April 24, 2024

TRAINER'S EYE #87 - "How Pokemon GO Rebuilt My Life" ft. HoosierDada13

Show Notes
Transcript

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by HoosierDada13, a Pokemon Trainer from Indiana who was a victim of a house fire that destroyed his family home back in December 2023.

HoosierDada13 shares his experience dealing with the fire and the community response from the Pokemon GO podcast community, specifically Beginner to Winner PvP, GO Cast, and Lured Up. Each leader notified their communities of the tragedy and were able to help raise money to pay for costs for the entire family.

This episode shows that friendship can go beyond online and into something more personal and life changing.

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Send us a text

Support the show

Connect with David Hernandez: Linktree
E-mail Me: asthepokeballturnspodcast@gmail.com

Join Our Discord Community!
https://discord.gg/AqAbD7FbRt

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.580
My name is David Hernandez, and you're listening to As the Pokeball Turns.

00:00:43.988 --> 00:00:46.609
Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns.

00:00:46.911 --> 00:00:53.674
At the start of the year, I started the episodes with a fundraiser for a local Pokemon Go member who had lost his house in a fire.

00:00:54.003 --> 00:01:01.323
The Pokemon Go community stepped up and helped raise what he called life changing money to help his family start their journey to a new life.

00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:08.756
Now he's here to share his experience from both going through the fire and receiving support from an online community during a troubling time.

00:01:09.061 --> 00:01:11.471
Here is his origin story into the world of Pokemon.

00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:17.346
This is, HoosierDada13! Today I have a special episode.

00:01:17.766 --> 00:01:24.037
It's one that if you listen to the first episodes this year, we actually did a fundraiser and did an outcry and the community kind of responded.

00:01:24.073 --> 00:01:28.263
To one person who lost their entire house and everything they owned in a fire.

00:01:28.483 --> 00:01:31.343
And he, he actually messaged me wanting to come on the show.

00:01:31.343 --> 00:01:34.445
And I'm like, I mean, I want you to on the show, but is it a good time?

00:01:34.445 --> 00:01:38.415
And he said, of course, you know, be happy to talk about it, but he's here to share of experiences.

00:01:38.718 --> 00:01:39.489
Who's your dad at?

00:01:39.489 --> 00:01:40.399
Welcome to the show.

00:01:40.722 --> 00:01:41.362
Thanks for having me.

00:01:41.679 --> 00:01:42.198
Absolutely.

00:01:42.198 --> 00:01:42.599
My friend.

00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:44.078
And I appreciate you reaching out.

00:01:44.078 --> 00:01:57.001
Cause You know, when I first heard about, you know, what happened, you know, I can't imagine, the traumatic experience of what it's like to kind of go through what you went through, but then the fact that so many people kind of stepped in and was there for you out of the Pokemon community was really moving.

00:01:57.302 --> 00:01:59.081
And I appreciate you kind of taking the initiative.

00:01:59.111 --> 00:02:03.691
Cause I don't think I would have probably even contacted you this year, to be honest, from my end point.

00:02:03.995 --> 00:02:05.635
And my first question is, this is like.

00:02:05.805 --> 00:02:08.474
You know, how's it been to kind of process what's happened?

00:02:08.485 --> 00:02:10.405
Because it's only been about what, three months since it happened?

00:02:10.741 --> 00:02:16.655
About three and a half months, So, I'll just walk a little bit through about how this is all played out and kind of where we are now.

00:02:16.965 --> 00:02:17.419
so.

00:02:17.419 --> 00:02:25.308
Personally, my wife and I, we have 4 kids, ages 11, 8, 5, and a 2 year old baby daughter.

00:02:25.348 --> 00:02:27.399
So, 3 boys and then a 2 year old girl.

00:02:27.692 --> 00:02:32.111
we moved into this house, back in, summer of 2021.

00:02:32.111 --> 00:02:47.981
And it was our forever house and we were blessed, financially, we're in great jobs, great careers, just, you know, moving on in life and we found this house with 10 acres of land and in the woods and a ravine and just all this, you know, this perfect spot.

00:02:47.981 --> 00:02:53.581
And we watch the sunsets every night On a wraparound porch, and it was just a perfect situation.

00:02:53.913 --> 00:03:03.354
I mean, we've just spent so much time and effort and rebuilding the house and fixing the inside, We just started to finish up the inside to be perfect to how we wanted it.

00:03:03.424 --> 00:03:06.824
You know, new flooring, new kitchen, new bathrooms and everything.

00:03:07.125 --> 00:03:09.485
we had about one acre of land to take care of.

00:03:09.485 --> 00:03:16.104
And, just let the kids run outside and we'd get home and they didn't want to be inside and play video games or do any of that.

00:03:16.104 --> 00:03:17.564
They just want to go outside and run.

00:03:17.564 --> 00:03:18.405
And that was our dream.

00:03:18.730 --> 00:03:20.270
That's what we've always wanted for the kids.

00:03:20.281 --> 00:03:24.341
So to be able to provide that was, was perfect for, two and a half years.

00:03:24.371 --> 00:03:26.161
We, we lived that and we loved it.

00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:28.710
it was just business as usual.

00:03:28.710 --> 00:03:32.617
just the days leading up to that, you know, December of 2023.

00:03:33.073 --> 00:03:46.094
We're buying Christmas gifts, you know, it was leading up to Christmas and, you know, four kids and, you know, each other, you know, we had a lot of Christmas gifts that we just kept buying and hiding in our closet and our secret stash under the clothes that the kids would never look under.

