Music is completely amazing. I don't know if it is for everyone, but for me it has super powers. It can completely change my mood (for the better). The kind of music I listen to is typically high energy, and it really pumps me up.
I was feeling a bit down for a while because I was dating someone and it didn't work out. But today on the way home from work I decided to listen to one of my favorite albums of all time: Heavenly - Dust to Dust. And my god is that an amazing album. Half way through I was mouthing the lyrics, rockin out to the guitar and everything, while still on the subway. Just feeling the energy makes me so happy, I can't even describe it. To anyone who has not heard the album, go listen to it, right now. Crank up the volume and just bask in it's glory.
I don't even usually consider them one of my favorite artists, but man oh man, I feel great. And just knowing I can feel this good without anyone by my side is pretty empowering. Even for just the 50 or so minutes it lasts, I can forget the constant societal pressure to have a significant other. I can live life to the absolute fullest.
I sincerely hope everyone has something like this they can fall back on. Whether it is music, a hobby, or a movie, anything that let's you feel amazing, without the need of another person. It puts things into perspective.
Friday, December 19, 2014
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Don't blindly follow society
Recently is has become more and more clear to me that people trust society. They follow what they have been told without questioning it. And through doing so, not only do they hurt people and perpetuate those false ideals, but they feel completely justified in doing so, because 'everyone knows that'.
Let me start with an easy example: the idea that everyone should eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to be healthy. This idea is not based on nothing, it is true that vegetables have vitamins and minerals that are rare to find in other foods, and also tend to have fiber for ease of digestion. But are there no alternatives? Is it okay to assume someone who does not eat vegetables is not healthy, and should be scolded for such a poor decision?
No. Anyone who has done any research in what actually helps someone maintain health, can tell it is obviously not the vegetables themselves, but the vitamins and minerals found inside them. So, if someone only eats meats and starches, and substitutes vegetables for pills containing the same amount of vitamins and minerals, and even fiber, how is that person's health different?
It is not, yet many people will still argue it is 'good' to eat vegetables. I believe this stubbornness comes from society's constant message that you do need vegetables, and that not eating them will always be unhealthy. So why do so many people not question this? (I know one famous man who did, and now eats the same meal that he made himself every day, with no health detriments.)
Now I'd like to move on to a more complicated, less cut and dry example. Society tells us that we must do 'things', as in have many activities in out lives, 'go out'. Why is that? No one ever questions this, it is just known. Well I am questioning it now.
Going out provides a few benefits. It is often social, and it often requires some sort of exercise. Most of the time going out does not actually involve meeting new people, but rather hanging out with people you already know, though for some, meeting people is a higher purpose, and I'll talk about them later. But for those who just want to spend time with friends, 'making memories', and just conversing, I ask how this is different from playing a video game while talking to them though a talking service (skype, mumble, ventrillo, in game chat....ect)?
Do you get more pleasure out of hiking while talking to your friends than you do from killing zombies with them? I contend that actually going out of your house is highly overrated in this sense. You can be very social without leaving your house. As far as exercise, that is a fair point in many occasions. But when you say to someone 'hey, let's go out friday night', you are not thinking about the distance you will be walking to the bars, or the energy consumed by dancing, you are focused on the social aspect.
Advances in technology are being ignored by society. In the first case it is the advancement in nutritional knowledge and technology, and in the second case it is the greatly improved communication technologies that have risen over the last 15 years.
So I ask everyone to please question society, don't just hear something from television, your friends or even parents and accept it as an absolute. Be able to argue for or against the thought, the practice, the event. And try not to judge people who think differently from the norm, they probably have good reasons for doing so, or they would have caved under the societal pressure by now.
(more examples I might consider writing up later: prison?, amount of sleep/sleep schedules, religion, racism, chivalry)
Let me start with an easy example: the idea that everyone should eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to be healthy. This idea is not based on nothing, it is true that vegetables have vitamins and minerals that are rare to find in other foods, and also tend to have fiber for ease of digestion. But are there no alternatives? Is it okay to assume someone who does not eat vegetables is not healthy, and should be scolded for such a poor decision?
No. Anyone who has done any research in what actually helps someone maintain health, can tell it is obviously not the vegetables themselves, but the vitamins and minerals found inside them. So, if someone only eats meats and starches, and substitutes vegetables for pills containing the same amount of vitamins and minerals, and even fiber, how is that person's health different?
