A Pebble in my Shoe

MizEileen · Oct 14, 2016

Last night I caught a 612 CP Slowpoke. They spawn at the pillar across the street from my apartment. I felt better about the Slowpoke than I felt about any other poke I bagged during the entire run. I felt better about the slowpoke than I felt about the Growlithe. Where am I going to get Growlithe candy, and real life tigers are handsomer. The Slowpoke felt like a real achievement. I even stalked him or her.

Up and down the block like a complete idiot I went and then when I gave up after taking an Oddish, I crossed the street when the slow light finally turned and there he was, but not for long. I was fortunate to be about 7000 points into Level 20, so I still had plenty of raspberries. I did not have much ammunition, but a great ball and a raspberry took him or her.

Slowpoke has a long stay in my Poke Box. I did the math. Most creatures double when evolved so at 612 he or she has a good shot at being a fairly formidable Slowbro. I am one more Slowpoke away from getting enough candy for that, but how soon I'll hunt on my street with enough ammo and battery juice is an open question, all of which makes catching my Slowpoke sweeter.

Generally with evolving pokes and even hatching eggs, the anticipation is always much better than the event. This is true even if I keep my expectations low, so all day yesterday I was avoiding transferring all but my highest Staryu to the good professor, so I could evolve a Starmie. Finally, when it felt like was wearing Poke Repellant, I bit the bullet and hit the Evolve button. The Starmie turned out to have 1075 CP. That means I have my first gym-ready poke. How did that happen? I have a Pidgeot at 975 CP so with a bit of stardust, I'll have two creatures to train.

Of course, all this means I have been hoarding stardust in vain for building my 1000 CP Raticate. It may take a few more levels. It may be impossible. It may take a two kilometer egg.

And tonight, I get to choose my buddy poke. I think it is going to be Harriet, my Jynx. There is simply no Jynx candy and I walk enough to make earning a few morsels a good idea. I don't know if she is a lost cause since I hatched her weeks ago, but all I had to do was stare at Harriet's face and I knew.

She may have purple skin, but the features were unmistakable. I felt faintly sick and a bit angry. I thought of minstrel shows and blackface and cartoon versions of Voudun. I thought about quitting Pokemon Go. I didn't quit, but I decided I would name and fight Harriet if I could make her tough enough. Taking her seriously would be a way of spitting in the face of an ugly stereotype.

I guess it's time to put my shoe leather and sore feet where my somewhat lofty thoughts are. I want to get in just a little bit of hunting before Shabbos descends. It's been a short week and a strange, young year. With luck I won't be wearing Poke Repellant, and I have sufficient ammo. My fourth 10km egg is forty percent incubated. It won't hatch tonight, but maybe that is just as well.

MizEileen · Oct 16, 2016

I did not find my Slowpoke despite hitting the spawning corner in my neighborhood twice. This kind of thing happens. I did manage to bag a Horsea that was over 200 CP, a Voltorb, and a Magikarp.

Then while I was on my way to Kroger (Pokemon Go is great for multi-tasking. ) my 10km egg hatched. Out popped a Aerodactyl. In addition my 2km egg hatched out a Pidgey with 340 odd CP. I did the math. CP tends to double with each transition, more or less. I had plenty of Pidgey candy. The 340 CP Pidgey became a 1075 point Pidgeot. The Aerodacty is also over 1000 CP. How did I get three gym-ready pokes without really trying? It feels strange and wonderful to get rewarded when you have zero talent and can't even shoot straight.

I still run short on ammo (Poke Balls are ammo). I know nothing about training or gym fighting. I now have 14,900 points for Level 20. I feel like I just might make Level 21 because I get "paid to walk around."

On a strange note, my Starmie (from Thursday), my humongous Pidgeot, and the Aerodactyl all need names since they are likely to stick around. I've gotten out of the habit of naming my Pokes. Harriet's name was a no brainer. I am thinking of naming the Aerodactyl Nellie, but I'm going to hate the name in short order.

I tell meyself if I start training my creatures, they will return all beaten up. I'm not sure I'll handle that well. I do have plenty of potions. I may not have to worry about a full bag any more.

MizEileen · Oct 17, 2016

And no, I don't yet have my Slowbro. I guess my favorite spawning ground is not in operation 24/7. So it goes. You know the real news is elsewhere. It is not the plantar fascitis that dogs my left heel. It is not that I am a better Poke hunter. I am surely not a better shot. It is not that I have adequate ammo (Poke Balls).

It is more that all the walking around and I walk plenty is bearing fruit. The Pokes I have hopelessly horded aren't hopeless, and I can do the math. It all started when I hatched out a 2km egg. 2km eggs don't hatch garbage. Usually the ordinary creature that emerges is among the finest of his kind. If a creature goes through two transitions (evolves twice) you can multiply his CP by three to four if you have enough candy.

I guess you see where this is going. I now have a 812 CP Wartortle. I also hatched out a 5km egg and got my second or third Sandshrew, but she had 512 CP to her name. I did the math. I checked my candy and I now have a 900 CP Sandlash. With a few extra pieces of candy and all my stardust that I have horded for what looks like no good reason, I have a new gym ready creature and a creature that will some day be more than gym ready.

