alt-bluesman

[alt-bluesman]

Animal Crossing memories, part 3

I think this is the final part!

My Joy-Cons haven't completed their journey yet, but in the end I decided that I'm not going to put much faith in them & grabbed a set of used Hori controllers in the meantime. Gave Pan a final tour today. Didn't want to invest in a capture card, so a couple of screenshots is the best I can offer!

Sadly there's no way in heck I can stuff all of them into a single post, so I'll just narrow it down to my favourites & the ones I have something to say about!

First, the map. My villagers were Gruff the goat, Kitt the kangaroo, Sprinkle the penguin, Kyle the wolf, Ione the squirrel, Olaf the anteater, Al the gorilla, Jambette the frog, Fang the wolf and Fuchsia the deer. I liked them all, fuglies included. I like a lot of the ugly ones now!

Naturally my biggest dream was to invite Shrek to the island. Shrek never showed up. I had to resort to home-brew methods!

Frample's home. I couldn't fit the big-ass yard in the frame, but there was a little islet with a snapping turtle living on it. A homage to Jacksepticeye's Tortellini, forever jammin'!

The Zen Garden that my villagers never really cared for, haha. I found out they aren't very eager to interact with any objects that aren't close to their houses or the plaza. They sometimes goof around on the southern beaches, but that's pretty much it!

(At least those lads were having a time of their life)

Ione's yard was the bane of my existence - the laggiest part of the island. I was never able to pinpoint the cause, there was no water and not even that much foliage. Some folks say that snow causes the game to get quite choppy, but it lagged during the other seasons too. Maybe it was all the custom paths?

Sprinkle lived close to Ione. Her yard was a bit more spacious, so I could build Snowboys there. Some of them still ended up in the river!

The main road with 5 frickin' waterfalls. Not visible here, but there was another one on the left. A good place to be if you want your eardrums to explode!

This cliff served no particular purpose, but I liked the view! This was my stargazing hideaway.

The campsite was pretty dang huge and placed right next to the island entrance. A decision I came to regret after some time. Now I prefer them tucked away in a secluded spot!

Isle of Spooks! My villagers never visited it except for that single time when Gruff decided to sneak in and investigate. Gruff was an absolute legend.

The beach next to the campsite was one of the few decorated beach areas that I was actually quite happy with!

The entrance. Nothing too fancy, but there were so many failed attempts at making a decent entrance, lmao. Makes ya finally settle with whatever ya have!

Kitt's yard! I remember feeling very proud of it once, but it doesn't really appeal to me anymore, especially that blob of a path.

Farmlands. That rainbow flower garden was a convenient way of keeping most of the flower breeds & colours in one spot, without them overtaking an entire island, but probably not something I'd build today. I hated when balloons flew over it because I couldn't shoot them down from there!

This yard was between the farms. First it was Tasha's, then Claudia's, then Fang's. I never bothered to redecorate, haha.

And here were the crops. Leif has failed me & never brought the carrots!

The woods behind the farms. (Wayyy too much clutter for my current tastes, but at least my main man Gruff was there)

The pirate bay! One of my oldest builds, but still very much up my alley!

(What if I told you that Pompom never really moved away?)

Alrighty, that's most of the western side of Pan covered. Here's a land bridge that connected the main cliffs behind the plaza. Waterscaping around it was absolute hell! Admittedly, I'm still quite proud of it & it's something I'd like to build again, but most likely without the dang river.

The road leading up to the Museum. Museum was an important building for me because of my first job, but I never quite got the surrounding area to look right. I do like the stone lion-dog statues, though!

Jambette's yard was my absolute favourite spot on the entire island. Minimalism was the name of the game. With a frog model from Jim!

Kyle's yard had a bit of a side business in the top left corner!

Eastern river mouth. I was all about putting those little islets on my rivers and lakes. It's fun and games till a special character or a fossil decides to spawn on them..!

Moving back to the eastern cliffs: here are some hungry gnomes and Olaf's yard. I always gifted all of my dresses as well as dumbest pieces of furniture to Olaf. He took it all like a champ!

