Thursday, October 4, 2018

September 2018 Entry

September 2018 Entry

========================= 

- Got stood up (09.02). Very lame. 

- Spent the morning catching up with a dear friend (09.03). He was off due to the Labor Day holiday. Went to Starbucks first and then to Chic-Fil-A. Did you know that on Labor Day Chic-Fil-A skips serving breakfast? That was a nice surprise. Anyways, we caught up on quite a few things. I really don't like info-dumping a bunch of negative things, but he assured me it was okay as it was better than keeping it in. He's a good friend. 

- Got some new clippers (09.04). Had these in my Amazon wish list for a while and finally decided to get them. They're pretty good. Quiet and smooth. 


- DEATH BATTLE - Optimus Prime VS Gundam (09.05) 


- Saw this pop up on Facebook and immediately stopped what I was doing to find a full video of the California Dreams Reunion (09.11). How did I not know about this? It was so cool seeing the cast together (minus a few of them). And hearing them sing the theme song live was so dang cool. 

- Ever since working at HER, I stopped going to the gas station minutes from my house. I'd always need gas closer to work so I would go to one frequently close to it. But since switching locations, the one closer to home was most convenient. It really had been about 4 years since I last went there. To my surprise, the older lady working there recognized me (09.13). Her mood changed the moment I stepped up to the counter. She greeted me warmly and even said how long it had been. I mentioned about being closer to downtown so she understood why she didn't see me. She ended the transaction with being glad that I'll be around again. 


- I woke up in the morning with horrible neck pain (09.21). It hurt so much to move the tiniest bit and my neck was extremely sensitive. Definitely had to remember to keep my neck stiff throughout the day. The only thing I can think that caused the pain was from rearranging my room the day before. Nothing else could have caused it. Took a good amount (not overboard) of pain pills over the next few days. I even bought some patches to relieve the pain. It got a little better as the days went on for the next week. 

- Got to catch up with another dear friend at Merchant (09.26). We were going to hang out at the beginning of the month, but she was incredibly busy. Part of our talk involved what she was up to. I was worried it was some bad news. Glad that things had been going well for her. She's a wonderful friend and I'm glad she's always there for me. 

- DEATH BATTLE - Nightwing VS Daredevil (09.26) 


========================= 

- The Mae Young Classic 2018 has begun (09.05). As of typing this (10.02), the first round has finished airing. I got 11-16 of my predictions correct. I definitely have not looked at spoilers as I want to be surprised. I actually only knew of a couple of things that happened due to news spreading. My top 2 main picks are Kaitlyn (welcome back, Houston represent) and  Deonna Purrazzo. 

- Went to a Smackdown house show with my cousins (09.15). Met up at one of their apartments that is across from NRG Stadium and then we took an Uber to the Toyota Center. What a fun show. All the matches were great. A non-show highlight was that Vickie Guerrero was in the audience. She was actually about 5 rows away from us. During the intermission, she was letting fans come to take photos with her. The line was really long. They also announced that they would be coming back for RAW on December 3rd. I purchased tickets from me and a friend to go. Excited for it. 


- Hell In A Cell  was an awesome PPV (09.16). I really was contemplating going and getting cheap seats, but I ended up having to work since I took the day off to go to the house show the day before. Randy Orton VS Jeff Hardy, wow (watch the clip). And Becky Lynch, you deserve it. 


========================= 

- Miss Click is a Twitch affiliate and YouTuber that recently became a Nintendo Ambassador. She was a recommended channel on Twitch and I decided to check her out. Shortly thereafter, I started watching her videos on YouTube and followed her on Twitter. She's cute and has lots of energy. Her reaction videos are amazing to watch, ha. But I definitely recommend her as someone to follow as she has great potential. 


- 100% completed The Messenger (09.04). The game play was great, the music was awesome, and it was just a fun adventure. Highly recommend it. 


- Tried out the Mega Man 11 demo (09.06). I tried it on the Normal difficulty and had some troubles. So I bumped the difficulty down and was able to beat Block Man. It definitely got me hyped for the full game coming out in October (currently playing this as of typing 10.03). 

- Agent PQ went to San Japan and got me a Samus shirt (09.07). 


- Started the final installment of the trilogy with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations (09.09) While I was casually playing it when I had time, I did speed up during the last case to finish it (09.13). Still a great set of cases and a wonderful way to end the series. 


- Got some of my Toreba prizes (09.12). I named him Godot since I was playing Trials & Tribulations at that time. 


