Saturday, July 3, 2021

June 2021 Entry

June 2021 Entry

June has come and gone. Can't believe we are halfway through the year. 

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

- Had an ENT appointment (06.03). It's the one of two I've been going to every year since going to this facility. I tried to sleep early the night before and wasn't able to sleep that well. Lost lots of sleep. Still went to the appointment. Everything was okay although I did lose a little bit of the recovered hearing. Talks about getting surgery came up again, but we are going to get a CT scan to see if there are any major changes and go from there. 

On the way back home, I sang. I sang a lot. It was one of the first times I could sing like I normally could. Hitting high notes and holding notes as long as I was able to before. It felt great belting out familiar tunes that I've only been able to mouth or speak the lyrics. 

And I took a nap. Tried to go the rest of the day without it hoping to get a deep sleep that night. But I was too tired. Couldn't fight it and got a 2-3 hour nap. 

- My dad surprised me with a new phone (06.04). I had spoken to him a few months ago (during the winter storm) about how I was going to buy a new one soon since my phone wasn't holding a charge for a long time anymore. He said he signed up for one to get at a large discount and it finally went through. Got an iPhone 11 and I think he said he only paid a little over $100 for it. Yay, new phone. 

- After Cinnabon followed me on Twitter last month, I felt it proper to get something from them (06.08). Even though there is a Cinnabon minutes away from the house, I ordered a product from Amazon. It was a good snack to eat during stream breaks. Each pack had about 14-15 pieces so I ate half each break. 


- On June 10th, I had no energy (06.10). Can't really put my finger on it, but it was then that I felt I had no energy for the rest of the month. I still did normal things like stream and exercise. During times of non-activity, I'd feel it. At first I thought it was due to lack of sleep because I did start waking up 30-60 minutes earlier for no reason, but I did balance that out and the energy is still not there. I'm also the healthiest I've felt in months so I don't know what's going on. Hopefully this will pass. 

- Drove my dad to get his second eye surgery (06.15). Same thing as last month, but for his other eye. While he was getting that done, I finally got my first dose of the vaccine, moderna. 

- Chun-Li shirt (06.16)

- Finally watched Kwang Soo's final episode on Running Man (06.16). It was a great episode. Felt emotional throughout and couldn't help but cry during the final portions of it. He's been there from the beginning so it will be different not seeing him there after 11 years. I am looking forward to him showing up as a surprise in a future episode though. 

- Nintendo shirts (06.19)

- Batman: The Long Halloween Part One (06.23)

- Kit-Kat Thins are great (06.26). Kit-Kats are possibly my favorite candy and every type of thin version of snacks I've tried have been awesome so it was no surprise that I'd enjoy these. 


- Round 15 of free movies is in the books. While I went for all of them being in the comedy category, some were definitely not funny at all. My favorites included Playing With Fire, Sunkist Family, and Hot Rod. One interesting note was that one of the biggest fans of Kimagure Orange Road found my tweet and responded to it. She mistakenly thought I saw the whole series, but I only watched the movie. Still, it was an interesting interaction as other people chimed in as well. Round 16 will be a random-ish assortment. 



- I may get rid of the wrestling section soon. I feel like I say similar stuff all the time and not even attempt to say anything about the things that happened this month. Maybe after next month depending on how the return to live crowds goes for WWE. It's been good for AEW so far. 

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

- This is a summary of when I lost my confidence. I don't remember the exact time frame, but I'm sure it was during the 3rd or 4th year. There was a meeting I had with the owner and the manager at the time about the manager transitioning to a new role and for a personnel and operations manager to be promoted and share the total responsibilities 50-50. I was to become the personnel manager while another was to be operations. My role was described, my responsibilities were set, and I agreed. It was a natural fit as I had already been training new hires and building bonds with the staff as a positive and fair senior facilitator. And I was excited for this. Looked forward to making a bigger impact in the company and getting a raise in pay. 

The next day, there was an impromptu short meeting with myself, the owner, and the new operations manager. They both explained to me that it will no longer be 50-50. More like 40 for me and 60 for the operations manager. Not only that, but some of my responsibilities were no longer mine. It was mainly in favor of leaning more on the operations end rather than favoring the staff. I should have questioned it, but I didn't. And that's probably where a slow downhill slide started. 

My duty to make things good for the staff went well for the most part. However, I was always met with things going against them from those above me. I had explained it to them before that almost all the answers I was given were "no" and I had to "fight" to make things happen while they can just do things. It's comprehensive describing it this way, but I don't want to go over every little thing. It was a rough year for me and I knew some of the staff could tell. I actually developed a slight stutter. Not many people might not have noticed because I hid it well. And there was one large incident that sparked a lot of things that I could talk about some other time. It was probably the worst part of my whole time at HER. 

