Introduction

Hi there, I'm Hylia! My pronouns are she/her. I'm a 20 year old, autistic, transfemme person currently living in England who spends a lot all of her free time on the Internet, I guess.I define myself as a casual YouTube content creator and light video game modder, as well as an aspiring to-be streamer. I have many special interests, which are often the basis of my internet activity. I've delved into these below!

Video Games

Video games (particularly Nintendo) are the longest running special interest of mine, having been in my life since I was aged 4, and are the main focus of my online life.My favourite franchises include The Legend of Zelda (I am named after a character from those games, after all), Super Mario (and its spinoffs) and Animal Crossing, among others.The Wii and Nintendo DS have both been in my life since early childhood, as have parts of the GameCube library on my Wii. As I've got older, I've began to develop my GameCube collection some more, as well as owning a Wii U.Some of the standout games from my childhood include The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports and Resort, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Donkey Konga, Dancing Stage Mario Mix, Super Mario 64 DS, New Super Mario Bros. (DS and Wii), Mario Kart Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Mario Kart DS, Luigi's Mansion, The Simpsons: Hit & Run and MySims (the original and Agents).In more recent years, I have enjoyed games such as Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, The Escapists, Splatoon, The Sims 4, Super Mario Maker, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Tomodachi Life, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Rocket League, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Minecraft, Terraria and Uncharted.For a comprehensive list of all the video games I own, see Collection. For my opinions on these games, see Content,

Computer Software

Around the same time I began playing video games, I also found myself becoming fascinated with computers and technology. I loved using computers, with my favourite subject in school being ICT. I also found myself developing a dream career as a video game designer, my childhood mind imaginatively having so many ideas for features in video games.In secondary school, I went on to study Computer Science, where I learnt basic coding in Python. Unfortunately, I began to lose my creative touch, and video game ideas died out, but I continued to enjoy programming and took Computer Science at college, where I learnt C# and Unity.I explored with Unity and C# a fair bit, but haven't done anything major; there's one published game that I can't share, but it's of poor-quality, and an unfinished, rather ambitious project. This project was actually part of an even more ambitious career goal of co-owning an indie game studio, which never came to fruition.Coming out of college, I expanded my knowledge further by teaching myself Java. I began development of a web application that would allow users to apply for jobs that were presented visually on a map with travel information, however this never manifested. I presently work full time as a certified Software Tester.

Genealogy & Documentation

When I was a relatively young child, I began to wonder about my ancestors, even just minor thoughts like "what were their names?"
I was already aware of my rather unusual heritage (Irish, German and Ugandan), which included links to aristocracy and royalty, as well as careers as interesting as crocodile farming.This, along with a genuine interest and recollective ability for dates, as well as somewhat of an obsession with documentation, led to me beginning my genealogy journey at 15, which has since uncovered fascinating stories and relationships.Beyond that, I'm also a contributor on various wikis, most notably The Cutting Room Floor and Wikitubia. There was also a time in 2020 where I was very actively contributing to video game documentation site MobyGames (under a different username). I simply seem to like documenting things, possibly due to my "perfectionist" attitude in finishing what I see as incomplete data.

Google Translate

I was first exposed to the concept of "obfuscating" language by translating it through multiple languages and back to English in 2018. From memory, it started with the YouTube channel Twisted Translations, specifically their Pokemon video.What really set the deal for me, though, was Book of Mario: Thousands of Doors; once I knew that such a thing could be done for video games, I just knew I wanted to do it for Twilight Princess.Development for that mod technically started in April/May 2019, though the idea was around before that, but it ultimately got scrapped because I simply didn't know what I was doing.I can't remember what reminded me about the concept, but on the 31st December 2020 I suddenly recalled it and decided to begin developing it from scratch the next day, New Years Day 2021. Truthfully, I still didn't have a clue what I was doing, and in the early days ended up annoying some people on a Discord server about it, but somehow I pulled through and released the mod in April 2021.This is where the special interest really began to blossom, and I began to follow Google Translate content more closely, as well as create other Google Translate content myself. There is real humour in the repeated messages that appear between unrelated hacks, such as the European Union or the AI/BT Conspiracy; these universes truly feel connected, and full of lore.