- Nintendo Direct delivers again (09.13). There were quite a few titles I was interested in. And since more release dates became cemented, I did have to decide on which games to skip out on (Luigi's Mansion, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe). But the biggest takeaway are all the Final Fantasy titles that were announced for 2019 (Crystal Chronicles, VII, IX, X, X-2, XII) as well as XV Pocket Edition HD being released that day (the reason I sped up with finishing Trials & Tribulations). 


- Downloaded Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition HD the day it released and played started playing it the next day (09.14). While I did know it wouldn't be exactly like the original XV, I didn't realize how short it would be. Below is a quote I said to a friend who asked my opinion on the game after I beat it (09.18). 

"I didn't play the actual XV, only watched all of the cutscenes. It's very condensed and simplified. Very much a mobile version of the game. I was expecting more of a challenge too (only had a few times where it was rough). I liked it to an extent. It's not horrible and it functions fine (minus some choppiness and long load times). But I don't see myself recommending this to anyone without the current sale (that's ending soon) or if you own and have already played the original." 


- The Switch online service started and I bought my subscription. The first game I decided to try out was Super Mario Bros. (09.18). Fun to play through the game again. 

While I was done messing around with the online service, I did jump back on when I saw a tweet from Arda Ocal challenging other to play Ice Hockey. So I took him up on the challenge and we had a competitive match (tied into a shoot out that tied so they removed the goalies ending with 8-7 and a victory for Arda). Other than some lag, that was so fun. I haven't played anyone else in any games online, but I definitely want to. 


- The next NES game I tried out was Excitebike (09.19). Had not played that game in many years. I couldn't get first place after for the last track though. Tried many times and at least was able to work my way from bronze to silver. 


- Had a coupon from GameStop for 20% off used games. I had been meaning to buy a copy of Shantae and the Pirate's Curse on the 3DS so I finally did with that coupon (09.20). Couldn't find new copies locally and the price for new online was too much. I called the store to make sure it was complete with the box and instructions, which it was. So now I have a copy to add to my collection. 


- Child of Light: Ultimate Edition announced a release date (09.20). I was on the fence before, but I want to support the game in hopes of helping push the sequel. I won't play it right away since it comes out on the 11th, which is a day before The World Ends With You and that will be the priority. But there is a gap of time between that and Smash Bros. So I will playthrough Child of Light during that period of time. 

- Had an itch to play another NES game on the Switch. I chose Gradius (09.20). I actually don't recall finishing the game back in the day. It was more obvious as the stages after the first were not familiar at all. But it was cool to finally finish the game for the first time. 


- The Ace Attorney Twitter account has been saying they were going to announce something soon. And they did; the Ace Attorney Trilogy will be available on all modern systems (09.22). I found it funny that I just beat the trilogy on 3DS this year and now I'll be playing through the trilogy again in 2019, ha. 


And to continue with the same theme, I ordered a copy of Dai Gyakuten Saiban and that arrived on the same day as the trilogy announcement. Continuing my yearly purchase of collecting all the games in this series. I'm only missing Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 and the original trilogy on GBA. 

- Wanted to play something short on the NES Switch app. Chose Donkey Kong (09.23) It really did not take long to finish. I continued playing until I lost all my lives. I was able to finish all the levels twice before losing my last life. 


And then I finally had a chance to play the Dark Souls stress test demo. Tried out all the characters (the dark knight was my favorite). Man, that's a tough game. I can see why people like it, but it's not for me. I'm glad I was able to try it out. 

- Donald Duck - Simple & Clean (too amazing, ha) 


- Remembering Final Fantasy VI 


- You'll read more about it more below, but I played and completed The Legend of Zelda (09.28). 

========================= 

- For the first time ever since I started working when I was 18, I had to come in to work (09.02). This was also a requested day off. There was miscommunication between the Downtown location and what we offer at the Memorial location. Agent Ocean informed us how he now had to set up for a gender reveal. I asked if he needed me to come help him and I did. While we were able to pull it off, it was just not pleasant to have to scramble and for me to have to come in at all. 

- Since we have not been getting steady customers, our hours have decreased more. Basically on any days our last available times don't get booked, we close up shop (all 3 of us agreed to it). So for example, if the latest session is 9:30PM, we can leave at 8:30PM because customers have up to an hour before the time to book. For me, my Thursdays are extremely short already at 5 hours. But with no customers, I leave at 2PM. So for the past month, all my Thursdays have only been 3 hour work days. It's not a good thing on all ends.  