00:03:46.094 --> 00:03:50.794
So we had this giant living room area too, with, like 16 foot ceilings.

00:03:50.813 --> 00:03:53.623
and a wall of windows that led into the backyard.

00:03:53.937 --> 00:04:03.516
So, you know, I got pictures out there and like the BTW discord, you know, the Christmas tree, we had a giant 14 foot Christmas tree that we had to use ladders to put all the ornaments on.

00:04:03.516 --> 00:04:04.736
And those were our traditions.

00:04:04.736 --> 00:04:10.146
And, you know, those are the things that, you know, meant the most to us and so trees up, everything's good.

00:04:10.146 --> 00:04:11.887
Christmas is chugging along.

00:04:12.205 --> 00:04:18.471
And then December 5th was a Tuesday and my daughter, Olivia, she was, feeling a little sick.

00:04:18.774 --> 00:04:19.593
I stayed home with her.

00:04:19.593 --> 00:04:22.853
I had the flexibility in my work to, work from home, stayed home with her.

00:04:22.853 --> 00:04:23.663
Everything's good.

00:04:23.963 --> 00:04:29.841
And she was taking a turn for the better, but maybe not good enough to send her to the babysitters.

00:04:29.850 --> 00:04:31.591
So I made the call.

00:04:31.591 --> 00:04:33.281
I was like, I'll stay home one more day.

00:04:33.603 --> 00:04:34.533
Not a big deal.

00:04:34.653 --> 00:04:36.492
I have nothing on my schedule until Thursday.

00:04:36.942 --> 00:04:37.973
It'll be perfectly fine.

00:04:38.276 --> 00:04:43.307
And so we wake up on December 6th, And drop the kids off at school.

00:04:43.716 --> 00:04:44.716
Take her with me.

00:04:45.127 --> 00:04:48.247
We go to the B and B because I had to renew my driver's license.

00:04:48.247 --> 00:04:51.797
so I take her to the worst place on earth and this.

00:04:52.427 --> 00:04:53.406
This is going to be good for you.

00:04:53.406 --> 00:04:56.497
You got to learn a lesson and, you know, we get home.

00:04:56.497 --> 00:05:04.730
And eat a little lunch play, go around outside because it was a little chilly, but it wasn't a cold Indiana winter or anything at this point.

00:05:05.057 --> 00:05:08.024
and then we, took a nap, Wake up around 3, 3.

00:05:08.024 --> 00:05:24.363
30, give or take, do what I naturally do while she's still asleep, I wake up, play a little GBL, play some Pokemon, message some friends in Discord, enjoy the time while she's still sleeping that I'm rested and ready to go, and it was, everything was just normal.

00:05:24.677 --> 00:05:29.793
she eventually wakes up, we walk To the kitchen to start to, you know, make dinner.

00:05:30.107 --> 00:05:32.687
I know my wife's going to be getting home from work soon.

00:05:32.687 --> 00:05:35.980
She's going to get the kids and, I'd like to have dinner ready for her.

00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:38.711
Well, when she gets home, so dinner was getting ready.

00:05:38.711 --> 00:05:47.725
We were cooking and I could see out the window, thick black smoke coming out, barreling out and it was a windy day and the smoke was blowing, to the east.

00:05:48.024 --> 00:05:54.605
at this point, I had no idea what that was and, I just run outside to try and see what the smoke was.

00:05:54.908 --> 00:05:59.408
I run around out the back door, run around to where the smoke's coming from.

00:05:59.408 --> 00:06:07.978
And it's just feet from where my daughter is on the inside, And at this point, I can tell what's happened here is already.

00:06:07.978 --> 00:06:18.192
More than I can control And so I take my AirPods out because at this point I'm listening to BTW podcasts that drops every Wednesday and it's a Wednesday.

00:06:18.221 --> 00:06:24.242
So I'm, I'm listening to them on the pod and I take my AirPods out and disconnect on my phone.

00:06:24.281 --> 00:06:34.994
I'm calling nine one one while I'm turning on my outside spigot to try and see if I can get enough water to even maintain and control what flame is happening right now.

00:06:35.290 --> 00:06:40.473
And within five seconds, I could see this is doing absolutely nothing.

00:06:40.766 --> 00:06:43.050
it was, Such a helpless feeling.

00:06:43.141 --> 00:06:45.514
Like I can't, I can't even explain it well.

00:06:45.543 --> 00:06:47.283
Cause it's like, okay, I know what to do.

00:06:47.374 --> 00:06:49.244
I know to control this and get this.

00:06:49.244 --> 00:06:59.324
I don't have, obviously I don't have, you know, fire extinguisher within reach or, and even that wouldn't control what's happening right now, because how the house was, it had a giant wooden wraparound porch.

00:06:59.624 --> 00:07:02.124
I mean, the wood was original to the house too.

00:07:02.134 --> 00:07:04.723
So it was about probably 28 or 30 years old.

00:07:05.134 --> 00:07:15.653
this is where the fire started was around there, where we had a outside shelter for some cats and they were our mousers, you know, they take care of all the mice and all the critters around there.

00:07:15.653 --> 00:07:17.701
So, something there triggered.

00:07:17.701 --> 00:07:21.545
Some sort of reaction, with electrical and something going on.

00:07:21.605 --> 00:07:25.576
We never got a clear answer on that from the fire marshal or insurance or anybody.

00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:28.718
they just chalk it up to radiant heat and, sorry for your loss.

00:07:29.026 --> 00:07:34.836
so I run back inside and I grabbed my daughter off the toilet and, you know, all she has is a T shirt on.

