Rin

1) I think the draft was really solid overall, though there were some criticisms on stream that the "wrong" defenseman was picked. I, of course, greatly disagree.
2) Nope, I got that 5 TPE welfare baybeee
3) Cup or bust 👀
4) Miami had an absolute field day in this draft with the amount of picks they had, I think they'll end up being a tough out.
5) Not yet, that'll be at the end of this season for me.
6) Kinda/sorta, I think they get a little tedious for me when I'm doing nothing but graphics all of the time. On the other hand, though, they're fun things to work on in the evening when I'm just looking to turn my brain off and listen to some music.

IS THAT SONNET?!?!?

It's been a while, VHL. I didn't exactly live up to the promises I set for myself last time, so why don't we sit down and have a little chat.

For those who don't know me, I joined back in May 2020 and was extremely active throughout the COVID period. (I was one of those described COVID players lol) I bounced around as an AGM and WJC GM before finally landing a gig with the Minnesota (now Oslo) Storm, where I came ever so close to a championship.....twice. As life transition from COVID, I ended up getting more busy with school and other things life threw at me. I eventually went completely inactive for a few months, attempted a comeback last summer, which failed miserably.

So what did I do during that time? It's been pretty rough sledding to be honest. The last year has been full of adversity for me. I was out of sorts and fought many mental battles at the end of last year and limped towards the start of college in January. College itself was an uphill battle but i studied and ended up with a 97% average across the semester. I continued to work on my mental health and got better as the semester went on. I've been working a summer job, and have been making some money as I prepare to transfer schools, as I'm looking for more of a challenge. I got accepted into a major university and I start in 3 weeks! I've had to fight through a lot of adversity but it really did help build me over the last year and help me become a better person.

I notice how much change there has been in the league and on the portal. Lots of new members have joined since I last set foot here, and the portal has gone through as many updates as I have homework assignments (THANK YOU FOR AUTOMATED TRIVIA). It's an exciting thing to be back and see all the new features, and I can't wait to take advantage of them.

Now, what are my plans for the VHL. Well, it should be said NONE of this is guaranteed. I have recreated and joined the league with some persuasion from @Zetterberg and will start much like @JigglyGumballs, just taking baby steps towards more activity. I hope to be a max earner by some point but with university right around the corner there are no guarantees. I will be active in the LRs and I honestly do miss that special vibe that the VHL community gives off, and I look forward to being part of it once again. I also plan to eventually get back into management, maybe starting as an AGM for now but nothing of substance until I have some stability under me.

For now, that's all from me. Oh, and don't worry. I won't trade the picks....unlike SOMEBODY......WHO ALSO CAME BACK.....AND TOTALLY DIDNT WRITE A SUPER SIMILAR ARTICLE.....

Man, it feels good to be back.

(501 words)

👀

SONNET????????

MORE ANIME HOMIES MORE ANIME HOMIES
 

My name is JigglyGumballs, otherwise known as Jiggs. And I am the one who traded the picks and trusted the process. I joined all the way back in June 2020 and for the past year or so, I have been inactive. But now I'm back. A lot has changed since I was last here, a lot of familiar faces, a lot of new ones. A lot has changed with the league itself. Like wtf I can't believe that trivia is on the portal. Anyways, as a sorta older member coming back to the league, I feel like I should introduce (or reintroduce) myself. And no it's not cuz of le good ol' TPE grind but so I can try and adjust to all the new stuff okay.
 
So. Over my time in the VHL, I was pretty active when I first joined and subsequently throughout the career of my first player. Who was creatively named Jiggly Gumballs, who would've thought lol. I prided myself in trying to max out my TPE earning every week and amassing 1002 TPE over my first player's career. I also had an active presence on my team LR's. Eventually, I had become the AGM of the Las Vegas Aces of the VHLM, back when @Spartan was GM of the team. I then took over as GM when Spraytan departed, and sorta coined the term TRADE THE PICKS, TRUST THE PROCESS. The reasoning behind that was the mentality we had in the M at the time. To keep an active LR and team, and thus to help recruitment at the time, the goal was to contend as much as possible. Thus the trade the picks, trust the process mentality began. I memed the living shit out of it, along with trading for 6th rounders which was counter-intuitive towards that mentality, and somehow was okay at being a GM in the M. After that period of time, I gradually got busy with life and stepped down. Taking some time off the league before creating my second player, Gruffud Theofylaktos. At this time, I tried becoming active again and milked the loving shit of my return (like I am now lol) when I did come back. I was apparently AGM of Davos for a period of time before I became inactive yet again. Idk why I don't remember that but apparently I was. This time though, I stayed inactive for a whole year.
 
That leaves us with today. So what's the plan now? What's the goal? So the goal right now is to keep things chill and get myself back into the VHL community. I don't think I'll have the time or motivation to make articles the same way I did prior, so I'll try my best to at least be a welfare player, and occasional full TPE earner. I'm also gonna try and apply for positions again once I get back into the thick of it. It won't be for a while though. I rushed back into the TPE and VHL grind with my second player and subsequently burnt myself out. So instead of doing that, I want to adjust slowly and just get back to talking to y'all. When I feel like I'm ready, I'll apply for open positions again.
 
