TRAINER'S EYE #32 - "Eevee Color Prism" ft. EeveeSophie

In this Pokemon interview, we have EeveeSophie, a passionate Pokémon GO player with a love for PVP battles.

EeveeSophie shares her involvement with #GirlsThatPVP and how it has helped her connect with other female players in the community. She emphasizes the importance of having a supportive group of people who share the same interests. 

EeveeSophie shares her experience attending Play Pokemon Tournaments in both Arlington and Orlando, and how it was a unique opportunity to connect with other players and compete at a higher level. In addition, EeveeSophie discusses her interests in PVP and the challenges she faces in the competitive scene as a female competitor.

Trainer's Eye is a series where the stories are real and people still play this game. From PVP to Shiny Hunting, each person's Pokemon GO journey is unique and we dive into each journey here on As The Pokeball Turns!

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

Transcript

David Hernandez: 0:00

My name is David Hernandez and you're listening to As The Pokeball Turns. Welcome to as the Pokemon Ball Turns! Where we interview people around the community on how their Pokemon Go journey started, where it has been and where it is currently going. There's a quote by Dan Pena that says, show me your friends and I'll show you your future." That quote is mostly used for success seminars, you know, the ones where you start your own business or try to become wealthy, usually through an MLM scheme. Personally, I've always liked it because it helped me give an idea of the importance of the people I surround myself with. Not that I'm trying to become a millionaire or anything, although if someone happens to have a million dollars laying around, by all means, I won't say no. But the people we choose to surround ourselves with can affect us in many ways. Whether we are aware of it or not, others people's thoughts and behaviors both influences and frames us to become who we are as individuals. It's not to say we should pick people based solely on what they have to offer or what they do, but perhaps a better course of action would be to strongly consider who we allow within our inner circle. Most importantly, we should strive to be like the people we want around us, not only for our own sake, but also for society as a whole. As a society, we are attracted to extremes, whether it be positivity or negativity. What we exude is our individual choice, and my hope is that everyone tries to showcase positivity in shine, a light, because it's through that light where one can find hope during difficult times. It's where empathy can provide comfort. It's where one can find and experienced true love. My guest uses her experiences in life to spread positivity and help others within the Pokemon Go community. From the Lone Star state, here's her origin story into the world of Pokemon Go. This is EeveeSophie. We are now live with the next episode of Trainer's Eyes. Where we get to hear from various people around the community on how their Pokemon Go journey started, where it has been, and where it is currently going. Today I'm joined by EeveeSophie. Welcome to the show!

EeveeSophie: 2:40

Thank you.

David Hernandez: 2:42

Now, I assume with the name EeveeSophie that Eevee is likely your favorite Pokemon?

EeveeSophie: 2:48

Yes. Eevee is definitely a favorite Pokemon of mine. it wasn't necessarily something I really thought about when I first started the game. As silly as that sounds, I just kind of last minute popped onto the game and had no idea at that point even when IGN was. And so when it asked, you know, what it was gonna be, I thought, well, I like Eevee, it kind of goes in my name and thought to myself, I'll play for two weeks, so it doesn't really matter what I choose and uh, here we are

David Hernandez: 3:17

So basically it stuck it sounds like once you chose it?

EeveeSophie: 3:19

It did! I feel like I am not that creative for myself and I just couldn't think of anything that's like really cool, like some of my local players. So I probably stuck just maybe out of laziness of anything.

David Hernandez: 3:33

I'll say this, at least it isn't all numbers, like some people like say, uh, star 46 or something like that, so I think it's, there's a little bit of creativity out of it.

EeveeSophie: 3:40

Yeah, just, just a tiny bit just a tiny bit.

David Hernandez: 3:43

So I gotta ask you this question. What is your favorite Eevee-lution and why is it Espeon?