00:07:34.836 --> 00:07:37.927
And I run outside, take her out back.

00:07:37.927 --> 00:07:43.836
And at this point, before I can even get to the back door, the smoke alarms on the inside of the house start going off.

00:07:44.144 --> 00:07:52.158
And it has started its way around the house, around the entire front of the house, And it started to come inside.

00:07:52.487 --> 00:07:56.137
and I say, Okay, I got Olivia, I got my daughter, we're good to go.

00:07:56.432 --> 00:08:05.122
And as I'm taking her outside, out the back to safety, my two dogs, stupid dogs, run inside because they were outside.

00:08:05.430 --> 00:08:09.750
And they are freaking out apparently, so I can't blame them.

00:08:09.750 --> 00:08:11.680
And they run inside.

00:08:12.012 --> 00:08:17.242
And so I had split second times to react to, you know, what do I do?

00:08:17.512 --> 00:08:19.041
You know, what do you do in this situation?

00:08:19.346 --> 00:08:25.654
You know, your entire livelihood and everything you own, everything you've had from your whole life is inside but you can't worry about that.

00:08:25.935 --> 00:08:30.625
I can't worry about my big stack of Pokemon cards that I've had from when I was nine years old.

00:08:31.004 --> 00:08:31.875
I can't worry about those.

00:08:31.884 --> 00:08:34.884
I can't worry about my games or my things, my wallet, anything.

00:08:35.375 --> 00:08:37.815
I have to get my daughter and I have to get out.

00:08:38.091 --> 00:08:38.802
And that's what mattered.

00:08:39.062 --> 00:08:40.611
So I take her.

00:08:40.611 --> 00:08:45.645
You know, about 30 feet away from the house at this point, put her on the swings and she's screaming.

00:08:45.645 --> 00:08:48.686
She's crying cause I'm frantic and I'm rushing her all over the place.

00:08:48.686 --> 00:08:48.956
Right?

00:08:49.273 --> 00:08:52.346
I take her out and I look at her, I say, stay here.

00:08:52.649 --> 00:08:53.697
I run back inside.

00:08:54.003 --> 00:08:56.832
At this point, smoke's overtaken the entire house.

00:08:57.418 --> 00:09:04.339
I mean, I, I can't even, how, how quickly everything happened, it's just so intense and so fast.

00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:07.429
I've thought about this every day since then.

00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:12.090
And it's something that I don't foresee myself overcoming anytime soon.

00:09:12.370 --> 00:09:17.361
Just of the, what if I had done this differently or what could I have done or what, what should I have grabbed?

00:09:17.361 --> 00:09:20.172
Or if I had another 10 seconds, what could I have done different?

00:09:20.485 --> 00:09:25.035
so I go inside to get the dogs smokes overtaking the entire downstairs.

00:09:25.349 --> 00:09:29.970
as soon as I opened the door, they run back outside and I had a split second.

00:09:30.264 --> 00:09:31.985
Where I'm like, what can I grab?

00:09:32.384 --> 00:09:36.626
What's the one thing that I know I can grab that I need?

00:09:37.027 --> 00:09:39.236
And, my brain was not working.

00:09:39.567 --> 00:09:42.897
I couldn't think of a single thing that was my, I have to get.

00:09:43.297 --> 00:09:54.408
Now I can think of 15 things that were within arm's reach you know, my wallet that was five feet for me at that point that, you know, had my driver's license, had all this stuff in there.

00:09:54.714 --> 00:10:00.080
My backpack that had all my work equipment, my keys to the car.

00:10:00.375 --> 00:10:03.860
So I could have put my child and dogs in the car and driven away to safety.

00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:05.070
No, I couldn't think of any of that.

00:10:05.363 --> 00:10:06.352
I've called 911.

00:10:06.352 --> 00:10:07.552
I've done what I needed to do there.

00:10:07.552 --> 00:10:10.750
I FaceTimed her because I knew she was getting off her shift soon.

00:10:10.760 --> 00:10:12.761
She answered it thought it was a normal call.

00:10:13.081 --> 00:10:15.042
And I call her and I don't recall it.

00:10:15.052 --> 00:10:19.172
Cause I went into some sort of trance mode of, you know, gut reactions.

00:10:19.172 --> 00:10:21.491
You know, she's never heard me talk.

00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:25.195
I never heard my voice as frantic in the way that it was.

00:10:25.481 --> 00:10:26.572
And she didn't believe it.

00:10:26.572 --> 00:10:27.951
She's like, just put it out.

00:10:27.961 --> 00:10:31.081
She didn't understand until I turned the camera around and I showed her.

00:10:31.384 --> 00:10:33.004
at this point, the whole house is in flames.

00:10:33.325 --> 00:10:33.845
Am I assuming

00:10:34.404 --> 00:10:36.043
yeah, I mean, she was like, just control.

00:10:36.043 --> 00:10:37.572
And I'm like, I can't, I got Olivia out.

00:10:37.572 --> 00:10:39.773
I got the dogs out and I turn and I show her.

00:10:40.083 --> 00:10:48.464
we had a lot of fire departments that came and handled that situation, but the fire department posted a Facebook video about them fighting this fire.

00:10:48.770 --> 00:10:59.933
You Know, as terrible as it is, and as bad as it is, this is when within the next few moments is when I started seeing the blessings and the miracles and all the good in the situation.

00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.561
And that's why I think, you know, I reached out to you.

00:11:02.846 --> 00:11:14.653
It's like, hey, one, thank you for, you know, for the shout outs that you were doing, but for two, it didn't just go to waste, you know, and people heard this and people rallied and I want to talk to that.

