Thursday, March 16, 2023

February 2023 Entry

February 2023 Entry: 

February was busy. Didn't go by fast either. Interesting. 

MISC========================= 

- After my cousin visited last month, I started reading old fanfics I wrote. There were a few one-offs I went to right away, but made sure to read 2-3 series. Lots of small things surprised me such as who I included as characters and the fact that I gave myself a cat instead of a dog in one of them, ha. There's one long one-shot I want to read as well as the beefy 100 chapter series that started it all. Sometime in the future, but I wanted a break after working through what I read already. 

- Got invited to my friend's daughter's third birthday (02.04). It was my first time at their new place, my first time seeing her daughter in person, and my first time being in a closed environment with so many people. It was nice to see familiar faces of acquaintances and catch up with them. But the majority of the time, I kept to myself and tried not to freak out being around so many people. I left shortly after the cake was cut, but it was good seeing my friend and her daughter. 

- Vengeance Day was a solid show (02.04). Awesome seeing NXT outside of their normal venue because that loud crowd really added to the energy. 

- New shirts (02.04). I was looking for more Doki Doki Literature Club merchandise and found a few shirts. This one happened to be on sale. There was a clearance going on too so the extra Batman shirt was an extra dollar. 
 

- And to add to the new shirt pile is a Final Fantasy VII one called "Those who fight further" (02.11). Have yet to wear it on stream, but it will make its debut on the finale of the Crisis Core streams in March. 
 

- The latest Super Mario Bros. Movie promotion was awesome (02.12). Hearing that old Super Show theme and then the website and phone number actually working are great touches. 
 

- More Doki Doki Literature Club merchandise with the Chalkboard Bonding acrylic (02.14). If I were to only have one piece of merchandise, this is the one because it does capture that moment from the side stories from Plus. 
 

- Watched Everything Everywhere All at Once (02.14). All the good things I ever heard about this movie were true. It was done so well and it's insane in a good way. I don't think I can accurately describe it, but I know I'd recommend it. 


- 125 streams remaining (02.17). I'm kind of surprised that these posts aren't getting much attention. Maybe I expected more of an outpouring for the fact that I'm counting down the number of streams, I'm including a story of myself, and I'm adding a photo. Not necessarily a call-to-action type of post, but maybe I perceived these would do something that others would care for. 
 

- Picked up my copy of Theatrhythm Final Bar Line (02.17). Started playing it the following day and it's as amazing as I knew it would be. Theatrhythm is one of my favorite rhythm series so to get something new and more, wonderful. I am currently playing the series mode in order on basic. Once I finish all of the songs once, then I'll bump up the difficulty and/or go back and complete missions I couldn't in the initial run. I am playing this off-stream, but am considering streaming it eventually once all the DLC is available. 
 

- Elimination Chamber 2023 was so good (02.18). That Montreal crowd was loud and full of energy and it helped make every match a must-see. 
 

- Finally reached 1000 posts on Instagram (02.22). 
 

- Went to my cousin's daughter's first birthday (02.25). The pandemic made me miss out on other gatherings there. I would have gone to her son's 3rd (or 2nd) birthday if I didn't catch COVID last year. But it was good seeing familiar faces and some faces for the first time. Cheers to fun matches on Street Fighter, good food as always, and just a nice sense of fun they always have with family around. 
 

- Got my copy of Metroid Prime Remastered (02.27). Unfortunately I didn't get it when it was initially released as my GameStop was one of many retailers that didn't get their copies on time. But it wasn't like I was playing it right away. Currently scheduled for April. 
 

- Picked up my copy of Legion of Super-Heroes (02.07). Had to go to a different Best Buy as my usual didn't have any in stock. Didn't watch it until the end of the month (02.28). It was okay. I liked it, but wasn't blown away. But it is a fun watch as it still has some surprises that can come out of nowhere for those that aren't familiar with the story. 
 

GAMES========================= 

- Started playing the Deponia Collection with the first Deponia (02.01-02.02). Rufus is such a doofus. I did try for a while to go without a guide, but there was a point that I just decided to follow one almost beat-by-beat. And had I known the last chapter was very short, I would have paced the streams differently to reflect. The first and last chapters were short with the second chapter being the bulk. But the Deponia Collection will be the first game played each month until we have finished them all. 
 

- I don't recall what made me want to do this, but I finished Mario Party off stream (02.02). That mainly was unlocking and beating all the boards and it didn't take too long. Had to get a bunch of stars to unlock them so I did the thing where you start a game, set every player to Hard, and on the last turn switch them to humans to collect all the stars. All that was left was buying all the minigames and completing some modes. The modes didn't take too long, but earning coins was. I did a similar method with collecting stars, but found out online a faster way, which was to do the mini-game stadium (?) mode. That's a separate arena where you don't worry about stars or other additions a normal board has making it go by way faster. Had I found out about that earlier, I think I would have saved 10-15 hours of time. Regardless, Mario Party is completed (02.07). 
  

- Battle Chef Brigade finished (02.05-02.06). It was a favorite from Demo Showcase 30 back in 2020. Got it on sale for $4 digitally (still wouldn't mind a physical copy). I enjoyed this more than I thought. The only frustrating part came with the judging of food. There were a few times I lost by only a few points meaning I had to do the whole battle (10+ minutes) again. It definitely ramps up in difficulty too. And while I liked it, anyone that is remotely interested needs to try the demo to see if the two styles of gameplay are something that clicks with you or not. 
 

