"Jirachi's Wish is You" ft. Ginger Jirachi | TRAINER'S EYE #172

When you lose everything, what brings you back? For Ginger Jirachi, it was Pokémon and a little wish upon a star. 

After a painful divorce and losing nearly everything he collected, Ginger Jirachi rebuilt his life one Pokéstop at a time, powered by Pokémon nostalgia, the warmth of community, and the quiet strength of starting over. From sibling memories and clay-art cards to a wish for Worlds and a newfound path in sobriety, his story reminds us that sometimes, wishes really do come true.

Listen as he shares how the trading card game, Pokémon GO, and one mythical star brought hope back into focus. This is more than a comeback, it’s a celebration of connection, healing, and holding on to joy.

 🎧 Listen to heartfelt stories of inclusion, resilience, and connection.
Explore the Pokémon & Disability Stories playlist now!

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

Transcript

Ginger Jirachi: 0:00

My name is Ginger Jirachi and this is my Pokemon story.

David Hernandez: 0:42

Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns, where every voice, every journey, and every memory brings us closer to the world of Pokemon. I'm David Hernandez and I'm joined by someone who built a space where wonder in warmth, shine just like a shooting star. Ginger Jirachi, welcome to the The Pokeball Turns.

Ginger Jirachi: 0:59

Hey, Hey, glad to thank you.

David Hernandez: 1:00

Thank you. Absolutely. And you know, you're the one of the first people I've had on the podcast. I told you this before we started that Love Jirachi, and I wanted to start off with a fun question before we dive into the whole Facebook and Jirachi and everything. Obviously Jirachi is known as the one who grants wishes. So if you could have one wish granted by Jirachi, but it can only be related to your Pokemon journey, what would it be? Um,

Ginger Jirachi: 1:25

You know, that's a tough one. the last couple years I've been, really kind of bouncing all over the place with family stuff. so I guess my one wish would be, I would really love to go to Worlds someday. I haven't been to a whole lot of shows, but I would really, really love to go to Worlds and watch that. I think that would probably be my number one wish.

David Hernandez: 1:44

That's not a bad wish. I mean, I think a lot of people kind of wish for that. what about Worlds appeals to you? Like why Worlds of all things?

Ginger Jirachi: 1:51

so the, trading card game kind of got me back into Pokemon the last few years. I've got three younger brothers and one of them is really into magic. so he watches, competitive stuff on YouTube, and he kind of turned me back into the, uh, competitive scene, for Pokemon. up probably like 20 14, 20 15. It just kind of, uh, rekindled my love for, you know, all the aspects, especially the community. I feel like, there's some people who, are very gatekeeper. About whatever hobby that may be. And, you know, it's surprising that our community does have that, but from the interactions and the people I've met, whether it's locally or online, the vibes are just so good, man. so really just like meeting people and, you know, having, a shared love and passion for something. And how many different, outlets Pokemon, gives different people, you know, like you've got your thing. You know, some people are more into the plushies, you know, the are whatever it is. So really just the, the community and the growth, is, cool to me about worlds. I remember, the, last Worlds I had to work that entire weekend. I was, I was gonna go. but work scheduled me, right. so that was kind of like my little treat to myself after work, you know, to hop on YouTube and, catch up with, you know, what's going on and, kind of the meta of the different decks and stuff.

David Hernandez: 3:10

Now you mentioned how you originally were playing Magic, the Gathering. And Pokemon and Magic to me are kind of, I'll say distant cousins in a way. You know, magic

Ginger Jirachi: 3:16

Sure.

David Hernandez: 3:17

Pokemon has the energies. They're kind of little similar, but obviously very different games. What was it specifically about Pokemon that kind of brought you back? Was it the artwork, the strategy? Like what is it about the trading card game back in 2014 that kind of brought you back in?

Ginger Jirachi: 3:29

I would say the art, definitely, big time. when I was younger, I was a, a little bit of an artist. I still doodle in stuff. there some street graffiti, although I didn't just say that. Um,

David Hernandez: 3:39

Um,

Ginger Jirachi: 3:40

uh. Yeah, no, I, I really love the artwork and, that's actually something, I'm considering getting into, is doing like a mini series on, different artists, in the cards and kind of, get into their other works outside of Pokemon. But yeah, I'd definitely say the artwork, it just. it's such a comfort thing and it's so inspiring. Like, especially with, the cutesy Pokemon, like the colors and pastels. That really, uh, really, turns my brain on for sure.

