Monday, October 18, 2021

September 2021 Entry

September 2021 Entry: 


Didn't sleep much this month. Apologies for a late post too because as of typing this (10.16), I was sick the last few days. The draft with links and everything was all ready before then. 


PS: I seem to have strayed from doing this at some point, but I'm adding any purchases to the MISC section. 

MISC=========================

- Thanks to those that remembered. It was actually the first time in a long time I didn't hang out with anyone (most were busy). But a 2 hour drive singing was very therapeutic. 

- Another car trip to do a few things (09.04). First was to go to a different GameStop to pick up a copy of Little Nightmares II that was on sale. On the way back, I went to a place I discovered a couple days ago called Sugar Rush. There was lots of good stuff on their online menu. I was surprised that it was a small shop. Apparently they had been open since 2017. I got a Choco Oreo as a for-sure flavor I would like and then a Strawberry Crunch per the recommendation of the worker. Both were really good and not super sweet so I could eat a lot of it at a time. And finally, got some deliveries from Limited Run Games. 


- These OREO Brownies are very rich and thick (09.05). As of typing this (10.16), I still have one, but I'm saving it for another day. 
 

- While looking to get my annual gift for collection purposes, I ended up getting a wonderful import deal (09.07). The latest collection I want to collect are all the Bust A Move/Groove games. I already own US Bust A Groove 2 and Dance Summit 2001. I was only looking for the Japanese Bust A Move 2 because it is the cheaper out of the series, but ended up finding an import store on eBay that had a deal for both Japanese versions of Bust A Move and the Japanese version of Parappa The Rapper. Basically I got all 3 games for the price of one. And I know I stumbled upon it by chance. I had a few other choices where they had Bust A Move 2, but I remembered that it comes with a green jewel case. Most sellers didn't have that. And that is how I found that store and I'm so glad I did. Not only did I get the game I wanted, but I got another game from the collection and more, yay. 


- There was a point where descriptions for Twitch highlights got wonky. So old stuff with links come out odd looking, spacing and paragraphs were not good, etc. I don't know when I started doing this, but I went back and put my "going live" posts (minus hashtags and links) into the VOD descriptions and finished it halfway through the month (09.16). Since then, I've been putting them in there. 

- Had my shortest Ring Fit session (09.16). It was 16 minutes and 2 seconds. 50 seconds less from my previous time. If I recall, it was 2-3 stages and 2 boss fights. So it was a short session, but not an easy one. 

- I had an issue logging into my My Nintendo account (09.20). The 2FA was turned on and I couldn't get it to work no matter how much I tried. So I ended up calling customer service. It wasn't a long call and they resolved my issue by turning off 2FA from their end leaving me with the option to log in and turn it back on if I wanted to. But the stand out was the customer service agent, Lilly. While she was checking on her end for something, she asked me what game I was planning to play next. That surprised me. At the time it was Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. She asked what it was since she never heard of it. After I explained what it was, she mentioned the kind of games she played. I remarked how I never had been asked that any previous times I called Nintendo customer support and thanked her for that and her help as it really was a high point and one of the easiest customer support calls I've had. Thanks, Lilly.  

- Speaking of customer service, I had to call TWC about my unemployment status (09.19). I thought I wasn't eligible, but it seemed like I was since I was sent the same file I've been receiving every 2 weeks. This story continues in October. 

- After some talk on stream and messaging off stream, I made a trade with GToTheNextLevel for his Mega Yarn Yoshi (09.22). It was one I would look for every now-and-then, but knew it was higher than what I'd like to pay for it. But yay for trading locally with friends. 


- 200 posts on Instagram (09.25). This set of hundred was all over the place in terms of engagement. Some games that I thought would gain lots of views/likes didn't while other random ones did. Oh well. It continues. More interaction please outside of me deleting posts asking to DM them for collaborations etc. 
 

WRESTLING=========================

- All Out...wow (09.05). Punk is back, Ruby Soho debuts, and the double surprise debuts of Adam Cole and Brian Danielson. Insane. 


- And new WWE Champion...Big E (09.13)! 


- One of the best things going on in wrestling; the InDex Wedding (09.14). When they first started the silliness, I really wanted it to happen. At some point I realized Dexter Lumis' first words we would hear him say in NXT would be "I do." It did not disappoint. 


- Extreme Rules 2021 (09.27) was fun. got 100% of my predictions correct. Lots of good stuff this month in wrestling. 
 

