My ratings for all of the evil teams you go against in the Pokemon games. Bulbapedia calls them Villainous Teams.

Right.
Categories will differ to all other reviews (the ones that I even bothered to put categories in anyway), because the the 'team that wants to destroy things or cause trouble or whatever' in game generation number whatever of Pokemon is unique to all other things I put in order of favourites.
Ok, incoherent. Sorry.
To sum up.
I will put several unique categories for the 'evil team's (villainous teams acc to Bulbapedia) from teh CORE SERIES of Pokemon. Only the original games, gen 1 to 6. RnB to XnY.

1) Theme. It matters. You have to fight a lot of grunts.
The theme is either going to make you leave your sound on, or switch it off.
It matters.

2) Leader coolness.

3) Attractiveness of uniform.

4) Actual evilness (for me, if they aren't really evil, it's ok. I don't like truly sick evil people. I'm not one that thinks it makes the game 'more interesting' or makes the 'hero' look better to be against a team of sick psychos). Evil scale of 1 to 10. The lower the scale, the better.

5) Interestingly varied Pokemon on their team, not just Dark, Ghost or Fighting.

6) How does it all end? Satisfyingly? Or do they just disappear?

Ok that should do.

1) Best theme goes to Team Plasma in BnW. Not the sequel. The original.
I like the original theme better. It was so catchy that sometimes I would not even start the battle properly so that I could listen for a bit. My toes would tap. Here is a link to listen. This is the other music from B2 and W2's Plasma theme. I dislike the sequel's theme remix. Too fast.

2) The coolest leader ever was N. So original Team Plasma wins again!
But if we don't count N because he was kinda used by Ghestsis; then I would choose Giovanni from Team Rocket. He creeps me out, battling him is always scary.

3) Can't decide between Team Magma or Team Aqua. The rest of the teams' uniforms were mostly just ugly and stupid. Well, all of their uniforms are really but for some reason Team Aqua's uniforms strike me as the cutest. Ok, so Team Aqua wins. Team Flare has the worst uniform.

4) Team Plasma in B2 and W2 were pretty bad but the original Team Rocket from RnB were the nastiest. They were just as bad in GnS, actually. So Team Rocket are the meanest and most cruel to Pokemon and people. All the others come in pretty close though.
Team Rocket : 9
Teams Aqua and Magma : 3 (not actually that mean to Pokemon)
Team Galactic : 6
Team Plasma BnW : 5 (hard to say, some of them really thought they were doing a good thing)
Team Plasma B2nW2 : 8
Team Flare : 7

5) Team Rocket have a lot of different Pokemon. They use Sandshrew, Raticate and a lot of others, but they do tend to use a lot of Poison types (ZUBAT argh). Their boss uses a lot of different strong Pokemon though.
Team Aqua use a lot of Dark and Poison types and also Water.
Team Magma use mostly Ground, Fire, Dark and Poison.
Team Galactic use mostly Bug Dark and Poison types.
Team Plasma both games use mostly Normal, Poison, Steel, Dark mostly.
Team Flare uses mostly Fire, Poison, Dark, Fighting and some Electric types.

In the end, I think Team Flare wins. For diversity.

SPOILER ALERT
6) Satisfying ending?
End of Team Rocket is kinda meh. Esp with the whole not being able to get your rival in G and S to meet his dad unless you get that event Pokemon which is dumb imho. I know it's not really about Team Rocket but it also kinda is. I was disappointed.
End of Aqua and Magma is kinda dull. You basically get told to clean up their mess.
End of Galactic is kinda dumb. Cyrus is annoying. And I just didn't feel much about him at all.
End of Plasma is cool although it's messy in a way that is kinda more realistic than in any of the other games. It's not a clean or happy ending really, in either game. But I liked it.
End of Team Flare was DUMB what the heck they just let him kill himself??? Or did I miss something? Ugh. Hated it.
So the winner? BnW and the sequel. A close tie.


So the overall best villainous team is (according to me) :
Team Plasma. They are my favourite villainous team ever.
Teams Aqua and Magma come close behind, in a more goofy way.
I can't help but like them.

Ok survey of my fave team is DONE. Awesome.

Nintendo... is it going down? Or not?

Apparently Nintendo is concerned about how it's making loss instead of profit. See this video at Game Spot here.
Yet I also see stuff online all the time like this. e.g; they have over 10 billion dollars in the bank despite losses. They can keep going for another 40 years or something. Thanks to Games Radar for that.
So are they going under, or not? If they are, can I get a Wii U cheap now then?
Maybe Nintendo wouldn't be having a loss for a third year in a row if it didn't charge so much for it's games, and if it's consoles were more affordable.
Learn from Sony. Sorry but it's true.
If they have plans for a new console for next year and are interested in the Chinese market, I say small hand-held with touchpad. The size of a cellphone.
Most ppl are crazy about games on their phones. It's way more accessible to every single age group. Maybe they should develop games for cellphones as well as a new console. Forget copying Sony, copy King. The jerks who pirated Candy Swipe and called it Candy Crush and make millions by the year. Pirate someone's cellphone app game, get the rights to it and then sue the original creators. Then make millions.

They wanna hit the so called 'middle class'. That's me, right? A grown-up woman-child who does nothing after work but read books, binge-watch cartoon dvds and play video games. And post blog entries that are uninteresting to everyone but herself. Hello internet! I am your spawn. Narcissus got nothin' on me. Yes, I had to Google how to spell Narcissus. Whatever.

I don't go in for Greek or Roman mythology because their gods are uncomfortably too much like humans with god-like powers...hmm.... like superheroes....or mutants.... Oh yeah, the Norse gods too. Forget those guys. Even though they're kinda my ancestral gods.
I think my main ancestral gods are Germanic which are apparently closely aligned with the Norse gods. Yay for Polytheism! Let's pinch some of this, some of that, and make something like a patchwork quilt as our religion! Fooling no-one. Urgh.
Still, most ppl seem to have done that at some point. I guess copycats have been annoying longer than I thought. I would be SO annoyed if someone stole my carefully crafted legends and characters and changed them a little and then made up other stuff on top. It's like pinching a person's house site, and building a different house on top of the other person's foundations.
Oh wait, did the Vikings invade Germany and force them to convert? In that case, it isn't Polytheism, it's Syncretism, right? Mix n' match, a bit of folklore interspersed with High religion, interspersed with messed-up whatever. Obey the precepts but do your own thing on the sly.

....
Got a bit dark there...?
ANYWAY! I finished the main quest in Omega.
So annoyed that I had to use my Master Ball on Groudon.
I was too weak and lazy to grind to get stronger, so I had to catch it after like 15 mins of reviving and carefully chipping and then he would go to sleep again and regain health and I would swear at him, and then start over and finally I was like, 'ARGH! I hate using my Master Ball but...!'

You only get ONE.... :(
I wonder if my X or Y game has a spare, I can trade items to myself right? Hmmmmm!
Good to try anyway. Off I go to do that. Yahoo! Ok not going to say yahoo again.
Ever.
Unless I forget.

Team Aqua vs Team Magma

Always liked Archie more than Maxie. But I like the Team Magma grunts' costumes better. The hoods are cute... And I like all the Admins equally. Must say though, I always got confused about Tabitha. Always thought Tabitha was a woman... But the game implies she or he is male. I think people even say "He" at one point, when talking about Tabitha. However, Tabitha is a woman's name... At least in my country it is. But to sum up, if it's by bosses, I vote Aqua. If it's by grunts, Magma. Also I prefer Groudon to Kyogre. I like Rayquaza too.
Hmmm - off topic but I forgot how much I like Lairon. It is probably my absolute fave Pokemon. Ever. I like it more than Eevee, and I LOVE Eevee. Ok, gonna go save the world. Ttyl.

Here goes... My top ten fave Gym leaders!

Ok, whoooo. Here goes.
I often would come up against a Gym leader and really like their character design for appearance, dialogue and maybe how they designed their gym too.
About 3/4 of the leaders were pushovers.
But there was always one at least per game that I found surprisingly tough.
However that's not why I'm rating them. Appearance mostly.

My Top Ten Faves!

1) I do not know why but ever since I saw Falkner, I was like, this kid is COOL. I always liked him the most. Strange how a character's design sticks in the mind.

2) I have always liked Erika's design. Don't like her name though. Never mind. A minor issue.

3) Ok to cheat, I am counting Koga and Janine together, because he ended up becoming Elite so he sorta doesn't count, yet he also does. They are both great. Because they are father and daughter, I'm counting them as one to give me more space on my list.

4) Roxanne. Super cute!

5) Jasmine. So cute! And Steel type too. I was surprised. I suppose I shouldn't have been. Can't ever tell what kind of Pokemon a trainer would like.

6) Roark. Awesome person. Do not know why I think so. Probably personality.

7) Volkner. Stupid hair, nice guy. Don't know why I like him either, just made a good impression.

8) Lenora. Not just 'cause she's black. But she was such a cool character, a scholar and archeologist and a gym leader. And tall.

