Interview with jumpluff

I'm a sixteen-year-old who lives in the countryside of New South Wales, Australia. I'm currently doing computer science at university, which answers both education and occupation.

I think you are asking that just to embarrass me. Anyway, I dropped out of high school. I like saying that since it makes people feel awkward and then I tell them that I enrolled in early-entry English classes THEN dropped out, stayed in uni, and transferred courses to something I actually feel passionate about.

It's okay, I wouldn't expect a caveman to be a forward thinker. Thanks anyway for calling it cool! Anyway, I guess it is fairly unusual but I feel like it is more of a societal thing. I don't want to write a Cong post about how women are groomed to be Barbie dolls instead of functional members of society, especially since you see an increasing amount of girls doing things traditionally considered masculine, so I'll just talk about myself instead.

I have always shied away from traditionally feminine hobbies. I find shopping really exasperating (though I spend hours a day looking at cute things like plushies on the internet, which is far less obnoxious than shopping offline, so there you go, I'm not a tomboy). As someone who has used the internet a lot in the last few years, I just sort of picked up HTML as I went along. I realised I enjoyed creating things, even if it wasn't in an orthodox way (like other people have clay, I have coding). I also like it because it lets me help people out and I find myself drawn to things that let me constructively contribute to my chosen communities. I'm no Cathy, but I'm learning, and I like to learn. I've read someone saying that nothing is impossible for programmers, and even though I guess that isn't strictly true, having the knowledge to accomplish things you want is always a plus.

I also feel weird putting this into words. I mean, I talk a lot and I ramble (case in point), but you'd usually hear 'HTML IS FUN' from me instead of 'I like creating things'. I guess it is because I'm using proper grammar.

Nope, I'm really happy being a girl, since it means I can get away with being myself. If I was a boy I wouldn't mind though since gender is kind of irrelevant to me. It's just that it's relevant to how people perceive you. But for example, if I was a boy, my giant collection of ADORABLE Shaymin plushies wouldn't be viewed as eccentric, childish, and idiosyncratic. It would be viewed as strange and creepy, and I couldn't brag about it on the internet. And then I would be really sad. But on the plus side I wouldn't get creepy PMs asking me out from people I barely even recognize and the Shoddy chat wouldn't explode every time someone refers to me as a girl, so I think it would work out decently.

Absolutely. I felt like my plushies didn't have adequate room to breathe, so I moved into a nice new house and strung hammocks from the walls. Like, you know those nets little kids have in their rooms, holding all their soft toys? You probably don't, but that's what I have. I stuck some of my plushies up there, including my super big Airgurumi Drifloon, to capitalize on my available vertical space. You know that if you get me started, I'll talk for hours about it, take photos, and insist on them being included, right?

My reaction to this was "Wow, I'm allowed to talk about my plushies!", then I realized it had to be brief, and I deflated as rapidly as Jimbo would if you poked a needle into him.

Anyway! I think my favourite of all plushies is...

...my talking Shaymin! It has the most adorable, beseeching face, and when you press its soft tummy, it says one of six prerecorded phrases. They're really cute, seriously. I can't work out what one is because it's a Japanese plushie and Shaymin speaks too fast, but the other five are a variety of cutely-said Shaymin cries. It was the plushie that started my thriving Shaymin collection and has some prime real estate next to me at night.

I also like my aforementioned Airgurumi Drifloon. I searched for an affordable Airgurumi Drifloon for ages, and when I received its deflated cloth body in the mail, you couldn't find a happier girl in the world. Basically, it's a giant inflatable Drifloon made out of regular plushie material I've been thinking about stuffing it so I can hug it, but I don't really want to go to the trouble.

I'm trying not to rant here, but another prize part of my collection is my little PokéDoll collection. It's a range of soft minky toys and they are SO huggable! I even have a Wailord PokéDoll. You have one guess as to its name. (For those unaware, I called it Jimbo.)

Oh, I like lots of Pokémon, but Shaymin is tied with a few for favourite. One of the criteria of being a favourite Pokémon is cuteness; another is fluffiness. Jumpluff matches that perfectly. I know Ampharos don't have wool, but I really like Ampharos as well. It looks so gentle and loving. I feel like most Pokémon have redeemable aspects (like people), but I'm actually highly selective about the best among them. I only have six favourites (or so). See how restrained I am?

