How it all started—

My cousins and I were first introduced to Neopets by an uncle during a family trip. It would be on his humble (and gargantuan) desktop computer running Windows XP where we would create our first accounts. We spent that entire afternoon carefully choosing our pets (mine, a blue Shoyru) and playing every Flash game available on the site (eventually sticking to Meerca Chase because, at the time, we were obsessed with Snake).

From then on, I spent a majority of my childhood and early adolescence on the site. Almost everyday after school, I would periodically check in to feed my pets, do my dailies, and play a few games. In the thick of it, I had painstakingly collected almost every secret avatar and even found myself at the head of a guild. Life was sweet. And being a kid on the internet at that time was the absolute sweetest.


While growing up meant leaving the site behind, I would always pop in every year or so if I was ever reminded of something small. It wasn't until adulthood and having many years pass without return that I had realized something infinitely bone-chilling— I had forgotten the password to my childhood account. And to make matters even worse... I had also forgotten the fake birthdate I signed up with.


Fast forward to 2024: I have 1) safely recovered that account after a few nightmarish years and feeble attempts at contacting Neopets support, and 2) have successfully transferred everything to a new account that I now log into at least once or twice a month purely for nostalgia's sake. Same old routine. Exactly like how it was when I was a kid.