H.E.R.=========================

- A positive memory from my time at H.E.R. was when they threw me a surprise birthday. We had been doing it for all members of the staff, but I honestly did not expect one for me because I always request the day off on my birthday. I've been doing that for as long as I can remember working. It happened the day before and I was asked to do a quick meeting with management at the time to set up a new way to show new trainees how to use our booking system. Agents Majordomo and Yeti set us up to talk in our staff room and underneath our security monitor, which in hindsight was smart so I wouldn't casually look up to possibly see the staff running around to set things up. I forget how long we were talking, but it had to have been 10-15 minutes and in between sessions with another one not pending until later. We came up with a plan for recording the process of using the booking system and (I think) were going to start recording. Got up and started walking out of the staff room, but that's when the staff came in with a cake and cheering etc. I was very much caught off guard and very surprised. Everyone got their hugs and we ate the cookies & cream ice cream cake that was at some point figured out was my favorite. If I remember, Agent Majordomo might have said out loud "what's everyone's favorite flavor of ice cream" and everyone answered, ha. The one big thing that sticks out from that is that Agent PQ was there. She was on leave of absence from work due to school I believe. And if I remember correctly, she was the first person that entered for the surprise and was the one holding the cake. I'll never forget the surprise, but I'll never forget that Agent PQ was there for me. 

GAMES=========================

- Best Friend Forever was really good (09.01). I liked how the dog you adopt is very much active while you're talking to any of your suitors and that you have a goal for it as well; to graduate from dog school. One thing I would hope could be improved on for a future release is that there was more interaction between your dog and our partner. Other than the dog possibly pooping or running after something while talking, that only matters to the dog. I would like to play this game again, most likely as a community challenge and for chat to control all the choices outside of picking the same dog and partner I chose. 

This was also the day of the Twitch black out. I didn't post that I was going live outside of my Discord and anyone that has notifications on for the app. Hence no photos for finishing the game even though I took them. 


- Demo Showcase 72 is the first Demo Showcase to be split into multiple parts (09.03). I forget if it was due to the internet dropping or the power going out. I'm surprised we've gone that long without that happening. 
 

- Ninja JaJaMaru-kun (09.05) 

- Rocket League (09.06) 

- I had been wanting to replay Arcade Archives SUNSET RIDERS for the longest time (09.08). I can't even remember the last time I played it (arcade or SNES), but I downloaded it right away and kept having to push it back on the schedule. Super fun. 
 

- And this trio of games was something I had been looking forward to for a while as well; Mom Hid My Game! + Hide & Dance! + Mom Hid My Game! 2 (09.09). It was fun replaying the first game. Hide & Dance was challenging and had some really good songs. Wouldn't mind trying multiplayer. And the sequel to the first game was more of the same and even had a tease to making a third game in this series. I'd be down for that. 


- Because of the Sunset Riders stream, GToTheNextLevel was inspired to do a western game stream (09.09). He played different versions of Sunset Riders and even mentioned playing Wild Guns. I casually asked if I could join and he agreed. So I was on voice chat with him as we ran through Wild Guns on the SNES Switch app. Good stuff. Thanks for having me on as a last minute guest. 
  

- No More Heroes III...absolutely amazing (09.11-09.13). Usually when I beat a game, I type a summary within the 2000 character post limit. I wrote close to 10000 for this one. I tried to keep it short, but there was so much I wanted to talk about. The story...my goodness. It's shocking and gives you more motivation than necessary. The combat is the smoothest and fluid in the series. The skill tree and add-ons are good additions. The clothing you can acquire is fantastic. There is a lot to do and a lot to collect, which I almost was able to do within the 3 streams. Any negatives were knit-picky. A wonderful way to bookend the series. And as of playing and finishing the game, No More Heroes III is my game of the year. 


- The Almost Gone  was a favorite from Demo Showcase 54. Got it on sale for 80% off and needed a day to play it (09.17). I was surprised to see chat be as invested as they were. Very clever puzzles. The story is not a happy one and the ending could fall flat for some, but I think it was intentional to not have something definitive to go with the overall mood the story had been going through. 
 

- Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove was voted on as the game Discord wanted me to replay (09.19-09.21). Specifically played through Shovel of Hope, Plague of Shadows, and Specter of Torment since King of Cards and Showdown were streamed a couple of years ago. The biggest downside to the whole series was a poor performance of Plague of Shadows. Had I not done bad, I know I would have 100% like the other two. Regardless, they all hold up well. 


- Demo Showcase 73 (09.23) 

- Last free game I got for free (ownership discount) from Qubic Games that I own; Coffee Crisis (09.24). Very, very tough even on easy. Mainly because there can be around 20 enemies on screen at one time and they're all going after you. 
 

- And our last Nakana.io game I got for free (ownership discount) that I owned; Journey of the Broken Circle (09.26). Another game I was surprised to see the chat be invested in. The characters might be shapes and inanimate objects, but they went through a very real and very relatable story. Thumbs up. 


- Psycho Dream was our SNES game of the month (09.27). It was a short, but decent action platformer. The main reason I chose Psycho Dream and Ninja JajaMaru-kun for this month was because they were both Japanese exclusive titles. 


- Escape First 2 was the 3 year stream anniversary (09.29). The actual anniversary date is the 28th. Per usual, I had a guest and it was KrispyChicky. We played Escape First 2 coming off of playing Escape First last year with WhoaEmGee. The escape rooms weren't so great this time around. Some puzzles were interesting, but some things they did were baffling. It definitely brought a lot of memorable moments like when Krispy guessed a password and then we solved the puzzle for that password 10-15 minutes later. I'm glad to have her be my guest to suffer along with me, ha. 