00:11:14.663 --> 00:11:27.370
And one is a thank you tour for everybody who helped and who donated and who, you know, gave items and, monetary donations, even just to reach out on discord of, Hey, thinking about you, man, we love you that that meant the world to me.

00:11:27.703 --> 00:11:46.191
And it's totally changed my wife's perspective of this community because she thinks I spent too much time playing this game and, you know, she's like, those aren't your real friends, you know, and I was like, well, and then this happened and I was like, well, you know, they've donated, you know, this and that and that, and, you know, now she can't say anything about it.

00:11:46.211 --> 00:11:49.975
So she's bought in, but, yeah, I still kick myself for like, what did I do?

00:11:49.995 --> 00:11:51.456
What could I have done differently?

00:11:51.716 --> 00:11:52.696
What could I have grabbed?

00:11:52.706 --> 00:11:58.663
But I got her out, you know, And that's, what's getting me through every day is we have each other and that's what matters the most.

00:11:59.254 --> 00:12:02.466
it's kind of survivor's guilt to where you wish you kind of gotten more because.

00:12:02.466 --> 00:12:04.417
you know, let's break it down, you know, this is your dream house.

00:12:04.417 --> 00:12:06.576
This is where, like, hey, this is going to retire.

00:12:06.787 --> 00:12:12.782
See the kids grow up, seem to go to college or whatever, have you like, From what it sounded like you and your wife envisioned for the family.

00:12:13.086 --> 00:12:18.750
It's right before Christmas, the holidays, everybody's cheering, you know, you're getting ready to, celebrate And then of course, tragedy strikes.

00:12:19.048 --> 00:12:22.749
And, in the heat of the moment, you kind of wish that, hey, I wish I'd done something differently.

00:12:22.749 --> 00:12:24.818
I wish I got something like, it's easy to think like that.

00:12:25.139 --> 00:12:32.288
But, I remember when you talked about how you were standing right there, right at the door, the smoke's coming out, and you really went blank on what to get.

00:12:32.619 --> 00:12:38.086
And I think that, in my opinion, that's maybe your gut telling you, hey, I've got what's important.

00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:39.708
I got my kids out.

00:12:40.015 --> 00:12:42.745
I got my dogs out, despite how stupid they were to go back inside.

00:12:43.365 --> 00:12:44.145
got what's important.

00:12:44.166 --> 00:12:45.275
My family is safe.

00:12:45.466 --> 00:12:47.745
Now, is that probably the most ideal situation?

00:12:47.745 --> 00:12:50.265
Of course not, because, you know, you lost your identification.

00:12:50.265 --> 00:12:57.115
Anybody who's known, if anybody's ever not have ever lost their social security number, IDs, and all that, it's a pain in the butt to get that back when you don't have it.

00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:00.701
But you got what was kind of more important because you get to see your kids for another day.

00:13:00.711 --> 00:13:01.811
You get to live for another day.

00:13:01.811 --> 00:13:09.437
And that's the hardest thing to kind of move past because you always second guess yourself thinking like, Hey, I could have done more in spite of you.

00:13:09.624 --> 00:13:11.354
In my opinion, I think you did what you could.

00:13:11.947 --> 00:13:13.006
well, Thank you for that.

00:13:13.311 --> 00:13:14.331
I think it's human nature.

00:13:14.331 --> 00:13:17.510
you know, we second guess all our decisions, whether it was good or not.

00:13:17.510 --> 00:13:18.980
It's like, could we have done better?

00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:20.010
And could I have done better?

00:13:20.071 --> 00:13:21.410
And like, yeah, I could have.

00:13:21.605 --> 00:13:38.009
But what good does it do me to ruminate on the fact that I didn't grab my wallet, which was five feet for me, or I didn't grab my keys, which were closer to where the fire was, looking back on it, I could have been really hurt or exposed to more smoke if I had grabbed those things.

00:13:38.009 --> 00:13:41.058
Because Yeah, that was, that was the funny thing.

00:13:41.068 --> 00:13:43.889
Like I told you, I didn't get exposed to a lot of smoke.

00:13:43.928 --> 00:13:45.918
At least I didn't believe I did.

00:13:46.221 --> 00:13:47.542
I held my breath.

00:13:47.851 --> 00:13:50.572
I had very minimal exposure to that.

00:13:50.572 --> 00:13:55.081
Because I knew that I didn't want to, you know, breathe in a lot of, you know, what was happening there.

00:13:55.451 --> 00:13:58.275
Well, in the coming days, I'm having a hard time.

00:13:58.306 --> 00:13:59.615
I'm having a hard time breathing.

00:13:59.926 --> 00:14:01.025
I'm coughing a lot.

00:14:01.115 --> 00:14:02.755
I'm coughing up black phlegm.

00:14:03.206 --> 00:14:05.586
And I don't know if this is a side effect or not.

00:14:05.785 --> 00:14:07.436
I mean, my poop was black, dude.

00:14:07.855 --> 00:14:08.576
I was what?

00:14:09.216 --> 00:14:10.676
Like, wait, I have no idea.

00:14:10.676 --> 00:14:12.966
I asked my wife, I'm like, Hey, you're a nurse, you know, tell me.

00:14:13.035 --> 00:14:13.822
And she's like, what?

00:14:13.831 --> 00:14:14.831
No, that's not normal.

00:14:15.451 --> 00:14:17.701
I'm Like, I'm not bleeding.

00:14:17.701 --> 00:14:18.802
Am I internal bleeding?