9) A toss-up between Ramos and Korrina. I think in the end, Ramos wins because of his awesome scissor-styled sheers he uses to walk with like a cane (and presumably prunes plants and grass type Pokemon).

10) Another toss-up, between Flannery and Winona. I think Flannery wins, because she is more down-to-earth (sorry about the flying related pun there...).

Honorable mention to my fave crush, Cheren... cute, earnest boy, very cute earnest young man and kinda useless gym leader. But like I said... cuuuttteeeeee.... whether with glasses or without.
:D
I love you Cheren...
Oh also, I like all the old man gym leaders, Blaine, Pryce etc, but there are no old lady gym leaders. Not with white hair, anyway. Strange!!!!
Yet there are two old white-haired lady Elite Four members, and only one old man.
Does this mean old ladies are more likely to be better at battling?
Shall we start a gender flame war? Let's not.
Because if you count 'em, there's more male Elite Four than there are female.
Sooo yes, let's gloss that one over.

Gym Leaders I hated particularly? (design or personality-wise)

Burgh ('I'm an artist! I love bugs! I dress terribly! blah blah blah')
WALLACE (I hate you, Wallace. I wish I knew why.)
Fantina (her hair...urgh. her accent... urgh! stereotype!)
HGSS Misty redesign (HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO SUCH A CUTE GIRL)
Brycen is annoying for some reason.
And Valerie's eyes creep me out. She has eyes unlike ANY other person in Kalos. She looks like an alien. Weird! Yuck. Get away from me now.

Ok that's that.
Done!
I feel good about this ranty favourite session. Jolly good.
Time for bed, I think.

Fave of Elite Four's...?

Fave of all the Elite Four's? You know. What I mean.
Out of all the different Elite Four in all worlds, I will choose my top four.
Since it's Elite Four.
Btw my faves are usually based on my preferences for character design or dialogue. Mostly appearance. All the Elite Four are tough to battle.
Welllll.... most of them! Maybe not Aaron from DPP... Bug type? Really?

1) Caitlin
2) Siebold
3) Phoebe
4) Koga

My most hated designs?
Flint (red-head with afro... 'nough said) and Grimsley. Ok, Grimsley a bit more. Damn scarf... supercilious, whey-faced monkey.
And also Marshal. Eyebrows.... Yuck. And Malva. She's a jerk. I liked her design but the fact that she (spoiler alert) was with the enemy, and that she is so bossy. Too bad, she could've been so cool.
Ok, so they are my least fave four then.

Honorable mention to Lorelei. Cute design. I liked her. Also how she had red hair but was an Ice trainer. Usually Ice or Water related people in games or anime etc have blue hair. It's annoying.

Fave out of all Pokemon Champions

Well, I will do my top two. There's not many Champions.
It's easier to pick a fave couple champs than to pick a fave Gym Leader or fave of the Elite Four.

Btw just saying, N is my fave antagonist (although it's hard to really categorise him as a proper antagonist) and he apparently refused to be awarded Champion status so he is kinda a Champion.
At least he's at that level. TBH, my fave NPC ever is N. Not for fangirl reasons. Simply because he is pretty well set-up to be admirable in many ways, in game. Wonderful dialogue (which is my main reason for liking him), interesting and tragic back story, mysterious and kind of aloof but still warm at the same time. Great character. Intriguing.
Ok ok, enough slush about N. There's plenty about him all over the net, deviant art, fanfics, the works. I do NOT ship him with anyone, btw. He has a lot of issues to work out before he can be in a relationship. Let him sort stuff out. Geez Louise.

Right.

ANYWAY!
Well I LOVED getting to battle Red in HG and SS. Amazing. I actually felt nervous.
It depends if you count him as a true champ because he is essentially, us. From the original games.
So.... discounting the legend that is Red;
1) Cynthia
2) Alder

Both were somehow more wise and battle hardened and seemed like true Champions, worthy to fight. The other champs never quite felt... like they were wise. Or whatever. Esp Diantha. Terrible outfits. Corny dialogue. At least Iris was cute and energetic. Despite not seeming like a legit champ, Iris had that special something that Diantha, frankly lacked. I nearly put Steven Stone on my list then I realised he annoys me. He is too know-it-all. SMUGGGGG.

I guess third on my list is Blue.
3) Blue, that annoying jerk. Smell YOU later, BLUE!!!! Yes, I admit I named him Dork. Good times.

Haha Prof Oak : 'What's my grandson's name? Ah yes, Dork!' That actually never gets old.
Also, I hate Wallace, and Burgh (I know Burgh isn't a Champion but Wallace reminds me of him, so yup). I would like everyone to know that. If there was a list of NPCs I want to punch in the face repeatedly, Wallace comes after Burgh. I think. Maybe if I just pick Burgh up and use him like a club, to injure Wallace? I do not know exactly why I hate these two so much.
Moving on...
Ok next on my ranty list of faves, Elite Four!

Mistake in Adventure Time

In the episode BMO Noire at the end, Finn is wearing two socks even though he left the house earlier wearing only one. That's it. Also, I enjoyed noticing that this episode links to the episode called Princess Potluck. I always wondered where they were going with Jake wearing makeup like that. I love it when they do that.

The only problem with manga style comics is... ok again I lied, you know there's always more than one problem with most things.

The main problem is that the art style is more unrealistic than American comic book style, proportion-wise. You either love it or you hate it.

I like it but I wouldn't say I love it.
It's slightly easier to copy that style than American style.
To clarify, I will call the superhero comic book classic style that we all know (e.g DC, Marvel, Dark Horse etc) American style here, just for quick differentiation.
I know that in America and Japan they have more than one drawing style, and anyone can draw in different styles but the mainstream styles are what I'm talking about. I also know that you can get manga style comics from China, Taiwan, Korea and other countries but include those in Manga style. Ok?
Most western Manga style comics are not drawn correctly. They are done too cartoony and blocky and do not have the same feel at all. Usually done by people who want to jump on the Manga bandwagon and make some money. However some of us who have an eye for good lines and curves, can tell the difference immediately. Some western Manga are not bad. But most, suck, frankly. They are poor copies of something good. Even their stories and dialogue are childishly lacking in nuance (subtle quality) or originality.
I hate giving Manga a capital. So lower case here we go.

Weaknesses for manga?
Overly emotional and sometimes goes more dark than American.
Sometimes really dark... torture, rape, gore, incest, pedophilia. I have to be very careful what manga I get into. It's such a mess sometimes.
Less attention to movement, more to backgrounds, beauty and emotional expression.
Sometimes too dramatic, and sometimes too weird, e.g stuff gets lost in translation... your sense of humor may vary...
Slow to build up action sometimes. This can make a story a downer or boring.
The EYES... too big!
Ridculous hair! and some ridiculous heroes, it's hard for me to believe in a story if the characters are too over the top ridiculous in appearance or their powers or how they talk. I don't feel a connection, it doesn't feel real enough and so I have no sympathy or interest in them. Maybe because I'm not Japanese I have this problem, I don't know.
Cheesy too, sometimes. Esp shonen (manga for boys). 'You're my rival! YOU CAN'T LOSE, PROMISE ME!!!' *amazing amount of crying*
Why is there almost always a pervert?
Why is there almost always a main character who is an IDIOT???
Why are girl's boob sizes so important????
So much magic....
So much ridiculous levelling up! And new powers and abilities being discovered.
Dying is not always permanent, but they don't do that quite as much as the American ones do. Although that's only because modern manga which is becoming like Asian mutant (they never call it that though) superhero madness (copying you-know-who), is younger than American comics, so they haven't had superhero (sorry don't know what Japan would call it) characters running in comics for literally decades yet. But they are close!
Art getting better, more fluid, colourful etc, but most characters becoming cliques of older ideas that were done better and more meaningfully. Basically the better the art, the worse the story seems to be, these days. A few exceptions but generally, my catchphrase is, 'Oh yeah, that's like .... and I liked .... better. Oh, you don't know what .... is? Google it. Watch it or read it. I promise you it's way better.'
Manga adaption to anime is often bad, depending on what studio takes up the story and how many episodes they are prepared to do. They ruined Ouran High School Host Club, in the anime. Sorry but the manga was MILES better.
Sometimes hard to tell characters apart. But that's the same as American style.

Strengths:
So different.
Sailor Moon. Ranma. The 90's stuff was good, art was improving, becoming more ambitious, yet retaining good characters and interesting plotlines. It was all new.
Novels become manga become anime (aka animation, cartoons). Or even better, live drama. And can become a game or several games! Awesome.
Beauty. Style, grace, intelligent dialogue (sometimes haha). The hero isn't American. Or always a male. Or even human! It doesn't matter. They stories are good, lots of plot twists but not so stupidly complicated that people give up.
Not always a perfectly happy ending or a stereotypical ending. Slam Dunk, for example. Oops, spoiler alert. On the other hand, at least most manga have an end in sight. American comics....when will it all end satisfactorily? Nobody knows.
Black and white is usually enough. I don't need colour, the drawings are good enough to see what's going on. Usually...
Amazingly diverse stories, and characters (usually). Interestingly diverse powers or skills. Lots of humor. Clever stories sometimes. Thrillers, mysteries, sci fi, fantasy, magic, everything. They can take any idea movie or story and turn it into manga. They did it with Star Trek, and the Labyrinth, and likely many others.
Attention to detail, clothes, water, backgrounds. Even a table.
Interesting characters than you can relate to, and you end up caring about so many, not just the hero.
Anywayyy at the end of the say it's all a matter of taste.