Johnny English

Johnny English is a comedy film that first released in 2003, that I experienced for the first time in late 2011 thanks to a DVD re-release.The film stars Rowan Atkinson as the titular character; better known for his role as Mr Bean, who I thought was supposed to be the same character as a kid.I loved the film as a kid, watching it more than a couple of times. The only specifics I really recall about my childhood opinions were that I thought the character "Bough" was named "Bob", I heard "fandango" as "potato" and I liked the quote "those idiots are right behind us, faster". But really, I loved the whole film.For the most part, after 2012, I had completely forgotten the film existed, but an event in 2021 (in which I saw the DVD case) somehow managed to trigger a full-on special interest.The very first thing I recalled about the film when I saw the case was the opening credits sequence, in which Johnny iconically gets lost navigating an office building; I discovered the music is actually extremely good. This opening became the subject of numerous memes on my YouTube channel, the vast majority of which unfortunately get blocked. I also realised that I could recall the entire film by memory.Outside of that, I'm a huge fan of Johnny's socially awkward assistant Bough - the two have great dynamics in that they are effectively opposites. One is very over confident but lacks intelligence, and the other has that intelligence but is missing the confidence. The interactions these two share really do make the film, as well as effective audio design.There were two sequels, Johnny English Reborn (2011) and Johnny English Strikes Again (2018). I have seen them both in their entirely only once; the second film, I saw in the cinema when it first came out, and remember enjoying it quite a lot, but it criminally removed Bough's character and was far less memorable. The third brought back Bough, had a lot of the dynamics of the first, and was good fun, although I forgot it existed for a while.

The Simpsons

The Simpsons was one of my favourite TV shows growing up, oddly being particularly prominent during my earlier childhood. My family had Season 4 on DVD, which possibly contains some of my favourite episodes as a result, but I watched a lot of TV repeats of the earlier seasons as well! The newer seasons, I am not a fan of, which is a common opinion. I did also like the movie, though, which I had on DVD a bit later in my childhood - possibly around 2012. It took me a while to be able to fully watch it, since the DVD I got for my birthday was faulty and didn't actually play to the end - my family spent a while trying it on different devices before giving up and getting another copy.

Steamed Hams

Ah, good old Steamed Hams. This right here is the first, perhaps only, meme I truly got invested into. Although I first saw it on a TV repeat as a kid (and loved it then), its main relevance comes through what I dub "The Steamed Hams Obsession of 2018".I watched countless variations of the meme throughout 2018, and would discuss it in excess detail with a friend, as well as making memes; it quite literally took over my life. It has since calmed down rather dramatically, but I still love the meme a lot and make my own variations from time to time."Yes, and you call this an 'About Me' page, despite the fact it's obviously just an infodumping essay".

The Simpsons: Hit & Run

This is pretty much the only non-Nintendo game I played growing up, and it was definitely a childhood favourite! It was effectively a kid-friendly GTA-sort-of game - you had different levels you could freely drive around in, collectibles, unlockables, missions etc.To this day, it's one of my favourite video games. I grew up with it on the PlayStation 2, but currently on it on GameCube and PC.

Phineas and Ferb

I first watched this cartoon in 2012, I believe, and loved it quite a lot at the time - being my second favourite cartoon growing up. The real meat of the show comes in the form of the B-plot, involving Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus; these two characters are simply incredibly well-written, have fantastic dynamics and are very comedic and enjoyable to watch.The song also has a great soundtrack; the song "Busted" actually being one of my all-time favourite songs (outside of Johnny English and Nintendo). I remember listening to it on my Phineas and Ferb soundtrack CD a lot when I was a kid.At one point in 2020, I developed a rather intense hyperfixation on this cartoon, between March and June, but it ultimately died down and it remains a minor interest.