Hey there! My name is Mike Broome and I have been a part of the Sys-Ops team here at Gap
Pokemon!
Intelligence since last August. Instead of professing my love for Gap Intelligence and the people I work with, or sharing with you all that I have found an Excel formula to calculate life as we know it, I have a confession to make…
Nearing my final moments of college, I find myself entering this grown-up world with relative ease. Through four years of college I have made countless friends, probably a few enemies, spent loads of my time in the library (Facebooking half the time), and forever ruined my sleeping schedule. More importantly, the connections I have made in both the professional and working world are irreplaceable, and I am very thankful to have made the ones I have in little time. But always focusing on the present and thinking about the future tends to make me miss the golden years of life: childhood. The best parts of it, where do I even begin? I could go on about never having to do laundry or the dishes, having homework that didn’t result in sleep deprivation, and getting up to watch the glorious Saturday morning cartoons before spending the entire day outside with other kids around the block throwing rocks at each other. Perhaps the fondest of childhood times was waking up at six in the morning with a bowl of cereal ready (Fruity Pebbles or Frosted Mini Wheats, whatever my mood was that morning, courtesy of Mom) and an episode of Pokémon about to start. In fact, this played such a large role in my personal character development that I couldn’t let it be an artifact of the past any longer.
On March 6, 2011, the 5th generation of Pokémon was released to the US – games, television episodes, the whole deal. I did what any rational person who grew up in the 90’s would do and drove to the nearest GameStop to buy a copy of the game as well as a new Game Boy, because the one I’ve had all these years apparently doesn’t support the last eight years of Game Boy game cartridges. I went home, turned it on, and what I got was nothing short of instant gratification. Not knowing the names of any of the new Pokémon, let alone having ever seen them before, I was stoked. I was playing it in class. I was playing it after work. I was even playing it in the car until I realized it wasn’t worth it because I couldn’t grant it my full attention. And though I valiantly hid my guilty pleasure in the beginning, I am not ashamed of it. Personally, I think everyone should recollect themselves and take up on an old childhood hobby of theirs, even if you only take part in it when your girlfriend isn’t around as to avoid humiliation or worse (we’re talking about playing Pokémon here). Pokémon has become much more than just a game for me. It has become my escape from the harsh world of college procrastination and rising gas prices; an escape from monthly utility bills and collecting late payments from all your roommates. I live life vicariously through my Pokémon, and if you have anything to say about it I accept any and all battles; you know where to find me.