- We had our first company meeting separately from the Downtown location (09.07). We technically did not have a meeting as Agent Ocean makes sure that myself and Agent PQ always are in the loop about major things. For our first company activity, we went to an escape room. We actually joined a couple of strangers (their first time, but they sure did contribute) and were able to escape with over 20 minutes remaining. My record is now 23 victories out of 28 escape rooms. 


And around this time was when Agent Hourglass stopped showing up for work. That was certainly a crappy way to quit a job. 

- Because the beginning of the month was bad, I reached out to a few select people. One of them was Agent Gig. He had been away from the company for a couple months in pursuit of his masters so we needed to catch up (09.09). Similar to the stories of catching up with others in this entry, it was great getting to see him again. But this conversation brought up a couple things. One I will touch on later. The other is how the Memorial location is and if he was able to help us or not. A few days later, the wheels were in motion. Shortly thereafter, Agent Gig was back with the company. His official first day was the first of October. While he is working a very limited schedule this time around and only at the Memorial location, it's great to have him back. 

- As mentioned last month, our new system still has bugs. While sometimes it is very minor and we can cover for it, it sure wasn't like that one Saturday night (09.22). It was Agent Ocean and I. His girlfriend and some of her friends signed up and they were partnered and battling against a group of strangers that all knew each other. Some hits weren't showing up on our end so we paused the game (I went in to the rooms to let both teams know) so that we can reset the system. We did that a total of 5 times. After the last one, Agent Ocean called it off. We explained what was going on and offered the participants to come back in the future for free. They were all having fun too...it was such a shame. Once they left, Agent Ocean was ready to go and said I could go too. I said I'll close up and he can go because he was pissed. So he left. Agent Blue actually was there and witnessed everything so he stayed to help me close up. And I was able to hand over a few gifts for the Downtown location before we split. That...was a rough session to say the least. 

- My thoughts on the company...it's only a matter of time. We're close to having actual escape rooms finished and ready to go and we're constantly making sure the new concept runs smoothly. However, if no one comes, those mean nothing. If everything we offered is the best in the world, what good is it if no one experiences it? That is the bottom line. We need customers to come. 

========================= 

- Hyomin - Mango (MV) 


- Amber - White Noise (MV) 


- Weezer/Weird Al - Africa (MV) 


- Dad went to the Philippines for vacation (09.06). He will be gone for one month. I definitely miss his food, ha. 

- It has been a year since my mom had heart surgery (09.11). She's a lot better since then and I'm glad. I can still think back during that time and start to tear up. It's something I'll never forget. 

- As I have mentioned a few times in this entry, the month did not start off well. I did have a point where I was frustrated and crying and reflecting on a lot of things. I was texting a couple of friends back and forth during this time and I am thankful they were there for me. One of them (my best friend) mentioned she would be coming to Houston in either in October or November and that made me incredibly happy. The other friend made suggestions about doing more things related to my hobbies. The main one being video games. 

I've thought about streaming on Twitch for a while. I definitely have had more free time due to less work so I had been playing games more. A few friends/coworkers have suggested it since I play games they don't play and they want to see. So I put it out in the world in the form of a tweet (09.05). I was just concerned that I would spend time, effort, and money into this and it would fail like a lot of projects I have tried over the years. No one replied to that tweet so I was a little down on it and wasn't doing much about it. 

Then I met up with Agent Gig. We talked about it because I recently sent him a photo of me and Agent Ocean watching an old stream of his. We started spitballing ideas and basically came up with an idea to which he said if it became a thing, he would be on board and help. He even went out of his way to help me get started by gifting me a mic a pop filter (09.11). 


So I started to rearrange my room (09.12). The set up had been the same for many years now. Earlier in the year I took down a bunch of posters. Had I not done it then, I probably would have at this time. I only did a little bit, but it helped free up a lot of space and made things easier to access. And there sure was a ton of dust, yuck. But I stopped after that initial adjustment and left it alone for about a week. I mainly wanted to see if the slight change in my bed's position would make it tough for me to sleep or not. It didn't. 

I continued rearranging the room, but to completion this time (09.19). Things were thrown away, lots of dust was swept and collected, and everything except the TV and the stand it is on was moved. Basically, all shelves and drawers are now on one side of the room, my bed is up against the wall with the windows, and my computer is now opposite the bed closer to the TV. I also had to change the direction of the vent because the a/c was blowing directly on me where the computer now resides. The biggest downside is that bed creaks a lot more. 

The other thing I was holding back on was ordering equipment. I did ask around and got some recommendations for a capture card and a webcam. I even bought a deck to help with streaming (have yet to use it). But I did try out all the items to make sure they worked when they arrived (09.24). Unfortunately, the cord for the webcam was too short for where I wanted to set it up and where my computer was. So I ordered an extender as well as a clamp to position it above my TV (09.26). 


