Closed Orchid's Mysterious Garden

[Okido]

Oh, I still haven't written that post about JN102. Damn.
I'll get to it eventually — but every time I try I end up getting distracted, because it reminded me of something else, or it gave me an idea for some other thing, et cetera... >_>

Not doing so hot today. I had really bad allergies all day yesterday, which I assumed were just from dust/dryness, but I'm now trying to figure out if I've actually caught a cold. I don't get sick very often (once every few years, even) but when I do it really kills me. I already kind of feel like I'm running on half a battery and I only woke up about 2 hours ago. OTL

I also finally hatched a new

I regret to inform you that Howie, my last Tama, passed away at the age of 18yr a while back

Tamagotchi, whom I'm aiming to evolve into Kuchipatchi this time. His name is Crispin because I can't think of anything else.

 

[Okido]

 

[Okido]

I am truly sorry for the above post. Never again shall I post such a fowl thing.

 

[Okido]

Allergies are still fighting me a little it seems. Yesterday was particularly rough, but it's gotten a bit better today so I think that's good. I would like to go a day without some kind of ache though... OTL

I replayed (most of) Deltarune Chapter 2's alternate route last night. Not gonna spoil anything, but man it's still completely fantastic. Just such good storytelling, atmosphere, and sound design; it's crazy.
I'd already played it once, but got stuck at the last fight, and that's basically what's happening again lol. I swear it's a thousand times easier normally...
I foresee future chapters' secret bosses just getting further out of hand and having straight-up Touhou lunatic difficulty bullet patterns by the end.

Crispin evolved into Kuchipatchi like I was aiming for, by the way. To which I say, isn't this the cutest arrangement of 16 pixels you've ever seen?:

Kuchipatchi isn't my #1 favorite Tama anymore, but he's definitely in the top 10.

oh, uh, also...

Spoiler: complaining about cartoons/JN spoilers-ish

There's some stuff going on with Pokeani right now, and the appearance of a certain past companion basically just got confirmed... but I personally really don't like her as a character, and didn't want to see her return here... so it's just making me very upset, because I don't wanna hear about it, nor can I really express my displeasure without just sounding dismissive and biased. T_T

So I'm just here in the back watching it happen like:

Anyway, that's all, bye again.

 

[Okido]

Kuchipatchi isn't my #1 favorite Tama anymore, but he's definitely in the top 10.

...out of boredom, I now present to you my top 10 favorite Tamagotchi characters. Because that's just the kind of blog this is.

Spoiler

#10: Makiko

I have a fondness for the purple and haughty. Makiko is way better than Memetchi anyway.

#9: Kuchipatchi

When I went through a brief Tama phase as a kid, I think Kuchipatchi was the only one I knew by name, just because I liked him so much. Plus his name was just fun to say.

#8: Furikotchi

Have you ever seen a more polite-looking pendulum clock? The wiki states that "most of the time he announces the time correctly, but when he's too excited, he forgets what it is". me too, dude, it's okay.

#7: Sukatchi

So very stylish. Also apparently he loves ska music, so just... try and process that for a minute.

#6: Kunoitchi

kitty! (I like her brother Gozarutchi too, but... look. Kitty.)

#5: Nazotchi

Maybe it's cheating to even list Nazotchi here, because you can't technically raise him in any release and he's always a secondary character, but I love him anyway. He's just so... weird. Also he's a postman.

#4: Togetchi

Kitty!

#3: Maskutchi

I love how unabashedly creepy they made this guy. From the GB manual: "Maskutchi likes to learn, but it can be cranky and a little mean at times. It has the unnerving habit of staring at you from dark corners." C'mon, Maskutchi, don't do that.

#2: Nyatchi

KITTY! She changes color depending on her mood!

#1: Ginjirotchi

I'm not sure how this happened because I remember really hating Ginjirotchi when I was younger LOL. I think it's because the very first Tama I ended up raising on my current device was Ginjirotchi, and I got attached to him. One of his descriptions says he's "undemanding, cheerful, sensitive and lovable", and I think he's... a penguin, maybe? Whatever he's supposed to be, it's cute.

These are all from the vintage or Connection eras, because that's just how I roll. But I'm also not counting any of the crossover Nanos, because then my favorite Tamagotchi would be Eevee, and that's just unfair. xp

 

[Okido]

late late reply but ^ I can't even tell you how many times I've heard my family refer to Tomodachi Life as "Tamagotchi Life".

The Corner Shop games look cute though; maybe I'll find a way to play them soon...