I was also not given a lot of positive feedback during this time from those above me. It felt as if almost everything I was doing wasn't up to snuff or they were disappointed. A paranoid part of me thought they were setting me up to fail. However, I did get some positive feedback during my evaluation one year later. I remember even saying "that turned out better than I thought it would." But by that time, I had spoken to friends and a few of the staff about what was going on and what I was thinking and I pretty much had my mind set on stepping down from the position. 

While I felt a great sense of relief after that, this is where I believe a more sharp decline in staff morale and how things were run started. It really wasn't the same afterwards. Not to go into all the details, but a personal thing for me was I took a large hit in my pay. I knew stepping down would come with a pay cut, but I thought I'd go back to my pay rate directly before the promotion. I think it was $2-$3 less than that. They explained the reasons why. I didn't like it, but what could I do?  

It took a while for me to actually feel confident again at work. That happened some time after moving to the Memorial location. Not immediately, it took a while. I was glad that others still saw me in that personnel manager role despite not having it in my title all the way to the closing of the company. One unfortunate thing is that while I gained some of my confidence back overtime, the loss of confidence did leak out into my personal life as well. It might not be a thing many would notice, but I second guess myself constantly especially lately. It's gotten better, but it lingers to this day. 

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

- King of Dragons from the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle was fun (06.01). I kept doing the triumphant roar the characters did when leveling up and had chat choose which character to play as with multiple polls throughout the stream. 


- Demo Showcase 65 (06.02)

- Wrecking Crew was randomly chosen for the NES game of the month (06.04). Never played it prior. It's actually a really good puzzle game. I would have kept going, but I wasn't feeling well and we spent a good 30+ minutes on one level towards the end. 

Another plus from this stream was that the community goal was reached. So in July, we'll be playing Vroom in the night sky. 


- Fantasy Strike was a fun free-to-play fighter (06.05). Met some nice people from their community that were very helpful. Some connections were bad though. The one negative I will unfortunately remember from this stream was someone soliciting myself and others to buy them the beginner's pack, which is $20. I think they wouldn't have done that had someone not gifted it to me, which I did not know until long after it happened. Whoever did that, thanks. 


- Moto Rush GT was super fun (06.07). Got it for free due to an ownership discount. It's easy to understand, but offers some good challenges. Similar to Wrecking Crew, it also had a bunch of challenges. It would have been possible, but not in one stream. The challenges gradually got tougher. We probably would not have gotten as far as we did had we not purchased the DLC that gave a few really fast motorcycles. 


- Learned about Bullet Beat thanks to a review by The Budget Gamer (06.08). Not bad. One level was tough on the eyes though. And...and we went 30+ minutes of endless mode and made it to 11th place, wow. A demo released a few days later, ha. 


- Demo Showcase 66 was an interesting one (06.09). Got to first hand try out BALAN WONDERWORLD and it's not as bad as others make it out to be. And the stream ended with one of the developers of Vectronom coming in and dropping a few codes for the game. I would have given the rest away, but only one worked. Vectronom happened to be my favorite and that is now the new quickest turnaround of having a favorite and getting the game. 


- Finally played RUINER (06.11-06.12). It was a rare impulse buy of a game I didn't know about, but liked the aesthetic. It certainly was pleasing to the eyes. It's probably the most I've cussed on stream thanks to the dialogue. Didn't realize it was a twin-stick combat game. It can hurt the hands after a while, but the combat can be very satisfying. 


- A year ago, Discord voted to play LIMBO. Felt it would be fitting to finally play INSIDE (06.14). I knew of some of the story beats from watching the Game Grumps play it many years ago. Some stuff still surprised me when they happened. Someone in chat also mentioned how there were multiple endings. Looked it up and in doing so, we 100% completed the game. If it took a long time to do, I would not have tried it. But the game makes it easy to go back to get what you missed. 


- The E3 Nintendo Direct was incredible (06.15). So many amazing announcements like Metroid Dread, Fatal Frame, Breath of the Wild 2, Kazuya in Smash...my goodness. Definitely got excited. 


- It sucks that the Metroid Dread collector's edition and amiibo are hard to secure (06.16). I missed a few online opportunities. But I thought to try and go to my local GameStop and try. As soon as I was entered they knew what I was there for and said they couldn't do it. I made a suggestion that I saw on Twitter about ordering from a store to deliver, which worked for a lot of people. They couldn't do it though. However, they decided to try looking for if either were available and the amiibo popped up. We made the order and still preordered the regular version of Dread. Glad to have secured the amiibo. Hopefully I'll get the collector's edition somewhere before it releases in October. 

- Played Save me Mr. Tako: Definitive Edition (06.17-06.20). I had played the original within my first year of streaming and one of the first long plays at the time. It was also the first time I had a developer hop into the chat. I had kept in contact with the developer of the game and he even asked if I could beta test the Definitive Edition version some time. I couldn't, but let him know I was definitely going to play it. Just had to figure out when. 

