CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

So, second walk today was all about the spinaraks. Basically, we have the Palmerville Heritage Park nearby. Although there is usually a ton of pokemon in this park, and you need to stock up on pokeballs if you want to "catch them all", I've also noticed that there is always a concentration of one particular type. A few weeks ago, it was teddiursa. This week, it was spinarak - with a definite uptick of chicoritas towards the end of the day. If you take a look at the pictures above, you'll see both. I'd predict that this week will be a good one for catching these in the park - although I have been known to be wrong. This is what came up on the scanner as I was leaving the park. So,I took a writing break this afternoon, and spent an hour and a bit hunting down the little arachnoidal insects, and stuffing them into pokeballs. They were fairly feisty. But did I catch any? Well, yes. Yes I did.

On Tuesday, I managed to advance one of the new PokemonGo medals - the Berry Master. This is most definitely not to be confused with a stair master, although exercise was had while earning it. With silver under my belt, I now have to do another 900 or so feedings to get to gold. Tips on going for this medal? Feed ALL the Pokemons. ALL OF THEM. As many as you have berries for. As many as the game allows. And count your fingers. These things have no manners when it comes to berries.

Yesterday, I added another monster to the pokedex. This is the kind of Wigglytuff you get, if you don't power-up your Jigglypuff first. It's still very cute.

So, another change of routine as exams approached and both my writing and my walking routines were gone. This was not helped by memories of having to choose between my job and completing my degree, and all the workplace nastiness that went with it. I’d thought I was over it, but it really knocked me for a six, and I just couldn’t write through it, so a bunch of housework was done, instead, and I watched a couple of series of New Tricks   while I was doing it. I lost four days to classes, study and what I think is part of the grieving process—or recovery process from the bullying. Anyway, it wasn’t until Friday that I was able to settle into redrafting an exam essay, which took priority over my writing. By Saturday afternoon, I had completed the first draft and had only formatting, and another 11 references to find, which is why there was no Ingress or Pokemon report yesterday. So, not much on the writing front as you can see, not much on the Ingress front, and a little bit on the...

And here they are. I have to admit that it got to a point where I didn't have time to take pictures of each one, as I hurried for a bus after class, or to catch the next little critter I'd seen nearby... and then there were the swans. Swans are not pokemon, but they are cute, and cygnets are fluffy. These ones were on the Australian National University grounds, possibly touring for their little ones' future education. I was sick for Friday, and then wrote an essay most of Saturday and Sunday. Monday, I had an impromptu class to make up for one I wouldn't make later on due to a conference. Anyhow, here we go with the pokebits. On Saturday, August 20, 2016, this little guy came to say goodnight...    On Sunday, August 21, I went for a quick walk in the morning - there's an Ingress badge that requires you to hack a portal every day for 360 days - and our local portal is also a pokestop, so, of course, I had to catch these two before heading back ...