- Demo Showcase 106 (02.08) 

- Things I was most excited about from the latest Nintendo Direct (02.08): 
Ghost Trick 
GB+GBA NSO 
Metroid Prime Remastered 


- DIG DUG II was fun (02.09). Firstly, I didn't know it didn't play like the original DIG DUG. You can still pump up enemies until they pop. Otherwise you carve the ground for it and the enemies to fall into the water. It got tough, but thanks to cheat codes, we completed it. 
 

- Crush Crush was our free-to-play game of the month (02.10). The main thing that sucked was that OBS cut disconnected and the Twitch VOD is split into 2 (YouTube is still 1). But I got super into this and so did chat. You mainly wait for bars to progress (jobs and hobbies) so they can level up and you click the A button repeatedly to fill and also buy the girls gifts to fill the Affection Meter. There are 46 unlockable ones and 26 phone flings (those are fantastic). But it's a lot of waiting for timers to fill or reset. There is a reset bonus so that your bars move faster by X amount, but you have to start all your progress over. I didn't really grasp that until I started to play it off stream to realize how important that is. On stream, I used my massager to rapidly push the button for me, ha. As of typing this (03.16), I'm still playing it. Addicted, yes. But I haven't spent any real money to have things swing in my favor. You will see more updates throughout this and future blog entries on my progress. 
 

- GGSN Ep. 03 (02.11). Fun as normal. I am worried about the future of it as I think it needs to evolve to bring in more viewers. Or maybe at least change it up to help benefit the stream. It's all in good fun, but it's also a day that any of us can earn money/exposure on our individual streams. 
 

- LOVE - A Puzzle Box Filled with Stories was short, but sweet (02.13). It was the favorite from Demo Showcase 92 and I got it on sale for $2. I think they had a good thing going here so I wouldn't mind a sequel or maybe DLC to have more people and stories to learn about. 
 

- The Wild at Heart was enjoyable (02.15-02.17). The favorite from Demo Showcase 88. A mix of Pikmin and Luigi's Mansion. Great art style, not too difficult, and charming characters. Definitely recommend it. 


- Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars was so good (02.19-02.21). This was the 4th game in a month (the most ever I believe...for now) and it was the favorite from Demo Showcase 98. Cheers to Reversed2 for getting it for me as a holiday gift. Originally he tried to get me The Wild At Heart, but it wouldn't go through on Amazon for some reason (got that for myself in the end). The presentation of this is amazing. To have a whole world and story told through cards in a basic turn-base RPG, I liked it. And I'm glad I got the DLC because those were nice touches especially the pixel version of cards, ha. 
 

- In Crush Crush news, I finally reached a x200 reset boost (02.19). 


- Gargoyle's Quest was our first GB NSO game of the month (02.23). This played better than I remembered, which was wonderful. It's my least favorite of the Firebrand trilogy, but all of them are great games. Just need Gargoyle's Quest II to show up on the NES NSO and it's all there. 


- In Crush Crush news, I maxed out my first job (02.23). It was becoming the Beef Chief for the Fast Food job. It was nice seeing a fully maxed out job and the bar going green. 
 

- River City Girls Zero was a great beat 'em up (02.24). I played it on the anniversary of beating River City Girls three years ago on stream. Other than the game itself, the borders got some good details put into depending on how far you zoom out the game (cheers to the tube TV border). The anime cutscenes they added were cool and the intro and credits song are amazing. We jammed out to those a few times. 
 

- Kaichu: The Kaiju Dating Sim was our viewer's choice game (02.26). Shout out to those that contributed channel points to make it happen and before the sale ended. This was so full of charm. We didn't fully complete it as getting the bad ending was tougher than anticipated, but we romanced all 6 kaiju. Definitely worth checking out if you want a silly kaiju romance game. You'll be surprised at how relatable it actually is. 
 

- Wave Race 64 was our N64 game of the month (02.27). I still can't recall if I had rented this or a cousin owned it. But it felt quite familiar. Tough for sure. But we ended up beating all the circuits and unlocking the dolphin. Good talk during that stream too. 
 

ETC========================= 

- MISAMO - Opening Trailer 

It's happening. In case anyone reading this doesn't know, these three (Mina, Sana, Momo) happen to be my top 3 biases in TWICE. All the teasers are amazing. Can't wait to see what it finally ends up being when it's finally released. Funny that we got all this MISAMO content months in advance. But wait until you read about all the TWICE content that happened in March. 

That's a wrap on February 2023. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Wednesday, February 8, 2023

January 2023 Entry

January 2023 Entry:

2023 has begun. Time to recap the first month. As a brief reminder, the HER section is no longer going to be part of these entries. You can read last month's post to find out why. 

MISC========================= 

- Finally got around to watching my copy of the BoA 20th Anniversary Special Live -The Greatest- concert (01.02). The last concert she ever filmed was in 2018.Once I realized that, I knew there had been something missing these last few years  as she used to have one every 2-3 years. But this did not disappoint. Of course I sang along to all the songs (popped up and danced to a few). The special guests were amazing. Once one showed up, I wondered if another would and they did. And when Only One was being performed, I quickly thought who could be the biggest name I could think of that has performed with her in the past and I guessed correctly.  Overall, it was a good way to start the year. Pictures from the Twitter post are of her various stage outfits and of course from whomever took them. I think some people that aren't big in the Kpop/Jpop world might have mistaken that I went to the concert, ha. 