Two surprising things happened afterwards. One, got my first hype train. I figured it would have been possible to celebrate the anniversary. We got to level 3 and it was fantastic. Thanks to all that contributed to that. Two, we pretty much did a Just Chatting stream for 2 hours after finishing the game. It has happened a few times where the game is done and I'm ending the stream and chat wants to talk, but never this long. They asked questions and we shared answers/stories. I hope those that listened understand a little more of how and why I do things for the stream. 

Thank you to all that showed up for the anniversary stream. Best one so far. 


ETC=========================

- ITZY - LOCO (MV) 

- ITZY - SWIPE (MV) 

I actually prefer SWIPE over LOCO. It did take me a while to like LOCO itself. Plus SWIPE is the first time one of their b-sides get me right away. 

- TWICE - The Feels (MV) 

Wasn't sure how I would feel about their first English single, but I'm enjoying it a lot. 

- Got 4 hours of sleep (09.25). It wasn't the only night I lacked sleep this month (and beyond) and I know why. Reaching my mid-life crisis. I've mentioned it to a few friends, but yeah...it's something I think about a lot. I'm not where I want to be in many aspects of my life. Please help me. 

- That's a wrap on September 2021. Thanks for reading. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Thursday, September 16, 2021

August 2021 Entry

August 2021 Entry


August...felt off.

MISC=========================

- For the first time, I accidentally skipped a stretching session in Ring Fit (08.02). Nothing bad happens from it. I'll just remember forever and ever now, ha.  

- Ordered a batch of Cracker Jack boxes for a snack (08.03). I can't remember the last time I had it for a snack. It's still good. The only downside was that 2 boxes had them all melted together so it wasn't easy to eat. 


- Here's where I describe something vague that happened between myself and my parents (08.05). Not to get into the details, but one yelled at me for not doing something that I've explained for years we don't need to do and then the other yelled at me for not standing up for myself even though they didn't know I had been for years. Was it a minor thing? Yes, but it is unnecessary to do. In the end, to keep the peace, I'll have to cave in when they continuously ask for me to do this thing. 

- My car is now making a horrible buzzing noise when you use the power locks (08.08). I looked up what it was as others pointed out what it was. I'm actually surprised we haven't fixed it yet. It still shocks me every time the sound goes off. 

- Batman: The Long Halloween Part Two was good (08.10, 08.15). I think I preferred the first one more. This one was more of waiting for the reveal to finally happen. The Blue Beetle short was amazing. 


- Reached posting 100 clips on Instagram (08.14). Shout to the DELTARUNE and FFIX clips for getting over a hundred views each. 


- And the car is paid off (08.16). Honestly forgot what year model the car was and how long I have been paying, but it's a 2015 model. So that long, ha. 

- Round 17 of movies is in the books. My favorites were Burlesque, The Adventurers, and The Wrestler (which I saw in the theatres). I did hesitate on doing Round 18 as I had an idea to do something different, but that'll happen for Round 20 in November. 
 

WRESTLING=========================

- It's clobberin' time! CM Punk has returned to the world of wrestling in AEW (08.20). The rumors were always there and it seemed obvious that it was going to happen, but I wasn't going to believe until I saw it with my own eyes. And wow, that reception was amazing. Welcome back. 


- Summerslam was insane (08.21). Fun matches and awesome returns. 


- NXT TakeOver 36 was of course great like every TakeOver is (08.22). 

H.E.R.=========================

- So here's a recent story. Myself and Agent Ocean set up a meeting with the realtor for our last location we had (08.05). Prior to that, he and I spoke of seeing if it was doable to take that space back. Our sign was still there and it was still for rent. I went on a random day to get the phone number of the realtor to make sure and then called a few days later to set up the meeting. They had tried offering to see the other spaces in that area, but I let them know I wanted to see that specific spot. 

Fast forward to the actual day, we met with someone else that I was not in contact with. He was at one of the different spots, but met us at the escape room location. At this point we had not mentioned what business we were going to bring nor that we worked there before. As we were being shown around the escape room space, he asked what we were going to do and I said a content creator space (streaming, videos, music, etc). But we saw how much was gone. The realtor explained that they had to remove a lot of the props because other people that viewed the space kept playing with them, ha. But yeah...so much was gone. 

The realtor showed us the other spaces which were actually very nice. Of course the price varied due to the sizes, but they were all in that same area that we could walk to them. We asked to see the escape room space again. As we went through the rooms again, we started messing with a few of the props that were still there and "solved" one of them to his amazement. It was at that time that Agent Ocean and I were whispering about whether we should say who we are. The realtor was checking on things while we were looking around and we asked him to join us in what was Dark Side of the Moon. 