I gave Mr. Resetti an extra job on Pan. (And a lazy bear compadre)

A seasonal icy drink bar - with Al's ass cheeks in the background for everyone's viewing pleasure. Al was the very first villager I found on a mystery island on a rainy day. Seeing his silhouette in the rain, I legit thought he was some kind of zombie. I didn't invite him back then, but when I bumped into him again on my last villager hunt, I decided to take him. Mad lad has finally made it!

Fuchsia's yard. A bit funky, but I still like it!

And that's it! There's a bunch of other screenshots I wasn't able to fit in, like the absolutely glorious board drawings from my best friends. Don't worry though, they are safe and sound with me! Farewell, Pan. You were my introduction to Animal Crossing and even though I'm ready to move on, I will always remember you very fondly!

#Animal Crossing #New Horizons #Animal Crossing New Horizons #ACNH

[alt-bluesman]

I quit my first job

A job I once genuinely loved and had high hopes for! In itself, the work was fine and I will stand by it - but the boss, the environment and some of the colleagues were not. Even though I'm going to miss some aspects of that job, I don't and won't regret leaving. In the long run, it was hopeless. I've been meaning to share more about that even before I quit (I already knew I would), but life kept getting in the way as it often does. So more below the cut if you're interested.

Caution: big honkin' wall of text ahead!

I worked for 3,5 years in the museum and did many different things: painted and assembled wooden toys, guided tourists, organised art workshops for kids, participated in cultural events, wrote and translated texts & letters, operated the helpline, prepared exhibitions, took care of the souvenir shop, even did some simple gardening from time to time. For all of that I'm going to be forever grateful. This job has taught me a wide range of skills and helped me overcome some of my fears. For the most part, it had a positive impact on my life.

I believe that late 2022 and early 2023 were some of my highest points there. When you take a look at my Twitter activity, you will notice how these two overlap! But things began to take a turn and pile up in early Summer '23. Co-workers that were previously friendly became distant and cold. Those that were helpful stopped caring. The boss, who has always been insufferable, became an absolute egomaniac. Mobbing and inequality in treatment were unbearable.

Let me explain a bit more about it all: first, the co-workers. With one exception (that I will get into later), I don't want to say too much about them because most of them were good people, just stressed out beyond their capacity. I absolutely get that - I lost count how many times I was at my wits' end at that job! Some people, however, turned out to be big disappointments. Faking friendship so they could get your help when they needed it, then spreading shit about you as soon as you left the room. Everybody was a target and so was I.

There were serious conflicts between the workers from way before I joined the team and they have only gotten worse as time went by. And the quarrels affected everyone: if you liked person A, then you weren't allowed to like person B and so on, even a small gesture could get you in trouble. I feel very bad for ever taking sides, buying into it all is honestly one of my biggest regrets. There's no way around it: I feel responsible for contributing! But I was so unprepared, so oblivious then that even before I knew it, things already spiralled out of control.

Alcoholism was another major problem. Feckin' hell, I left my family home to get away from my drinking dad and not long after I had to deal with the very same thing at work... It applied to more than one person, but one person in particular was so bad. Either not coming to work because they were too drunk or (much more frequently) coming completely hungover. Barely able to talk, stinking like a pile of garbage, looking more like a bum than a worker. And what did the boss do? He didn't do shit. He deliberately chose to ignore the problem despite it affecting both tourists and workers alike. And he was perfectly aware.

Speaking of the boss, he himself would be worthy of an entire book! The worst possible person in that position you can imagine. During the entire 30 years of being alive, I have never met anyone even remotely as dumb as him. Not. A. Single. Time. He struggled with understanding basic sentences and was entirely dependent on another person (his Right Hand) to do everything for him. That didn't stop him from having a very high opinion on himself though, which created massive tensions. I can't even begin to explain how frustrating it was to work for someone with an IQ lower than a brick!

He told me several times that he expected my full loyalty and respect. In my opinion both of those things are earned, you can't simply demand them without giving them back / proving you deserve them. And deserve he did not. Take talking with him in person for example - he usually didn't let you even finish a full sentence, and when he did, he was very determined to show you that he wasn't interested in whatever you had to say. He berated one of the good co-workers to the point of them bawling their eyes out in front of him and didn't let them out even though they were begging him. A tyrant with absolutely nothing to show for it.