---

General life update:

Currently considering making a Pokémon headcanons blog around here like some others have done. (they seem like a lot of fun, I just worry I'd run out of things to say pretty quickly.)

Currently dreading packing up all my stuff for my imminent move. (sometimes I regret being a collector at heart.)

On the other hand, currently anticipating organizing all of it in my new room. (Happy Home Paradise prepared me for this.)

Currently playing a ridiculous amount of Sims 3 to pass the time as usual. (I got the Generations and Late Night EPs earlier this week and I like them a lot so far, I feel like there's still so much stuff in them I haven't seen yet.)

The other day, the battery finally went kaput in my Tama P1, and Crispin was unfortunately lost to time.
Interestingly though, when I managed to put a new one in (did I mention it beeps extremely loudly until you replace it) it showed a glitched screen, displaying a frozen white egg sprite, with the discipline/needs symbol lit up. None of the buttons did anything though so I just hard reset it on the back of the case.
I'm kind of intrigued as to what part of it made it show the white egg sprite upon a new battery being inserted. In the international releases, which is what I have, the egg sprite is black — only in the JP releases is the egg white. I theorize it might still be in the ROM somewhere and that was just the first sprite it could pull? Maybe I'll look into the known glitches on the P1/P2. Is it possible to corrupt this thing?!...

...this is just the kind of absolutely riveting content we talk about here at the Mysterious Garden.

(P.S. I just realized the acronym for this blog's name is "OMG" and I'm shocked that I didn't even realize that until now. go forth with this knowledge.)

 

[Okido]

Ha, I'm still here.

Sorry if I've been lurking slightly more around the forums recently; aside from just how busy I've been, I've also just been feeling kind of socially awkward and a little more shy than usual in general lol. It happens; I'm not exactly the most outgoing person in the world anyhow.

Moving is now imminent! Not looking forward to the last-minute stuff but everything else is pretty much done, I believe. Aside from my laptop and Switch, I'm also gonna be nervously carrying my Wii in my backpack rather than just throwing it in a box, because I'm honestly slightly worried if it gets bumped too hard it'll just cease to work anymore. (The GameCube will be fine, however, as it's forged from almighty Nintendium.)

Obligatory and possibly final Tama update for a while: after I replaced the battery, I took care of the next one that hatched pretty casually and only when I needed to, rather than tending to its every whim at all hours like I usually do. And wouldn't you know it, the one I didn't even care enough to name ended up evolving into... Mametchi, the one I've been trying to get this entire time, that you can supposedly only get with perfect, flawless care. How that happened, I fail to understand. Maybe he just appreciated the new batteries?
Regardless, he's been on pause for a couple days now, because I honestly couldn't tend to a needy virtual pet on top of everything else and I didn't want to neglect the little guy. ^^;
(I also had a weird dream this morning that I unpaused it and it was now broken and/or possibly sentient, so that's fun and hopefully not a prophecy???)

But anyway, sheesh. Hopefully, I'll be able to chill out soon enough. In general.
When I'm finally in the new place I might catch up on some things I said I'd do around here; like the Platinum LP, and that potential headcanons blog I talked about.

 

[Okido]

It's a new month, enjoy your May.

As I said, I'm gettin' outta here a little later today. I haven't been this tired in a hot minute (and of course now all I want is to sit down and draw, when it's nigh-impossible for me to do so OTL).
I'm slightly worried about how my cat will adjust to everything, since he hasn't ever had to move before — hopefully he won't be making too much of a meowing ruckus in his carrier on public transit, but otherwise I think he'll be fine.

Speaking of the month of May, can you believe it's already been almost a whole year since JN068 aired? ...yeah, that's the kind of thing my mind defaults to, whatever...

 

[Okido]

don't worry kerf, NOW it's the 4th.

Kitty was more than a little freaked out by the move, but he seems to be adjusting okay. My desk is still buried under a bunch of boxes though, so if I want to draw I'll have to do it elsewhere... T_T I did put in a little spot on my bookshelf specifically for my collection of Eevee stuff though, so that's always fun.

To keep myself occupied I've been watching some random OS and DP episodes in the background while doing other stuff. I've been meaning to for a while, but I think now would finally be a good time to start from EP001 again and try to make my way through every series in order. (Though I'm also in one of those moods where I just want to watch my favorites over and over and over again, so I worry I may not make much progress once I get to season 5 or so >_>)

I think now might also be a good time to start that other blog I was talking about... might as well, eh?

 

[Okido]

well I had an interesting morning... Have you ever woken up at 5:50 AM to a loud crashing noise in the darkness of your room, only to discover that your TV and everything plugged into it had fallen onto the floor (presumably pushed over by your cat)? I have. Boy was that a lot to take in.

