds of it before we cleaned up and wrapped up that work day.  
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDvgsikIXTS/

- Agent Blue and I went to meet some previous customers on our off day (04.03). It was the first time he and I had met customers outside of HER to pick their brains. This couple had done and escaped all 3 of our rooms and the girlfriend even brought her work team to try out Episode 1.
We met them for lunch at Sushi King. After some general introductions and ordering our food, we asked a series of questions and listened to their answers, observations, suggestions. After lunch was over, Agent Blue and I went to Bite Macarons to recap everything. While we did get some good information from them, a good number of things were typical things that other customers have said/asked. Still, it was a good experience. Both of us agreed that we would do it again with select customers.  

- Something Agent Incognito had been working on was to convert Mo’s Safehouse into Spanish. It was a good project for him that took a while to complete. There were a few test trials here and there, but we officially started accepting Spanish Sessions at the beginning of April (04.04). So if you’re interested in booking a Spanish session, click the link below.  
http://www.houstonescaperoom.com/spanishsessions

- Not the first time we’ve had to do it, but we had to close up shop for a day due to the flood (04.19). Don’t want to put the staff or customers in any danger.  

- As usual, we had our monthly meeting (04.20). It was the first time (that I can remember) that Agent Raynor was not part of our meetings. Either way, it was business as usual.  Afterwards, a few of us stuck around to play Cash N Guns. Pretty fun to play with more people.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEcnCLOoXU_/

- We started promoting our Teacher Appreciation Day/Week specials early (04.21). Wanted to make sure that teachers had a lot of time to plan things out. Turned out alright for being our first official thank you that we’re going to probably do more of in the near future.  
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEeEwK-IXSt/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEoX4_5oXST/

- And the monthly blog post is up (04.30). This one has a puzzle you can try at the end.  
http://www.houstonescaperoom.com/blog/herapr2016

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- It’s been rough without a fully functioning PC. Not that operating with the laptop is difficult. It’s just more convenient with the PC especially since it was upgraded to perform better and faster. The main thing I’m missing out on are a few video projects I need to get done for HER. Soon though.

- Tiffany – I Just Wanna Dance (MV)
Didn’t have any videos to post for April, so I’m sharing this one early. I’ve only seen the video and haven’t heard the rest of Tiffany’s album yet, but I suspect it to be good and definitely reflective of her style. Congratulations and having more of your dreams come true, Tiffany.

Thank you for reading. Be healthy, be safe, be thankful, and be loved.



“Reprise the theme song and roll the credits.”


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