This brings my census of fightable Pokes to four:

One Pidgeot (hatched from a 2km egg with lots of candy to spare) -- 1075 CP
One Aerodactyl (hatched from my 4th 10km egg) -- 1075 CP
One Starmie (hatched as a Staryu from a 5km egg) -- 975 CP
One Sandlash (hatched as a Sandshrew from a 5km egg) -- 900 CP

The Wartortle is due for a longterm stay in my Pokebox until I get enough candy to evolve him or her or I take him or her for some serious walking. This is probably also true for the Sandlash.

Now I have two tough tasks ahead of me which probably won't happen because this is the start of the work week. First, I have four Pokes to name. I have three names picked out. Naming the Pidgeot feels impossible. Pidgeots (like Pidgeys) are industrial, cookie cutter, creatures.

My supersize Pidgeot has risen above the common horde and is now an individual. She is not just a crap dropping, fairly intelligent, flying rat. I tell myself that she is like the clever member of her real life kind that one day waddled up to the display of bird seed in front of Whole Foods, pecked open a bag and had a feast while all the other birds watched bemused.

None of this gives me a name. In addition, I have to train my Pokes who now can train. That means I am going to see them hurt. That means I fight animals. I exploit them actively. Of course they are virtual animals, but the whole thing still feels a bit like dog or cock fighting.

The latter is a lot easier to live with. Real life roosters can be MEAN No, make that vicious. I can understand how someone might enjoy seeing what the creature that runs after humans for no good reason other than that they came near his harem does when stuck in a ring with another of his own kind. People also eat chicken, not that I think roosters should have their nasty nature turned against them for human amusement.

Avian nastiness aside, I would never raise gamecocks except for show. Dog fighting is simply beyond the pale. But here I am contemplating sending creatures (virtual ones) into battle to have them come back wounded and torn up for my gratification. Of course they won't die. They may take to their role as fighters quite well. They might even occasionally win, but given my hunting ability, I don't think I'm going to be much of a Poke trainer. Maybe that's why I can't come up with that fourth name.

In other news I am now 21,000 points into level twenty. I am going to have to do something to alleviate the Pokemon grind. They tell me it's out there. Running chronically low on Poke balls happens. I have some ideas on how to fix the boredom. If I have time today or Thursday, I have mapped out prospective Poke Stops in Tucker. I can take the bus up there and walk around and have them for the map. You can see I'm not going to make that Slowbro any time soon.

VisualJae · Oct 17, 2016

Congrats on the Aerodactyl.

It's such a hit or miss find. I've caught three lifetime, but I still haven't hatched one and I've hatched over 50 10km eggs!

MizEileen · Oct 18, 2016

Visualjae, I think you are right about hit or miss. That might explain the missing Slowpoke down by the pillar across my street.

And yes, I still don't have my Slowbro! I arrived at the pillar out of ammo (Poke Balls) and down to 26% battery. I decided to take the Masjid run last night. I call it that because it goes up a fairly busy street in Clarkston, and one of the stops is a mosque called Masjid. I think most mosques are called Masjid. Sometimes Pokemon can be very politically correct.

Other times it is for want of a better word, classist. For some reason Niantic thought the area between Clarendon Rd. and East Ponce (Mostly East Laredo Drive) is commercial/industrial. It's not. There are several art gallery/studio spaces and an iconic/legendary bakery, yet the entire street is a Poke desert. Go figure.

I managed to nail a Jigglypuff on N. Indian Creek up in Clarkston and a Bulbusaur too. I even came up with a fourth name for my gym-ready creatures. The best catches of the night, in terms of my needs and projects were two Caterpies and a Metapod. I already have a 252 point Caterpie. I am now two to three Caterpies away from evolving a Butterfree.

A 512 CP Vennonat also eluded me and stole most of my ammo. That still hurts. I wish it didn't.

And yes, I have a fifth gym-ready Poke to name. For some reason, I like Spearrows. This is not rational, but given a choice between a Pidgey and a Spearrow or a Rattata and a Sperrow, I go for the Spearrow. That means I have a box full of Spearrows. I caught a 340 CP Spearrow. I had eighty Spearrow candy at the end of the night, as well as plenty of stardust. You can figure the rest....

Suffice it to say, I now have a fifth gym-ready specimen, a 1021 point Fearrow. This means I have a fifth creature to name. I am still a name short and I have a lot of questions.

My fighting/training roster does not look like what mans the gyms in my area. Are my Pokes somehow inferior to others with roughly the same CP?

Could my fighting/training Pokes be different because I mostly hunt in the evenings and cover way more distance than a lot of other Poke Masters?

Is there any choice/strategy involved in choosing which Pokes to evolve or build up? I have taken what I'm given but I've also been aware enough to make and take opportunities. For example, I've had very good luck with 2km eggs, and I'm super fond of Spearrows.

I know by the time Thursday night or Wednesday morning or even a short run tonight hits, I'll be Poke starved. The only good point in having to wait until I can hunt again is I may get to that pillar with a full battery and a reasonable supply of Poke balls.

MizEileen · Oct 21, 2016

I've been AWOL for a few days and for about two days, I did not play any Pokemon Go. it didn't feel strange. I missed it, but I kind of expected that would happen. I had other priorities. I needed sleep I was to nervous to get among other things.