Anyways, after much deliberation, my Pokémon headcanons blog is now up and running right here. Nothing much of note there yet, but aside from headcanons I'll probably put in some longer character analysis type stuff eventually...

And in conclusion, I hope you (yes, you) have been having a good day today.

(P.S. this is the 100th reply here!)

 

[Okido]

aw thanks Blanc! Maybe later today I'll put some more stuff there. I'm trying my best to take it easy, even if it proves difficult.

I started my Pokeani rewatch yesterday and I'm up to EP029 now. I'm looking forward to EP031 for... predictable reasons but EP032 is one of those ones I don't remember much about.

anyway, I'm gonna go sit down or try to draw or something...

(edit reason: I got shy about part of this post LOL)

 

[Okido]

Waaaaaait you can MAKE your own UTAUloids!?!?!??!???!!?!?!? dude that's absolutely amazing holy wtf

calling @takoyaki to the front desk...
I don't know if you mean me specifically but yeah of course you can! As long as you have a computer and a microphone, anyone can record their own UTAU. (Drawing a cute design for it is just an added bonus.)

It's also not very hard to do so! There's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to tuning it and making covers - but it's super fun and rewarding if you have the patience for it

---

I don't have much of interest to say today (when do I ever). I just got back from a really long walk, wherein I stood around admiring the sunset and the pine trees. Fascinating, eh? ...who am I kidding, it was actually pretty nice. I was in a bad mood and it felt like the exact thing I needed.

I'll leave you with this, because dang it it's my blog and I'll post whatever I want:

Spoiler: journeys dub spoilers as usual

JN113: The Last Mission! Get Regieleki and Regidorago!!

ANOTHER LEGENDARY GOH CAPTURE INCOMING?????? If Gary is also here, I’m guessing this is where they resolve their differences, maybe even working together to catch one each?

forums.bulbagarden.net

OMG have you guys seen this...? I already talk all the time about how cool the Regis are, they're the absolute best legendaries so of course I'm more than excited to see them - but Gary gets a winter coat design too how cute is that??????

My dear friend @Hawthorn said to me that this episode seems like it was made with me in mind. That statement scares me with its accuracy and I don't like it ._.

 

[Okido]

hiiii ! =D

I'M JUST HERE TO YELL I LOVE THE REGIS I think they're adorable!!

(not gonna spoiler this one cuz it's not technically a spoiler)
Me too!! Steel is my personal favorite, but I like the rest of them just as much.

This sounds so nice... There's a lake by my house I wish I had less anxiety visiting, but past issues and all that. And same about having interesting stuff to say LMAO... regardless I love chatting with you Orchid, I definitely need to get out of the house soon myself, I'm way too much of a hermit. Glad you're feeling refreshed!

aw well it's nice to hear from you! I get where you're coming from, I definitely don't go out as much as I would like to lol. A lake does sound nice (I'm actually right nearby a river myself)... I hope you get to visit worry-free soon enough

---

And including a general update: I've been in a weird mood these past few days and can't really think straight. Or really think at all for that matter, because this post alone took a monumental several-hour effort to write. I feel like I'm all out of RAM and I need to restart my brain; hopefully by tomorrow I'll feel functional enough to catch up with stuff OTL

 

[Okido]

Feeling stuck in a rut with my art lately. bleh. I need to try new brushes, or mess with my shading methods, or... something. Drawing just feels stuffy right now, which is making everything else feel stuffy too. Does that make sense? Probably not.

Very much looking forward to that HOME update for BDSP/Legends — it finally got me to actually install HOME.
I'm gonna transfer all my oldest Pokémon out of Bank and up into Brilliant Diamond as soon as it drops. I didn't put them into SwSh, because I wanted my very first Torterra from Diamond to live in Sinnoh again, don't judge me. He was meant to run around in Amity Square.
Kind of weird to me though that the release date for the update isn't definitive yet, it's just... "soon". That could mean anything???

I don't have much else to say, I'm still tired and foggy-feeling from my 1 whole hour of sleep yesterday. ummm...

Question of the day: Is there a Pokémon or character that you previously disliked or didn't expect to like, but after giving them a chance they turned out to become one of your favorites?
Just pondering this today because of my Tentacruel in BD. I was pretty neutral on Tentacruel before and only trained one to be a counter to Roserade, but now I actually like the thing a lot because I got attached to it. Such is the way of Pokémon.

 

[Okido]

I found your garden of mystery Orchid!

welcome R2!