That's where we told him that we used to work at HER. Agent Ocean being the manager of that location and me being Personnel Manager at the other one, but I was moved to that location. He was shocked. We pointed out how the wiring and how any of the remaining parts of the room functioned since he and another worker didn't know how to get things to work. We then told him how we wanted to see how the place looked to see what was left to work with. We shared a few stories of how we kept hoping we'd be able to come back, how much we loved the job, our time with the company, interacting with customers, and ultimately how sad we were that we didn't get a proper end. He was moved. We asked if any other businesses had ever ended and if they tried returning, which he did so it wasn't an impossible scenario. He said he would relay what he said to his superior and that we'd move forward with the conversation with all involved via email. 

Agent Ocean and I talked for a bit afterwards and made a small game plan such as what rooms we would keep and bring back and what props we'd need to buy etc. Then we split. Earlier in the day, I felt very anxious with the pretense that the dream could end this day. Not only that, it rained really hard on my way there. But we left that meeting feeling really good and thinking we had a chance. 

Not to get too much into the rest of the details, but the emails were...not great. It mainly came down to rent and what they wanted was too high and what we offered was not responded to. We got ghosted, which is incredibly unprofessional of them especially since we had worked with them prior. So...the dream is on pause. I say that because I do want to try one final time in the beginning of 2022. 

GAMES=========================

- One last round with Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle with Warriors of Fate (08.01). That was an interesting one with the multiple endings. Definitely enjoyed playing all of them. Some stood out more, but it's hard not to have fun with a fun beat 'em up.


- Demo Showcase 70 (08.03) 

- Clu Clu Land was our NES game of the month (08.04). It's not great, but I only chose to play it because the SNES game of the month also starts with "CL" and that's it, ha. I also didn't use an ability that was introduced in the demo roll of the game, ha. 


- Picked up a physical copy of WHAT THE GOLF? (08.04). It was a favorite from Demo Showcase 68 in July. Always prefer physical copies if they're available. It is currently scheduled to play in December. 


- New Zelda stuff (08.06). 


- My international copy of Naruhodo Legends Collection arrived (08.06). I still find it odd that I didn't choose to play The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles right away and that I still don't know when I want to play it. Maybe early 2022. 


- Spellbreak was our free-to-play game of the month (08.07). I knew what it was prior so I knew what I was getting into. Best match was actually the first one where I had my most kills. However, the highlight was from a new follower who offered a challenge, which was $10 per kill. I took them up on the offer, but thought they meant for one match. They actually accumulated all my kills for about half an hour, which was about 10. And they lived up to their word and made the donation. I double checked to make sure it was real and it was. Definitely won't forget that. 
 

- New Metroid shirts (08.10). Not only were they great designs, but I wanted to make sure I had enough different Metroid shirts for when we play Dread. 


- Agent A: A puzzle in disguise was a good game (08.09). It was a favorite from Demo Showcase 62 in May. I wanted to specifically play it on this day because it was my first day of training at HER. While I really enjoyed the game, my mood might not have reflected it about halfway through. That was due to one puzzle in chapter 3 that involved setting lights in a certain pattern. The thing is I had placed the pieces in as I was finding them and it would only show the reverse of the pattern I made rather than the one I needed to create. And I couldn't remove the pieces. I looked at multiple videos online and saw everyone was getting the same answer and thought that might have been for the mobile version only. But after about half an hour of trying, I just tried that answer and it worked. I double checked the VOD after to see if that actual pattern ever showed up for me and if I might have missed. It didn't. So that time wasted on the last puzzle I needed to do for that chapter soured my mood for the rest of the stream. It's a well put-together game and I highly recommend it. Try the demo if you want to find out if it's for you. 


- No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle was great to replay (08.11-08.13). It wasn't my favorite of the series back then, but I have a better appreciation of it now. The third stream was mainly only the BJ5 game to unlock the last difficulty and earning money to buy the rest of the clothes (don't know where the 1 shirt I was missing was). Unfortunately other collectibles are missable so it wouldn't have been 100% regardless. Again, my appreciation for this game is more positive now. 


- Classic Games Collection Vol. 1 was okay (08.15). Went through all 5 games fast against the computer. Thankfully there were a few people in chat that could play tic-tac-toe against me, ha. 


- Solitaire Deluxe Bundle - 3 in 1 (Freecell, Klondike, Spider) was free from an ownership discount as well (08.16). I said this on stream; Freecell can go to hell, Klondike I like, and Spider I like her. Plus, I was very surprised with the turnout for solitaire, ha. Thank you to everyone that showed up and helped out at times. 


- Free-to-play game of the month was RPG Maker MV Player (08.18). And wow, that was memorable, ha. Tried 10 user generated RPGs and they ranged from pretty good to not finished to what the heck. The most memorable had to be Cars 4...based on the movie Cars...and it was...bad, ha. 
 

- Demo Showcase 71 had one developer show up (08.19). It was for the last demo; Regina & Mac. It was a 3D platformer, but pretty basic. It functioned and it caught the interest of others in chat. While it wasn't my favorite of the batch, I do have it for a possible community channel thing in the future. 
 