Spent some time setting up OBS and a few other settings and did a few test recordings to make sure things were at least working for me. Then I had my first test stream (09.26). I played Super Mario Odyssey since a new outfit became available. Stream went smoothly with only the mic being very low for some reason. I was glad that the stream was running reliably though. I had a second test stream the following day and played Fortnite (09.27). Same as before with the mic being the only bad thing. 

I was able to figure out the mic issue (it was turned down very low on my computer for some reason, never used the mic function before). And I'm glad it worked out because with or without a mic, I was going to have my first official stream (09.28). My game of choice, The Legend of Zelda on the NES Switch app. I completed the game in about 5 hours. No hiccups on stream other than me having to fix an overlay graphic. 


And that is how I began streaming on Twitch. It's going to take some getting used to. I don't talk while I play games and I make it a point to mention that on stream. However, if people talk in the chat, I'll talk with them. Otherwise I'll just play the game. So if you tune in for a stream, say "hi" and keep me company in the chat. Shout outs to those that have already.

I am also figuring out a way to schedule sessions too. I just have to now because the way I was playing was "nonstop" with a lot of breaks in between (eat, catch up on social media, watch videos, etc). Now I have to play in a sitting. While I can take breaks, it won't be as convenient as before. Plus I do find it a little blah for a streamer to take a long break and leave the stream on (just my opinion). It's safe to say that I will start a stream at the earliest at 1PM. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I'll play until wrestling comes on. Streaming is definitely based around my work schedule. Definitely won't stream Saturdays unless it was really late at night. 

Over the last couple of months, I have definitely contributed more to the channels I watch (bits, subscriptions, gift subscriptions, hosting, etc). Seeing the out pour of community support on various channels is amazing. The one thing that helped push me to want to do this was a recent stream on VampyBitMe's channel. She was celebrating her one year anniversary on Twitch. Her friends started gifting subs to pretty much every person on stream. She cried, she wanted to giveaway more stuff, and it kept coming. It was insane. Having followed her for years now, seeing this happen live was inspirational. The craziness starts around the 2 hour mark and goes on for a while.


I need support. As of typing this (10.03), I'm not an affiliate. I can hit all my other goals, no problem. But getting 50 followers in a month is the one that will take some extra effort. So if you are reading this and you want to help me out and you have a Twitch account, please give me a Follow. Please tell others that you know would be interested in this about it. I know this is something I can really put a lot of myself into, but I need the support to get things off the ground. Once that happens, any additional support would be greatly appreciated. 


- That's it for September 2018. This was a long and emotional and event filled month. Thanks for reading. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, September 2, 2018

August 2018 Entry

August 2018 Entry 

========================= 

- I've been using the same camera bag for almost a decade or more. It was slowly getting worse and worse. The fabric was ripping and some of the grips were breaking off. The final nail in the coffin was a zipper got stuck and it could not be undone. While I could have gone for something different, I ordered the exact same model, but in black. It actually arrived within a week when it was estimated to be over a month so that was cool (08.04). Still breaking it in as it was definitely tightly packed with all the items I would carry in it.


- Bought The Death of Superman and watched it the next day (08.07, 08.08). It is so good. Definitely makes up for Superman/Doomsday. The ending brought tears to my eyes. Highly recommend it. 


- Agent Blue and I went to the Ninja Sex Party Tour De Force Concert at Warehouse Live (08.10). We were in line 2 hours early, but there was still a big line in front of us. It rained while we waited and that was lame. Process of Illumination opened up the show and they were good. TWRP was next and they played a lot of songs and were awesome and funny. But NSP was amazing. There were probably only two songs they played I wasn't too big on, but it everything was high energy. They played something from each album and even their new stuff (they played "Heart Boner" live for the first time in Houston). Agent Blue and I were maybe 10 rows from the front (standing room). My body was aching and I was tired, but I had tons of fun and would absolutely see them again. 



- The following tweet is a story about the time I experienced love at first sight one year ago (08.11).



- Out of the blue, I decided to stop using my dating apps for the rest of the month (08.12). Was hoping to see if anyone would try to match with me while I'm not active. No difference unfortunately. I started using them again in September.

- I finally got a new Social Security Card (08.24). I was dumb for putting it off since February when my wallet got stolen. But I finally settled on a day to tie up a bunch of loose ends I was being lazy on and this was one of them.