David Hernandez: 4:05

Now, when it comes to the artwork and, you know, we'll get a little artsy side on this side. what kind of cards do you enjoy art-wise? can you give us some examples of some that kind of stick to you? Um, Um,

Ginger Jirachi: 4:15

I, I love my Jirachi cards. That's obviously a given. I've really been into the last couple of sets, especially the, Destin rivals. it's such a great callback to the actual, like trainer cards and rocket cards from back in the day. That was one of the of the first collected when I was younger, with uh, errands money or chore money. that was always a really special thing this is dating me a little bit. Me and my brothers would, walk up to the local Kmart and, all chip in and get a couple packs together. So I'm, I'm really into the new. Sets. But as far as like, art style wise, my favorite, and I'm, I'm blanking on the artist's name right now, but the cards that look like they're, you know, either made with like clay or that they're crocheted, I just think those cards are so stinking cute. And I know they're only like pennies, but I've got, a whole binder of just cute Pokemon just'cause the artwork. So Cool. Growing up, I watched a lot of, Like stop motion shows, you know, like, the most popular one would be like, nightmare before Christmas to give everybody an idea what, the medium stop motion is like. So those cards where, The Pokemon themselves are a real physical thing. I think that's probably my favorite art style right now.

David Hernandez: 5:23

Now you mentioned how Jirachi specifically is one of the favorite Pokemon you have or one of The Pokeball you love. what is your connection to Jirachi? Like? Is it a favorite Pokemon? Is there a special memory tied to it?

Ginger Jirachi: 5:33

I would definitely say it's my favorite Pokemon for sure. when that movie came out, I got it from a three pack, DVDI can't remember the other movies that were on it. But, wish Maker was one of them, and it was one of the few, DVDs that me and my brothers could agree on. We used to, um, yeah, yeah, I know, I know. That's funny. the oldest brother being like, shut up. We're watching Pokemon.

David Hernandez: 5:55

Yeah, well, I mean, more so'cause the brothers usually fight. They, that's kind of amazing. You all actually agreed on one movie

Ginger Jirachi: 6:00

Yeah. Yeah. you know, now that we're older, we all get along, but That's one thing we very much have in common. We've, we've been Pokemon fans since the get go. I remember when it hit the States in 98. That's when my youngest brother was born. my grandma went to toys us and got those, uh, oh, how do I describe it? Basically just like a, a plastic figurine. But they would, talk, you know, it just had like one of those sliding buttons on the bottom and it was. Let me think. It was Meowth because I ended up getting Meowth cause I guess all the Pikachu had been sold out and it was so new. My grandma didn't really know what to get. So all four of us boys got our first Pokemon. So mine was Meowth. I think there we had a Squirtle, Bulbasaur,, and I can't remember the other one. There was only like seven or eight in the set. From a young age, we were always really into it. But as getting back to JIrachi definitely my favorite Pokemon, this again, I'm aging myself here. when Ruby and Sapphire version came out, I was one of the only kids that got Sapphire because, I liked the artwork better. I, I liked Kyogre more than Groudon, so it kind of worked out.'cause I was one of the only kids that had Sapphire. So everybody wanted to trade with me. And I had this buddy, Zach Green, who, uh, I'm still very close with, to this day. Me and him. Would trade together. So, I guess that would've been the first Pokedex I ever completed. Completed at the time, a hundred percent completed it. And he was also one of the friends that, his parents are super geeky. Like they're, they've always been into like graphic novels and like, they turned me onto like Futurama and stuff like that. And, he had the Colosseum, bonus disc. to get Jirachi, because, you know, being that young, I think I was maybe, oh gosh, like 11 or 12 at the time around there. so I didn't really understand, you know, and it's a whole thing now where it's like the distribution events, it was so hard for me to even consider that a viability, you know?'cause I was young and, and I live in the middle of nowhere in Illinois. Like my town's only 15,000 people. So. To have a friend that had the Colosseum bonus disc, me and him both got Jirachi to finish our, sapphire and Ruby Dexes and, yeah, I just remember that being such a fun time in my life. Like every morning in the summer, I'd go over, we'd trade, we'd battle all day, all night, and then, uh, when he got that disc, that was just huge because. I'd never experienced Pokemon, in multiple, platforms before. You know, for me it'd always just been the TV show. I'd have grandma record that. me and my brothers all shared one Game Boy Advance, or maybe it was two. we didn't have a whole lot of money growing up, so to get, a mythical Pokemon via a whole different game system that just like really turned me on. And Jirachi You know, super cute. and I feel like it's very underrated. especially with, the Alpha and Omega stuff, I feel like they really focused on Latias and Latios thing and you know, Jirachi doesn't get a whole lot of love. You know, a lot of people really like Deoxys and Rayquaza I'd I, so my opinion, that's the. Most popular fandom as far as it goes to gen three, and I feel like Jirachi's just super slept on. So, uh, I decided to start my page, I was like, well, that just makes sense.