- My copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge arrived (01.04). Didn't get my favorite turtle as the inserted card. Know a few that did, but I'm the odd one that's not willing to trade. I get what I got. Have yet to play it unfortunately. Still trying to get out of the mode that the games I buy have to be experienced on stream. I'll get to it. If not on stream, I have a good idea when. I also took a photo of the Pizza Hut coupon so if I'm out with someone and we want some free food, boom. 
 

- I started an unrelated stream countdown on Twitter (01.06). Starting with 150 remaining, every 25 will be another post with an unrelated photo and short story to go with it. I noticed that at least this first post got more eyes than my general post about wrapping streams up once we hit 1000. It may be because people on Twitter (and IG) that have only been following me recently have never seen it or the other images I plan to post. Stay tuned for more old photos of me. 


- New snacks in the form of The Good Crips Company (01.08). They're basically gluten-free Pringles. They're fine. Nothing home to write about, but a good alternative for those that need their snacks to be free of gluten. As of typing this (02.03), I have the aged white cheddar and classic original remaining. 


- New Nintendo 2023 Calendar (01.10). As I've been doing with them, they stay in the background of streams and I change it every month. 
 

- Bought a copy of The Wild At Heart (01.10). I considered it a late holiday gift for myself even though I had bought myself a few things already. Just had the itch, especially since it wasn't gifted to me by anyone. Someone tried, but the transaction oddly would not go through for them even though they ended up getting me something else. 


- 205 amiibo thanks to Sephiroth and Kazuya (01.13). Hard to believe there are only 14 I'm missing now. 17 if you add the last 3 Smash amiibo that are to be made. 


- Bought Sam & Max Save The World during a sale on LRG (01.14). I tried to also get the Grandia HD Collection, but copies got swiped up fast. Sam & Max is currently scheduled to be played in June. 
 

- A friend from high school has been teaching overseas for a while now, but was visiting (01.16). It's not the first time, but it definitely has been a while since I've seen him and his wife. They picked me up and we had lunch at Lopez. Then to a few places in Chinatown before a stop at Walmart and Daiso. This whole time frame was from 1PM-7PM. Lots of time to catch up, share stories, ask things, and be silly like we did back in the day. Shout out to him and his wife for the Kpop gifts and snacks. 


- A cousin showed up unexpectedly with her parents since they were in the area (01.22). It was two hours into the stream so there's a two hour break in the last stream of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! Even though I saw her for her sister's birthday last month, it has been a while talking to just her. It was very nice catching up and reliving some memories of growing up.  

- Another milestone in Fitness Boxing 2; 100,000 punches (01.28). 


- The Royal Rumble was so fun (01.28). Went to G and Rannchan's place as they hosted a watch party. Saw some familiar faces, met some new ones, and saw someone who I had not seen in 10 years. We both knew we were familiar to each other and I looked up old videos I edited for Texas Showdown. We interviewed him, ha. The Royal Rumble itself was so fun. A long event, but each advertised match delivered. Especially the Rumble matches themselves. Part of me still wishes I was there, but I would have wanted to drive in and out the same day meaning I wouldn't have been home until maybe 2 or 3AM. 


- WandaVision was so damn good (01.31). I watched 3 episodes at a time throughout the month. Was very tempted to watch more, but I didn't want to binge it all at once. The way they paid homage to old TV sitcoms was spot on. And the underlying story of everything is not what it seems eventually being brought to the forefront was done really well. I may have knew of a few things through social media, but thankfully it wasn't spoiled outright for me because I was able to enjoy surprises as they happened. Highly recommend it. 
 

GAMES========================= 

- Games of 2022 Year in Review 

- LOUD has been on my radar for a while (01.01). Got it on sale when it came out and was waiting for the right time to play it. I'm glad this was the first game I played for the year. Nice simple story to follow, but the music is really good. Had a few tracks that I really enjoyed listening to. And I almost completed it 100%. The only thing left was clearing the bonus song that gets unlocked. Other songs prior on the hardest difficulty posed a challenge, but I was never able to make it maybe halfway through the extra song. Jokingly said it on stream, but as of typing this (02.07) it's still my game of the year. 
 

- Target Earth was the Genesis NSO game of the month (01.03). It's old school difficult. Absolutely no way I could have beaten it without save states and rewinds. It's a well made game overall, but it is not a walk in the park. 
 

- Demo Showcase 101 was the first of 5 for the month (01.05). Thanks to those that put in channel points to make it happen. Unfortunately, this was one of the worst Demo Showcases in terms of ratings. 4 thumbs down. Almost the elusive 5 thumbs down. Although I'd still like to see 5 of all the thumbs to happen at some point. 
 

- No Straight Roads has been on my radar for a while (01.07-01.08). G streamed it recently before I did and he got me a copy of it as a holiday gift (thanks). I liked it, but the Switch version is not a good port. I unfortunately ran into a few crashes and lots of glitches especially in the second stream. So I'd recommend it as long as you don't play it on the Switch. 
 

- Demo Showcase 102 (01.11) 

- I had been taking my Switch with me while taking my dad to his physical therapy sessions. That pretty much guaranteed one hour play. After weeks of doing it, I completed Wheel of Fortune (01.12). I knew level 40 was the max and reaching that unlocked the last few things as well. Wouldn't mind playing it for fun, but it is done. 


- Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel was our free-to-play game of the month (01.13). Not bad. Playing with basic rules, I did okay and even found cards I liked. But any special type of battles, I couldn't win. 
 

