Sunday, February 3, 2019

January 2019 Entry

January 2019 Entry

The first month of 2019 is over. Time for a recap.

=========================

- Watched all 3 Rurouni Kenshin live action movies in one day (01.02). Took breaks in between each one. Originally was planning to watch one a day, but I just got hooked after rewatching the first one again after so many years. I finished the last one just a little before midnight. They are all so good. The action, the character portrayal...all done very well. Highly recommend watching them even if you aren't a fan of the anime.

- After mentioning it in the8bitdee's stream, I looked a dance video for Mirotic (01.11). I was able to recall a good amount of the moves so I tried to do it. Didn't try it full out, but I actually was taken aback that I felt very winded and weak afterwards. I did try it a few days later and it was better. 


- y0nderboy did his first gunpla stream (01.11). Since I knew he was doing it, I sent out a tweet to someone specific. It was a shot in the dark, but Vampy was able to come in to his stream (21:42) and talk to him for a bit (even followed him). His reaction was great and I'm glad that he was making a connection with her.


- One of my favorite sunglasses broke (01.13). I was heading out from work to buy supplies and as I went to put them on my face, apparently I stretched them out to much and they broke apart. Sure, I own many many sunglasses, but I really liked this one. 


- Finally finished all of the cans of Cheese Ballz (01.13). If you don't know this about me, for certain snacks, I count how much of them I eat. Like if I am eating a box of cookies, I'll eat 5 each time and keep track of it. For the Cheese Ballz, I ate 25 each time I did. Sure, I lost track a few times so the counts might be off by a few, but my results are below. 


- Got to catch up with a friend who I had not seen in many years (01.15). We were going to meet last year, but she had to cancel it. Now that she is back in town, we decided to try again. Ate some good ramen, shared a lot of stories, went out elsewhere to continue the conversation. Hopefully it won't be another 5+ years when we see each other again. 

- Had planned a day to take care of a few errands (01.22). First, I went to the dentist for a cleaning. Yay for new dental insurance and yay for the dentist giving me a free box whitening strips (I was actually thinking about getting some too). Then I went to the post office nearby to pick up a prize from Toreba. They had tried to deliver it on the 28th of December and nobody answered the door. And then I went to the bank to deposit a check. Sure, it didn't take long to take care of all these things, but it was convenient instead of doing all on separate days. 


- Bought Reign of the Supermen (01.29). Didn't get to watch it until a couple of days later (01.31). It was okay. I think I expected too much especially after the Death of Superman. It lacked in a lot of places like the pacing and character portrayals. Also the animation wasn't as polished as other DC animated movies, which I was very surprised about. There were things I liked, but this one is hard to recommend. 


- Won my 12th prize on Toreba. I spent too much money trying to get this one. Just imagine that I moved the prize all the way from left to the right for it to fall. Watch the video to see how the final turn actually go down. Definitely going to take a break from Toreba for a while. 


=========================

- Rest In Peace, Mean Gene Okerlund (01.02). 


- NXT TakeOver: Phoenix was so good just like every TakeOver (01.26). Predicted all the match outcomes correctly. 


- Went to a friend's for the Royal Rumble again this year (01.27). Got 6 out of 9 predictions correct. I was going for all champs retaining and all Irish winners for the Rumble matches. My goodness, was it so fun. Becky! Becky! Becky! 



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*if possible, I will post Twitch links to collections* 

- I beat a lot of games in 2018.


- The mic arm I ordered arrived (01.02). Just like my NES controllers, this also decided to come in minutes before starting a stream. I managed to set it up just in time to give it a test run. Throughout the month, I had to figure out how to position it as for a while, I had to rest it on my thigh to keep it positioned properly. Weeks later, I moved one shelf next to my computer desk and the arm seems to be at the most optimal spot right now. The only downside is that it covers up the shirt I wear. 


- The first game I played in 2019 was 99Vidas: Definitive Edition (01.02). This was the game that was gifted to me by the developer when I completed their challenge during a Demo Showcase. The first story playthrough on Normal took the whole stream to do (5+ hours). But I made a goal to unlock all the extra characters and beat it with each one on Izzy (easy) mode on (11 total) on Arcade and Remix mode. The last stream of the game happened on the 10th. It wasn't revolutionary in the genre of beat-em-ups, but I enjoyed it. 


- Ordered a set of cheap Animal Crossing amiibo (01.07). I really wanted the KK Slider one for a while, but it was always part of this bundle. It was cheap on Amazon, so I got it and unboxed it on stream. This brings the amiibo count to 117. On the same day, I received my Momo phone charm. 


- I was planning to play Lightseekers for the stream, but it's only playable in handheld mode. Luckily I figured that out right before going live and switched to Color Zen (01.14). It was visually pleasing and relaxing. My cousin was in there too and I asked him to pick an NES game for me to play after. His choice; Dr. Mario. I tried to beat it normally, but then played the SP version to see the ending. 