Ummm... I've been answering these questions in a totally opposite fashion to him (as in I've been just answering them straight away without devoting ten minutes of thought to each word), but I had to stop and consider this answer. He's my best friend. I guess we have a closeness that a lot of friends don't really let themselves enjoy, but we're best friends. Everyone thinks we're dating or something, but I can assure you, we're not. No, really. We're not dating.

I'm happy that I know him though. He understands and puts up with a lot of my eccentricities and annoying quirks. He's also a good person, someone I enjoy talking to a lot. He also does my Neopets dailies on occasion, so he's a useful accomplice as well. I don't really mind that people tease me about him, because even if it's untrue, I'd rather be his best friend and have people play around with me about it than not be his best friend.

Well, I'm a really competitive person. But lately I've gone all hippy and started to think about why I play. I know I can't win every game and I feel worse if I don't, so why beat myself up like that when I can just enjoy it? Instead I'm in it to have fun, while trying my best to win or at least play decently. I like the intrigue element of it. I like anticipating each update, the tingles that come down my spine when I get my result PMs on crucial nights, or the thrill of opening my role PM and finding out my role is exciting. I like the feeling of outwitting people or calling their bluffs; it's a good brain exercise and you can actually learn a lot about people from observing how they play in mafia.

I enjoy being in teams since mafia is also a social game and getting to know people in the mafia community better is great. In a positive mafia channel (and my teams always rule!), you don't just talk about the game, you chat to each other, mess around, discuss other things, even though choosing the night kill is #1 priority. Also a lot of people are getting into mafia lately, such as in the beginner games, and it's great to watch people go from awful players to competent enemies and skilful allies.

I want a milkshake. Um, I mean...

Uhh, I don't really want to brag about anything. I think some of the best moments I've had in mafia are in Viva la Mafia (which was a super fun game and highly unique before people decided they liked the format and made more) and PokéMafia. In Viva I took a risk and it paid off (ha ha) by giving you my alias. I was so relieved when I recruited, and the team was made up of people I really liked. We would have really awesome nights where everything went perfectly, and I would glow. And then we'd have awful nights that I don't even want to think about but would certainly qualify as tense and notable moments.

Finding out my team in PokéMafia was fantastic; it's very stressful to unite with your team in a split mafia, but Raikage included a role that confirmed we were united, which put some fears to rest. I was really hoping that the team was correct because every single person on it is a friend. When Gmax called the Gambler bluff, I felt jubilant. It was a very tense cycle that seemed to hang on that, and I was mentally willing him. But luckily the Devious pulled through and we won! Yay!

Other things that will stay in my memory are the nicknames MI6 invented for each alias in Viva, Kumar's Seedot claim in PokéMafia, you tricking me into voting against the village in YCI (man, I still feel silly about that...), and seeing some particularly ugly spreadsheets made by some people I don't want to call out for failing to be Google Docs artists.

I can easily name over forty, not even kidding, which is really sad, come to think of it. I just like changing names a lot (obviously). If I stay on one name too long, I feel twitchy and change. I'm super obsessive compulsive. But lately I've been trying to stick to my main nick so people stop chastising me, and also because it's inconvenient for other people, which makes me feel guilty. I like to stick to one main name while having a million auxiliary nicknames.

Yeah. One of the most important things to me is customizability. I want to change, modify, and optimise things to enhance my life. So coming from that is a constant need to switch things up. A more concise way of putting this is that I have a short attention span. I notice I'm out of questions, but I just had to grab my chance for this.

A recruiter, everyone claim to me.

I agree, if I was a thirteen-year-old boy I'd be heading straight for the cutemons analysis to find out just what the top adorable Pokémon are, and some hopes for the future that I am sure Game Freak will be receptive to. Thank you for interviewing me, it was an honor to be included alongside users such as Earthworm.

Just kidding, it did mean a lot, even if I was kinda (and by kinda I mean VERY) nervous about it.