Whether you think American style  is better than manga style.
I like both. Sometimes you don't need to choose. You can enjoy everything.
To be clear, I am not saying one is better than the other.
I'm just listing likes and dislikes, which is something I like to do.

The only problem with American comic books...ok I lied, it's more than one problem really.

The only problem with American comic books is that they are too cheesy.
Men who say women watch too many soap operas and dramas need to take a step back.
If a man reads comics, he is reading male-centered soap operas.
American comics are too much. Too much cheesy dialogue, overly-complicated plot lines, over the top dramatics and to be honest, there are so many superheroes that I can't be bothered with most of them. And they all have a massive list of abilities and skills and so on, not even necessarily super ones, eg; martial artist, high IQ, master strategist, millionaire, high stamina or whatever and so on.

I like to dip in now and again but I tell you, after reading about three or four issues, I get bored.
Add to that the fact that only about half the artists are any good at making each character look different to the next (let alone recognisable), and the sometimes glaringly bad block colours, and let's not go into ridiculously unrealistic anatomy. I think the main reason they invented costumes for superheroes is so that you can tell who is whom. It's actually easier to recognise most of the characters in costume than out of it.
They make everyone so strong that they have to make up elaborate back stories to provide weaknesses for them all.
They're all basically demi-gods of one type or another.
And the dramatic relationship issues.
Not even talking about marriages and hook ups. I mean, guys making alliances, they falling out over weak plot contrived disagreements that half the time don't actually make sense if you think about the characters, what they have in common and what they have already been through. And the whole, 'He dies, then gets brought back to life by ..... or for this or that reason.' And don't forget 'Loses his powers and then..... basically later on gets his powers back.'
Stereotypical characters. 'Minorities'. Exploitation. ESP women. I need not say more, surely.

Oh also one last problem; EXPOSITION.
Stop telling me in long-winded comments to yourself in your head what's going on unless it's difficult to figure it out. I'm not an idiot. I can tell a lot by context and by what other characters do and say around you. Idiot hero. Or in this case, idiot writers.

Things they do right?
Good usually (but not always) wins, which is nice and not at all like real life.
Who doesn't wish they were one of the many superheroes? Everyone in the world could identify with at least one out of the hundreds must be by now.
Fantasy is great for a while. In moderation.
Awesome new ideas for new superpowers or weapons etc.
Great original costume ideas.
So many ideas for cosplay.
Jokes. So bad they are good. I love you for that, Spiderman. You're one of the funniest.
Predicting the future is what sci fi does well.
Dick Tracy's wristwatch thingy is becoming a reality isn't it?
Also apparently men on the moon was done in sci fi before it became a reality.
Although that all depends on whether or not you actually believe that men have landed on the moon or was it a hoax?
I sum it up like this:
I don't care.

Right.
Have a great day!

Pokemon Puzzle Challenge available in Nintendo E-shop at last

One of my all-time favourite games EVER bar none (not just Nintendo but ANY game company's spawn) has just come out in the Nintendo E-shop.
Pokemon Puzzle Challenge.
Basically it's a better version of Tetris.
Awesome music, lotsa fun, easy but also challenging.
Loved it when I played a rom on my computer years ago (no job, no money for the real thing).
Now I have the legit version. So happy.

All I need now is EVERY Sailor Moon SNES game ever to come out again (including the Nakayoshi one), and then Mortal Kombat 1, 2 and 3 and my happiness will be complete.

Not to boast but (yes I will then) I clocked all the Sailor Moon balloon games.
I found the Sailor Stars version and a dude reviewing it said it was impossible to clock.
So when I clocked it, I was like, 'Yeeeaaaahhhhh!'
SMUGNESS.

Anyway, try Pokemon Puzzle Challenge.
It's actually fabulous.

RANTTTT about event Pokemon...

BY THE WAYYYY -
So annoyed about how EB Games aka Game Stop? and JB HiFi screw ppl over by not giving out Pokemon codes without you making a purchase or pre-order (blackmail? extortion?) or not having enough, as in they only have fifty of them instore when they know damn well there's more than fifty players out there, even in New Zealand which I will admit, is small.
I never got a Heracross or Pinsir even though I BOUGHT both X and Y!
I'm not like those pricks who take more than one code and offer it to ppl online to rip them off.

And I never got a Diancie. No chance....
I don't actually want one, but it would be nice to have. Besides, how do I know what it's like if I can't even get one???? Why do they not give them out online???? They did that for Victini, didn't they?
I got ALL event Pokemon from BnW, so why the trouble now?

Whose fault is all this?
EB Games? Nintendo? Who????

You're a jerk, screwing your customers over who pay high prices for your games and consoles.
Btw just so you know, Sony is much nicer to their customers.

Their games are all cheaper.
And the Vita is better than the 3DS, sorry but it is.
Club Nintendo you suck too, I spend hundreds of dollars, now over a thousand dollars on your merchandise and I have almost no star points to get your cutesy Mario based crap like stickers or whatever.
The amount I have spent over the years on your stuff, you would think it would add up to something. I got a cardboard game card storage wallet thing, lined with foam.
It was worth more than 1000 stars.
It was the best thing out of the weak, pathetic line up of crap they have to offer us.
I hate Mario, btw.
Not that I'm racist or anything...
So if they had more Pokemon stuff I would probably be more annoyed about this, but actually I'm not.
Having said all that, you know I will stay a customer.
A) Not much else to do
B) I love Pokemon.
C) Even though the Vita is superior in many respects, it still often steers like a drunken cow when it comes to games.... At least the DS controls are better than that.

So this rant achieves nothing.
Oh well.
:D

More Pokemon Favorites. This time: NPC Trainers!

My top 3 fave NPC trainers to battle in every generation. Not necessarily the most challenging, just the most unique character designs, really. Or most amusing dialogue.
Just to be clear : Bulbapedia here lists them in two categories: Trainer Classes and Trainers.
I will simply refer to both types as Trainers. I am also only counting them in the official Pokemon rpg games, from original Red and Blue to Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby. Not Smash Bros or Rangers or any of the other offshoots. I'm also combining remakes with originals. It's lazy but it's my blog, so too bad. I will link to the Bulbapedia pages for each so you can have a look in case you don't remember them. Hopefully Bulbapedia won't mind...?

Gen I -
1) Bug Catchers were fun.

2) Burglars were a surprise, but fun too.

3) Youngsters. Just so enthusiastic. Lasses were annoying though.


Gen II -
1) Kimono Girls. I loved battling them on stage with all their Eevolutions. It was just a lot of fun. Many battles are mere grinding, and often an annoyance. But with these ladies it was actually enjoyable.

2) Ok, I'm not really supposed to count Eusine since he is the only Mystical Man class NPC that you battle, but it was more interesting battling him simply because he is rare. You kinda have to feel sorry for him, he spent forever tracking down Suicune and guess who ends up catching it?

3) I enjoyed fighting the Teachers. It was fun to fight Schoolkids and then their Teachers too.


Gen III -
1) Seniors and Juniors. Senpai and Kouhai, right? They were cute. And Sis and Bro teams too. Haha! I liked the Mysterious Sisters pairs in X and Y as well, even though I know it's too early to include them but hey, I'm cheating. Generally I love it when siblings battle together. It actually feels more fun and kinda warm-hearted, even if they scold each other. I wish my sister played Pokemon so we could battle together as well, but she simply isn't interested in most games. I do remember we used to play Sailor Moon together on the old SNES. That was so much fun for me. I would shoot the monsters and she would walk around, or vice versa. Wow, memory lane.

2) I always enjoyed battling the reporters, called Interviewers? Fun, and repeated battles too. Then they put it on tv about how cool I was. Hehe...

3) Aroma ladies. And Pokefans! Oh man, Gen III has been my fave gen forever. For so many reasons.


Gen IV -
1) Oh the Pokekids! In their little Pokemon suits! So cute. Not like the Pokemaniacs... urgh. I know they were much more prevalent in FireRed and LeafGreen.

2) Waiters and Waitresses. Fun!

3) The Double Team, I always call them Ace Trainers in my head. They were tough battlers, tougher than a lot of others but looked so cool with their green hair. I always liked fighting them. I liked the designs best from Ruby and Sapphire, then Diamond and Pearl.


Gen V -
1) I wouldn't normally include Team (insert name here) grunts, but Plasma were so cool in BnW. I enjoyed battling Plasma because of the music... So I count them in. Also they were fun. The uniform re-design for the sequel was pretty lame, but the uniform in the first games was nice.

