A Pokemon fan's ramblings and other stuff.

Day 50 - Describe the importance of Pokémon in your life

The last day. Here we are. The final countdown. Can’t believe it went by so quickly. Well it was fun while it lasted.

Pokemon is one of the most important things in my life. I wouldn’t have a childhood without it existing.It was one of the video only games I played as a kid.Didn’t want to be all sappy and emotional but I guess I will. I guess you can say Pokémon helped me get through one of the most tragic moments of my life. On April 1, 2000 , my mom died of unknown stress. I started playing the games just about a month or two before my mom died. During the visitation, I brought my Gameboy Color and in it was Pokemon Red. I was too busy playing Pokémon to even care about what was going on around me. I remember everyone being sad and crying and I was also sad, but playing Pokémon that day made it a little bit better. The day she died my cousin Betty took us to Burger King for lunch. At the time they were selling Pokemon toys in their kids meals. I got a little beanie Butterfree that I’ve had for years now. It’s ironic how Pokemon was involved with me getting over my mom.

I’ve also made a lot of friends through Pokemon.On my first day of Kindergarten, I was scared to leave my parents and go in the school. I thought I wasn’t going to make any friends. Luckily enough soon after I met my childhood best friend, David. The one thing that kept us close was our love for Pokémon. We spent a lot of time just trading, battling and talking about Pokémon. David wasn’t my only friend who loved Pokemon. I discovered that a lot of kids at my school liked Pokemon and they also became my friends as well. Pokemon was such a big craze from the late 90s to early 00s so even as I entered a new school in 4th grade, there was still kids who loved and played Pokemon. When I was in 8th grade, I became an outcast. I was bullied by some people in my class and basically hated. By that time Diamond and Pearl was just coming out and the number of Pokefans had basically depleted. Still, I managed to find two people in my class who still loved the games. These guys became my closest friends in 8th grade and helped me get through the year. One of them stood up for me one time and by the end of that year, the people who bullied me made up for hurting me an entire year. During freshmen year, the people who picked on me became my friends. Even throughout high school I found a few people who still love Pokemon. Some through youth group who only like the first 3 gens and others online who love every gen. I joined a few Pokemon centered forums like Bulbagarden and Pokecommunity only recently, and I have to admit, Pokemon fans are some of the best people I’ve ever met.

Pokemon has also helped me learn. For example, I never knew “endeavor” meant until I played Pokemon Emerald. I never knew what “synthesis” was until playing Pokemon Gold and didn’t know anything about instinct until watching the anime. Pokemon has also taught how to think ahead. It taught me how to plan things out and have a strategy before doing things. It’s improved my thinking and reading skills. Lastly, Pokemon inspired me to improve my art skills and be creative. After years of watching the anime, I wanted to create an anime of my own. I borrowed many how-to books and started drawing anime characters. I came up with a story concept and my own characters. My style was based off the style of the Pokemon anime. I was very inspired by Satoshi Tajiri’s work. I began to practice more and more and began to improve. People were impressed by my drawings even though I thought they weren’t good enough. I’m still learning and improving now to this day. I come up with new ideas and I’m always finding technique and other things I need to work on. I still have a lot of things that I could learn. In the end , my inspiration for it all, comes down to Pokemon.

Pokemon has brought me a lot fun times and good memories. I’ve made tons of friends from it. I’ve learn so much playing the games and watching the show from improving my skills to becoming a better artist. I’d like to thank you guys for your time to read this. Most importantly, thank you Pokemon, for making me who I am today.