It is not, yet many people will still argue it is 'good' to eat vegetables. I believe this stubbornness comes from society's constant message that you do need vegetables, and that not eating them will always be unhealthy. So why do so many people not question this? (I know one famous man who did, and now eats the same meal that he made himself every day, with no health detriments.)
Now I'd like to move on to a more complicated, less cut and dry example. Society tells us that we must do 'things', as in have many activities in out lives, 'go out'. Why is that? No one ever questions this, it is just known. Well I am questioning it now.
Going out provides a few benefits. It is often social, and it often requires some sort of exercise. Most of the time going out does not actually involve meeting new people, but rather hanging out with people you already know, though for some, meeting people is a higher purpose, and I'll talk about them later. But for those who just want to spend time with friends, 'making memories', and just conversing, I ask how this is different from playing a video game while talking to them though a talking service (skype, mumble, ventrillo, in game chat....ect)?
Do you get more pleasure out of hiking while talking to your friends than you do from killing zombies with them? I contend that actually going out of your house is highly overrated in this sense. You can be very social without leaving your house. As far as exercise, that is a fair point in many occasions. But when you say to someone 'hey, let's go out friday night', you are not thinking about the distance you will be walking to the bars, or the energy consumed by dancing, you are focused on the social aspect.
Advances in technology are being ignored by society. In the first case it is the advancement in nutritional knowledge and technology, and in the second case it is the greatly improved communication technologies that have risen over the last 15 years.
So I ask everyone to please question society, don't just hear something from television, your friends or even parents and accept it as an absolute. Be able to argue for or against the thought, the practice, the event. And try not to judge people who think differently from the norm, they probably have good reasons for doing so, or they would have caved under the societal pressure by now.
(more examples I might consider writing up later: prison?, amount of sleep/sleep schedules, religion, racism, chivalry)
Thursday, November 29, 2012
What do you want (Part 2)
Well, guess the only person who reads this wants more, as he should. And good old Billy even delivered with a great idea of the 'cosmic carrot'. So let's explore that for a bit.
The idea is that in order to be happy, you need to strive for something. You need to be able to look forward to something better, to 'happiness'. And while the idea holds some ground, I'm not convinced it is entirely true. It does explain why constant happiness is actually sorrow, as I explained in part 1. But in my personal experience, senior year of college was the best time in my life.
Why? Not because I was excited to graduate, to make money, to be more independent. Not because I looked forward to the projects, or papers or interviews. The reason I loved that year was because of the people I lived with. I could just sit in my spot all day, and my friends would literally walk in and out of my life. They could talk about nothing, watch tv, play a video game or even just sleep, right next to me. And it was that experience of just being with, observing, and learning from my friends that was great. It was made better by the fact I had very little distractions. I had almost no school work, and no job. I could just be.
So what is it about being around friends that made me so happy? What pleasure did I derive from literally sitting in one spot for an entire day? I honestly don't know. It seems as if my mere existence within the group was enough to sustain my curiosity.
Perhaps I am just the type of person who loves to think. And what better subject to think about than other people? Who is more complicated? What else can be so rational, and yet so insane?
What makes people do what they do, think what they think, be who they are? Those questions are always on my mind, though most of the time it's tucked way back, just waiting to get a taste of information.
But I digress, back to the question at hand. What do you want? It seems I want to observe and learn.
Many people will say, I want money. Or more money. Or all the money. But that in itself doesn't make sense. Money is just a tool to get something else. A car, a house, a ps3, whatever. But no one ever just wants money, they want what money can get them. They want to not worry about their bills, and just have anything they desire, without effort. But isn't everything sweeter with a bit of work behind it?
Other people say they want power. They want to be able to control others, force them to listen or do things for them. But is that satisfying? With ultimate power, you can make anyone do anything you want, but what would you do with that? Many would have sex with beautiful people. And sure that would be nice for a while, but it leads back to the idea that constant pleasure tapers out, gets boring.
Gaining people's alliance, their favor, their desire to be nice to you, is greatly satisfying. But would it be if there was nothing to it? If you were a beloved king, would you not get lonely? Would you not seek a real relationship, with people questioning you, not blindly following? I would.
So I ask again, what do you want? What do you really want?