2) I loved fighting the Game Freak staff. No link, sorry. But you remember them. Esp the dude who is like, 'I'm Snorlax! I mean...'

3) Clerks. And Bakers... ok fine, I enjoyed most NPCs in BnW. Gen III and Gen V are my ultimate faves out of all of them, so it's only natural that I have a lot of favourites in both. Doctors and Nurses were cool because they healed you after battle.


Gen VI -
1) In Kalos there were a LOT of redesigns of previous gen trainers that I liked, particularly the Veterans. I always liked fighting them, but in Kalos they look more sophisticated.

2) Socialites, aka Madames. And the male counterparts, Gentleman aka Monsieurs. I have liked them since they were first brought in, in Gen I, wasn't it? On board the SS.Anne? But I didn't have room to mention them 'til now. Anyway, they look cooler in Kalos. They aren't the same, btw. They need separate links. But I like them all and they are remarkably similar so I cheated and put both types in.

3) Ok, ok, I admit I only like battling Furisode Girls for both the design and also in the Battle Chateau they use Audino which obviously give HEAPS of exp. But they are still my faves for DESIGN. So many varieties of furisode... so pretty... even their lips and nails are coloured too (I like details). I just realised, they must be the modern versions of Kimono girls. Well there we go another example of how I'm a Japanophile.
Honorable mention: The hot Backpacker dudes from Kalos. Now in Omega Ruby. Reow! Just saying.

Btw the Ace Trainer male from BnW looks a bit like a male Team Galactic grunt. Just saying. Maybe someone wanted to re-use the design and thought if they changed it a bit, nobody would notice. Even his clothes have a similar style but a different colour.


One more thing! I like very much how in Omega Ruby, everyone uses Japanese teapots and teacups... and the houses are def Japanese-influenced design on the inside. It's a nice change from Kalos. Which was nice! Of course. But anyway it's a nice change.

Next time: I wanna do my fave Gym Leaders. And fave of all the Elite Four. Of which there are considerably more than 4 now. Like... 24, right? I better count my fave Champion too, I guess.

Closure?

I was just thinking about you again...
And crying a little.
And then I felt annoyed at myself because I know that you would be annoyed at me for crying and making a fuss.
I'm sorry.
It was childish of me.

After all, the living need to put the living first, and the dead come after.
I can't let my selfish moments cause other people trouble, just because you died.
That's being manipulative. I can't say, 'But I need closure!'
And cry and make other people feel guilty.
It is unfair to do that. It's actually ill-mannered, I suppose.
I will have to deal with this on my own.

I miss you, even though we weren't very close.
But you were one of the few people I have a blood relationship to. Had.
And I visited you more than all the others ever bothered to do.
I know I shouldn't say that like it matters or that someone's keeping score.
I don't mean it like that. I mean that is the reason why I miss you.
Because I visited you. And I have you engraved in my mind now.

And I tried to talk to you and listen and laugh. You were so ill.
I don't think that you even realised how ill you were, after a while.
You became ill early on, and got worse day by day. You never got much better.
Years passed. You were so used to being ill that I don't know if you realised how much you lost.

I used to feel so uncomfortable in your house. It was awful.
But you seemed happy and of course you were so proud that we couldn't help you or you would tell us not to come back. You had gotten upset at someone like that before, and you have a long memory. Had. We all have that, I think.
Was it selfish of us not to try to help you out of fear that we wouldn't be allowed to see you anymore? Should we have helped you and paid the price?
Even if I never got to see you again, it would have been ok if I knew that you were better off because of what I did. Or what I gave you. Or what I said.
Is that regret?
Is that what all this speculation is?

Will I get to see you again?
I couldn't go to your funeral, I'm sorry.
So that's why I am writing you this letter.
I remember your face.
You had such wonderful eyes. I've never seen that colour in anyone else's eyes.
Unique.
I love your laugh.
Loved.
I'm sorry.
I'm crying again.
I'm getting such an awful headache.
It's so awful sometimes. Everything about us all.
Other times its not so bad.
I guess I think too much.
Don't I?
I know what you'd say.
'Just sit down and have a natter with me, daling.'
Or 'Oh shut up. Make me a cuppa tea.'

Why is it that in all of us, we are mostly defined by our negatives?
All of us have hidden depths, most of which are negative.
We are strong but not in a good way, most of the time.
So many regrets and sorrows and unspoken things.
Even our spoken things seem unspoken.

I'm sorry, I really am.
I will stop now.
I guess I do overthink things.
I hope you know this, that I love you.
I hope you will forgive me for all the things I said in this letter that I never told you.

How wonderful you were.
How funny, how brave, how stoic. How thoughtful.
I liked your laugh. I loved it, actually.
It made me laugh too, every time.
Even though it was more of a cackle.

I wish I had the luxury of telling myself that you didn't suffer.
But that would be too much of a lie.

I wish I had told you more often how fond I am of you. Was.
How I was pleased that we liked a lot of the same kinds of books.
And that we liked cats.
Little things.
But I think perhaps you knew. It was pretty obvious. Maybe it didn't need to be said.
That isn't just me being hopeful. I think, maybe it was like that.

I want to see you again.
I hope very much that I will.

Love
Me

Mirrors, age and other thoughts.

I was just reading about Jorge Luis Borges, and his mirror motifs (among many other motifs he favoured).
It reminded me about mirrors.
I do not like them much.

I once looked in the mirror and found an expression in my eyes that frightened me so much that I had to look away. Ever since then, I have been a little afraid of mirrors.
Perhaps I saw too much.
Perhaps it was only my imagination.
Perhaps it was a trick of the light.
But I remember what it was I thought I saw...
I will never forget that look.
You see - I had never seen anyone look like that before.
To see that look on my own face, myself observing myself, and to have such a look - I became afraid of myself.

There are two ways of receiving this.
One is to shiver.
The other is to say, 'Idiot!'

I still do not feel certain which way I want to deal with it.
I know that in writing this out, I feel a bit better.

I know that I see things differently to other people sometimes.
I have been told this by others and have noticed it for myself as well.
That is probably the only reason why I do not simply laugh it off.

There are so many stories about mirrors.
I now understand why this is; for the first time I have a inkling.
Other people may have had similar experiences, perhaps.

Well, it's easy to take fright at things that are unusual.

I once told someone that I occasionally look in the mirror and do not recognise myself, but that is inaccurate. What actually happens is that usually when I look at my reflection, I get a pleasant surprise.
It isn't that I forget what I look like, or who I am.
It's more that I don't look the way I feel, usually.
So seeing myself there, quite fresh-faced and young, is a surprise. A pleasant one.
To explain, I was born gloomy and somewhat curmudgeonly.
I  both dislike and appreciate technology; but most of all, I love old-fashioned things.
I'm basically an old person in a young woman's body.

I keep thinking, 'It used to be better when I was younger.' and 'Things cost so much these days, I remember when stamps were only 20 cents, etc' Now that's nothing for a 30 year old (which I am). But I started thinking like this when I hit my early TEENS. I used to say to kids, 'When I was your age...' and so on. My friends used to call me an old man. Which was obviously comedic since I am in fact, a woman.

Apparently my thoughts on mirrors have gone astray.
Never mind. It doesn't pay to dwell on fearful things which are only half-understood.
Am I afraid of them, or not?
It depends. On what?
On whatever. There we are.
There are not always easy answers to things deep inside.
So let us move on!

In other news, I'm getting more interested in Pokemon Omega Ruby, now that I am getting more proficient. Onward I go. To GLORY! By glory I mean victory. Not death. Just to clarify.

Pokemon stuff, post number one hundred and somethin', probly...

Ok firstly, I forgot how annoyingly stupid Cilan, Chilli and Cress' logic can be in BW2.
I just went through my W2 game. I never fully finished it because I got bored.
I clocked the main game then that's it. I got W2 first, and played everything to the max in that.
But I enjoyed the sequel story a lot so that's why I got B2.

Anyway, man they are DUMB! They gave their signature Pokemon away to the childcare centre!?
I can't believe it, after all their blab about wanting to get stronger, they got rid of their main Pokemon. Well, ok perhaps the baby elemental monkeys aren't their main Pokemon but they are kinda part of their image! Anyway it is so annoyingly dumb. Don't train your Pokemon, give them away! Duhhh.
I had forgotten that, and then I felt sad because Lenora quit being a gym leader too.
I mean it is nice that Cheren got to do it but he moved away from his family and everything and the way he talked in the first games; I thought he was going to become a researcher or something really different. But instead he becomes your first gym leader, and stays weak. I dunno.
Just kinda sad how things turned out in some ways.

