When Veternarians Hate Snowmen (WW Day 9)

Well, I've been playing ACWW for over a week now, so it's much harder
to spoil anything (for me, anyway), so it will be safe to assume from
here on out that everything that I post could give away large chunks of
the game. And since it's tougher to spoil things, I've been reading
Gamefaqs a bit more, so I can get an idea of how other people are
progressing and faring...

ANYWAY, VERY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW AT FIRST--

As of Day 8, the first legit Nookington's began to open (when I say
"legit" I mean, no time-travelling). Many of these "early-upgraders"
did it by being on WiFi since Day 1, snagging all the fruits, growing
massive orchards, and fishing pretty much all of their waking hours.
Some of them did their fishing (or bug-catching) in Late Summer
villages, which, eh, I don't know.

Many people got "stuck" in in Time Travel (hence: TT) villages because
they misset their internal DS clock, didn't listen to Kapp'n, and then
didn't want to deal with all the weeds if/when they reset the in-game
time. Maybe.

So anyway, if you happen to WiFi wander into a village with a
Nookington's, it's probably just as legit as it is not. In a few more
days--two weeks at very most--final stage villages will be the
norm...And after two months, we'll be seriously wondering about the
people that *haven't* finished all basic construction. Plus, I'm
looking forward to the Beauty Parlor. I haven't reading anything about
it, so I'm really curious to see how it works...

More details about my WiFi trip from last night...Two of my host's
constellations were incorporated in my night sky! At first, I thought
this feature was silly, so I didn't have any of my own, but I'm going
to try and do a couple before I open my gate tonight...I also got his
Blanca (I think).

Bottle Mail works a little differently. I thought I had to release the
Bottles in someone else's village. But no. You release them in your
village, at the river or the ocean. Where do they go? *Apparently*,
they don't go directly to the next person you WiFi with. Yes, they do
get the Bottle, but only in cart memory. The Bottle is in turn
transfered to the person they WiFi with next. And it shows up on that
"third-party" beach. As best I can tell.

As I mentioned before, WW included a few "in-game" bottles...I've
gotten one, and it was just another of the built-in weirdo letters. And
the in-game letters are, in fact, getting weirder--far stranger than
they were in GC. But with the WiFi bottles, you can include friend
codes, email addresses, presents, and *any* other kind of message that
you can type in four lines. I'm putting in my email address, myself.

ON THE OTHER HAND--your DS WiFi licensing agreement with Nintendo
STRICTLY PROHIBITS *any* personal info to be exchanged in this way. Not
even friend codes. Everyone on Gamefaqs is ignoring this (along with
98% of the other Nintendo rules), so I doubt I'll be persecuted.
Besides which, my email is basically a dead-drop; I could lose it at
any time and not notice.

Speaking of Gamefaqs and WiFi, there hasn't been as much mischief as I
expected, but already, people are getting their fruit completely
stripped, their trees cut down, their flowers trampled or stolen, and
so on and so forth. The most ridiculous case I've heard yet is the poor
kid who had one of his patterns at the Able's replaced with a swastika.

LARGER SPOILERS NOW FOLLOW--

The Snowmen are back. ARRRRRGGH. Possibly my very least favorite
mini-game or holiday event or whatever. I ignored the snowballs for as
long as I could, but when I saw two sitting almost right next to each
other, I had to try. The process is much the same as on the GC, except
faster and simpler (no ramps). My first attempt was a failure (head too
small?), but today's try seemed to have done it. I'll have to watch the
mail...As much as it annoys me, the Snowman series was probably my very
favorite in the game...

And I am now a country doctory. Or village vet. Or whatever. Boone got
sick, and I had to help cure him. Took two days and 800 bells...Nothing
major, just another one of the funny new details they've added to the
game. Three-way conversations are another knee-slapper...If you wander
up to a couple villagers who are already talking, you'll get dragged
into the chitchat. More often than not, it all ends in tears...

Ellie was all packed to leave last night, but I easily talked her into
staying. So I doubt we have to worry about prized villagers taking off
to parts unknown. At least not as much as we used to. Although the info
book does say that WiFi does allow for villager transfer, just like the
train did in GC...

The Legendary Blue Nintendo Bench of GC fame now looks to be a "real"
piece of furniture. Recall, like Zelda and Punchout, this was coded
into the GC game, but could never, ever be legally unlocked. Anyway, I
noticed it sitting in Drake's house last night.

Trophy fish are much, much, much faster with the hook. Other Gamefaqers
have reported catching the ceolocanth (in real-time games) several
times, even though it wasn't raining. And I miss probably half of the
tuna that I ever spot. Annoying.

I finally caught a fly last night, once I knew enough to start strewing
garbage in front of my house. It didn't take long at all, and my
village is once again clean and pristine. Surprisingly, I managed to
nail a pillbug on only my second try. It helped, natch, that I had
practiced quick-drawing with the stylus. You only have a couple seconds
to switch from the shovel to the net, and buttons aren't going to do
it...It occurs to me that Coffee might be able to make catching a Bee
that much easier. I am going to investigate this soon.

Okay, I am (thankfully) out of things to say. I don't even have
anything more to type.

My email is thomforesta.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com if you'd like to exchange friend
codes.