Here goes nothin'!

I was in NO WAY required to create this petpage application or any other piece of my application for Aralynne. It's out of my own free will.
I just wanted to show my dedication for Aralynne :)

Now,
Welcome Kaleigh (or anyone else :3). This is the application" portion of my whole application.

Here you'll find all that boring, but necessary, information about both me and your dear Aralynne. Try to bear through it, because I promise that there's a fun part - the petpage - afterwards! :)

This page should be compatible in all browsers/resolution, but to be safe I recommend you use Mozilla Firefox at 1024 x 768 resolution and press F11 to go into fullscreen mode.



Enjoy! Use the buttons on the left to read through all of the components.


counter started 10/9/09

A little something about me - because I've only been able to speak with you on rare occasions and I'm sure giving your beloved pet away to a complete stranger can seem a little unreasonable! :)

I'll try to keep it short, but include all the important stuff!

About Me
Hi! My name is Anisa (but friends call me Cupcake), I'm Filipina and part Chinese, I'm 14, and I am very very short (4'8" to be exact!)



I am currently a freshman in highschool, which is a big pain! But I guess that can't be helped.
As you can see, I'm very much interested in art. I'm a "commercial art major" in my vocational highschool and although I am, by FAR, not the best artist at school OR the best artist applying for Aralynne, I'm very determined in improving my skills. I have been drawing since before I could remember, but one of the most outstanding memories I had was of me drawing dinosaurs in chalk on my preschool chalkboard at age 4 and never having them erased until the end of the year.

But besides art, my number one biggest interest and even a career interest is music. I play bass guitar and can sing too. (If you're interested, you can google "Rockit for Kids" and find me and info about that program that I participate in if you'd like. But I'll spare you the details here). It's not just a dream for me, because slowly, every day, with a little bit of effort, I am inching closer to making it happen.

Besides my interests, as a person ... I'm extremely timid and insecure. Throughout this application process it has been a struggle trying to push forward for Aralynne, being so intimidated by every single other applicant I've seen (also verging on crying, but we'll save my sorry-butt story for another day.).
I'm also very very hard-headed, stubborn, and devoted. I am really hard on myself, trying to set impossible goals, then beating myself up for not reaching them and trying to be a huge perfectionist. But I am stubborn in the way that I'll keep at whatever I'm doing, even if others are telling me to quit. It's also devotion, in a way - If I have spent time on it, I don't want to give it up and let it go to waste. I want to continue and grow.

But generally, I hope that I seem to be an approachable person. I can be friendly, honest! :)
I think that about wraps it up (I think! xD). Please please please feel free to drop me a neomail if you think I missed something, want to just talk, or have a question - but as I said, I'm shy so you better come prepared with something to ask or talk about. xD

Aaaallriighty, here's more about me, except, on Neopets!

I think it's kind of important to also have a little background history sooo... Here it is!

About Me (on Neopets!)

chai7705 is my main account and if chosen as Aralynne's new owner, the account which she would be on! Here if where all of my permanent pets currently are - Cerilue, Kaazumi, and Qellou. Here is also where all the fun stuff happens - entering in the Art Gallery, doing my dailies, and all of that. I also am a frequent poster on the BC boards.

I have been suspended twice back in 2008 for linking to the "bucketofphotos" and "artofdeviants" websites on the neoboards. However, after that, I've been careful with what I let out on the boards and haven't been punished since. :)

verytiny is my lab side account. The pets on there are fosters - I adopt well-named pets from the pound, zap them into pretty colours and find them good homes. My successful fosters were the pets:


really_short is my 3rd and final account, being a side, of course. That's where Gleph and Muitt live - two pets I created on Lutari Day. I have been sketching and coming up with designs for their characters so I can officially make them "permie pets" of mine, but I always end up scrapping them. Even today I have sketches of ideas I eventually decided not to use because I am not satisfied. I hope that my perfectionism and their designlessness are not to my disadvantage!