- The first Demo Showcase of 2019 (01.16). Tried out Desktop Soccer, Dungeon Village, Fitness Boxing, Robbotto, and Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story. I actually found all enjoyable. But my favorite of the batch was Fitness Boxing. It reminded me of how I felt playing Wii Fit. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up playing it for 2 hours (looking back at the stream, I also played Valthirian Arc for almost 2 hours). Could've gone longer as I had a few more free trials of it, but was getting tired. Added it to my wish list. 


- Picked up Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (01.18). I was excited to play as Travis Touchdown again as it has been many years since No More Heroes 2. They don't play the same as this was more like a Gauntlet beat-em-up game. Enjoyed it though. This was also a unique stream where you could actually hear me cuss as I was reading the dialogue out loud. I was able to beat it in 2 streams, but decided to go for 100%, which took an extra 2 streams to do (01.23). While I was glad to complete the game, the last stream was a drag as I was only gaining experience points for the last couple of hours by fighting the same crop of enemies the entire time. It was one of those times I wished more people were in chat to keep me company.



- Don't know what possessed me to check, but I looked to see how much space I had on my Switch's memory card (01.20). There was only 4.4GB left on the 200GB card. So I decided to archive all the demos I had already played (100+). After doing so, I went from 4.4GB to 73.6GB of free space, wow. From now on, I will archive demos after I play them.

- Did some cleaning around my room (put controllers in boxes and stored them away) and did research on my camcorders I wasn't using (01.24). Yay for more space and cleanliness. As for the camcorder, I wanted to convert it to a webcam for the stream. Found some articles online that said it was possible, but couldn't find the proper drivers for them. Finally got to chat online with someone from Sony and he let me know that it wasn't possible with that model or newer ones, only older ones. That was funny seeing as my camcorder is actually 10 years old. At least I tried. 

- Decided to tackle Blaster Master on the NES App (01.25). Never beat it as a kid as I never owned it (either rented or borrowed). 8 hours later, the task was done. Glad to have that one under my belt. 

However, this was the stream where I let a lot of frustrations out about Twitch. About half an hour into the stream, I had to take a break to take care of something that took over 20 minutes to do. I came back from it being frustrated and I was thinking to end the stream as I wasn't in the mood. A couple of people were in stream and I was openly venting about ending the stream since I wasn't feeling too great. But that's when I started letting it out. I'll talk about it more at the end of the blog as it combines with other things and you can watch the video to listen in. But I do want to thank abomination1212, bamCRASHkapow, SNERDAPERDS, and softguitar for being there when I was venting and for being supportive. 


- Another Demo Showcase in the books (01.28). However, this one was jam packed with 7 demos instead of the normal 5. Reason being that 4 out of the original 5 were incredibly short. The first 3 were done in the first hour. Coming towards the end of the 5th demo, I decided to add 2 more. I chose one and I gave options to chat to select the other. So for this stream we tried out Drowning, Gelly Break, Jewel Fever 2, Octahedron: Transfixed Edition, Retimed, Cinderella - An Interactive Fairytale, and Piczle Colors. My favorite out of the batch was Octahedron, a puzzle platformer with great visuals and music. I did end the showcase early as I wasn't really feeling the last demo (liked it, but got frustrated towards the end). But not only was this our biggest Demo Showcase in terms of the number of demos we played, but this was the most retweeted and liked be the developers of the games. Also playing 7 demos helped even out the number of demos played to 130. 


- Last game of January was GetAmped Mobile (01.30). It was a free download. A simple generic brawler kind of like Power Stone, but not as good as Power Stone by any means. I found things to like about it to play it for 5 hours, but I definitely needed to do other things to keep me entertained. I played some Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and English music for a couple hours and even rewatched the entire 2019 Women's Royal Rumble to end the stream. 


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- We had our annual Holiday Party at the beginning of the year (01.04). Originally, I wasn't going to go as I was in a sour mood for the party not actually taking place during the holidays, the change of location when it was supposed to be in Memorial, and that I was planning activities like I had been every year but the task was given to someone else without me being informed. But after my visit to Downtown, I changed my mind because I wanted to help liven up their spirits. The party was fun overall. Agent Wolfman came up with some good games. I still thought something was missing, but it was enjoyable. 


- Listened in on one Misss Clickk's streams at work (01.07). She mentioned escape rooms. I chimed in along with Agent Ocean and we got her pumped to possibly visit us. She even read out the names of our escape rooms on stream, super cool.


- Agent Yeti put in her 2 week notice (01.07). Unfortunately, I did not like working with her for the past couple years. I won't go into all the details, but I do see this as the opportunity the company needs to steer the ship in a different and needed direction.

- The Memorial team had their company meeting (01.11). We went back to the last escape room we went to and tried their super hero themed room. We had a larger team as it was myself and Agents PQ, Ocean, Gig, Widdershins, Voxel (welcome back), and Majordomo (visiting). The room itself was not bad. A little small (we exceeded the limit by one), but overall good. I think we all preferred the wizard room more.


