If you comment, I will:
a) tell you why I friended you,
b) associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.,
c) tell you something I like about you,
d) tell you a memory I have of you,
e) ask something I've always wanted to know about you,
f) tell you my favorite picture in your gallery,
g) but in return, you must post this in your journal.

I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

...Anyway, that's only half, because it's not really important enough to get a full journal entry.

Just got back from band camp. We played 'Godzilla Eats Las Vegas', which I heavily recommend you listen to if you can. And you have to replace the voices of the people screaming with band kids (Morganna had the first cry of 'Godzilla!'

...My iPod finally broke. Morganna accidentally (hopefully) knocked my purse into a bucket of water. Just great.

Note: My mood isn't lonely, but I can't get it to change.

This has been kind of bugging me.

Just what are the settings for the Pokémon GameBoy games? There is no question that the events take place on earth (mentions of America and South America from Lt. Surge and Pokémon Mansion diaries), but under what circumstances? It's unclear whether the game's universe is a complete reinvention of our own, or simply our world as we know it slightly tweaked for the allowance of pokémon and its afflitiated technology. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest the latter--quite a bit of the pokémon world coincides nicely with our own.

Where to begin? Let's start with geography. Maps of the game's regions indicate that they align with regions of Japan. Kanto was modeled off the actual Kantō region, which is east of the Kansai and Tokai regions of Japan (combined, the two are the geographical inspiration for Johto). That's simple enough, but begs the question, has Japan been replaced by Kanto/Johto/Hoenn in the pokémon universe? Are the three regions collectively known as Japan, or regarded as completely separate entities? My best estimate is that the landmass is virtually identical to our world's Japan, but regarded as three separate regions (i.e. Canada, North America, and Mexico are on the same continent, but distinct countries). But did the elimination of the Japanese nation and its history have a significant impact on the timeline of the Pokémon universe? One would think so, but we don't get enough information to make a definitive statement on the matter, to the best of my knowledge.

In fact, the timeline of the pokémon games is far more intriguing. It's hard to pinpoint a date for the setting. Perhaps information from the third- and fourth-generation games would help to make things clearer, but I'm operating on knowledge solely from R/B/Y/G/S/C. And various tidbits of online information where I can find it. The first piece of evidence that I could find about when the game takes place came from a quote from Lt. Surge in R/B/Y: that he had been in a war, and that his pokémon had paralyzed his enemies. He's referred to by in-game characters as 'the lightning American.' So Surge was involved in an American war. I'm guessing it wasn't WWII, which ended in 1945. It's definitely long past 1945 in the era of R/B/Y. Evidence: Misty's bikini (sported in R/B but not Yellow) would have been taboo until roughly 1960, and commercial cruise ships like the S.S. Anne didn't become popular until the 1980s onward. Even going with the former date would have been a 15-year difference. I don't know too much about the U.S. military, but I doubt that surge could have become a lieutenant before the age of 25…so going with the games being set in 1960, that would make him approximately forty in R/B/Y. His appearance in the game doesn't contradict forty, but sixty (with the use of 1980) seems a bit old considering how in-shape his character sprite is in its one appearance during the Vermillion gym battle. Let's rule out WWII.

What's left, then? My guess is Vietnam, which ended in 1975. This would allow for the first-generation games to be set in the 1980s without a contradiction, and Lt. Surge would be relatively young. This coincides with the spreading of home computers in the 1980s (Red has a PC in his room, the spoiled brat). Pokémon Crystal takes place three years after R/B/Y and includes a cell phone feature—cell phones first became commercially available in the 1980s. Yay! This is starting to fit!

…Until you notice that Red has a SNES in his room at the start of R/B/Y. The SNES didn't come out until 1990 in Japan. Alright, this was probably just an easter egg, but some new interesting theories can come of it. Maybe Surge was actually involved in the Gulf War? The date might explain some of the cloning technologies available on Cinnabar Island, too. But if that's true, why are there no mentions of the internet in any of the first- or second- generation games? However, it would make the burning of the Brass Tower in Ecruteak City (150 years before the start of Pokémon Crystal) roughly coincide with two devastating fires in Istanbul in 1750. Perhaps that's significant.

