Panic at the UFO

My haul from last week earned me 65,430 bells when I sold it today.

Antonio asked to make a delivery to Benedict. He only gave me ten minutes to complete the task, so I rushed over to the red rooster. He seemed surprised when he opened the box and found a nurse’s uniform inside!

Benedict: Hmmm. Isn't that a nurse's uniform?

Benedict was not impressed. I think this may have been a gag gift.

Benedict: I had no idea Antonio was even into this sort of thing, yuck.

When I returned to Antonio, I told him the gift didn’t go over well. And he was mad! He even called Benedict an idiot!

Antonio: Wait, are you SERIOUS?! That was supposed to be that idiot's favorite!

But he still handed over 520 bells for making the delivery.

Seconds later, without warning, I heard a UFO! It caught me off-guard, and I panicked! My eyes frantically scanned my half-empty inventory for the slingshot I knew was there somewhere, but my brain wasn’t working! It took longer than it should have to spot the slingshot in the lower-left corner. Granted, it was only a couple seconds, but it felt like I wasted too much time.

Weapon in hand, I ran west as fast as my little limbs would allow. I was gaining on the UFO! I approached the river with the UFO roughly in the center of the upper screen, and I thought Gulliver was mine tonight. I fired up a shot…but it narrowly missed. Ouch. Here’s a screenshot, lightened up because the shot was otherwise very hard to see against the dark night sky.

A slingshot shot narrowly missed the UFO in Animal Crossing: Wild World (ACWW).

That split-second of panic and hesitation almost certainly cost me the chance at shooting down my 2nd UFO.

I’ve said this before, but the adrenaline rush of a UFO hunt in Wild World or City Folk is unlike anything in New Leaf or New Horizons. Not only is the UFO likely to catch you unprepared, but you only have a couple of seconds to react, get ready, and get in position. And the stakes are high. If you miss it, you may not get another chance for months, or longer. So it’s very disappointing when you come so close and fail, like I did tonight.

Goldie was all packed up and ready to move away, but I got her to change her mind.

I listened in on a conversation between Benedict and Big Top, and it was quite surprising. Big Top said that the two of them were standing in each other’s spots. I wasn’t sure what they meant, until Benedict revealed that they were practicing a dance routine!

Benedict: Sheesh! How long have we been rehearsing this dance routine?!

Margie asked me for some new clothes, so I bought her a dragon suit from Able Sisters. In return, she gave me a jester’s cap.

I then started hunting for bugs…except things weren’t going well. There were bugs out, alright. But they were mostly worthless things like mosquitos, cockroaches, and even a flea! I felt lucky just to manage a single mediocre catch of a stag beetle.

I also did some fishing, and that was going slightly better; I snared a hammerhead shark and a barred knifejaw, but that barely offset the onslaught of sea bass that must’ve been enticed by the clownish cap on my head.

I barely made 40,000 of new money tonight (and nearly one-third of that was from fossils and the money rock). But I put my money in the bank and went back out for one last run as the shop was about to close.

And that’s when I finally had a bit of a lucky streak. I caught two tarantulas, an atlas beetle, and a hammerhead shark…in a 2-minute, 40-second span! Nookington’s was closed by this point, so I couldn’t sell these catches just yet. But at least this made it feel like the night wasn’t a total waste.

Jeff the jester swings a net at a tarantula in ACWW.

I think I’m about due to post another Wild World video episode. So look for that in the next week or so. See you all next time!

Food Word Game

Big Top wanted to play a food word game with me tonight. Even though he didn’t explain the rules, I’ve seen this game played with two villagers before. (I think I included it in a video once, but I don’t remember which one). One player names a food, and the other player has to name a food that starts with the last letter of the previous food. So when Big Top said “mango,” I had to say the name of a food that starts with “O.”

Big Top: YAAAAYYY! OK, my turn. Ready? Mango!
>Orange!
Orange it is!

But after a couple rounds, Big Top accidentally said “nightshirt,” which obviously isn’t a food.

Big Top: Nightshirt, right? Oh, forget it. I'm not thinking straight right now.

He said he needed to take a nap to clear his head, but I didn’t get any reward for winning the game.

Kabuki asked me to take a letter over to Benedict, and I agreed to help out. When I delivered it, Benedict was kind enough to show me the letter.

What's up, Benedict? Good news for people who live in fear. Blues would be cool for the town tune! Good-bye! -Kabuki

Kabuki gave me 520 bells for helping out.

I found all three of today’s fossils and the money rock. But other than that, I didn’t make much money today. The problem is that Nookington’s closed not long after I started playing. You know me, always playing late at night. 😛

But I did decide to go bug-hunting (and fishing) at least long enough to fill up my pockets. That way, I’ll start off next week with a nice chunk of bells. Tonight’s haul included two goliath beetles, a hercules beetle, an elephant beetle, a shark, a red snapper, and a blue marlin.

I caught a blue marlin! Why so blue, marlin?

Trivia: It was exactly one year ago today that I caught my first blue marlin! (August 6, 2019)

Are any of you still playing Wild World regularly? Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one. 😛 I still have goals I want to achieve in this game, namely finishing off Boondox and the museum.

Regardless, I’ll be back with another entry next week. See you then!

Negative Juan

Tonight, Big Top was telling me that he has a monthly subscription to Chillin’ magazine. But he said that keeping them all takes up too much space (even though his house looks fairly empty), so he just cuts out the good pages.

Big Top: But keeping 'em all takes up too much space, so I just cut out the good pages.

Crazy Redd was in town…and I really wish he came every week in New Horizons like he does in Wild World. 😛 He had a moving painting for sale, but I didn’t need it.

When I spoke with Antonio, he told me that he has named his abs! They’re named Joe, Tony, Bud, Ted, Rod, and…Negative Juan.

Antonio: I named each of 'em, too! Meet Joe, Tony, Bud, Ted, Rod, and Negative Juan!

I’ve seen a jock in New Horizons (I think it was Louie) also name his abs. Except he used names that started with “Ab,” like Abigail, Abner, etc.

But I’m not sure I understand the significance of these ab names. Well, Joe is likely a reference to Joe Six-Pack (meaning an ordinary/average man). But I’m not sure about the others …especially Negative Juan. I know it sounds like the number (negative one), but…I guess I can’t work out the meaning. 😛

Kabuki was packed up and ready to move away…but I couldn’t let him go. I just didn’t want him to leave just yet.

I gathered some fruit, caught a few good bugs, and fished in a red snapper. I made about 60,000 bells for the night.

I caught the atlas beetle!