So that's that. Me back. Me want to VHL. Thanks to @Zetterberg for convincing me to come back.
 
With that in mind, there will come a time again where I will trade the picks. And you better be ready to trust the process...
 
(587 words, using for PT week Aug 14-20)

Didn't end up getting some of my smaller PTs done last week- there was a big anime convention in town that a good handful of friends ended up flying in for. Despite some huge issues flying in and out of the con, the event itself was an absolute blast. There was SO much more Vocaloid representation this year which I was absolutely thrilled about- from cosplayers to vendor booths to a whole setup from Crypton themselves to promote their worldwide series of concerts, Miku Expo. That booth, specifically, had a huge screen playing through past concert footage. Most of it was for Miku, but with Rin getting some screen time (and love from passersby), I was pretty thrilled.
 
It's a little tangential to the VHL, but coming out of the weekend I can safely say that I've entered my...third honeymoon phase when it comes to Vocaloid/Rin specifically? I feel like every time I get to just weeb out for a weekend, I'm reminded again why I fell so in love with the concept. For those not in the know, Vocaloid is essentially a synthetic voice software, where character voices can be tuned and used as an instrument. Producers have been using the likes of Miku, Rin, Len, etc for well over a decade as vocalists for their projects, spanning across countless genres and artists to create one big collective. In a sense, it feels like a community was given a tool to help build the identity of these characters, and even a sense of built-in exposure. I, personally, have felt compelled to check out a NUMBER of artists just because they use Rin, since I already love her voice and design. Having that familiar element to their work makes it so much easier to just jump in and listen to a bunch of different stuff that I might not have even considered otherwise.
 
But what about the live concerts that they put on? Who provides the music for those? Actually, the concerts themselves are compilations of some of the more popular songs throughout the community. Hypothetically, ANYONE could produce a song using Rin that makes it all the way into official setlists.
 
I explain all of this to get around to the major thought I wanted to put forth. Interacting with other Vocaloid fans this last weekend and seeing just how much love they were getting both officially and unofficially gave me a huge sense of pride, in a way. This is something that can only exist because of the love of not only the creators, but fans as well. Vocaloid has been around for well over a decade at this point, and being in a big general anime environment that still features them so prominently is heartwarming. It's a similar feeling to the VHL, where you have this massive community/entity that can only exist because of every one of its pieces. In a very stereotypical way, both are products that are far greater than the sum of their parts.
 
So, yeah. I'm back on a massive Rin high. Again. Would be fantastic if this was my first player to make it into the HoF.
 
Since it was the prominently featured song in the booth's playlist, my song this week is ungray days:
 
 

made a small update to the card to reflect your new build as of now! ❤️
 

First off...good LORD do I love the Rin render used for this. She's fucking adorable ❤️
 
Second...this was a great non-intentional nudge that my "first gen oopsie" re-roll was approved and applied. Went ahead and put in my new build, hopefully that's in time.

First off...good LORD do I love the Rin render used for this. She's fucking adorable ❤️
 
Second...this was a great non-intentional nudge that my "first gen oopsie" re-roll was approved and applied. Went ahead and put in my new build, hopefully that's in time.

While Asia has not gotten off to the start we'd hoped, the team has fought extremely hard given the WJC regime leaders @Zetterberg @samx  harsh system against Team Asia. Despite this, we fight hard to remain one of the strongest hockey teams in the world and will always represent Asia proudly. As management for Asia, we are happy to lead and hope to give the players involved with Asia the best experience possible. With that being said, @kirbithan has done an incredible amount of work behind the scenes to make up some trading cards for Team Asia. I was doing some up in Paint myself, but let's just say I'm really glad to of gotten the PM from Kirbi letting me know they had already started ahead of when I thought they'd be. Kirbi exceeded expectations but that's why I reached out to them!! Thank you so much for coming and being part of Team Asia 🙏
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Giving the "A" to an anime girl is the W of all W's
 
Let's get this bread

Giving the "A" to an anime girl is the W of all W's
 
Let's get this bread

I got you. Should be good now.

these were the good old days

Remember when I said "I'd like to apply for GM" and it got someone banned for a few days LMAO

Well, I'd like to think I have some history with--
 
I'm just fucking with you, you're not getting me with this one again.

Well, I'd like to think I have some history with--
 
I'm just fucking with you, you're not getting me with this one again.

IA GM for a different franchise, Chicago needs the most active member to ever exist to GM them now
 
@Beaviss

I apply

Well I thought I was going to be a lock for Istanbul, but it looks like that's not happening anymore.
 
I still would rather just go straight to the pros, though. Getting to the E is like getting to the end of the line at Disney World, only to discover that the line actually keeps going, but at least now you're inside.

I always wanted to play for the Red Wolves purely because of how much I liked their logo, and now I can't DX I joined back a season to late.