I was sick and tired of being attacked too, usually for things that were either beyond my control or I wasn't responsible for at all. Some tourists made a mess in a different room and the cleaning lady didn't tidy it up? That's my fault. I reported a technical problem to a worker that was supposed to fix it, but they didn't do it immediately? My fault. Another worker was refusing to give me a batch of goods for sale even though I kept asking them for it time and time again? You guessed it - my fault. The last one was quite a shitstorm as the culprit hastily left the room without saying a word while the boss was yelling at me, lmao.

I spent the last year working as the main cashier. I liked the role and most of the extra responsibilities that came with it, but it didn't take long for me to realise that it made me an easy target. I was almost always the first person the boss saw when he entered the main building. He and some of the other freaks the museum attracted! I also still remember when our accountant (that works in a separate place) started berating me for issuing an invoice on a day that, in their opinion, I shouldn't have done that. I said I was strictly following the boss' orders and redirected them to him. They outwardly refused and continued to chew me out for 10 more minutes. In the end, it turned out that the invoice was perfectly fine. They never apologised. Ah, fun memories..!

I know that many (if not all) of these things come with any job to some degree and for the most part, I was able to tolerate it all. But once they became an everyday occurrence, they started to take a toll. The environment became so toxic that I could smell the freaking poisonous fumes at home. I kept coming from work with a heavy mind, unable to think about much else, briefly bounced back to life on my days off, then it all came back. Rinse, repeat. No matter how many things I did well, the boss would always find that one thing he didn't like and focus solely on it. My self-esteem was gone and I was feeling like a hollowed out husk.

At the beginning of the post I mentioned how it all slowly took a turn in mid 2023 - well, the Fall of that year was when everything rapidly came crashing down. I don't like telling this story because it's both hurtful and somewhat convoluted, but it's essential to understanding why I decided to quit! It was the straw that broke the camel's back. To be frank, I didn't even consider leaving the job before it happened. So what happened?

In September I received a call from a woman who asked about organising kiddie workshops directly at schools. We didn't do that, in fact I don't think any museums do. But I told the caller that it could be possible to arrange, I just wasn't qualified to make a decision on my own and had to discuss it with my boss and colleagues - and since most people were on their paid/sick leaves at that time, I asked her to call back later that month. No biggie! A perfectly normal conversation, one of many. We brainstormed the idea at the museum. The final verdict was that we could do the workshops at school, but would charge more since that would take extra preparations and require some kind of transport.

When the anonymous woman called again and I told her her that, she proceeded to unleash her inner demons on me. Gave me a good ol' piece of her mind and didn't hesitate to sprinkle in some threats too. Because I gave her some extra information about costs that she herself asked for. Suddenly, it was wrong for some reason. I was always very polite to tourists & callers and I can assure you that this time was no exception - I was ready to address all the shit she was spewing too. But as soon as she finished talking, she disconnected without giving me a chance to reply. To say that I was floored would be an understatement!

I worked there long enough to answer hundreds of calls. None of them were even remotely as brutal as this one - in fact, none were mean at all. People were either always nice or neutral, but usually the first one. A lot more understanding too. And just.. normal, you know? Not only that, but this woman also seemed to have access to information that I for sure didn't give to her. The call was so awful and suspicious that I immediately reported it to the boss. He told me not to care, pfff. Nothing new!

Then, a couple of days later, one of the co-workers returned from her sick leave - the boss' Right Hand (that's how I'm going to refer to her for the rest of the post). She learned about the incident from another worker and when we happened to be in the same room, she told me that the woman who called was her daughter. Not only did she know about it all from the very start, she was also delighted with what her daughter did. To say that I was shocked would be, once again, an understatement! Right away I told her that I didn't appreciate any of that and the call shouldn't have been anonymous.

I simply couldn't wrap my mind around it all. I did several favours outside of work for Right Hand, including a major one that happened just 10 days before the nasty call. For quite some time, we were even friends. Or, apparently, "friends". Her family kept taking advantage of my mom's dental work. Heck, I did a favour for the daughter too - painted some stuff for her kids for free. She knew me and knew full well she was talking with me on the phone (Right Hand confirmed it), but I didn't recognise her voice since we met only a couple of times. Dang, why are people like that..?