========================= 

- I'm really excited to watch the Mae Young Classic 2018 (08.08). It has already been recorded, but I avoided all spoilers. It's cool to see some former Impact wrestlers in the tournament this time, some of the return competitors are great, and the rest of the field is stacked with talent. Kaitlyn got an awesome ovation. While I don't see her winning, I hope she wins a couple of matches and then stays with WWE for a bit.


- Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart passed away (08.13). He was one of my first favorite wrestlers that I can remember. I always enjoyed watching him wrestler and his look made him stand out. You will be missed.


- Caught up on NXT TakeOver Brooklyn 4 after it aired (08.18). Fantastic as usual. I got 4 out of 5 of my predictions correct. All the matches are worth watching again and again.


- SummerSlam was so good (08.19). From the preshow to the end, it kept my attention. Didn't take a break for dinner until the show was over. I got 9 out of 13 of my predictions correct, which is the most I ever had. There were tons of highlights, but seeing Finn Balor bring The Demon back was unexpected and had me the most excited. Becky Lynch turning on Charlotte Flair after the triple threat match was amazing too.


========================= 

- I started following a couple of game reviewers on YouTube; Retropolois Zone and Some Call Me Johnny. While I knew of Some Call Me Johnny, I began watching both of their videos while looking for reviews of Mega Man X6 (had to hear what others thought of the game). Retropolis Zone had long reviews and I did watch all of his stuff. For Some Call Me Johnny, I pick and choose from his old stuff, but for sure I watch reviews of series and titles I care about (Metroid, Sonic, Zelda, etc). Recommend both channels. 



- I picked up WarioWare Gold when it came out. (08.05) However, I did not get around to actually playing it until the end of the month (08.27). I wanted to finish up other games before moving to it. When I finally did, I was able to beat the story mode after a few hours as well as unlock more modes and collectibles. I thought to maybe play this off and on to collect the rest (play the microgames over and over to collect coins) as I have nothing planned to buy game-wise until Mega Man 11 in October. But I forgot I had The Messenger on my wish list. I was actually planning to get Hollow Knight during that downtime before The Messenger had a release date, but with the announcement of a physical copy coming out next year, I will wait until then. As for WarioWare Gold, it's more of the same, which is not bad. Recommended for WarioWare fans. For those that are curious, there's a demo to try out. 







- I finished the rest of Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2. That means beating Mega Man X7 (08.05) and Mega Man X8 (08.07). X7...was not good. The shift into 3D was poorly done. The stages and bosses were not memorable. X8 was better. I even considered completing this title until the rest would have boiled down to grinding for chips to buy the rest of the items. I'm glad I got to finish the series on a high note. The big downside was the Retry Chips over having normal lives. Not the best system by any means. 

And as for the entire Mega Man X series, now that I've played and beaten all of them, here is my ranking of the games from best to worst: X1, X4, X2, X3, X8, X5, X7, X6.
  






- The Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Direct was awesome (08.08). Simon and Richter Belmont, Chrom, and Dark Samus as playable characters, nice. Shovel Knight as Assist Trophy, rad. 


- A game I really enjoyed a few years ago was Child of Light. There was an announcement of it coming to the Switch (08.08). I was going back and forth about double dipping on this one, but the announcement also came with a tease of a possible Child of Light 2. That is something I definitely would be in for.




- Okami HD came out on the Switch and that was an immediate download for me (08.09). I passed the original Okami on the PS2 for some other game (can't remember which). The aesthetic was wonderful and the style of play was similar to Zelda. Took my time with this one, but that was mainly because I was working more. But any free time I had was spent on this game similar to when I was playing Breath of the Wild or Odyssey. Then when I had a couple extra days off from work, I was able to finish the game (08.24). I did think to possibly complete the game until I realized I passed up a few things that were time sensitive and would not come back (lame). Other than that blemish, I really enjoyed Okami HD and am glad to have finally played it.




- I was on a roll playing Toreba this month. I won a total of 5 prizes (08.09, 08.15, 08.19, 08.21x2). Yes, I won 2 prizes on the same day. Haven't won anything since the last win, but I'm definitely paying closer attention with how prizes are laid out. Plus I will wait for more free tickets. I did spend some dollars to attain some of these prizes as I botched a few turns and didn't want to leave the game since I knew I could win the prize. Only one prize has arrived as Toreba's shipping has been backed up. That sucks as I was hoping to get a few of them sooner. But take a look at the videos and pictures of my wins with the links below. 


- After beating Okami HD, I finally got to try the DLC for Shantae, which was called Jammies Mode (08.26). All the extra modes/DLC that Half-Genie Hero has produced were great and Jammies Mode was no exception. It is not the best mode, but it was a nice reason to jump back into this world.




