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STATION OPERATOR
| OPERATOR: | Ponds (Online handle: ihateuponds) |
| PRONOUNS: | he / him |
| ORIGIN: | South Carolina, United States (EDT timezone) |
| OCCUPATION: | Cybersecurity Student & Hardware Enthusiast |
| CLASS: | Ghost-Type Gym Leader & Digital Gremlin |
| DAILY DRIVER: | Arch Linux (Hyprland Wayland) + Windows 11 LTSC |
| AESTHETIC: | Affliction, Eyeliner, Spikes, Y2K Cyberpunk, Analog Horror, Hyperpop |
| CURRENT OBSESSION: | Pokémon TCG binder grails, 240BPM synth tracks, PS1 emulation |
| BIO MANIFESTO: | Welcome to my website :3 I go by Ponds online, Im from SC and Im in school for Cybersecurity. I love hyperpop, EDM, and metal music. Im pretty open to making friends but Im lowkey anxious as fuck so bare with me. |
- ▶ LSD Dream Emulator (PS1, 1998)
- ▶ Pokémon Emerald & SoulSilver (GBA / DS)
- ▶ Bloodborne (PS4)
- ▶ Silent Hill 2 (PS2)
- ▶ Old School RuneScape (PC)
- ▶ Tekken 3 & 5 (PS1 / PS2)
- ▶ Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)
- ▶ Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GameCube)
- ▶ Glitch Gum (Hyperpop)
- ▶ cr1tter (Glitch / Electro)
- ▶ Linkin Park (Nu-Metal)
- ▶ Paleface Swiss (Beatdown Metalcore)
- ▶ brakence (Glitchpop / Emo)
- ▶ Sewerperson (Alternative Trap)
- ▶ Machine Girl (Digital Hardcore)
- ▶ 100 gecs (Experimental Pop)
TRAINER: PONDS
IDNo. 09400
SPECIALTY: Ghost-Type Mastery
BATTLE STYLE: Hyper-Offensive Hex
ponds@station:~$ fastfetch
/\ ponds@station
/ \ -------------
/\ \ OS: Arch Linux x86_64
/ \ Host: Custom Fractal North Station
/ ,, \ Kernel: Linux 6.12.9-zen
/ | | -\ Uptime: 42 days, 3 hours
/_- -_\ Packages: 1420 (pacman), 32 (flatpak)
Shell: zsh 5.9
Display: 27" 2560x1440 @ 165Hz IPS
WM: Hyprland (Wayland)
Theme: Catppuccin Mocha / Hyper-Violet
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (16 threads) @ 5.05 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super (16GB GDDR6X)
Memory: 14.8 GiB / 64.0 GiB (23%) DDR5-6000 CL30
Disk (/): 680 GiB / 2.0 TiB (34%) Samsung 990 Pro NVMe
Audio: Schiit Modi+ DAC / Magni+ Amp / Sennheiser HD600
Keyboard: Wooting 60HE (Lekker Magnetic Hall Effect switches)
ponds@station:~$ _
001.
What is the story behind your nickname "ihateuponds"?
Friends started calling me Ponds years ago and it completely stuck. The handle "ihateuponds" was born out of self-deprecating irony during late-night gaming sessions and became my permanent cyber alias.
002.
Why did you decide to build a Neocities website?
I got sick of modern social media: endless algorithmic feeds, tracking pixels, rage-bait, and corporate walled gardens. Building an authentic personal website lets me own my space, express my love for retro tech and music, and connect with people who actually care about the indie web.
003.
What first got you into cybersecurity?
Tinkering with hardware and modding consoles as a kid. Once you realize how software and network protocols actually work underneath the slick user interfaces, securing and auditing systems becomes an addictive puzzle.
004.
Why are Ghost-type Pokémon your absolute favorites?
They have the most creative, eerie, and stylish lore in the franchise. Pokémon like Gengar, Mimikyu, and Gholdengo possess incredible utility, immunity to normal attacks, and an unmistakable chaotic energy.
005.
What is your favorite Pokémon game of all time?
Pokémon SoulSilver on Nintendo DS. Two entire regions (Johto + Kanto), physical/special split, Pokémon following you, and the peak of 2D pixel art. Second place goes to Pokémon Emerald.
006.
Why choose Arch Linux as your daily driver?
Complete control over every single package and process. Combined with Hyprland and Wayland, it offers instantaneous window tiling, bleeding-edge kernels, and no bloatware telemetry running in the background.
007.
What drew you into hyperpop and fast electronic music?
The sheer auditory adrenaline. When artists push tempos past 200 BPM, distort the 808s, and layer pitched vocals over chiptune synths, it creates an intense dopamine rush that regular pop simply cannot match.
008.
Why collect physical Pokémon TCG cards?
In an era where everything is a digital rental, holding real cards with textured holographic foil and special illustration artwork hits completely different. Finding cards like the Hidden Fates Jessie & James or Tag Team grails is pure nostalgia.
009.
What is your obsession with LSD Dream Emulator?
Osamu Sato 1998 PS1 creation is the pinnacle of interactive liminal surrealism. No objectives, no combat, no linear path: just wandering through subconscious environments where textures swap and music modulates on every step.
010.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Stop worrying about what normal people think, back up your dotfiles and config files regularly, and buy the retro consoles before the secondary market goes crazy.
011.
What is your favorite late-night fuel?
Ghost Energy (Swedish Fish or Redberry flavor) and iced black coffee. Absolutely essential for 3 AM compile sessions.
012.
What is the next planned upgrade for your rig?
A custom acrylic hardline watercooling loop with matte black fittings and UV-reactive purple coolant.
013.
How do you manage social anxiety online?
By being completely authentic upfront. I like shorts, loud music, and computers. If someone wants to chat tech, gaming, or trade retro web links, I am always down, but I take my time responding.
014.
Favorite band to see live in concert?
Paleface Swiss. The pit energy and raw vocal intensity are unlike anything else on earth.
015.
Favorite command-line tool?
fzf (fuzzy finder) piped into ripgrep and neovim. Once you master fuzzy terminal navigation, graphical file managers feel painfully slow.
016.
What keyboard setup are you running?
Wooting 60HE with Lekker magnetic Hall effect switches set to rapid trigger actuation (0.1mm sensitivity), custom lubed and installed in a heavy aluminum case.
017.
If you could live in any video game town, which one?
Lavender Town in Pokémon Red/Blue, or Traverse Town from Kingdom Hearts. Eternal twilight, cozy cobblestones, and eerie synth music.
018.
What is your favorite single song right now?
"baby g shock" by cr1tter, or "introvert" by brakence. Both capture that hyperpop emo glitch sound perfectly.
019.
What is the biggest mistake web designers make today?
Making every website look like a corporate SaaS template: sterile white backgrounds, generic AI copy, identical bento boxes, and zero personality. Bring back scrapbooks, pixel badges, and character!
020.
What are your future plans for this website?
Expanding the retro game database, adding more interactive web tools, publishing my security lab notes, and keeping this slice of the indie web alive for years to come.