Sheep

Video game and anime music, eh? Hmm well I think I can do a set just for you which contains that :D granted, most of the anime music I got is just opening and ending themes, but if you won't mind then I'll get on it after typing this. Then I'll post the download link for the mp3 file here. Given what's out there nowadays, I don't blame you for being picky with music...heck, I listen mostly to old songs because I can't stand a lot of the new stuff. Has no soul, has no life. Now I'm curious to find out which video games (Pokemon? Check lol) and anime music you like :) surprise me!

Haha thank you ICASA. Otherwise those post office people were probably going to continue doing jack.

Is it a trend that Game Freak has been going on as the years have gone by, where they bring out a new game...it looks amazing, it has all the bells and whistles, new characters, new Pokemon, improved mechanics or new ones introduced etc BUT the story and the characters are the weakest point of the game? Because you're not wrong about XY. Team Flare is a joke...Lysandre only cares about "making the world beautiful", so of course he's going to be the typical villain who's aim is to reshape the world into his desired image by destroying it first /==./ I paused when I was about to battle the Admins in the basement of the Flare HQ but even at that point I wonder if the story will have room to change my mind. Previous generations were simpler but their stories and their characters still hold up today. XY I'll probably remember it for how stunning Kalos looks and the themes lol. Sun/Moon same thing, although I would say it had a slightly better story and cast of characters (yes, even with yet another clown group of villains in Team Skull *sigh*). It's why I wonder about Sword/Shield, we're seeing the same formula - looks good and everything, new mechanics, new Pokemon, new characters etc....but will the story be good? That's the question.

No stress :) reply when you can. That vacation comes first haha especially now that you'll be there until November! Congrats for getting the extension, maybe this time Home Affairs were in a good mood haha because you are right about the corruption, it is across most major government departments (hmm, what do they say about fish rotting from the head...?) so you never really know what you'll get on a given day. So you'll get to experience winter, then spring and then a taste of summer :) that's not too shabby for a vacation.

I'm doing okay, despite everything going on here. Weather, work, cuts, rising prices, repeat haha it's enough to drive a person mad! But you just get used to it and do what you can to move on. Non-violent civil disobedience is in order, with a nice dose of sweet non-compliance :D Anything new? Hmm, if getting started on my music project counts as something new then yes. It is something I've had in mind for some time now and on Friday I took the first step. Basically I'll be recording DJ sets and putting them online. People can download and share them, I'll be taking requests as well and we see how it goes. I'll be playing classic house music from my personal collection, which goes all the way back to my high school days. Of course, if I come across any good songs of today, I'll include them...but there's a lot of junk out there in the music world and unfortunately that's what people are going for, especially the youthful generation. I'm part of that generation but I don't follow this new age music :) so I hope people will enjoy the sets I put out, because it will be fun. I don't know what music you're into haha so I'm not sure if I should link you up with this project of mine. Coincidentally, the house music I got is mostly South African. There are a lot of talented DJs and producers over there...well, back in my day haha not sure about these days...so the soundtrack of my teenage years is made up of songs from those guys, many of which still hold up today.

Story wise, I'm approaching the halfway point. Building up towards the arc covering the 4th Gym :) if work today isn't too much, maybe I'll get there by the end of the day.

The SA post office is notorious, I'm sorry about the delay. It is something I've experienced as well when I was still under Unisa (University of South Africa)...I'd request for my study material to be sent via courier every semester and in the end the material would arrive weeks later when the semester had already begun and assignments needed to be done. Why? Because there would be some strike going on by SA post office workers /==./ I later learned that it's best to get the soft copies of the study material from the Unisa website. The physical copies could come whenever but it wouldn't matter haha it was hilarious. I'm just so glad I'm out of that nonsense now. Out of the fire and into a frying pan, eh?

Excellent, move away from the relaxants :D that's good to hear, because you no longer have to put up with all that unnecessary stress and pressure. I think sometimes people forget to treat others well when it comes to customer service. You were there to help as best as you could, not to take on their frustrations *sigh* whoever took over your job I wonder how they're handling it now.

Haha don't remind me of Barry and Hau! Those two :) maybe it's because they were a complete 180 from the cool, arrogant rivals like Blue and Silver that I found them a little annoying as I progressed through the games. It was bad enough that they would do the expected rival tactic of popping up from nowhere when you enter a new town/city or are right by the door of a Gym (shout out to dear old May lol). Hau at least became a better character later, showing how the events that were going had affected him and made him improve. Can't remember how Barry's character arc went haha it's been a few years since I played Gen 4. It's why I get annoyed when roms don't go that extra mile to have decent characters, especially the rivals. Why have multiple rivals if they are all basically taking notes from the Blue or Silver playbooks? *face palm*. Friendly rivals are fine to have, but looking back through the generations I think the one friendly rival who could've been interesting to see have a proper story arc was Wally. He came off as someone who would've been helpful during our journey, maybe we would've teamed up with him to battle Team Magma/Aqua, or he would help us out with key items or information...and then we meet him again along Victory Road for that final battle (I really liked how it was handled in OR/AS, from the field of flowers to the battle theme). Other friendly rivals I can't say the same haha X/Y kinda ruined the experience for me, because you got 4 friendly rivals but they just follow the script of their gimmicks. Only Shauna has shown more of her personality, so I hope there's a good ending for her.

