Day 14 - Over 10% Done

Okay, so feeling pretty good. As of about 3 o'clock this morning, I've caught 10% of 'em all.

And I'm just getting warmed up.

So far I've been pretty happy with my progress, but even I can admit that this is just the beginning. I'm still finding new wild Pokémon just traveling from city to city. We'll see what happens after I beat the Elite Four, when I have to start cracking down and really struggle to fill the gaps left in my Pokédex.

To begin with, I don't even have the faintest idea how I'm going to track down those Pokémon that can only be given away at certain events. I suppose I'll need to, you know, actually attend these events, despite the fact that most of them are limited to the U.S. It's not impossible. I may have to learn how to drive, however – something I've dreaded doing my entire life. Either that or find another few Pokémasters in training who are old enough to drive and organize the gayest (sorry, “lamest”) road trip since, I dunno, Thelma and Louise.

Another problem I may need to address is the fact that I don't really have a working Wi-Fi connection at my disposal. Now, that's no problem at the moment, but when I start needing to look for Pokémon beyond the three games I own (SoulSilver, Ruby, Pearl), I will in all likelihood need to trade via the Wi-Fi system. As it stands, I can't really do that.

My solution at the moment is the same thing I did to download the Yellow Forest Pokéroute for my Pokéwalker: walk up and down my street trying to look for an open connection every five feet or so. It ultimately works okay, but unfortunately I look really creepy standing on people's lawns like some local pervert. So yeah, will probably need to find a better Wi-Fi alternative.

In terms of progress, there were a few shakeups in my lineup these past few days. Egg Shen and Hedwig both evolved, turning into a Togechik and Noctowl, respectively. Great job, guys! Unfortunately, this means I have no more use for you, so back in the PC Box you go, probably forever.

Moloch also evolved into a Nidoking (as I said before, perhaps my favourite Pokémon). Unlike Egg Shen and Hedwig, I plan to keep him in my lineup permanently, so I'm obviously not getting rid of him any time soon.


In place of Hedwig I've brought in ChickenBoo the Pidgey. Egg Shen's place has been filled out by the Elekid I caught with my Pokéwalker, whom I've christened Electro, named after my all-time favourite comic book villain.

And can I just say that I love this little guy? I mean, besides the fact that the Elekid is pretty adorable to begin with, he's just got such a good nature and can-do attitude. And unlike pretty much all my other lineup Pokémon (I'm looking at you, Moloch), Elekid is really pulling his weight, despite being several levels lower than the others.

Here's a drawing I made of the two of us being friends:


On top of those, I've caught a level 17 male Goldeen (Jabu Jabu), level 15 male Girafarig (Elton), level 28 female Magikarp (Diem), level 15 female Stantler (Lily), level 16 Staryu (Starfy), and a level 16 male Seel (McLovin). I also caught that cool Red Gyrados in Rage Lake (Atrocitus).

On my Pokéwalker I've now caught a Sentret, a Doduo, and a Pikachu. The Pikachu I caught was from the Yellow Park, which was downloaded via Wi-Fi, and allegedly contains rare Surfing and Flying Pikachus. I'd say I devoted a good 45 minutes to trying to catch one of the little fuckers, wading knee-deep in yellow ratshit, to no avail. I'll try again later.

Right now I'm off to check out the Safari Zone before heading to work.

Day 14 Pokédex count: Seen 120, caught 55
Professor Oak says: You're trying -- I can see that. Your Pokédex is coming together.

It sure is, Professor!

It's a Pokéman's World

In the past few days I've devoted to SoulSilver, I've become increasingly aware of a slightly unsettling trend to how I approach catching 'em all. It's fairly inhibiting to my progress as a Pokémaster, sure, but it's also got me wondering more about myself as a human being. Basically it boils down to this:

I don't like catching female Pokémon.

There have been a bunch of times where I've been walking through the tall grass and given the warning signs of a wild Pokémon. As the battle starts up, I'd be excited to see the silhouette of, say, a wild Slowpoke, or some other animal I had yet to add to the 'dex. The excitement would be short-lived, however, when I find out that the Slowpoke is a girl. Even though a part of me would be wanting to fail, I'd go ahead trying to catch it.

If I succeeded, I'd wonder what the heck to name a female Pokémon that's not just some dumb name like “Tiffany” or “Sharon”. And if I failed at catching the Pokémon, I'd actually be kind of relieved.



So. I don't like owning female Pokémon. What does this say of me?

My first epiphany may have been a bit of an overreaction, but it's the same reaction I have to like 75% of the bad habits I catch myself doing: “Does this mean I'm subconsciously gay?”

The answer, after thinking about it for a bit, was a fairly adamant “Probably not.”

My follow-up question, then, is the slightly modified “Does this mean I'm subconsciously sexist?”

The answer for that: “Probably. But you're also subconsciously racist, classist, and ageist, so you've got bigger problems to worry about.”

The more I think about it, though, the more my Pokébias (Pokésogyny?) seems commonplace. After all, I don't think it's uncommon that young kids generally like to own toys of the same “gender” as themselves. I mean, you give a boy two identical Stormtrooper action figures, tell him he can own either of the two, and that one of the Stormtroopers is a boy and the other is a girl, I'm almost positive he'd go for the male Stormtrooper.



And I don't think this is limited just to children. Think pets, for example. I think it makes perfect sense that in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Roger owns Pongo, while Anita owns Perdita. And I dunno, but when I hear about males who live alone and own a female dog, I think it's kind of weird. I'm not saying there's anything weird about it, it just feels odd. Like if some dude in an action movie gave his gun a male name, like “Roger”, as opposed to “Vira”.

Okay, so I just read what I typed, and apparently I'm okay with having male pets and female guns, but not vice versa. In short, I have to sort through a few issues.

But I guess, even if I am a bit sexist when playing SoulSilver, it's not like I'm a full-fledged Psychopath. I mean, I don't go around catching Jinxes, naming them things like “Whore” and “Slut” while I force them to breed with Tentacruels at the Daycare centre. I just don't like catching females. Is that so bad?

Okay, so I just read what I typed again, and I think “I just don't like catching females. Is that so bad?” is a really weird sentence to be taken out of context.

Moving on.

Pokédexwise, it's been slow and not so steady. I kind of wasted like three hours or something crazy like that playing that Voltorb card game in Goldenrod, and the new Pokéathelon, which is pretty crazy fun. In the last two days, though, I've caught a level 14 male Pidgey (ChickenBoo), a level 20 female Sudowoodo (Willow), a level 17 female Exeggcute (Crazy Jane), a level 12 Nidoran ♀ (Hecate), and I exchanged some coins I won from the Voltorb game for a level 15 male Abra (Psycho Fox).

On top of those, I caught a Wooper, a Slowpoke, and a Magby on my Pokéwalker. I'm pretty stoked about the Magby.

But I'm not quite as stoked about the Magby as I am about catching my favourite Pokémon (or rather, the first stage of my favourite Pokémon), the Nidoran ♂. I caught him at level 12, lovingly named him Moloch, and plan to have him in my party right up to the end.



Day 6 Pokédex count: Seen 73, caught 27
Professor Oak says: You're getting good at this, but you have a long way to go.

Wait, my favourite Pokémon has a "♂" in its name?

Argh!