After some back and forth, I decided to tell the boss who the mysterious caller was. I thought situations like these shouldn't be tolerated at work and believed we should be more transparent with each other. Congratulations, Frample: that was the biggest mistake of the year. Boss promptly took Right Hand's side and I ended up being scolded again, for God knows what. Soon afterwards, I took a week off to take a break from it all, process it and gather some strength. As soon as I came back to work, the boss called me to his office to give me another rebuke. I immediately noticed that Right Hand didn't waste any time to completely turn him against me. She didn't even hesitate to let him know about a private conversation we had after work. I was appalled. This was the very moment I made my decision to quit.

Everything that happened in the following months only confirmed that it was my only choice. My fate has been sealed. Right Hand made sure to make my days at work a nightmare, she took every chance to take revenge, yelled at me, reported the pettiest of things to the boss, went out of her way to let me know how much she disliked me. I haven't approached her about what she and her daughter did even once after the day I found out it was them. I didn't want to bring it up, hoping she would eventually let it go, but it wasn't working. I'd even say things got progressively worse as time marched on.

One of my biggest regrets is not going along with my gut feeling about her! I didn't like her at the beginning - the very first thing she did was lie to me, lmao. When I was applying for the job, she told me it would be just an internship and not a day more because they were already "packed". But it didn't take long for me to see that the museum was, in fact, seriously understaffed. Now, I know the boss must have told her to lie, but in my opinion she didn't have to. She has always been so adamant about telling everyone how good of a Christian she was; she really didn't have to.

"I never did anything wrong" was her mantra. Wow, okay Adolf! Looking back on it all, there were so many red flags I should have paid more attention to. And for quite some time I did: I frequently told my co-workers that I respected Right Hand for all the hard work she did, but could never be her friend because she wasn't my type. But there was this other person who kept telling me to give Right Hand a chance & I finally listened. So we became "friends" for a couple of months. Big mistake. She took advantage of me and my mom, then gave me a whack and tossed away like a piece of trash.

Thankfully quitting my job was smooth sailing. Excluding one instance, the boss was generally kind to me and ultimately accepted my decision. One of my co-workers protested a lot, but I couldn't let that change my mind as I was already scarred for life, lmao. I had enough, wanted no more. I asked the boss to call a short meeting, so I could say a couple of final words to the team - I did my best to part with them in the most amicable way I could, thanked them for those 3,5 years of working together and apologised for what I did wrong.

This was the last time I saw Right Hand. Thank God! During the meeting she blurted something along the lines of "I wish you that you won't regret this", but in a rather unpleasant, menacing tone. She was also the one to end the meeting with a loud, crass "Enough?!". Out of all the workers, she was the only person that didn't come to me to say her final goodbye. She didn't even attempt to pretend to be nice, I'll give her that much! Now I have her number blocked and I hope I won't ever come into contact with her again. Nor with anyone of her kind.

The boss had a toothache & had to go to my mom's clinic soon after I left. He made a bit of a scene there! He never talked with my mom about me before - going as far as pretending he didn't know her and turning away when she attempted to greet him at her clinic. (What a jerk!) Anyway, he pulled her aside and started begging her to tell him why I quit. He kept asking if it had anything to do with him and said he'd welcome me with open arms if I decided to come back (bullshit). The interrogation lasted for a while, but my mom managed to escape his nagging questions without saying the exact reason. I'm proud of her because the last thing we need is another revenge from Right Hand. Does Right Hand know I quit because of her? I don't think so - after all, "she never did anything wrong". Other workers told me that she behaves as if I never existed.

I'm so glad I quit. I had no place and no future at that job, and the few things I enjoyed weren't worth the emotional damage. The last three months were torture, I involuntarily lost about 4 kilograms (less than 9 lbs) due to stress and sickness. The truth is that I could lose almost 10 times that much and it wouldn't hurt me, just wanted to acknowledge the reasons behind it! I was constantly battling depression. Burning through my painkillers too. I bought this huge box with 50 pills back in Spring, thinking it was such a stupid purchase because I wouldn't be able to use them all up before the expiration date. By the end of 2023, the box was almost empty. Intense headaches & migraines were the culprit and these are nearly always stress-related in my case.