00:14:19.072 --> 00:14:20.162
And she's no.

00:14:20.532 --> 00:14:24.682
So like, I had more exposure to the smoke than I thought I did.

00:14:24.892 --> 00:14:32.711
And that lasted a good five or so days before, you know, I stopped the coughing and the phlegm started to dissipate and we're turning back to normal.

00:14:32.711 --> 00:14:36.313
I was like, you know, that little bit just really messed with me for a while.

00:14:36.793 --> 00:14:38.884
I mean, thankfully, again, it's not lifelong.

00:14:38.913 --> 00:14:46.703
It's it was just the short term a little bit, but yeah, I'm taking solace in the fact that, you know, I did what I think I needed to do at the time.

00:14:46.813 --> 00:14:48.818
And, thank you for affirming that.

00:14:49.429 --> 00:14:52.389
You've been listening to As the Pokeball Turns.

00:14:52.979 --> 00:14:54.379
We're going to take a quick break.

00:14:54.695 --> 00:14:55.774
We'll be right back.

00:16:42.115 --> 00:16:51.466
You know, a lot of people, you know, I first heard the story through GoCast, and then BTW, and then Lured Up, a lot of the Pokemon Go community came out telling, their communities about this.

00:16:51.769 --> 00:16:54.668
What was their response when they found out about what had happened?

00:16:55.041 --> 00:17:01.484
Yeah, so I'll start, you know, my primary community is with BTW, Beginner to Winner, PvP podcasts.

00:17:02.053 --> 00:17:17.503
that's my main focus when I play Pokémon Go is To get the best Pokemon to compete, competitively in PvP, be that GBL or in factions or team based formats or, regional tournaments as well.

00:17:17.840 --> 00:17:19.374
So that's why I play the game.

00:17:19.374 --> 00:17:20.054
I don't raid.

00:17:20.064 --> 00:17:22.953
I don't look for hundos or shinies or anything like that.

00:17:23.263 --> 00:17:26.413
So, naturally then I've gathered more towards the PvP.

00:17:26.903 --> 00:17:32.931
Creators like, BTW, like the PVP corner on go cast and things like that.

00:17:33.181 --> 00:17:33.601
So.

00:17:33.601 --> 00:17:40.354
before we get to that, I started playing January 1 of 2021 cause I was sick with COVID at the time.

00:17:40.403 --> 00:17:43.034
And so I needed a game to play to pass the time.

00:17:43.034 --> 00:17:46.463
And so I downloaded Pokemon go and it's not a great game to play when you're sick at home.

00:17:46.523 --> 00:17:48.153
So, I was like, Oh, this is really weird.

00:17:48.153 --> 00:17:50.330
There's Slowpoke with glasses on.

00:17:50.330 --> 00:17:51.181
That's kind of cute.

00:17:51.473 --> 00:17:59.471
I play it and my kid, I don't know if he was five or six at the time, but he played it with me cause he was really into Pokemon, getting the cards and all that.

00:17:59.770 --> 00:18:02.861
And Pokemon's always been a central point of my life.

00:18:03.188 --> 00:18:12.778
I was about eight or nine years old when the anime comes to the United States and seeing a 10 year old go on his journey to, you know, become a Pokemon master really resonated with me.

00:18:12.928 --> 00:18:14.958
I think it did with a lot of us around this age group.

00:18:15.259 --> 00:18:19.613
playing Pokemon Yellow on my Yellow Game Boy with the Pikachu in it.

00:18:19.986 --> 00:18:26.965
playing, Gold and Silver and thinking I beat the game and then coming and seeing, Oh, I get to re explore Kanto again.

00:18:26.996 --> 00:18:29.385
Oh my God, that was a whole game after the game.

00:18:29.746 --> 00:18:32.258
I mean, just those memories have, have always stuck with me.

00:18:32.258 --> 00:18:34.576
And I, you know, I stopped playing after Emerald.

00:18:34.885 --> 00:18:41.068
I guess, you know, I went through that normal, we grow out of it phase and didn't play anything after that.

00:18:41.373 --> 00:18:50.603
Downloaded Pokemon Go back you know, when it launched, but the game wasn't great at the moment and everything was, you know, route one Pokemon, and stuff, so it wasn't too into it.

00:18:50.623 --> 00:19:04.407
It was kind of cute and, you know, I would take my kid at the time, he was just a, you know, a baby and we would push him in a stroller and walk to the brewery and get some beers and push him back and catch some Pokemon and show him and put his little finger on the screen to catch a Pokemon and you did it.

00:19:04.417 --> 00:19:13.673
So, that kind of thing, but, so, you know, and then I kind of fell off the game again until, you know, 2021, I downloaded it again at that point, there was more to the game.

00:19:13.673 --> 00:19:15.385
There was a PVP component to it.

00:19:15.385 --> 00:19:19.086
there was all this new stuff that was really interesting to me.

00:19:19.096 --> 00:19:27.303
So I got hooked and a few months go by and it's the summer and we're driving to and from Florida for a vacation.

00:19:27.603 --> 00:19:33.682
we had a long drive and I needed something to listen to and I was like, I wonder if there's a podcast for Pokemon Go.

00:19:33.992 --> 00:19:34.972
And there were.

00:19:34.972 --> 00:19:36.282
Dozens of it was insane.

00:19:36.303 --> 00:19:37.163
I was like, holy crap.

00:19:37.202 --> 00:19:38.032
There's a lot.

00:19:38.462 --> 00:19:40.353
I didn't know this was as big as it is.

