Why an End?

Just in case people find this blog and wonder why I stopped posting Pokemon things: a friend passed away.

I was super active with the Pokemon video games for a bit. Thousands of hours, starting with Ruby & Sapphire. I think I had two Ruby games, a Sapphire, and a Japanese Sapphire game. On the bus, on the plane, at work, at home, out and about...organized & played in tournaments for it and the card game...it was great.

I changed up jobs in mid-2008 and left behind the organized play and card game - but a buddy and I would compare notes about breeding and IVs, trading our breeding pairs, battling late at night while his wife and kids were asleep. As time went on, we still battled. He needed some competition, who wasn't playing in the same tournaments he was in. I wrote posts here about things I was doing and about EVs & IVs.

And I stopped posting in 2014. I'd still play, but not as much and not as deeply. Eric and I would still battle in the late evenings, sometimes turning on voice chat through our DSes, otherwise just messaging. I'd see him at rock shows occasionally with his wife - great people.

In 2016, a windstorm kicked up in Seattle in mid-March. A tree fell on a moving car, killing the driver but his daughter survived. A freak accident, really. But it felt wrong. A friend later called me to tell me it was Eric. Instant emotional black hole. It's tough going to a rock show sometimes, and thinking "maybe Eric will be...oh wait, no". He was a vibrant personality and lives on in the people who knew him.

I still played the games when they came out. But I no longer had a late night battle buddy, someone who was training and breeding their Pokemon for a purpose. I played through Pokemon Quest, and got some good walking around with Pokemon Go for awhile...but the magic dulled a little. It's okay - people pass on. I do other things now that I didn't do before. I have all of those awesome memories of the great people I experienced Pokemon with - that'll be a lifetime right there.

Hopefully you learned something, landing here. Some of the mechanics might still be applicable, but use critical thinking — figure out what does and doesn't work still. Maybe start up your own blog, and talk about your experiences so that others can learn from your trials.

Good luck, my fellow Ace Trainers!