EeveeSophie: 3:50

I think I have to say they're all created equally. I love all of them equally. Espeon is definitely, one of the very core evolution and I look forward to even more ones in the future. I will say there's a special place in my heart for Flareon, just because I played Pokemon Red and I got Flareon to level 100, which is the highest you can get it to indicate how much I played that game. And that was definitely when Pokemon was new and didn't really know anything about it. But I, I do love them all equally.

David Hernandez: 4:22

Now that's some dedication cuz Pokemon, those first generations are not as friendly to leveling a Pokemon to they are nowadays, especially a Pokemon like Flareon cause Flareon wasn't that good as it was nowadays.

EeveeSophie: 4:34

Hey. I think it was fantastic back then. I'm just kidding. Um, yeah, I think it was just kind of random, I got a Firestone somehow and just thought, why not? I'll just evolve it into Flareon and probably needed a fire type or something like that back then. I base my likeness of Pokemon as well like after how cute they are and I just thought Flareon was super cute as well. So I really worked, worked on leveling up that one instead of probably my focus should have been other ones instead.

David Hernandez: 5:03

Since we're on the topic of the Gen one games, you know, after red, blue, and yellow, did you continue to play Pokemon or did you like stop at a point?

EeveeSophie: 5:10

So I think I played, the next few ones, I think like Diamond and Sapphire and things like that. And I think I just kind of got too busy with life or things just kind of changed. With the games that it wasn't as straightforward as what I was used to, I suppose. I really only picked it back up again, I got Let's GO Eevee, obviously a few years ago and then I just bought the newest one, but I think it was for quite a while I didn't really pick up any of the games and I think it was just, due to busyness and when you're a kid, it's a lot easier to devote tons of time to playing those games.

David Hernandez: 5:47

You came back to Let's GO. So at that point, were you already playing Pokemon Go?

EeveeSophie: 5:51

I was, yes. I think honestly since it came out, I've been playing fairly regularly and that's even with back in the day when it was Pidgeys and rats that you were catching and weren't really going anywhere. I just really wanted to finish my Gen one Pokedex, like that was the main thing that I was trying to do and why I kept playing it. And I can even remember like searching for Grimers and things like that like I just couldn't figure out where they were and I remember catching my first one in a random neighborhood when I was visiting a friend. But yeah, I've been playing pretty much since it came out, maybe not as intensely when there wasn't really much going on, but it honestly was when I met locals in the community is when I really started playing a lot more just because I feel like it's a lot more enjoyable to play with others and that's really what's kept me playing as well.

David Hernandez: 6:40

So let's go to 2016, right when Pokemon Go debuted, where did you go to play those first couple days when the game came out?

EeveeSophie: 6:47

So, I really had no idea where to really play and there wasn't a load of stops or anything by me. I think so the first few places I went to the, like local parks, there weren't a ton of people there playing. My dog Bentley, actually, I take him on walks all the time and I was absolutely bored, brainless taking him to the same place all the time and that's where I really started playing Pokemon and you know, it would be like that kind of thing where I'm sure you'd, see back then, you'd see other people playing Pokemon and I never really knew if I should acknowledge it or not. So there would be just various times I would see random people that would be like taking a gym or catching Pokemon is, you know, it's obvious that playing Pokemon. And so I didn't really see a ton of people out and about. I will say when Moltres was out, and I don't think that was the first one, I couldn't quite figure out where like the RAID groups were or how to find raid groups. I remember finding a Moltres raid at my local park. I kind of got there at the worst time because the first like huge group of people had already done the raid and were leaving as I arrived. So there was about like 20 people left and I just kind of awkwardly said, hi, are you doing the raid? Like, can I help face? I think I was like level 32 or something like that. I think it took probably like the ex raids for me to see like a mob of people and like so many people, in places where people were like coming out of their houses and things like that to be like, what are you all doing here? Like, we're catching Mewtwo. What do you think we're doing?

David Hernandez: 8:20

Trying to catch'em all, man!

EeveeSophie: 8:21

Yeah, exactly.