I bought Omega Ruby. I like it so far but I miss the old style. It's sad but I don't like the new look. It was ok for Kalos because everything was new all at once. But in Ruby it's weird. Esp the main characters, their eyes are creepy, too big and starey. And the girl character runs like a duck. I wish I chose the boy one. Orlando lol. Nice name. At least now you can clearly see he's wearing a hat.
I MISS THE OLD GAMESSSSS. I'll get over it. I will.
I know I will.
Mostly.
I'm just feeling a bit sad about how I never got my hands on a genuine cartridge of Ruby or Sapphire.
I have a bootleg of Emerald (which my friend bought me, thinking it real...) and the Japanese version of Ruby (legit copy) but obviously it's not the same because I can barely understand what they are all saying. I can read it though, which is kinda fun. And I have to dictionary or google a lot of stuff but it's still cool.

Anyway, I have fun sneaking up on the Pokemon, and trying to find ones with special Abilities or moves. TBH, I haven't even beaten Roxanne yet, haha. Too much fun. Skitty...*sigh* cute... I used to work hard to catch one but never used it much because it's not a bad Pokemon but there are so many better ones later in the game. Practicality wins over cuteness. Also it's laziness too. It's harder to train a weak Pokemon.
That's why most people go for the tough ones. Saves time and effort. And even when you're level 100, you still need a stat edge for type disadvantages. I think that in Omega Ruby, I will make an effort and try to train up a Skitty to be level 100 and make it TOUGH. Yeahhh booooiiiii tuff skittay. 

Gravity Rush SUCKS, Tearaway amazing.

Tearaway was awesome. Gravity Rush SUCKS.
Don't buy Gravity Rush.
The controls are AWFUL, the game mechanics are too confusing and the missions are stupidly hard from the very beginning of the game.
When you aren't forced to chase people pointlessly and talk to them about crap, (and you can ONLY talk to people if they shine blue. Otherwise you have nobody to talk to), you fight ridiculously hard monsters. With gravity.
You have to hit them in just the right place. Or you FAIL your ENTIRE mission and you have to start over. Oh and you can't just hit them. You have to use gravity powers (yes, you float in the air and have to twist around all the time to keep them in your sights) or jump and then hit them. WHILE THEY MOVE AROUND SO THAT YOU MISS CONSTANTLY. It's so difficult that it rapidly became boring and I actually gave up.
Several months later when I decided to give it another go, maybe my memory was exaggerating, because the controls are so confusing (and no hints or reminders); I had actually forgotten how to play. Tried to learn again and do another mission, get back into it. NO.
You have a stupidly short time to hit a monster in a particular spot WHILE IT'S RUNNING AROUND THE CITY and you smash into trees and buildings chasing it, then if you don't hit it in the right place several times (I don't even know how many!) then the girl you have to save is dead. GAME OVER.

STUPID STUPID STUPID

What a WASTE of my time and money this stupid game was.
If only it had a choice of missions and you could work your way up, practice and stuff.
NO.
It could have been so great.
So annoyed and upset about this.
I know I'm not the best gamer ever. In fact, I'm not so great.
But I clocked Tearaway which has a few tricky levels. Not many but a couple.
I'm going to keep at it with Little Big Planet which is also tricky.

I guess Gravity Rush is just too much. I hate saying it.
But I guess that's just how it is.

I should try harder...
But I feel that all the messy clunky controls and such wouldn't be so annoying if you could start on easier missions and get a feel for it. Well anyway I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Some people on a forum (yes, I looked it up, so?) who have actually finished the game felt similarly. They gave it a 7-ish out of 10 because frankly, it's poorly designed in parts.

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/playstation-discussion-1000002/gravity-rush-how-can-anyone-say-the-game-is-great-29258074/

They didn't get as annoyed as me but it's good to know I'm not completely off.
I guess I will keep trying but it's just so annoying to not be able to save before a big monster. I won't call it a boss. I dunno if it is. I don't think so.
Anyway argh argh argh....

Tearaway. Awesome game. So unique.

Finally finished Tearaway. I loved it. Sometimes it drove me nuts but thats just trying to unlock everything. The actual game isn't too hard. I'm hoping to finish unlocking all the presents and papercraft now. Man, I enjoyed that game. It's one of the two games I specifically bought the Vita for, and it did not disappoint. Now for Gravity Rush... *girds loins*

Church - why it's not always well attended. Haha, diplomatic understatement title.

The main reason that people don't go to church as much as they used to is because it's no longer the social norm to have to go to church every Sunday. Just saying. A lot of people who went to church back in the day were only going because if they didn't, society would judge them. It was just what you did. You went to church. So now that it's no longer 'the thing to do', you could say that people who do go are more likely to be genuinely interested in God. Not 100% likely, but more likely (there's always weirdoes who target churches to try and suck the life out of people).

So everyone needs to stop going on about what's wrong with church. It's not church. It's just that things changed in Western society. That's it.

So it's not: 

1 Men hate church cause it's all girly.

2 Women are needy and treat their pastor like an oracle/psychiatrist/whatever.

3 Church is too worldly and focussed on performance rather than deep teaching.

All that stuff has some truth in it, IN SOME CASES, not all.

But the main reason is what I said above.

Think about it.

Stop freaking out for goodness sake.

Get over it.

Get on with your LIFE!

Good grief. Writing books and books, screeds and screeds of nonsense about how to 'fix' things, make your church 'grow exponentially' etc etc.

It's not numbers that matter. Idiots.

It's quality not quantity.

I automatically distrust (or is it mistrust?) some shiny evangelist in a suit with perfect hair who is just running over with charisma and has a massive church someplace. They all shout out words and commands like, 'Pray with me!' or whatever new catchphrase they try to use to be different from all the others. I will NOT follow your orders, shiny person. You tell me to get on my knees, you tell me to lift my hands in their air, forget it.

If God tells me to, then ok. But not you, suit.

Those shiny people turn faith into a business. IT'S NOT.

They try to play their audience, sorry, congregation (congregation just means crowd, doesn't it?) like an instrument.

Make them feel happy, make them feel repentant. Make them worship. Create the mood.

I didn't intend to start a rant about it but whatever, why not.

Save me some time.

Pastors should not be paid to be a pastor. Nobody should be paid to lead others in their faith. 

The apostles weren't. They were normal men with JOBS who sometimes travelled and preached.

They would probably be amazed (note I did NOT say 'horrified') to find out what kind of a racket is going on today.

You should not be making money out of religion. I don't care what religion it is.

Money is a worldly thing that we use to survive. And maybe a bit more than that.

The point is, the idea of people who make a living out of preaching creeps me out.

And that's pretty much all I have to say about that. 

It's my opinion.

I didn't do any research to back up my opinion with quotes from theologians or apostles.

That would be taking things to a whole new, messed-up level.

Opinions should not be polished and backed up with quotes to seem like some kind of new theological concept.

There's a word for people who do that. I'm not one of those people.

Hopefully nobody will give a damn about my opinion.

Then I don't have to put up with some bunch of trolls who want to try and pick a fight.

I'll issue this reply now, trolls. 'Save it.'

Peter Capaldi

Ok, I know some people will find it odd but I definitely prefer Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, rather than Matt whatshisname who was the previous one. Peter Capaldi is hot. Just saying. I know a lot of people don't like older men but I do, so there we go. I still don't get the whole Doctor Who thing. I'm watching it purely for Capaldi. I suppose I should watch it back from about 3 Doctors ago but I can't be bothered... That's a lot of episodes. Anyway there's kinda a loose plot. And I can catch up with info online whenever. So yay! New silver fox crush. It's been a while since my last crush, actually. :)

Travel!

In one week I went from Auckland to : Paraparaumu, Levin, Lower Hutt, Shannon, Palmerston North, Otaki, Wellington, Nelson, Stoke and Richmond. Oh and Tahunanui also. Some of these places are smaller suburbs or small towns but it's still a LOT. For me. Man, I'm tired. I went to three or four EB Games stores too, but bought nothing... Lower Hutt had the best mall, Richmond second.

Dark thought, sorry

Autism is particularly cruel because it messes with your senses. A child with Downs Syndrome will still be able to see the world in a similar way to a neuro-typical person. Sun is warm and bright, music is pleasant. Water is water. But Autism can make the sun hurt your eyes, water can be torture, music can hurt your ears. This is why Autistic kids scream. Just the colour red can overwhelmingly hurt their eyes. And some of them can't even tell anyone what the problem is. Just the feel of carpet or any fabric on their skin can upset them. No control over feelings or emotions. It's awful to think of. I'm lucky, I get overwhelmed sometimes but I can talk.  Sometimes though, I don't even realise why I'm upset. And when I do, I dismiss my own feelings, because I have learned that my feelings are not important. It's really rather awful. I am just going to have to learn what upsets me, and avoid it. It's one reason I hate buying clothes. So many fabrics are inappropriate for me to wear, they upset me. And I still hate water. I keep forgetting that I'm Autistic. Haha! Then I tell myself, "Come on, grow up! You're 33 now, it's time you stopped feeling like this!" But this is it. This is me. I can't do or be any more than what I am. I have pushed myself to the limit of my ability to cope. I need to remember that, and be more patient with myself. Strange thought for 6:30 in the morning. But there you go.
God bless
Xxxxxx

Ok what? Pokemon absentee parents

Why in every Pokemon game is the main character's dad not around? Except in the best gen ever, obviously. Yay November hurry up and get here!
Anyway, childhood rejection stories aside, I'm playing Y after the main game is finished. My character's mum says, "wow, I saw the parade on the tv! The prof really went all out making ppl come along!"
.......
1) why were YOU not there in person, MOTHER?
2) if Sycamore went all out getting ppl to come, why was my MOTHER who is apparently a famous rhyhorn rider in her own right as well as being my mum, not invited to this important event?
Argh...
It's too dumb to live. This game. Articulation waning... Game haz making the dum.
Oh dear.
Obviously I love it anyway.