David Hernandez: 9:08

Now, you talked about how your brothers, y'all were opening packs, y'all got your figurines. Was those early days of, playing Pokemon a competition a way for y'all to bond? Or was it kind of a bit of both?

Ginger Jirachi: 9:18

you know, we didn't really, I didn't learn learn how to actually play the card game until I was probably game until I was in middle school. at that time, Yu-gi-oh was the huge thing. I was, I was really into Yu-gi-oh but when the meta started shifting, and basically it turned into like a, pay to play thing, you know, even if you had a really great deck, you know, the rich kids had the really good cards, so they'd smoke you. so it was never, a competitive thing until later in my life. it was more about the collection and, it really helped me make friends. I really didn't have friends growing up until, Pokemon. cause everybody was into it, you know? It was even in this little rural town, it was easier to make friends and, meet people and have conversations. They'd see your cards or they'd see you playing your game boy advance and, you know, immediately you'd just make a new friend. So it was very much a connective thing, for all of us. Like all of my brothers are super into Pokemon. We don't, talk a whole lot. You know, we're all, spread out over the states and we're grown men now. So, you know, we got our careers and, getting ready to start families and stuff like that. But I feel like I talk to my brothers every single day and if Pokemon wasn't a factor, I really don't know if that would be the case.

David Hernandez: 10:25

Well, after gen three, was there any particular generation afterwards or even before that you enjoyed the most?

Ginger Jirachi: 10:31

So you know, I gotta give love to the OGs. The first game, I owned was a, pre-owned yellow version, and it was like a year or two before gen three came out. that was a big deal, you know,'cause all my friends they had, gold and silver, and my next door neighbor had Crystal. So I guess Crystal would be the first game I ever played. but yellow version, I, I still, to this day, I really love yellow version and, you know, gen three obviously my favorite. it came out during a time where. global warming was becoming, a talking point, you know, even as a kid. So I thought that the storyline, it just came out at a perfect time. I three is always gonna be top, but I really, and this might be controversial but I preferred Sword and Shield over Scarlet and Violet, I thought. That the story was great. The new Mons were fantastic. Don't get me wrong. I, really enjoyed Scarlet Violet, but it had been a long time, you know, basically since gen three I'd say, Sword and Shield, Shield, Snap. And then of course, uh, gen three are, those have gotta be my tops.

11:33

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David Hernandez: 12:06

Now from what you said earlier, you said the trading card games are what brought you back. So I'm guessing you took a break at some point

Ginger Jirachi: 12:11

Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: 12:11

Shield or was it before?

Ginger Jirachi: 12:13

Yeah. long story short, I got married and divorced in the same year.

David Hernandez: 12:19

I don't know if I should say congratulations or I'm sorry. It's

Ginger Jirachi: 12:21

No, no, no. Totally her loss. It was, uh, we were super young and just, anyway, Not to get into that, but long story short, when we split, I don't know if she sold all my stuff or just like destroyed it, but I had a extensive collection of cards and I used to be really into the plushies, so I had like 20 Pokemon Center exclusive Plushies. Uh, so after we split, I kind of had to start from ground one. so I moved out of the area. And, one of my things to do to, you know, explore the new area and get to know people was, Pokemon Go. I've, I've played that literally every day since it came out. so I'd say Sword and Shield definitely got me back into it, although Pokemon's been in my life every day since it came to the States. So it's kind of hard to say What, quote unquote got me back into it.'cause I've always been into it, but I feel, like that relationship change and kind of starting from ground one, as a new journey, you know, I definitely was, very upset. You know, that's not an easy thing to go through in life. you know, divorced, I didn't think I'd be a part of that demographic, but. Showed me, what I'm into the things that I can't live without. And I, I'd never felt so, angry and upset after, losing these physical things. But the more I thought about it, I was like, it's not that it's physical things, it's'cause it's Pokemon. You know, you have such a, bond over it, or at least for me, you know, it's, it's so close to the heart that. pushed me a little bit to go, you know what, instead of getting stuck in the mud or, uh, erasing the file or whatever, to, uh, just, start a new game, I guess.