- Agent Ocean and I went out during a dead day to eat at Grub Burger (01.19). It was good to get out of the office and to talk about some work related topics. Not only that, we made nice with the Grub Burger team and invited them to come to HER. 


- We have an actual sign now. I don't remember the actual date, but it's up and it lights up at night. Definitely had more people notice where we are now.


- Had a frustrating session (01.29). A lot of technical issues happened that haven't occurred in a while. It's the first time in a while that I could remember that we had to reset the game. Fortunately, the team was okay with everything and had fun. Still frustrating though.

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- Apink - %% (Eung Eung) (MV)

- Hyomin - U Um U Um (MV)

- Tiffany Young - Born Again (MV)

- The proceeding 2 paragraphs were added here as I have been told in the past that some people skip sections of my blog because they aren't interested in that topic. 

- I've had thoughts to quit Twitch. That also included watching streams. It really could be burnout, but the main thing I said is that I actually felt more lonely ever since I started streaming. I go into more detail in my Blaster Master stream, but the main thing was feeling more lonely. It's a platform that is open to build a community and it sucks when no one is in the stream at all, which has happened a lot. It's hard not to compare myself to other streamers, but the ones I follow usually have a good number of people always contributing to chat. Seeing that and then seeing nothing in my stream really adds to the loneliness. Thankfully there were a few people in that Blaster Master stream that I opened up to. And letting it out really helped. But I do think something needs to happen. I want a more active chat to interact with. That would really help. I'm 4 months into being on Twitch now. I'm trying to keep all the high points in mind because there have been some really wonderful things that have happened. 

- With Agent Yeti gone, a lot of my work frustrations have gone away. I'm sure that's the same for others. Agent Ocean and I did go Downtown to pick up stuff and visit and their spirits were definitely better. Agent Striker and Agent Blue-Heeler both came back to the company too. And a lot of us are on the same page in change and progress. That's not to say there aren't any work frustrations at all. I still wish Naval Warfare was 100%. I don't agree with trying to salvage The Countdown. But we shall see where the company goes from here. I have motivation, but things just need to happen now.

- That's it for January 2019. Thanks for reading.



"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."

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Tuesday, January 1, 2019

December 2018 Entry

December 2018 Entry

This year comes to an end. Here's what happened during the last month of 2018.

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- Got new BoA merchandise (12.05). The album is nicely produced and has lots of wonderful photos. I didn't watch the concert until later in the month (12.18). Unchained has to be one of her more chill concerts. Very enjoyable.



- I started to feel ill the weekend Smash Bros came out (starting the day of). One of our coworkers was coming off being sick and I'm sure I caught it from him. It wasn't as bad like when I had the flu, but I was so worried it would get worse. Other than taking medicine, I decided to sleep for 12 hours (12.09). I woke up only 3 times throughout. Felt better, but didn't fully recover until a few days later. Again, not as bad as the flu in November, but I could not believe I was sick again after a short period of time.

- After a little over a month, I won another prize on Toreba (12.11). It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm assuming it is because of the holidays. No big deal. I'm wondering where I'm going to display it though.



- I got Christmas gifts throughout the week of the holiday. First was from my stylist, then from Agent Gig, got a random gift bundle from the OverBlood group, then my cousin on Christmas Day, and lastly from an aunt. Not all are pictured below. 







I did purchase a couple things for myself. One is a mic arm that will help for streaming. Voxgizer recommended it during a stream, but it was missing a screw adapter. A couple weeks later, it became available with the screw so I ordered it right away. The other thing I bought was a Momo cellphone lanyard. I was looking to buy something on Christmas day like I normally do, but other things I had on my wish list were on the more expensive side while the lanyard was a random thing I found on eBay for super cheap. Below is the full list of Christmas gifts.

Gingerbread milk chocolate truffles
Smash Bros. stickers and ALBW keychain
The live action Kenshin movies (digital)
Mic arm (bought for myself, coming early January)
Power Rangers calendar
Chun-Li die-cast metal figurine
Momo cellphone lanyard (bought for myself, coming late January or early February)
Boxer shorts (4 pack)

Christmas day itself was fun. I went to my cousin's place in League City. Caught up with cousins, ate some good food, talked about my cousin's baby, took pictures, beat everyone at Street Fighter (they have the Street Fighter and Pac-Man arcade cabinets), watched everyone open gifts, and ended with trying to play Mortal Kombat X. Fun times and lots of laughs.

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- Went to see RAW live (12.04). Met up with a friend. Fun as always, but one of the less memorable shows that have come to town. Although where we sat was cool. We were in the section that could see the wrestlers come out from behind the stage. I feel like we've sat in that area before, but I don't recall seeing the performers come out though. They announced that Elimination Chamber would be coming to town. This marked the first time I/we went to the box office after a show to purchase tickets. Can't wait to see the chamber in person.



