So I kind of feel empty.

Today, November 9th, 2008, is the day which follows the end of HKO (the land of all that is pink, fluffy and cuddly cuteness) Founders’ Beta. After a month of playing and now that I really look back, it really doesn’t seem like a month at all. There were hours upon hours that I spent amongst fellow Founders and the occasional too-adorable-to-stun monster mobs. I don’t think it’s quite hit home that it’s really over…

Since I was a little girl, Hello Kitty was a resounding force in my life. I begged and pleaded with my parents to allow me to go into the Sanrio store. And now being a young adult, HK never died for me. So when I accidentally stumbled upon a forum post that mentioned it, I was instantly hooked. It was almost agonizing counting down the days and hours til Founders’ Beta opened.

Then it was just crazy trying to get into the client on the opening night. And unsurprisingly there was PINK. Everywhere. Come to think of it, you know… I really don’t think there is a centimeter of anywhere on HKO that doesn’t have pink. Nonetheless, I’m so thrilled that I played HKO because of how many memories and friends I’ve made.

I don’t think I can truly pinpoint some best moments because there were so many and I have the memory span of a goldfish’s (which is 3 seconds apparently!). These moments and my most fondest memories were shared within my guild, HKO Founders. For most of HKO up until we received guilds, I was mostly on my own and without many good friends save a few. But when guilds came along, it was like having my own family on HKO.

It wasn’t until guilds came along that I think I truly was able to enjoy the full friendship-making aspect of HKO. And there were so many hilarious moments and exciting times in the guild/game in general. But most recently, I remember the “Food for Friends” and “Build New York” guild competition.

It was total madness how much food we were cooking since Day 1 of the competition. Our numbers are high versus the other guilds as well as our total translation of food into money number as well. And in my opinion, we really deserved first place. We worked our BUTTS off, day and night and it’s no wonder we kept GM-Abby for the whole period the last turn-in was supposed to be (Over 3 hours!). We had a ton of people farming and cooking as well as others going out and collecting/hoarding a bunch of materials for us to cook with.

Sometimes the numbers were insanely high, but they did it. For example, the Tangerine Juice recipe which requires 20 sorosis and 5 oranges per 5 juice. Sometimes we would need over 600 sorosis and people went out and got it done competing against other guilds as well. Up until the last batch was traded in did we finally sit back and breathe. I had never been more proud of my guild then when the results came out and we owned.

Everyone worked so hard and dedicated their time and efforts to working together for such an amazing cause. And I know that I was sort of a crazy person reminding everyone to cook and focus and whatnot. Someone even shouted it out to me, haha. Despite all the drama and chaos that happened, we raised over $12,000 for UNICEF and the AYO! And that’s what really matters the most.

The “Build New York” event.. Talk about PRESSURE. It was crazy trying to get build fast enough and consistently keep 5 people building. We definitely had some ghosts drop in at some points of the building - when only 3 or 4 people could build and no one else could get in. All 3 groups for the HKO Founders were starting off great and then… It went somewhat downhill. When one of our reps suddenly poofed, we were in an uproar. No rep = no building since you needed the farm’s owner online for the numbers to go up. It was an intense 10-15 minutes as we waited for her to come back on. And she didn’t let us down!

Though we were around 600 behind our fellow guildies, we still had no idea where the other guilds were in terms of other Empire State Building competition. My fellow guildies and I were building the ESB and though we had an obtacle, we still managed to come out on top (albeit in 2nd). Though we wanted to win 3 for 3, we were truly grateful to even place given how anxious we were. After 3 hours of building and food-sharing, we did it! And it was not only thanks to the builders, but also those who gathered and farmed to make energy food to keep everyone afloat with energy.

