My Blog

+ NEVER BACK DOWN NEVER WHAT???

Jun 16, 2024

NEVER GIVE UP!!! So... here I am, typing away on my laptop a little bit past midnight. It's certainly been a minute since I last touched this site, but I'm glad that I was able to get back into the groove of things and update some little bits and pieces around here, and most importantly, update my home page. I'm genuinely surprised at how quickly I was able to make something that I actually liked - it took me about half an hour to get it to the state that it's currently in, and most of that time was dedicated to the banner, not the actual coding. I had some weird W3 Schools fuckery going on in the original home page (think: id's for almost every div, 30 different CSS rules for things that didn't need them, lots of repetition that could've been simplified... the list goes on) that made it really bad to look at from the backend side of things, so I'm relieved that I don't have all of that excess code decimating my eyes whenever I want to update my changelog now. It's great!

On the fan side of things, I've been chipping away at my Pokemon X save, I just got out of Lumiose city and onto Route... 5? 4? One of those two. I haven't ordered any Pokemon cards lately (which has proved mighty beneficial for my wallet) but I have been eyeing some Pokemon plushies recently, specifically the Team Plasma Grunt Pikachu, the Hydreigon costume Pikachu and the Ghetsis Pikachu, or as I like to call it, the Ghetsachu. What can I say? I'll take any Team Plasma merch I can get. I've also been looking at some Purrloin and Cofagrigus (and I guess Kyurem too) plushies, but those are more of an afterthought since they're a lot cheaper than those first three... probably because of their size, but really, who needs a lifesize Purrloin plush? I do. Uhh I mean what? I didn't say that.

Lastly, on the life side of things, I'm leaving for Japan in about a week! Super excited for that. I'll be gone for a little under a month, and since the most technologically advanced thing that I'm bringing along with me is my phone, I won't be messing around on Neocities at all, since that would indubitably chew up all of my data real fast. I'm also bringing along my 3DS, mainly to keep myself occupied on the flights there and back, but also on the off-chance that I might Streetpass someone. I'm not counting on it though, I mainly just wanted to bring something that I can goof off on during my downtime that doesn't require a stable internet connection that isn't a book. I'm lugging a dictionary or two there and accounting for buying too many books already, I don't need a third lump of paper to worry about! Well, whatever happens, I'm looking forward to it a lot. Originally I was excited about buying a lot of stuff, y'know, like Pokemon games, manga from series I like, plushies, figures, cheap (or cheaper) tech, CD's, etcetera, but now I'm more just excited to actually go there and learn more about the culture, experience it firsthand yadda yadda and to actually use Japanese outside of a classroom setting for once... all that fun stuff! I'm probably gonna start packing tomorrow since I need to see what things I'm missing, and subsequently go shopping for said things.

+ Timeskip

Apr 21, 2024

It's been over a month since I last touched this site on Neocities, but yesterday I finally mustered up the courage to post the updated homepage... and promptly scrapped it, because who needs a 60% wide content div? Anyways, in light of all the ambitions I've had for this site, I've finally coded it into something that I actually like (even if it's a little broken). I know it's not the prettiest thing you or I have ever seen, but for now, I like the layout enough and most importantly, it's a home base for all the other stuff I've put on this site. Content over aesthetics, I guess? Either way, this isn't permanent. I still have a ton of coding to do before my home page looks like I want it... actually I take that back, I still have a shit ton of coding to do before my whole site looks how I want it to. But most of my pages look pretty decent right now, so my other webpages aren't really much of a priority.

I think my main focus right now is actually putting content on here, aesthetics be damned - I want to write! There's a couple webpages in the menu that don't actually exist yet (as I'm sure you've noticed), so expect some form of content update for those in the next month or so. Except for the shrines... I have absolutely 0 clue how I'm going to go about making those. But hey, all's well that ends well, right? I just need to buckle down and have a proper coding session one of these days, or as my friends call it, lock in.