Also, a snow pet who's called feebee lives on that account. In August, I adopted her from piensa who had no use for her any longer. I took her in for the avatar, and to help other Neopians in need of the avatar, as well. I plan to, in October, start up a chain-lend for Feebee and have her help dozens of Neopians get the avatar they want! :)

Before that?

I started Neopets when I was only 8 years old on an account so old (and probably so n00by) that I can't remember. Like most of us old-geezer users on this site, that first account of mine was frozen. I had fallen into a scheme by my so called "friends" (yeah, I was heartbroken and I actually took it seriously... What? I was 8 xD) and got into a sort of scam. We all ended up frozen and at first I didn't understand. I sent in an email to Neopets asking for my account back, and although I don't remember what I said exactly, I remember that if I did, I would be very very embarrassed. Hahaha.

But anyhow, now, I haven't fallen into that kind of trouble since! I may be a little slow when it comes to understanding what people ask of me, but in no way am I THAT gullible to fall into a stupid scam like that again. Also, with the recent CG scares and whatnot, I've reduced my time on the neoBoards... And with working on this app nearly 24/7, I really don't have a chance to click on links, anyhow, although I do avoid suspicious ones xD

There you have it! Yup, only 3 accounts, and only 3 real "permanent pets"! I try to keep the number down so that I can concentrate on them and give them attention that they deserve.

And that's it. ;) Once again, if there's anything specific you're interested in, you can just drop me a neomail!

How could I go on without actually having plans to put Ara to use in the future?

Here is a list of only the things that I am 110% certain I will do if chosen to adopt Aralynne. You can find all of my brewing ideas that I might also plan to do, too, on the bottom!

The Plans

A Loving Home - Aralynne would be on my main account (but obviously not as my active neopet, to be safe from Random Events!) if I was chosen to adopt her, alongside my other permanent pets! :) I would also, if she's not already, make sure to have her happy (So she won't turn red or blue from the angry/sad events) and have her in the NeoLodge too, like I do with Kaazumi and Cerilue.

Petpage - Along with that, I would constantly update her pet page. At the moment, I have a petpage created just for her, all coded and written and drawn by me. I like to update petpages, even if it's just fixing spelling errors or like in Kaazumi's case, recoding the entire layout and making a brand new set of adoptables! Those can be my "proof" for this plan, but also, I have left special spaces in the petpage part for new things to be added if I was chosen as her owner. :)

Beauty Contest - Here is one. I am a very very frequent BC-participator, and Kaazumi is the one with the most Trophies just to show off this fact (Plus, Ceri and Kaazu both got gold and are goldbanned for the next few months, while Qellou just got off of his goldban!). If chosen as Aralynne's new owner, I can 100% GUARANTEE that the first week I own her, she will be entered into the Beauty Contest. If you don't know though, the BC is more about advertising than art, so I'd be up on the boards as many hours as I could during the day to advertise and although I can't guarantee it like the previous one, I will try my very hardest to get her a trophy! If I can't achieve that goal, you can give me a hard time and expect her entered in the very next BC as well. xD

Customisation - Thanks to my recent accepted entries into the Art Gallery, I've got quite a bit of NP without a goal that I am saving up for. But if I were Aralynne's owner, I'd have a very certain goal - a pretty background for her!

Currently, the first one is the only background I own that will fit her character, (being modeled by Qellou) but I find it a little plain. The second one is one that I think is just PERFECT for her, however it is from the NC Mall and until I get a Cash card (in a few weeks, yay!), I only have 150 NC. But, fear not! Halloween is approaching and with that comes neat backgrounds. I have 3.1million neopoints saved in the bank to purchase any background, no matter how expensive it may be, especially for Aralynne!

Art - When you take a look at the petpage part, take note of the gallery. There are tons of scanned sketches and incomplete pictures there which I intend on continuing to work on and complete! Even after that, I never plan to stop drawing. Be it just a little doodle for only myself in my sketchbook, or a full-on picture made for the BC or her page or whatever - It's a plan I definitely will and want to follow through on.

