CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

This one's easy... as long as you're in an area where there are lots of rattata. There is only one rule - Catch Them All! ...and, eventually, you'll catch enough that are Size-Small that you will earn your medal. I am not going to say how many I've had to catch just to reach the 50 needed to achieve the silver level of this medal - and that's not because I'm being difficult; it's just because I've lost count. If we use Pratchettese troll-speak, you're talking 'many, many, lots'. On the up-side, you only need 25 candy to evolve them into raticate, which means you should have lots of opportunities to gain XP and move yourself along in level. I'll try to remember to keep a rattata tally on how many I need to catch in order to get to the 300 I need for the gold level of this medal, but I won't promise to remember. If you're curious, here's what the silver Youngster medal looks like - shiny, right?

I've been a little bit swamped, but I've managed a walk every day, and done some incidental pokemonning. This was not a bad way to start the morning:

This week, I kicked off my walking, again. Hatching eggs in PokemonGo helps with the motivation—especially when you hatch one of these! She’s a strong pokemon, and worth keeping. Plus, I get to use the candies to power up my first lapras (which was also my very first hatchling playing pokemongo). It was a pretty good day, and then this popped up: I’m a simple critter at heart. This made the last 10 km of walking well worth it… never mind the practical good it does. It was just a bit ironic that the Solstice event started the very next day…

As you know, one of the things I have decided I need to improve is my fitness. This is important for everyone, and not just writers, but it’s hard to actually get out and do. Me? I hate walking for the sake of walking, moving quickly but aimlessly for the sole purpose of keeping mobile for 30 minutes. This is in spite of knowing I need to keep my blood pressure and blood sugar under control, and in spite of seeing an improvement in both of these, my weight, and my general health. There are days when I wonder why that isn’t motivation enough. Instead, I use two augmented reality apps to help improve my attitude to an activity that does me no end of good: Ingress and PokemonGo . Both these apps have built-in encouragement for walking: Ingress has its Trekker medal in five levels, and PokemonGo has a Jogger medal, as well as the need to walk to hatch eggs. This does not mean that every PokeGo or Ingress player is going to be fit, though. Many still take to their cars and do onl...

I've been stepping up my walking lately. Going for more Ingress missions, and pokegoing as I go along. Today, I finally spun my 2000th pokestop, and hit gold with my Backpacker's medal. Cool beans. Not a bad day, then.