- Whoa, Streets of Rage 4 was announced (08.27). Incredible. This is a definite buy whenever it comes out. 

- Onimusha: Warlords got announced (08.28). I was always curious about this series, but skipped it when it when it was originally out. Now that I'll have a chance to try an updated version of it, I'm excited. Onimusha comes out 01.15.19.


- The Messenger is fantastic (08.30). The day it was released, I spent 10 and a half hours playing it. I've got over half of the main collectibles, all the upgrades have been bought, and somewhere between 100-200 deaths already, ha. Since I have no other games lined up for September, I am heavily considering 100% completing the game. 




========================= 

- During our second beta test, I was going to go check on the team, but actually smashed my finger in between the door while heading there (08.02). We have large office doors at the second location and that hurt bad. I actually had to tell them team I needed to go outside and scream. Spent the rest of the session watering my finger down with cold water (didn't have ice). This made me recall when I smashed my finger in a car door many years ago. That actually hurt worse as my nail got ripped out. But this middle finger getting crushed in the office door hurt for a couple days, but only stopped feeling weird towards the end of the month. 

- For the first time in about 3 months, I got 40 hours (08.04). Unfortunately, we reduced hours at the second location due to lack of sessions. So the hours fluctuate. Not only that, we leave early if there are no sessions. Have lost 2-4 hours per day because of that. Not good.  

- 4 years at the Houston Escape Room (08.09).

- The team went to Holmes Escape Room (08.15). It was the team activity for that month's meeting, but done days later. It was a nice small place. First time doing an escape room with the new kids. We split into teams and the company allowed us to swap rooms afterwards. Both teams succeeded in both rooms. Not a bad place. I would definitely recommend them for first timers. My escape room record is now 22 escapes out of 27 rooms which is an 81% success rate.

- An unexpected surprise came in the form of a stray kitten (08.29). As Agent PQ and I were leaving for the day, we couldn't help but hear multiple meows coming close by. We started to inspect the bush in front of our building as that is where the cries emanated. I was a little skeptical thinking it was a prank device as the meows sounded similar every time. But after further digging around, the little kitten popped up. We took it in and had Agent Widdershins join us as we started looking after her. We later named her Ame (Japanese for rain). I stuck around to take care of her as Agent PQ went to buy some cat supplies from a nearby. We did ask around if anyone we knew could take care of her. In the end, she became Agent PQ's new kitten. She is now a proud mother of 3 cats. 




- Frustrations, still got them. Other than summer ending and school starting again, I don't understand why customers aren't coming to us. We offered Naval Warfare for free, 50% off, and still at a lowered price and the response has been lukewarm. I'm glad that anyone is coming at all, but we should be booked completely. The lack of sessions lead to the cut hours and a change in schedules. Agents PQ, Ocean, and myself have been rocking it and we're such a great team...but no one is coming... 

Plus the new concept still has bugs. It's like we go a few steps forward and then a few steps back and it fluctuates all the time. I know we're only a month in, but I was hoping it would be more solid than it is at the moment. 

========================= 

- Tiffany Young - Over My Skin (MV)


Good Day LA (08.21)


Interview (08.23)


Tiffany, you are killing it. I can't wait for more from you.

- Red Velvet - Power Up (MV)


The song didn't catch me at first, but I've grown to really enjoy it. Their variety show appearances have been fun too. 

- TWICE - [BDZ] (MV)


- Can't believe we're at 18 years of BoA (08.25). Been there since the beginning. 


- That's it for August 2018. Thanks for reading. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

July 2018 Entry

July 2018 Entry 

July went by fast. Didn't realize it until the last week.

========================= 

- Met up with former Agent X for brunch (07.08). Despite the heavy rain, we still met up at Jupiter Pizza & Waffles. I had not been there in a long time and both of us really like that place. It was a 30-40 minute wait outside, but we were catching up the entire time. He's a good guy. Always got along easy with him from his interview and after. We're going to try to meet up more often just to check in and update each other on life. 
 

- Had a jury duty summons scheduled (07.09). Slept early the night before, but could not get a lot of sleep. Woke up early and drove out to be at the courthouse at 7AM. Went into the building with a few others filing in and we were told that the jury duty selection was cancelled. Would have been good to know ahead of time. That's time I spent going out there and I could have gone karaoke the night before. 