Also on a non-Pokemon related note, I heard Wolverine is dead or something. Is that right?
That sucks! Although if they killed Batman (permanently) I would cry. Probably. Haven't they killed Spiderman and Superman and other ones as well before? It's confusing.

That bit at the end in x and y

I know it should be heartwarming etc in the end of x and y when AZ gets his Floette back but I just feel like, "Idiot!!!! 3000 years? Really? What were you doing all that time to not gain love of battling? Also, 3000 years and ur pokemon are weaker than mine! " There are lots of other things but those are the main ones. Seriously! Also, the French, oh sorry, Kalosian professor has cat whiskers. And whoever designed Diantha failed to impress. She looked stupid. Her outfit and hair were too chunky looking. But just saying, post game content is fun.

Two questions

1) What would you say your motto is, the main idea you live by? E.g. "liberty, truth and justice for all".

Well, it would probably be something like, "Expect the worst, hope for the best". That's pretty much a summary of how I think, and therefore, live. It's kind of weird, I guess, to try and sum up my psyche in one sentence. Well, I think it is. A bit. People are complex. But most of them do follow their own patterns of thought and behaviour. Maybe most people could sum up their lives that easily... Anyway, I have found if I expect the worst and hope for the best, I generally get something in the middle. Usually things turn out better than we think they will. I suppose I am cautiously more optimistic than I was when I was in my twenties.

2) What do you wish your motto was? How do you want to think, or at least be seen?

Wow, that's a difficult question.
Hmmm... Maybe, "Purity, love and honesty." ? I would like to be more gentle, loving, forgiving and pure than I am. I'm already honest. I don't want to be too brutally honest, though. People dislike those who are too honest. I would like a latin motto just for the sake of awesome. But... What about valour? I forgot. I want that too. And mercy. It's not a popular word but I am old-fashioned in some ways. The motto might be too long at this point. Maybe just ... "Courage, love and truth" Courage to be loving, which can include mercy, gentleness and forgiveness. And courage to be truthful too. Love will help soften the truth, make it less brutal. Looks like love tempers out the other two virtues there. Well, it's not that original or anything, but maybe I would like to live more that way.

Israel, war, etc

America (and Britain) can't boycott Israel without looking ridiculous because they spent part of last century and almost all of this one up 'til now supporting them on the sly (although everyone knew about it, it's like the biggest unkept secret ever). 
Capitol Hill and Hollywood, both basically run by Jewish Americans. 
Everyone knows that, and the only reason I know that is because I am always the last to know anything and so if I know, it must have been established long ago. 
Look what happened to Mel Gibson. That's proof in itself. 
Btw I am totally willing to accept I might be wrong about this, but I expect I'm not because in the end, it's all about money. When it comes to money and power; I choose the most cynical answer and what do you know, I'm never wrong!

Regardless of who is killing whom, there is no reason in this world that could ever be good enough for killing someone in order to take whatever you want.

The responsible ones who make the orders should be made to fight each other to the death in the arena, and leave all other people out of it. Why should my child fight in a war, be injured, traumatized, tortured, killed because some person who is greedy or hateful wants to hurt other people and take something away from them?

I never was good at rationalizing.

All I know is, people just want to get on with their lives. They want to work, relax, raise families, build a place to live. I never heard of any normal, ordinary person wanting to start a war. I just wish there was a way for all of us to tell these people to stop.

X and Y distributions

I don't know about America, but here in NZ they haven't done much with X or Y. We haven't received Diancie yet, for example, and the game has been out for a LONG time.
I got the Torchic, and the Electabuzz and Magmar. But that is it.
I saw apparently there's a Heracross or Pinsir available in the US at GameStop?
Did they get Diancie yet?
I wonder.
I bet Japan had heaps of cool Pokemon and stuff.

Anyway, there's a Vivillon available at the end of August, via the internet so everyone stay alert to get it.
The Global Link tells you about it when you login and check news, I think.
Or Pokemon.com.
Aww I missed the Fancy Vivillon one. Too bad.
http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/a-vivillon-of-a-different-pattern/
I kinda went off Pokemon there for a while.
It's not like I missed much though.
Anyway this other August Vivillon is different to the fancy one in the above link.
It's a SPECIAL Vivillon. Of course I want it even though Vivillon isn't that tough.
I've tried to collect all the wing patterns but people are ridiculous, wanting a Suicune for a particular wing pattern, which I will NOT trade them.
I am so over the Arceus traders. Level 9 or under? WHY? And also, HOW?
I don't do hacks.

Btw my main place to go for Pokedex stuff, or anything really Pokemon-related including distributions is always serebii.net.
They are great, they even managed to summarize most of the anime and manga.
Of course it's ongoing.
And I check the Global Link, and Pokemon.com
For walkthroughs, IGN.com, and Marriland.com

The third Pokemon in Oak's lab! Spoiler, maybe? Not sure if it counts as a spoiler...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HsxuGMWnXM#t=43

This link above should lead to a video of did-you-know Pokemon facts.

The very first fact  in the video answers the question:
What happens to the third Pokemon in Prof. Oak's lab that nobody gets to keep?

Apparently Prof. Oak was supposed to keep it to fight YOU at the end of the game after you beat Gary.
Man, that actually makes me feel better. I always felt guilty for not choosing Bulbasaur.
I did choose him once but he's hard to train at first (this is in the original game) and doesn't learn grass moves for AGESSSS.

Porting, and spoiler for child of light

Is that what it's called? Well, you know. That thing where they take a game developed for a particular platform e.g PS2 or 3, and redevelop it roughly for another e.g PS vita. Apparently they did that with Little Big Planet. Argh argh argh... That's why it's so hard sometimes! I feel better knowing that, I really do. Doesn't help when I can't get the damn character to flippin' JUMP! JUMP, DAMNIT JUMP, I SAID! ARGHHHHH!!!!!! I quit. Again. Until later. Didn't have this problem with Child Of Light. Just saying.

Btw spoiler alert: in COL, after you beat ur second sister, you jump straight into the last boss battle with no time to prepare, so prepare before you fight the second sister, ok? It's my main grumble about the game. Not that it should actually make a real difference, I still kicked her arse easily, but that's because I like to level grind.

Dokidoki universe

Doctor Therapist is a pain. He is hard to please. Let me help you.
By much frustrating trial and error I found out that he likes aliens, mechanical things, the viking ship, the yellow submarine and is afraid of balloons, this includes the zeppelin. If you summon about two or three things, you can get his gift.
He reacts negatively to a LOT of stuff so be careful.
Btw am I dumb for purchasing DLC even though I already got all the trophies without it?

Vita games so far...

More complaints about LBP Vita, but also a rhapsody on Tearaway, Gravity Rush and Dokidoki Universe.

Well to sum up since I can't be bothered complaining much since that wastes time, energy and letters:
Tutorials suck in LBP also. They don't teach all of what their own blurb says they will teach you, and the advanced stuff is clumsy and hard to do, even sticking two halves of a gingerbread man together is stupidly difficult. ARGH. Why do I not give up? Because the game is addictive, that's why.

Cool.
Ok next, positives!

Dokidoki Universe is fun although sometimes disturbing. You are a robot in the game and I don't want to spoil it - although frankly I like spoilers so I don't see why I should not spoil it... Oh fine, I can't be bothered explaining the plot which would only take like a sentence anyway but who cares.
Lotsa fun so glossing over hateful characters like the wishing tree. I cannot like that guy, I tried to throw him in the air to punish him for being a BIG, BIG, GINORMOUS JERK to the other people on his planet but it turns out he's a masochist, and enjoys that kind of thing. Man, I hate that guy. Ginormous is a slang word, btw, and yes, it is a real word. It just means similar to enormous but possibly bigger than that.
Dokidoki universe is fun. The quizzes are scarily accurate sometimes! I love the collecting aspect of the game, and don't love the stereotypes. Again, gloss over that. Never mind. Most of life is full of stereotypes and these are only slightly offensive so yup, gloss gloss.
It's not very... challenging on most levels. But it is fun. And I like th eart style, is that what people call graphics now? When I was younger we talked about a game having good graphics. Now it's art, right? Or CGI or whatever. Well Dokidoki Universe hasn't got CGI. It's 2D but it's cute, and not in a typical way. At least, I liked it a lot, because it's very easy to see everything you need to see. And I loved the voices. Very unique. Didn't remind me of the Sims either, it's amazing how gibberish can sound so varied under different directors. But I don't play a vast amount of games... maybe it isn't unique... well, to me it was! So there we go. Play the demo at least, come on people.

