Table of Contents
Video Games
Valorant
I never played tactical shooters like CSGO before, so starting to play Valorant was a rough experience. After some aim training and watching VCT though, I got better and peaked Diamond 1. There’s still lots of room for me to improve. I think if I committed to it, I could probably hit Ascendant, but I just don’t have time to play anymore.
Normally I try not to spend any money on in-game purchases, but this game has me hooked. I’ve spent nearly $200 on skins at this point. The satisfaction of the sound effects is just different.
I haven’t been recording my gameplay, so I can’t show anything nice. But here’s a decent clip one of my friends recorded for me in the summer of 2022.
Fortnite
I started playing Fortnite on mobile like most people when I got bored in math class back in high school. This was probably Fall of 2017? In my defense, I got the highest scores in the class, and I already knew how to do all the course material. If it was new content, I mastered it better and faster by self-learning. Other students in the class told me they understood the material better when I taught them compared to the teacher too. So, I feel decently justified playing Fortnite during class.
In any case, Fortnite was fun until they added the mech. I learned how to crank 90s, double pump, and do all the nice tech just for it to all mean nothing in the face of a no-skill machine that shoots unlimited rockets at me. The game was not good, and I quit. I got back into the game over summer and it’s in a better state now. Not as many sweaty kids and nothing extremely broken.
Minecraft
I’ve been playing Minecraft off and on since elementary school. I remember when I’d wait for my sister to finish her piano lessons, I’d be on my iPad building a huge world. In creative mode, I built a huge zombie, created my take on District 13 from The Hunger Games, and tried to build Rome.
When I got Minecraft on PC, the desktops I had at home weren’t powerful enough to even run the game at the lowest settings, so the experience wasn’t too great. But once I got my gaming PC and played with friends, it was so fun. We’d go through the normal game activities: netherworld, the end, etc., but we also just did random stuff.
In my opinion, Minecraft isn’t something you play consistently. It’s something you just hop back on every now and then. Usually, my friend group creates a server once every year, play for two weeks, and never touch it again.
Terraria
If it wasn’t for my friend and roommate Chris, I don’t think I would have ever made it past the first stage of this game. Why is it so hard for no reason? Terraria is a super fun game, but I just can’t survive. I get hard carried by Chris through all the boss fights.
I’ve only played mage class for Terraria, but I like playing up close and personal in fights. That’s probably why I always die. I don’t remember if I ever finished killing the final boss.
Call of Duty
Call of Duty was basically my entire life when COVID-19 hit and school became remote. I never played COD before, so Modern Warfare 2019 was my first COD experience. Every day I’d be grinding the skin challenges so I could get damascus. Once the obsidian challenges came out, I finished it for some of the rifles and smgs, but I couldn’t do it for every gun. Watching FaZe Jev do it was enough for me.
As weird as it sounds, I think Call of Duty was a huge part of me becoming more extroverted. I never shit talked because I just couldn’t think of comebacks quick enough, especially when all people say are derogatory remarks and there’s no civil response for that. Nevertheless, I think being in that environment just made me less afraid of people.
Cooking
Even though I claim cooking as a hobby, I never started cooking until summer 2023. It wasn’t even by choice. I had to so I could survive in New Mexico because I was not about to buy takeout every day.
I spend a good amount of time on YouTube watching cooking videos by Gordon Ramsay, Guga Foods, Nick DiGiovanni, and other content creators though. I also spend lots of time watching Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef. I love how cooking can be transformed to be not only sustenance but also a form of art. Seeing how people can elevate simple dishes to something delicious is just really inspiring. Do I hate how lots of high-end restaurants waste food for the sake of aesthetic quality? Yes. Do I hate how high-end restaurants serve you portions the size of grapes and charge high prices? Yes. But I do appreciate the amount of effort they put into one dish and seeing the process of it going from raw ingredients to something really amazing.
I’m still very new to the world of cooking, so I can’t cook too many dishes. But I am very proud of my steaks and honey soy garlic salmon.
Bowling
There was a Twitter trend at some point that said you either get girls or are good at bowling. Unfortunately, I’m good at bowling. My PR is 247 points and seven strikes in a row.
I started bowling back when I was a little kid. My aunt and uncle would take me and my cousins out over the weekends to the bowling alley and we’d get to play a lot there. I was throwing the bowling ball straight for a good while until I finally decided I wanted to get better. I noticed that my uncle would always curve the ball, so I started learning to curve the bowling ball and got it after some time.