Pet lookup - I'm still quite a newb at pet lookups so I edited a code I made myself to be specifically for Aralynne. It's nothing fancy like her petpage but I think it's functionable and very neat! :)

Et cetera!

Here's a list of things that are "maybes". I don't want to try to lie and make it seem like I'll do a lot when I won't, but I also don't want it to seem like after I complete all of the other stuff that I won't do anything else!!


Petpage Spotlight - I've entered and won the spotlight once with Cerilue's petpage, and when I re-do Aralynne's entire page to be compatible with all browsers, I might try entering her's, too!
Roleplay - I applied for that huge roleplaying/art guild, Shukumei, and after practicing my writing skils via this application, I am getting a little more confident with my writing, so I just might try roleplaying again. This is a big might though, so don't press your luck. xD
Petpet Spotlight - I feel like Rena didn't get as much attention in her petpage as I wanted, so a way to compensate would be to enter her for the petpet spotlight! I'm not experienced at all with it, but for Aralynne, I would try my hand at writing up and drawing up something nice to enter.
Pet Spotlight - Does this even still exist? Once again, I'm no expert at this spotlight as I've never tried it, but I think it'd be something nifty to try out.

Will NOT do!!!

Of course, there are things that to me are like horrendous crimes to do, which is why I promise by my entire life to do them!!

Convert her - The converted ixis look way too boyish and way too angry to fit Aralynne, not to mention, what a huuuuge waste it would be to make the unconverted pet population one less! Conversion? NO NO NO!

Repaint her - Her colour is fine. Don't question it! xD

Leave her to rot - Even my non-permanent pets get frequent visits to be fed and made happy! I would hate hate HATE for Aralynne to be left to rot. I've applied for some pets and have been rejected and only mere months later have I looked back with disappointment to find the chosen owners have left those pets to rot! If I get so extremely infuriated by others doing it, why would I do the same? It really grinds my gears, that it does! xD


TRADE HER?! - NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! I am no trader. I never have and don't plan to in the future!! I see no point in putting all of this effort into an app for that SPECIFIC PET and turning around to betray the foster, applicants and all other people just looking and rooting me on by trading away! It's unthinkable. I am very strongly against it.

Quit Neo? - Another thing I have seen with pets I've applied for in the past (besides retrading and leaving them to rot) is that as short as a few weeks after receiving the pet, they quit Neopets! Or even worse - they get FROZEN.
I don't plan on quitting Neopets. I'd like to say "for FOREVER", however I know that's unreasonable. But I'm only 14, still very childish in ways (and some even more than before) and have a veryvery long time ahead of me with no plans of quitting Neopets.
As also stated before, I've become a lot more cautious and don't have "Getting frozen" in any of my agendas at all! xD

There's almost an infinite amount of reasons why it was Ara that I chose, but here's a few of the important ones.
Why Aralynne?

Aralynne.
Of course, one of the reasons why I am applying for her is because she is unconverted. Any applicant that says otherwise is most probably just trying to butter things up.

Like I said before - Converted ixis are, to me, extremely ugly. Their huge forehead and eyebrows and overall male-ness and uncute-ness are a huge turn off to me and in no way do they fit the kind of character Aralynne is.

Another reason is her name.
My friend (and also an applicant for Caidenne! :D), Telemakhos, was kind enough to suggest another UC grey ixi up for adoption when I learned about Aralynne, except that she had a deadline which allowed for more time to work on the application. Yes, Illuztria. Her name is shorter than Aralynne's and she is Unconverted, as well, but...

I didn't like her name. It didn't connect. I created Aralynne's character AFTER being inspired by her name so it's very difficult to disconnect the two and plaster it under another pet's name.

Ara - It's actually rather odd and for me, uncomfortable to say. But the way you noted that she hated being called Lynne (which I actually preferred!) sort of gave her a little character even when I hadn't developed one of my own for her. It stood out.