Gravity Rush is fun, a lot of pointless crap side quests which are almost entirely - pointless.
The gravity thing is annoyingly stupid and hard to accurately control at times, but with practice; even I, who freely admit to being rather inept, managed to kill the first boss (which was actually easier than getting to the boss) so yeah.
I like the story I think. I like the cat thing. I already hate my rival. She is a super ... mean ... girl.
But pretty. Actually better looking than my character. Also my character is disturbingly easy-going about living in - oh wait, spoiler. Fine. It's dumb though. Anyway, yay! Must carry on into it. I really haven't gotten far yet.
Easier than LBP! That may well be my point of reference from now on.

I wonder if Call of Duty is easier than LBP.
I know I am just passable at Counter Strike. Man, I love sniping bots... I miss my friends... we all used to play when we were meant to be studying. I got fragged so often that I changed my name to something like fragwoobie or something like that. Fortunately, dying a lot gets fun if you change levels a lot. I managed never to drown in the pool. Which is a skill, because I got shot at a lot by everyone and fell in the pool a lot. But I always managed to kill the other guy hiding in the pool (they always had one of my bros hiding in the pool; it was clear water, everyone could see him in there but they still thought it was a legit tactic every time we played that level!) and get out before I died. After the rest of them all shot me to bits while I tried to zigzag whilst running for cover. Ah, the memories. One friend used to jump up and down on your dead body. Another one used to spray a smiley face stencil on his kills and stab the air repeatedly for some reason. I screamed at them all from across the hall so MUCH. The best times were when I managed to kill one of them. Good times, good times. My unholy glee was probably not attractive but who gives a damn, I got him after he fragged me like 12 times. YEAAAHHHHHHHH BOOOIIIIIIIII. Ah hahaha my one mate kept killing ME specifically - so one time I knew he was coming around the corner and I flashbombed him and sprayed him with bullets. Then someone shot me from behind, but it was worth it!
ANYWAY!

I wonder if the next season of RWBY is out on Roosterteeth yet? I want figurines of Ruby and Yang. Yang is my fave. So much punching, slam-fisting rage. Punch kick, punch blam blam blam punch punch blam blam slam kick blam blam blaaammmm... reload gauntlets. And... blam blam blam punch punch etc

Oh right.
Tearaway.
AMAZING. Should've bought that first.
It was why I wanted a Vita in the first place, now that I remember.
It is made by the same people as LBP only it's less teeth-gnashingly, tear-spurtingly, vein-poppingly, screen-punchingly frustrating. But only just. Argh - the level I am on is nearly the last level, or so the NPC 'god-characters' (Is that what they are? Whatever. Tree man and Voodoo lady) keep telling me.
I love the look and the sounds and pretty much everything about it. Except for being unable to control the speed of my rolling sometimes. And yet at other times I can. Aside from that, and dying A LOT, I love it. It is one of few games that I can see myself playing through several times.
Lots of fun ways to force you to use all the Vita's touch screens and camera and stuff. I mean, full playability or whatever jargon they use that means it forces you to do pointless, frustrating things to use the back touch screen to move blocks or whatever. Anyway it's fun. Challenging sometimes and easy at others. And the characters along the way are cute enough to make you say 'awwww' and not in the story too often so they don't become annoying.
The music is ok. Sometimes repetitive to the point where I turn it off but other than that it's nice.
Great game, get it NOW.

Little big planet for the vita

So disappointed. Such promise. Controls a BIG letdown. If I could just make my character jump a tiny bit higher and faster (yes the jumping is soooo sloooww), then I wouldn't hate this game so much. Argh if it was just tweaked a smidgem, I would keep trying but it's so rage-inducingly hard with those useless controls, I gave up. I don't want to give up but it's not worth the stress to play what is meant to be a fun game. I don't mind that the character is...a stuffed sack. I love the levels and everything! It's fantastic in every way, it's one reason I bought my vita. But even though I know what to do to finish levels, my controller won't DO what I want it to do! I jump but then can't MOVE, so my character twirls in the air and then gets squashed for the 'nth time. While I am moving the left stick and screaming, "@%*+ing MOVE!" It's just too much stress. At least in Tearaway, my character actually moves when I use the left stick, so if I die, it's purely my fault. That I can handle because I can keep trying. But, sad to say, it seems in LBP that it's a problem I can't overcome. The game is ruined for me. Argh I feel so upset. :( I need to play something else to calm down.

Robin Williams

Robin Williams is dead, apparently.
I feel a strange sense of floating peripheral loss, as if someone told me that the coast of Africa was blown into the deep ocean by a massive bomb.
I never necessarily wanted to go to the coast of Africa, but I know it exists, and now that it's irretrievably gone, I can NEVER go there, and so a noticeable part of the world that exists inside my head is gone forever.
That is similar to how I feel about the death of RW.
I had a secret dream of meeting him and getting his take and maybe advice on the latest LOZ game. He was famous for liking them.
I'm not going to list his movies.
IMDB, Google, you can look them up.
I liked his style.
I felt sorry for him, because most comedians are miserably depressed in private, for some reason which probably nobody would ever want to try to go into.
I saw him on a sitcom only last week, which was an ok sitcom for America.
They churn out marginally funny stuff like that all the time.
I want to know why he decided to give up at 63? years old.
My uncle was a similar age when he gave up too.
They found him hanging from somewhere, near (or in?) the caravan he lived in.
The funeral was awful.
I never want to hear Johnny Rotten's version of 'My Way' ever again.
Worst funeral song ever.
Bad taste.
The ones who want to die need to consider how much they can ruin the lives of those they leave behind, in small ways.
Some stuff imprints itself in your mind and cannot be washed away.
Lord, how I wanted to see my uncle.
When I finally got to see him after literally decades of separation, he was dead.
He looked like he was merely asleep.
The morticians should've gotten paid a lot for creating that look.
I actually felt nervous, like he would sit up and say, 'Surprise!'
Anyway that was rough.
Suicides often are.
They are SO awkward.
Nobody knows what they are allowed to say, or think.
People kind of mill around and make wry faces and try to make supportive and appropriate comments.
His son was angry. I was disappointed and angry.
I wanted to say, 'What the hell uncle! Why give up now? WHY NOW? It's a weird age to kill yourself at! And what about all of us? You have a quite a few children, and some are still very young! Your poor little girls. They don't know what's going on, or maybe that's just what us adults say about kids because we desperately hope that they don't know. Uncle, I'm mad at you. Everyone's upset. And you don't care, because you can't, because you are GONE.'
How many people would be resurrected by power of the regret and anger of those they left behind?
I wonder.
Guess we will not ever know that answer.
Anyway RW's death successfully ruined my evening.
:(
I'm still trying to deal with it.
It's like the death of Michael Jackson. Argh, the pain.
My childhood! My music!
My memories! My movies...
I wonder if half of these people in the entertainment industry understand how much they affect us all, over the years.
Oddly enough, some people affect me barely at all.
Oh man, when DeForest Kelley died, I cried. Childhood memories again.
Oh dear, my melacholy blues are just welling on up, like a rising flood.
Gotta quit typing, go play video games.
Video games make it all go away.
Yussss.

Ah, footnote: heard he had been diagnosed with Parkinsons. Now I'm not surprised he did that, after all. Still SUCKS though.

The problem with (insert social media application here) is...

I have Twitter (TM) or (C) or whatever, copyright etc sorry 'company that made Twitter', I dunno what to put here...
Anyway I got that aforementioned thing now.
On top of all the other junk people keep telling me I should get, I have a Livejournal, Blogger, Facebook, etc etc etc....
But I won't bother with Tumblr yet.
I do like Pinterest. So far, that is the only one I have liked immediately.
Anyway the problem with the first one I mentioned  (and most social media so far) is simply that I do not know what to say or do.
Somehow I have 19 followers and I do not know most of them.
Also I warned them I am not witty or anything like that. I clearly and succinctly warned them in my profile or blurb or whatever they call it.
Fortunately I added (sorry! 'followed', which, btw sounds like a stalker-esque thing to do but whatever) an actual friend and I think I will stick with commenting on her tweets.
And on reading Nigella Lawson's 'kitchen witters', which is the kinda cutesy name she calls her stuff.
I like Nigella. As in, her 'franchise', for lack of a less-irritating word.
I always have and I always will, regardless of her actual private life and what she has or hasn't done or said.
I love her shows. They actually soothe my restless spirit, and yes, I am hella restless at times.
Her books are interesting. Her recipes are actually achievable, and tasty.
Tick, tick and ...tick! Ticks all the boxes for me, the kitchen amateur.
Thanks, Nigella.

Anyway that is my main problem!
I am not interesting. I'm just deemed 'weird', by most acquaintances and friends (with a stunningly wonderful lack of originality) sooner or later.
Honestly! I mean it.
Usually the 'w' word pops up at some point at least once.