There were for sure improvements made. Tons of quality of life features and polish (and that some of my suggestions were actually put into place). Not perfect, but still fun and challenging. The developer appeared in streams again, which was nice. The one thing I did do was get all the hats, which I didn't do 3 years ago. went from 69% then to 91%. The only downside of the stream was that the last stream was split into 2 parts due to the internet dropping for a few minutes. But it was great introducing more people to Mr. Tako. 


- Got a physical copy of Neo Cab (06.20). It was from a new physical cartridge maker so I was a little hesitant, but they gave a lot of nice extras. I especially like the Feelgrid keychain.


- I may not have gotten it for 3 cents at Walmart (missed out on that), but I did get a copy of Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions for half off (06.21). Currently scheduled for December. 


- Demo Showcase 67 was a good one (06.22). All the games were fun. Got a nice amount of reaction for playing Miitopia and what was going on (played the 3DS version prior). But another developer jumped into the stream. This time it was for Puddle Knights, which happened to not only be my favorite, but viewer's favorite as well. 


- Pikuniku (06.23)

- I missed the beginning of the Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony (06.23). However, it was fun throughout. And it could not have ended any better with the last 2 songs they chose. Fantastic. 


- Streaming Stencil Art will be memorable for a few reasons (06.24). On the negative side, it was another stream that got split due to a brief power outage. That upset me because that's the second time in 3 streams that something like that happened. On the positive side, I liked that viewers were vibing with the stream and participating by choosing what patterns to use on certain stencil pieces. I enjoyed sending completed stencil art to those that claimed them and to those I thought about when creating them. 


- Lydia was the Nakana io game I knew about (06.25). Definitely was curious about how the events would play out. Short game so we went through it twice to see if the decisions we made mattered (it did not). It was nice to see some of the chat open up as events were relatable. Trigger warning, but maybe on the low end. I also paid for the DLC like I did for Soul Searching as the proceeds go to a good cause and that I got the game for free due to an ownership discount. 


-  One final time with the Cadence of Hyrule DLC characters; Cadence of Hyrule | Skull Kid - Symphony of the Mask (06.27). I was very surprised with how different Symphony of the Mask was. New story, new characters, new enemies (callbacks), new and fewer dungeons, etc. I was not ready for the puzzle dungeon, which almost was the reason I wanted to quit this earlier. The battle gauntlet dungeon was more my speed. Still tough, but eventually did that after leaving the puzzle dungeon, which we returned to. Shout outs to chat for helping. Even the final fight had a few tweaks to it that were also surprising. I was so glad to actually finish it and felt this was a proper and appropriate way to finish playing the Cadence of Hyrule. 


- Finishing out the month with Super Valis IV is another memorable stream (06.29). Not for the game itself, but for the fact that it took 3 times to get the stream going. First, the internet dropped after 9 minutes of the stream. Since it was short, I figured I would start over. 30 minutes later, lightning struck and the power clicked off and back on. At that point, I knew it was a short game and it wouldn't take long getting back to where we were despite having a save state ready. I was not in the mood to split another stream for a 3rd time in 10 days. And even though I don't believe in it, the third time was the charm. 


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

- TWICE - Alcohol-Free (MV)
This was a nice chill song. I'm glad that the girls also are getting a break on the choreography with something on the lighter side. Great to see Jeongyeon back too. 


- AILEE - WANNABE (ITZY)

- After School Reunion (06.11)
This was amazing to watch. After School was one of my favorite groups during that generation of Kpop. I liked them a bit more than other groups because I didn't know too many fans of them so they were a little extra special to me. For a lot of groups back then and even now, I have a favorite that brings me into the group and then someone else becomes my favorite. Kahi is one of the rare few that my bias in the group never changed. I watch her YouTube videos so I know she's still taking care of herself, but I found myself mouth agape watching her perform again. I wish more After School members joined, but this was still great. 


- TWICE - Perfect World (MV)

- A Star-Studded Dinner | Recipe For Change

- One of my uncles passed away, Tito Rod (06.25). He passed away in his sleep in the Philippines. My dad received a call/message about it. He was showing photos to my mom while I was getting lunch ready. That's when they told me. I also learned that Tito Rod was actually the oldest of the brothers. I always thought he was the youngest. I hugged my parents and continued my day. 

As of typing this (06.28), I have not seen anyone in my family post anything on social media about his passing. It's...odd. The thing is, Tito Rod was actually on the crazy side. Not in a violent or horrible way, but he became very religious. Nothing wrong with that, but he did sometimes push religion onto others in not the most civil way at times. He also had weird tendencies that weren't the most common place or legal. Nothing horrible ever came from it, but he did get in trouble and would get reprimanded by his siblings. The crazy part of him came shortly after his wife passed decades ago. He never recovered from it unfortunately. The past 5-10 years, he had been living with family in the Philippines and receiving home care. 