David Hernandez: 13:48

guess. I'll be the first to admit, you know, I've never experienced marriage or divorce, so I can't even fathom what that's like what you went through. But from what you told me, it sounds like you have such a mixed emotions at the time because obviously'cause a lot of things happen within a year, those are two life changing events for anybody and,

Ginger Jirachi: 14:08

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 14:08

it's kind of amazing just to see how you were able to find people through Pokemon. In this case, Pokemon Go. What did it mean to find connection again through Pokemon Go?

Ginger Jirachi: 14:18

You know, it was, everything, for a while. you know, a after me and my ex split, I got a job opportunity up in the suburbs and, you know, I basically started from square one. You know, I didn't know anybody. I was couch surfing for a little bit. a And, You know, after work and stuff I'd go to the pub or you know, wherever, you know, get a bite to eat. And I was surprised at how many adults like me, me, know, in the suburbs there's tons of Pokestops, right? So like, right? So like, everybody I met was into it of their own fruition or'cause their kids were super into it. so I, I gotta connect, with a lot of my clients that way. Meeting new friends, you know, just totally random people. I'd see'em on their phone. I'm like, I'm yo, aby is a friend. You know, or you do, you need a trade it was pretty incredible how quickly I gained, new friendships and new connections just through go initially. you know, after the split it that, it was really, really tough. I didn't think I'd be able to start over again. I thought, all my friends aren't gonna, you know, they're not gonna rock with me anymore, yada, yada. learned very quickly that that was kind of the opposite, you know, the community and people that are into Pokemon are just so welcoming and, you know, a lot of times we don't wanna talk about the serious stuff and Pokemon's kind of an outlet. for That, you know, whether it's a comfort thing or if it, motivates you. So I'd say yeah, through go. that was honestly, I know it sounds so silly, but it was, it at that time in my life, it was a genuine lifesaver. Like I was just going through so much and go, got me out of bed in the morning. You know, I had something to look forward to, even though it's, you know, quote unquote just a video game. it really helped me push myself and, you know, tell myself, Hey, this isn't the end. You know, it sucks right now, But you'll get through this and you got a lot of friends and you know, your team's never gonna ditch you. So, you. So yeah.

David Hernandez: 16:06

it sounds like, of course, your friends were just, the way they grounded you during your time, during a time when your life was just full of turmoil.

Ginger Jirachi: 16:12

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 16:12

you

Ginger Jirachi: 16:13

Oh yeah.

David Hernandez: 16:14

day or kind of a moment that made you, I guess, realize that these people are your people?

Ginger Jirachi: 16:19

Yeah. I guess the, first one that really kind of smacked me in the face was, uh, I guess I didn't say what I do for work. So I'm a barber, um,

David Hernandez: 16:27

You're the one I can go for haircuts. All right, got you. Yeah,

Ginger Jirachi: 16:29

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I, I, I got you guys on that, but, uh,

David Hernandez: 16:33

take, take a trip all the way to Illinois from Texas. I'm down

Ginger Jirachi: 16:37

hey, you know, our cuts might be cheaper here, though. I, I don't know about that the shop I was working in was like two blocks away from the, College in town. There is a division three school, so, you know, very, prominent as far as like their theater, arts and, football was a huge deal there. And I remember one day, one of my clients was a couple minutes late and there was a bunch of people outside of the shop for a, um, Mewtwo raid. And. Everybody was like, why are all these people outside of the shop? I was like, oh yeah, my client shows up. tell him to wait because I wanna be a part of this. I didn't end up catching Mewtwo. I think that's the one, the only raid I have not completed. I didn't get the Mewtwo, which is surprising because there's literally like just in a block radius, there must have been like a hundred people. But I quickly realized, you know, I was like, oh my gosh, like I'm a grown male, and I'm still so psyched and still into this, you know, and to see all the different walks of life like that, come together for, a raid or, raid know, event, whatever that may be. It really, solidified to me that, Pokemon doesn't really have an age, you know, if it's been a part of my life forever. forever. to say, you know, I've, I've met people that could be my grandma or grandpa, and they love Pokemon because of GO, you know, or one thing or the other. It got them into it. So, yeah, that definitely, that definitely hit me. I was like, you know, I felt like a stranger in a new land, right? But to see all these people that, shared a passion for Pokemon, I was like, yeah, this is it, you know?