I am not ordinary and able to write in a way that makes people identify with me, so I can't help but feel irritable at myself. I should try harder to be normal...
How do I do that? I should read more blogs...
I must do that.
Research.
Hmmm.
Maybe tomorrow.
After I figure out how to tweet a video of some person's cat doing some cute thing like apparently every cat in the universe can do except for any cat that I try to video.

The elderly.

I work in a hospital-level resthome for the (mostly) elderly.
It's my job (among ridiculously more and more numerous other things) to cheer people up.
I said to one lady "Well, let's just do what we can!", because she is often caught up with what might go wrong.
I forgot that she also obsessively twists people's words. "Or whoever we can find." She commented.
"I said WHAT, not WHO." I replied hastily.
"Well, I thought you said 'Let's do who we can', you see." She explained to me, in case I did not understand the little joke she was making.
"Yes, I heard you, and I was hoping to avoid that joke."
She laughed.
This is what I do with my day.
Try to avoid people turning whatever I say into dirty jokes.
And this one wasn't dirty, it was simply mildly suggestive.
You should hear what some ladies will say.
Like the joke someone made about a young lady and the vicar, which I am not going to repeat because it's older than the old lady who told it to me.
The old men are actually much less dirty-minded in general. Or perhaps they just don't talk as much so I don't hear it.
I took this job because :
A: I needed a job, very much. Desperation? Yes.
B: I thought it might be nice to work with the elderly because they are from a different time and so on. Respect our grey-haired, wise elders etc. I blame my parents for teaching me to respect and revere my elders.
Here's a secret about the elderly which most people don't realise or don't want to say in case they seem hard-hearted.
I don't give a damn after more than two years working in this place.
THE ELDERLY ARE THE SAME JERKS AS THE REST OF US, JUST OLDER.
Most of them are not that wise.
Not that nice.
Not that friendly.
Not that great!
The only reason I can find to respect them is purely out of respect for my own beliefs.
Not anything to do with them anymore.
Most of the residents I work with are selfish, and stubborn. They are like children, only it isn't cute, and they should know better. They are not particularly interested in sharing the wisdom of their years.
They are ordinary people, but their bodies are weaker. And usually, they are pissed about that.
They hate losing their independence. So they lash out at staff.
In any way they can. Physical, emotional, sexual abuse. It all happens.
The worst part is, you have to put up with it. You can't hit back or get angry.
They have to put up with losing dignity and independence.
And we have to put up with them venting out their feelings on us.
The families of the elderly are awful too.
They have ridiculously high expectations about what mum or dad should still be able to do. They complain and sometimes yell at staff.
They are usually in denial about the fact that mum or dad is here to die. They WILL die.
The most annoying things to hear in a place like this:
1: "I pay your wages."
2: "You stupid &$%$#@$!!!" etc
3: "You people are abusing my (insert family member name here)!"
4: "When (parent) entered this place, they were still able to do (action). Now they seem to be losing their ability to do anything, you're neglecting them!" etc etc
5: "Why don't you answer the call bell? My (parent) has been waiting for 4 minutes! What were you doing?"
6: "I asked (relative) what they do here and he/she said they don't do anything. Why don't you make sure they go to the activities program?" Also, "Why doesn't (relative) go on the bus trips?"

Answers to the above :
1: No, you do not. The company does. If you leave this place tomorrow, I will still get paid.
2: I'm not allowed to get angry, but I will not put up with abuse. I am walking away.
3: If you have a complaint, please fill out a complaint form and leave it with the manager.
4: As (parent) ages, they will naturally lose their ability to do a lot of things that they used to be able to do. We do not neglect them, but we also do not force them to do things that they can no longer do. We do our best to encourage people to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible.
5: There are (amount) of people in this area, who I need to work with, and (name) also pushed his/her bell. I was with (name), and did tell your (parent) that I would be with them as soon as I had finished helping (name).
6: (Relative) does come to activities, I made sure to take him/her. (Relative) sometimes forgets things, I am sure you have noticed that. (Relative) went on the bus trip last week, here is a picture of us at the park. (Relative) tends to forget things sometimes, I am sure you have noticed that. (This reply works only if the person is able to accept that their relative is getting forgetful. Most people, even the ones in denial, will at least admit that their relative is getting forgetful.)

Here endeth the description of some issues noticed about working in my current place of work.
I did think I wanted to work with the elderly.
But there is no possibility of advancement.
The work is frustrating since it is very hard to get people involved in what it is my job to try and involve them in, i.e. ANY kind of activity to stop them staring at the wall or falling asleep with their head on the table.

I feel that it is only like this in this hospital level.
Most of my people are in pain or sick or have dementia.
Not to mention the medications they are all on, which have side effects usually including drowsiness and nausea. Ever tried to get someone who feels sore or very tired or nauseous to join in on exercises or a collage? Or ANYTHING?
NOT REWARDING.
Perhaps in a normal resthome it would be better.
But NO!
I know someone who works in a retirement village and basically, they are bigger jerks than this lot. Because they are told that everything they want, they can have. They are always right. Even when they are wrong. So quite a few of them are BIG BIG (insert expletives here)s.
They are rude to staff, have an attitude like a rich teenager (i.e. extreme entitlement), and complain all the time. They are bossy and pushy and also stingy, refusing to pay for things. Even though they have a lot of money.
Some are not like this, but for every 4 nice people there are at least 2 or 3 #%@$.
And the families are awful too. They are rude to staff, complain, make mess and don't clean up, steal from their elderly relatives, or control their money and refuse to give them money for anything they need, much less want.
People are scum, in short.
Family?
Don't make me laugh.
Many of these so-called families treat each other worse than they would treat a stranger.
It sickens me.
And I haven't been working at this place for that long compared to the 20-years or more staff veterans.
I get that kind of thing at my workplace too. Bad families I mean.

Ugh. Anyway I am finished for the week.
I think I want a job elsewhere.
I just don't see the point of this job anymore.
I used to feel like I was rewarded by the occasional smile I brought to people's faces, but these days, that does't do it for me anymore. Most of my residents will smile one second, then two seconds later be angry with you for doing something that you didn't even do. It's not work it, they don't connect properly with you or anything.
I spent months carefully building a good relationship with one woman, only to have her go crazy on me and scream horrible abuse at me for an offence which I did not do, having been on the other side of the hospital at the time. What mystified me was why she chose me to blame.
Then I realised. She had trouble remembering names.
After I spent so much time with her, mine was one of the few names she remembered.
So I got punished for that big time by her abusing me for something that another staff member did, but she couldn't remember that person's name. Ridiculously, the staff member who actually did what she accused me of, had not actually done anything wrong.
But this woman was delusional and abusive (e.g. one of those people who, if she is left at the dining room table alone for more than one minute, has somehow magically been trapped and abandoned for hours. That was the gist of her accusation towards me. Again, I was not even involved in her transport to that lounge....). So I got all the problems, simply because I tried to befriend this crazy woman. I learned my lesson. No more wasted time on the crazy ones. Usually they are easy to spot. I have learned now not to spend much time with them at all. It NEVER does you any good.
Anyway, it's the weekend and I avoided taking on extra weekend hours even though my boss wanted me to. Yay! One pitfall avoided. Several million still available to fall into. :(
Have a good weekend!

Steam

Joined Steam (at long last).
Games.
Child Of Light. So wonderful...
Finally playing.
Maple Story no good. Keyboard kept freezing, apparently this is a common problem so I uninstalled because it looks like they aren't going to fix it anytime soon.
Anyway games.
Yes.
I remember this.
Sitting at the computer for hours, in the cold of winter, freezing stiff fingers in gloves, forgetting to eat or drink. Body getting so cold, legs numbing up, stomping my feet sometimes to wake them up.
Start at 5am in the dark, finish playing with sore eyes and hands once it starts to get dark at night.
Realising that I spent like 13-ish hours at the computer. With maybe one or two quick toilet breaks. And no meals.
Ahhhh, games.
I remember now.
It's been so long.
I also remember why I quit playing these kinds of games.
Aforementioned reasons above.
I have a job now.
So, less games.
Oh well.
I can make it work.
:D
I have more discipline now anyway.
Games.... on the weekend.
Weekdays.... work...
The only problem with work is that it gives me more money for games.
:D

Television is really bad lately

Hate reality shows about cooking, houses, tribes on islands, hate dramas and soap operas, hate shows about cops or border patrols. New Zealand television is awful. Our shows are either badly acted with the same actors on every show, or boring. Television sucks. Wanted to see two shows this year, really interested. One got boring and gruesome immediately, the other just wasn't what I wanted it to be. Disillusionment is part of television, I suppose. Anyway, now I buy dvds. I hardly watch tv at all. Some of the random tv shows about gardening are actually more interesting and informative than anything else, and I don't even have a garden! How many years did it take for tv to vastly decline in quality? Not many. Less than 100 years. Ironically, image quality is better than ever. It's just content which sucks.