Yeah, I see what you mean when you say it's a chore. Kanto in HG/SS just seems empty, and what makes it worse for me is that the music is underwhelming. (I didn't like the music in HG/SS in general as much as I did for the other games, but in Johto it was at least bearable.) In Kanto, though, it was almost painful to listen to, and didn't do the FR/LG soundtrack justice. Whenever I do play HeartGold, I always either have my DS on silent, or substitute with some music of my own.
And now I understand your frustration at the exclusion of Leaf. :P I walked into a Pokemon Center in some town, and talked to a man who said that "a boy" made Team Rocket go away, and at that point I remembered your fic about Leaf and thought her exact same lines: "I don't remember my name being Red! Granted, my skirt's red, but still..." Then, in Cerulean City, the bicycle salesman guy fondly remembered a boy who popularized his bicycle brand... and I was like fool it was me the whole time. Haha.
Hope you had fun at that anime convention. It sounds much more fun than what I'm doing, which is sitting at my desk all day and studying. I'm making my writing hiatus official until December; that doesn't mean I can't chat, only that I won't be writing. I'll VM you from time to time just to assure you that I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth. :P