Zapdos 100: If Time Was Endless
Since I wrote “Lapras 100” in late June, the world of Pokémon Go and my own world both changed within less than a month of that time. In the Pokémon Go world, raids and TM’s were released — meaning if I tried my luck at a Lapras raid, it may very well be possible for me to have another chance at catching a perfect Lapras. No ice moves? No problem — you can now change the moves with TM’s. I didn’t see any perfect Lapras, but the chance was still there. The gym system also went to shit and empires were torn down, but that’s a different story.
Just a few weeks after my nephews’ dad passed away, we learned that my sister had lung cancer. It wasn’t cancer in its early stages, but rather Stage IV, already spread to other organs. She’s 35, non-smoker, just finished residency as a doctor and was about to really embark on her career. Life really isn’t fair.
The roller coaster was real. June was a bad month — how could it really get any worse? My sisters’ co-residents set up a fundraising page for her since she was now physically too weak to work. Surreal that it was my sister’s picture and name out there — with strangers coming in with their well wishes and condolences, too. I hadn’t even heard the words Stage IV cancer uttered in real life before I saw a text from my brother and then her fundraising page while I was at work. At that point, I knew her tests had come back with cancer cells, but I hadn’t seen it spelled out so nakedly.
I was scared about losing my sister. I watched as my dad died nearly ten years ago, but I couldn’t imagine my sister being gone.
I had been planning on going to the Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago, but with my sister sick and my mom having an unrelated surgery, I wasn’t sure if I could still go as I had to be there for them. But my sister knew I had been looking forward to it and assured me that she wasn’t going to die right now and that I needed to live my life. It would just be a few days. Recently she asked me, “Are you going to see the Instincts? …Oh good.” (She doesn’t play at all.) With that being said, I’ve spent much less time playing but still play when it counts.
Following the disastrous Go Fest (and eating deep dish pizza), the legendary birds finally became available to catch if you successfully completed a raid. Each bird would come with a random set of stats — there was one with the perfect set of stats. I, of course, wanted the perfect bird to match my team allegiance — Zapdos.
I woke up before 5 am for five days out of the seven to put in hours before work to find this perfect Zapdos. If raiding for Zapdos were a full time job, I definitely worked overtime.
But after 151 successful Zapdos raids, I never encountered the magical, perfect 1902 CP Zapdos. After catching 100 of them, I stopped caring if it wasn’t perfect and my catch rate plummeted. I had spent so much time and effort for this virtual bird whereas some lucky players were able to catch one on their first raid. Statistically speaking, the chance of a perfect one appearing is 1/216. Some lucky players even got more than one perfect Zapdos.
After an exhausting week, I acknowledged that it was crazy for me to keep going. I mean, if my time was endless, I perhaps might encounter one within the next 100 raids. But then again nothing would be a guarantee because each raid was random. And with everything that I posted above about my sister, time is valuable and precious.
The more casual players were happy with just getting one legendary bird — and here I was catching over 100 of them so I could find this virtual perfect beast.
If you’ve followed me, this is the continuation of the saga after Dratini 100 and Lapras 100. I successfully caught a perfect Dratini once in my Pokémon journey and saw the perfect Lapras run from me. At this point in time, I have not even seen a perfect Zapdos.
I previously had hypothesized that maybe I didn’t need that perfect Dratini — maybe I could be fine with one a little less perfect. And with the Lapras, I had to settle with telling myself this wasn’t real life. And now with the Zapdos, well fuck man! Just gotta let it go. If it comes, it’ll come. If it comes after 200 more raids and runs away, well…fuck! All my anecdotal evidence points to the same conclusion — settle with something almost as good. (My sister just told me not to use the word settle — choose with peace of mind to be happy with what you have.)
I don’t watch Trainer Tips on a regular basis but I was told he made a video about how life isn’t fair. No shit! Just think of my beautiful, smart, baby-saving sister! Pokémon Go definitely also isn’t fair — a lot is left to randomly generated numbers or as they say RNGesus.
Some people find what they are looking for on the first hit or early on. Others have to invest more time and effort. Obviously there are more productive and meaningful things that applies to than trying to catch a perfect Zapdos, so take that metaphor and apply it to real life. </3 And be okay settling for…I mean…embracing your 98's.
Don’t give up if you’re not bothered. But if you are, it’s okay to find a way to be happy with what you got. Ain’t nobody got time to be flustered with shit!
Love,
Asian Pizza Monster
Your still Heartbroken but Hanging-in-there Level 40 Instinct
Also, I want to mention that I am very grateful to all who have reached out to me offering their help or support for my sister. My friends and colleagues from all walks of life — school, acting, Pokémon…thank you.
And the best Zapdos I caught? It was one for my nephew. Not a perfect by any means, but it meant the most to hear him say, “Thanks Auntie.”