The idea is that in order to be happy, you need to strive for something. You need to be able to look forward to something better, to 'happiness'. And while the idea holds some ground, I'm not convinced it is entirely true. It does explain why constant happiness is actually sorrow, as I explained in part 1. But in my personal experience, senior year of college was the best time in my life.
Why? Not because I was excited to graduate, to make money, to be more independent. Not because I looked forward to the projects, or papers or interviews. The reason I loved that year was because of the people I lived with. I could just sit in my spot all day, and my friends would literally walk in and out of my life. They could talk about nothing, watch tv, play a video game or even just sleep, right next to me. And it was that experience of just being with, observing, and learning from my friends that was great. It was made better by the fact I had very little distractions. I had almost no school work, and no job. I could just be.
So what is it about being around friends that made me so happy? What pleasure did I derive from literally sitting in one spot for an entire day? I honestly don't know. It seems as if my mere existence within the group was enough to sustain my curiosity.
Perhaps I am just the type of person who loves to think. And what better subject to think about than other people? Who is more complicated? What else can be so rational, and yet so insane?
What makes people do what they do, think what they think, be who they are? Those questions are always on my mind, though most of the time it's tucked way back, just waiting to get a taste of information.
But I digress, back to the question at hand. What do you want? It seems I want to observe and learn.
Many people will say, I want money. Or more money. Or all the money. But that in itself doesn't make sense. Money is just a tool to get something else. A car, a house, a ps3, whatever. But no one ever just wants money, they want what money can get them. They want to not worry about their bills, and just have anything they desire, without effort. But isn't everything sweeter with a bit of work behind it?
Other people say they want power. They want to be able to control others, force them to listen or do things for them. But is that satisfying? With ultimate power, you can make anyone do anything you want, but what would you do with that? Many would have sex with beautiful people. And sure that would be nice for a while, but it leads back to the idea that constant pleasure tapers out, gets boring.
Gaining people's alliance, their favor, their desire to be nice to you, is greatly satisfying. But would it be if there was nothing to it? If you were a beloved king, would you not get lonely? Would you not seek a real relationship, with people questioning you, not blindly following? I would.
So I ask again, what do you want? What do you really want?
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
What do you want?
It's a powerful question. A question that no matter how much you think about it, you may never find the real answer. A question that by simply being asked it, it can change your answer. Not many questions have that power, that ability.
So let's dive right in. The simple answer is to be happy. To be in a state of bliss, with no worries, no cares, and no pain. But what does that really mean? If you are just happy all the time, your dopamine is constantly flowing, will it not dull your senses? Will it not get old? Will you not strive for more, for change, for greater pleasure?
The only way to reach great happiness is to be exposed to sorrow. One is most happy after a struggle, after pain, after they know the depths of how they can feel. So what does that mean? Do you really want pain, just to get more pleasure? Do you want to be in the extreme states, in order to reach that highest level of pleasure?
Or maybe that is too much. Maybe you don't need to feel the most pleasure, maybe just some. Maybe the pain isn't worth it, maybe just a little pain is fine, to gain that little pleasure. To make life interesting, to make life a mystery.
So, do you want, what you already have? A normal life, with ups and downs. With pleasure and pain. With balance?
(If anyone is reading this, and wants a more in depth analysis, I was thinking about some points to put in there, but I kinda liked the short and to the point post. Just comment, and I will make a longer version.)
So let's dive right in. The simple answer is to be happy. To be in a state of bliss, with no worries, no cares, and no pain. But what does that really mean? If you are just happy all the time, your dopamine is constantly flowing, will it not dull your senses? Will it not get old? Will you not strive for more, for change, for greater pleasure?
The only way to reach great happiness is to be exposed to sorrow. One is most happy after a struggle, after pain, after they know the depths of how they can feel. So what does that mean? Do you really want pain, just to get more pleasure? Do you want to be in the extreme states, in order to reach that highest level of pleasure?
Or maybe that is too much. Maybe you don't need to feel the most pleasure, maybe just some. Maybe the pain isn't worth it, maybe just a little pain is fine, to gain that little pleasure. To make life interesting, to make life a mystery.
So, do you want, what you already have? A normal life, with ups and downs. With pleasure and pain. With balance?
(If anyone is reading this, and wants a more in depth analysis, I was thinking about some points to put in there, but I kinda liked the short and to the point post. Just comment, and I will make a longer version.)