- The second community challenge goal unlocked a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe stream (08.21). Lots of people were excited for it. I also went out of my way to contact others that haven't been in the streams for a while. Also had Discord vote on what day to play. Then the day before it, I was retweeting the images from the Mario Kart 8 Twitter contest I won where I got flags, a spiny shell trophy and a 3D print of my Mii on a kart. 

The turnout was a little lackluster. While some people showed up and I met a few new people, a large number of those that said they would be there didn't show up. The one thing I was worried about was the lack of viewers being involved. I did think of things to do when no one was around (200cc, ghosts, driving with the ring-con). Unfortunately my camera froze for the first time with this camera and I didn't realize for a while. Thankfully it was just for the last 90 minutes, which did end with a great group of friends to race against. Thank you to all that chipped in points toward the community challenge and super thanks to those that showed up to play. 


- Grimvalor was a favorite from Demo Showcase 57 back in February (08.23-08.24). I really like it. Fast combat, customizable stat building, and it's overall fast-paced. It made going back to 100% all the maps smooth. We almost 100% the entire game, but the last 2 things I was missing were weapons that needed to be bought with certain shards that would just require hours of beating up random enemies to earn. It would have been nice, but I was very satisfied with what I got out of it. 


- Akuto Showdown (08.26) 

- Got my copy of No More Heroes III (08.27). Until I played it in September, I tried my best to avoid any and all spoilers. And of course stayed out of a few streams that played it. Was it worth the wait? 


- We played Infini during a Demo Showcase, but we already owned the game for free due to an ownership discount. It was only a matter of time until we played it (08.28). Even though I knew it was odd with some very creative puzzles, it was still full of surprises and got even stranger, ha. Didn't beat it, but did enough. 
 

- Claymates was our SNES game of the month (08.30). It was part of the last batch of new SNES games on NSO that were all odd. This was recommended to me by G saying it's pretty decent. When he showed up in the stream though "oh, this doesn't hold up so much," ha. It was an odd one for sure. Cool clay things, but there could have been more of that. Cut out the in between level puzzle sequences and refine the stages and clay forms. You can pass on this one. 
 

ETC=========================

- HYO - Second (MV) 
Such a fun song. I learned the chorus of the dance. And HyoYeon looked great in the music video. Hard to not like things my favorite SNSD member does. 


- Red Velvet - Queendom (MV) 
Queendom is a good song. It's not my favorite out of their main songs, but I was just excited to have new music from all five members. 


- Jessica - Can't Sleep 

- I started having arm pain. Specifically in my right arm. I don't remember the exact date I started getting them, but I might have hyperextended it with my poor posture sitting at my desk. I do know it made it tougher to do things, but oddly it hurt more when at rest. I would take pain medicine, massage it, and not be active with it and the pain would come and go like every other day. But one night, I remember tossing and turning and really feeling like I pulled something as the pain kept me awake all night. Around this time I skipped my first scheduled session of Ring Fit (08.22). Did that for a few more days and also stopped my nightly push-ups. It has persisted into September, but has been better as I've been doing Ring Fit again. As of typing this (09.16), the arm pain has gone down a lot. The inflammations are completely gone and normal motions and actions aren't accompanied by pain. There is still some minor pain so I'm still being careful with it, but it's definitely way more manageable from when it initially started. 

- That's a wrap on August 2021. Thanks for reading. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Tuesday, August 10, 2021

July 2021 Entry

July 2021 Entry


July went by fast. I also edited last month's post as I forgot about an interaction that happened with the movies I watched that month. 

Also apologies for the dump of text the last few months. Whenever the format changed, I was never able to have videos and tweets and other media pop up like prior. If I did, the formatting and layout would look horrible. I'll keep trying, but then again, no one is saying anything for me to know whether they mind or not. 

MISC=========================

- I deleted all my dating apps (07.01). I am still single. It does feel nice to not spend many minutes a day swiping and swiping hoping that a connection would be made. 

- Batman: The Long Halloween Part, Part One was really good (07.02). I only knew of this specific Batman arc, but not the details so I was getting surprised multiple times. And I do like that there's still the mystery of who Holiday is leading into Part Two. 


- I won a polaroid in an iceTokki stream last month. She had been doing this for a while and if I was in chat, I'd enter to try and win. I forgot what happened that day, but I know I wasn't feeling great. Ending up winning brightened my spirits. It arrived early July (07.03). 

https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/1411442605209104385 

- I was feeling better health-wise for a long time so I decided to try a Fanta (07.08). I cut it out since it was causing my heart rate to rise fast. I did take a long time drinking it, pretty much all day. Was totally fine until the next day when I could feel the effects that used to happen to me. It was nice to taste it again at least. If I were to try it again, I'd take it even slower. 

- Reached level 100 in Ring Fit Adventures (07.10). Still not done with the adventure, which I did know was long. Maybe by the end of the year I'll finish it. 