+ Ambitions

Mar 06, 2024

I'm not too surprised that I've done a complete 180 and "rebranded" my site into a sort of digital Ghetsis shrine - he's been on my mind for almost two months straight now. Should I be worried? Maybe, but it's not ruining my life, at least. This isn't the first "rebrand" this site has had: I started off this site as a personal website with an emphasis on Hunter x Hunter, under the name Elastic Love. I got bored of trying to make a personal site (I didn't have as much to code about as I do now), so I renamed it Heavens Arena and went about making an "official" page for the arena, complete with signups for any possible contestants. That didn't really get anywhere either, but it was an interesting concept, in my opinion. I might revisit the idea later if I become a supporter - courtesy of Heavens Arena Management, of course. This was around the time I got into Pokemon Black, and I wanted to make a Pokemon fansite centered specifically around the Unova region... that, or Team Plasma. I can't recall what name I had at the time, but it might've already been renamed to Sammy Island, which, if you were wondering, is the name of my island in Tomodachi Life. I was going to call the Unova fansite Isshu, the Japanese name for Unova. Ultimately, that didn't ever happen. Bulbapedia has more information about Unova than I ever will. While my interests are constantly in flux (I am human, after all), I do think that this Ghetsis theme will be the last major thematical overhaul I do for this site, and honestly? I couldn't be happier. I finally feel like I've found my niche on the web. Also, I'm tired of looking everywhere for assets for several wildly different aesthetics. Now I can have more free disk space!

Of course, I'm plenty biased. I think Ghetsis is great; it's just my coding (and graphic design) skills that can't do him justice... yet. But I'll get there one of these days - coding on here is my hobby, you know. I'm not planning on turning this into a site solely dedicated to Ghetsis though. I have many, many more things I'd like to write about that don't include him, although he's kind of everywhere in my life right now. Well, I'll figure it out. I'll do him justice. Make him proud. That's my ambition, after all.

+ Valentine's Day 2024 Recap

Feb 15, 2024

Yesterday was interesting, if a bit uneventful - no sweethearts or confessions of undying love here (but plenty of SweeTarts). My parents went to a guitar concert, so I had the whole house to myself in the evening. I finished up some homework, took a shot of vodka, ate too much chocolate, watched all of Pokémon Evolutions and Generations... not necessarily in that order, but you get the idea. I also spent a good hour making gifs of Ghetsis from those two shows because as past me so aptly put it: "the world needs more ghetsis gifs and i am willing to provide."

I'm very picky when it comes to gifs, so all of the ones I made are in high defenition and subsequently have ridiculous file sizes - the smallest one is 34 frames and is 20.3 MB. I've figured out a workaround by converting the gifs to a .webm file and then having it loop infinitely, but it's a bit annoying that I have to do this in the first place. Ah well. I don't really mind though.

+ PLF Ghetsis, or: The Culmination of My Love

Feb 07, 2024

The PLF (115/116) Ghetsis card I ordered a last week back finally arrived today! As of writing this, it's already tucked away in my binder next to the two other full art Boss's Orders Ghetsis cards I own. I don't think it gets any better than this - my current collection of Ghetsis cards is only missing a few of the regular cards now, which are pretty cheap and I can easily get. I guess I can safely say that the hunt for my chase card is over! I'm still interested in collecting more of the Team Plasma cards though, so really, I'm not quite done collecting just yet, but there aren't any specific cards that I want at the moment. Since I'm going to Japan this summer (which I'm really excited for!), I'll be able to do a lot of shopping and be able to buy stuff at a massive discount... if I can find it in the depths of a second-hand store in a timely manner, haha.