Lynne - Lynne is a name I am very fond of. I was always jealous of my cousin, Kylynn (although she pronounces it differently)'s name because it was unique and also because of "Lynn". It's very feminine, delicate, and just attractive. The "e" at the end is great, too - it makes it just a little more unique and also foreign, in a way.

Another reason, which is actually pretty HUGE, would be Avalynne.
Your story that you included on her petlookup is very very much something of inspiration to me. When I was younger and used to roleplay, I had a pet Syrenine (previously a blue lupe who I adopted out to a better home, who is now a royal mynci) and created families all around Neopets with my friends. Her family was made up of the pets Cyaley (my old friend's lupe) and Mooneia (her "daughter" who I lost in the pound before transfers came out).
Reading about Ara's "relationship" with another real neopet reminded me of that and in a way, made her seem closer to my heart. I did not want to give up that bit of true history Aralynne had, which is why I made her character the way it is and why I really felt like Aralynne stood out amongst the crowd.

In short, I love every aspect of her.
Her name, her species/colour, and both the character I created for her AND the history and character she already had before!

The question is, why not Aralynne? :P

Aralynne's character, I cannot claim a creation of all my own.
I was very much influenced and inspired by different things which all helped to mould the character she is. She is something completely different from what my inspirations originally were, but I am not so selfish to take all the credit for myself!

Creating her Character

Stanley Donwood - For the past few months, I have been very very VERY obsessed with Radiohead, and through Radiohead, I found Stanley Donwood and became a fan of him, as well.

Short stories from his book titled "Slowly Downward" (and also all available on his website of the same name) were a big influence on my writing style and the plotline for Aralynne's story.

My writing style is pretty much a failed attempt at being great like him - It's vaguely similar but I found that trying to be like him turned out effective to get the right mood.

Two particular short stories of his, called A Quiet Afternoon and Quite Nice, In A Way were both huge inspirations and components of Ara's character. I even directly quoted the first in Aralynne's "profile" page and tried my best to make the end of her story sound like the second one.

A Quiet Afternoon.

I am alone in a hot city. My favourite bar is closed for siesta, and I am aimlessly walking the dusty streets. Outside a shabby tailors', I am accosted by a man in a dark suit. He acts in a conspiratorial manner, and invites me to follow him along the street. After some time, we arrive at a small bar on the edge of the city. We take a seat each, and the man whispers to me that he is suffering from an unusual complaint, in that he is consistently late for everything. He explain that this is because somebody has stolen his today, forcing him to take up residence in tomorrow. As a consequence, every engagement he makes can never be honoured. He is always late, and wakes up in the morning with a terrible sense of guilt and failure. When he saw me outside the tailors, he recognised a kindred spirit, he tells me. I tell him that he is quite mistaken: I may be reknowned for my lateness, but I have been on time on occasion, and no-one has stolen my today. This visibly disappoints the man in the dark suit, and he makes his apologies and shuffles off, out of the bar. I am left feeling a little guilty, but I reassure myself that there is nothing to feel bad about. That night, I am seized with the idea that someone has stolen my today. I find, the next day, that I have missed all my appointments by twenty-four hours. At siesta, I see a man in a dark suit greeting an acquaintance with a firm handshake and a smile. I overhear the words, "Glad you could make it.

Quite Nice, in a Way.

Nothing much happened after you died. I was weary, tired of waiting for your ghost. I withdrew from society, and spent many stretched and wretched hours alone.
The security guards employed by the council to patrol the cemetary eventually became used to me. My profound sadness grew into something that I took for granted; like my left arm, for example.
There was no sign, no harbinger, but one afternoon I was standing there, watching, and the small white flowers growing on your grave shivered as your soul rose into the air.

Avalynne
Avalynne. I don't need to quote the story you put up on Aralynne's lookup obviously, but I made very sure that I included that bit of sentimental history in some form in Aralynne's story. It was important to me to do it, and I hope you find it significant, as well, for Aralynne to keep the history which solely belongs to her.

