Egotchi!

TamaSuku!

I have been killing every Tamagotchi I raise lately... it's embarrassing and disheartening. It has also been pretty much exactly a year since I last wrote here on Egotchi � weird coincidence! So let me tell you super fast what's new in my life: I was fired from my terrible job which made me wake up for 5am shifts (thank god), and for the past year I have been working at much more fun jobs in the music industry. Regular hours Monday to Friday, walking distance from my home... just awesome. I've been SO much happier, I can't even tell you. But still bad at raising Tamagotchis. My boyfriend moved in with me (), and... I got into graduate school!!! I was accepted into the Masters program at the art history department at the University of Toronto. I am so happy, it's like a dream come true. But it means I will have a lot on my plate this year: both of my jobs want to keep me on, I am founding and running a new semiprofessional a cappella group, I will also probably be in an executive position of another choir, plus this is supposed to be an extremely intensive Masters program... so naturally I want to add more, ha ha ha! Little Beeps has moved to a new home on Grou.ps because Ning is shutting down its free services, and we just had our first group hatch. It went really well and I am so glad to have such amazing friends in the Tamagotchi community who are willing to come hang out and chat and hatch at the drop of a hat. I had a hard time choosing what to hatch, because it's been so long since I haven't killed a Tamagotchi and I didn't want anything that would be too discouraging. So I decided to open a TamaSuku for the first time. I've never run this type of Tamagotchi before, and I thought it was appropriate since I had my graduate program orientation today. In preparation for going back to school after three years (!!), I am running a TamaSuku. And the best part is, the TamaSuku doesn't die!!! I have had a lot of fun getting to know this Tama type tonight. The games are all SUPER fun twitch games, except the Japanese word game, which is also fun because it exercises my Japanese vocabulary! It doesn't beep that often and when it does, it doesn't require much thinking to take care of it. So far it's just been new students joining my class, so you just need to hit the 'accept' button (I guess the equivalent of 'B'). So basically you can choose how often you want to play with it � as long as you keep the hearts up more or less! I'm excited to play with this new Tama, and to log about our adventures together. As a Masters student I am discouraged from applying for teaching assistantships � they say my program is too demanding for another job and also they want to guarantee teaching assistantships to the doctoral students � so instead I will get my teaching experience from my Tamagotchis.

Adulthood! And a new baby!

I struggled to get this post up... the only time I have to blog is from work, and even then, only in snatched moments here and there. I swear I've gotten halfway through this blog post at least five times. Eventually I gave up and forgot about it. But today I've got a second thing to report, so I'd better get through both of them right now!!

My old news is that Mesutchi grew up into a Kikotchi. If you follow my Twitter you'll have received this news in real-time. The new news is that I have finally hatched her mate-to-be! It's taken me long enough... I hauled out my trusty Osutchi and I ju-uuust hatched him.

OMG growth!

I took a big step forward today in the experiment: I reached a teen stage!!! Aren't you proud of me?

My dear Mesutchi has been paused off and on throughout the days. As I get to know my new job a little bit better, I feel more confident about having my Tamagotchi at my desk - with the sound off, of course. Today she was a little playful, and did something odd that I don't recall ever seeing a Mesutchi do: she got grumpy and had a little black cloud over her head, just like the Connections do when they're asking for a Praise. She didn't like it when I selected the Discipline icon though. I ended up having to stuff her with candies to cheer her up. Dennis couldn't figure it out either. Mysterious!

I've been at work since 5AM and about an hour ago she reached her teen stage. She became a Hawaikotchi! I'm excited because this is a character that is unique to Mesutchi (as far as I know), so I've never gotten one before. She is really adorable, especially in her pink shell.

Tamagotchis With A Life Experiment: Phase 2

I got to hatching my next Tama right away, on Saturday morning. I decided to hatch my Mesutchi. You know, I don't remember if I've ever played with my Mesutchi before in my life�! I got my Osutchi/Mesutchi pair when I was in first year university. I gave the Mesutchi to my roommate to raise, and I raised the Osutchi. She kept killing her Mesutchi so we never managed to mate them. Years later, I hatched my Osutchi� but I don't remember if I ever played with my Mesutchi again. Well, I'm playing with her now! I figure if I can keep her alive long enough to reach adulthood, I can switch over to Osutchi and then hopefully mate them.

I spent the entire day in an LSAT prep course, so I kept my Mesutchi paused and on silent while I spent the day making my brain hurt. Logic games are really hard!! I am terrible at them. Luckily I'm scary good at the rest of the LSAT, so it all evens out pretty well in my favour.

After class, I went home and cared for Mesutchi until having an early bedtime. I was so tired and we were writing a simulated LSAT the next day, so I needed to be well-rested.

Mesutchi was paused and silent during my Sunday class and the simulated LSAT, which went really well. My score turned out quite high enough to be eligible for pretty much any law school in Canada, and that was my first try, after a full day of class, and without having practised at all. If only LSAT score was the only thing they looked at�!

