8 Years Later...

 ...And still, every time I see the word "shutter" I'm reminded of the poor soul who googled "slutter shades" in order to find the post about them on my blog. Yes, I can see what you google to get here, it's literally exactly the same as Youtube Analytics on my end.

But anyways, it's been 8 years. I just finally got around to resetting my password after the 2020 data breach. Someone hacked my spare at that time and took everything, even the damn flower bracelet that was still glitched on from the beta days. Contacted AJHQ and they went "we can't give you your items back, don't give out your password next time" even though they gave out my password. Very infuriating, kind of decided not to play out of spite for a while, but they were nice and helpful this time. Talked to some guy who's name was Ferdinand, but backwards. Dnanidref. Weird.

I have no idea why I'm writing this. It's almost 1am here. I can't believe it's been 8 years. I'm an adult now. My life looks so different. And yet I'm playing Animal Jam. 

The first thing I saw after logging in for the first time since 2020 is people talking about coming back after a long time of not playing. Like I was doing. I should have said something but I didn't trust myself enough to not accidently swear and get myself banned. The one guy was definitely the same age as me though, so it's nice to know I'm not the only person who's way, way too old for this. Actually, I'm convinced that a lot of people on there are quite a bit older than the target audience at this point. They're all talking about things that 11 year old me never would have cared about. Racism, censorship, the Amber Heard trial. Either they're older, or today's youth have been thrust into the realities of life way too soon. 

I think it's interesting to see how the culture has changed since I was on there. Despite everything, the biggest influence is the outside internet. People talk like they're on Twitter. Or I guess it's AAVE, but parts of it are pretty common on Twitter and the internet as a whole now. There's also a lot of people making masterpieces with their pronouns in them. Lots of LGBTQ folks. They've always been around, I remember defending an agender person on AJ deviantART in like 2015, but everyone's really open about it, which is a new thing. I'm glad everyone's so accepting. Everything else is mostly the same, though. The AJ-specific slang is the same. Most of the rares are the same. People still use "XD", to my delight. I've noticed it's very specific to this game; no one uses it outside of here anymore. 

I'm not really sure why I'm posting this. Just reminiscing on times past, I guess. Just wanted to say I'm here, I'm alive, I still think about this sometimes. This game is part of me, part of my history, and it always will be. 

Happy jamming,

Morningglory17

P.S. If you have a Neocities and aren't going to spontaneously combust if you see swearing, feel free to follow me there.

Animal Jam Desktop App Glitch and How to Fix It

Hey Jammers!

It's been a long time since I've posted, but I felt the need to make a post to share this. Today I'll be talking about a glitch with the Animal Jam desktop app. This isn't a pleasant glitch at all, unlike the glitches you might be used to seeing. Actually, I'm not sure if this is a glitch at all; it would more correctly be called a "severe inconvenience caused by a paranoid security app" as it was in no way the fault of AJHQ itself. 

I tried to download the new desktop app recently onto my PC (Windows 10 to be exact). The download and installation were both blocked by our overly fearful and awfully annoying Norton Security. While it has saved my butt on multiple occasions, it took me 45 minutes or so to figure out how to disable its unnecessary virus blocking features for this mundane app.

If you have Norton on your PC and try to download the desktop app, Norton will scan it and immediately remove it, as it sees it as a virus. You can see this on the notification that appears in the bottom right corner of your screen. To allow the download, click on the "View details" link on this notification.

This will bring up a Norton window. Click on the tiny "Restore" link on the bottom of the window.

It will bring up a window titled "Quarantine Restore". Click yes at the bottom of it.

You should now be able to download the .exe file of the game.

Now you still have to install it. This was the more difficult part of this to figure out. Currently, if you try to install it, it will start installing, try to download a .7z file, and then Norton will promptly firewall it and stop you from downloading it by blocking its internet access. You'll know when this happens because you'll get a pop-up saying "Your internet connection seems to be not permitted or dropped out. Please reconnect and click retry to resume installation". Just click cancel on this pop-up and the one that follows.

To fix this, click on the Norton Security icon in the bottom right corner of your screen. Click on "Security" in the window that shows up, then on "History".

This will bring up another window, which may take a few seconds to load. Once it loads, scroll through it until you find "Firewall rules were automatically created for Animal Jam for Desktop". Click it, then click "More Options" in the bottom right corner of the window.

In the window that comes up, click "View Rule".

Wait for that to load, then find the AnimalJam.exe file that you downloaded. Look to the right of it and make sure that "Allowed" is selected from the drop down menu.

Click "Apply" at the bottom of the window. Now double click on AnimalJam.exe to open it. It should install and the program will be ready to use.

So, that's how to download the program and install it and avoid this problem. It takes a long time to do all of this, I know, but it's the only way I've figured out so far. I really hope this helps someone as I know many players are young and might not be able to figure this out on their own (and their parents might not be able to either). Enjoy your new desktop app!

Happy jamming!

Morningglory17

Leap Year Party!

Hey Jammers! The event I've been waiting 3 years for is finally here! The Leap Year Party is back!!! This party is said to be filled with rare items (according to AJHQ and the last Leap Year Party). Let's see these items! First off are the den items:

We have the Frog TV, Giant Frog Plushie, Frog Chair, Frog Lamp, Frog Wall Art, and Nesting Frogs. I especially like the frog plushie; it's so cute! 

In the clothing items, we have several interesting items.

There is the Fluffy Fox Head, Happy Cat Hat, Striped Epic Antlers, Striped Candle Hat, Wild Winter Hat, and Zany Hat. 

So, the items weren't as rare as people expected. I have a feeling that AJHQ has a trick up their sleeve though, like they might replace all the items with rare items last minute. I do like the den though, it's a tree house den with a leaf slide and it's decorated really nicely.

I like photo filters, can you tell? XD Anyway, the Leap Year Party is a great place to hang out with friends, even if the items are a bit disappointing. The items will become rare eventually after this party is gone, just like any items that leave stores become rare. I recommend that you stock up on items from the party because you won't be able to buy them again until the next leap year (or maybe never), and help non-members to do so by trading them the member items. 

Happy Leap Day!

Morningglory17

Collecting Clicks for Animal Jam Membership?

Hey Jammers! So recently, I found this website that allows you to get free membership in exchange for people clicking your referral link. It is called Epic Codes and it works by using your IP address (meaning you don't have to make an account). Along with Animal Jam membership, you can also earn memberships for Club Penguin, Spotify, and many other websites, and gift cards for Target, iTunes, Steam, and more. I have no idea whether it works or not, and so I'm hoping you guys can help me out by clicking my referral link below:

http://epiccodes.com/?ref=506357

If you want to try this website, just click the link above. Once the page loads, just copy the referral link (which is under the about of points). Please leave a comment here if you decide to use this website. I sure hope this works!

Happy jamming!

Morningglory17