00:19:40.373 --> 00:19:43.702
And so then I found pokemon go radio at the time.

00:19:43.903 --> 00:20:09.134
that was my introduction into podcasting for pokemon go And of course that was a slippery slope that led to becoming a part of communities of PGR then of GO Cast and then BTW because I like the battling component and then Lured Up and then jumping on Monday zoom calls with a lot of the people in the Lured Up, which is where I know you from and I was like, oh, I know that guy.

00:20:09.438 --> 00:20:19.701
So, you know, finding these communities and becoming a part of them, much to my wife's dismay, who says I probably spend a little too much time in the game and there's probably something to that.

00:20:19.711 --> 00:20:22.208
I'm not going to lie, but I like it and it's fun.

00:20:22.499 --> 00:20:23.919
I don't let it affect my work.

00:20:23.919 --> 00:20:25.269
I spend time with my family.

00:20:25.269 --> 00:20:27.328
I can have a little fun and join these communities.

00:20:27.358 --> 00:20:28.489
It's a few dollars a month.

00:20:28.499 --> 00:20:29.429
That's not a big deal.

00:20:29.737 --> 00:20:33.547
So that's where I fostered that community with them and, you know, with B.

00:20:33.547 --> 00:20:33.666
T.

00:20:33.666 --> 00:20:34.017
W.

00:20:34.017 --> 00:20:37.126
with go cast in Lourdes and every, which is across the board.

00:20:37.126 --> 00:20:43.268
Because I felt like no matter what I was told, I was like, these are, these are my friends, you know, they're digital and there was something to that.

00:20:43.268 --> 00:20:48.696
I've never been a part of a gaming community before, but I know these people and I know what they're going through.

00:20:48.696 --> 00:20:52.192
And we still, we talk about our life and our issues and.

00:20:52.265 --> 00:20:59.585
I finally got to meet a lot of these people at a Pokemon Go, tournament at NAIC back in 2022.

00:20:59.887 --> 00:21:11.320
We got an Airbnb with a lot of the BTW guys and we're able to finally meet together for the first time and stay with each other and see each other, you know, battle and hang out afterwards.

00:21:11.540 --> 00:21:16.411
The stories and the memories that come from those in person connections are priceless.

00:21:16.432 --> 00:21:17.932
And I'll never forget those.

00:21:18.234 --> 00:21:22.924
my wife thought I was going to a serial killer's house and she thought I'd never come back.

00:21:22.954 --> 00:21:29.315
And it was this, you know, it was a whole thing and I was like, no, but you know, Lyle's there, he's Canadian and he's kind of crazy.

00:21:29.325 --> 00:21:30.265
He's pretty loud.

00:21:30.265 --> 00:21:32.255
And he was, he's pretty intense.

00:21:32.325 --> 00:21:36.184
And, he mauled it a little bit during a GBL match, but you know, we lived through it.

00:21:36.476 --> 00:21:56.359
so, You get out of these communities what you put into it, and I'm not saying I put in the most, at all, I'm not a content creator, I'm not the most involved in any of these communities, but I do truly value what they bring to us, and to me specifically, as a release from, and an escape from the world.

00:21:56.775 --> 00:22:00.545
You know, posting in the GoCasts BYOB channel, I'm an avid.

00:22:00.545 --> 00:22:17.338
Craft beer drinker and post our beers in there and just talk about different beers that we've had and, post in, you know, BTW foodies channel of all the different food that we, you know, just an escape from the world to hang out with people and, you know, talk about things and escape from, you know, the troubles of life.

00:22:17.642 --> 00:22:21.829
and then, these people are friends and when, when one of us hurt, we all hurt.

00:22:22.111 --> 00:22:23.684
And I felt that truly.

00:22:23.684 --> 00:22:32.265
when the event happened in December that, you know, I reached out to BTW first being the home community of like, Hey, guys, this is what I'm going through.

00:22:32.265 --> 00:22:35.077
If you don't hear back for me, this is what I'm going through.

00:22:35.394 --> 00:22:39.753
Just I just want you guys to know, because I didn't want them to think I ghosted them or.

00:22:39.851 --> 00:22:45.401
You know, I see it as it happens when core people in the community, you know, disappear, we, we worry about them.

00:22:45.520 --> 00:22:50.871
We, hey, so and so, you're close, you're within a few hours of so and so, can you go check on them?

00:22:51.131 --> 00:22:53.530
You know, it's just that kind of, accountability with each other.

00:22:53.829 --> 00:22:55.430
So, I didn't want them to worry.

00:22:55.859 --> 00:22:58.392
And of course, they take it and run with it.

00:22:58.700 --> 00:23:04.990
And put it on their Twitch streams of like, Hey, every few minutes, just popping up in the messages, like, this is what's happening.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:06.619
Donate here, help him here.

00:23:06.923 --> 00:23:10.513
I didn't ask them to reach out to anybody else.

00:23:11.074 --> 00:23:15.271
As far as like, you know, Hey, David was, you know, that's a book of all turns.

00:23:15.291 --> 00:23:18.082
Like, Hey, can you mention this at the beginning of your podcast?

00:23:18.672 --> 00:23:25.771
I think, you know, that worked out naturally through whatever means that you found out about it from, I think you said that was GoCast.

00:23:26.182 --> 00:23:29.414
So I sent a message to Chris and I was like, Hey, just, just a heads up.

00:23:29.414 --> 00:23:30.964
This is what's going on with me.

00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:35.529
If you're able to just give a quick shout out, that would help a lot, you know, I don't want to do it.

