Pokemon are not food

Another foodless week here. Sorry folks. Wish I had a good reason, but it's mainly 1) I'm lazy and 2) guess who got Pokemon White this weekend? I've...already played almost 20 hours. I think I have a problem. Hell, I know I do. I've been playing these games since Red and Blue. The only one I didn't get immediately was from the Ruby and Sapphire set - those I waited until Emerald to get. But I know that as time goes on, there will still be Pokemon games, and I'll still be buying them. Watch, Ravi and I will be talking about our grandkids' graduations and I'll still be dragging my wrinkled butt to the store to buy the next Pokemon game. Assuming we have stores still then. Maybe by then, we'll just be buying everything online.

I'm thrilled about this game, though, and not for a reason I thought I would be. Am I thrilled because of the amazingly improved graphics, innovations in the play format, and changes that we're been waiting for since the originals hit the shelves? Of course. Am I thrilled that I can go into a cave and not run into a Zubat or Geodude because for the first time they're not catchable pokemon in the main game? Hell yes, but still not it. I am thrilled because for the first time since Gold and Silver came out, I caught the Pokerus. If you're not familiar with the games, I'm probably talking nonsense, so let me explain. In Gold and Silver, two new things were introduced: shiny pokemon (alt color Pokemon) and Pokerus, a pokemon virus that improves your pokemon's stat gain. The chance of getting either of these in the game is insanely low. I think a pokemon wiki said the chance of finding a wild Pokemon with Pokerus to infect yours is 1 in about 25,000. INSANELY rare. It spreads easily in your party and goes away after two days, but you can "save" it by storing a pokemon infected with it instead of using it. You find out you have the illness by taking your pokemon to a Pokecenter to be healed. The nurse will tell you "Oh! You've got the Pokerus!" when she hands you them back. I've been loyally playing these games for over a decade now, never finding the rare and elusive shiny pokemon, never getting the virus, until finally, last night, I stared at the little figure on my DS telling me that my pokemon were infected. And then I did a little dance. It's about damn time.

I do have a guarantee for you: the next time my Tuesday rolls around, you're going to have a grand slam of treats to read about. Indeah's throwing a party, and she decided to do all of the food. All of it. Well, okay, minus some that a friend has offered to help with. But I've got a decent menu to pull together myself, and it's all bite-sized and great stuff for a gaming session. You're gonna love this set-up.