— I write about PokemonGO a lot on my 5 things list? a bit too often?? thus, a separate list; local landmarks are modified for privacy

• 11/01 Thu → Ma came home and told me how she "took over The Local Gym! there was a pink blah thing all alone in the gym that turned into a monster, and I kicked it out!"
  • 【 o c t o b e r — 2 0 1 8 】
• 10/25 Thu → shout out to PoGO for giving me a reason to leave the house, yes at 9:30pm to continue my 5 day streak, but better late than never
• 10/24 Wed → caught Bro his long-coveted shiny Murkrow! he named it to "ItDoesExist!" and plans to make it his buddy after finishing his 20km with his perfect, shiny Moltres
  • he gave me a shiny baby Bayleef in return, and not only did it turn lucky, but it has 420 CP! ...lit
    • 【 s e p t e m b e r — 2 0 1 8 】
• 09/22 Sat → baby Bayleef Community Day (@ Maggie Daley Park, lakefront, Adler Planetarium)
  • caught 10 shiny baby Bayleefs and a 100% Bayleef (nicknamed Baeleef)
• 09/21 Fri → LEVEL UP! ↣ 36
  • became "best friends" with Bro
• 09/19 Wed → hatched a Kangaskhan and a Mr. Mime in a single day!!
• 09/17 Mon → walked around the neighborhood, hoping to hatch some Alolan eggs
• 09/08 Sat → Bro caught a perfect shiny Moltres (and hit level 40!), and 10 minutes later, caught another perfect shiny Moltres!!! he freaked out, I freaked out
• 09/06 Thu → "you came back in 8 minutes and 15 seconds, did you get what you wanted accomplished?" yeah it was pretty minimalistic
• 09/05 Wed → driving to the Library after the downpour (mid-drizzle) and Smashmouth plays on Pop 2k station; Bro blasts "I'm a Believer" and I never felt more like a millennial than in that moment
  • caught a 0% Lotad, lol
• 09/04 Tue → found a wild, 82% Togetic by a playground in Hodgkins! ilovehimverymuch
  • 【 a u g u s t — 2 0 1 8 】
• 08/31 Fri → Bro and I duo'd a tier 4 Absol raid with 60 seconds to spare!
• 08/29 Wed → Tour de Neighborhood: teamed up with Bro in his car to take down several Instinct gyms
  • Ma got a research quest for a Miltank (throw 4 great curvballs in a row); after several trials and errors, Bro helped her complete the quest, and turned out that it was a PERFECT Miltank
• 08/25 Sat → Bro texted me, telling me about a research quest for a Spinda at the Oriental Theater
• 08/23 Thu → while riding the bus: "you gotta check more Pokemon now, Eric, cuz with the newly added shinies for Johto week OH MY GOSHH A SHINY PINECO"
• 08/21 Tue → walked around The Park not only because I needed the exercise, but because I needed gifts
• 08/20 Mon → could've watched Bachelor in Paradise, but instead caught a Shuckle (shuckles > drama) (or as bro phrased it, (shuckles = drama)
  • started "Pokemon, according to Ma"
• 08/19 Sun → defended my honor at The Gym for a half hour while it was under attack, golden razzing the greater Blissey
• 08/12 Sun → Eevee Community Day Part 2 (@ Lincoln Park Zoo)
• 08/11 Sat → Eevee Community Day Part 1 (downtown with Bro)
• 08/02 Thu → kicked out a solo Alolan Rattata (from Instinct) at The Gym; thus, I reclaimed The Gym not only for myself, but for my bro
• 08/01 Wed → LEVEL UP! ↣ 35
  • going downtown spared my drought of gift-less days
    • 【 j u l y — 2 0 1 8 】
• 07/26 Thu → EX Raid: 10:30am @ The Millennium Monument
• 07/21 Sat → Zapdos day! did 16 raids and caught caught 11 Zapdos (2 of those 11 them were shiny!)
• 07/17 Tue → Jesse: "whaled on the whale huh" Y ES
• 07/14 Sat → didn't attend GO Fest, but walked around downtown with Dylan and Nate and two of their PoGO friends
  • caught a shiny Wailmer! I screamed!! her nickname is "my precious" and I blew all of my stardust powering her up
  • other shinies caught: Minun and Areodactyl
• 07/08 Sun → Squirtle Community Day (@ Santa Monica Pier, CA)
  • 【 j u n e — 2 0 1 8 】
• 06/21 Thu → LEVEL UP! ↣ 34
• 06/16 Sun → Larvitar Community Day (@ Lincoln Park Zoo)
  • 【 m a y — 2 0 1 8 】
• 05/19 Sat → Charmander Community Day (@ Rosemont)
  • 【 a p r i l — 2 0 1 8 】
• 04/19 Thu → LEVEL UP! ↣ 33
• 04/15 Sun → Mareep Community Day (@ Navy Pier)
• 04/11 Thu → caught a shiny Lugia! that is, 9ish raids later
• 04/02 Mon → LEVEL UP! ↣ 32
  • 【 m a r c h — 2 0 1 8 】
• 03/31 Sat → Niantic got on our case and removed the non-existent Furniture Shop as a neighborhood Pokestop ;v;
• 03/25 Sun → Bublasaur Community Day (@ Navy Pier)
• 03/16 Fri → LEVEL UP! ↣ 31
• 03/10 Sat → EX raid: 4:30pm @ Chicago Water Tower
• 03/03 Sat → LEVEL UP! ↣ 30
  • 【 f e b r u a r y — 2 0 1 8 】
• 02/12 Mon → solo excursion to Lincoln Park Zoo for Wailmers! but the weather was nippy, so I only lasted 2 hours in the great outdoors
  • got off the bus early and placed my Exeggutor at the Shop
• 02/11 Sun → I was lazy and passed on a level 3 Machamp raid... turns out, it would've been a weather-boosted fella :v
• 02/10 Sat → participated in a level 1 raid on campus for a Swablu!