Now of course I'm still too strung out and wide awake for my own good. I have a lot on my mind and am not thinking straight. Let me explain. Slowly, in the last seventy two hours or so, I've come to realize that I am the recipient of rachmones. Rachmones is a Hebrew word that translates roughly as God's mercy. This is the second time in my adult life this has happened, and it is different from the first. first in ways I don't want to explain here. Rachmones is wonderful. I don't want to use the word miraculous, but it is also scary, because when something good that you were sure would never happen to you finally happens, you want to pay it back.

When I arrived in the Atlanta metro area, nearly ten years ago as a result of rachmones (It was a job offer in the second most desirable location of many places in a national job search) I became more religious. Having done that, I'm not sure what I can do now.

Giving up Pokemon Go is not even on the table. It fits in with my schedule and is less addictive than Spotify (Sorry music just plain whips any video or computer game when it comes to staying power) and requires much less emotional commitment than Second Life. It has its own visceral appeal. Humans have foraged for millennia. It doesn't take much to push those buttons. I'm going to be out and about anyway and when I can't be outside, no Pokemon Go.

And going AWOL for two days did not put Pokemon Go "in perspective." It was fun to get back. It is still on my mind for a whole slew of reasons. First, I am turning into a serious player. I have just walked around way too much to be casual. I can do the math. I can hatch eggs. There wasn't any skill required other than persistence and doing my homework. So here I am.

And yes, I'm still as queasy about the whole gym thing as ever. Neopets and Second Life have both taught me that a virtual creature, be it a Neopet or breedable or Zooby child, is a twice removed piece of yourself. I don't play Neopets any more, but I have a whole web site full of virtual pet fiction. Part of me says it is morally coarsening to fight virtual creatures for my own amusement and part of me says it is morally coarsening to collect virtual creatures that want to be employed and force them to be idle. Right now I don't have time for training. I prefer walking. I prefer foraging and then...

I have five (actually six because I'm going to evolve a Butterfree soon...) names picked out but I husband battery life. I am not a serious enough player to get near a gym, but I am serious enough to amass the creatures and candy I need to make the best use of a Lucky Egg, so the Butterfree project waits. It will be part of the evolutions that take advantage of the Lucky Egg.

And the Lucky Egg will launch me into Level 21. You don't have to congratulate me. Barring a GPS issue or getting very busy in the rest of my life or terrible weather, I'll eventually catch the right creatures to hatch the Lucky Egg and either level or shoot across a good portion of Level 21. I'm about six or seven Rattatas or fewer Pidgeys and Weedles away from doing this.

I know that there are choices in Pokemon Go but sometimes I feel the game has its own trajectory and I'm just being pulled along for the ride. I wish there were alternatives to becoming a serious player or there was more than one way to do this.

MizEileen · Oct 24, 2016

No, I have not given up Pokemon Go. No, I have not yet caught the Slowpoke needed to make a Slowbro. Yes, I have added eight or nine new PokeStops to my map. That wasn't hard. One choice I have is choosing where to make a Poke run.

This weekend I wanted some King Oscar mackerel in olive oil. For some reason this particular, rather new flavor of canned fish is essentially unavailable in Atlanta. I have tried various Walmarts. Kroger and Publix don't carry it. Walmart doesn't either at most stores and when it does, it's not on the shelf. I remembered that the Walmart in Chamblee has a very good fish department. Let's just say I now have eight cans of King Oscar mackerel in olive oil.

I also hatched out second Growlithe and Tenticule. I managed to catch my second Gastly and also bagged a Torus near the Walgreens on Peachtree Industrial Road. It was fun getting the new Pokestops for the map. I also managed to catch enough Ratattas and Pidgeys to put me over quota for profitably hatching out a Lucky Egg. I'm at around 37,000 points of the way into Level 20, and am not sure if I want to make level before using the Lucky Egg. The longer I wait, the farther I go.

I have named four of my six (The Weedle god has smiled on me with a 250ish CP specimen and I'm going to make the Butterfree's creation part of the Lucky Egg evolutions) gym-ready pokes.

Adeline -- Aerodactyl
Ada -- Pidgeot
Jasia -- Fearrow
Oksana -- Sandlash

Zola will be the Butterfree's name. I have no name for the substantial Beedrill I will create during Lucky Egg time. Seeing my assortment of growing and powerful creatures and comparing them to what I see fighting tells me I have made certain choices. Catching all those Spearrows paid off.

Adeline's appearance was pure luck other than the fact that I walked 10km over several days. I have Jasia and Ada because I'm addicted to Spearrows and don't disdain Pidgeys. I did not complain when a 2km egg gave me the Pidgey that became Ada. Oksana was simply Sandshrew #2. The Butterfree and Beedrill projects have both been a long time coming.

If I walked different routes or approached my big box of creatures differently, I might have an Eggsecutor or Vaporeon. That's my best guess.

In other news I have better heel pads for my plantar fascitis, and I also realize that my feet though sore hold up better than my phone's battery. I wonder what the rest of you do about battery life. Sitting for an hour in Walmart to partially recharge my phone was more weird than fun. I was in customer service where all the misery in the world waits on line.

Oh well, the work week starts. I tell myself I'll know the right time and/or place for my Lucky Egg.

MizEileen · Oct 27, 2016

Last night I saw my Slowpoke, the one that I need to capture to make a Slowbro. It was in Glenlake Park where I went to stock up on Poke Balls and get enough candy for a power up party for Harriet. He was there, hiding in the reeds and rushes, but a Cubone (my umpteenth Cubone -- Hello Marrowrack. Sorry, Pokemon Go is just that predicctable) and I had an ammo fight and I had sixty-nine percent battery, one Poke Ball, and corn meal that needed to be made into polenta for a shabbos casserole, and twenty ounces of fresh lima beans (the last of the season, as in it's about time) that needed shucking so I could include them in the shabbos casserole.

