Have I mentioned before that Pokemon has taken over our family? What started out as a little something Mason brought home from school has continued to evolve. At first it was just watching the shows on television, then they got a book with all of the characters, and we gave in and got Mason Pokemon cards for his birthday. So it's only been about a month and a half of playing the game, but it shown no signs of stopping.
They are lucky to have a father who will do it with them, because anytime I hear the words "hit points" it brings back memories of playing Dungeons and Dragons with my brothers (by "playing" I really mean "aimlessly rolling a bunch of freaky dice"). So Pokemon joins the crowd of Dungeons and Dragons and comic books as being things that I seem to have a peculiar aversion to.
Ryan, on the other hand, figures that if he can't beat them, he'll join them. While I am positive it's not something he'd do if he didn't have kids (those people do exist), he figures that if he's going to do it, he might as do it well. As in making excel spreadsheets to chart the various powers and limitations of the many characters (can I get a witness, Garrett?), and encouraging Mason's aspirations of doing Pokemon tournaments.
While researching how the tournaments worked, he found out about "league play", which goes on every Friday evening at a local game store from 5-7 pm. The game store that hosts it gets a bunch of free cards from the Pokemon company to hand out, and kids get together to play the game. It is actually a pretty convenient time, as it ensures that Mason and Katie get all of their chores done for the weekend before they can go play. So there is a part of me that loves Pokemon, even though it drives most of me crazy.
Here are a few highlights from the night. I didn't go, so this is second hand--but I feel like I can see it all happening. There were about 12 kids, with Katie being the youngest one playing and most of them being in the 6-10 year old age range. A couple of teenagers and one parent played as well. Katie isn't so great at strategizing, so it was nice of kids to be willing to play with her.
Katie has pretty much one volume level: loud--especially when she's excited. I don't know where she got it from. So imagine being the kid that is playing with her, and throughout the entire game she has no idea what she's doing with the cards, but talks endlessly (and loudly) about all the things she knows and loves regarding her cards, and all other things Pokemon. It's a pretty safe bet that the kid she's playing has already amassed the knowledge she's dispelling, but that doesn't phase her. One kid finally let her know "You don't have to shout!", but that never works--trust me.
One of the kids they played against had long, kind of bushy hair, and was overweight. I don't want to use the words "man-boobs", but it does help to paint the picture and explain the confusion when Mason and Katie kept referring to him as "her" and "she". After he told them "I'm a BOY!", Mason got it. Katie, on the other hand, just couldn't make the switch no matter how many times he reminded her. I can just imagine her saying something like, "That's so funny that she played Charmander, right Mason?" This is classic Katie, since it uses the phrase "that's so funny" and then adds the "right Mason?"--which is key, since that's how Katie finishes every sentence.
Mason, as opposed to Katie, did fine in the game. His only rocky spot came when a small contingent of Pokemon purists decided that since some of Mason's cards looked worn out on the back, they were clearly "phonies". What the freak? Is there some scandalous black-market Pokemon underworld we weren't aware of? The problem was that when the first kid accused Mason of having a phony card, Mason had no idea what "phony" was, so he had no idea what to do other than just stare at them, very confused. Eventually, they rephrased it as "fake", which he understood. Ryan went over and explained that Mason's cards weren't "phonies"(jerk!), but had to continue to back Mason up the whole night as the original accuser kept letting others know that Mason had phony cards. If Mason ever takes the game this seriously, I'll know it's time for him to quit.
5 comments:
Okay, I read Kristin's blogspot first about having fun. I believe in laughing and so I want to thank you for that most entertaining description of the night. I can envision Katie completely - Oh how I miss them
When I picture the "big boned" kid screaming "I'm not a girl" I picture this kid kristin and I had at camp Blodgett that was always screaming things like, "I'm fighting for my life here." It helped paint an even funnier picture for me.
Between Ryan's gift of "volume" and your gift of the ability to keep a conversation flowing w/o pause (which by the way I'm not criticizing - I really like) what else can we expect for our little Katie? I love it.
Finally, it's a good thing I wasn't there because I would have, w/o thought or regret, pummeled the kid accusing Mason of fakes. Seriously- he would be in pain.
There are too many funny things in this post. I mean, where do I begin? Ryan's spread sheets? "You don't have to shout! That never works, believe me, I've tried.?" Dungeons and Dragons dice? Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing.
I have to say, when i walked into the kitchen and found Ryan doing his spreadsheet i thought it was funny, but not nearly as funny as i should have found it. You see, I just wasn't that surprised. If it had been say, Travis, doing the spreadsheet, i would have been rolling on the ground struggling to breathe. It just seemed natural for Ryan to be doing. As for the conspiracy theorist, who is this kid? I mean, I learned first hand that Mason isn't the most forthright Pokemon player, but come on. He isn't mischevious genius like his little brother.
Your kids are nothing if not passionate and obviously they don't fall far from the tree!
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