• 02/09 Fri → bro and I walked to The Park for a Machamp raid, but the lad didn't wear his snowboots, and there was snow, everywhere.
  • [rings cowbell, cries out] SWABLU IS RELEASED, SWABLU IS R E L E A S E D
• 02/06 Tue → caught a Kyogre in front of the Jewels on State street! also went on a Wailmer-catching spree
  • caught a wild Wishcash?? it's my new fav thing
• 02/05 Mon → RNGesus was on my side and a level 1 Wailmer raid happened at the Shop
  • on that day, the traffic moved in slow motion
• 02/01 Thu → walked at 10am for a Kirlia a block away but it never spawned?? the nearby city worker must've thought I was a fool
  • 【 j a n u a r y — 2 0 1 8 】
• 01/31 Wed → Eric fought his EX raid and caught a Mewtwo; I'm half joyous, but ngl also half disgusted
• 01/30 Tue → fought in a raid and caught my first Mawile
  • ran to catch a Sudowoodo (but it expired before I had a chance)
  • during my frantic run for the Sudowoodo, a guy in a white truck pulled up asking if I was Michelle, and I told him that's not my name
  • a small Bayleef (Chikorita) spawned at the Nearby Park; caught that so I didn't have to return home empty-handed
• 01/29 Mon → tried to bring down a Porygon all on my own (...the keyword: tried)
  • upon returning to the neighborhood, I ran to catch a wild Vaporeon on 7th street, and then a mere 2 minutes later, a Porygon spawned a block away!
• 01/28 Sun → raided with bro for an Omastar before dinner, with a meatloaf sandwich on my mind
• 01/27 Sat → a guy at Uchicon took out his phone to play PoGO and I tried to stir up a convo about the game but alas, I think he was just a casual
• 01/24 Wed → LEVEL UP! ↣ 29
• 01/23 Tue → rode the bus back home and placed 2 of my Pokemon in gyms with lightning speed
  • Ma saw me leaving the house and gave me a ride to the Restaurant, where I caught my first Seviper
  • bro was taking down The Gym and generously left my Arcanine standing; I texted him that it's okay for him to kick it out, and he replied with the "okay" and "100%" emojis
• 01/22 Mon → ERIC GOT AN EX RAID PASS H O W
  • walked to 1st street and The Park for Wailmers
• 01/21 Sun → weather boosted Kyogres!! alas, I caught none
  • taught Eric the basics of PoGO raids; we ended up sprinting 3 blocks to Printer's Fountain in the south loop to catch one of the last Kyogre raids
• 01/18 Thu → apparently bro doesn't like placing his pokemon at The Park? it's not that far of a walk
• 01/17 Wed → left the house at 5:30pm to catch a Porygon on 2nd street, listening to an NPR report about how productivity reaches morning peak, then an early afternoon trough, then a late afternoon recovery
  • thought I could place a pokemon at the Furniture Shop until I spotted bro, taking down the Mystic gym (and thus, sprinted back home)
• 01/16 Tue → put on the snow boots and went out at 6pm for a Wailmer raid with bro at the Furniture Shop, then he and I (respectively) got tea and coffee
  • with this pinap'd catch, I now have 200 Wailmer candies, whoaaa halfway there
• 01/11 Thu → foolishly walked around the neighborhood to kill time before a raid (just to use the free daily raid pass) and got caught in a sudden downpur of rain
• 01/10 Wed → Olive Park (again) for more Wailmers!
  • saw the couple (from last week, in the freezing weather) today at a Groudon raid at Navy Pier
  • met up with bro at the downtown Sprint store on Randolph, where we both caught Groudons
• 01/08 Mon → bro caught a (nearly perfect) Rhyhorn during his break and hatched a (perfect) Ralts, how does he do it
• 01/07 Sun → drive-by tour of the neighborhood for 2 Wailmer raids
• 01/03 Wed → Olive Park run for the Wailmer nest; it was ~10 degrees, but a significant warm up from -5 degree weather
  • stopped (to warm up) at nearby Navy Pier
  • caught my first Shuckle! it's so derpy