But there's more! By the time Crystal rolls around, Red has an N64 for his abandoned room (perhaps his lonely mother plays it on occasion, but more likely it's just collecting dust while that ungrateful boy hangs around Mt. Silver), and that wasn't released until 1996, even in Japan. Which means that if the consoles are significant to the timeline, then Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow took place in 1993, and Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal took place in 1996. Give or take about a year for each. And rendering most of my research absolutely worthless.

THIS IS WHAT I WAS DOING WHILE THE REST OF YOU WERE AT PROM. I HATE MY LIFE.

Edit 6/5/08: I found mentions of e-mail in both Yellow and Crystal, so I think the dates are pretty much set.

Tagged by and

8 Random Things About Yourself
1.- post the rules
2.- write down 8 random things about yourself.
3.- you must tag 8 folks

1. Probably my greatest irrational fear is of glitched electronics. For some reason I get terrified when the computer displays error messages and I have nightmares about my GameBoy refusing to turn off. Etc.

2. I hate reading about romance. I hate watching romance. If its subtle enough for the plot to be able to hold up without it, I can tolerate--but a love story by itself it just isn't interesting enough for me to invest my time.

3. I rarely actually pay close attention during most of my non-history classes.

4. I worry a lot about college.

5. My favorite kind of food is potatoes, prepared in almost any way.

6. I was one strep throat infection away from having my tonsils removed.

7. I'm clingy.

8. I die a little inside whenever someone says something unpleasant about any of my close friends.

Tagging:

loaned me her Zelda: Collector's Edition, which includes Ocarina of Time. So now that I've had it for a week or so, I recently got around to actually playing the game, and, though difficult at times, it's pretty amazing. It was a bit hard to get the hang of targeting (having been spoiled by Wind Waker's method of doing things) and the lack of camera control drove me insane for ahwile, but the sheer awesomeness more than compensates.

Anyway, I made it to the Water Temple. I don't know why they didn't design the Fire Temple more like this, a bit of lava and burning would all but complete the absolute hell it's been to get through. Seriously. Quoting a friend of mine when I told her I was completely stuck: "Everyone gets stuck at the Water Temple."

Tired of juggling confusing maps, I simply GameFAQ'd the location of the last SMALL KEY and went on my merry way.

And finally, finally, I faced off against Shadow Link.

Boooring.

Afterwards, I looked up the fight on a couple of GameFAQ guides. All of them, amusingly, stressed the difficulty I was supposed to have getting through it. "The HARDEST boss battle in the game!" gushed one, even. "I've never been able to complete the fight without at least one fairy," read another.

It was really lucky I hadn't read a guide before the battle, because I hadn't HAD any faries.

That turned out not to matter, because I didn't get hit. Not once.

When the battle started, I went in cautiously, unsure of how to handle the fight. I mean, it's Link. How the heck do you kill the Hero of Time?

When I tentatively tried to strike with the Master Sword, he simply stopped me with his shield, and this continued with all my attacks, targeted or not.

So I put the sword away, and--are you ready for this?--just whacked him with the Megaton Hammer until he dissapeared.

Stop laughing, it works! See, he can block all your sword attacks, especially if you're targeting him. He'll stop moving for a bit if you put the sword away, so I had time to pull out the Hammer and hit him. He dissapeared and reappeared behind me, but didn't do anything because I didn't do anything and wasn't holding the Master Sword. So I hit him again. And he reappeared behind me. And I hit him again.

He never put up his shield after that. Not that I gave him any time.

I wouldn't normally rant over a boss fight, especially not a mini-boss, but come on! This was the first boss that never landed a hit!Shadow Link! I thought it was going to be dramatic!

Oh, yeah, I have a journal feature on this website.

So in case any of you care or don't know already, yes, I'm still frequently on DevArt. No, I haven't finished anymore stories yet. Yes, I feel guilty about that.

I was thinking about writing another "Origins" story, featuring Alpha--I don't think I've developed any of the other characters to the point where I can write comfortably about them. Besides, I'd have to consult with first, because a few of the ideas were hers in the first place and I don't want to change anything without her consent.

Not much time for that, though, because we've both been playing Tales of Symphonia pretty obsessively and it's slowly consuming our souls.

Not for the first time, I wish I could draw a bit better so as to create a few comics of my own. My cartoon style isn't exactly terrible, but it takes so much time and effort that I tend to give after one or two pages.

So I'll stick with my keyboard for now. Who knows? Maybe I'll eventually be able to achieve my goal of having something new written every month.