- Demo Showcase 103 (01.15) 

- Returned to The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles ones last time (01.17). Initially it was to play the Escapades, but we ended up looking at all the other extras as well. I'm glad I did that as there were a few things I totally forgot were made for the game. And of course I do like looking at galleries. 
 

- Demo Showcase 104 (01.18) 

- Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! was fantastic (01.20-01.22). Sure, I knew the story so there was nothing to surprise me from the core game. But it was still cool to see how some things got translated to consoles as well as a few jump scares I had never seen before. And of course there was the side stories that happen before the events of the main game, which I found to be very sad and heartwarming. That was also when my cousin arrived and there was a 2 hour break, ha. But I unfortunately didn't complete it on stream. I was only missing 2% and for some reason, it didn't click for me to look it up because it only took a quick search and 15 extra minutes to get it. So I did complete it, but off-stream. It was a good experience all in all. 


- Demo Showcase 105 was the last of 5 Demo Showcases (01.24). And it got 4 thumbs sideways. Crazy to bookend these 5 with possible sweeps. 


- EarthBound was the SNES game of the month (01.26-01.30). My second time playing it with the first time being a decade ago on the Wii U Virtual Console. It went slower than I recalled. And I also power leveled off stream. I was doing my normal one hour of leveling up off-stream for RPGs, but I got my party to at least level 50 before getting our fourth member. While I was doing it normally at first, once I remembered that I read about an easy way to get experience, I did an extra couple hours of that to achieve those 50s. 
 

ETC========================= 

- SMTOWN - The Cure (MV) 

- SMTOWN - Hope (from Kwangya) 

- TVXQ - Rising Sun (MV remastered) 

- GOT the beat - Stamp On It (MV) 

- ISAK N JIYEON - One (MV remastered) 

- TWICE - MOONLIGHT SUNRISE (MV) 

- TWICE MiSaMo - Bouquet (Making MV short ver.) 

That's a wrap on January 2023. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 

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Tuesday, January 10, 2023

December 2022 Entry

December 2022 Entry: 


2022 has come to a close. 

MISC========================= 

- NXT Deadline was fun (12.10). I was super into the Iron Survivor matches. Didn't think they would hook me as much as they did. 
 

- Level 350 in Ring Fit Adventure (12.11). 


- Got around to trying Survival Golf in Nintendo Switch Sports (12.11). I was not a fan of golf in Wii Sports, but there was something about Survival Golf that was enjoyable. Sure did help that I got first place in my first run, ha. 
 

- Twitch Recap 2022 (12.13) 

- Nintendo Switch Recap 2022 (12.14) 
https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/1603042138542903298 

- Went for my biannual ENT appointment (12.15). First I had some fun with the receptionists as they talked about the weather. One was getting grumpy and the other helping me and myself both took a step away as we both jokingly reacted. Then my hearing test was the fastest ever, which I was a little concerned about because it could have been horrible. Then I waited for the doctor. He came in laughing saying "everything is okay." It's funny because it confirms what he knew that every visit fluctuates. And here we are 3 years later and my hearing is the best it has ever been even though I do nothing different. As he was checking my ears, we got into a discussion about old games and in particular Final Fantasy II/IV. We learned it was both one of our favorites. But he also learned there are newer versions of it since the SNES version. I got him to check on his computer to see the different iterations of it as well as point him towards some documentaries that he can watch when he's on call. All in all, best ENT appointment ever. 


- On the same day I picked up Crisis Core, my copy of River City Girls Zero arrived (12.15). A seven and a zero. River City Girls Zero is scheduled for February (anniversary of streaming River City Girls) and Crisis Core is scheduled to be played in March (stream anniversary month of Final Fantasy VII). It technically started at the end of March and was eventually finished in the beginning of April, but I put it in March since we already have an RPG for April. 


- My cousin invited me to her 30th birthday party (12.17).  It was 90s themed and I had an old Houston Rockets jersey from the days of Clutch City. She moved recently, but was still far out (90 minute drive). But it was good to see her and other family members as well that I had not seen in about 3 years. Her dogs grew so big and her place is amazing. Got to meet some of her friends and coworkers and they were nice. Ate some good food, played some silly games, and just had a good time. Happy Birthday, mangostick15. 

Then I drove back to go to a Friendsmas gathering on the same day. I dropped by there beforehand to deliver presents as I didn't want those sitting in my car all day. I arrived as they were playing Rock Band. We exchanged gifts, ate and drank (I brought food from my cousin's party), and played more Rock Band. I mainly sang as I knew I was never good on any of the instruments. But that was a fun way to cap off an eventful day. 


- And good thing I stayed awake because SquareEnix opened up orders for the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters on Switch at midnight (12.18). It was odd that they did it at that time, but I did secure a copy. It was more expensive than I thought it would be and it sucked that priority was the only shipping option so I paid even more. I did not splurge on the collector's edition as I didn't think it would be worth it. I just wanted the games. And whenever I get my copy, I already know I won't be streaming them. If it came out earlier, maybe, but there's also the possibility to do that in the future after the hiatus. They'll definitely be played during that hiatus at my own leisure. 


- Isabelle is amiibo 203 (12.19). Not only that, but it's also the 3rd amiibo gifted to me. And that means I now own the entire Animal Crossing amiibo set. Not going for the amiibo cards. 


- Back in April, my dad had surgery on his left knee. This time he had the same surgical procedure on his right knee (12.20). Everything was pretty much the same, except that this entire stay was 4 hours faster than last time. No complications and he seems to be healing a little faster. As of typing this (01.10), I'm still driving him to physical therapy and am doing more around the home until he's back and able to do things on his own again. 