- TLC was a great PPV (12.16). Every match was entertaining. Got 8-12 predictions correct. And of course the main event with the SmackDown women in a TLC match was incredible.


- Someone in the wrestling Facebook group I'm in posted a link for Doki Doki Wrestling Club. Oh my gosh...this is so good. All the references to both the wrestling world and the Doki Doki Literature Club game have been very clever. Can't wait for future episodes.


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- Don't know if I'll keep shouting out gaming YouTubers or streamers each month, but I did save the best for last. This one one is for G to the Next Level. I know him personally as we met in college. Always got a good vibe off of him. We both have interests and wrestling so there can always be something to talk about. We've hung out more here and there and talked more and it's good to hear him speak passionately about things he really likes and just catching up in general. We weren't super close back in college so it's good to get to know him more even if it's 10+ years later. 

He posted his first official video in April 2017. Ever since then, I looked forward to all his videos. I was excited when he announced he was making a channel. Being that I used to produce videos, I would watch his stuff and know the ups and downs he goes through in creating content. But his stuff always turns out great. It's awesome to see that he has an audience that gravitates to him and look forward to his videos.

If you aren't subscribed to him, do it. Not only does he make awesome videos to watch and learn, but he's an all around great guy that deserves all the good things that happen for him. Keep kicking butt, G. 


- I got Alli to say my Agent number in one of her streams (12.02).


- First Demo Showcase of December (12.06). Played 99Vidas, Forgotton Anne, Freedom Planet, OkunoKA, and Xenon Valkyrie+. I enjoyed all of them except for the last game. I played the Freedom Planet demo on the Wii U so I knew what it was like. But the coolest thing to happen was the developer of 99Vidas came in as I was streaming their game. One of the characters was saying a phrase and I asked the chat if they could figure it out. Then he chimed in saying that the phrase was "tomo essa cara," which is Portuguese for "take this." After saying who he was, he then challenged me to beat the demo without dying with a character of his choosing. Don't know if he was watching the entire time I was streaming his game, but I rarely died. So I took on his challenge and beat it. My prize; a code for the full version of the game, awesome. I mentioned I wouldn't get to play it any time soon due to Smash Bros, but that I would let him know when I do (first new game of January).


- Picked up my copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate after a work meeting (12.07). Originally I was going to go to the midnight opening, but I wasn't going to play it that night anyways. I've only been playing World of Light mode and that is a long mode. I beat the first half of it and then took a break to play other things before jumping back into it. I am enjoying the game. Don't know when I'll play with others online though. Been shying away from it.




I also hit a few milestones while playing Smash on different streams. 
1. Longest stream to date (9 hours)
2. Highest viewer count to date (24 viewers)
3. Hit 150 followers

Not only that, but 44 hours later, we have completed World of Light (12.31). 

- The new Super Smash Bros Ultimate amiibo arrived (12.10). amiibo are looking better and better. Ridley is easily a top favorite amiibo that I own.



- Unfortunately, Agent Ocean was also having issues with his stream alert noises not playing. So he did a good amount of research and we both tried different methods to fix it. He did find something a couple days later and my alert noises finally played (12.17).

- Second Demo Showcase of the month (12.19). Played Game Dev Story, Instant Tennis, Katamari Damacy REROLL, Mahjong Solitaire Refresh, and Pic-a-Pix Pieces Christmas. Instant Tennis was a poor version of Wii Tennis (which is way better). Pic-a-Pix, I'm not good at those games so I just cheated and colored everything and asked to see what was right and wrong. Mahjong was not bad, but not was not the standard way you play. Katamari was fine, but too short (one 4 minute level). Game Dev Story was the demo of the stream. Got the chat to interact and help me create games that turned out really well. I did like the Hot Springs version of the game better, but this was not bad either.


- Added the Diablo amiibo to my collection (12.20). It's a good one.



- Got to finally play NES Ninja Gaiden (12.21). Not that I never played it before, but it was the next NES game that came out on the Switch app that I wanted to play on stream. The last time I played it was on an emulator possibly a decade ago. It felt just like the original. Kept a death count and did minimal save stating (mainly in the final act). 137 deaths later, the game was beaten. Just like previous NES streams, I played another game from the list that was chosen by the chat. They chose Ice Climber. That played just as I remembered it too. Tough game.


And thankfully my NES controllers came in for me to play these 2 games on. They actually came in 25 minutes before the stream, ha. They are the exact scale of the original NES controllers and felt and played the same as well. 



- The tradition of the 12.31 Super Replay continues with God Hand.


- I played a lot of games this year. Probably the most in the past 5 years. Below is a Tweet with the list of games I beat. The count is 44 or 75 games depending on how you want to count (compilations as 1 or several games). 