The post I made on Twitter is of one of my old wrestling action figures I still had, Rowdy Roddy Piper. I have a very clear memory of Tito Rod babysitting us and saying "Hot Rod? That's me!" I can't think of too many memories of him taking care of me and my generation, but I know he did. That moment though was the best moment that popped into my head after hearing of his passing. 

Rest In Peace, Tito Rod. 


- That's a wrap on June 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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Wednesday, June 9, 2021

May 2021 Entry

May 2021 Entry 


May was a fast month. Once June hit, I remember thinking "already?" 

MISC========================= 

- Made plans to meet with a friend after over a year (05.01). Originally we were going to be at Chic-Fil-A, but the location we went to didn't have indoor dining. We ended up walking to the Sugar Land City Center to see what was around and ended up going to Japaneiro. Last time I went there was with some of HER and we got a sushi boat. As we were walking there, another friend called asking where we were since the original invite to a group text was for Chic-Fil-A. No one replied that they were joining so we didn't let him know of the change until then, ha. But we had fun catching up and having good food. 

- Started using Ring Fit Adventure (05.01). Not streaming it. I didn't want to worry about stream stuff or any critiques with how I was doing things. It's strictly for exercise purposes. I will continue using the main Twitter thread for updates and stuff. I will say, all the positives I've heard others say about Ring Fit Adventure are true. I wasn't expecting a skill tree, ha. But any day I'm not streaming and have nothing else planned, I'll be using it. And I've felt great ever since using it. 


- New shirt, Okami. (05.03) Ordered it as a reward for beating Trials of Mana last month. 


- Got to hear one of my best friends' voice for the first time in months or a year (05.03). We didn't talk long, but we wanted to at least let each other know that we're both doing okay. Hopefully I'll get to video chat with her daughter in the near future. 

- Starburst Gummies are delicious (05.11). Great snack. Highly recommend it. 


- My dad had eye surgery (05.18-05.19). His vision had been getting worse over the years. So he had the cataracts removed from his left eye. The next day was a follow up. He's been fine since then, but is restricted with what he's allowed to do so his eye doesn't strain. Next month, he'll be getting the same procedure on his right eye. 

- This day marks the day Cinnabon followed me on Twitter (05.24). I replied to a friend who mentioned a few verified accounts that follow him and they liked my comment. Haven't had Cinnabon in years, but I will fix that soon. 
 

- Went to a new cardiologist (05.25). It's actually my mom's cardiologist. I had been there a few times when I took her there. Wow, they are miles ahead of the other place I was going to. Only negative was the long wait to see the doctor, but it wasn't even that bad. He and the nurse were both very specific and honest with the answers they were giving me. They did inquire about what was done at the other cardiologist office and they had shocked faces when I replied. In the end, they want to see more of their records from the testing they did before deciding if any further action needs to be taken or if nothing is wrong. It was very relieving. 


- Got my copy of Justice Society: World War II and watched it more than a week later (05.13, 05.25). I liked it. Different than I thought it would be and it surprised me as I had no idea where the story was going. Thumbs up. 


- Round 14 of free movies done. My favorites were Just Wright, A Taxi Driver and Click. Round 15 will be all comedies. Also, I made a mistake last month and talked about Round 12 again. After posting this, I will make the proper edits to that post. 


WRESTLING========================= 

- AEW: Blood and Guts had some insane action (05.05). So much blood in the actual Blood and Guts match. 


- Wrestlemania Backlash 2021 was really fun (05.16). At first I thought it would be a general casual PPV, but I found myself getting invested in almost every match. 
 

- AEW: Double or Nothing, excellent (05.30). Every match aas solid, but seeing a full capacity crowd and hearing them go nuts added so much pretty much like it did for Wrestlemania. 


H.E.R.========================= 

- I told this story recently on stream, but I wanted to put it up here as it is a nice story. During Halloween season, we altered some of our rooms to be themed for the month. I'll admit I wasn't the biggest supporter of the idea, but the staff always enjoyed it and we did it every year minus the first year (maybe second too). Much like during Christmas time, we would also decorate the lobby, hallways, briefing room, etc to fit the spookiness. Usually the rooms that got altered were the first 3; Mo's Safehouse, Grandma Codebreaker, and The Scarlet Scam. It went back and forth between how many rooms we altered, but I did always say at least one needed to remain as is. The more we did it, the more we invested in props for it. One year we even got a fog machine, which was cool, but I think it broke after a week of using it. And unfortunately I know a few props were bought, not used, and not returned. So I don't know if the themed rooms ever did bring in more money or not. My guess was that it didn't especially after we started getting more props over time. 

There was one year that Grandma Codebreaker got a huge makeover. I believe we called it Grandma's Poltergeist. The usual props and puzzles were altered. I believe this is where we used the fog machine when it was operational. Any light sources were removed and replaced with low lit lanterns and we gave the teams flashlights during their briefing. In fact, the Agent that was supposed to facilitate those sessions put on a costume and was in the room waiting while someone else did the briefings outside. Not everyone was cool with wearing the costume so anytime there was a session, the 4-5 that were okay with it were assigned those sessions. I didn't want to wear the costume. 