One thing that I'm doing differently this time around with his physical therapy is taking my Switch with me. Before I would just check my phone constantly as I waited. I'm exclusively playing Wheel of Fortune as I can get a good 2 full games in and it's nothing I have to be completely engrossed in (12.22). I have started to pick up on more of the glitches that occur such as the host magically changing suits during the game and more. But this audio glitch has never happened. 


- On Christmas, I watched Mortal Kombat (2021) (12.25). It was mainly because I'd be playing 11 Ultimate the day after and I figured people would ask if I had seen it. It's a good movie. Not perfect by any means, but I like that there can be a sequel. I still prefer the original, but that's mainly nostalgia fueling that. 

- My physical copy of Save me Mr. Tako arrived (12.25). In case you don't know, I played the original release of this game on Switch during my first year of streaming. It was the first time a developer came into my stream and I had kept contact with them. They even showed up when I played the Definitive Edition when that came out. It feels great to be supporting them and that they eventually got to release the game in physical form. And the Mr. Tako plush is proudly on display. 


- Another Wheel of Fortune incident happened as I was waiting on my mom during a doctor's visit (12.29). There's a wedge on the wheel called Express. If you choose to "ride the express," you can continuously guess letters without the other players getting a chance. If you get one wrong at any point, you go bankrupt. I had gotten it all the way to the point in the linked photo, but was stuck. I even tried looking it up online, nothing. Since the waiting room wasn't busy, I asked one of the receptionists and he didn't know. But when the other receptionist returned, the first one asked if I had solved it yet, which I had not. So we enlisted his help and were still unsure. Then another coworker came out and they immediately recruited her to help. A few minutes later, the first receptionist was able to come up with the answer. That whole stint went on for maybe 15 minutes, but felt satisfying when it was solved. Also the last coworker had brought a dog to work, a cute pug. It pooped in the reception area at one point, ha. 


- My Christmas gift to myself arrived in the form of BoA merchandise (12.30). That includes the two versions of her 3rd mini album and her latest concert. Outside of all her Japanese singles (which there are a lot of), I own all her physical albums and concerts. 


- Did nothing special for New Year's Eve (12.31). Short stream as I didn't want to go long. I was getting tired though as it was getting closer to the turning of the year, but I'm not at the point where I want to sleep through new year's. 


H.E.R.========================= 

- It didn't happen. I am incredibly disappointed that we could not revive HER. One whole year was dedicated just to finding a place and we either found something too small within our budget or something with plenty of space but out of our budget. I was thankful for my realtor friend who found some places for us, but since she mainly dealt in living spaces over commercial, she passed us over to a friend of hers who did. And unfortunately, nothing ever came from her. We never met in person and she mainly sent me to places that I thought were up for grabs, but were just so I can see the size. And I mentioned in a previous entry how when we actually found a spot and were going to meet, how it ended up not happening. Since then, I have heard nothing from her. That kind of was the final nail in the coffin. I still kept an eye open for places, but not as much as I had in the past. 

So I have to give up on this dream. Could it happen in the future? I would like it to, but I don't think I can spearhead it like I tried this time. I can gather the troops again, but someone else needs to find a place for us. I really wish it happened. I don't want to give up, but I don't have it in me at this point to keep trying to only find a place. Thank you to Agent PQ, Blue, and Ocean for trusting me to make this happen. I'm sorry that it didn't happen in the end. 

For now, this chapter of HER is officially closed. And to help with that, I'm going to stop including stories in these blog entries. It's part of moving on and I didn't want to have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for stories. Not only that, I've definitely forgotten more over the years as trying to recall briefings have become hard for me. So outside of this, unless others ask me, I probably won't talk about HER anymore, but I do expect those that knew I was trying to bring HER back to ask how it's going. I'll still wear the shirts although I won't be surprised if I phase that out as well. 

Agent 7012 lives on, but is unfortunately retired. 

GAMES========================= 

- The Solitaire Conspiracy was the favorite from Demo Showcase 86 (stream 692) (12.02). I enjoyed it, but thought the ending was a little flat. Credits rolled, but it didn't feel like anything was resolved or definitively ended especially as you can redo missions that randomly pop back up. Still liked it. 


- Thomas Was Alone was added to the secondary wish list from Demo Showcase 77 (stream 628) (12.03). I completely understand why this platformer gets the praise it does. For it being a December game, I knew it was going to be included in my wrap up of favorite games. Not top 3 in favorite overall, but in a top 3 in one category. 


- Rakuen was announced for Switch, yay (12.04). I had always hoped and knew they were working on it, but to know there's a definitive date now is awesome. Not only that, Mr. Saitou being a new game in that universe was a plus. Can't wait to finally play them. 
 

- Demo Showcase 100 happened (12.05). The bad; the Twitch VOD was split into two because OBS crapped out for a second. The good; a pretty good set of demos voted on by those in Discord. I had two guesses as to what would be the favorite and I was correct. I didn't add the other to the secondary wish list, but I added something else. Being vague so if you really want to find out, go watch it. 
 

- EarthBound Beginnings was our NES game of the month (12.07-12.09). It's not perfect. The main thing I had an issue with was the frequency of random battles being high. Otherwise you can see the foundation for what became EarthBound on SNES. 
 

- GGSN Ep. 02 was fun (12.10). Another crop of Wii game show games. Spoilers; I was the ultimate winner. I didn't win every game though. I do like that we added predictions for the chat to spend channel points on who they think would win each game. If you haven't tuned into an episode of GGSN yet, tune in in February. 
 

