Happy Birthday, Neopets!

When I finally calmed myself down (an hour later), I thought about all the cool occurrences that have happened to me on this site. I realized that I was truly blessed, because so far, I've received 4 Fountain Faerie Quests, 3 Pirate Draik Eggs, 4 Transmogrification Potions from Sloth, multiple visits from Boochi, multiple Nerkmids from the Alien Aisha, and prizes from all the contests I enter. All of this fun, just by spending an hour or two on Neopets every day! Neopets is such a terrific hobby!

Not to mention all the education this site has provided me. I became addicted to Typing Terror because I wanted to earn the avatar. I definitely didn't expect my typing to improve, but improve it did! I used to mix up the Z and X keys all the time, but now, after having played Typing Terror for years, my typing is perfect!

Another thing I've learned from Neopets is how to code in HTML and CSS. The coding bug bit me when I started to code my user lookup, and my zeal exploded from there. I coded a user lookup for my side account which won the User Lookup Spotlight. I also coded 2 galleries which each won the Gallery Spotlight. Thank you, contest judges!

Neopets is a blessing that I am always grateful for! The 10 minutes I spend doing dailies every morning are the happiest time of my entire day. The hour I spend unwinding on the Neoboards in the evening is also relaxing and stimulating in just the right ways. I love taking a restful break from life by perusing the threads, while also engaging in stimulating conversation. Neopets has that rare ability to bring out the best in all of us!

What I love most about the website is this: you can put a lot of dedication in the site if you're creative and have the time, or you can opt to do the bare minimum of participation, like simply doing dailies, without fear of missing out! Neopets is a sparkling gaming site that rewards you for doing just the bare minimum, and I'm very grateful for that, especially during the work week!

Another thing I'm grateful for is the freebies that TNT occasionally give away from the NC Mall. I have bags and bags of unopened Goodie Bags that I plan to hoard for a few months, then trade when demand for them is high. Thank you TNT!

My favorite part of the site is now the new Battledome. It was absolute GENIUS for TNT to reward users with Codestones and Dubloons for winning battles in the new Battledome. My daily haul, after selling all of my Codestones and Dubloons, is usually around 40,000 Neopoints, which is a lot of money! Not bad for 5 minutes' worth of battling!

My favorite hobby on this site is zapping and pounding, which means I zap pets into rare colors and give them away to deserving new owners. I gave away 7 painted pets in April, a new high for me, and it was the most fun I've had on this site! My lab ray is always ready to churn out more painted pets! ETERNALLY! How fun!

I also have a closet full of clothes from my lab zaps. I love giving away clothes to the people who ask me for them, and it's always so gratifying to see their pets newly adorned with their proper paint brush clothes!

What I think is especially cool about this site is that rather than making pets rare and expensive and difficult to acquire, the limited edition pets like Chombies and Cybunnies are available to be created on their birthdays. And now that Draiks and Krawks can be gotten more cheaply (they're less than 2 million Neopoints now... I remember when they were 18 million each), everyone can have the pets they truly want! There are no more status pets!

Again, Neopets is a blessing! You want to know why I have a big grin on my face right now? Because I just discovered I now have 4 pet transfers available on my main account, not 3. I'm delighted! An extra brand-new transfer, and it's a free perk, like everything else on this site!

I lend avatar pets, which is always fun. My only rule is that the person I'm lending to has to have at least 250 avatars. People are very respectful and return my pets right away, which makes the entire procedure so easy and nice!

I'm quite proud of my 8 Editorial questions that TNT had the graciousness to publish. I've become kind of an Editorial stalker, posting multiple and interesting questions every week and hoping to raise my tally to 10 questions published. You might say I'm addicted, haha!

There are difficult parts of this site, for sure, such as earning avatars and game trophies. I'm having a little trouble with TNT Staff Smasher, and I really want the avatar, but I'm not devastated over not having it. I just take a deep breath, open the game window, and click away. I keep in mind that the game is totally playable, with just enough difficulty to make getting the avatar a challenge. And when I finally get the avatar, my goodness, how I'll celebrate!

Speaking of avatars, avatar collecting is my second favorite part of this site (besides the pet zapping and pounding). I'm proud of my 321 avatars, and though it irks me that I can't get certain retired avatars, I just shrug and decide that I'm happy with the ones I do have! I already have some of the rarest and most coveted avatars on the site, such as MSPP, Super Attack Pea, Bony Grarrl Club, Faerie Queen Doll, Zafara Double Agent, and more!

So enjoy the Neopets website, my fellow Neopians! On this site, there's no such thing as a setback. Everything you do is positive, passionate, and constructive! Whether it's collecting Neopoints or spending them, getting pets or giving them away, earning game trophies or simply doing your best, be glad that TNT has created such a glorious website for us all to play in!

Happy birthday, Neopets!!!