David Hernandez: 8:22

So from basically when the game first started in 2016, all the way till raids debuted, it sounds like you were basically someone who played to themselves and you didn't really have anybody to go play the game with. Is that fair to say?

EeveeSophie: 8:34

Yeah, definitely. My best friend that kind of told me, Hey, Pokemon Go is coming out and you need to download it and I was like, oh yeah, I'm down." He lived in a different state at the time, so there wasn't really anybody I knew locally cause my friends are just really not into video games as much. So there wasn't anybody locally that I knew that was playing and I don't really enjoy playing the game itself by myself. I did like a Google search for like raid help basically when the raids did come out cuz I just desperately wanted to do them. And it kind of led me to a Reddit post and then Reddit told me all about Discord and I thought to myself, oh my gosh, I have to sign up for another, you know, app and platform and do all that. But I'm obviously really happy I did because I was able to find a few local groups and that's how I was able to connect with my locals that are, yeah, it has been like literally years and years that I've known them now.

David Hernandez: 9:28

Did y'all like do raid trains or meetups or stuff like that?

EeveeSophie: 9:31

Yeah, we did. it would basically be, most of the time it was weekends or evenings, and we would just meet up together in the beginning. and then it kind of became more like groups of people together, that would, you know, go in cars together and then eventually we would just kind of all pile into like whoever had a minivan or something like that and like you said, do the raid trains and things like that. I do really miss that part, you know, I love remote rating, but that was definitely a fun time when we did more in person things. You know, the nice thing was that especially in the beginning, you would just introduce yourself and get to know each other and then eventually friends list came out so you could add one another, and that was just really nice to be able to meet a lot of locals that had, you know, kind of the same addiction that you had and just enjoy, you know, talking about it, especially when you love the game so much, you just have so much more to talk about with the game and just share what you love about it and that, you know, that I just absolutely loved.

David Hernandez: 10:27

Now with Pokemon Go, like what's your prime motivation to play? It sounds like it was rating at one point. Is it still raiding or is it something else?

EeveeSophie: 10:33

Oh gosh, that's a really good question. I think for right now, it's just something that I really enjoy and is like a good distraction from life, no matter what that can be, you know, I've known a lot of people over the years that have used it for distractions in their lives and difficulties in their lives and I think for me, even if it's not necessarily been a bad day, I think with everybody with work or family life or whatever's going on, just to have kind of something that is at this point, it's like natural to do and kind of mindless to just go and catch, so I think for me right now, it's just something to really enjoy and keep my mind off things. It's almost like a de-stressor as well like I know there's definitely things like lag in GBL or something like that, you know, that's frustrations for people, but honestly, I enjoy almost every facet of the game and so for me it's just really enjoyable. I would say definitely shiny hunting is something I enjoy doing. There is nothing like getting a shiny Eevee I have to say. That is always.... If I see like a whole cluster, you know, like you kind of prioritize what you, well, okay, for me, you know, I prioritize which ones I want shiny the most, and literally every single time it's Eevee like, just in case it's a shiny one or like a hundo or something like that, you know.

David Hernandez: 11:50

You must have loved with that Eevee had two Community Days as well.

EeveeSophie: 11:53

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. People were not happy about that, it being, you know, an entire weekend and then, you know, having it again and I absolutely loved that. I would be down for a third one and plus, you know, not everybody has been playing since 2016 or whenever, so it's like they definitely should be able to enjoy, you know, a weekend of Eevee and you can use them in PVP, I use mine in raids, they are they're very useful to have.

David Hernandez: 12:21

So eventually you started getting involved into PVP right?