- Bayonetta 3 was so fun (12.13-12.16). While I understand the gripes about how the ending went, I still enjoyed playing it. Originally it was going to be only two streams, but after talking to MyNeighborJess, I decided to make it three. I didn't want it to end up like Metroid Dread did where I spend the money to get the collector's edition and only play the game two times. Plus I didn't have to feel like I was rushing through it and not even try any side quests or show off any extras. 


- Okinawa Rush was our last sponsored stream of the year (12.19). I was given the game code from the developer after Demo Showcase 96 (stream 779) earlier in the year. And they showed up for this stream. Tough game, but I do think people can get into it and do some crazy stuff with the combat. 


- Turbo Shot  was our free-to-play game of the month (12.21). This was surprisingly fun. Fun twin-stick game with upgrades and PVP. The downside is that getting batteries to play the single-player story is time based. You can buy them with real money or wait for one battery every 40 minutes (I think). I would have kept playing that, but I died a few times and had to spend batteries to retry. 


- I Beat 50 Games In 2022?! is G's latest YouTube video (12.22). I made an appearance in the video twice. Watch it and find out which games I beat on stream with him. 
 

- Raji: An Ancient Epic was the favorite from Demo Showcase 78 (stream 639) exactly one year ago (12.24). Gorgeous game, but it's fairly empty. And unfortunately the lack of invincibility frames does not work out. There is a dodge button, but it's not the best. 
 

- I got Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate for 75% off (12.26-12.28). It goes down to that price at least once a year and I decided to go for it this year. Plays well, but the character models take a hit. It's very noticeable when you play story mode and it transitions from cutscenes to the fights. It also froze a few times trying to make progress in the Krypt. Still had fun with it and even wore my Sub-Zero and Scorpion masks as I played as them during Klassic Towers. 
 

- reky caught my eye when it was announced (12.30). Got it on sale and...it didn't click with me. Sometimes it did, but the poor controls didn't help. Short stream. Was glad to only spend $2 instead of $10.  

- And the final stream of 2022 was our N64 game of the month; Mario Party (12.31). This wasn't what was originally slated to be last, but when it was announced, it felt fitting. If you could play less than 20 turns, I would have unlocked and played each board. But we only got through 4 of them. I won twice. I wished that chat was active especially since I was putting predictions up for viewers to wager channel points. Regardless, it was fun to replay after 20+ years and brought back some fun memories of Mario Party in general. 
 

ETC========================= 

- BoA - Merry-Chri (MV remastered) 

- Red Velvet x aespa - Beautiful Christmas (MV) 

- SMTOWN - Jingle Bell (MV remastered) 

- ITZY Ryujin & Chaeryeong - Caution 
This was awesome to see. A classic song that's still fun. Glad to see Ryujin and Chaeryeong perform it. 

- SMTOWN - My Angel My Light (MV remastered) 

- TWICE - Merry & Happy (2022ver. Mini MV) 

- SANA MELODY PROJECT - Mood Indigo 
Happy Birthday, Sana.  

- SMTOWN - Dear My Family (MV remastered) 

- 2022 went by fast despite it being very similar to the last two years. The main bright thing I'll hold onto was that multiple bonds of friendship were stronger. If that didn't happen, it would have been a miserable year overall. 

That's a wrap on December 2022. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind. 


"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits." 
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Thursday, December 15, 2022

November 2022 Entry

November 2022 Entry: 

I don't know what to think of November. It was all over the place. 

MISC========================= 

- More Splatoon amiibo acquired (Pearl & Marina) (11.06). 
 

- The Music That Defined The 1990s 

- RIP Kevin Conroy (11.11). This was a rough one for me. I know I'm not the only one that hears his voice when they think of Batman. He was such a constant for that character and in the animated DC universe. Not only was he my favorite Batman, but he probably was my favorite voice actor overall. You will be missed. Thank you for being Batman. 
 

- The first of Splatoon 3 amiibo are out (11.11). I say the first as they usually have the hosts in amiibo form. If that trend continues, we have at least 3 more on the way. My guess would be on the one year anniversary of Splatoon 3's release. Small Fry gets the title of being my 200th amiibo. 
 

- nectar loveprint (11.12) 

- The family now has Xfinity and access to more streaming services. One of those is Disney+. First thing I thought of was to see if there were any Marvel movies/shows I wanted to see. There are a few like Wanda Vision, but I decided to start with Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings (11.12). Mainly for the Asian representation, which was great. The movie was good too. Didn't know anything about Shang-Chi before this so it was nice to learn of a new superhero. 

- And while adding other streaming services to the streaming box, I put my Prime Video account on it. One of the recommendations caught my eye and it was for Anjelah Johnson: Mahalo & Goodnight (11.12). I know during my stint of watching and reviewing Prime Video content, I did watch an older special of hers. This one, I had never seen. It was hilarious. 

- My deck of Spectrum arrived (11.15). I'm a big fan of Jubilee and the videos they put out. When they announced the Spectrum card game on Kickstarter, I jumped on it right away. It might be the only Kickstarter I ever backed as far as I can recall. The rules for the game make sense, but I still see it better as an ice breaker and a way to learn more about others. As of typing this (12.11), I have yet to play it with anyone.  