David Hernandez: 18:01

Now my last question just in regards to go,'cause you just have an amazing story, but I kind of wanna know like, how do you play? Are you like a collector, shiny hunter? What's your kind of way to engage when it just comes to Pokemon Go?

Ginger Jirachi: 18:12

so that's kind of a mixed bags. The city I live in, it's technically a city is only like 15,000 people. But during the shutdown. we didn't, we didn't really shut down, like everything was still pretty much open, better or for worse, you know, everybody did their own things and was still respectful and whatever. But, during the shutdown, a, a couple cities over is the quote unquote bigger city around here. It's called Peoria, Illinois. they had already had a Pokemon Go group. A lot of them, you know,'cause there wasn't anything to do, you know, nothing was open, especially in Peoria. So they would come over the bridge and they started like a lot of spots and there was, I guess those first, year and a half, two years of people being like, oh, well we don't know what's going on. It might be the end of the world. There was so many people that came over here and kind of injected Pokemon into a little city because when the app first came out. I think the only Pokestop in this area was our Walmart, which is like five miles from where I lived. so I definitely use it for like exercise. I, you know, I love knowing how much I cycled or, walked that day. I, I try and stay fit. I'm, I'm not a muscular guy at all. I've never been able to keep muscle on, so I always try and, you know, I do a lot of cardio, so that's great to track it that way. And Just recently. I've been running into a lot of shinies, and I don't know if that's the algorithm, like, yo, this guy's been playing every single day. We're gonna hook him up or whatever. But, you know, I always, I trade with people. I don't drink anymore, but I still go to the pub you know, see those people and play some shuffleboard and, it's pretty incredible how, I'm still meeting new people through that.'cause I'll be there, check in and spinning stops and somebody be like, oh my gosh, I play, you know, and we add each other. so I use it for a little bit of everything. I'd, I'd say I'm definitely more of like. A collector, I've kind of chilled out on the raids.'cause like I said, our city's really, really small. so there's not a whole lot of people that are like daily goers like I am. So it's definitely more like, uh, a point of pride. guess my biggest thing is I live right off the, square in my hometown. you know, it's got the Little fountain and some boutiques and a candy store and whatever. So I kind of pride myself, with the gyms there, being in control of it for, you know, six days to, you know, a week plus. it's kind of fun, you know, to be like, yeah, this is my turf.

David Hernandez: 20:28

Well, let's shift over to how you meet people online. Through your Facebook group, you have a Facebook group called Ginger Jirachi. Now, for those who can't see you, you are obviously a ginger. So

Ginger Jirachi: 20:38

Oh, yeah.

David Hernandez: 20:39

alert, you're a ginger, and now that's how the name kind of came about. But I wanna know the reason why, like why did you wanna launch the Facebook page,

Ginger Jirachi: 20:46

You know, one of my college buddies from a Christian university. he is always been encouraging over the years. He's like, yeah, you, you know, you should start a YouTube or, you need to get on, vine or TikTok or, you know, whatever it is at the time. And, you know, I had to tell him, I was like, with my career and family stuff that I've already committed to, it's hard to Find time to, even get on my Switch light, you know, God forbid running a whole, page with videos and stuff. So, I decided to start my journey of sobriety and very quickly I was like, you know, I'm not spending all this time and money, you know, doing this foolish stuff. you know, I was like, I have time to, you know, let me just start a Facebook page, you know,'cause over the years. I've met so many cool people through their Pokemon pages. I was like, maybe this, you know, is a good, healthy outlet. And, I was very surprised within, not even, a month how many people, followed me and how many people reached out and, you know, added me to, their groups and stuff and group messages. And it's just been really neat to, see all these different walks of life. Through that. Honestly, can't imagine it any different way now. It's kind of something where I'm like, dude, had you just gotten your head outta your butt? You could have been doing this years ago. And you know, if sands or buts, I don't like to be like that, but I'm just, I'm very thankful and very blessed to be where I'm at now. doing something that's fun. I gonna meet new people. I'm always up to date on stuff. And, for some people it might seem a little silly that, A guy in his mid thirties is still so into it, but it's given me a, given a super healthy outlet to be myself and share the things that I want to share. my page As you know, it's still super young. The page is still, fairly small. and I haven't really figure out, if I wanna focus on cards or if I wanna focus on GO. So I kind of just use the page as my outlet to share my trainer journey. I've been very surprised at the, outreach and people that are, You know, actually into my content that's, you know, it's homegrown. It's, all reposts. It's mostly, you know, just my life of, This is This is how big of a trainer I am, and people seem to really enjoy it. So I'm gonna keep it up. And it it's been a blast so far.