EeveeSophie: 12:25

I did, yes. You know, it's kind of silly, but when I first played the games, you know, like Pokemon Red, my favorite thing to do was battle. So every single person I could find to battle, all the gym leaders, I absolutely loved it. When I first saw the ads for Pokemon Go, I thought it would include a lot of battling of the players or battling gym leaders, something like that. And so that was what I was really excited for and then it took several years for PVP to come out and when it first came out, I was not really sure, it was set up really weird to me and I remember you had to tap like really hard on your screen to get like the circle to go really big and things like that. It was just really confusing to me like, what is going on? So I kind of sat back for a bit and watched some local friends of mine, do P V P just because I was kind of confused about it and I think I was just wondering if this was something I really wanted to be a part of. And then one of my best friends really got into it and they changed how P V P works, where it's obviously just, you know, the bubbles now. I kind of just tried it for myself and I actually really enjoyed it. It took like a lot to, to learn everything. and unfortunately I signed up for my first like in-person event locally. it was just like at a shopping mall and I was, I was so nervous. Oh my goodness. It was just like, I just wanted to do well and it was something like I've never done before, like anything like that. And I absolutely loved it and I posted on Twitter, and got so much support from the community, which was so surprising to me. You know, my locals have always, been really kind, but with like the PVP space, I just was not expecting a reaction like that. I was just really taken back by that and then unfortunately kind of covid shut everything down. But that as well, like really appealed to me, the fact that like the PVP world, people are just so incredibly kind and supportive and that's why I've always Wanted to be a part of that kind of community, so that as well, made me want to make PVP like a focus and just continually get better at it and I kind of have just been doing PVP ever since.

David Hernandez: 14:37

So it sounds like the community really brought you into the PVP world, even in spite you already being against it at the first, and that's kept you going to this day.

EeveeSophie: 14:45

Absolutely. It's just meetings so many wonderful people and I incredibly, again, I'm incredibly lucky because even from the get go, just connecting with people that were just so kind and so amazing, despite me having absolutely no idea what I was doing. Um, and just probably quite embarrassing battles.

David Hernandez: 15:05

We all start somewhere though.

EeveeSophie: 15:06

Yeah. Exactly. I was definitely not that person that just magically like swept a seven round tournament with no practice or anything like that. And then connecting as well with like women in the community, that loved Pokemon go like I do and I feel like sometimes there's kind of like a negative about like women playing video games, that I have run into. So to meet so many people, just supportive of that and then other women as well, I was like, this is absolutely amazing and just kind of, you know, like you said, like supported my addiction and I was like, great, I am gonna move ahead with this and just continue going, continue learning, and keep just improving as best as I can.

David Hernandez: 15:47

You talked about how being a woman in the gaming world has negative connotations, I guess, for the lack of a better words.

EeveeSophie: 15:53

Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: 15:54

what has it been your, from your experience, being a woman in the PVP world for Pokemon Go.

EeveeSophie: 16:00

In general I'm probably like 90% of the time, people are incredibly supportive of me playing, men and women. Which is really, really wonderful and I'm very appreciative of that because I had not felt that way before and also been chastised many times in the past for being too competitive as a woman. And not that I've ever been like nasty or offensive to people, but just trying to win a game or be into video games, I've had several comments over the years against that. You know, recently I was thinking about this is that, as I feel like I've kind of like grown as a person, even when you say that you want to be kind, that doesn't mean, that you can just kind of accept any like negative comments and just deal with anything. I still think that you can be direct with somebody and just, you kind of have to demand respect from people sometimes. There's definitely been, unfortunately just sometimes where people, have not been very kind and used derogatory words like against me being a woman. I just have to demand respect from those people and just say that is not okay to treat me like that. And again, it's very minimal and for the most part, it's dealt with appropriately. But other times there's just spaces where I just feel like maybe there isn't as much support of women and sometimes not so fun comments we have to deal with. I just don't, put myself in those spaces anymore.

David Hernandez: 17:23

I think another way to say it is establish boundaries.

EeveeSophie: 17:26

Yes.

David Hernandez: 17:26

Because you can be nice, You can be kind, but it doesn't mean you can be a floor mat. Right.

EeveeSophie: 17:31

Exactly.

David Hernandez: 17:31

You want to establish like,"Hey, what you're doing is not okay." I need this kind of respect kind of thing.