Friday, July 20, 2012
Pokemon Challenge
I decided it was time to play pokemon again, and this time with great restrictions to make sure it is once again a challenge. The restrictions were mostly based off of the nuzlocke challenge, but harder.
I would do this in original Pokemon Red, on my GBA.
1. The only pokemon you can catch is the very first pokmeon you encounter in each area.
2. You cannot heal except the poke center.
3. Once a pokemon faints, it must be released (including poison death).
-but those pokemon can be used for HMs.
4. You cannot run away from a random encounter.
5. Battle Mode is Set
6. No loading from a save if something happens, you have to deal with it. Thus if you black out, you lose.
And thus my challenge began.
As I hit A through Professor Oak's explanation of what a Pokemon is, I thought about the possible ways to do this. Each and every fight could be vitally important, one mistake could cost me dearly, if not kill me. This was going to be exciting, and a true test of my memory of original Pokemon.
The professor gave me the choice of starters. I thought Squirtle was the best choice for this type of run, so I didn't have to mega-power level just to make sure I beat Brock, and Misty wouldn't be too bad, even if I didn't get any good supporters.
I picked up the little water bubbler, and my rival Whore took the ball of vines. As the fight started I realized, it could all be over right now, without being able to use that trusty first potion, the match would be a fair one.
I thought about using tail whip as the first move, which I would never even think about in a regular run, but that minus defense would pay off if the opponent ever used growl. But I decided against it. I would tackle it to death as I always have, and lose if I missed.
This run was already exciting, every time I hit A for tackle, I held my breath until I saw that health bar go down. And sure enough with 1 too many growls from Whore, I emerged victorious.
So far so good. My Squirtle DONT DIE stayed true to his name, and was now level 6.
As I head through the first route, I hit some ratatta and pidgey, and due to my lack of pokeballs, I could now catch nothing from that route, which was fine since they both suck. I got the parcel, gave it to the excitable old coot, and again headed up past the ratatta. DONT DIE was now level 7, and I picked up my first 5 poke-balls. I headed over to the route to the left of the first town, where I could get ratatta, nidoran, spearow or on a really lucky roll, a mankey. Of course I got a rattata, and easily caught it, just like that old man taught me all those years ago.
Ok, ratatta is not bad, he gets super fang and hyper fang, not to mention quick attack early, not a bad first support pokemon. I decided to head up to viridian forest instead of level up and fight my rival. I quickly found a caterpie, and caught it after 1 hit. Also not bad, turns into butterfree, which has confusion. Psychic destroys in this game, so despite it's lack of health and defense, it could survive if I trained it enough.
Next it was time to train in the forest. I was switch training ratatta, until he hit level 5. Then he could kill bugs on his own. He hit level 7 and was fighting a weedle. Without thinking too much about it, I was just trading tackles for poison stings. But then my screen shook slightly left and right...ratatta was poisoned. I quickly switched to DONT DIE, and finished that bastard off. Now it was a fight against time, I had to get back to the poke-center before it died, or ratatta was gone for ever.
I chose my steps perfectly knowing the exact path to go, and didn't mess it up. But just outside the poke-center my screen flashed, and I checked his health. 1. 1 health left, and that was when I said goodbye to my sweet rat, as the 4 steps in the poke-center would be too much for him, and finish him off. I set him free outside the poke-center, so he could live his last 4 steps in freedom.
Just like that my training was wasted, and ultimately my game got a lot harder. I was going to have to be more careful about weedles.
But I still had DONT DIE and my caterpie. Having said our goodbyes, we healed up in the poke-center, and headed back to the forest, this time to train caterpie. I quickly switched to the overleveled DONT DIE whenever a weedle came, to tank the poison if needed. I got through the forest without much trouble. Caterpie got up to level 8 and DONE DIE was now 10 and had bubble.
With bubble, I knew Brock's gym was going to be a joke, so I headed into the gym, and laid waste to the trainer's sandshrew, and Brock's big pile of rocks, and took my first badge. 1 down, 7 to go.
I headed out to the trainers to the right of Brock. I let caterpie fight first against a ratatta. I got tackled, Critical Hit!...that wasn't good, but I was still going to win, so I let caterpie finish it off, but ratatta clung on with 1 life, and tackled again. Ok fine, one more hit, and I'll switch out. Rattata used ...wait a minute, how is he attacking first...quick attack, Critical Hit! caterpie fainted.