Today I took Mesutchi with me to work. She sat on the edge of the cash register with me and was really great. She's a Mohitamatchi right now. I was able to Tweet the action that happened today with her while I was at work. Not much really, just some discipline calls and feedings. It was fun to get back into the swing of things though.

The experiment hasn't been a total success though��J-M came in to town to visit this evening, and as soon as he arrived I almost forgot completely about my Mohitamatchi. He visited me at the store, and we went together to my choir rehearsal. It's our last rehearsal before the show next Monday, so I needed to focus a lot (we are not ready to perform!!). Afterwards, I went out for dinner with J-M before he had to go back to camp. So all that time, Mohitamatchi completely slipped my mind! At the dinner table, I suddenly squeaked and checked my purse. My darling Mesutchi was asleep next to poop, and with all empty hearts. I felt bad and turned off the lights for her.

I said goodnight to J-M and went home. The first thing I did was switch the time on Mesutchi so that I could clean her up and feed her yummy meals and snacks. Then I put her back to bed. It's not cheating, I swear!

I hope she wakes up healthy tomorrow. At least I've broken my previous record with Angelgotch. She's lived two whole days now! Let's make it three! Tomorrow I'm going to visit J-M at his camp, so Mesutchi will be riding a Greyhound bus with me! Fun fun!

The Tamagotchis With A Life experiment

My life has recently gotten really, really busy. Right now, I am working two jobs, studying for the law school admissions test, and having a whirlwind romance with a new beau named J-M who seems very much to be the love of my life...! But while he is working this summer as a music instructor at an arts camp, I find myself to be rather lonely on the days when he is out of town, and I have come back to Tamagotchis - more or less.

I have killed more Tamas in these past couple months than I care to admit. I've been running around so much that they whimper and die neglected while buried in their secure Tamagotchi pocket inside my purse. But my new project is to raise one successfully and not give up.

Day 1 of this experiment was yesterday, and I have to admit that it was not a success. I brought my Tamagotchi Angel to work and hatched it in the morning. Things went alright for the first little while - at least she was alive, although it was probably the most haphazard baby stage I've ever experienced. I brought her from work to the gym and then to Toronto Screamfest, a film festival for independent horror movies. I met my new friend Erika - we're working together on a magazine/blog called Sharp Objex - and she saw my Angel and got all excited. She is also a secret Tamagotchi fan, with three of her own at home (mostly paused). I said it was an Angel and she immediately knew what it was and exclaimed, "Oh, those ones are expensive!" I feel very lucky to have encountered so many Tama-friendly people in my travels.

My Angel survived the film festival with infrequent checking - the lights turned on every three movies, but the movies were usually no longer than fifteen minutes. But it was the next event of the evening that sealed Angel's fate... (I told you my life has gotten insane!)

My very good friend Shayna has been traveling in Europe for the past two months, and was scheduled to come home last night. Her boyfriend Elliot organized a welcome home party and invited all our friends. We were all at her apartment by ten o'clock, eating snacks and getting ready to surprise her. But then we found out her flight was delayed; it was meant to be a direct flight from London, but someone on her plane got very ill and they needed to make an emergency landing in Quebec City.

I had been awake since 4am because one of my two jobs has a 5am-1pm shift, so I was EXHAUSTED waiting for Shayna to arrive. I fell asleep in J-M's lap, and that was the end of Angel Tama... we were waiting for her until nearly 1am, and near the end of the wait, I heard Angel Tama's sad, slow death beeps. But it was all totally worth it when she arrived; just as she was reeling from the shock and surprise of having all her friends be waiting in her apartment to welcome her home...

...Elliot PROPOSED to her!!

We all knew it was going to happen, and probably so did she, but he made such an incredibly cute speech - it was an amazing thing to watch. Shayna was so happy that it happened in front of everyone so we could all share the moment with her. I was just totally emotionally overwhelmed and cried almost as much as she did.

I'll have to try again with another Tamagotchi and see if I can get it to survive the night. ^_^ But I'd trade a Tama for a beautiful moment with friends like that any day.

Mametchi: achieved and concluded

I let it happen: I let my Mametchi die on my way to work. It was very preventable. I had let him chill in my purse all night - he may even have had the lights on while he slept - and I barely had time to check on him before grabbing my purse and heading out the door in the morning. I heard his dying beeps as I walked t work, and held him in my hand, feeling quite remorseful. Terrible! Terrible!

I have my P2 all ready to go. It's just a matter of finding the time to hatch him. I'll let you know when I move forward to the Mimitchi level of Tamagotchi Boot Camp!

Tamagotchi boot camp

What happened to my Tamagotchi lifestyle?? I found myself asking this question a couple weeks ago, when I was letting my Tarakotchi die in my purse of neglect. My life has been a whirlwind of bad luck, covering for other people's bad behaviour, getting sick twice in a row, going on trips, struggling to do my work, taking care of foster cats, commuting three hours every day, getting involved in musical projects that I have no time to do, but my heart has also been swelled with hope and excitement and my mind has been full of ideas.