Something I used to do when I reviewed games was make a list of "best of" and such. Since I played a lot of games in 2018. Below are a few categories where I gave my top 3 of. Didn't want to get too crazy about it or add any descriptions. If you wish to know why, feel free to ask. 

-----Top 3 Disappointing Games of 2018----- 
3. Pocket Rumble 
2. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy 
1. Runner3 

-----Top 3 Re-releases of 2018----- 
3. Shantae: Half Genie Hero: Ultimate Edition 
2. Child of Light: Ultimate Edition 
1. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition 

-----Top 3 Favorite Games of 2018----- 
3. Thumper 
2. The Messenger 
1. Save me Mr. Tako: Tasukete Tako-San 

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- Both locations had their monthly meetings (12.04, 12.07). Downtown actually came to the Memorial location to play Naval Warfare for their activity. Glad they finally got to try it out. The Memorial team went beat a wizard themed escape room. Not a bad one. Other than a small snafu that happened when we arrived, I would recommend it. My escape room record is now 81% success rate with 26 rooms escaped out of 32.


- On December 1st, I ended up going to the Downtown location after hearing they were low on staff due to one being sick and one no-showing. This was halfway through my shift at Memorial. During my time there, I got to speak to those that were there about how things were and got a lot of negative feedback. It prompted me to email the owner that night to meet up and discuss things. I even mentioned I would go visit him if he couldn't come to town.

We ended up meeting over a week later (12.11). It was a good 2 hour conversation in a little sandwich shop. I got a lot off of my chest, I let him know of the staff's frustrations, I made suggestions, etc. He mentioned how he also realized that things need to change. The following week, he came back into town to talk to more staff and one who had just left (we'll miss you, Agent Striker). There was a plan for me to return to Downtown temporarily as well as a few others suggestions. As of now, the start of changes happening there is going on and I'm not needed for now. Hopefully things will take a turn for the company in general. I am still concerned about the direction of the company, but I'm glad things are in motion for the better. 

On the 30th, I went to pay Downtown a visit. I just wanted to say "hi" to those that were there, but it immediately turned into them talking to me about their concerns. It was similar to my visit earlier in the month. Some things were repeats while some things were new. In the end, I stayed until they closed and emailed the owner again when I got home. Let's see what happens from this instance. 

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- TWICE - The Best Thing I Ever Did (MV)


- Jessica - One More Christmas (MV)


- BoA - Amor (MV)


- Tiffany Young - Peppermint (studio session)


- DBSK - Truth (MV)


- Happy Birthday, Sana (12.29). 


- 2018 was better than 2017 thankfully. It wasn't the best though. An easy way to sum up the year was that I worked less and played more games. Work has its moments, but I do lean to it being still on the bad side as there are always frustrations. I am thankful for the coworkers that I see all the time and their dedication to the craft as well as the ones that still contact me and think of me at the other location. 2019 might be the make or break year for work. 

Streaming has been great. While I still hope for more and have some gripes, the people I've met have been wonderful. I appreciate their continued support and words of encouragement they provide. There are too many people to thank, but I will say thank you to my fellow friends I know in real life that also stream (TheDoubleTakeOfficial, ClottyCola, and y0nderboy). Thank you for helping me and my community grow.  I'm also glad to have different sets of audiences and that some crossover and are becoming friends themselves. I do look forward to streaming and seeing who shows up (old friends, new friends, surprises from developers, new audience, etc). More importantly, I'm glad they are they enjoying the content, but just me as a person. Thank you.

- That's a wrap on 2018. Let's see what 2019 brings.


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."

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Monday, December 3, 2018

November 2018 Entry

November 2018 Entry

Lots of things occurred in November. Let's get into it. 

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- My Running Man jacket had been sitting in the back of my car as a spare jacket for a long time now. But I did wear it recently (11.10). However, I did notice that the R had been coming off. It wasn't by a little bit either. I felt it would be accidentally ripped off bye either me being careless or someone pulling it off. So to make sure it stayed intact, I did it myself. It now sits on my desk at home. 


- The last random prize I won from Toreba came in (11.11). I haven't opened them. Don't know if I'll ever need to use blue light cut glasses any time soon, ha. Have yet to win anything from Toreba since then. 


- RIP Stan Lee (11.12). 


- I caught the flu (11.18-11.25). On Sunday night, I could feel myself getting sick. Monday was okay, but I knew for sure I was sick at that time. Tuesday was the worst as I was in constant pain especially in my lower body), I was too hot or too cold, I couldn't keep any food down (vomited and dry heaved a lot), sneezing and coughing fits, and I had no energy. I did ask my parents for a lot of help and spent a few hours with them as I was actually freaking out that my body was not showing signs of improvement. The worst part might have been me waking up towards the middle of the night with intense stomach pains. Since I wasn't able to keep any food in me, I was incredibly hungry. I ran down the stairs for my dad for help. As he was preparing some food, by body tensed up as if I was having a seizure. But once I was able to get a little bit of soup and bread in me, I went back up to sleep. 