- My cousin had her baby shower (07.14). I had actually purchased items from their wish list and had it sent to their home as early as possible so they got them a week before the shower. Drove with my parents to the log cabin-ish building they rented. As soon as I got there, I immediately started helping and continued throughout the day (blowing up balloons, taking care of trash, helping with drinks and food and cake, etc). It was great seeing everyone. 


========================= 

- Congratulations to the women of WWE. You deserve the all women's PPV; Evolution (07.23) 


- Reading the spoilers as they were coming in were crazy, but actually seeing Tommaso Ciampa win the NXT Championship was magnificent (07.25). 
 

- Couldn't believe that both Nikolai Volkoff and Brian Christopher passed away on the same day (07.29). Rest In Peace.  


========================= 

- Picked up Crash Bandicoot 'N Sane Trilogy at the end of last month. Finally got around to playing it. Beat each game one after the other (07.01, 07.04, 07.05). Having not played the series in the past, I was excited to play them now. But my excitement quickly went away during the first game (it took over an hour to beat Road To Nowhere...). The controls weren't great. I never felt like I had complete control of Crash and had compensate when needed. I will say that the games got better with each installment. Overall, glad I got to play the Crash games, but I would have been fine not playing them at all. 
 
- My arm was hurting a lot, so I caught up on some more of SGDQ2018 (07.03) . The even ended with a run of Final Fantasy VI. The crowd was awesome especially as the goal for the event was reached towards the end. Very fun.


- Death Battle - Ryu VS Jin (07.04) 


- Pocket Rumble finally came out (07.08). I had been interested in it when it was announced and was surprised when it was announced for release days before. The game...was okay. It was an interesting fighter, but not the most intuitive. I liked the characters and style, but wasn't impressed. I did beat the game with everyone within a couple hours. 
 

- I won my third prize from Toreba (07.12). It was a Moogle dressed up as a Tonberry. If you look at the video linked, it seemed so simple...and it was. I was just trying not thinking it would work and it happened. The plush arrived 10 days later. 
 


- Had some extra free time, so I played more Fortnite (07.12). Played it when the new season update went live too. Found a spot I like going to in solos and also started to explore the map more. But I was doing well in my matches (picture below is my solo). Also got to play more with Agent Striker. The last time I played was a duo with him and we were doing so well. I think we ended up 6th place. Haven't played since then, but that was a great way to end it for now. 
 

- Downloaded the update for Sonic Mania to turn it into Sonic Mania Plus (07.18). While I wasn't high on Ray, he was alright. I liked Mighty since he had a better defense so I could be more reckless. After beating their respective campaigns, I took on and beat Encore Mode (07.22) Remixing the stages and being able to swap partners was pretty cool. The special stages for the Chaos Emeralds were tough, but was able to get them all. It was fun jumping back into that game. I did contemplate buying the physical copy (still might at a lower price), but I opted for the Limited Run Games release of Thumper (Limited Edition). 


- Got Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 (07.24). Was looking forward to this one for sure. It was great completing X1 and X2 on the same day (07.24). No problems with either one. Then I completed X3 (a little tougher than from when I last played it on Wii U) and then X4 for the first time since it was released on the Playstation (07.25). I only beat X's story that day, but beat Zero's the next day (07.26). 

On that same day, I got to play X5 for the first time and completed it and got X's good ending. X5 was rough at first, but I grew to like it. Was able to go back and completed X's bad ending (07.27) and then Zero's ending (07.29). 
And then I started X6. I do not like X6. I could not believe how much trouble I was having. But after doing some research, it's not my fault. The game is not good. The picture below was only the 3rd stage I was trying and I maxed out the timer. That has been the worst so far, but there are far too many difficult and easy death situations throughout the game. I keep hitting these roadblocks and spend a lot of time on them. Because of that, this was the first game in the X Legacy Collection that I did not beat in a single sitting. I knew before beating the game (07.30) that I already decided that I will only beat the game once, not bother getting everything (although some things are mandatory to proceed), and not replay it to get the other 2 endings (watched them on YouTube). Even though X7 is supposedly worse, I'm glad that I'm moving on from X6. 
 

- Ridley, Inkling, and Wolf amiibo for Smash Ultimate were finally available for reserve at GameStop (07.26). I had been waiting and skipping the Amazon and Best Buy preorders, but I was worried and preordered through Target. But once the GameStop skus went live, I got those and then cancelled my Target order. And then I cancelled my GameStop orders as they had a bundle that was cheaper (saved money on shipping). Glad to have those preordered. 


- More Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero DLC announced (07.31). And it's free. Yay. 