00:23:35.529 --> 00:23:40.880
It seems almost self serving and in a way that I didn't, I didn't want to be the one asking for help.

00:23:40.904 --> 00:23:43.632
but I, I don't want to seem like I'm being needy.

00:23:43.662 --> 00:23:43.991
I don't know.

00:23:44.001 --> 00:23:50.903
This is a weird line to tow because I was needy and we have nothing and, you know, everything was gone.

00:23:51.034 --> 00:23:52.653
I mean, we're not talking a partial loss.

00:23:52.673 --> 00:23:54.534
The only thing we had was.

00:23:54.534 --> 00:24:07.798
what was in my wife's car because she was at work and the clothes that were on our backs, and that was really hard for us because we're the kind of pull yourself up by your bootstraps kind of people and we had to get past that and we had to ask for help.

00:24:08.108 --> 00:24:14.596
I don't have an exact amount of how much that attributed to, but it wasn't a few bucks.

00:24:14.946 --> 00:24:21.285
It was life changing money and we're so thankful for everything that came from that.

00:24:21.285 --> 00:24:27.464
Because that helps us in not only just the day to day, but also rebuilding a life that we once had.

00:24:27.768 --> 00:24:35.230
So I, just from the bottom of my heart to you, to Chris, to Adam, to Ken, to all the BTW people, thank you.

00:24:35.450 --> 00:24:38.180
Thank you for using your platform to share the story.

00:24:38.219 --> 00:24:47.974
Because I had people that I didn't even know and people that I still can't thank to this day because they didn't put their in game name in the donations on the Venmo.

00:24:48.314 --> 00:24:51.191
So if you didn't put your in game name, I don't know who you are.

00:24:51.191 --> 00:24:54.000
And I was like, who, my wife's like, who's Stephanie?

00:24:54.070 --> 00:24:54.901
And I was like, I don't know.

00:24:55.320 --> 00:24:56.810
I don't know who you're talking about.

00:24:57.730 --> 00:25:04.270
if you did, but, but if you would have put, you know, like Hamtaro, then I would have been, Oh, I know exactly who that is.

00:25:04.516 --> 00:25:10.353
You know, that's the show we used to watch on Cartoon Network in sixth grade, you know, that, you know, that kind of awesome.

00:25:13.403 --> 00:25:19.732
Dude, MTA was a core memory for me, so I, I was very happy to see, I, I still think about that jingle every now and then.

00:25:20.248 --> 00:25:21.417
Oh, it's a very catchy jingle.

00:25:21.417 --> 00:25:21.968
That's for sure.

00:25:22.282 --> 00:25:24.083
Little Hamster's, big adventures,

00:25:24.083 --> 00:25:25.623
Hamtaro.

00:25:25.647 --> 00:25:26.048
Yes.

00:25:27.223 --> 00:25:28.878
So, again, to everybody who.

00:25:28.878 --> 00:25:32.159
Donated in those ways or reached out during those times.

00:25:32.500 --> 00:25:33.691
it means the world to us.

00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:36.851
And like I said, it's totally changed my wife's perspective.

00:25:37.250 --> 00:25:39.871
She still thinks I spend way too much time on this game.

00:25:40.181 --> 00:26:16.988
And again, I'm not arguing that fact, but to say, you know, thousands of dollars coming in and helping and supporting from people that I've never met I mean, that just shows the community and what we have here, and that I attribute that to a lot of the time that I've spent with the community, because if I was just a random, Patreon that, you know, maybe I didn't engage and didn't chat with the people and didn't jump on those zoom calls every now and then, and didn't reach out and didn't ask about starting a BYOB channel and doing all this that, you know, I probably wouldn't have been well known and people wouldn't have built that relationship, but you get out of it what you put in, you know.

00:26:17.612 --> 00:26:29.493
And, you know, when family's hurting, you step up and yes, you know, it's not, we're not blood, but we're connected through Pokemon and it shows value on how something as simple as online friends who, you know, we've heard it before, like, oh, they're not real friends.

00:26:29.493 --> 00:26:30.614
You never really know them.

00:26:30.935 --> 00:26:31.996
They are real friends.

00:26:32.405 --> 00:26:36.246
They're people that we get to meet on a regular basis, sometimes weekly.

00:26:36.594 --> 00:26:40.594
And the fact that I didn't even know he were, but I knew that, Hey, this guy needed some help.

00:26:40.846 --> 00:26:44.326
I know I have a small audience, but maybe somebody out there can maybe throw a couple bucks.

00:26:44.395 --> 00:26:45.066
I don't know.

00:26:45.395 --> 00:26:52.455
The best thing I can do is I can't just stand there knowing somebody went through what you went through and not do something on my end.

00:26:52.715 --> 00:26:53.655
I couldn't do that.

00:26:53.986 --> 00:26:54.726
And that's why I did.

00:26:54.726 --> 00:27:01.568
And I think that's why a lot of the other people did it too, because whether they knew you or whether they just want to be a part of just trying to get you back to life together, because that's difficult.

00:27:01.608 --> 00:27:03.528
It's difficult transition to what you're going through.

00:27:03.853 --> 00:27:06.182
And we just want to be a part of just trying to get you back on your feet.

00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:07.000
definitely.

00:27:07.266 --> 00:27:26.000
I know BTW has always made an effort to as soon as someone comes in and subscribes to the page, you're on Everyone on the core team, you know, sends like a welcome message to that person just to be there and to say like, Hey, you can tag us, you know, don't feel like, you know, cause there are some discords out there where you can't tag the, the main people, because they're too busy.