- Oreo Cakesters are delicious (11.15). The one time YouTube ads made me buy something, ha. They might be a new favorite snack. If anyone wants to buy me some, I'll gladly accept. The Sunkist was a little disappointing. I think I was expecting it to be more flavorful, which it was not. 


- After 3 years, I finally got a haircut (11.18). I knew I wanted to and almost did back in September, but couldn't get an appointment. So I figured as close to the 3 year mark as I could. That would have happened during Thanksgiving week and that would possibly have been busy for my stylist to fit me in. It was good to catch up with her. I showed her two examples from different Kpop stars. The one I wanted more wasn't doable. The one we went with was also not going to look exactly like it, but it was more feasible especially if we kept going with it over time. She actually cut the ponytail right off without any warning, ha. Once it was over, we had a little heart-to-heart about life. I think the vulnerability of having 8 inches of hair cut off hit me. As of typing this (12.11), only my mom has said she liked it although she always said that anytime I cut my hair. One person on Twitter objected, but I've never met them in person nor do they see me on streams to know how my hair actually looked prior. And unless I point it out, no one else has commented on it. It's a big deal to me and that's all that should matter, but I guess I expected at least a few others to say something. 


- RIP Jason David Frank (11.20). 

- Met up with an old Kpop friend (11.21). We originally met through Soshified and the events that happened in town. We had remained in contact through social media, but it's been years since we saw each other in person. We initially met because he saw my amiibo posts and offered to sell some he had that I was missing. We met and ate at Kura. Spent a good 3 hours catching up on everything and planning possible future outings. It was good to reminisce. He also ended up giving me the amiibo as a gift, which makes him the first person to ever gift me amiibo. Thank you so much. 


- Got some early Black Friday purchases for myself (11.23). Normally stuff on my wish lists aren't discounted during this time, but quite a few were getting discounted throughout the whole month. Downloaded a handful of digital ones and got Doki Doki Literature Club Plus as well as NEO: The World Ends With You (secondary wish list). 


- My first Thanksgiving since the pandemic started (11.24). The last time I saw the majority of these family members was Thanksgiving three years ago. It was good to catch up and eat some great food. Nice to see a few new faces in the family too. 

- Survivor Series was fun (11.26). Knew someone that was in attendance and we messaged back and forth a bit. So dang good. 


- Had a 17 day hiatus for Ring Fit (11.28). That was due to events mentioned earlier and general laziness. There are days I feel too tired to do a session, but I'm trying to get better at it. 
 

H.E.R.========================= 

- No news on the new location. Unfortunately time is running out. 

And in terms of stories, next month might be the last one. I'm sure there's plenty to pull from if I really try, but the things that standout would be repeats. I had trouble thinking of one the last few months and did so in this entry. 

Something I was disappointed with was after I stepped down as Personnel Manager. While it might have been good for me mentally, I think it did hurt the company more than I would have guessed. Not to say if I stayed in that position that things would have been alright, but the transition of my duties to the Operations Manager were not good. She didn't continue doing things the way I did. They were reduced to save time because she didn't have the time, which was an issue with her in general. If she could make things easy and streamline it, she did as the positive to her was saving time to do other things. 

One thing was how the hiring process went. It was initially set up by Agent Majordomo and I feel like I perfected it once he stopped being part of that. Questions asked were meaningful, I got to learn of a person's character, and had a sense if they would gel with the team or not. Was I always correct, no. But I was the majority of the time. It was changed to having the interviewee fill out a lot of questions on a worksheet before even coming face-to-face with the interviewer. And then the interview was greatly reduced in general. I understand that it was to save time. This was also during the time where they wanted more facilitators and for them to only facilitate and not learn any other tasks, which hurt us a lot. We hired bodies that had a few that shined, but the majority ended up walking out on the company or were barely/never on the schedule. 

The other thing that may have contributed to those same hires not being better and walking out was how discipline was handled. While I was in charge of that, I always talked to each employee that was getting a written warning. That way I can see if there's something going on whether it's at work or outside forces causing them to be lacking. The one story I always told was when Agent Ocean was on his second write up for being late to work. Third write up was a reason to let an employee go. I mentioned what I normally would to any employee, but then I let him know a few things; he was great at his job and the staff likes him and that him being late was not in my control, but it would be a dumb reason to get fired. Letting him know that got him to change things and he ended up becoming a manager. After I stepped down, time was saved as write ups were only placed in an employee's locker. I remember one time I had to go back to our Downtown location since they were understaffed and our location didn't have any bookings. I heard the Operations Manager say to another worker that they needed to sign their write up and give it to her. The employee replied back with something like "I'll do that with the other 2-3 I have." And it was brushed off as a joke and a few chuckled. I was stunned. How is your write up something to joke about and how do you have so many you didn't have time to sign...and why do you have so many and you aren't fired yet? 

Again, not saying it would have been perfect if I still were Personnel Manager, but I think it would have been better. New hires would be better vetted and trained. The bad ones would have been fired or not hired in the first place. I ran a tight ship and was told that I was strict but fair. It just sucked hearing news of "I don't like working with this person" or "so-and-so just stopped showing up to work." Not too many read these blogs in general so a smaller portion would be former staff, but if any of them wished I stayed on as Personnel Manager to keep things running a certain way, I'm sorry. At that time I was doing what I thought was best for me as I wasn't sure I could keep at it with how other pressures and criticisms were wearing me out. In hindsight, I should have considered negotiating for change in upper management instead of giving up. 

GAMES========================= 

- Tried the game trial for OBAKEDORO off stream (11.01). I wasn't good at it, but I think I enjoyed it. I don't think I would have had fun streaming it unless there was a nice number of people in chat playing along. 


- Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa was a personal viewer's choice requested by Rannchan (11.02-11.04). She sent me a list (the most anyone has sent) and I bounced back and forth between a few before ultimately choosing Kotodama. I don't play too many match-three games on stream. Originally slated for 2 streams, but had to extend it to 3 since we were going for the true ending. And that was not easy to acquire due to multiple guides online having different ways to get it. That's what got me the most. Nothing like following a guide accurately and the outcome does not happen. Thanks to chat to find other guides, but that's what killed it for me. The game itself isn't bad, but boo to the inaccurate guides online. 
 

- Joined G, Kai, and Rannchan for the first episode of GGSN (11.05). That stands for the G Game Show Network. We played 5 different game show games on the Wii. It was fun playing with them and it seemed chat was into it. My only negative was that the last surprise game was bad. I let them know afterwards too that I mainly remember that we ended the show with complaints about the controls. Not like the last last thing. It was deflating. 
 

- Sky: Children of the Light was the free-to-play game of the month (11.06). Other than a few crashes, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't mind playing it with others as it does have a multiplayer component to it. That last level, you definitely need help. Thanks to someone that plays the game to be present in chat to tell me if I actually beat it or not. 
 

- Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium was our Genesis game of the month (11.08-11.10). It's also the first in one RPG per month until further notice. This was also my first Phantasy Star RPG as I've only played Phantasy Star Online. And this month was 20 years since the name WingedVoX was created. Phantasy Star IV was not bad. I like that there was a macro option even though I didn't use it. It definitely helped to level up offline as well as use the strategy guide that G let me borrow. 
 

- Bayonetta 2 was great to replay (11.13-11.14). Much like the first Bayonetta, this was my 3rd time playing it (Wii U, Switch, now). Boo for OBS connection getting interrupted. But this was fun. I always liked the sequel over the original. Next month, finally playing Bayonetta 3. 
 

- Demo Showcase 99 was good (11.16). I know I sometimes gloss over Demo Showcases in these blog entries, but I must mention this one. Spiritfarer was my favorite in the group. I initially wanted to get this game when it was first announced, but wasn't too sure. The demo solidified it. And there was a physical copy on sale on Amazon so I bought it right after the stream. It arrived 2 days later and came with a lot of extras I wasn't aware of. I have figured out when to play it on stream, but it won't be awhile. 
 

- AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative was initially going to be played during Ball-gust, but was rescheduled unfortunately. But I'm glad to have finally played it (11.19-11.27). It brought on the crazy as expected and had so many silly/insane things happen. I do still prefer the first game, but that's mainly because I didn't know what I was getting into. This time I had an expectation. They delivered well. Even got the extra ending and played the extra game mode that gets unlocked. This was originally going to be 6 streams, but as the final act was going on in the 6th stream, I knew I had to have an extra stream. If I didn't, it would have been a 12 hour stream because the ending and the extra stuff we did was an additional 4 hours. And speaking of hours, combined with the first game, I have streamed 100+ hours of AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES. 


- WAIFU IMPACT was the 7th community challenge achieved by chat and their channel points (11.29). Boo for OBS disconnecting, but the game was okay. Not much to it. Almost 100% it, but the last thing was surviving 20 waves of waifus. I got to 18 and that took about an hour and I wasn't about to do it again. Not bad, not great. 
 

- Mario's Super Picross was the SNES game of the month (11.30). It was a surprise to most as regular viewers know I'm not big on Picross. But it has a tiny tie to December's N64 game of the month. But I had a plan. I knew I wouldn't finish it, but I wanted to do as many as possible within the stream time with a guide. And the thing is, I actually liked it. I thought the presentation was really good. It might not be the best Picross game, but it was enough for me to consider going longer or doing the rest off stream. 
 

ETC========================= 

- Happy Birthday, BoA (11.05) 

- Happy 7th Anniversary Cakes for ONCE & TWICE (11.07) 

- Happy Birthday, Momo (11.08) 

- This Ailee video may be 6 years old, but it gave me goosebumps. I watched it so many times. For a good week, it was the first thing I listened to. 


- BoA - Forgive Me (MV) 

- BoA was on K909 (11.27). I'm not familiar with the show, but she performed her latest single there along with a few favorites of mine. Some of her best live stuff. It instantly got me singing and grooving and thinking back to watching her concerts on DVD/Blu-ray (one coming soon). I have gone back and watched them multiple times and "performed" them like I used to. 
 

- Red Velvet - Birthday (MV) 

- KARA - When I Move (MV) 

- KARA's comeback was something I didn't know I wanted. Not only is their song the favorite of the 3 girl groups currently promoting (all happen to have 5 members), but their appearances on variety shows are reminding me of how many of their songs I enjoy. KARA on Killing Voice is excellent and I've watched it a few times already. Nicole crying on IU's Palette really got to me. Nicole was always my favorite in the group since the beginning. I didn't keep up with KARA when she and Jiyoung left and Young Ji was added. Seeing them now is nice. Jiyoung grew up to be, who I believe, the face of the group after Hara (I still miss Hara). Young Ji is an excellent addition. And Gyuri and Seungyeon are the strong constants. Good to have KARA back. 


- ITZY - Cheshire (MV) 

- HOT - Candy (MV remastered) 

Not much else to say to wrap this entry up. I'm actually surprised how fast this year has gone. 

That's a wrap on November 2022. 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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