- On a recent episode of Knowing Brothers, they had 2 members from both BabyVoX & Shinhwa (07.22). It was great seeing members of BabyVoX after so long. The one thing that really got me was when they were doing dance medleys. The Shinhwa dances were all familiar as I kind of regularly did them over the years. But the BabyVoX dances I had not done in forever and I still remembered them. It made me tear up. 

At the end of the month, I did attempt to see if I still knew one of the dances from BabyVoX. I chose Game Over as I remember singing to it in the car recently and remembering the hand/arm movements. 85-90% of it is still in me and that's fantastic. 


- I don't recall how it happened, but I realized that the file numbers for clips I've been making for every stream was off (07.08-07.23).The one I noticed I was missing was for Tetra Escape and that happened early on so I had to make that and renumber about 600 files. In the end, I was missing 17, but that was because I did not make clips for all games until later on. I wanted to make sure that even for Demo Showcases that I ended up getting the full game of had them as well so I would have all bases covered. The process took the longest in the beginning, but the tedium became easily manageable after everything was numbered. 

- I had meant to do this for a while, but I packed up old consoles I had on display in my room (07.25). It was mainly to clean and to create more physical space. Plus the consoles on display aren't seen by anyone even on stream. The last person I can remember saying anything about them was one of my best friends and her daughter and that was 3+ years ago. I still had the original boxes for my N64, PS2 Slim, Wii, Wii Mini, and Wii U. It didn't take long to do and I also packed away a bunch of controllers that were "at the ready." I still want to pack away the rest, but I don't have boxes for them. Don't know what happened to the GameCube and Playstation boxes because we used those boxes to set the systems on. 

WRESTLING=========================

- The first SmackDown with a live crowd was amazing (07.16). The crowd was electric all night and it felt so different after 70 weeks with no physical audience. This was also the first live event in my town that I decided not to go to. RAW will be in town in October and I'll probably skip it too. Just not ready for big crowds yet. 


- Money In The Bank, my goodness (07.17). So fun. MITB is always one to look forward to and it did not disappoint. 


- In general, seeing crowds for all wrestling shows again is awesome. I do hope for the best with the performers and crowd staying healthy. It would suck to see the audience go away again and some shows in cities have already been cancelled. Again, hoping for the best. 

H.E.R.=========================

- It's not 1:1 of recent news in the gaming world, but it made me think of this story. 

I can't remember exactly when this happened, but it should be around year 2 of the company. One of our coworkers was leaving to teach (I believe), Agent Audrey. This was also around the time that I was taking more of a trainer role. I don't recall specifically if management at the time had exit questions, but at some point I spoke with her individually and asked her things. One of those questions was what she would change about the company. She said something along the lines of "it feels like a boys club here." During that time, she would have been the 4th female hired, but there were only 3 at the time and maybe 7 men. Not that we did anything horrible, but the ratio was not balanced. 

Adding to this, I don't remember when I started doing interviews and taking on the majority of the interviews, but what Agent Audrey said always stuck in my head. I did not make it a goal to only hire more women. We had always been a company that was culturally diverse and open to any sexual orientation. Not that it mattered, but that is something that wasn't touched on during our time. Very diverse team. 

Over the years, we hired some really talented women. The gender ratio was more balanced. It may have been years later when I was personnel manager and it came up in a conversation with the operations manager. She said something along the lines of "you can't do that." I understood what she meant, but I had to immediately remind her that I had not been hiring only women and that I definitely passed on hiring women who I felt weren't qualified and even fired women who didn't end up working out and that I did that for the men too. There was never "I hired her because she's a woman." If you were able to do the job and got along with the staff, great. Was I correct on all my hires, no. But my track record was high in the positives. 

GAMES=========================

- I had been thinking about how to utilize Instagram for a while. After talking about it out loud in a stream I decided to do it. I created the account on the 15th of June and knew to start posting in July (07.01). Clips from every game will be posted. Every post will be formulaic with the text. And the clips are 5-60 seconds long so it's easy for people to digest. So far, so good. I'd like more eyes and interaction. If you're reading this and have an Instagram, I would appreciate a follow. 


- More from the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle with Knights of the Round (07.01). GToTheNextLevel and RannchanDoesThings were my first set of dual guests to play with me. It was fun. There are a couple things that bugged me and it was all me. One, G was not properly centered for half the stream. Reason being that I showed him right before we started that I can move him to the upper portion of the screen, but had to adjust it and that somehow affected his position on the bottom. The second was on the stream's end because Twitch was having issues. The VOD didn't keep the last half hour. So I had to upload the original file, which means losing chat (not too many people showed up) and I couldn't cut off the extra minute and extra seconds unless I wanted to edit it. Those things be darned, I still had fun playing with friends. 


- Won a giveaway for FLATLAND Vol. 2 (07.03). Could consider it a sponsored stream. First time in a while. And a few months since we ran out of QUByte Games games since they stopped giving me codes. Definitely the best of the FLATLAND games. 