Drawing a Design

To begin, I made sure that her main body colour was grey and that in some way, she kept her characteristics of an UC grey ixi.

Why?

I find is to be a little wasteful to design a character that is not related at all to the actual Neopet's looks.
If you're going to do that, why not just make and paint a pet with that matching colour? That's just my tiny, insignificant opinion but was the reason why she's coloured the way she is.

Also, her secondary color is purple. Blue is my favourite colour, to be honest, and you can see that I included that colour already to Kaazumi and Qellou, and even slightly with Cerilue, as well. I didn't want to overdo it, haha!

But also, my best friend, Michelle's, favourite colour is actually purple. Even though I can text her and drive to visit her, she no longer attends the same school as me so I miss her a great deal. That feeling of loss is something that I attributed to Aralynne as well, and also used purple as sort of a tribute until she can manage a way to transfer school districts!

Her eye colour is the same dull red as on the actual Neopet. It might not be the first choice when you think of grey and purple as main colours in a design, but I thought it added a little contrast and also kept her slightly more true to her actual neopet form.

An important component of any application - a "why me" section.

I really hate to sound pretentious, or mean, or any negatively-connotative word that you can't exactly use on Neopets . . . However, I think a list of positives to outweigh negatives is helpful in the application process!

Well, then, why?

Active - I am an extremely active user of Neopets. I am online daily (except for the work-overloaded and vacation days) to care for me pets on my main and also my sides (whenever my leaky brain does not forget!) But that's just the easy part, right?
I am also active in the way that I enter the Beauty Contest and Art Gallery frequently, have (albeit a small handful) friends here on Neopets and am a common visitor to the neoBoards.

Is that all? No! Besides that, I am extremely addicted to this site. I've tried to "quit" or at least go on hiatus a few times before, but as you can see, I've constantly come back for more. Like I said in an earlier section, I've still got many years before I 'outgrow' this little site, and I don't plan on it being any time soon. You can rely on me to not be a quitter!

Dedicated - I am stubborn and once I start something, it's hard to pull me off!
I am extremely devoted to Aralynne. But not only Aralynne, but my current permanent pets, as well! I'm sure that they're being entered in the BC constantly and try my best to remember to keep them well-fed and happy.
Besides that, I create characters for them that prevent me even more from just tossing them aside or forgetting about them and ending up pounding them away. I'm always constantly working on their designs or just sketching them in my notebooks . . . Aralynne would be no different. I would continue to love her if chosen to adopt her, if not more than I already do now!

Credible - I have only one pet to prove my credibility when it comes to applying for pets, and that would be Cerilue.
Even people with much better coding, art and writing skills wouldn't even dare to enter their petpages into the BC!
But also, I tried my best to follow through with all of the plans I had made when I applied for her. The first week of owning her, I did as promised and entered her into the BC and one her a trophy (her old owner even noticed and posted up the news of my entering on Billopan before I even got a chance! xD)
I still do draw her and hope to be able to scan in one of my better sketches and do a full-out drawing.

But anyhow, I did follow through on my promises and you can expect the same when it comes to Aralynne.

Besides that example, I am also a very long-time user of Neopets. I would not risk my old and hard-earned account for any silly thing, be it by scam or harassment or doing something bad purposefully on the boards or towards other people. I've been lent items and pets for worth more than quadruple my savings and returned each safely. When it comes to adopting, it's similar in the way that you have the chance to sell or trade off those avatar items while being lent, it's the same as being chosen as owner then turning around to trade for a better/rarer pet. "No, no, no, no, no, no" is all I have to say about that.

With the good always comes the bad. I'll try not to run away from it in order to be honest with myself and you.

You may, as many others do, consider these sections pointless but I decided on adding it. Why not me?