Oh wow...all in the name of improving that battle animation quality?? I understand that there are plenty of Pokemon out there now (over 1000 once Gen 8 comes around?) but at this point, surely Game Freak should have the technology and means to include all of them on current platforms? I'm not one to gripe about battle animation quality, I had no issues with Gen 6 and 7, even what I've seen with Gen 8 because it is not a concern. It sucks about Home, I don't know if there's time for GF to sort that out. If not, then fans will just have to work with what's possible.

well I missed the previous two so no worries haha

(happy very late birthday)

Oh yeah small fluffy creature I meant to ask you. How'd you end up in South Africa?

It doesn't make sense for them to be cutting power when this is the season where having power at home is vital. But at times it just feels like some of these people don't care, because the power cuts (and water cuts) still happen, without following a schedule (even if they put one out in the newspapers *face palm*). So stupid. For us here there's a water cut schedule (there wasn't enough rain during last year's rainy season, but as usual city council wasn't prepared). Water is cut on Mondays then comes back Tuesday evening. But it comes back either dirty brown or murky white and fizzy...it's like that for a couple of days and then by Friday or Saturday it'll be clear again, but you just boil it still before you drink. Boiling it daily. That consumes electricity. It's a crazy cycle :/ on top of that, it looks like they've brought back the power cut schedule so double jeopardy lol. Sometimes one forgets that this is 2019.

You're shy? Really? Who would've thunk it? :) I hope that's not one of the reasons you had trouble at your previous job..?

Ahh, well damn :/ I thought they were going with the Let's Go Pika/Eevee mechanic of having Pokemon in the overworld everywhere. I don't mind random encounters, but I just thought it was a fresh way to go when you can see the Pokemon and when you're in a rush (maybe while backtracking) you can weave your way past the Pokemon and not stumble from one random encounter to the next. Hop just sounds like a Japanese kind of non-Japanese name haha like Guts from Berserk. With all the Rivals from previous games with decent-to-cool names, we step into the 8th Gen with Hop. Yet the Champion has a cool name, Leon...the Professor has a cool name, Magnolia...her assistant also has a cool name, Sonya. Not sure about the male & female playable characters' names, have they been revealed? Let Hop not be an annoying Rival please :)

What is the drama surrounding Home? Is it genuine or people are just whining about something stupid online, as usual?

Yeah I lucked out and was placed into a 400 level French class so that meant I had all of my foreign language credits fulfilled (and I took 5 years in JrHS/HS). Did your Russian knowledge not count or like what? Also what's you're degree in?

I think classroom settings are some of the worst for learning languages tbh, with the amount of work you need to put in you have to want it and you have to work at it all the time.

Honestly I'm kind of jealous. I wish I spoke Russian.

I think it's a part of work culture that needs to change, otherwise people will continue to be taken advantage of. Given responsibilities that have nothing to do with them...made to work extra hours and not get extra pay, etc. Perhaps people just need to stand up and say enough is enough :) if I sense that the people here are going to be an issue, I will walk away because it's not like I really need this job. I'm just here to help where I can until my own projects and ideas get off the ground lol then maybe I'll be chilling out (no pun intended given the season haha) like you.

It could be because of where you are, Cape Town. If you were elsewhere, I think you would be warmer haha so you'll have to bear it for now. Hopefully you don't have anemia. No issue with power cuts or water? It wasn't too long ago that there were major power cuts going on over there because of some screw up with the power utility company (something I would know about from here haha)...have they fixed that problem now?

As for the official games, I just keep up for surface level information since I know I ain't going to be playing them haha so I don't know much about Pokemon Home aside from the fact that there is something called Pokemon Home :) saw the latest Direct and the gameplay from E3...I have to say, it all looks friggin amazing. Seeing the Pokemon out on the field and being able to decide which ones to go for, that's pretty neat. If players will be able to access their PC Box from anywhere, double thumbs up so that they won't need to rush to the nearest PC whenever they want to do some changes. They just had to give the Rival a wacky name haha Hop? Really?? I hope the story will be great, that's my main concern.

College has been going well for me. :)

Ugh boy do I relate if you take a gander at my Duolingo account there's like 20 languages.

Thank much small shep. <3

Also don't you speak English and Russian? Don't sell yourself short!

Ahaha, is there snow that side this year? Cape Town is usually one place that I hear about that can get crazy weather like that. It makes me glad that we don't live in the northern hemisphere, because I don't think I would survive such winters haha these cold, dry winters that we get are enough. Maybe I should an electric blanket as well.

I just made it clear that I'll be here to help out with advertising...if they want the whole marketing package, they are better off getting someone who is actually qualified and experienced. So it has made being here a bit bearable lol. Like today, right now it's another quiet day with not much going on at the office. Gives me a chance to reply to you and do some typing on the side.

Enjoy that much-needed break :D I expect to get a full report about life in Cape Town from you on my desk by the end of the week! Any news on the rom side of things, anything you've gotten into or heard about which is coming soon?

Sorry to bother you sheepykins and if this needs to go into feedback/suggestions just let me know but what does this (the icon next to name) exactly mean?

Hi, I hope you're having a great day.

Yeah it's not easy and Japanese is a consider especially difficult for English learners (estimated 2200 hours of study to reach just proficiency. I'm having a lot of fun learning though and hope to make some more strides while I learn.

Alrighty well I will certainly let you (guys) know if/when that happens. I probably won't say anything about this to you again until I hit like N3 minimum. Good to know though thank you sheepykins.

Hey sheeple I was wondering; I am practicing Japanese and I am still relatively new at it (I mean besides years and years of anime and manga and having a half-Japanese gf) but if I ever get to any degree of proficiency would PokeCommunity have any use for a Japanese-English translator?