...
I had just lost my potential buterfree to a ratatta, dammit.
I was already down to just DONT DIE, who proudly hosed down the ratatta and collected the experience.
I wasn't going to be able to get another pokemon until the patch after the trainers, so I had to be super cautious with the remaining trainers.
After quite a few trips to the poke-center, I cleared all the ones in my way, and headed to that patch. Here I could find jigglypuff, spearow, or another ratatta. I found a spearow, and got it after washing it.
Ok level 5 spearow, those aren't bad, at least they can kill bugs and grass like nothing. And I can use it to fly, therefore its name became FLY. I decided FLY wasn't going to be a lot of help in Mount Moon, so I just went in with DONT DIE. I knew most of the trainers, and knew zubat, paris, clafairy, machop, geodude and even onix could be my next partner. I pounded the first trainer, and healed up. I was anxious for my next pokemon so I just walked back and forth, and out sprouted a paris. Great, paris, well is might do ok against Misty. I bubbled it (a 10 power move), Critical Hit!, and it died. Great again, no mount moon pokemon, this sucked. But at least I have my trusty water spitter to take out the rock types rolling around mount moon.
I get to the trainer around the second turn, whom I forgot what type, but thought was a normal type trainer. Turns out it was grass. A level 9 oddish greeted DONT DIE with a super-effective to not-very-effective matchup.
Now, this was a big mistake, but I know all the poke-theory, water-gun is 40 base, with stab, and not very effective, totaling at 30 power attack, 5 worse than tackle, even with tackles 95% accuracy. So I went all in with tackle, and while takine a lot of damage, managed to kill it.
Next came out bellsprout. Now I am used to the average wild bellsprout, I'm pegging it at wrap and growth. It uses growth first and I tackle it in the face. It's at a little over half. I go for another tackle, and get it down to 3 life. Then it does a vine whip...God Dam VINE WHIP, with a growth under it. It kills DONT DIE.
Luckily FLY is able to finish him off, and grow to level 8!
Yeah...I'm down to just FLY, and no new pokemon until after mount moon. This is really starting to get hard. I decided to power level him a bit, because there were rock trainers that were wreck his couch. So After getting it to level 12, I head back in to mount moon and fight some trainers I know don't have geodudes. It seems to be going well, but whenever I find a wild zubat, and I get confused, I'm on the edge of my seat. it could all end from a level 7 zubat.
But I survive the zubats, and am on to the next trainers, a youngeter. He is enthusiastic much like his friend who loves shorts. He sends out a ratatta and I'm not worried. I peck him, and he tail whips. Uh oh, a two pokemon fight and he starts with a stat decreaser...that's some good AI. But I did more than half, so 1 more peck and he is dead. I choose peck, and the bastard quick attacks. Crap, quick attack with 1 def drop...I take a good amount, and I'm already in the not happy zone. But the ratatta goes down, and the youngster sends out his next hopeful pokemon, another ratatta. This one starts with a devistating tackle, sending me down to 3 life. I know its all over if he quick attacks, but there's nothing I can do. I choose peck yet again (far too late to think about statting him), and hope he chose anything but quick attack.
Rattata used...I already knew it was over, that meant he had priority, I couldn't even hope for a miss with that 100% accuracy attack. FLY went down, and I blacked out. Game Over, I lost. But that only made me want to try again, with new strategy, new insight, and a new game.
I would do this in original Pokemon Red, on my GBA.
1. The only pokemon you can catch is the very first pokmeon you encounter in each area.
2. You cannot heal except the poke center.
3. Once a pokemon faints, it must be released (including poison death).
-but those pokemon can be used for HMs.
4. You cannot run away from a random encounter.
5. Battle Mode is Set
6. No loading from a save if something happens, you have to deal with it. Thus if you black out, you lose.
And thus my challenge began.
As I hit A through Professor Oak's explanation of what a Pokemon is, I thought about the possible ways to do this. Each and every fight could be vitally important, one mistake could cost me dearly, if not kill me. This was going to be exciting, and a true test of my memory of original Pokemon.
The professor gave me the choice of starters. I thought Squirtle was the best choice for this type of run, so I didn't have to mega-power level just to make sure I beat Brock, and Misty wouldn't be too bad, even if I didn't get any good supporters.