Spoiler: how I feel when you guys post here

---

I wish I had more to say but my day was mostly average and somewhat tiring. I had an Oreo with my morning coffee (which was a surprisingly great combination and I do recommend it), I got caught in the rain a couple hours ago due to my blatant disregard for thunderstorm warnings, and now I hope to just sit down and get some art done.

My sleep schedule is all out of whack too, and I should probably fix that, but... eeeh...

 

[Okido]

man, I know we don't yet know what the next series will look like... but I'll say it now, I'm gonna be real sad when Pokémon Journeys ends.

I've been thinking intently about what I said here in this thread, and what it means in the long run:

Spoiler: pokeani spoilers and speculative nonsense

On the one hand, yes, I think it's great that we're seeing all these older characters making progress towards their goals and seemingly tying up any loose ends with their stories. Even if they haven't made huge advancements since last time we saw them, it's still nice that all of their returns are actually contributing to the plot in some way.

On the other hand, it kind of makes me sad, because in some cases it feels a lot like we might not ever see them again after this series.

It feels like they're going out of their way to give some of them a good send-off, before they retire them from the series as a whole. Mainly Iris and Serena in particular. (edit: Butch & Cassidy, too!)

I'm happy they're doing that, and I much prefer it over simply letting them fade into the background as they've done in the past, but I can't help but feel a little wistful about it.

While I don't mind letting some characters finally rest for good (Iris is getting amazing closure, Paul will probably be handled well, Cassidy and Bert have already moved on with their lives[!!], and uh... I'm personally not too upset to see Serena go) — and while I know some will never really be gone (i.e. Brock and Misty)... I still worry about the ones for whom Journeys might be their "last chance", so to speak.

Whether or not we go back to a more traditional format for the Gen IX saga, the odds seem very slim that we're still going to be seeing callbacks left and right every other week like this. That's a big part of what makes JN unique, that "world tour" aspect.
Therefore, those that are being sent away now are probably not going to come back for years, if ever again — and those who still haven't been so much as mentioned yet (like May, or even Ritchie, for instance), will just continue to sit in off-screen land indefinitely.

It just feels weird, ya know? It's a lot better than what they used to do, where they'd just let most characters disappear without alluding to them again... but doesn't it feel weird that they're setting up a lot of them to, potentially, never be able to return again after this? A lot of these past characters' departures have seemed very final, or at least that's how I've interpreted them. Obviously nothing is certain about the Gen 9 series yet; but it really feels like they're gearing up for... something with all this, and it's a little concerning to think about what that could possibly be.

...And of course, this all may or may not be a roundabout way of saying... no matter what happens with Gary at the end of this series, I'm probably gonna be in tatters about it LOLLL. No real closure, leaving the future uncertain? I'll cry. Way too much closure, making it seem like we'll never see him again??? I'll definitely cry!! I think that decade of absence after DP gave me, like, favorite character separation anxiety. say goodbye to Ash this time, at least. T_T

Besides... I really like this saga, and while I'm aware a lot of people have been over it for a while, I don't feel like I'm ready to move on just yet. It's the first one I've actually kept up with the whole way through from beginning to end! I'm attached to it!!
Regardless of where all this is going, and even if I end up being totally wrong in the end — when it's over just a few months from now, I think I'm going to miss JN a lot.

I know this isn't the kind of content you come here to see, but it's been weighing on my mind recently more than I'd like to admit. ...wait, then what IS the kind of content you come here to see?! >_>

Anyways, I've been shiny hunting in Let's Go Eevee for the past few days, since now I'll be able to transfer any shinies from LGE to Brilliant Diamond, and the catch combo is a lot easier than using the Poké Radar.
I haven't really touched LGE since 2020, when I was trying to hunt down a shiny Diglett for what seemed like weeks. The shinies I ended up with by the end were a Chansey, a Zubat (the only two encounters in Diglett's Cave that are NOT Diglett/Dugtrio)... and a Psyduck on a route I wasn't even trying to be on. And no Diglett. So yeah, hopefully things go better this time. ._.
This time I'm hunting in the Power Plant, since I would be okay with any of the Pokémon except Chansey that spawn there. Nothing yet, but I'll update if I run into something sparkly!

Sorry for the mile-long post this time around. Consistency is not what we aim for here on this blog.

 

[Okido]

This time I'm hunting in the Power Plant, since I would be okay with any of the Pokémon except Chansey that spawn there. Nothing yet, but I'll update if I run into something sparkly!