The following days were bad, but I was slowly getting better. Even though I felt somewhat okay on Friday, I called in sick to get an extra day of rest as I lost many hours of sleep that week (my coughing fits mainly came at night when I tried to sleep). I actually lost my voice on Wednesday and didn't get it back on Saturday on my way to work when I forced my voice out by singing in the car the whole way there. I wasn't 100%, but I could function. And the last thing to happen for this flu week was waking up with a bloody nose on Sunday. I really don't remember the last time I had a bloody nose. The earliest memory was when I was maybe 5 or 6 when I got a bloody nose while at a Mr. Gatti's pizza place. 

My voice was the last thing to return. It took to the next Wednesday for it to sound normal again. Getting the flu was horrible. I think my body gets sick once or twice a year now, but there is a 50-50 chance that it hits me hard like this.

=========================  

- Becky Lynch is incredible. She is on a roll with her recent push. Seeing her lead the SmackDown women's roster was superb (11.12). The blood made her look more badass. Unfortunately she got a broken face and concussion, which took her out of Survivor Series. But it kind of makes her even stronger to everyone. It is just wonderful to see everyone get behind her and go nuts for everything she does. 


- NXT TakeOver: Wargames II was so good as expected (11.17). Every match could have qualified for match of the night for different reasons. 


- Survivor Series was a lot of fun too (11.18). It was lame that RAW swept all the matches (minus the preshow) and there were some dumb things that happened, but overall, it was fun. 


- Got some new shirts during a buy-1-get-1-free sale (11.18). Had Becky Lynch's "The Man" shirt been available at the time, I would have gotten that instead of the nWo one. But that's definitely on my wish list for my next purchase. 


=========================   

*Twitch note - For any Twitch links, I will now link the highlight videos as the past broadcasts expire. Unfortunately I did not do this for the first stream so I had to reupload The Legend of Zelda.*

- The last Smash Direct before the game comes out (11.01). Ken and Incineroar are awesome additions. I'm sure no one expected Pirahna Plant as a fighter, ha. The game is coming out soon (a week from typing this) so you know I'll be playing in on stream.
 

- Beat Save me Mr. Tako this month (11.01, 11.07, 11.09). The big thing about these last 3 streams was that the creator of the game (and at one point the whole staff) came to my streams and watched me play. It was insane knowing that they were all watching. He even helped me a few times when I was stuck so I can continue with the game. It was cool talking to him on stream to as we actually bonded over the game in a different way. He even asked for feedback (which I detailed in an email for him) and also mentioned things he was planning to fix and patch as I was playing. At one point he called me a pioneer for the game as only a few people were streaming it and I was the farthest out of that small group. The only thing I wish happened was me beating the game with him in the stream. It was so close to happening, but he's from France. While I did a long stream, it was 4AM for him when he decided to head to bed. I knew I was tired and hungry so I can imagine how he was feeling as he was alost there the entire final stream. I beat the game 30 minutes later after he left. But before he left, I made sure to gift him a sub to my channel. While I do a gift sub program for when I beat any game, there was no doubt that he deserved one. This game is currently my favorite game series I have streamed ever since I started on Twitch. It's going to be a hard moment in my streaming career to top. 
 

- I had my 5th Demo Showcase on stream (11.12). I have decided to make all Demo Showcases from now on to be 5 different demos total. I've actually got a Follower that really enjoys them and has added a few to his wish list. 

For this one I played Demetrios (not a bad point and click), RISK (my first time playing it and it actually flowed very well despite my poor performance), Shift Quantum (an awesome puzzle platformer), Trivial Pursuit (nice digital representation of the game), and Word Sudoku by POWGI (great take on Sudoku). I enjoyed all of the demos, which I think rarely happens. But the clear winner among myself and the stream was Shift Quantum. I definitely think I'll buy it if it gets discounted. It also birthed the favorite side character on my stream dubbed "Lady Person (with a yellow scarf)." 


- Brawlhalla came out for free on the Switch (11.13). I knew nothing about it outside of it being a Smash clone. It was fine. I needed to not think to play it like Smash before I started to get into. One cool thing was a worker for the company came to the stream. It was their second day and I got some laughs out of him. 


- The next game I wanted to tackle on stream was Metroid (11.14). It came out on the NES Switch app along with Mighty Bomb Jack and TwinBee. This also marked the first time I played the game to completion. Last time I played it on the Wii U was just to use the JUSTIN BAILEY code. It took 2 streams to do it, but I got a nice amount of viewers to come in and watch. Since the second stream didn't last too long (11.16), I decided to play more NES games. I tried out Baseball...and failed horribly, ha. Since there was no actual music playing in the game, I played some TWICE in the background. And I didn't want to end the stream on that low note. So I took Double Take's request and played Balloon Fight. Went back and forth from the main game to Balloon Trip and set little goals of beating my previous scores, which really helped. And there were a couple of people in chat that were genuinely interested (shout outs to them especially a high school friend). 