This job was a roller-coaster, a crash course of life lessons. Many of them very bitter. I don't think I'll ever be able to trust people the same way I used to before I started working at the museum! But that's for the best - I hope it will spare me a couple of harsh moments in the future. I've always been very naive and easy to manipulate, it's time to pull those out like weeds they are. I'm unemployed as of now, though I have some savings that should keep me afloat for a bit. I'm healing.

Thank you for reading if you made it all the way to the end!

[alt-bluesman]

Animal Crossing memories, part 2

It's brand new day, time to get back to it! I'm going to toss in some of my favourite ACNH screenshots between the paragraphs. Stuff that I wasn't able to fit in previously, most of it silly, some pretty. They don't have anything to do with what I have to say, but I'd like to share them somewhere & I don't want this post to be a plain wall of text either. Let's go!

So what is my overall opinion on the game? I think it's awesome. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't get around to experience any of the previous AC instalments, so I have no way to compare. I know that some of the faithful fans of the series aren't necessarily thrilled with New Horizons & looking at their criticisms, they raise good points! Personally I enjoy the game for what it is: there's no wrong way to play it and there is no pressure to do it one way or another. I keep coming back to the Sims and Minecraft for the exact same reasons.

When I opened New Horizons on my birthday this year, I finally took the time to check out all of the features they added over 2 years ago. Better late than never I say! They were met with a mixture of excitement and disappointment, haha. Mostly that first one, thankfully. Cyrus' customisation workshop is hands down one of the best things ever - you no longer have to hunt down your desired item variations on Nookazon or beg your friends for them. There are so, so many new objects in the game. Some of the prices were reduced. You can customise your home inside and outside as well as expand your storage. Froggy chair is back!

Let me tell you though, I was appalled when I found out that bulk crafting wasn't implemented. Why, Nintendo. Why! I know they're still adding minor patches to the game, but I'm afraid it's safe to assume that we're never going to get that at this point. I understand why it wouldn't apply to big items, but fish bait? Come on. We can already buy stuff in bulk. Same thing applies to Nook Miles tickets, why the heck can't we print several at the time? Or fly from one mystery island to another, skipping the airport? Eugh. I heard that Nintendo is notorious for not taking the voices of their fanbase into consideration, so I believe we're stuck forever with these pesky mechanics!

But I don't want to be a negative Nancy. I will stand by my words: the game is awesome. I'm thankful for what we got! I believe New Horizons truly deserved its success and I hope the next instalment in the series will receive a warm welcome just like this one. Unlike some players, I don't think another major update is necessary. Of course it would be great, though the game feels finished to me - with all the events, items, recipes, customisation options, it's a solid title. I can safely say it's one of my favourites as far as all games go.

Now, with all that said, what does the future hold for my little island of Pan? Well... the days of Pan are numbered. After some back and forth, I decided it's time to delete my save file and start fresh. I will take a hot minute to explain why (so bear with me if you're curious), but first I want to say why it was a tough choice. Pan is nearly dang perfect for me. Great layout, long pier, blue airport, oranges as my native fruit and windflowers as native.. flowers! I have quite a few items & board drawings that I hold very dear because they came from friends. I like all of my villagers a lot. I love how the island looks. I have so many memories. After all, it's my true and only Pan.

What's wrong, then?! A lot, man. A lot. Even though I'm proud of how the island looks, it's not fun to play on and that alone is a big deal breaker for me. I (mostly) finished it around the time when heavily-terraformed and decorated islands were all the rage & unfortunately developed that unhealthy mindset of comparing myself to all those much more skilled players. For whatever reason, I wanted to live up to somebody else's standards. Not anymore! My next keyword would be "less": less decorations, less flowers, less trees, less cliffs, less waterfalls. (Seriously. They are so frickin' loud)

Admittedly, Pan doesn't have nearly as much clutter as some other islands do, but it's still a problem in many different ways. The whole central part lags and it drives me nuts every time. I'm pretty much confined to walking on paths as there isn't a lot of open space anymore. Said custom paths flicker a lot. Performing some of the daily tasks can be difficult. Wanna catch a fish? There ain't no space. Shoot down an airdrop? Nope, no space. Build a Snowboy without the snowball getting obliterated 10 times in a row? No. Space.