While I was fostering two kitties, I think my Tamagotchi urges were stemmed. There were two little bright-eyed, furry creatures who depended on me for life and food and love and shelter. I spent my days off walking around the city to pet stores to get them premium cat food. While I had them, my apartment wasn't lonely at all. It was a rambunctious place. I hardly got a full night's sleep while those cats were messing around my little apartment.

Yesterday morning, one of the other volunteers picked up my two kitties to take them to an adopt-a-thon in another town. If they are not adopted in a week, I will get them back, but until then, my apartment seems terribly empty and lonely.

Fortunately, I had started myself on a Tamagotchi Boot Camp program before that.

I needed to know that I still had the mojo to raise a Tamagotchi. I had had so many pointless deaths from neglect because I've been running around, traveling, working, being sick, whatever. But having Tamagotchis is a part of my personality now, and it's a part of my lifestyle, and it's a litmus test for myself to see how busy or crazy I am. And it's therapy, forcing me to take regular breaks from whatever I'm immersed in, and forcing me to care about something, to feel love in my heart. The love can push out, temporarily, any anxiety or pointless dwelling or worrying. It's a physical object that can be the object of a moment's caring and tender feelings. And it goes with you everywhere!

I decided that I wouldn't be able to get back into my previous Tama lifestyle if I didn't apply the same goal-oriented priorities to it as I have been doing with everything else in my life. That's how the idea of Tamagotchi Boot Camp was born.

I am going to go through all of my Tamagotchis, from oldest to newest, and get the Best Character on each version. I cannot proceed until I achieve that. No more lazy snack-feeding! No more leaving it in my purse until it cries for attention! I have to get serious!

So far, Tamagotchi Boot Camp has gone more smoothly than I could have asked. I hatched my P1 a little while ago, and I got a Mametchi on it on my first try. He's still chilling in his shell. I admit I got a little bit lazier once I actually got my Mametchi, because my goal was reached. But he's still chilling and he's not needy at all, at age eleven.

Next I have to hatch my P2 and get a Mimitchi. I've been wanting to do this for a number of days now, but I haven't been getting home until ten or eleven at night, and I need to go to bed right away. And now I'm sick again so I'm languishing in my parents' house where there is lots of nutritious food and cold medicine and everything is warm and clean and it's downright impossible for me to do any chores because I'm not physically in my apartment, so all I can do is read and rest.

I just finished the book I was reading (In The Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente, which was glorious and left me aching for more), and decided to take this opportunity to hop on my mom's computer and update this blog.

I want to update more often, just like I want to hatch my Tamas more and really spend time with them, but I've been dashing around trying to plug up holes in this ship I'm sailing. I love you all, and I love my Tamas, and I'm also completely congested and my nose hurts from blowing it so much, so I think I'll conclude here and find some cheese and crackers to munch on.

xoxo

Denny-tama grows...

When's the last time I types this log on an actual keyboard? Hee hee. I pulled Denny-tama out of his pocket when I was settled on the bus just now and I saw that he had grown into... A Kuchitamatchi! Low on the character chart I go, yippee! Will he be an adult by the time I get to Boston? Maybe I'll want a secondary Tama for the car ride home?

Oscar party hatch!

Last night's hatch was low key but a lot of fun! Most of us were tuned in to the Academy Awards so it was like an Oscar party hatch. ^_^ I hatched my P1, Denny-tama. I chose him for a number of reasons. First of all, I'm going to Boston this weekend with my choir, so I need someone chill to keep me company on the long car ride. He needs to be tolerant of neglect, but good company, and not something insanely expensive like my Devil - I'd be paranoid and insane if I brought my Devil on a trip!

I have been so freaking busy that I've been sleep-deprived, not to mention Tama-less, for almost three weeks! I'm fostering cats at my apartment, and commuting to work is a huge adjustment. I'm getting used to it though. I'm glad I thought to sneak in an update here while I'm on the bus home from the gym! I miss everyone and I miss having Tamagotchis. I hope a get a cute character that is low on the character chart from this Marutchi. I love the needy characters on P1/P2!

Defied by the Devil again!

Can you believe it? My Devilgotchi died AGAIN, at the exact same age and stage as he did last time! It's these darn Wednesdays at work, it's the busiest day of the week (we get our new shipments) and it's killer for my Devils! Or maybe they just take advantage of how distracted I am to sneak away without me noticing... clever things they are! I'm either going to have to pause on Wednesdays, or be REALLY serious with my Devil while I'm working.

I didn't reset my Devil right away when I saw he had died, because I needed to sit back and reformulate my strategy before starting again. Meanwhile, I find myself semi-unexpectedly downtown for the weekend, and I left my Devil at my parents' house. Luckily, a good half of my Tamagotchi collection is here with me, and my Angel was resting next to my bed with its "Thanks!" screen still showing. I reset her and now I have a Maruten here with me.

Look at the horrible glory of my $19.99 webcam, and say hello to my new Maruten!