So there was one time where I did the briefing while Agent X was facilitating. It was a group of teen girls that were already getting scared by the props in the briefing area. Of course the tension continued to ramp for them as I read the briefing. They got more worried when I handed them their flashlights. Then when we got to the door, I forgot how I phrased it, but I let them know that I wasn't going in with them and they freaked out. They begged me to go with them even after reassuring them that they would be okay, but they kept asking. Our staff room wasn't far away so I quickly went there and asked if there were any sessions coming up where I needed to be outside. We were good with the current Agent placement for future booked sessions, plus everyone obviously heard the girls screaming and asking me to go with them so it was okay, ha. And it turned out to be a fun session. I did my part by holding one of the flashlights for them as they tried to solve things. Once they became more comfortable, I gave them the flashlight and stood next to Agent X. I might have asked if the sessions were usually like this and I'm sure he replied that they were. I don't recall if the team escaped, but I'm glad they had fun. 

GAMES========================= 

- Felt so good to play Final Fight (05.02). Classic. 


- Demo Showcase 62 (05.03). Agent A and Captain Tsubasa were really good. Agent A is basically an escape room. It even had a similar puzzle we had in Mo's Safehouse. I also missed out on Captain Tsubasa for 3 cents at Walmart. Would have been nice, but if I can get it for $20 or less, good to go. 


- Got 600 followers on Twitch now (05.05). We did go over 600 due to 50 bots happening, but those were all wiped over time and we then legit hit 600. Someone had predicted I'll hit 1000 followers this year. That would be nice, but I don't see it happening. 

- Mainly chose Tennis for our NES game of the month as we were going to play Tennis 1920s (05.05). But I failed to realize there was a tennis game on the SNES as well. Would have moved the tennis games to June instead. Tennis was hard too. 
 

- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker was so good (05.07-05.09). We came very close to 100% it, but the last 2 missions were all long form multi-leveled areas. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it. Charming and challenging. 
 

- Stream 499 and the last time we played Tetris 99 (05.11). Didn't get a first place win, but did play a majority of the time with others in chat. Good way to send it off. 
 

- Stream 500; Ikaruga (05.12). Did some silly things with the game such as beat it with no hands. Thankful for the turnout and thankful for the support for 500 streams. Here's to 600. 


- Trailer 500 

- Demo Showcase 63 (05.14). While it wasn't my favorite, I had a ton of nostalgia playing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Recreating my Selkie HeeJin and playing felt like a glove. I still would hesitate on getting it if it were my favorite since I did not pull the trigger and buy it day one. 
 

- Tennis 1920s was a very interesting take on tennis (05.15). It only sucked to have to wait a long time for free matches to happen. 


- While I did have some trouble at the beginning, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap was really good (05.17). Especially liked being able to swap from retro to modern on the fly. And we would have 100% completed it were it not for my poor skills at the beginning as we could have spent that time doing the money trick to buy all the weapons and armor. But by the time we beat it, I was tired and preferred looking at all the extras, which were super cool. 
 

- Streaming Street Basketball was an interesting one (05.20). One, the game was okay and we actually beat it. Two, we talked about so many different things like anime. Three, I showed off my copy of Highschool DxD on 3DS. 


- Not Not - A Brain Buster is an excellent brain teaser (05.22). It really tests your brains and your reflexes in a fun way.  

- Demo Showcase 64 (05.23). Had a tough time with which to choose between Active Neurons 2 and Death and Taxes. One was better for streaming, but the other was the one I liked more and I went with that. I did put both on my wish list though, but still have to choose a favorite. 

- Knockout City (Block Party Trial) was incredibly fun (05.24). This was a rare time where I wanted to buy the full version of the game (wish listed). I enjoyed everything about this game; how it looked, how it played, etc. The only downside was that no one in chat was able to join me. Still had fun playing with random people. 


- Soul Searching was surprising (05.26). Interesting in a deep way, but interesting in an odd way too. Definitely one to watch or experience yourself. Your mileage will vary. 
 

- My copy of Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World came in (05.28). Currently scheduled to be played next year to coincide with the anniversary of playing Monster Boy and now Dragon's Trap. 
 

- Cadence of Hyrule | Impa (05.28). The run started great, but I had troubles with Octavo that extended the stream. Plus I found out after the fact that for the second half of the stream, my camera was blurry. Oh well. 


- It was good to finish out the trilogy of Donkey Kong Country with Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (05.30). It's definitely not my favorite of the DKC games, but it wasn't that bad. Plus we had some fun talk in chat about changing the meaning of d-bags to delightful bags. Unfortunately an actual d-bag showed up towards the end of stream. While I was applauded with how I handled it. I won't deny that they really soured the whole experience for me. It'll be one of those streams that I'll have a negative memory of. 