Aside from Team Plasma cards, I think I'd like to try and get some of the Team Plasma card sleeves that were released as Japan Pokemon Center exclusives, as well as any of the Team Plasma merch that was released as part of the 2018 Sun & Moon Rainbow Rocket Secret Teams collection (here's the myfigurecollection link to it if you're curious). I wonder if I can get my hands on the Team Plasma t-shirt that was released then... That would be a pretty spiffy piece of merch. Either way, I think my main "priority" for Team Plasma merch at this point in time is collecting the official can badges of Ghetsis that were also released in 2018. It's definitely going to be a challenge to track them down, considering that they're around 6 years old at this point, but I'd like to make a Ghetsis ita bag one of these days - a small one, but an ita bag nonetheless. Since there isn't much Ghetsis merch out there (aside from the TCG Cards and that one Team Rainbow Rocket collection from way back when), I'm thinking of filling any empty gaps in the bag with some merch of the Kyurem line and Hydreigon line because those are arguably his two main Pokemon. While I do sometimes wish there was more merch of Ghetsis, I think the startling lack of said merch makes collecting it that much more meaningful, to me and any other Ghetsis fans out there.

+ On Illicit Pokéballs

Jan 22, 2024

I randomly remembered reading about the theory of some trainers having a seventh Pokémon on them today - if I ever find it, I'll be sure to link it here. Personally, I think it's an interesting concept to explore: if we ignore developer restrictions, it's almost like a law in-game that the maximum amount of Pokémon you can carry at any time is six - if you have a full party, the seventh Pokémon you catch immidiately gets sent to the PC in the Pokémon Center. Now I'm not sure how, but obviously that means there's some sort of technology that communicates (for lack of better term) with the storage system and sends your new friend on its merry way... which means that in order to bypass this limit, you'd have to hard mod (modify the hardware of) or soft mod (modify the software of) a Pokéball to not communicate with said system. In theory, it's not too bad, but my main issue is with care. When you go to a Pokémon Center, the nurse behind the counter physically takes your Pokéballs and places them on a device that heals your little (or big) guys. I'm sure an experienced modder would be able to bypass the set team limit and have the rest of it function as normal, but what about beginners? What about the kids who wanted to have just one more Pokémon? This could pose a real issue because of course the authorities are going to be curious as to why your Pokéball isn't connected to the storage system - why wouldn't you, a lawful citizen, want it to be so? Of course, the easy solution to all those legal troubles is to just buy more antidotes, potions, berries... you get it. It's more money you need to spend out of pocket, but I'd say it's less risky in the long run.

Then there's also the benefit of having a backup Pokémon for any unfortunate predicaments you might get into. Obviously this wouldn't fly in some highly official place like the League (can you imagine pulling out a seventh Pokémon in front of a member of the Elite Four?), but when you're in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, battling team grunt after team grunt with no doctor in sight, I'm sure it'd be incredibly reassuring to know that you have a last resort in your bag. I'm also curious about the possibility of a "modded Pokéball black market", whatever that would look like. Would it be shady dealings inside dark alleyways, or something more along the lines of Tor's Silk Road? Either way, I think Pokéball modders would make bank - like explosives, just because you can make them doesn't mean you should. Leave the dirty work up to someone else, yeah?

...In essence, if you owned a modded Pokéball you'd kind of be a criminal, but personally, I don't think I'd mind.

+ Laundry Day

Jan 20, 2024

I did some laundry today. It feels good to have all my clothes out of my laundry hamper and hanging in my closet again, especially after being out of power for 2 and half days. I'm not sure why winter is so cold this year - usually the worst we get in a light dusting of snow, if anything. I can't say I hated it too much though, since I got to spend time with my family and didn't have to go to school. Can't say I particularly enjoyed losing to my mom for two hours straight in a game of дурак, though. (Tradeoffs, haha.)

In terms of coding and the future of Sammy Island, I'm thinking of giving this site a major thematical/graphical overhaul right now; I might remove the splash page altogether since it's so empty and underwhelming. I don't have any theme ideas yet, but I definitely would like to have one for consistency. Maybe I'll make a theme around Ghetsis, since he's on my mind all the time right now.