- Got my Santa Destroy Bundle from Limited Run Games (07.03). I was wondering if these would arrive before I started my revisit to the No More Heroes series culminating with the third game. So much good stuff. The magnets combining the boxes together was a nice touch. 


- Our first community challenge was reached and it was for me to play the lowest scored Switch game on Metacritic; Vroom in the night sky (07.04). I get why it has a low score, but it's not horrible. It functions. I've played worse, but it seems like a game that was made when the original Playstation was released. But I had fun with it and actually completed it 100%. 


- Can't wait to dive into The SilverCase 2425 (07.05). I don't recall if I purposely planned to play them after the No More Heroes games or if that was a coincidence. 


- There was a free game trial for FUSER (07.05). I usually stream the game trials unless I can't fit it into the schedule. But I was super hesitant for FUSER. I usually don't care for DMCA stuff, but this was a strong contender for getting strikes. I read up on if it was safe to stream because I had seen people stream it, which was why I was excited to play it. The fact that I was worried in the first place even after reading on how you could stream it, I decided against it after talking to a friend about it. The game was super fun though. So many great music tracks that brought back nostalgia as well as excitement for newer songs. Definitely recommend trying it out if you're big into music or being a DJ. 


- Nintendo announced the OLED Switch (07.06). It has a better screen, a better kickstand, and a new version of the doc. Plus it looks great in white. In the different circles I'm a part of, I seemed to be the only person that was going to get one. A few had asked my opinion on it and I always said that it's not for anyone that bought a Switch in the last 1-2 years. But for someone like me who is still using a day one Switch, this was a good time to get a new one.  

It was made available to preorder on the 14th. I almost missed out on it as I was resting (more details later in the blog). Wasn't able to preorder it from retailers during the first hour. Sometimes I had the Switch in my cart, but then it would be out of stock. Oh, and the power went out minutes before the initial retailers started selling them so I was doing this with my phone. Different retailers started to stock of it each hour. Thankfully I was able to preorder one at Target. I would always check any other time more were in stock at other stores in case I wanted to swap to another retailer or possibly pick it up instead of having it shipped, but I figure it's better to keep the preorder I have. 


- Demo Showcase 68 (07.06) 

- Fire 'n Ice was a good puzzle game (07.07). Learned that it was the sequel to Solomon's Key, which is why we played it on this day (one year later). It was certainly challenging. Had to watch a bunch of video walkthroughs to get through the main game, which took 8...hours. Didn't expect to spend that long on it, ha. 


- Another "sponsored" stream with Vectronom (07.09). Last month we were given a code while playing the demo so I figured we should try it sooner rather than later. Very fun. Can be rough on the eyes because of the colors, but thankfully there are filters you can use to help with it. 


- Got the Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin amiibo (07.10). Was surprised that they arrived on the release date. amiibo just gets better and better. 


- No More Heroes, my goodness (07.11-07.13). It was absolutely amazing reliving this game after such a long time. All the things I really liked and the few things I didn't like were rushing back to my memories, The characters, the music, the fighting...so good. And we did whatever consists of 100% minus the new stuff that is available through new game +. The only thing missing was Heavenly Star, but it's understandable (still got the instrumental in with the BRB music). And I wish the first stream of it didn't get split in two because of the internet dropping. But otherwise, this reminded me why it's one of my favorite games. Can't wait to play Desperate Struggle next month. 


- 10 years later, we're back in Skyloft with the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (07.16, 07.17-21). It's one of the rare Zelda titles I never played a second time or 100% in one shot. Motion controls were never an issue for me back then and playing with them again actually felt familiar (just like with No More Heroes). It was almost as if I was playing it again for the first time as I remembered some story beats, but out of order. And similar to the No More Heroes playthrough, I wish the 3rd part wasn't split into 3 parts (2 internet outages). However, this was wonderful to replay and I have a fonder appreciation for Skyward Sword. 


- Demo Showcase 69 was nice for multiple reasons. This was the first time 3 developers replied to my going live tweet (07.23). It was for the 3 demos in the middle and one of them even became my favorite out of the showcase. 


- Viviette was the winner of last month's Viewer's Choice Vote in Discord (07.24). It was interesting like I remembered with some good puzzles (some I had to look up). We got 2 of the 3 endings and checked off all, but one item off the checklist. The sucky thing was the turnout or lack thereof. Considering this was voted on, I would have expected a few more people to show up, but only one person did and only for a little bit. Good game though. 


- World of Tanks Blitz is a fun free-to-play game (07.26). A simple game to get into with quick queue times. Definitely see how people can sink tons of hours into this to buy and upgrade all their tanks. 


- Made sure to buy my copy of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (07.27). I still find it odd that I'm not playing it right away, but I will eventually, that's for sure. 


- Got Akane for free thanks to an ownership discount (07.28). Fun one-hit-kill arcade action. Got as far as I could with a 400+ kill count. It seemed I was getting better per hour, but I had no idea when it would end so I stopped when it felt proper. 