(Group picture HKOF ESB builders: Iris, Serenity, Bellkana, Noi & Pixel. Missing: Team Leader JamJam)

Next up, journal, are the events! So many, so little time. My honest favorites would have to be the GM Pinata and Hello Kitty’s Birthday. Oh, man. There were many others, but those two were my top favorites and I really enjoyed participating with my friends/guildies at them. For Hello Kitty’s Birthday, I went to both events and it was soooooooo laggy. The first one didn’t go so well, but I had fun during the second one. We had guild competitions and individual trivia which, of course, HKOF won both as well I won a trivia question finally (which the prize was a pair of Soft Designer Leather Boots and I’ve wanted them for AGES!).

(Above Picture Credit: Bellkana)

Guild Straight Line Competition:

Guild Shape Competition: (It’s supposed to be a star. ;P)

(There’s GM-Abby too!)

Unfortunately, I’m pretty sad that I didn’t collect any screenies from the GM Pinata event. Too focused on chasing down the GMs I think.  They were fast! I got a bunch of items after all that exercising (pretty sure my character looked thinner after!) so this is off of the top of my head:

1.  9 Sheep pet cards (They just kept coming! >_>)
2. 3 Florapolis wands
3. A stack of strawberry cakes (went straight into the guild food fund)
4. A stack of lemon pies (Same with these!)
5. 2 stacks of dried poop (These too!)
6. 1 girl’s long blue skirt
7. 1 boy’s white athletic shirt
8. 20 yellow floral wood
9. 1 girl’s brown (pixie) hair (This was my favorite item to receive!)
10. 1 medical mask
11. 50 white fragments
12. 1 girl’s black sideswept hair

And I think… That’s it, haha. Too bad my inventory couldn’t hold it all, but I was so happy to have participated in this event. It was so much fun running around, chasing the GMs, and hoping that I could receive something amazing. I definitely felt accomplished, grateful and lucky after because not many people were as lucky as I. I ended up donating most of my winnings anyway so it was all good. (:

A HUGE important part of HKO was the friendships each of us developed as we journeyed on completing quests and leveling up. There were those acquaintances that you made along the way - people with whom you just found a common ground with because you connected through a quest or you helped each other out simply out of kindness. And then there were those who became your very best friends because there was just this special pull that kept you together and never very far apart.

I’m blessed to say that I’ve made many new friends inside and outside my guild. Unfortunately, I can’t remember all their names, but that doesn’t make them any less meaningful as a friend to me. However, there are a handful of names that I could never forget - definitely people who helped me along my quests and those who I came to value as fantastic friends.

• ♥ Bellkana -  Seriously, my first real friend. We met randomly in North Secret Peak when we were both just sitting in a corner doing Anthony’s quest for wolf skins. That took forever! But anyway, it was seriously luck that you just struck up a conversation and our friendship bloomed from there. And then you were kind enough to give me a pair of Flora shorts and since then, I’ve been very grateful of your friendship.
• ♥ JamJam - I actually don’t know how or when you got on my list… I think you were one of those people whose, at the beginning, character was pretty so I added you for the heck of it >_> And from then on, I would just PM you randomly and ask you for help, haha. And onee time you got or sold me a moon wand which I absolutely adore since it’s my favorite item. And it was around the last few weeks of FB did we really get close and start the GM-Mickey fan club in front of that billboard in London. Good times together and I expect more in OB with Bell! Pink/Blue Trinity - even though now I’ve broken it ;_;
• ♥ Tattle - I’m such a horrible person. I forgot how to spell your name D: But you should know who you are because you were so incredibly generous and helpful to me with all the help and the donations. Sometime after guilds came, contact with you pretty much fizzled, but that doesn’t make the memories any less important to me. I’m forever grateful for your friendship and hopefully, we’ll be able to chat a lot more in OB.
• ♥ AlmightyTallest - You are so much fun, it was hilarious hanging out with you. And ALL THE MILK you made me take! Goodness. You alone filled up a whole warehouse page with all milk you made and then some. And you made me run back and forth to Flora to pick all the milk up too! And then running around in the crops playing hide-n-go-seek, that was awesome. See you in OB (:
• ♥ Iris - You are so cute! You’re also Asian, only 15 and you write properly! Seriously, a girl after my own heart. Your reactions are adorable and your comments make me laugh. I’m gonna be so excited to see you in OB.
• ♥ Toe-K (Kaito)/ Robot (Kenman) - Freaking robots, I swear. Anyway, you two were undeniably (whether that’s good or not, Idk :P) two major pillars within the guild. People hung on your every word and you had groupies! What celebrities, haha. But either way, thank you for your guidance, support and leadership + all the entertainment you provided. To Robot, I know that I seriously harassed you with a ton of questions, but thank you so much for the help. I told you I have epic detective skills - Pfft, you doubted me. Now if you could just tone down the hormones… That’d be super.
• ♥ These people who literally rock my socks: Wyler (dude, you have EPIC coal gathering skills!), HelloKitty, Diva, Noi, Rin, Milly/Millenium, Twi/Twilight, Pixel and the rest of the guild whom I can’t list because then this post will be really, really long.