========================= 

- Work had been done at our second location. I was growing frustrated that I wasn't actually there helping and that I was getting very limited hours. But I did get one day to go there (my second time there) to help set up the banner (07.03). It took a while as we had to drill into some cement, sheet rock, etc. Plus we had to take a trip to Home Depot to buy stuff. After doing that, I helped break down, move, and clean some stuff. Agent Ocean took a photo of me while I was drilling and I have added it to my dating profiles. 
 

- Had another monthly meeting (07.06). I was actually named Agent of the Month. Wasn't eligible when I was Personnel Manager and I never wanted it. I still don't think I deserve it as I was barely getting any hours and others were doing way more than I was as my list of tasks and responsibilities were greatly diminished. 


- I was actually given hours. I came in the morning to help paint set pieces (07.16-07.20). It was hot down in the basement. But it was good working with Agent Widdershins and getting time to zone out and listen to music the entire time. 

My big complaint that happened at that time was on Friday when I was supposed to go to the second location, but was told last minute to go downtown (literally got a text message as I was about to leave the house). Then there was nothing for me to do there as Agent Widdershins wasn't there to lead me with painting. I texted with Agent PQ to see if they needed me at the second location. If they didn't, I requested to just go home. But I was told I was needed so I started to leave. In my car, Agent Raynor called and asked to see if I can call Agent Widdershins to see if anything can still be done. Called him up, and he gave me directions. But by this time, I was pissed that my schedule was changed multiple times within an hour. It probably was a good thing that I was painting in the basement by myself as I didn't want to talk to anyone. 

The next day I was able to go to the second location for real this time (3rd time only). More painting and cleaning. But I also helped Agent PQ put together a desk and helped Agent Ocean put up some insulation (check the links below as he livestreamed some of it on his Twitch channel). This would have been a 40 hour week, but we left an hour early as we were all tired and had nothing major to be finished. Went to eat dinner at Sushi Pop with former Agent Majordomo. 
 




- It was finally announced that we are having a soft opening at the second location (07.29). Our first beta test happened a few days later (07.31). Despite a few things not being ready, it went off well and the teams enjoyed themselves. Good start. Hopefully it keeps getting better. 
 

- And of course we have another blog entry (07.31). 
 

- As I mentioned last month, I have frustrations with work. I actually got the lowest amount of hours ever with 10 one week. It would have been only 6 had we not had a customer ask to do a last minute mission where Agent Wolfman and I were able to come in for 4 hours. I was glad to get a lot of hours the week after. Would have been the first time I hit 40 hours in a couple months (close with 39). It has kicked up more now that things at the second location are happening. But I still have my concerns and complaints about things are being handled there. We're not ready for the soft opening (we haven't tested everything and have to purposely leave things out etc). They actually wanted us to run a session (07.28) and we had not even finished putting some of the crucial set pieces together and made sure the puzzles actually worked. So many things like are incredibly frustrating for myself and Agents PQ and Ocean. 

This doesn't even include the frustrations and concerns with the downtown location. There was never a plan to train and transfer knowledge of responsibilities and tasks when the 3 of were going to leave. It slowly become a realization. The 3 of us had talks with Agents Blue Heeler and Striker as they were the ones most concerned and were to be taking over in our stead. I know my talks with them were long and extensive as we needed to plan things out in regards to how to run things and handle the new staff members. Basically, there was no plan in place and we made one. They both brought up how that's unfair that they were getting these tasks dumped on them without compensation. So I pushed for both to ask for a pay raise and/or a promotion (they deserve it regardless). But over the last month, I slowly pulled away from my duties so that those 2 can do them and the team can be familiar with them running the show. It was rough during one incident (required a long talk and a short meeting with the new team members and Agent Ocean). Things seem to have gotten better since then. Wishing them the best as the transition of us leaving is happening. 

And...I am still unsure of my future with the company. So many things have been going wrong with the company and how it effects me. The latest is that the company can no longer provide health insurance. So I have contemplated on various days that I can just quit and get rid of all this stress at once. I have thought of possible plans for if I do quit. But right now I'm sticking with my plan I've had for a while in regards to the company. 

========================= 

- Tiffany Young - Over My Skin (choreo dance video) 

 

So damn good. I have also never been so attracted to Tiffany than after seeing her in this video. Can't wait for her music video. 

Also, Over My Skin was played on a radio station in Houston. She also came on Facebook Live to do an interview with that station. Yay, Houston. Hopefully this is a nudge to her visiting the city. 


- TWICE - Dance The Night Away (MV) 

 

Fun summer song. Really like the music video. 

- That's it for July 2018. Thanks for reading.


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)