ETC========================= 

- ITZY - Mafia in the morning (Dance Practice) 

- Super Mario Bros. Z (Episode 2) 

- JOY - Hello (MV) 

- I am planning to delete all my dating apps soon. A few accounts have already been deleted. Holding on to the rest until July (or longer, who knows). I've also increased the age ranges and distance to see if anything makes a difference. Although I really hope someone gives me a reason to delete them sooner than later. Am I being bold towards someone specific? Maybe. We shall see. In the past, I've been told I come on too strong and I've also missed opportunities because I don't take the chance. One thing's for sure...I'm lonely. 

- That's a wrap on May 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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Saturday, May 15, 2021

April 2021 Entry

 April 2021 Entry


At times I felt April was a long month. Looking back at it, it also felt like it zoomed by. And apologies for the lateness of this entry. 

MISC========================= 

- I learned that I can't have Fanta anymore (04.03). Very disappointing as my options for drinks are slowly narrowing down to only water. 

- Because of health issues that started last month, I was regularly drinking sleeping medicine to help me sleep, but I wanted to stop taking it (04.13). That first night took a long time for me to fall asleep. The second night, not so much, but the third night was tough again. I started to take the sleeping medicine again, but with smaller doses than before. 

- Finally followed up with the cardiologist I started seeing at the end of last month. They called saying that they could schedule me to come in for a stress test on the 18th, but I asked if I could come in the next day. So I had scheduled to go the next day (04.15). I went in, waited a few minutes in the waiting room, was brought into one of the offices to get all the normal tests (heart rate, temperature, etc), waited a little longer, then was brought into the room for the stress test. Stripped down to my shorts, had the wires and cables connected on me, got on the treadmill, and waited to start. Then the doctor came in and asked a few questions with one of them being how often do I exercise. When I said I didn't, he decided to not continue with the test. At that point, it had been over an hour being there. I think everyone except the doctor realized my mood changed. They took off all the wires, I got dressed, and was brought back to another office. My mom joined as they explained they didn't want to risk me passing out from the stress test especially since I wasn't exercising regularly. They opted to do a nuclear test, but needed to submit another EKG to the insurance to approve it. As they were getting ready to do that, I asked for a few minutes because I was not in the mood at that time. Talked to my mom for a bit before having the nurse come back in to do the EKG. The nurse asked if I was okay and I straight up said "no." She could tell in my tone as well that I wasn't in the mood. As we were leaving and waiting for final words from the staff, I refused to make eye contact with anyone. The staff did apologize for any inconvenience they might have caused. I looked at them, bowed, and then we left. 

They were the ones that suggested doing the stress test. They were the ones that said it was okay to come in to do it. They were the ones that decided to no longer do it after finding out I didn't exercise regularly.  While I was glad they were looking out for me not passing out, this was a big waste of time. This could have been easily avoided had they asked that question over the phone. Or they could have asked that when they originally wanted to do the stress test. Even then, if the stress test was too stressful, I could have stopped. That's the point of the stress test, to see how much I can take. Not to make me pass out. I don't think the doctor realized how stressed I was about the whole situation and how he might have possibly made things worse. 

We did go back one more time a week later to do a sonogram of my heart. That visit went smoother. Had to get more blood taken afterward as well as get a prescription of vitamin D pills, which I take once a week now. But there has been no update on going in for the nuclear test as of typing this (05.10). The doctor also said there was something in the sonogram he was worried about...but didn't say what it was. Even the appointment reports don't state what it is...

My mom has already scheduled a check up with her cardiologist. This has been the second time within a couple of years that I have been dissatisfied with a doctor. Last time was with the ENT. There are similarities with how those doctors were and how they treated me (as if they don't recognize me, etc). At least with this cardiologist, the staff was good. Here's hoping seeing my mom's cardiologist works out better. In the end. I want to figure out what's going on. 

- Saw a friend from high school who I'm still in contact with (04.21). Went to eat at Lopez. Finally got his physical copy of Captain Toad. He's been in the loop of the medical stuff that's been going on lately and has been acting as a third opinion for things. It was good catching up with him especially after all the stuff we've both been through lately. 


- Got my copies of Yes, I am Sana (04.21). I knew I wanted to buy one of them, but I pulled the trigger and got both. The main content in the photobooks are the same, but the random card and postcards were different. Even though I had seen some of the photos, the ones I didn't see amazed me. Definitely had a few times that I stopped on longer than other pages, ha. 


- Friends and ex-friends have been popping up in dreams lately. One involved dating someone (04.23). Thing is that I woke up multiple times from the dream, but the dream continued when I would fall asleep again. That rarely happens. 

- So I've been getting cuts on my legs for years. I wouldn't know where they came from because I wouldn't notice them until I see I'm bleeding there. But the cuts would be around the same spot no matter which leg it was. But I finally realized why (04.26). It's from bumping into the corner of my bed's metal frame. Mystery solved. 

