Well, today is my 27th birthday, and it also marks the 22nd anniversary of me playing Pokémon for the first time, so just like I did on my 20th and 21st anniversaries, I figured that I'd write a special birthday blog, to celebrate this occasion!
(Even though I'm submitting it past midnight, because of my dad's numerous mental hangups.)

I would be lying if I pretended that this past year wasn't horrible for me in countless ways (that's actually an understatement), but every cloud has it's SoulSilver lining, and birthdays are supposed to be happy occasions, so I will try to keep the negativity in this blog to a minimum.
(Which I'm finding is easier said then done, with my dad in the same room as me.)

My 2DS breaking about a year ago was emotionally devastating for me, not only because I could no longer easily access Paint, but also because it kept me from (and still keeps me from) being able to play any of my Gen 6 and 7 Pokémon games (including my favorite game of all, my Pokémon Ω Ruby Version), nor any of the Game Notes or images that I had stored on my SD Card.
(And it's also made trading and transferring Pokémon between my Gen 4 and 5 games much more complicated, as well.)

Not being able to access my 3DS Pokémon games or my Game Notes has also made it WAY more difficult for me to write new Pokémon blogs, due to the fact that I can't access the Internet 99% of the time either, which essentially forces me to rely on my own memory when writing my blogs, as I am rarely able to verify the validity of what I am writing anymore.
(Which is why I haven't published any new Pokémon blogs in so long.)

Although I appreciate my dad allowing me to continue to log in here on Paint after he busted me last year by rummaging through my mother's e-mails, the fact of the matter is that it has only made all of the aforementioned problems even worse, and until I am able to live as a free, independent adult, I will always be at a "disadvantage", as my dad puts it.
(I'm well aware of these problems, but I don't think that just "marching right out the door" is necessarily the correct course of action, as some, including my dad, might suggest.)

Anyway, things only got worse when Mom's BlackBerry broke earlier this year, but it (along with some problems with my dad's computer, and his ability to access the Internet) is what ultimately led him to let my mom start using her new phone (which handles webpages better than her old BlackBerry did), and also to him pulling out an old, unused tablet of his, which brings me to that "SoulSilver lining" that I had mentioned earlier.
(And yes, I've been playing a lot of SoulSilver Version lately, lol!)

You see, due to the lack of any better options (from his perspective) being available ATM, he has been allowing me to use his tablet to do things online (when he actually allows me online, anyway), and on June 26th, I tested to see if his tablet could play replays of Pokémon battles on Pokémon Showdown, and (unlike Mom's old BlackBerry) it could!

Although I may be getting ahead of myself here (since I haven't actually tried to battle anyone yet), I believe that this means that I can FINALLY battle on Pokémon Showdown now!

In the not so distant past, I had to repeatedly turn down offers from many of my Pokémon-playing friends on here to battle me on Pokémon Showdown, but since I only had my 2DS at the time (which can't even load the home page), and so I had to decline all of these offers.

If my fellow Pokémon players here on Paint (many of whom have left since they extended such offers to me, sadly) would be willing to, I would very much like to put my abilities to the test by battling them, which is an option that was previously unavailable to me.
(Maybe I can even show off some of the things that I teach in my blogs in actual battles!)

Anyway, although this is probably the best Pokémon-related thing to happen to me this year, it isn't the only thing.

It was during this past year that I created my new Pokémon group, Pokémtopia, named after the Pokémon-battling paradise of Pokémon Battle Revolution for the Wii.

As I type this blog RN, it already has 21 members, making it the largest (and most active) Pokémon-focused group here on Paint, and I'd like to extend an invitation to it to all of my fellow Poké Fans, including casual fans of the video games (including Pokémon GO), trading cards, anime, mangas, or anything else Pokémon.

Also, I have spent a great deal of time thinking about it, and in order to (hopefully) avoid creating more controversies, like those that I've caused in the past with some of the content in some of my Pokémon blogs (my critics know what I'm talking about), I have decided to take a somewhat different approach with regards to my future blogs, rather than just "doing my own thing", as one of my critics once put it.

You see, going forward, I intend on going into far more detail about the points that I try to make in my blogs, and also provide actual examples of me applying the advice that I offer in my blogs, not only in detailed hypothetical battle scenarios, but also in actual battles against human opponents (probably on Showdown, now that that's an option for me), in order to address the potential concerns of my critics.

Additionally, I will also make it a point to reference Smogon's "Battledex" (again, now that it's an option for me) and the advice offered in it and on other competitive Pokémon battling websites, and to explain (in detail) why agree with their advice when I do so, and also why I disagree with their advice when I don't.
(And I intend on taking a similar approach with regards to my alternative Pokémon tiering system, which I'm still working on.)

This doesn't necessarily mean that I will wind up agreeing with my critics about everything, mind you, but I intend on addressing their criticism with detailed factual information to explain my perspective, and providing real world examples of me practicing what I preach whenever possible, rather than just rambling on semi-coherently like I have in the past.
(Hopefully this will invite more constructice criticism, as it is something that I am finding it increasingly difficult to find lately.)

Lastly, for all of those who have been waiting on those Pokémon tournaments that I promised y'all a while back, while I can't do the Gen 6, 7, or 8 handheld ones ATM, and I'm uncertain about my ability to do the Gen 4 and 5 handheld ones, I should be able to begin preparations for the one(s) on Pokémon Showdown now, if anybody still cares.
(I'm still not 100% sure about how I intend to handle it/them, though.)

Anyway, I edited this blog a lot as I was typing it, and I found a lot of that happiness and enthusiasm that I felt when I was first writing it (on paper, on July 4th) rapidly fading after I logged in, and experienced several unexpected reminders of just how crummy my life is ATM.
(Thanks Dad.)

I had wanted to mention that these are bad times that I (and many others, for lots of different reasons) are going through RN, but that as Katrina (the fortuneteller from Animal Crossing) would say, "bad times are just times that are bad", and that all of the sadness, powerlessness, and frustration that I feel RN will be gone once I am free from this place, and don't have to live (or write) under these ridiculous circumstances that I am under now, which greatly limit everything that I can do.

Still, I am still alive, I still have the ability to get online every now and then, I still have friends, and despite the lack of any meaningful progress IRL, there have been some hopeful signs, and new doors that were previously closed are now open to me.

My dad may suck, but I'd still like to thank him, my mom, my friends here on Paint, and God, for their respective roles in me being able to write and (after much hardship) submit this blog, to celebrate both my birth, and my long, mostly happy Pokémon-training hobby, which has always been oner of the few bright spots in my life!

Sayonara!

"What's necessary to become stronger? I think it's important to never lose your love of Pokémon." —Cynthia