Tomorrow night there will be polenta pie and Ithaca style zucchini and rutabaga, and tonight if GPS is at all functional, I will level while walking the Masjid route into downtown Clarkston. It has been an angry day for me. I couldn't work for several hours due to a stupid computer glitch, and yesterday my flash drive by which I lived and died, bit the dust with a spectacular flame out. Usually failing flash drives give warning. They get full. They don't always load. They lose their covers. This one did none of the above. It just died and died spectacularly. I Iost ten months worth of mostly Second Life related graphics. A lot of other stuff is backed up all over the cloud and needs downloading. That is going to take time. When the computer refused to find its way to the internet at work this morning, the rope whose end I clung to, snapped.

And in the middle of this I have 49,550 experience points. Pokemon Go is nothing if not predictable. GPS and technology and human error are another story. Of course I have no Poke Balls but if I make a few stops that will change. If I walk about four kilometers I'll hatch another egg. Do the math.

Making level will solve my ammo woes for a day or so. Remember, I am a terrible shot. My sole talents are being able to walk around, observe, forage, and plan while doing third grade math.

Pokemon Go rewards this kind of plodding patience, but I am going to need what even for me is an extraordinary amount of it in the days ahead. I have set a date for hatching one of my Lucky Eggs. I have something important going on at work on November 1. There is a big meeting on November 11. After the meeting in the late afternoon, somewhere in or near downtown Decatur, I will hatch the egg. It will be under the stars because we will be on Standard Time (Yay!) by then. The question is: can I hold out that long.

The answer is that I need to think big picture. Right now I am thinking about the people I have met while on Poke runs. There was the run in the Toby Grant area some weeks ago. I found one church after another. Churches usually mean Poke Stops. Churches are also territory and I had to explain about Pokemon Go to some church members doing repairs on their building. Even though a church is public, I felt like an intruder. I have to get the time and courage to return to that neighborhood.

There was the man I met Tuesday evening as I was walking back into downtown Decatur from Agnes Scott College. He said he was lost. He was from California. He needed to find the MARTA station. I walked him there.

Then there was the man I met at the Clarkston Community Center (yes this is on the Masjid run.). He came up to me and asked "Is there life in that thing?" He meant my phone. It was at seventy-nine percent battery, but I really thought this was a presumptuous way of asking to make a call. I replied "Yes, but I'm using it." "I think they should throw those things (smart phones) in the bottom of the ocean," the man told me. I replied that I loved my toys. Ironically my cell phone is a Blu that cost me less than ninty dollars on Amazon.

Then there was the man I met on the road from Avondale Station back into my neighborhood. It was a hot day one of many too many too late in the fall. He came up to me in obvious distress. I was hot and tired too. "Can I have a drink of water?" he asked. I had no water. I really didn't. I told him so and told him to sit in the shade to recover his strength. It wasn't until I had gone a few blocks and had to adjust something that I saw my laundry soap bottle protruding from my bags of clean clothes (I had gone to do laundry at Belvedere Park shopping center). The laundry soap bottle is a repurposed seltzer bottle. The laundry soap I use is clear. You can figure out the rest. I wished now I had remembered the laundry detergent and pulled the bottle from the cart. On the side the man could not see is a piece of paper that I taped to the bottle. On the paper are the words: "laundry detergent" and a skull and cross bones. No I did not have any water. No I did not have any patience. Yes, I can do better... sometimes.

When I helped the man find the train station Tuesday night, I felt like I was making amends. When I lost the flash drive yesterday I felt like it was a sacrifice toward something better. That something is NOT Pokemon Go related. When my GPS craps out, I want to scream. When I run out of ammo (Poke Balls) it serves me right. When I go through all the mass evolutions on November 10, it will be a disappointment and anticlimax, and yes I would trade them all for a chance to have done better with the man asking for a drink of water.

MizEileen · Oct 30, 2016

I made level 21 and made it in a way that was more spectacular than I ever could imagine. I ran out of Poke Balls twice on the Masjid route. The second time was in an ammo fight with a Gastly (Why????) behind the Clarkston Community Center.

I kept walking singing the ammo song.

If you are out of ammo SUCK IT UP!
If you are out of ammo SUCK IT UP!
You can't buy or steal or beg,
So just walk and hatch your egg...
When you run out of ammo SUCK IT UP. SUCK IT UP!

Still singing the ammo song, I came up behind the Clarkston International Bible Church and my phone vibrated. Why hadn't I turned the stupid thing off. It was salt in a fresh wound. Of course this is all first world problem. Still I looked and there was a Hypno. I walked toward the sign at the front of the church to spin the Pokestop. I received exactly one Poke Ball.

I walked back. The Hypno had not cleared out. I sized him up. 200 some odd CP. I could ply him wit a raspberry and hope for the best. I leaned against the church wall. It had already gotten dark. No glare. I breathed deeply and made it my best shot. For several seconds that Thursday night, the world stood still and then..

GOTCHA!!!!

