As this next school year ends, I find myself more emotional with this years end, more so than last year. I made real friends this time, not ones that bail on you when you don’t want to drink or forget about your birthday. They have all made such a positive impact on me, I honestly don’t know where I would be without them. But they must all move on, they’re finished school and moving on into the real world. I am happy for them, I just wish I had met them sooner.  

The way Pokemon is set up is actually quite ingenious, it allows full choice to the player so that each time you play through the player can have a different experience. This is especially true when you look at the three starting Pokemon. Generation 1 and 2 provide the player with three choices of single type pokemon: Charmander/Cyndaquill for fire type, Squritle/Totodile for water type, and bulbasaur/Chickorita for the grass type. The Gen 3 even into Gen 6 starting Pokemon offer hybrid type starters, which allow the player to have type coverage in the earlier stages of the game. This change allows the player to be less reliant on capturing and training new Pokemon to diversify their team.The different choices for the starting Pokemon can drastically change the players team comp as they travel further into the game. What is interesting about this is that the choice in starting Pokemon, at least in Gen 1 and 2, corresponds to the difficulty level that the player wishes to play in.

Think about it. Each starter offers their own weakness and advantages, but their are striking differences for the player who chooses the more difficult starting Pokemon. From experience, and form the way that the first 3 gyms are set up, the ranging difficulty for starter Pokemon choices is as follows: Grass=Easy, Water=Medium, Fire=Hard. This might be difficult for some die hard starter fans  who would argue against this theory, but the basis of this argument comes from the first 3 gyms and how they compliment starting with the Grass and Water starters. The first gym is Rock type, which is weak to both grass and water type, but super effective against fire. Its the same story with the second gym, which is the water gym. grass type is super effective against water, and of course fire is weak against water. 

These game play elements creates the difficulty level that I have been discussing. Picking the grass type as your starter allows you to use that starter to defeat the first two gyms without any trouble at all. Where picking the fire type forces the player to train captured Pokemon more so than your starter.  It is also important to note that all the Pokemon you can capture during the early stages do not directly counter the first two gym types. some might argue that bug type would give you an advantage but this is simply not true.

So there you have it, Just a thought on starting Pokemon and how the difficulty level of the game relates to each one. It is true that there are gym types that counter the grass and water starters, but these come later in the game, and by that time you’re already decked out with a sweet team that has some type coverage. 

I am a proud fire type starter myself, not because it is the “hardest starter”, but because I love Charmanber… like a lot. and that’s really what Pokemon is about! 

A Town,

Small, secluded, friendly

streets marked with names of famous figures,

stoplights a constant, solid yellow. 

the smell, a freshness tang of the country that

has been glued to the outer rim of society,

without corruption, plastic, lies. 

downtown, a single road, 

filled with local shops, each selling their own brand of simple comfort. 

Cars pass by, but mostly travelers passing through to the big city. 

stopping only for gas and a bite to eat.

The people are the best part,

happy, loyal, simple, yet complex in their own way.

smiling, and inclusive. they just want everyone to be as happy as them.

a selfless community.

hosting fairs and fundraisers for local concerns

where everyone contributes.

Pies, cakes, performances are all shared for the good of their society.

A place where friends become companions

to partners.

Love, a joy that includes. 

where they can fully enjoy every benefit of it.

Long walks through the forest,

studying each leaf and rock with interest and intrigue. 

Date night at the movie theater where one employee is

the manager, cashier and drink dispenser all in one.

Family gatherings in sunlit fields where meals and stories are compared.

Long talks laying  under an endless stream of starlight,

while mom and dad are asleep. 

discussing life goals and dreams about the future in soft coo’s

like morning doves in the heather.

A Small Town, a place. 

never alone, never left out, where love can grow. 

Truly a place to marvel. 

forgive me, but i must find the light in you 

ripping, tearing through the solid that has formed over it

like blacken charcoal it falls in peaces, 

ashy bits of rubbish that pollute the floor in stage shapes

like a tortured painting.

Working on it like a passionate sculpture,

sweat dripping like crushed ice arms seized by the pressure

hands grabbing at the musty, flaky substance, 

blacked from their hard work, yet no end is near.  

the hole gets bigger as the sun sets. the toil seems useless. 

Light breaks through at last

but the dingy colour is not the light we were hoping.