EeveeSophie: 17:37

Yeah. And I think that's the same for men and women and everybody deserves equal respect. And if anything, it's just taught me again how to have boundaries. I might be direct, but I'm always kind, never put myself to their level or name call or anything like that. Just demand, respect and hope that maybe the other person can learn from that experience and maybe treat others in a different way or maybe they don't realize like how they're coming across, you know.

David Hernandez: 18:03

For sure.

EeveeSophie: 18:04

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 18:05

Now I assume you're also part of a Girls That PVP?

EeveeSophie: 18:07

Yes, so that was one of the great things about Twitter as well is connecting with the Girls That PVP. So I joined that server and that was, again, a really safe place to ask any questions that were probably really stupid questions, but just even the basics of like PVP etiquette when you battled someone saying hello to your opponent, good luck, have fun, you know, that type of thing, I had no idea how to even approach that situation or what the norm was. They put me into a lobby with some other wonderful girls and I had come up with a name. Girls play Rough obviously I'm a bit biased there, but I absolutely love that name. I was placed with girls that are all over the globe which I just love people coming together of all different cultures and we just all really got along so well, which I feel is just such like a big blessing because I feel like kind of unheard of just random people that come together with a single love of Pokemon and then we also talked about life and things that are going on with us and that was just really wonderful as well to have that kind of support. You know, even in general, some of the friendships that I've had in the community as well, it's become something that people can talk about their lives and just be supportive of whatever is going on. You know and even like in person I've been able to connect with people that are going through whatever and we'll like drive around and play Pokemon or we'll meet at the park and play Pokemon, you know?

David Hernandez: 19:33

Do you think you would still be involved with PVP as much as you are without them?

EeveeSophie: 19:37

I don't think so, no. It's just something that I really enjoy is, spending time with other people and be able to share your joy about something. You know, that's what's really wonderful about going to Pokemon Go events and even like the regionals that I went to in Orlando. The fact that you can talk to one another about your battles or what you're preparing for, bounce ideas off of people, and then even, there was one player that I had met and he was talking to us for the longest time about what he does for a job. He's like a historian and moves around all the time to study different history and it's just like so interesting. So I just love that personable like aspect to the game as well and just being again, like so supportive of me playing a game that I love.

David Hernandez: 20:22

Now you talked about how you've got to visit regionals, I know we met in Arlington, but you also got to go to Orlando.

EeveeSophie: 20:28

I did, yeah. Arlington was really nerve wracking just because it's the first time that I've been to such a massive experience like that. And it was nice meeting you and other members of the community there as well. I know when I first got there and I just saw people playing the card game, I thought, oh my gosh, I'm in the wrong place, I thought, oh no. I literally went to somebody. I said, am I in the right place? I'm here for Pokemon Go, not the card game. Up until that point, I had heard of the card game, but I had absolutely no idea, how enormous it is. I could not believe the amount of people in that room.

David Hernandez: 21:03

It was like three fourths of that entire gymnasium, I think, right?

EeveeSophie: 21:06

Yes! It was just so many people. It was so exciting to see that many people as well that have, this love of the game. It almost kind of like encourages you as well cause I think, you know, all of us have people in our lives that like,"oh my gosh, I can't believe you're playing Pokemon like, how lame is that? Um, so to see so many people that, you know, have the same addiction that you do, you're like, see, there's so many people here that love it too. And then, you know, it was a similar experience in Orlando, even though I was competing. It was again, a ginormous room with so many people playing the card game, oh my goodness I think Orlando was like twice the size or something, it was, it was so huge and that did not help my nerves cuz I was like, oh my goodness, this is so big, and it was just announcements being made all the time and craziness going on, but it was again, like really well run. The judges were amazing and just very helpful just because again, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I was using an Android phone for the first time, had no idea how to log in, nothing like that. My first opponent ended up, it was a friend of mine, he chose not to come at the last minute, so I actually ended up talking to another competitor that, his opponent didn't show up either, and he was brand new, so we just were talking to one another and wished each other best of luck and became friends in the game and everything. So.

