CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Day 6 (April 5th): More walking, and my back is feeling much better. I started the day with the following missions left to do - and was very relieved to spin up a new Field Research task. It was quickly completed, and I scored my sixth sticker. The next stop replaced task. By the end of the day, I had found, and almost completed, a third Field Reserch task, but, in spite of catching innumerable Rattatas, Pidgeys, and Whismurs, along with a couple of Taillows and Zigzagoons, I had yet to come across one. I had also seen only one ghost-type, outside a raid, and that one appeared at a time when I had an errand to run. All in all Day 5 saw no progress on the fifth part of the Special Missions since I'd lost my third ghost-type raid on Day 4. On the upside, I had seen three Skitty in the scanner: one when I had no balls and no way to get any in time, one that was at a stop I could not reach due to errands, and one that disappeared before I could reach the stop it was at. ...

Day 5 (April 4th): The Mission and Research Tasks continue. These are the ones I had scheduled as I headed out the door: It didn't take long for me to catch one more Pidgey and one Murkrow. One was waiting on the path, and the other was at the nearest pokestop. Bonus! And I was given a new research task, straight away, and completed it before I researched the next stop, where I received another one. Of course, there wasn't a Meowth or Skitty in sight... and not a single ghost pokemon, either. The best part of the day, however, was hatching my 500th egg, and earning the Breeder gold. It's been a long time coming. Somewhere along the way, I managed my twentieth Great throw, and to catch my third Fire-/Ground-type pokemon, too. The day ended with the following tasks left to complete - and I hoped either for a kitty cat invasion, or an achievable task to spin up the next day, or I wouldn't be earning a sticker.

So, the missions continue - and they get a little harder to achieve each day - but they're still fun, and they still give my walks purpose, meaning I walk for longer and am getting fitter. All good stuff. DAY 4 (April 3rd): Day 4 started with the following missions waiting to be completed (and you'll notice I got rid of that Excellent Throw requirement because I've only thrown about three of those in the last two years - ironic, because the next throw I made was, indeed, Excellent; we live and learn): So, it took an hour to earn the next sticker, instead of five minutes, but it was worth it... and I learned something new - if you just can't catch your reward pokemon, and you run out of balls, the reward stays in your scanner until you can. I am so very grateful for that. then, because I'd see only one Skitty, only one Swablu and only one Meowth in over a fortnight, I ditched those Field Research missions, too. The next two missions promised to be anot...

In other news, today I finally worked out where the weather icon went. It used to sit at the bottom right-hand side of the screen, just above the window for finding nearby pokemon. In all the excitement of the new PokemonGo Missions, I lost where it was, and didn't even really think to look for it... until today, when I had to catch a serious amount of weather-affected pokemon. it took me a bit, but I finally realised the weather icon is now located in the top right of the screen... which is kind of appropriate when it's a sun - when it reminds me of a kid's drawing of the outdoors.

I started yesterday, with the following missions waiting for completion. Given my progress, it didn't take me long to earn my first stamp of the day, and the Bronze medal for being a Pokemon Ranger. Given I was walking by a lake, it was nice to see a fishy - even if it was on the path, and not over the water. Mind you, that goal to make 3 Nice throws in a row, was a LOT harder than it looked, but at least the game let you know when you broke your streak. Also nice to know was that any throw better than Nice - such as Great or Excellent, for example - counted as Nice (given it was better), for which I am very grateful. By the end of  the day, I had managed to walk the 12 kilometres I needed, in order to earn 4 more Snubbul candies and complete Chapter 4 of  "A Mythical Discovery". Mind you, I get the impression that the next set of tasks might not be completed so quickly.

So, the PoGo Mission continues. Yesterday I started with three special missions, and on Chapter 2 of "A Mythical Discovery". Given that it was still the Easter Eggstravaganza event, that third goal didn't take long to get out of the way.  To earn my second sticker, I caught my third fire pokemon. That grass-based reward? That's a special pokemon that arrives for you to catch. In this case it was a cute little Magcargo with some very nice stats. The day started out with heavy mist, so I shouldn't complain about the fire pokemon being around. That double-up of Field Missions had me concerned. Sure, I had to do two raids for my Special Mission, anyway, but I wanted to know if doing one raid would count for both Field goals, or not. I was pleasantly surprised to find the first raid counted as completion of each separate Special Mission. The other good news was that is still counted towards my Special Mission goal. Of course, I then ha...