(At GM-mickey’s house - JamJam & I are playing around. ;D)
Gah, a big chunk of my post wasn’t saved. :(! Darn it! This stinks considering by now, I’ve forgotten everything I wrote. ;-;

So anyway,  I’ve had a chance to speak to most of the GMs and I’m happy to say that they were all so helpful and so nice about helping me out. Abby is absolutely adorable and Neverender is so great. But of course, my loyalty would have to definitely go to GM-mickey. Not only was he a strong presence in our guild, but after getting to know and hang out with him, I can call him an actual friend.

Mickey’s fantastic sense of style was the first thing that drew Jam and myself to start worshiping him in front of the London billboard. His character was just so cute, I remember gushing with Jam.

Usually when you come across GMs, there’s always a mutual friendliness, of course. But with Mickey, it went beyond just the regular player-staff sense. He hung out with us to have fun and talk as well as continually saving us whenever we got stuck. I can still remember Neverender was the first GM to rescue me when I got stuck for the first time at the portal to Florapolis in East Florapolis Valley.

(That’s my tree! Twice, I landed on that tree and so it became my tree!)

So when Bell came along to sit with Jam and I, Mickey called us the “Pink Trinity” since we all had pink hair. Eventually, we evolved to have the ice blue hair and we became the “Blue Trinity” or white or silver, depending who you ask. Mickey even joined us once when he stuck us all on the billboard and we were famous for about 10 minutes.

One time, Mickey was supposed to come save me because I got stuck behind the chat box in Burry Football Stadium. But the first time he came in, he didn’t see me so he left me until I PMed him again. D: It was in the dark abyss too! Absolute nothingness! BLACK VOID.

And then there was the time, I walked on water… That was pretty awesome.

But anyway, back to Mickey. He was really a big part of my experience in HKO because of the memories we had sitting around with Jam and Bell as well as all the times he saved us… Or stuck us somewhere. So at the end of FB, he was really one of the people I was going to miss and will be at the top of the list to worship again.

(Above Picture Credit: Bellkana)

P.S. We also had a big ol’ naked party for building Mickey’s house too. To future naked parties, yay!

I noticed that I don’t have many screenies from the beginning of my HKO adventures. Granted, I didn’t learn about the existence of the F11 button until halfway through. Soo note to self: screenshot EVERYTHING in OB! Gotta keep up with the memories, right?

At least I remembered to take a shot of a heart I made on my farm. Unfortunately, some of the strawberries and cauliflowers weren’t cooperating… >.>

So now I’m coming to an end of this blog entry (FINALLY!), but even though it’s the end (and was the end of FB), my first HKO experience will always stay.

The wand-waving sparkliness of stunning cute little animals…

 The amazing friends…

 

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

The good times…

The insane, exciting events…

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

And of course, HKO Founders Guild.

(Just so you know… This guild photo was a HUGE pain in the butt to organize. But we managed to pull it together for a final farewell.)

To more adventures in Open Beta! ♥