- Having the flu caused me to miss out on streaming for over one week. I actually felt like I missed out on a lot not just for me, but for participating in other streams (I tried, but didn't have the energy to). So coming back with Coloring Book was a good way to start (11.26). My voice wasn't 100% yet either so it was good to play something that was chill. I didn't realize all the pictures were available so there were only 12, but the viewers got into it, ha. Since this was cut short, I decided to play more NES games. Took on TwinBee and if I remember correctly, I died 158 times trying to "beat" it (the same levels loop for a total of 64 levels). After that, I went to the original Mario Bros. Similar to Balloon Fight, I set small goals of beating my high score to have something to shoot for. 

Other than coming back to streaming after 10 days, I did get to see a lot of first timers in the stream. I was worried that those I connected with before having the flu caused them to forget about me. I'm grateful that they tuned in after the absence. 


- My Thumper Collector's Edition came in (11.26). There is so much in there. I'm very tempted to play the game again just for the stream. Maybe if I have nothing to play before Smash comes out. 


- Warframe was another game that got delayed due to having the flu (11.27). I was actually going to try this before Coloring Book. Warframe is intimidating at first because there is so many things you can do and they don't properly explain it. I did start to get used to the controls and mechanics, but it definitely helped that there were a good number of viewers in chat helping with explanations. One of them was a college friend who I had not seen in years and it felt good knowing someone familiar was there. Another thing that helped were playing with a couple of viewers online marking the first time I played online with viewers on stream. The little boy that played with us was overpowered and kept rushing everything that we couldn't keep up. But the other guy was fun to play with since we were both on the same level. Much like Fortnite, this can be a game I can return to if I have nothing "new" to play. 


- Had our 6th Demo Showcase (11.28). This showcase had Art of Balance (physics puzzle that I've tried on other platforms before), Energy Cycle Edge (another puzzle game, but having no tutorial made it impossible to play), Hot Spring Story (a fun sim game that I and the viewers really got into), Uno (good digital version of Uno with only 3 plays), and Just Dance 2019 (felt great to dance again). This was actually an interesting group of games that would not have lasted long. But I did play Hot Spring Story twice as it lasted at least an hour while the rest were 30 minutes or less. I really enjoyed it, but shy away from buying it since I don't want to get addicted to it (but it's still on my wish list). And Just Dance 2019 had to end the showcase. I knew it would only be one song as all Just Dance demos always were. But I got a good turn out of viewers (new and old) to tune in. Most of them don't know about my dance experience so they were amazed and were okay with me playing and getting better at the same song. I think this part of the stream last 60-90 minutes and I only played the song 6 times at best as I took a break in between each dance. The only downside was that I was told to flip the horizontal camera to match, but it actually didn't. Other than that, I was very pleased with the turnout and excitement had between myself and the viewers. 


- Double Take brought Drop Mix to work (11.29). I had always wanted to try it. I definitely see the appeal. The only downside for me is not being familiar with a lot of the modern artists. That still wouldn't stop me from creating some cool mixes. 


- And the final game I streamed for the month was Fallout Shelter (11.30). It came out during E3 for free, but I never got around to it. Plus I'm not into the Fallout series so it wasn't a priority for me to play. I was getting worried as I played it as I actually didn't set things up too well to where the citizens were all unhappy to the max for over an hour. It wasn't until deaths, raids, and babies (who I named after viewers) happened that I got invested. It did start to peter out again towards the end of the stream. I even played some Kpop in the background at points (yay for none getting muted). It's okay, but it's not like Warframe or Fortnite where I wouldn't mind going back to it. Although I might come back to it one time for a short stream just to see what has happened after leaving it. 


- The last demo showcase that happened was also to celebrate my 2 months on Twitch. And it was also to celebrate hitting 100 Followers. Streaming has been interesting. I'm glad to have met a lot of cool people through it (abomination1212, the8bitdee - yay for our Kpop connection, SolaceandDread, zoukiji, and many more) and it's cool to see other people I've lost contact with be drawn in (even those that don't play games). The sense of community is great. I still wish for more community interaction and viewers in my channel because I sometimes think my streams are boring because I don't do anything more than play the game really (no name for the community, don't have a gimmick, etc). It's definitely not a source of income as I think I've maybe earned $30 or less after 2 months. Definitely have spent more in giving gift subs than I've earned from streaming. Not saying those need to equal out. I enjoy giving gift subs and free bits and seeing people react to the positivity and community growth. It would be awesome to see that stuff happen when I stream. I just want more to happen with this. Don't get me wrong though. I do appreciate all the awesome things that have happened so far (community, developer interaction, etc). It has been great, but I worry about possibly burning out on it. We shall see how next month turns out. 