Since I started curving, my average score improved significantly. I probably went from around 100 average to 160 average. Bowling is expensive though. As I got older, the less I’d be able to go, and now that all the cousins are grown up, I’m the only one still interested in bowling.
The most cost-efficient way to bowl is to buy the summer pass so you can play 3 games/day. Yeah, sure that puts a huge dent on progression because I could only play over summer, but that’s the only way to not go broke. Now that Bowlero decided to discontinue the summer pass, I guess I’ll never be able to achieve my side quest of becoming a professional bowler.
For those who don’t know much about bowling, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. From the ball you use to the lane, the game has a fair amount of complexity. There are different ball types that you use depending on the circumstance, and the lanes have different oil patterns that affect the movement of your ball. Factor in how the oil pattern degrades over time as people continue bowling on the lane, and now you have a variety of variables to consider before you throw your ball.
Vlogging
I honestly don’t know why I started vlogging, but it was a transformative experience and a huge influence on who I am as a person today. I called my vlogs vuLOGS to play on my last name. I posted my vlogs as stories on Instagram and lost a lot of followers. The vlogs were also very low quality and not good content at all. But I honestly couldn’t care less. Looking back, these vlogs recorded memories I had forgotten about and friendships I wish I could rekindle today.
I stopped vlogging when COVID-19 hit, but I’m heavily considering starting to vlog again. If I do bring vuLOGS back, I’ll probably post them on YouTube or create a dedicated Instagram account for them. Stay tuned I guess lol.
Music
Music is my escape from reality. I used to not listen to music at all, but ever since I started, I can’t live without it. My music journey is an interesting one. I started listening to 70s, 80s, and 90s music. Artists like Billy Joel, Backstreet Boys, Bee Gees, and ABBA were my favorites. Then I started moving over the Japanese music because I watched anime. After that I moved over the K-pop because I finally discovered that the one song my uncle would play in the car was Haru Haru by Big Bang. I stayed listening to K-pop for a good while, listening to old groups like Big Bang and Girls Generation. But I started moving into the modern groups like Twice, BTS, Blackpink, etc. Once the 4th gen groups started releasing music, I moved into K-R&B, then just regular R&B, then EDM and pop. But I eventually found my way back into K-pop and am now addicted to New Jeans.
Anime
Anime is another one of my escapes from reality. Seeing all these interesting worlds and how characters can do anything they want allowed me to forget about all my issues and take a break from stress. I watched a fair amount of anime, but I wouldn’t say I watched as much as the mega fans. I’m probably missing a few here, but here are the anime I’ve watched/am watching:
Fairy Tale, Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, One Piece, Attack on Titan, Your Name, Bunny Girl Senpai (anime + movie), My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Love is War, Weathering with You, 5 Centimeters per Second, Akame Ga Kill, One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100, Your Lie in April, Dragon Ball (kid Goku, Z, GT, Super), Toradora, The Garden of Words, Erased, The Devil is a Part-Timer, Violet Evergarden, Spy Family, Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, Rent a Girlfriend.
Star Wars
I’m a HUGE fan of Star Wars. Such a huge fan that I have probably around 100 action figures and many ships, tanks, and other vehicles. When I was in middle school, I’d set up my action figures to create battle scenes I’d think of and create a whole ton of different scenarios. The image below shows one of my setups, but there were a lot more and my collection has grown significantly since.
Now I try not to open any new Star Wars action figures I purchase because I know they’ll be valuable in the future. The quality of the toys has gone down significantly over the years, from the character design to the joints of the action figures being less maneuverable. It’s a huge shame. When I check the prices of some of the action figures I have that I bought for $20 back in the day, they’re priced at over $100 now.
I think my favorite Star Wars ship will always and forever be the Republic gunship. The design is just so cool and the sound effects plus fire power are just insanity. Even though the AT-AT is arguably superior to the AT-TE, the AT-TE continues to be my favorite tank. The rotating cannon, design, and movement of the tank is just to die for. My favorite trooper armor would probably be that of the phase 2 ARC troopers. The unique paint job each ARC trooper has on top of their pauldrons, kama, dual pistols, and little helmet scope just looks so sick.
Nowadays, I’m just trying to make time and watch all the Star Wars content being released. I’m currently watching Ashoka and personally think it’s pretty good. I’m mostly excited for the next season of Bad Batch though.