You are soiled, nothing i can do for you. 

That light can only be cleaned from your idle hands,

not the work of a diligent worker who wants to see the best in you. 

For the best in you cannot find its way out of the prison in the body. 

What can i say?

Im nervous  Im nervous about the darkness that I will be walking through, everything is not as it should be. Im lost, this hasn’t happened in a long time. What will people think of me? what will she think of me? why couldn’t things workout. Ill walk this alone for a while, for I cannot convince anyone else to follow. If only that email was 2 words different, then my mental state would be intact. I would be confident, free, happy. But i sit here, soiled in my negativity and uneasiness. Bad news plays a terrible game in your head. If makes everything else seem doomed and defeated before it begins. I have a lot of plans that already seem dead in the water. Back in high school whenever I got bad news i told myself, “take it with stride” and if i did so, things would get better. If high school holds any precedent, I will go on and take this news with stride. Even if i appear strong and confident, I am fucking terrified. Summer is usually a time of happiness, and yet i hold so much anger towards it this year. Friends are graduating and moving on to their next stage of life, the job that I have been after for the last 6 months has fallen through, and Ill be going back home. the place I don’t want to be anymore. Its nothing personal with my family, I just want to be on my own, life seems a little more significant when I am on my own. Im sure this will get better as time passes, and summer will shine its happy face towards me, showing how great this time of year can be. but for now, I feel so trapped. 

Take Life With Stride, Whatever Happens Will Happens. 

You are Still You.

People will always think that they know better than you 

what to eat, what to think, how to act,

all seem to be in the realm of their understanding and not yours,

they might see you as immature, strange, and not normal,

so they feel the need to show you what the world expects,

what they expect,

But, what about what you expect?

through all their assumptions, your opinion still lies deep,

far from these judgmental beings and the crowds of eyes,

you know what you want, but haven’t the heart or support to fulfill it.

these people that “know” you try to impose their lifestyle, 

saying everything that you are doing is wrong and unfulfilled,

but who are they to know?

the goal you choose is yours and no one else’s

follow what you love, and others will learn from you,

those naysayers will soon be following your footsteps,

they will finally respect you.

no matter how weird she or he may think of you,

no matter how many times you are let down and neglected

remember the dream,

and show them how wrong they are. 

With life’s vastness, its interesting how the majority of the ordinary focus on the specific, the finite, the solvable. I guess that’s human nature, not to play in the darkness but to stand in the sunlight, accepting the known and leaving the unknown to another traveler. this style of life can find happiness, happiness in routine and familiarity, and there’s nothing wrong with this existence, but the beauty of life is that we can stray from the ordinary, and swim in the immense ocean of experience. The only problem with this is that its tough, and often dangerous to pursue, for the unknown does contain monsters. demons of fear and neglect paired with serpents of doubt whispering harshly into your subconscious. this may seem like a detrimental place of failure, and to some, it is. BUT behind this rapture comes the promise of new experiences, love, and strength.This journey is never taken alone, for every demon that lay there, their is an equal angel shouldering you, soothing you when you are hurt and singing sweet melodies for the time of battle. the angels might be there, but the fight is yours, and no one can take that away from you.

The world is vast, and the people in it diverse,

they are just hidden by the darkness.     

And so, with a heavy heart I write to you, 

Your son, our friend, this countries fallen angel has passed from us. 

leaving a world as dangerous and as broken as he started it.

You might have called your son, the “trouble maker” the “Bastard”

a waste of space,

an arrogant, lifeless being 

who left you in your time of need,

But before you speak so rash, I just wanted you to know,

that he came for us in our darkest hour,

and showed us what humanity is capable of doing,

he fought through the mud and death and fear to rescue us

from the concrete coffin we were in, encapsulated by fire and explosions,

he was strong for us, he made us alive again with the toss of his gaze.

Dragging us from our souls he marched,

through the nightmare once again,

throwing everything he had left from the journey

into our safety and well being,

We are grateful for him, 

But the nightmare finally took him.

and was swallowed whole by the monsters that laid there

into the blackness of conflict, his soul went to rest

never to bring safety, or to pick up the pieces to a broken world 

He will never see this world again.

He killed out of necessity, not of hate,

to save the family that did not forget him,  

and so I write to you, with a heavy heart,

that your son

is finally free.