I picked up the little water bubbler, and my rival Whore took the ball of vines. As the fight started I realized, it could all be over right now, without being able to use that trusty first potion, the match would be a fair one.
I thought about using tail whip as the first move, which I would never even think about in a regular run, but that minus defense would pay off if the opponent ever used growl. But I decided against it. I would tackle it to death as I always have, and lose if I missed.
This run was already exciting, every time I hit A for tackle, I held my breath until I saw that health bar go down. And sure enough with 1 too many growls from Whore, I emerged victorious.
So far so good. My Squirtle DONT DIE stayed true to his name, and was now level 6.
As I head through the first route, I hit some ratatta and pidgey, and due to my lack of pokeballs, I could now catch nothing from that route, which was fine since they both suck. I got the parcel, gave it to the excitable old coot, and again headed up past the ratatta. DONT DIE was now level 7, and I picked up my first 5 poke-balls. I headed over to the route to the left of the first town, where I could get ratatta, nidoran, spearow or on a really lucky roll, a mankey. Of course I got a rattata, and easily caught it, just like that old man taught me all those years ago.
Ok, ratatta is not bad, he gets super fang and hyper fang, not to mention quick attack early, not a bad first support pokemon. I decided to head up to viridian forest instead of level up and fight my rival. I quickly found a caterpie, and caught it after 1 hit. Also not bad, turns into butterfree, which has confusion. Psychic destroys in this game, so despite it's lack of health and defense, it could survive if I trained it enough.
Next it was time to train in the forest. I was switch training ratatta, until he hit level 5. Then he could kill bugs on his own. He hit level 7 and was fighting a weedle. Without thinking too much about it, I was just trading tackles for poison stings. But then my screen shook slightly left and right...ratatta was poisoned. I quickly switched to DONT DIE, and finished that bastard off. Now it was a fight against time, I had to get back to the poke-center before it died, or ratatta was gone for ever.
I chose my steps perfectly knowing the exact path to go, and didn't mess it up. But just outside the poke-center my screen flashed, and I checked his health. 1. 1 health left, and that was when I said goodbye to my sweet rat, as the 4 steps in the poke-center would be too much for him, and finish him off. I set him free outside the poke-center, so he could live his last 4 steps in freedom.
Just like that my training was wasted, and ultimately my game got a lot harder. I was going to have to be more careful about weedles.
But I still had DONT DIE and my caterpie. Having said our goodbyes, we healed up in the poke-center, and headed back to the forest, this time to train caterpie. I quickly switched to the overleveled DONT DIE whenever a weedle came, to tank the poison if needed. I got through the forest without much trouble. Caterpie got up to level 8 and DONE DIE was now 10 and had bubble.
With bubble, I knew Brock's gym was going to be a joke, so I headed into the gym, and laid waste to the trainer's sandshrew, and Brock's big pile of rocks, and took my first badge. 1 down, 7 to go.
I headed out to the trainers to the right of Brock. I let caterpie fight first against a ratatta. I got tackled, Critical Hit!...that wasn't good, but I was still going to win, so I let caterpie finish it off, but ratatta clung on with 1 life, and tackled again. Ok fine, one more hit, and I'll switch out. Rattata used ...wait a minute, how is he attacking first...quick attack, Critical Hit! caterpie fainted.
...
I had just lost my potential buterfree to a ratatta, dammit.
I was already down to just DONT DIE, who proudly hosed down the ratatta and collected the experience.
I wasn't going to be able to get another pokemon until the patch after the trainers, so I had to be super cautious with the remaining trainers.
After quite a few trips to the poke-center, I cleared all the ones in my way, and headed to that patch. Here I could find jigglypuff, spearow, or another ratatta. I found a spearow, and got it after washing it.
Ok level 5 spearow, those aren't bad, at least they can kill bugs and grass like nothing. And I can use it to fly, therefore its name became FLY. I decided FLY wasn't going to be a lot of help in Mount Moon, so I just went in with DONT DIE. I knew most of the trainers, and knew zubat, paris, clafairy, machop, geodude and even onix could be my next partner. I pounded the first trainer, and healed up. I was anxious for my next pokemon so I just walked back and forth, and out sprouted a paris. Great, paris, well is might do ok against Misty. I bubbled it (a 10 power move), Critical Hit!, and it died. Great again, no mount moon pokemon, this sucked. But at least I have my trusty water spitter to take out the rock types rolling around mount moon.