David Hernandez: 22:32

That's awesome.

EeveeSophie: 22:32

Yeah, it is just again, like, really nice to just meet more people and I met more of the Girls That PVP, people that you know, I've seen their IGN's for many years and just never had the opportunity to meet them in person. But again, just the community that really makes this game so wonderful.

David Hernandez: 22:49

For sure. I know you're also a part of factions, right?

EeveeSophie: 22:52

I am, yes. my factions team name is Texas pvp.

David Hernandez: 22:57

Woo woo.

EeveeSophie: 22:57

Yeah. I started off when factions I think first rolled out, if I'm not mistaken and that was just like on a Girls That PVP, like my lobby team. We kind of put the factions team together and I did that and I actually really enjoyed the format of it. For the first time, like battling and actually being allowed to bounce ideas off of teammates and, talk about matches and things like that. So when the opportunity for factions kind of came around, my best friend was involved in it, and I had helped him in the past with factions, putting teams together and bouncing ideas off, things like that. And he had put it out there about me joining, and I thought, oh gosh, no, like I I am not good enough for a like, really competitive factions team." But it's basically all people, you know, all of us live in Texas. I was just really nervous just because I didn't know them. I just wasn't really sure what that was going to look like. And they're just like, we just have a lot of fun with each other, which is crazy because again, we've never met. You know, I've met some of my factions, team members in person, but most of'em I've never met before and yet it just feels like a familiarity, like being friends, but we're all like on a server and like battling together and I absolutely love it.

David Hernandez: 24:15

For sure. It sounds like that they've really been a good positive impact on your PVP experience, and I'm glad that they've been able to treat you like an equal and be able to enhance both of your knowledge and your experience with the game.

EeveeSophie: 24:26

Yeah, exactly. It's been like really wonderful. So even like our captain had invited everybody to join his like fancy football league. and in the past I had had a job where all of like the guys did that and I said like, could I join? And they said no, cuz you know, I'm a woman. And so I had asked him about it, like,"Hey, I just wanted to double check like, is this for everybody else and like wasn't meant to be sent to me?" And he's like, no, absolutely, like we have other women in the league, so you absolutely should join us and so that was like, wow! Just again, feeling like equal and supported was just really wonderful. And so it's just, changed my perspective of even like living in Texas. It's just a whole new experience. I'm, sometimes I feel still not used to.

David Hernandez: 25:10

Your used to seeing the opposite of where you're always excluded for being a woman and it's kind of weird when you once get accepted into it, I guess. Is that the best way?

EeveeSophie: 25:17

Yeah, and you know, I, I don't wanna say it was a completely negative experience before, but I just had several experience that felt like I shouldn't be playing Pokemon and always guilty for playing and, just having that support, like, yeah, other women play this and it's totally fine and supported and I don't get treated differently by my factions team members or other people in the community. And I just feel like that's how everyone should be, just treated with equal respect and the same way as everyone else.

David Hernandez: 25:47

I used to have that same issue to where I felt weird playing Pokemon Go because everybody stopped playing. I was like, oh, why are you still playing that game? Or, you know, yada yada yada and I had a coworker who I found out she played. I can't remember what we said. I can't remember what I asked her, but ultimately, I asked her like, you know, why do you keep playing this game? Or something like that. Yeah. And she says, because I enjoy it, and why would I not do something that I enjoy? And ever since I heard that, that's been kind of my mantra to the degree, it's like, I'm not gonna be ashamed for playing Pokemon Go. It's given me things that I wouldn't have had without it. You know, yes, Niantic is a pain in the butt at times, you know, yes, it's glitchy. But I enjoyed the people that I've met, I've enjoyed the journey along the way, and I still enjoy it and I still play this game for that very reason.