- Round 13 of movies is in the books. My favorites this time were The Hot Flashes, Who Gets The Dog, and Detective Chinatown. And of course the Back to the Future trilogy was fun to rewatch. 

https://twitter.com/ArnellragasA/status/1377606684026097667 

WRESTLING========================= 

- Both nights of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver were fantastic (04.07-04.08). Of course NXT delivered. They always do. 


- Wrestlemania 37 was so good (04.10-04.11). To be back in front of a live audience of that capacity, you couldn't help but appreciate what they were doing. Nothing like that energy and emotion you get from a crowd. 


H.E.R.========================= 

- There was this group I was facilitating while training who became Agent Obsidian. The organizer of the group had been to HER before, but this time she was here with a new group of coworkers. The group was loud in the lobby so I had to raise my voice in a kind way with a smile on my face to get their attention. It's a volume I've used when getting  rowdy teams to listen. They then calmed down as we brought them to the briefing area. Back then, the briefing area had tons of items on the shelves and sometimes groups would take things and play with them. One popular item was a Star Wars Clone Trooper helmet. It was never a shock to see anyone put it on. But as I was explaining the rules, one of them put it on. With a smile on my face, I walked over and took it off and everyone laughed...except the organizer. Anyways, we carried on and eventually got them into Mo's Safehouse for their session. 

I don't remember if the team escaped or not, but they had a fun time. I remember sitting on the windowsill by the door as they were leaving and the organizer asked if there was a manager around. I replied with "I'm the manager in charge," which is what I was told to say when there weren't any actual managers on site. At that time I was Lead Training Facilitator I believe. She said nevermind and left. I recall talking to Agent Obsidian letting her know of how the organizer was during the session. She also agreed that she seemed like she wasn't having a good time and that she was actually being rough with some of the props. We mentioned how she tossed things to the floor that were "done" even though some were fragile. If I didn't ask Agent Obsidian to tell her to be careful with some of the items, I did. Because she should have known already since she had been to HER before. 

The next day, the manager pulled me into a private meeting. He and the owner got an email from the organizer from the group about how I treated her group. How I yelled at them, how I took off the Clone Trooper helmet, etc. They mentioned that they already refunded her group, asked that I write an apology email, and didn't want to hear my side of the story. I was not cool with that, but I complied. After that, I also got a phone call from the owner reiterating similar things and that he was disappointed. I half-heartedly wrote an apology email draft and sent it to the manager and owner. The owner replied with something along the lines of it being generic and that "you know what you did, you yelled at them." To which I replied "now you're asking me to lie. I did not yell at them at all." Either I added my side of the story to the email or the manager pulled me aside privately again and I was able to tell him what really happened. I raised my voice to a level they've heard me use multiple times. I kindly took off the Clone Trooper helmet, which was funny to everyone except the organizer. I talked about the organizer's mood, her attitude, how she handled the props in the room, and that she asked to speak to a manager, but didn't want to when she realized I was in charge that night. After hearing that, I believe he spoke to the owner over the phone. Then he apologized to me and said I didn't have to write the apology email anymore. The owner called me again and also apologized. 

During all that, I was also talking to Agent Obsidian about what was going on. I don't remember if she was also pulled aside by the manager or if she spoke to the owner, but I wanted to make sure she knew what was going on. She knew what went on, she was there to see it. 

While I was glad I didn't have to write an apology letter anymore, the refund was already sent. And even though things were cleared up, I really was disappointed with how I was treated. Were there instances in the past that might have made them think I was capable of yelling at the team, maybe. But I would have expected that in year 1 or year 2 of working there. I had changed a lot during my 6 years there, but this was a negative moment that sticks with me. It really did cement for me that I need to hear multiple sides of the story before making decisions on this or similar matters at work or in life. 

GAMES========================= 

- Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle | Captain Commando (04.01) 

- Demo Showcase 60 (04.02) 
A good crop of demos. A shame that the AVICII demo was mostly muted. It was fun. Getting to play The Wonderful 101 after its original Wii U release was satisfying. Made me realize how crazy and fun it was back in the day. 


- Nightshade (04.04) 
Getting to play Nightshade after seeing reviews from it years ago, what a crazy game. I don't think I would have dug it back in the day. I can appreciate it now for what it was trying to do. Wish I could have 100% it, but didn't know that a factor of something I did early on would have affected that outcome. 


- Apex Legends (04.05) 
Cool to finally try Apex out. It wasn't as bad as a lot of people have said, but that might be because it was my first time with nothing to compare it to. It sure did take up a lot of space on the Switch though at 30GB+, which was the main reason I pushed it ahead of the line for free-to-play games. 