A few seconds later I became Level 21. I knew it would feel like nothing soon, but the feeling stayed with me all the sweet bus ride to Avondale Station, and pretty much until I went to bed that night. It's nice when Pokemon Go turns unpredictable.

I am now a bit over 6000 points into Level 21. I hatched a Shellder tonight, 17% of this level's experience and an interesting critter. No I don't have my Slowpoke yet, but I had a futile ammo fight with a Growlithe in Glenlake Park. I suspect normal fauna spawns at Pokestops near the bottom of the hour, though I can't prove that.

One thing I have to do is sit down and write out and calculate (Oh I can do that math and it needs a song) how many experience points my Lucky Egg will yield. That number will go up, but not by that much. Pokemon is nothing if not predictable, except when it isn't.

MizEileen · Nov 3, 2016

I should be playing trivia for a friend who asked, but I need to write to make Pokemon Go meaningful. It feels meaningful despite the fact that I'm about to undertake an outlaw quest in real life. I can use fanciful but somewhat accurate language in lieu of details. There are details it is just not good to divulge. I'm a bit scaird. I tell myself nothing bad is going to happen.

I'll probably shoot a few Pokes by the way. I'm low on ammo. Oh when you're out of ammo... SUCK IT UP! SUCK IT UP! The Lucky Egg hatching will happen a week from tomorrow. I'd rather Niantic crash then Trump win the election. I'd rather the whole world of Pokemon Go disappear than an there an unqualified grifter with an ugly temperment take over the Oval Office. I have already voted.

So it's off to my night of lawlessness. I tell myself to be quiet and discreet. I'll discover new Poke stops, and the whole thing, but the Poke hunting and the lawless adventure will feel like anticlimax when it is done.

Back at the house there are zipper cream peas waiting to be shucked and cooked, and watercress, parsnips, carrots and pasta waiting to become Shabbos casserole. My hands are stained from cutting up beets for fridge pickled beets that I made last night. The food is good on the way to perdition. Off to break the law I go. I won't get caught, and that won't matter. I wish I could say more.

MizEileen · Nov 4, 2016

Well, my foray into the world of lawlessness was wonderful. Now I have to do it a few more times, though I have slightly different related endeavors planned for Sunday. I wish I could say more about this. I don't particularly care what this does to my Pokemon Go habit. Pokemon Go is well designed enough that I can play it casually or leave it alone for hours. I have not played at all today, but am going to get some in for an hour or so before Shabbos which I am accepting late for health reasons. I am not a gold brick. Say that three times fast.

I am now dealing with a full Poke Box, increased biodiversity (but I also suspect discrete white washing -- Oh where is a Koffing when we need one, and they will be playing ice hockey in hell before Milchtang gets added to the Pokemon Go roster), and a slight disappointment.

Harriet, my good buddy and my Jynx, is beyond where I can power her up any further. We've hit a level ceiling so when I hit 5km with her, it's time for a switcheroo.

Fortunately, I have no trouble picking buddies. Rejane will take center stage. She's a 771 CP Ratticate that was the first one I ever caught. No, I'm breaking the rules, but I make the rules. That is the difference between playing a game and letting it play you.

I am postponing tallying up my PokeBox for potential evolutions, for the Lucky Egg which I am going to hatch a week from today in the late afternoon/early evening in downtown Decatur. I just need to find the location of my choice. Meanwhile, I'm going to be culling as I catch.

I'm still looking for my Slowpoke of my dreams to make the Slowbro who will be part of my Lucky Egg evolutions. Let's hope Niantic doesn't cap Lucky Egg points.

I am going to do some serious persistence work if I can find the time. So far I have learned that if you drop a persistently held Poke near a different Pokestop you lose him, no surprise there.

I would like to do big data on eggs to see if they vary by Pokestop and if so how much... until the next update.

Finally, among big picture projects, I need to get in touch with Niantic about having at least one PokeStop added along East Laredo Road. Whoever did the mapping mistook the area for industrial. It's not. There are art galleries and the kind of atmospheric businesses Niantic likes.

Oh well, one last thing I need to do is learn to train and see if I like combat. If I don't I'm not sure what happens next. The road with the pebble in my shoe is starting to go in circles and toward the least common denominator.

MizEileen · Nov 7, 2016

The Psyduck hatched out in front of the Decatur Heights Baptist Church on Sunday evening. I now have enough Psyduck candy for a GolDuck of my dreams and enough CP to fight. Oh mighty ducks! Pokemon Go has a sense of humor on a good day.

I saw a Koffing in Toco Hills, so they are not extinct. I have not seen enough of them to know whether there has been a population decline. I saw my first wild Geodude near Georgia Tech. Sometimes the Pokes you see are more exciting than those you catch.

I am just barely at 27,000 EP into level 21. That means nothing. My Lucky Egg evolution tally is now well above 30,00 EP. The hatch is not scheduled until Friday.

The question on my mind is how strong can Rejane, my starter Raticate (Ratatta) become. We're walking the glory road waving the flag of sentiment. It's one foot in front of the other and I keep the stardust coming.

The other question that gnaws at me, is what is next for this game to which I'm giving my time. This really should be a separate post, but I am well aware that I am a set of eyeballs and that Niantic is watching my comings and goings. Niantic is partially owned by Google. Google has an excellent record for making money by advertising. It's just a question of when or how this game and I get monetized. I can smell it. It both fascinates and scares me, because right now I think all of us are at the stage of waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.

