"A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except Tuesday, you can shout any question down that well and you'll be told the answer." The man seems pretty impressed, and so he shouts down, "Why not on Tuesday?" A voice from in the well shouts back, "Because on Tuesday, it's your day in the well."
Well, well, well.....
So a bit of background. I feel like I've told this story more and more in the past few years. Maybe that's how it feels to be a boomer? But my first introduction to Pokemon was at the age of 4 when I saw somebody battling a pidgey in Pokemon red in day care. I thought the combat mechanics were SICK!!! and got the game myself. I stumbled around for so long in mt moon, that I thought the entire point of the game was to just beat brock over and over. Thanks to strategy guide books I bought from the store, I learned how to navigate through Pokemon. This was peak pokemania in America--anime, card game, movies, video game, toys, the lot. And it was causing quite a commotion. But I loved Pokemon even more than my friends, and I stayed loyal to the franchise until DPP came out in 2007.
I played it with my friends, until one summer day bored on YouTube I searched "epic Pokemon battle" and started dipping my toes into competitive pokemon on YouTube. The early days of narrated pokemon battles over Wifi gave way to irc chats (purplesurge!) and Pokemon clans, which all roads lead to smogon and battle simulators eventually. Said irc chats are where the name comes from. In high school spanish class, a friend of mine had a joke where they said they were "el gato del fuego". I understood it meant cat of fire, but I wasn't actually in the Spanish class. I was in the chemistry class where it was joked about! So when I had to chose a username, I thought...hmm, this is a nice inside joke that only I will get! And it was solidified by searching "gatodelfuego" on google images and getting this sweet 2005 era avatar that has persisted. Better user ID than just my name with "xx1999" afterwards. Or I hear these days, just a 4 letter word is common practice.
So, after joining smogon, I thought I was still pretty good shit at mons and posted all kinds of cringe in suspect test threads and other ventures. I was so incredibly immature as somebody who was fairly new to "internet culture", even though I was 18 at the time (!) and just starting college. I decided to try my hand at editing work for the illustrious GP team. Eventually becoming an Official editor, it would be years of grinding until I finally begged to be the leader of the GP team (with the help of a coordinated write-in campaign by my social group at the time). The years kept coming, the analyses kept getting written, and a new generation of gp members were coming into existence thanks to the incredible community in the GP discord. I've gone through a lot of social groups on smogon, and it's really incredible how close I am with so many of them. So, a few years back, I finally retired from official smogon duties and switched to a pure socialization kind of user. It's quite nice, more people should try it. I've never felt any kind of burn out on the website, because I'm genuinely glad to be here!
In real life, I live in Seattle, where I work as an aerospace engineer. I'm super lucky to have a great support system of friends around me, on smogon and outside of it. I've recently gotten into competitive smash bros, among other games, to add to my collection of other hobbies (counter strike and pinball). Basically. I'm what you'd consider your average late 20s west coast guy!
It's funny to post a well after so many years on the website, lmao. When the smog was around, I always loved reading the interviews with big name users to talk about themselves. I always wanted to be famous enough to have one of my own...But, by the time I was important enough on smogon, the practice had ended. Nowadays, I'm not important enough. Tons of revamped wells and I always thought....hmm...maybe I'm COOL enough to post one of these threads myself? And....here we are.
So ask away!
Well, well, well.....
So a bit of background. I feel like I've told this story more and more in the past few years. Maybe that's how it feels to be a boomer? But my first introduction to Pokemon was at the age of 4 when I saw somebody battling a pidgey in Pokemon red in day care. I thought the combat mechanics were SICK!!! and got the game myself. I stumbled around for so long in mt moon, that I thought the entire point of the game was to just beat brock over and over. Thanks to strategy guide books I bought from the store, I learned how to navigate through Pokemon. This was peak pokemania in America--anime, card game, movies, video game, toys, the lot. And it was causing quite a commotion. But I loved Pokemon even more than my friends, and I stayed loyal to the franchise until DPP came out in 2007.
I played it with my friends, until one summer day bored on YouTube I searched "epic Pokemon battle" and started dipping my toes into competitive pokemon on YouTube. The early days of narrated pokemon battles over Wifi gave way to irc chats (purplesurge!) and Pokemon clans, which all roads lead to smogon and battle simulators eventually. Said irc chats are where the name comes from. In high school spanish class, a friend of mine had a joke where they said they were "el gato del fuego". I understood it meant cat of fire, but I wasn't actually in the Spanish class. I was in the chemistry class where it was joked about! So when I had to chose a username, I thought...hmm, this is a nice inside joke that only I will get! And it was solidified by searching "gatodelfuego" on google images and getting this sweet 2005 era avatar that has persisted. Better user ID than just my name with "xx1999" afterwards. Or I hear these days, just a 4 letter word is common practice.
So, after joining smogon, I thought I was still pretty good shit at mons and posted all kinds of cringe in suspect test threads and other ventures. I was so incredibly immature as somebody who was fairly new to "internet culture", even though I was 18 at the time (!) and just starting college. I decided to try my hand at editing work for the illustrious GP team. Eventually becoming an Official editor, it would be years of grinding until I finally begged to be the leader of the GP team (with the help of a coordinated write-in campaign by my social group at the time). The years kept coming, the analyses kept getting written, and a new generation of gp members were coming into existence thanks to the incredible community in the GP discord. I've gone through a lot of social groups on smogon, and it's really incredible how close I am with so many of them. So, a few years back, I finally retired from official smogon duties and switched to a pure socialization kind of user. It's quite nice, more people should try it. I've never felt any kind of burn out on the website, because I'm genuinely glad to be here!
In real life, I live in Seattle, where I work as an aerospace engineer. I'm super lucky to have a great support system of friends around me, on smogon and outside of it. I've recently gotten into competitive smash bros, among other games, to add to my collection of other hobbies (counter strike and pinball). Basically. I'm what you'd consider your average late 20s west coast guy!
It's funny to post a well after so many years on the website, lmao. When the smog was around, I always loved reading the interviews with big name users to talk about themselves. I always wanted to be famous enough to have one of my own...But, by the time I was important enough on smogon, the practice had ended. Nowadays, I'm not important enough. Tons of revamped wells and I always thought....hmm...maybe I'm COOL enough to post one of these threads myself? And....here we are.
So ask away!