========================= 

- I was asked to go to our Downtown location to run sessions and I actually got to this time (11.15). It was good to see Agent Hypnotic after so long. But I was looking forward to seeing Agent Striker. At the end of the night, he did ask to go out to eat. Even though I was tired, I was more hungry. He took me to a place with multiple eateries and we got pho. Not only was the food good, but it was great catching up with him. It did suck to hear of his frustrations, but I know he'll be okay no matter what he decided to do. 

- The Memorial team had our meeting and we went to another escape room again (11.16). We had been to this location before, but didn't know they moved to a different part of the complex. The escape room itself was okay. We escaped, but we had our gripes such as solving puzzles to get passwords that weren't ever used. The victory does bring my record to 25-31 with an 81% escape rate. The best part was driving back to work when we rolled our windows down to a grandma next to us in her car. She said it looked we were having fun, but then left us by saying I needed to wash my car to which we all busted out laughing, ha. 


- We recently had a session where the program malfunctioned. I had to go in and relay messages to Agent Ocean and we also had to reset the game. The customers did have fun, but one of them actually emailed us with some feedback. We stopped collecting them, so it was good to see someone care to send us some without asking for it. They expressed some things that we have had concerns about and I couldn't help but be frustrated that we still have issues with this thing.  

========================= 

- Ninja Sex Party - Africa (MV) 


- Happy Birthday, BoA (11.05). 


- TWICE - Yes or Yes (MV)


- Happy Birthday, Momo (11.08).


- Hyo & Lau - Punk Right Now (MV)


- Tiffany Young - Peppermint (audio)


- Amber - Countdown (MV)


- Red Velvet - RBB (Really Bad Boy) (MV)


- My best friend mentioned back in September that she was planning to visit Houston in November. The time came. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the days off I requested so I missed out n the first 2-3 days she was here. But I finally got to meet up with her (11.04). She was staying with someone we mutually knew. Her mom was there as well so it was nice to see all of them. More importantly, this was the first time I have seen her daughter in 2 years. She was really shy at first, but slowly started to warm up to me, show me things, and play with me as I was catching up with my best friend. After about an hour, they were getting ready for bed. Before I left, I gave her daughter a gift. It was the penguin I won from Toreba and she absolutely loved it. It was almost as big as her too, ha. I'm glad we bonded. 

The next day, they came over to my house (11.05). This is actually the first time our parents met each other in all the time we've been friends. My mom really took a liking to her daughter. My friend mentioned that was the most excited she ever saw my mom, ha. My friend's daughter was so excited in my room because of everything that was on display like the game systems and amiibo. She actually really liked the Asuka masks on the wall and wanted to try a couple of them on, ha. We tried planning out where to take her, but the best places for kids (like the children's museums) were closed. So for the next few hours we went to eat at La Olla, Funplex (it was closed), visited my work place, walked around Hong Kong Mall (first time there in years), and then went back home to watch Dora. I felt bad as it wasn't the most exciting trip, but both of them were fine. Her daughter was tired, but did enjoy going around to places. I then dropped them off at her step-mom's place so they had a place to sleep and I returned home to rest for the night. 

The next day, I went to pick them up so we could go to Austin (11.06). We left an hour earlier than planned so that we can stop at another Colombian restaurant before leaving town. Her daughter was enjoying every bit of food we had, ha. The only other stop we made was to Buc-ees to buy stuff. It was crazy to see her daughter get complimented by several people there. I agree that she's adorable, but seeing others stop to react to her was a treat. On the ride there, we did more catching up. I actually told her of a few things I was worried about telling her, but she reminded me that doesn't judge me and understands that I have reasons for everything I do. So she was glad and excited for me to tell her those things. Once we reached her step-dad's place, I spent some time with them before leaving. 

Since I knew I was going to be in Austin, I contacted a couple of friends seeing if they were available. One couldn't, but the other was. So I drove over to her apartment. This marked the first time I ever visited her in Austin as she would always be the one to come to Houston to visit. Got to play with her dog, ate a small snack, and caught up as we made plans for dinner. On our way to a nearby chicken strip place, my best friend called to see if we could meet up for dinner, but we couldn't. She made sure to put her daughter on the phone to say bye. After we hung up, I immediately started crying. It was very much how I felt 2 years ago when I visited them in San Antonio and had to head back home. I love them both so much. My friend and I brought the food back to her place (although we joked that I should keep crying in the restaurant pretending that she broke up with me, ha) to eat and continue the conversation. We exchanged gifts (both happened to be Final Fantasy related) and I made my way back home. While I would have stayed over night, my parents needed the car the next morning and I would rather drive at night while I'm awake rather than early in the morning feeling tired. The trip back was fine with only one stop for the bathroom and one small hiccup on the road. 

It was amazing seeing my best friend and her daughter. Her daughter is incredible. She's well behaved, fun, talkative, and smart. She's going to grow up to be something special. The tweet below is a great summary of how I felt. Can't wait to see you again. I miss you and I love you both. 


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


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."

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