All this needs a post of its own, outside this field journal. I think everyone here needs to be ready to decide how we play this game and how this game plays us. And no, I still have not caught my SlowPoke. I tell myself there will definitely be life after the Lucky Egg.

MizEileen · Nov 9, 2016

Tonight I caught a Tangela, a wimpy one that took my last PokeBall.

Yesterday I caught a wimpy Weezing, but a Weezing just the same. It also took my last PokeBall.

I thought there were no more Koffings/Weezings. I was wrong. I thought this election would be close. It was close... with the wrong victor. The day after tomorrow I hatch my Lucky Egg. I'm going to level and I don't care.

We can play games forever. We can dance while the whole ship goes down. I'll dance with the best of them. I'll tally up my evolutions so I'll know not to miss a single one. After all I love my toys. I enjoy playing games. I can do the math. This election does not change that.

I'm back where I was riding my bike with a McGovern Sticker. I was in fifth grade. I did not know what a concession speech was, but I got to watch my first one that fall. I know what one is tonight and I am going to cry when I hear it. No amount of experience points is going to make me feel better.

People with my beliefs have been sleepwalking. We are going to have to wake up and fight... really fight. This is the wrong kind of beginning, but the worst won't happen until after January. Thursday (Friday cuts it too close to shabbos) will be as good a day as any to hatch the Lucky Egg.

And yes I could have made more calls for HIllary (I made about 200) and not played as much Pokemon Go in September, but I have reason to believe it would not have made a difference. My politics back in 1972 was visceral. In 2016, it's still visceral. Trump's campaign has superseded Joe Trippi's book, The Revolution will Not Be Televised. It's time to get on my bicycle and ride. And the fight against what is taking over my country is just beginning.

I'll hatch this egg. Games are how I cope, but they can't be everything. There's bigger games than critters on a cell phone.

MizEileen · Nov 9, 2016

OK, you have waited long enough. It is tally time. I need something to get my mind off the election.

Caterpie 1 Caterpie -- Metapod -- Butterfree transition 3000 (new Pokedex Entry)
Weedles: 1 Weedle -- Kakuna -- Beedrill transition: 2000
5 Weedle -- Kakuna Transitions 5000
Pidgey 17 Pidgey evolutions 17,000
Ratatta 14 Ratatta evolutions 14,000
Spearrow 2 Spearrow evolutions 2,000
Ekans 1 Ekans -- Arbok evolution 2,000 (new Pokedex Entry) 2,000
Nidoran (m) 2 Nidoran -- Nidorino evolutions 2,000
Vennonat 1 Vennonat -- Vennomoth evolution 1,000
Poliwag 1 Poliwag -- Poliwhirl evolution 2,000 (new Pokedex Entry) 2,000
Gastly 1 Gastly -- Haunter -- Granger Evolution 3,000 (double evolution and new Pokedex entry)
Drowzee 1 Drowzee to Hypno Evolution 1,000
Krabby 1 Krabby whatever is next Evolution 2,000 (New Pokedex entry)
Eggecute 1 Eggcute to Eggexutor Evoltuion 2,000 (New Pokedex entry)
Cubone 3 Cubone to Marrowak Evolutions 3,000
Horsea 1 Horsea to Next thing above it Evolution 2,000 (New Pokedex Entry)
Staryu 1 Staryu to Starmie Evolution 1,000

That's 62,000 points total.

That's pretty much it. I'm at 38,000 into level 21, so you can figure out what this does. I skipped Level 18 due to my first Lucky Egg. Culling the box when it is over will be miserable work. I do like to keep first specimens. I hope Niantic lets me earn all 62,000 points.

The day will be tomorrow 11/10/16
The time will be around 7:30pm
The place will be the front porch of the Clarkston Community Center.

MizEileen · Nov 15, 2016

The world is burning. Forest fires in North Georgia blow their smoke at the Atlanta metro area, smelling like a thousand wasteful, entitled, rich folks sending their money up the chimney as they do every winter, only somehow sadder and more toxic. Smoke blurs the horizon, and makes the distant trees that have barely turned (This is the South y'all!) dance a bit. Some days the haze and smoke interfere with GPS, but then again everything interferes with GPS. I have a GPS enhancing app on my phone, that I run alongside Pokemon Go.

The Lucky Egg gave me 64,000 EP, and I am now 40,000 EP into Level 22. I managed to turn a Goldeen into a 1200 CP Seaking on Friday. I have a 1200 CP Starmie. I named my Electabuzz, that I hatched what feels like ages ago Tristesse on November 9. The name means sadness, for those of you who did not take French in high school. What else would I have named her on November 9.

Last night I walked the Masjid route and hatched a Lickitbug with 880 CP. It made me smile. On Sunday I hatched my second Tenticule, which has the potential to evolve into what used to be fighting size, but the number of CP needed to sit in a gym or to fight in one in my area has doubled. I was ambivalent about gyms anyway, but it hurts to be shut out. Having junior gyms to give everyone a chance at playing would be a smart idea. Swim teams have "unofficial." I spent a summer swimming "unofficial." I was glad to be able to go to meets. I swam the same grueling, three hour practices as the other swimmers. It was nice to have the experience.