I get to the trainer around the second turn, whom I forgot what type, but thought was a normal type trainer. Turns out it was grass. A level 9 oddish greeted DONT DIE with a super-effective to not-very-effective matchup.
Now, this was a big mistake, but I know all the poke-theory, water-gun is 40 base, with stab, and not very effective, totaling at 30 power attack, 5 worse than tackle, even with tackles 95% accuracy. So I went all in with tackle, and while takine a lot of damage, managed to kill it.
Next came out bellsprout. Now I am used to the average wild bellsprout, I'm pegging it at wrap and growth. It uses growth first and I tackle it in the face. It's at a little over half. I go for another tackle, and get it down to 3 life. Then it does a vine whip...God Dam VINE WHIP, with a growth under it. It kills DONT DIE.
Luckily FLY is able to finish him off, and grow to level 8!
Yeah...I'm down to just FLY, and no new pokemon until after mount moon. This is really starting to get hard. I decided to power level him a bit, because there were rock trainers that were wreck his couch. So After getting it to level 12, I head back in to mount moon and fight some trainers I know don't have geodudes. It seems to be going well, but whenever I find a wild zubat, and I get confused, I'm on the edge of my seat. it could all end from a level 7 zubat.
But I survive the zubats, and am on to the next trainers, a youngeter. He is enthusiastic much like his friend who loves shorts. He sends out a ratatta and I'm not worried. I peck him, and he tail whips. Uh oh, a two pokemon fight and he starts with a stat decreaser...that's some good AI. But I did more than half, so 1 more peck and he is dead. I choose peck, and the bastard quick attacks. Crap, quick attack with 1 def drop...I take a good amount, and I'm already in the not happy zone. But the ratatta goes down, and the youngster sends out his next hopeful pokemon, another ratatta. This one starts with a devistating tackle, sending me down to 3 life. I know its all over if he quick attacks, but there's nothing I can do. I choose peck yet again (far too late to think about statting him), and hope he chose anything but quick attack.
Rattata used...I already knew it was over, that meant he had priority, I couldn't even hope for a miss with that 100% accuracy attack. FLY went down, and I blacked out. Game Over, I lost. But that only made me want to try again, with new strategy, new insight, and a new game.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Shopping
Today I got a glimpse into why women like shopping. I went to the grocery store for snacks and chicken fries. I didn't care what kind of snack, could be chocolate chip cookies, nilla wafers, oreos, cheeze-its, whatever. I went down the snack isle, and saw double stuffed oroes, half off. So I got something I already wanted for less, and that is awesome.
I could correlate this to clothes shopping, if a girl goes into a mall wanting a shirt, and ends up finding one on sale, that's a good feeling. But I still don't condone shopping for no purpose.
AND, while at the store I heard a young African-American's thoughts on what is crazy about America. He said "You know what I don't get, what I really don't get? There are people starving in America." At this point, I am thinking, yeah, this guy has some depth, he is thinking about how we need to spread the wealth, and help those in need instead of hording money in the 1%, I can get where he is coming from.
But then, he continued with "There are deer and things just running around in the woods for free!"
And I cold barely contain myself from bursting out laughing.
I could correlate this to clothes shopping, if a girl goes into a mall wanting a shirt, and ends up finding one on sale, that's a good feeling. But I still don't condone shopping for no purpose.
AND, while at the store I heard a young African-American's thoughts on what is crazy about America. He said "You know what I don't get, what I really don't get? There are people starving in America." At this point, I am thinking, yeah, this guy has some depth, he is thinking about how we need to spread the wealth, and help those in need instead of hording money in the 1%, I can get where he is coming from.
But then, he continued with "There are deer and things just running around in the woods for free!"
And I cold barely contain myself from bursting out laughing.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Greetings that don't make sense
You are walking down a hall, and you see someone you sort of know. He says "What's up?", and you answer "Sup." That didn't answer the question. A question begs an answer, unlike a greeting such as "hi", or "yo". But people are so lazy that they give a pre-canned greeting response, even when it makes no sense at all.
For instance, someone says "how's it going", and you respond "not much". That makes no sense at all, you were expecting him to ask what's up, but he didn't. And you were too lazy to alter your response.
I don't really have a point, other than it's awkward and annoying. Pay attention to you greetings.
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