~15 hours of hunting later, shiny Magnemite has been acquired:

Spoiler: image

Such a subdued but pleasant shiny palette. I named them "Alloy". I didn't keep track of how many encounters it took to find it, because I didn't want to suffer - -;

up next... Koffing, Voltorb, or Electabuzz. Then I will struggle indefinitely for an Eevee or Squirtle.

On an unrelated note, it's been 90°F+ (~32°C+) temperatures here today, and that will continue into tomorrow. It'll go back to normal after this weekend, but it has been dampening my spirits all day. Just let me live in fall forever. OTL

 

[Okido]

hold on can I leave my 794 cyndaquils?

yeah sure, just put them over there with the rest:

Spoiler

---

sorry for the quietude around here. I've been feeling more than a little bit off lately, so writing here feels more difficult than it should.

Is it just me, or was this the longest month ever? I personally feel like it's been May for a hundred years. Thankfully it'll be over tomorrow; I really just want to move on.

Oh, and don't worry guys, I have good news regarding this thing I said in passing back in February:

I genuinely wouldn't mind another Pokémon Smile update yes I actually use that app I can do what I want >_>

toothbrush hype

Edit: I got so enthralled by toothbrush hype I forgot to mention there's more Scarlet/Violet news tomorrow. ._.
New Eeveelution(s)... new rival(s)... please...?!

 

[Okido]

Today's been okay so far. Always nice to get time alone, especially on a weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to get outside a little later once it's cooler; for now I'm going to (try to) catch up on some art.

I say "try to" because I am... a little exhausted, I've been sleeping especially terribly this week. Back on Friday I pulled an all-nighter to catch JN113 when it aired (Pokémon airs at 5:55 AM in my time zone... whatever it was worth it) — and I didn't go to bed early that night, even though I was dead tired — and last night I was awake until 7AM for... no reason?? I don't know how I'm alive. I need to just go to bed and pass out tonight, this is getting ridiculous.

Also, a fun fact I've recently noticed, for anyone wondering how long I'll procrastinate on something: every time I restart my computer, it still tells me that Adobe Flash will no longer be supported after December 31, 2020, and I should uninstall it now before that happens.

I've been clicking "remind me later" for over two years...

 

[Okido]

Also hello!!! I hope you're okay. I'm going to make a little roost for myself here while I slowly pull back into station. I'm sorry for keeping you so long, I missed you! What's up in the life of Orchid?

aw hi Blanc! I was just wondering yesterday how you were doing. I hope you've been okay too!

Not much has been up over here if I'm being totally honest lol, things are pretty uneventful at the moment. Let's see, erm...

This week I've been meaning to look into college stuff again — but ughhh, it's just so daunting to me. I keep chickening out every time I look at it a little too long. - -; I'm definitely gonna try to do something this summer/next semester though... just, maybe, not quite sure what it is yet...

I haven't really been drawing quite as much as I would like to lately. Just feeling picky about it and haven't been in the right frame of mind for anything more than doodles.
Most of my time has been going into programming/romhacking stuff again, even if I've been a little too tired this weekend to work on it very much. It's fun though; it's not a bad way to deal with that creative urge when everything else seems like too much effort. (I'm also trying to do some route design this time around, so there's currently a huge, pieced-together graph paper map that's taped to my bedroom wall at the moment. It looks... scary? xP)

On another note, I decided to get Tetris Effect: Connected on the Switch yesterday since I've heard nothing but good things about it. I haven't played it yet (I got distracted by playing Pokémon Snap for the billionth time, since it got added to the NSO VC, but that's beside the point >_>) — I'll probably sit down and do that a little later today. I think/hope I'll like it, but I'm also slightly intimidated after just playing PuyoTet for years LOL.

Aaand I also installed Pokémon GO again, after having sworn off it back in like, 2016. It's actually... a lot of fun these days (don't tell past me that I said that, he'd kill me). There is just something very satisfying about all the little dailies and things they've added since I last played, and a lot of the old grievances I had with the game seem to have been fixed or at least improved in some way (more variety in stuff to catch/hatch; candy just seems easier to get in general; and the battles feel a whole lot less tedious and random, so Gyms are actually enjoyable now). Plus the AR finally works with my current phone, so I get to take pictures of my buddy Eevee in places... you can't beat that

I guess that WAS a lot, but I'm just very wordy and that's all that's happened since I last made a real post around here lol. Sorry to throw all that on you!!! I hope you're well, and that you've been listening to some good music/thinking of some cool ideas/doing some stuff that makes you happy. I and everyone else all miss you — so even if you're still on your way back, the train is welcome to stop at this station anytime. ^^