I know there's always an option to declutter, remodel or flatten and start over - I did these and considered them again! But each and every one seems so daunting now. This brings me to my next point: I miss so many things from the early stages of the game. The spacious, natural feeling of a brand new island. Darting around the place like there's no tomorrow. Slowly building everything from scratch, making your own way through it all. Catching all the critters, searching for fossils, getting scammed by Jolly Redd. Heck, even paying off all the effing debt!

I'm always a strong advocate for a second playthrough. It's true that I love jumping into games with as little knowledge about them as possible, hardly anything can replace that fresh, first experience! But it's so much fun to rediscover too. I pay a lot more attention to detail whenever I replay because I already know the main story and I'm ready to take in all of the smaller things. There is no real story in Animal Crossing, just progress and I hope to take it a little at a time. When the game came out, I had a bit of an unhealthy obsession with it, haha. (Who didn't, though?)

I never visited any of the famed treasure islands, but I did time travel quite a bit. Both things can be absolutely okay if they're exactly what you're looking for. Not sure if that was the right choice for me. I played for hours on end, grinding so hard that I think I just burned myself out much sooner that I wanted to. I couldn't bring myself to touch New Horizons for a long time after that. I believe many other players experienced something similar. That and also all the dramas that inevitably erupted with an introduction of so many new players to the AC community. The game kind of faded into obscurity after its prime. Folks were collectively tired.

Many aspects of that initial hullabaloo were great, not gonna lie! Jumping on the bandwagon, sharing our adventures, making memes. Still, it feels nice to come back after it all subsided - to a game that is, after all, supposed to be relaxing and mellow. I've mellowed down over the years too. Not only that, but I also don't feel the need to rush through it as there is no fear of spoilers anymore, I already know all the unlocks, I know what happens in the game. I'm looking forward to getting back into it with a fresh, blank canvas to have fun on and a more open mind.

------------------

There will be part 3 to this! Hopefully soon after I can access my Switch again. I ain't letting Pan go without a bang either, I will snap pics all around it and post & describe them here. If I can figure out how, I will record a tour. If it's worth it, I will save a dream address. This little fictional land meant so much to me (and I can't even fully explain why I get so attached to stuff like that). I even don't know why I just spent so much time talking about Animal Crossing. Perhaps it's easier for me to talk about games, cartoons and fictional characters than my personal life? It is easier for sure!

#Animal Crossing #New Horizons #Animal Crossing New Horizons #ACNH

[alt-bluesman]

Animal Crossing memories, part 1

New Horizons was my first Animal Crossing game. I recently picked it back up after about 3 years of barely touching my Switch and got into it again. The floodgates of memories and nostalgia opened far and wide. Just like in 2020, the game came at the right moment for me (and many others), but for different reasons this time!

... then my enjoyment was abruptly cut short by the Joy-Con drift, lmao. I used the console for less than 700 hours in total (so not even a full month), diligently keeping it clean and shielding from any damage. All in vain! My left analog stick started showing signs of the dreaded drifting within half a year of first use and soon after it got so bad that it rendered any game pretty much unplayable.

So I did the thing. I sent my Joy-Cons all the way to Czechia for free repair (there is no official Nintendo distributor/representative in Poland). I'm glad this is still an option because it is honestly the only right thing to do after the whole Joy-Con blunder. I hope they don't replace the hardware with the same trash parts they used the first time!

While I'm waiting for the controllers to come back, I may as well go on a little trip down the memory lane, just for the heck of it. I went through my gallery and found out I have almost 300 screenshots, holy smokes. I'm usually not this eager to save screenshots or clips, but I'm so glad I did it! Now let's jump right into it and pay a short visit to the island of Pan!

I went into the game knowing almost nothing about it. But everybody was talkin' about it, playin' it & lovin' it, so I wanted in! The first moments were enchanting, I was completely unfamiliar with the rules and mechanics, so having to figure it all out on my own was very exciting. That's how I like to approach my games - the less I know, the better. It's funny to look back at all the newbie mistakes you made. Huh? Well then... it's certainly funny to me!

