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A night of hardcore MMOing leads to me sleeping in a bit, but eventually I roll out of bed and (after morning stuff) into Adoravil. As I recall, I was going to spend today trying to earn me all the money I can. My funds today start at 14,028. Let's see how it goes...

Ooh, right. Also there's a contest goin' on! Isabelle reminds me on the Twilight Zone screen that from 9 AM to 6 PM is the BUG-OFF. There'll be prizes! Naturally I'm down for that. She also pipes up that someone new has moved in. Right, the mysterious "PomPom". Let's see if I just got a Moogle townie or something. I've also got mail, which is a letter from the "Happy Home Showcase", inviting me to visit. So they can steal my precious bodily fluids, no doubt.

Me and my fashion-impairedness leg it over to the event plaza right away, to meet... Nat?

He tells me all about the rules, which are: Catch bugs. Bring them to Nat. He will study them and judge them. Most awesome bug in town wins. Contest ends at 6. ... Rockin'. I can do this. The first bug I catch nets me 34 points, putting me in just under Bertha, who caught a mantis worth 38. I'm not gonna stay put under Bertha, I'm aiming for the top! The second, a particularly lusterous tiger butterfly, well...

Nets me 45 points! ... Funny, why is Nat drooling all over the bug enclosure and groaning about deliciousness? He gives me a "robo wall"...

...which I instantly replace with the pawprint wallpaper again. And if I can rake in an 80 point bug, I'll get some SPECIAL LIMITED-EDITION BUG-OFF whatsit I dunno because that ain't happening. Anyway, off to fish and talk to townies.

Teddy is startled to see me...

...but I quickly correct him and we chat it up. Actually, he and everyone else don't have much to say. It seems like the entire town is obsessed with bug-hunting! ... Well. ALMOST everyone in town.

Mallary is still more concerned with performance over experience, though. She doesn't care if I'm a freshman. She's been called worse. I drop in to see who Pompom is and how they're doing...

Another duck! Three bears, two ducks, a koala and a hippo. What a weird little ghetto of species this is turning out to be. Pompom lives up to her name by ending every other sentence with "Rahrah!" so that explains that mystery. She's called Pompom because she's a cheerleader duck. ... I wonder if she'll sell me her cheerleader outfit.

Coming out of her place, I snag a new bug!

Sorry, Nat, it belongs in a museum. Which is where I hoof off to, once I'm done the "dig up fossils" part of the day. New fossils today: A ptera skull, a styraco skull, an Ankylo skull. We're getting there, guys! Assembling a full dinosaur, it'll come! Or we can make one entirely out of skulls! That won't be ENORMOUSLY CREEPY!

The Timmytommy entity doesn't have anything I really want today either, but I do drop two more Playcoins on a fortune cookie. Let's see...

I have no goddamn idea what that means. What? Dadaist fortune cookies never really took off on the market. I flap the scrap of paper at T(o/i)mmy and he trades this nonsensical yammer for a Goal Post.

Nice, but I'd better move it.

As I come out of the Nookling's place though... I feel a weird presence. It's like I'm being... watched from somewhere.

They just stand there at the edge of the street, staring at me. Lurking. Waiting. I'm kinda freaked out. Just... staring... Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch...

Oh! This is "Digby", and he runs the local Happy Room Showcase. He's also Isabelle's brother, which explains THAT. Maybe she lives in a showcase home? Like one of those prefab demo houses they had up for the really nice suburbs in the early 90s?

Uh, Digby? ... Happy Room? ... Digby, come back to us. Eventually he gets past memory hill and we get down to brass tacks. If I activate StreetPass, any time I walk past someone out in the world playing Animal Crossing I'll get a model of their home blah blah I've already tuned him out because nobody uses Streetpass. Maybe once Nintendo's upgrades to the system are in place people will start getting those, but I still find myself doubtful. Anyway I'd have to leave the apartment.

I turn it on anyway, just in case. I am an optimist.

There was one other thing someone tipped me off to. The "train station". The front door was closed when I checked it the first time, but apparently it's steathily opened ... yes, there it is. I wander in to see what can be done inside. There's some free-to-use storage lockers!

I stuff the goal post in there for safe keeping. Somehow.

There's also an extensive guide to "Excursions" and inviting people to your town. So now I know how THAT works. Maybe I'll drop by other people's towns someday? It also informs me that I can access the things in lockers from other towns (nice) and from my home dresser, when I get one. (Mystical!) Wow, it's like they ganked Resident Evil's locker technology. There's one final note that once people have visited I can tag them as "Best Friends" and IM them from my town any time I want.

Very progressive, Nintendo. IM them? This leads to me noticing the chat system.

WORDS WORDS WORDS.

Anyway, I know a lot of you darlings have picked up Animal Crossing. Maybe we'll hang out, as long as you're cool with appearing on the blog. And why wouldn't you be? I am CATALOGING STUPID FISH JOKES.

How can you not want to spend all diem with this? I mean... there's new bugs too!

Again, straight to the museum.

With that, I elect to take a break. Current bell total: 26,636. Check back later today (after 6 PM EST) for the stunning Bug-Off Conclusion! Who will win the bug catching contest? SPOILER IT'S ME.