So You're Having a Bad Day

First came the minor disappointments. Grundo plushie? He didn't do anything. (Well, he's a plushie, what do you expect?) Tombola, Coltzan, Fruit Machine -- no dice. Nothing happened to your foster Neopets… on ANY of your five Lab Rays. Things were dull business as usual.

…that is, until The Wise Gnorbu bestowed upon your worthy/unworthy shoulders a beautiful blue Lunar Cape, for you to wear always, with the noble pride of a master astronomer. Or, y'know, you could sell for a million Neopoints.

But you weren't quite excited enough to get straight to the Trading Post. Your overall route would be quicker if you went through the Haunted Woods for your last daily on your way to Mystery Island.

Guess you should have at least let your Lupe hold onto that cape for you while you dipped your head in Apple Bobbing Bart's tank, though. Because that glorious cape toppled off your shoulders and landed in the water with a smack. Your reached down for it -- your hand touched the bottom of the tank, right below where the cape fell! -- but somehow your reclaimed prize still evaded you. Apple Bobbing Bart pulled you away from the tank, screaming, as you painfully realized just where Bart's profit comes from. My conspiracy is for another article, however.

Anyways. You fancy yourself an amateur restocker. So your next course of action was to check through your usual shops. It seemed to mostly just be empty shops or rows of fluff items… until THAT WONDERFUL THING.

You know it. The most elusive item in the entire shop. The Charming Pink Draik Gown, the Stealthy Lutari Morphing Potion, the Leaded Elemental Vial. Heck, maybe it's just an Elegant Punk Guitar, but it's big for you. You get to the haggling page -- the moment of panic when you spot a rare item is minimal now -- and key in the same number four or five times in a fraction of a second.

BLAM! What Would Have Been the Height of Your Restocking Experience is SOLD OUT!

Aww, I really wanted a--

IT WASN'T GOING TO BE FOR YOU.

*ahem* Well, at least you didn't lose anything, right?

…Right?

Yes, well. About that. Looks like your Food Club bets tanked. And the nice background you splurged on for your Kiko? Grundo Leader took it.

Okay, okay. But you can get the background again… it was retired, but at least not EXPENSIVE. As for Food Club, that's an investment--

Oh, hang on. Investment reminds me of something. That stock you sold almost all of when it was at fifty Neopoints a share? It's at one hundred twenty Neopoints a share now. Oops. At least you didn't lose anything there.

Well, okay, but you did lose time and sanity elsewhere.

Maybe you got to the haggling page of another very good restock, but you got sniped not by another player, but the shop clearing mechanic of all things. Or someone sniped it while you were on the five-second wait between items. Grr.

Maybe it's the first of the month, and the High Score Tables are cleared off. You try your hand at your latest trophy game and get your best score yet! But you get pushed out of Top 17. By someone who already has the gold trophy. GAH.

Maybe you wrote a long, relevant Storytelling part, but got pushed out by someone with a short part that creates a very difficult cliffhanger for the next person to write their way out of. The climax may suffer for it. Because it's Friday! That also means if you don’t want to try and finish this week's story, you'll have to wait for Monday to try again. AAAAAARGH

Wait, it's Friday? That's the best news day of the week! Ah, but at this point, you should know not to get your hopes up. Why? Well…

Your eloquent Beauty Contest picture misses out on a trophy by a difference of one vote. The Editorial doesn't answer your serious question. And your favorite author isn't in the Times. Well, dung.

Hopefully you have yourself one of these pillows to scream into.

We've all had days like this on Neo. Maybe we go through times where seemingly EVERY DAY on Neo is like this. Constantly, the overfeeders in the Kadoatery are at it again, the Customisation Spotlight winner is an outfit most definitely worse than your entry, and every Krawk you find in the Pound is just destined for the user who clicks a millisecond before you do.

Can't really help it. So many things in Neopia are based on competition or luck. There will always be a loser. And most of the time it will seem like that loser is you. Happy existence, isn't it?

This Techo is actually hurt, but he looks like he's throwing himself backwards in frustration.

Well I've got some comfort for you. And that comfort comes in the form of the familiar, so-often jinx loaded phrase: "It could be worse."

The NT rejection could have happened today. Someone else's blunder could have been yours. And thank goodness color-changing random events have been done away!

Neopets is a game of competition. And when not competition, usually chance. Everything that happened today is totally justified, because it allowed someone else to have a good day, or maybe you to have a good day some other time. So calm down, pop a Neocola, and read the NT, customize your pet or do whatever is basically a withdrawal for you. Do something where absolutely nothing can go wrong for now. Neopia's a chaotic place. More specifically, a place full of people who will be faster restockers, better gamers, and just luckier old chaps from time to time. You deserve a rest.

And yes, other people will be restocking expensive items while you rest.

Maybe next time you'll get that avatar pet that's in the Pound. Maybe some of the overfeeders will have a stroke of concern and lay off on overachieving. Maybe the contest judge will decide your entry really is the best this time around.

And maybe next time, your improved customization will be something every voter agrees is worth ten points. Maybe with practice, you can smite that gold-trophy glory hound. Maybe that other restocker will be stuck waiting that pesky five seconds while you grab the r99 item.

Your day will come. You will get Quote of the Week in the Neopian Times. Jacko the Phantom Painter will visit you one day. Maybe one day you won't even need the "better" restockers to be on restock ban.

There's one catch. You'll need to keep writing for the Neopian Times. You'll need to keep viewing pages. You'll need to keep stepping up your restocking game. There's no payout without input.

Where there's input there will still be a risk of disappointment. But that risk will always be there, so no backing down. Not now, not ever, k?

K.