- Finally received all my Shantae stuff I ordered from Limited Run Games (07.28). They did well with the packaging for each one. Glad to get it, but I don't plan to play them yet as more Shantae stuff (mainly clothes) are being sold now. It would be cool to have those when playing the games. 


- Another free game from an ownership discount with EQQO (07.29). It was interesting, but it definitely would have been better to play with the touch screen. Great story, animations, and music. 


- Stunt Race FX was our SNES game of the month (07.30). I either rented it or borrowed it from a cousin back in the day. It did not age well. It works, it functions, but it definitely is of its time. And when I made the highlight, I thought I cut off the extra seconds like I usually do. I didn't realize it until seconds after deleting the original VOD and by then it was too late. Odd that the first and last stream of the month both have the uncut timing. At least the interrupted streams where the internet dropped or the power went out were still able to have their hard cuts on time. 


ETC=========================

- TaeYeon - Weekend (MV) 

- I did a giveaway in Discord to celebrate 500 streams. To enter, I asked to DM me their favorite memory from the 500 streams. At first I was going to give only a $10 gift card, but thought to add more and chose to give a code for GRIS on Switch as well. Out of a possible 90 people who could have seen that message, 2 entered. One entered the first day of the giveaway and the other a few days before it ended. And it's not like I didn't remind everyone either. I mentioned it on almost every stream that month and pinged everyone a week before the stream ended. I've had problems doing giveaways in the past, but I thought these incentives were really good. Plus I was excited to read what others had remembered from 500 streams. Didn't happen. Yay for the 2 memories I got to read at least, but this was very disappointing and I probably won't do any giveaways for the time being. 

- Got my second dose of the vaccine (07.14). The CVS I went to for my first shot didn't have any more of the one I needed. They called around and found a Walgreens that did and said I'd basically go as a walk-in, but they're expecting me. It was only 10 minutes away and funny enough, it's a Walgreens I go to sometimes as it is on the way to the GameStop I go to. The way I went there wasn't the same, but when I got to the intersection, I knew where I was. Waited for a bit, got the shot, waited a bit, bought some tea, and went home. 

Carried on the day and then went to my ENT for a follow up. A couple weeks ago, I went to get a CT scan so we could see how things have changed from when I got the original 2 years ago. Thankfully there was only the improvement from then that we had been working towards and nothing to further worry about. We talked for a bit and decided to continue doing check ups twice a year, but to disregard the hearing tests (unless there was a significant drop in hearing) as my tests had always been getting better and had plateaued. And before seeing the doctor, the nurse commented on my shirt which had the Korean finger symbol for heart. We talked a bit about Kpop, but we were definitely different generations, ha. Also when she took my temperature, she mentioned it was higher than normal to which I replied that I just got my second dose. 

Definitely knew of how hard second doses hit people. I was fine until around 8PM. I noticed I was very cold when eating dinner. Afterwards, I basically wore winter-wear because I was that cold. Then my body started aching. Asked my dad to massage me and I felt a little better, but the fever and aches got worse as the night went on. Took a pain pill and tried to sleep it off, but I had to throw up. Tried to drink more and eat just a little, but threw that up as well. Basically couldn't keep anything down. And I basically couldn't sleep so I went to my mom's room and asked for help. 

It was hitting me badly. I was too hot, too cold, I couldn't keep anything down, I was in a lot of pain, and my heart palpitations were bad. I lost it and started to cry. My dad yelled at me. "Why are you crying," "everyone goes through this," etc. I was under the realization of "what if I was alone in this moment" and "what if all the recent heart stuff I worked to get normalized the past few months was ruined?" All I wanted was help and I got yelled at for not being able to take care of myself. I cursed back at him and he left while my mom continued helping me. I was having her help me back to my room and propping myself to sleep in a comfortable position multiple times throughout the night. At different points, I was either using an ice pack or a hot water bottle to help with the extreme temperatures I was feeling. 

Over time, I started to feel better and the main thing was stomach pains that were keeping me up. I'm usually able to sleep off being hungry and I was trying to, but it hurt a lot. I was actually dozing off and then jolted back awake because of my stomach. With the lack of sleep, I was still losing it. I remember whispering saying "just one last thing, it's almost done, we're almost there" as in once the stomach pains go away, things will be fine. It didn't hit me until 5AM that maybe I was hungry. I had thrown up everything prior and wasn't able to keep anything down. Maybe I could keep things down now. So I slowly made my way downstairs and got some bread and brought it back upstairs to slowly eat. It was at that time my dad came into the room and apologized for yelling at me, which was good because he rarely apologizes. 

I pretty much slept all day. I woke up maybe 4-5 times throughout the day and felt a little better each time and was able to eat more. I cancelled the stream for that day obviously and stayed off of social media outside of news on the Switch OLED (yes, I preordered one during this time). But after not being able to sleep until 6AM, I needed that whole day to sleep. 

That was rough, wow. 

- That's a wrap on July 2021. Thanks for reading. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 



"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
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