On the other hand, I can walk with my buddy, these days the mighty Tristesse, and wait until I have a bit more stardust to work on the 1000 CP Raticate project and give Harriet another bit of juice. Why not? I can't paint my critters. I can't design my own outfit as an avie and get pitifully few choices. CP are the only way to decorate and customize my wonderful critters.

I'm also perpetually out of ammo again which doesn't faze me. I'm glad Niantic brought back the walking game. I've recommended Pokemon Go as a great weight loss strategy to other women my own age. What a better way to get plenty of gentle exercise with no noisy, cold gyms (I hate gyms!) .

I suspect the coming colder weather (Does it ever really get cold here?) will bring some technical issues. When my fingers get cold and dry, they sometimes don't work with a touch screen. The relatively newer touch screens seem to have ameliorated much of that problem, but not entirely. I have a warm coat, hat etc... so being outside is a plus.

Well that's pretty much it. When I can manage the anticipation better, I'm going to evolve at least one of the Pidgeottos I created when I leveled. Some were well over 600 CP so this makes sense. There are wonderfully large and powerful Pidgeys now in the wild, so these megabirds are far from extinct. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Level 23 is so far away, I'm going to forget it exists.

MizEileen · Nov 17, 2016

Tuesday night, I got off at the wrong MARTA (train) stop. Avondale Station is not that far from my apartment, but there are more Pokestops in downtown Decatur. One can't really discuss Pokemon Go without discussing geography, and Avondale Station was definitely the wrong stop for someone with few Pokeballs. Still I spun the station's own Pokestop and started my trek.

When I reached the Decatur Heights Baptist Church, I picked up more ammunition, but was still marginal as far as hunting went, but my battery was good. I needed to hatch out an egg which was ultimately a Caterpie (Those are not as common as you think so it was a good hatching), and I could watch the critters on the sightings panel change.

A block or two past the Church I realized my battery was at fifty-nine percent, which meant it would last all the way home. Onward I trudged. Half way down a street called Folkner, I saw him. It did not really surprise me. The pillar across the street from my apartment is also across the street from the intersection of my street and Folkner, and sometimes that pillar spawns Slowpokes. Now for the first time in weeks, I had a Slowpoke close by, four Pokeballs, and enough battery to last until he might appear.

I gave myself a pep talk. I had five pounds of carrots waiting in my refrigerator to grate up into carrot salad to donate to a local homeless ministry. I had other obligations. My real life animals were hungry. "You have twenty minutes," I told myself.

The Slowpoke sat in the middle of my sightings, third out of eight or nine critters. I waited for the endless traffic light and crossed my street. The GPS held. I spun the pillar's Pokestop. I don't remember what I got; for a few seconds later....

I took a deep breath. I sized him up. He was 179 CP, but I used a raspberry anyway. Need trumps ease some days. Sorry for the use of that five letter word. I threw a regular Poke Ball, and for a few seconds... Then my screen registered GOTCHA. I stood in the middle of the street whooping for joy.

I can still feel that joy now. That is important. I came into my apartment and in my mail was a letter from the Compliance Discovery Unit of the Georgia Department of Revenue. The letter said I owed $2,500 on my 2014 Georgia, state income tax. I believe this is a great big error. I worked second shift Wednesday and was too tired and stressed out when I got home to file a protest. I had spoken to someone on the phone Wednesday afternoon and he told me what documents to attach to my protest, but I was in no shape to deal with poorly made, byzantine, government forms.

Tonight, I will not walk the Masjid route, but instead file the protest and cook three dishes, one of which is going north with me on Tuesday when I travel to see my mother in New York. I don't really need a break from Pokemon Go. I don't from what I need a break. First and foremost, I don't want to end up doubled over with intestinal cramps and shivering all over. I'd be better off playing Pokemon Go or even doing the clerical work with the egg spread sheet and my critter box (I need to cull in there again and name the critters I am going to develop and keep) if it keeps me from being really sick from stress.

I am saving the 612 CP Slowpoke to evolve into a Slowbro for a reward when something good happens or when I cross 50,000 CP into Level 22. Thank you for listening. There will be more.

MizEileen · Nov 22, 2016

It's that time. I'll be leaving for New York State soon as in less than three hours. I have no name for the SlowBro, or GolDuck I want to create. It will wait until tomorrow night or maybe as I wait for the Greyhound bus.

I have filed the protest and taken care of a few other necessary things. It's a bit quieter here now. I'm not sure how much Pokemon Go I'll get to play in New York. I have no idea whether my mother lives in a Poke Desert or an abundance of stops.

Pokemon Go cannot handle Eastern United States geography. It has created a nonexistent city called Druid Hills, GA. It does not recognize the Poke Stops on East Laredo Drive or have any in the shopping district in Tucker. Westchester County is prime screw-up territory.

My mother is a Luddite and getting out to play Pokemon Go will not be easy. Naturally there are no good maps of Pokestops in and around White Plains, New York.

Meanwhile, I am no longer a gym virgin. This happened quite accidentally. I was walking toward the Waffle House Museum on East College Ave. when I noticed that the gym in Lanier Park, a little spit of land where residential meets ratty commercial area, was vacant. In I put Brisa, the Gengar, in charge of the gym. She had the most CP of any of my named Pokes, so putting her in was a no-brainer. I figured I'd get her back tattered and torn.

Instead she came back with about twenty-five percent increase in CP, quite hail and hardy. Not only that, but a lot of my other star performers had similar increases. I guess I have to try training, but when I'll do it is anyone's guess. Maybe I can put all those surplus potions to use.