(I used to think that writing board posts affected the game and your villagers could somehow understand what you wrote!)

Katt & Mac were my starters. Not the worst, definitely not the best. Then all the bird villagers began moving in and I was fuming. With few exceptions (and penguins! I love penguins), I find AC birds to be rather boring and unappealing in appearance. And Pan was full of them. Pompom the duck promptly became the main recipient of my rage. Now cue the examples:

She really didn't have it easy on Pan, haha. Looking back on it though, it was all part of the fun! Some of my my most memorable moments were born this way! Made the game sorta challenging too because I wanted to move her out so bad. I also had no regards for island theme or aesthetics at that time, meaning when there was a bird house, there was fire, trash and barbed wire. And poop.

Later I bought a bunch of fakemiibos and kicked Pompom out with Rowan. I remember being frustrated out of my mind at all the birds, but then moving out villagers with cards became way too easy. I still regret buying so many of them, I think I will attempt to sell them except the absolute favourites. Focus on villager hunting as it makes them a lot more precious!

Oh I'm sure you won't, you poor thing. You know what's crazy? I don't hate Pompom at all anymore, I kinda developed some fondness for her after all the absolute mayhem I put her through. I wouldn't mind her coming back to my island. May we meet again in the future, Pompom... you moron!!

I have almost no recollection of visiting Harv's Photopia, but apparently I did that a lot! Least favourite villagers versus villagers I liked. And Katt that fell somewhere in the middle. She got stuck with cleaning after us, but at least didn't have to put up with ominous death threats while wearing dumb clothes.

Visiting and inviting friends was so much fun. Touring their islands, seeing their progress, drawing on boards, exchanging items or DIY recipes and sending letters are some of the best memories I have! The loading screens were abysmal & the lack of mini-games was rather disappointing, but I still got a lot of enjoyment out of the multiplayer despite its limits.

One of my favourite things to do is arranging the villagers' yards based on their style, personality and hobbies. Those are old and outdated examples, though my decorating skills are still very modest compared to all the pro players - it's absolutely amazing what some people can pull off in this game. But even then, it's another fun thing to do. What else do ya need!

(Getting that first lily of the valley was a big moment for me, came unexpectedly & took ages)

Kangaroos are my most beloved species in AC. Sylvia was my fave for a long time, but I believe that spot belongs to Kitt now! I got Kitt from another player and based on what they told me, she was well loved on their island. All the gifted clothes she came with are so darn cute - especially the red bow she likes to parade in. I know she's just a fictional animal, but man, I just love my Kitt. I wish other kangaroos such as Marcy, Koharu and Valise were still in the game.

(Naturally, nothing could have stopped me from ruining Kitt. Nintendo has since censored "feck" and it's no longer allowed. FECK)

"Fatass" didn't get that kind of treatment yet! It raised to the rank of the most popular catchphrase on Pan. Along with, regretfully, "ketchup".

(It's a moment of triumph whenever my deranged ideas get sprinkled on whatever they say & the results turn out like this)

I love New Horizons to bits, but I have to agree with one of the main criticisms it received - the dialogue is overly polite and repetitive, therefore it feels rather lackluster. I didn't get to experience rude remarks nor Mr. Resetti's angry outbursts from the previous games. I feel like I'm missin' out! I wouldn't necessarily want to be constantly berated by fictional animals, but I wish this game made me experience a wider range of emotions. So sometimes I build those awful Snowboys just to get a small taste of what true AC veterans still fondly remember.

Credit where credit is due: I thoroughly enjoy the dialogue between villagers. It can be interesting, funny, witty and spicy, sometimes a bit mean too! I live for that stuff & always bolt towards them whenever I see them talking - it's one of the very best highlights of New Horizons for me that often appears to be overlooked by many other players.

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End of part 1! I will share my final thoughts, favourite screenshots and future plans in another post because I reached the image limit in this one, lmao. See you soon!

#Animal Crossing #New Horizons #Animal Crossing New Horizons #ACNH