00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:27.000
They don't want those tags.

00:27:27.019 --> 00:27:29.369
And they're like, no, God, please tag us.

00:27:29.549 --> 00:27:31.104
Like, we'd love to interact with you guys.

00:27:31.173 --> 00:27:33.273
And there's just something, there's something about that.

00:27:33.479 --> 00:27:41.403
That I've always been supportive of, and I think that's why I became more of a part of BTW specifically was because I loved what they were doing.

00:27:41.403 --> 00:27:43.692
I loved the way they welcomed everybody.

00:27:43.692 --> 00:27:46.643
I love battling, obviously, as a PVP fan.

00:27:46.946 --> 00:27:48.936
And I wanted to help them.

00:27:49.237 --> 00:27:52.797
And I was like, look, I'm not a podcaster doing anything like that.

00:27:52.807 --> 00:27:53.096
But.

00:27:53.096 --> 00:27:59.249
I noticed you guys have been saying you need a website and you keep saying it and you've said it for like eight episodes straight.

00:27:59.308 --> 00:28:05.179
And, and so I'm like, here, here's something I just threw together in 20 minutes on my lunch break.

00:28:05.219 --> 00:28:05.868
What do you think?

00:28:06.249 --> 00:28:08.318
And we all hopped on a call together.

00:28:08.588 --> 00:28:12.689
And they, they kind of reviewed it like I was presenting it to the board of executives or something.

00:28:12.689 --> 00:28:14.219
And they're like, yeah, this is really good.

00:28:14.219 --> 00:28:15.019
We'll get in touch.

00:28:15.419 --> 00:28:17.074
And, and, it was, it was good.

00:28:17.084 --> 00:28:18.913
It was good enough that they're like, yeah, let's do it.

00:28:18.923 --> 00:28:20.023
You're the website guy now.

00:28:20.023 --> 00:28:22.453
And I was like, well, I didn't ask for that, but okay, let's do it.

00:28:22.743 --> 00:28:24.534
So, Yeah, now I'm the website guy.

00:28:24.534 --> 00:28:33.486
and obviously, haven't had a lot of time to devote to the website in the last few months, but, I plan on getting in there and, you know, adding it and changing some new features and doing things.

00:28:33.486 --> 00:28:38.498
and now, they consider me a part of the team and, you know, I'm just blessed to be where I'm at.

00:28:39.086 --> 00:28:40.016
Well, here's your daddy.

00:28:40.266 --> 00:28:41.506
Thank you for coming on the show.

00:28:41.615 --> 00:28:46.446
If people want to connect with you, if maybe people who've gone through something similar need somebody to talk with, where can they go?

00:28:46.446 --> 00:28:47.696
By all means, please plug away.

00:28:49.237 --> 00:28:52.376
Yeah, so like I said, I'm different than most of the people you bring on.

00:28:52.396 --> 00:28:53.477
I'm not a creator.

00:28:53.547 --> 00:28:55.856
I'm not a content producer out there.

00:28:56.247 --> 00:29:00.457
So, to find me, the best place you're going to be able to is on Discord.

00:29:00.676 --> 00:29:05.047
You can reach out, um, send me a message on HoosierData13.

00:29:05.666 --> 00:29:12.727
Um, you can send me a direct message through there if you have questions or comments or anything that I can help you with.

00:29:13.297 --> 00:29:14.977
Because that's where we're called right now.

00:29:15.017 --> 00:29:21.696
We're called to help people going through similar situations and preventing people from going through the pain that we're going through.

00:29:22.471 --> 00:29:28.672
So if we can help in any way, let us know, or if you just want to reach out and talk, um, we're happy to do it.

00:29:29.011 --> 00:29:29.612
Happy to.

00:29:30.162 --> 00:29:37.241
Um, to get more involved in, you know, the Pokémon GO communities, I've listed off a lot of different avenues for you there.

00:29:37.642 --> 00:29:42.632
Um, because I find The most value isn't just in sticking to one.

00:29:42.652 --> 00:29:48.471
So if you're only a, as the poke ball turns listener, I'd recommend you venture out, you get out there.

00:29:48.672 --> 00:29:57.261
You've had hundreds of interviews over the time to, to see all these different communities and people who, you know, can produce all this content.

00:29:57.261 --> 00:30:05.531
You don't have to patron to all of them, but explore different ones, you know, try it for month to month and see, you know, if you like, go cast, if you like, lure it up.

00:30:05.561 --> 00:30:18.862
If you like, um, BTW, you know, join their Patreon, subscribe to them on via Twitch, and that can get you a free, if you have Amazon, you get a free subscription through Twitch.

00:30:19.501 --> 00:30:20.892
That's a great resource too.

00:30:21.031 --> 00:30:23.902
So you can join the communities through there.

00:30:24.432 --> 00:30:27.406
Don't join it to, you know, Communicate with me.

00:30:27.497 --> 00:30:33.406
I'm just a, a percentage of a percentage of, you know, what that community has to offer.

00:30:33.707 --> 00:30:50.366
But if you're looking for more specific PVP channels, BTW and the GoCast podcast, PVP corner with Fish and DeFi, uh, great channels, um, to look into, but yeah, hopefully that helps point people where they need to go.

00:30:51.416 --> 00:30:52.257
Absolutely.

00:30:52.297 --> 00:30:55.856
And I'll make sure to include links to every community he said in the description of this episode.

00:30:57.257 --> 00:30:59.957
Thank you for listening to As the Pokeball Turns.

00:31:00.326 --> 00:31:05.926