« Previous Article | Home | Next Article » |
As we stepped off the plane, a voice came over the interview-speaker system.
"Thank you for flying with Qantas, and we hope you enjoy your time in Australia!"
"So who are we interviewing? BK? Or Jumpluff?" Jimbo inquired.
"Neither, actually. I'm interviewing you." said tennisace with a goofy grin.
"So wait, you spent $3000 on two round trip tickets to Sydney, just to interview me!?!" screamed a quite enraged Jimbo.
"Chill man, consider us even from last month." said tennisace, as he remembered the car ride through the frigid Netherlands.
We travelled to Bondi Beach, set up a blanket and umbrella, and I took out my notepad.
So Jimbo, tell me a bit about yourself.
My real name is James, but most people call me Jimmy. I'm 17 and a senior in high school.
I like some sports like Golf and Bowling but I don't play them often because I'm lazy. I also enjoy cooking, different video games, and Smogon, as well as various other IRL activities.
Sounds interesting! Moving on though, how exactly did you find Smogon?
The very first internet forum I ever went to was Tv.com, which I still go to sometimes. Somehow I found GamesRadar and found my place there as a top notch (lol) battler. One day my friend and I were watching YouTube videos of Pokemon Battles and someone mentioned Smogon.
I had no idea what a Smogon could be but he looked into it and saw it was a Pokemon site.
I poked around looking for a good Swampert moveset, couldn't find it and posted a retarded thread about it in the analyses forum.
Then I found the wi-fi forum and fell in love with the awesome Pokemon, though I only had a sad little Bagon to offer.
(so I couldn't get much!)
So that's how you got started in Smogon, in the wifi section? Tell us a bit more about your experiences there.
Well like I said I started off with a small (read: really tiny) trade thread with my pal from another site. After a week or two of building a mountain of Redistributables some noobish user named johnxkid asked to form a joint thread with him.
I did and our thread grew from there, eventually I parterned with Gin to make a really baller thread, but by that time, my interest in wifi had waned (and my shaky wifi caused a lot of frustration)
Tell us a bit about "life after wifi" then. What did you do after you grew tired of it?
I decided I wanted to contribute to C&C a little bit. Anti helped me get started there; I kind wasn't great with poke-prose or grammar, so I needed a lot of help. I also joined the Tutor/Apprentice program few times to try and get better at battling.
I also tried numerous times to use mIRC which proved difficult for some reason, but eventually I figured it out.
When I first got on IRC I was really scared to talk so I spent a good while in the lurking phase, though eventually I got more comfortable.
The tutoring program must have really helped you, because soon after, you gained a Ladybug, wifi mods, and became a tutor yourself! What really made it all click?
I think a lot of my "status" happened because of the help of a lot of other users. I got my Ladybug mostly because Caelum noticed my Peer Edits in C&C. The other Wi-Fi mods needed another Moderator too and nominated me (I'm assuming) because I could hack check and because I didn't spam up the forum or cause a ton of shitstorms.
I became a tutor because of my tutors (TAY, maddog, and Kevin Garrett). I wasn't terrible before I got tutored but they definitely helped me a lot.
Seeing as you eventually gained the contributor badge, it wasn't all other people! More recently though, you were named both head of the tutoring program and head of The Smog, and a Super Moderator. Can you tell us a bit about those three roles and what you actually "do" these days?
Well recently I've been focusing a lot on re-designing Battling 101 in hopes of making it a better program for the tutees; I also I wanted to make it more gratifying for the tutors. I think it'll go well, especially after we iron out a few kinks.
As the head of the Smog I coordinate what the other staff members do. I also am usually on your side of the interview, and do other small articles. I'm also one of the main HTMLers for the Smog.
I also like to participate in Circus Maximus! Though I'm not very good at the games there.
As a Super Mod I really just try to stop rulebreakers (I guess I'm like Batman...) and make good posts when I can! I've never really been good at hardcore discussion or arguing so I mostly stay out of that.
Do you enjoy the competitive side of Pokemon more, or do you also enjoy the lighter side?
Well I like the competitive side of Pokemon a lot (actually battling is fun, teambuilding not as much), there are a lot of non-competitive aspects of Pokemon I like too. I can't ever get into a hardcore discussion about EV Spreads, but I can talk for a while about the Pokemon anime or the pronunciation of Gardevoir, Sceptile, and Grovyle.
That's probably why I got involved in the Ingame Expansion project at first, too. I like playing the games a lot and discussing that type of thing.
Sounds like a lot to do! What do you do in your free time?
I don't get a ton of free time because of crap to do like college applications, but I like hanging out with friends and doing random things with them. I also volunteer around town a lot -- for example, I volunteered at the Seniors Luncheon last weekend where I served food and dressed as Santa Claus.
At this point, I heard giggling coming from what seemed to be a harmless fruit in a picnic basket.
I also work sometimes at a doctor's office and play golf (like I said before), which I can't really do now as it's really cold!
I like to go to the movies a lot though there hasn't been a lot I've wanted to see lately. I've been wanting to release my inner child and go play Lazer Tag too, though I haven't gotten the chance.
I also like watching anime and reading manga!
So how's the dating scene going? Got any special lady friends you want to tell us about?
Haha well I'm assuming TAY sent in this question. While I am certified cute by Caelum and Jabba, I cannot seem to get a girlfriend. A girl I had my eye on for a while already has a boyfriend, so that's a non-starter unfortunately.
Right now I have to limit myself to dating your mom.
Sounds like you're just a typical teenager who just happens to play Pokemon! Well, now it's time for the most important question. What is your favorite Pokemon, and why?
Well obviously it's Aerodactyl
...but seriously I like Wailord a lot because it's really cute and looks bouncy.
I also like Blaziken because it looks neat and Gardevoir because it looks very elegant.
Well, thank you for taking the time to interview with me!
No problem I hope that was OK!
It was great!
As I put away my notepad, I noticed that the tide was coming in. I rented a surfboard and paddled out. Just then, I saw a huge figure speeding towards me.
I looked up, and all I could see was a giant whale leaping over me, with a boy on it's back. I chuckled at the coincidence, and headed back to the smoothie bar.
« Previous Article | Home | Next Article » |