EeveeSophie: 26:28

Exactly! I think you should just do what you love, especially if it's not hurting anybody. I've played with people, I've played with kids, I've played people that are elderly, I've played with people of all ages and it doesn't really matter. It's just what you enjoy and I think that's what's so wonderful about Pokemon, I think it's lovely that you know, your coworker plays and you could just connect with her on that as well.

David Hernandez: 26:51

Do you have any goals for yourself moving forward with the game? Like do you have any hopes you want to do?

EeveeSophie: 26:55

What I would really like to do is make GBL like a serious thing that I play every day. I really would like to reach legend and the reason I haven't honestly, well, this, this is the reason I'll go with for now. I just don't play it and you know, there's some people that are so good at GBL that they get to legend in very minimal battles, and that's absolutely amazing. That's not me but also you have to play Gbl to be able to get to Legend, so, so...

David Hernandez: 27:23

That's a bit of a problem.

EeveeSophie: 27:24

Yeah, that's my excuse. Oh, I, I just don't play, that's why. So I really want to focus on doing gbl because I used to get really nervous when I would get up higher in the 25 hundreds rank and if I faced people that were like current or prior legends, I would get so nervous, like seeing the pose and everything, and just kind of psych myself out. So I ultimately would really like to make legend in GBL and make that an actual focus of mine. And this sounds really silly, but I would like to make 5 million Stardust, like I used to have before I started PVP. RIP dust.

David Hernandez: 28:03

Are you below a million? Is that kind of your life now?

EeveeSophie: 28:05

So, I probably have a, between like two to 3 million. so that's, that's where I'm at now and I know for some people they'll have like 10 stardust and for other people they have like 10 million. And so it just kind of depends on the person if you have a ton or not. But I like to keep at least a couple million just in case of like emergency basically. And then also, one goal of mine as well is to make sure I attend Go Fest this year, wherever that is being hosted. You know, being able to do Arlington and Orlando and just meeting more of the community, made me feel like I can just travel to events and either see friends there or make friends there and just again, share the love of the game. You know, I don't really like playing Pokemon, driving around like. that's just not fun. But being able to, to go to the park and just explore and kinda like how I used to do when I first started playing. I'll take my dog on a walk still now, and I'll just be like catching and spinning while he's sniffing around everything. That's definitely how I'd love to play and being able to explore like a giant park just looks like so much fun. But, yeah, so those are some of my goals. coming up with Pokemon.

David Hernandez: 29:14

Well, Sophie, thank you for coming on to the show. I would like to ask you if you had any inspirational message for our listeners like anything you want to tell them to kind of maybe give'em a pick me up. If so, you will. Cause I know you're so good at those

EeveeSophie: 29:27

Gosh. Oh, they put me on the spot. Um... we're all people and I think we all deserve to be treated with the same respect and kindness and love. And don't ever think that you're not worthy of that. It doesn't matter what anyone has told you, you know, family members or a partner or people that are meant to be close to you. You know when words feel good and when words don't feel good and ultimately if you feel like people just are putting you down and just not making you feel good about yourself or you're not worthy, those are not your people. I just think that everybody is wonderful in their own ways and has something special about them, so make sure to act like that. And again, sometimes you just need to demand respect from people and that can just be as simple as,"Hey, I don't deserve to be spoken to that way, and I, don't deserve to be treated that way." Something that I have always lived my life with is you'll never regret being kind, but you might regret words that come out of anger or frustration. I think it's good to always remember to be kind because you also never know what someone else is going through.

David Hernandez: 30:35

Good word, Sophie. I'll put it in the words of my coworker. Know your worth. Know your self value, and don't put up with bullshit

EeveeSophie: 30:44

Those are also very, very good words to live by.

David Hernandez: 30:48

Thank you for listening to an episode of As The Pokeball Turns. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Feel free to follow me on all my socials by clicking the link in the description of this episode, and I'll see you next time. Here's the sneak peek for the next episode of As The Pokeball Turns.