- KUNAI (04.06) 
Such a fun game. Combat was good, traversal was smooth, and it all flowed well. Unfortunately, it did have some missable treasures. Granted those were all money chests, but I technically didn't 100% it even though I did everything else. And...this game is the reason I won't be doing streams over 8 hours anymore. The last hour was almost exclusively fighting the final boss. Combine the twitch reflexes necessary to beat it and that I was low on energy...I was visibly shaking. That hasn't happened since...Star Fox 64. So I need to better regulate stream times. A game that can be beaten in 9-10 hours minimum, those will have to be split into 2 streams from now on. 


- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (04.08-04.12) 
I had so much fun replaying Super Mario 3D World. Still shocked that we 100% completed it. But it was so satisfying to do after so many years. Following that up with 100% Bowser's Fury was phenomenal. While Bowser's Fury was short, everything about it was done so well. It was a great mesh of 3D World on Odyssey. Highly recommend both of them. 


- Monster Hunter Rise amiibo (04.10) 
Even though I had all 3 reserved, they were delayed. The store wasn't even sure what was going on. Got 2 of them and had to wait a few more days to get the last one. But these are superb amiibo with awesome detail. I thought Magnamalo would be bigger, but it's still a beefy boy. 


- Indie World Showcase (04.14) 

- Cooking Tycoons - 3 in 1 Bundle (04.14) 
I had 2 out of the 3 for free, Burger Chef and Pizza Bar Tycoon. Food Truck Tycoon was on sale so I purchased it with the DLC. But I gave each one a solid 90 minutes. They were what I thought they would be, but I had fun trying them out. 


- Trials of Mana (Angela + Duran, Hawkeye) (04.16-04.20) 
I really enjoyed the 3D remake of Trials of Mana. Almost everything was improved upon. It played well, it hit the "nostalgia" note for the SNES version, and the combat was fun and satisfying. There were a few downsides with obvious pop-in and some audio glitches, but they were small blemishes on an otherwise wonderful experience. Plus we did all the extra stuff to unlock New Game Plus and even beat the secret boss slime. I do plan to play it again in the future to play as the other 3 characters (and possibly a 3rd time for the final pairing), but that's most likely going to be on the one year anniversary of this playthrough. As much as I enjoyed this remake, I needed to take a break from the Mana games in general. 


- The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (04.21) 
Very excited to finally play these. Part of me is heavily considering playing it in auto mode the entire time. Like I will attempt to figure things out, but then switch to auto to see whether I was correct or not. While I haven't reserved the US version yet, I did pre-order the Japanese version. And I don't plan to play it day-one. I kind of need to know how long the game/s will be and then plan from there. 


- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (04.21) 
Got my physical copy from my friend when I met him for lunch. We both got the digital one on sale and he no longer needed the actual cartridge. He sold it to me for $10. Still saved more than half with it and the digital copy. 


- Demo Showcase 61 (04.22) 

- Batman: The Enemy Within (04.24-04.25) 
A year after playing Batman - The Telltale Series, we played the sequel. Since we were all kind and compassionate in the first game, I decided to be a jerk in this one. Even though we were a jerk, we didn't let anyone die. It was really tough making those decisions. The story was really good though. Very much like the first game, I kept wanting to see more. Highly recommend either playing it yourself (because you can make your own decisions) or watching my playthrough of it. 


- Mini Trains (04.27) 
This game does not take an hour to beat, ha. It's unique for sure, but it was deceptively difficult. Those watching started helping out. And Reversed2 and KrispyChicky made guest appearances via Discord to tell me how to do one puzzle that they were trying to do themselves, ha. Definitely memorable. 


- Cadence of Hyrule | Frederick (04.28) 
Unlike our Aria playthrough, we actually beat the game as Frederick. His challenge of needing rupees to stay alive was interesting. It was more of a factor at the start, but once we had a lot we only had to worry about not losing our hearts like normal. Despite it being our fastest run ever, it wasn't as easy since we only found one bottle to rely on for extra health. Next month, an Impa run. 


- The Peace Keepers (04.29) 
This was not a good brawler. With most of the beat-em-ups we played, we usually beat it with every character. 2 out of 6 was enough. They did do an interesting thing with having multiple paths and different endings. But it's just not a good game. Found out afterwards that they also took out almost all of the music. There's maybe 3 in the US version, but 24-28 in the Japanese version. They also changed all the super moves. Can't believe they did that. 


ETC========================= 

- YEJI - River 
Yeji is definitely my second favorite member in ITZY. This and other things lately have solidified that. 


- WENDY - Like Water (MV) 

- WENDY - When This Rain Stops (MV) 

To no one's surprise, Wendy's solo album is absolutely incredible. I really hope she gets to do more solo songs in the future. 

- TWICE - Kura Kura (MV) 

- ITZY - Mafia In the morning (MV) 
A great song. For me, I always feel it ends too soon. However, I really like it. Been learning the choreography in my chair. 


- Heck of a month. Loaded with health stuff and loaded with long running streams. For those reading this, I will say that I have been feeling better. As of typing this (05.15), I have actually been able to sleep flat on my back for a little over a week now. 

- That's a wrap on April 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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