Perfectionist - I hate hate hate it when a piece of art, or coding, or petpage, or anything is off by even the tiniest bit. I waste a lot of time trying to get something perfect when in reality I should go and start on something else. That was a big case for this application, which was difficult to pull through with the tight deadline!
It makes me a very inefficient worker, to say the least. It mostly is about the art aspect, though.

Not a good artist - It's pretty blatant. I am not the best applicant for Aralynne in terms of art level or writing or creativity. I try to put as much effort as I can, but the fact is that I am not as skilled and that can be a disadvantage, especially for the people who judge solely on art skills instead of dedication or effort!

Young - Okay, I'm young. Everyone assumes from that fact, that I am in turn naive. I'll admit and say that I can be foolish and naive when it comes to certain things, but I attempt to not act in immature fashions or make a fool of myself. However, whether or not I am truly "naive" is actually up to your judgment.

Can get busy - While being young and not having to deal with all the troubles of employment, rent, or university or any of that stuff should mean that I have more free time to spend on Neopets, I have outside responsibilities that can shorten the time I have to play here daily. I think the most prominent would be Rockit for Kids - for example, this upcoming weekend, I am playing at the grand opening of a new local guitar shop, having auditions for the next Rockit program the following day as well as rehearsals that whole night for both my songs and filling in for another girl's position.
I don't have Rockit all of the time, however (usually it's weekends) and other than that, the only thing that stops me from Neopets really is homework and my social life which both are at a happy-medium with Neopets.



Now, those are some flaws that I have. Because not everyone is perfect.
But I hope that you can see some light in it and perhaps the pro's will outweigh the con's! I just wanted total honesty in this application.

Now, finally, here are the dedications.

If you recall, I told you that I wanted to be able to make a gallery, petlookup, and userlookup dedicated to Aralynne.

Due to the short-notice deadline and also my lack of good scheduling, I ended up using the bulk of my time and effort into improving and perfecting the petpage and application portions. They are both the most important pieces in the end, but I'd like you to know that I honestly am disappointed with myself that I couldn't create a gallery and those unnecessary, but pretty, things to help convey my dedication.

I just hope the work put into the rest can communicate it.

Anyway,

Dedications

drag and drop these images into your address bar to see a full view.

Font - Here is a cute little font I created for Aralynne that I use all around the neoBoards to show off some of my dedication for Aralynne around Neopia.

Pet lookup - This is the petlookup I created for Aralynne, as being modeled by Kaazumi (Yes, I plan on getting as many and even more trophies for Ara, too!). Simple, but effective. I featured the first picture I ever drew of Ara for her pet lookup, because it's neat and cute.



Pet page - Yep, here's the best for last!
Besides coding all of the pet lookup and even this page as well, I experimented with many many div and index layers on the pet page to make something pretty for Aralynne. You have no idea how long it took, but as long as if you're looking at it in Firefox at at least 1024 x 768 resolution, I am happy with the way it turned out!

Well, it all has to come to an end. But ohoho, dear reader, you have only just begin your journey!

Firstly . . .
Thank yous

Thanks goes out to my friends, especially Emily (telemakhos, who is applying for Caidenne) who is way too kind and encouraging for her own good, and Troy (zurite, a fellow Ara applicant) who is strong and good-hearted.
Thanks to everyone who helped out with suggestions and just overall support for me over at Neopound and at Deviantart.
Special thank-you to Stanley Donwood and Radiohead, who are amazing men and huge inspirations.
Thanks to everyone who read through this!

And finally, thank you Kaleigh for allowing us all the opportunity to apply for a wonderful pet such as Aralynne.
It's really a privilege that you've given us - You didn't have to put your pets up for adoption but you did anyway, so I am and think we all should certainly be thankful for that!

I hope I've conveyed as much dedication as I have in me for her and that you've enjoyed this app and will enjoy the next part of it!

And you're only gettin' started!

Click on the final link on the left to visit the petpage portion! Remember, Firefox only, at 1024 x 768 resolution.