MizEileen · Nov 24, 2016

[COLOR="#00440"]
Greetings from Westchester County, just outside of New York City, in New York State. I arrived in one piece about 8:30pm last night, four hours behind schedule due to traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike. Buses get caught in traffic too. Still it could have been worse.

My mother lives in a Poke desert, something I half surmised. The one close by Pokestop is in the least likely place, and only someone who does not know the history of this neighborhood would have chosen that spot. I've seen worse down by Your DeKalb Farmers Market. I think some of Niantic's tone deafness in choosing Pokestops comes from the fact that they aren't local.

And much to my surprise or lack of it, they have the geography of this part of the world, royally messed up. The one good thing is that some of my guesswork about where there are more Pokestops appears to be good so I may hunt there tomorrow.

One of the most fun parts of the trip north was catching Pokes outside bus stations when we had rest stops. I caught a Cubone of all things in Charlotte, North Caorlina and a Pidgey and a Starmie in Richmond, VA. Yesterday I caught a Magemite in Manhattan. I have yet to see what place name Niantic assigned him. I know the Bellsprout, Paras, and Nidoran I caught today say White Plains, NY on them. I am NOT in White Plains. I am in Hartsdale. As I said before Westchester County with its patchwork of villages, post offices, cities, and unincorporated townships is prime screw up country for Niantic. Now I know.

I also learned that the 1000 CP Raticate project is on hold until I make Level 23 or 24. Rejane is capped at 940 CP. I am patient. I am going to start a thread about geography according to Niantic. You're all free to join me.
[/COLOR]

MizEileen · Nov 29, 2016

The Greyhound Station in Raleigh, North Carolina smelled unbearably foul. I stepped inside and could barely restrain myself from gagging. I made a beeline to the smoking area. It was 2:40am on Monday November, 28. I had forty minutes until they forced me into the station to wait on line to reboard. This was a driver switch for any of you bus riding geeks out there. This happens.

The weather felt good. The fresh air was wonderful and my GPS Fix took on the first try. After that Pokemon Go locked onto the signal and booted up. It was refreshing to see the usual Southern ecology of Pokes in view. Then a few popped up including a Magikarp. I had not seen a single Magikarp in New York State. Well, this was a find indeed.

I took aim and got it on the first ball, but it didn't say Gotcha. It said OH? Oh yeah!

I had my first Ditto. I named her Raleigh 1.

All my nonGeorgia Pokes have place names with a number for the order in which I caught them. I have not fought my Ditto. I have only fought my Gengar and she is happy for it. The Ditto is wimpy at 218 CP. She is more a status thing. She even made waiting in the smelly Greyhound station bearable.

When I returned to Decatur, Hertzel, my seventeen year old white, neutered tom cat sniffed and sniffed my stuff and tried to kill my suitcase. He is a playful boy and takes everything in stride. I had an excellent cat sitter.

My two best catches from my trip are a Drowzee in Manhattan and a Magemite, also in Manhattan. I also have a White Plains and a Manhattan egg, both 5km. I have my GolDuck and SlowBro named and ready to evolve. There is enough candy and I guess the time is now if I want double experience.

I'm mot sure how I'll deal with the disappointment when things go back to normal.

MizEileen · Dec 9, 2016

[FONT="Book Antiqua]
It's not a low ebb. It's not a grind. It's a trough. The day after I returned from New York I made Level 23. And then things sort of ground to a halt. We are back to the usual biodversity, tons of Ratattas and Pidgeys with a few Weedles, Spearrows, and other stuff thrown in for variety. Because the levels are very far apart now, I am out of Poke balls more than I'd like to admit.

I used my SlowBro and Golduck to help me level. I could work on the 1000 point Raticate project. I'm within sixty points so I have a good chance of making it happen.

I also have to find a way to cope with the cold. Cold means cold hands. My right thumb is cracked open. My face is windburned and my lips are chapped. Today I ordered some touchscreen gloves. If I can keep my hands warm, I can get back to putting some mileage on eggs.

Cold weather, makes a lure impractical, besides I only have a small number of these things. I'm not buying more. I have one incubator. Feet and hands need to do their stuff. I need to forget all the flashy creatures. Anything found outside is a gift.

It really is, and I am a fool to depend on some big company that doesn't care about me except as a consumer of micropurchases and eyeballs for corporate sponsors, for fun.

I need to remember that the best Pokemon Go game is the one I create. The one part of Pokemon Go that makes me smile these days is my current buddy, Muguet du Bois, or Muguet for short. She is a Grimer, the only one I have ever seen. She started out at 165 CP. Now she's over 300 CP.

I make jokes in my head about "This residence protected by Grimer!" "Mighty Muk in the making!" "Watch it or I'll sic my Grimer on you!" Muguet du Bois is French for Lily of the Valley. Any time I go out, I find tons of Grimer candy.

I also now have a Golbat with over 1000 CP. 2km eggs often really have the best critters in them when you think about it, because you understand them and can work with them, and evolve them into really prime specimens.

I think my problem is I really just want to walk and explore.I want to put aside all the commercial manipulation/exploitation. I tell myself that if someone came out with an open source, augmented reality game that involved walking and foraging, I might drop Pokemon Go. This afternoon, that is several years away.
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A Pebble in my Shoe

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