David Hernandez: 22:50

in what ways has running the Ginger Jirachi page supported your sobriety and personal growth?

Ginger Jirachi: 22:56

it's something I've struggled with the last 10 years a lot of people say, alcoholism is like hereditary. I don't know so much if that's true or at least that's not really my belief. But, it's more nature versus nurture where it's like all my friends drink both sides of my family drink. And it was just always, a constant, you know, it was so normalized, which to an extent I don't think is a bad thing, but, like right when I turned 21, I was a mess. I was getting in trouble. I lost my license for a little bit. So literally, this time around when I, prayed and prayed on it. I've been talking to people about it, and finally I was like, you know what? It's time to put it down. And literally my first day after everything, you know, was outta my system, I'd sweat it out. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna start a page. I don't know if it's gonna go anywhere, but you know, at least my friends will like it. It'll give me, you know, a reason to be on the phone instead of, like, Hey, let's party, or, you know, let's meet at the pub or whatever. So it's been very beneficial, for me it holds me accountable in a way.'cause it's something, you know, it's not like you post once or twice a day. You kind of gotta be constantly, in it and interacting with people know, if I was sloppy drunk, that would just be impossible for me. I'm, I'm a terrible multitasker as it is it already. Um, so it, this is, uh, this new step in my journey has kind of given me the opportunity to not just hold myself accountable, but now, with different pages and, long, friends, new friends. I've, been pretty vocal about it, in conversation. So it. kind of Has that, that other side of accountability where I, you know, if I didn't post one day, I am sure somebody would be like, Hey man, like, what's up? so it's like I said earlier, it's a great healthy outlet to, spend my time on, in and around, however you want to put it. like I said, I've been having a blast and, it's something that I, I wish I would've done sooner in my life, but better late than never, and it's, it's been awesome.

David Hernandez: 24:47

it's I think anybody who's been through, sobriety at any point in their lives would wish that, you know, because you think about all the years you lost, you think about all the time you raised, do you think about who you were in that stage of life.

Ginger Jirachi: 24:59

Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: 25:00

I think what's unique about your sobriety story, at least from what I understand. It is usually a lot of, from my experience, a lot of people who struggle with sobriety are those, they struggle with trying to find the social life because they can't go back to the old friends. They can't go back to the old bars because that would be them kind of sliding back into their old life. But your, your story from my perspective, correct me if I'm wrong, you were still able to keep some connection with some people maybe. Pokemon Go.

Ginger Jirachi: 25:29

Yeah, absolutely. Um,

David Hernandez: 25:31

to kind of keep the social life you had, but you connected with them in a different way.

Ginger Jirachi: 25:36

yes. Yeah, no, you nailed that a hundred percent. that's something I thought about, initially when, I was like, you know what? The big guy upstairs needs me to do this and get clean. And, you know, if I want these things in my life, this is a great start to it. and, there's some people you know, see as often anymore. as far as, you know, my temptations go, but for the most part, everybody that I've met through GO. Specifically at my hometown pub, which is literally right across the street from me. It's two blocks from my parents, is kind of the go-to spot in town here. I'll go there and get a lemonade and play shuffleboard, but it's incredible how many people I met years ago. years ago That I don't remember. And they'll be like, Hey, you're The Pokeball. You know?'cause I, I'm always wearing my Pokeball hat, so they're like, you're The Pokeball guy. Like, can you trade with me? And it's funny because I'm like, dude, I was probably so wasted. Like, I don't remember these people, but they remember me. So to, to keep some of those connections, through an app, kind of blows my mind. I'm, I'm not the most tech smart guy. it kind of feels like, the movie Spy Kids, you know, like everything is just at the tip of. Your smartphone, and it's incredible how many connections you can make and maintain just through an app. So that's been really cool.

David Hernandez: 26:45

Well, that's amazing to hear, man. This is my last question just in regards to Ginger Jirachi, you are working on trying to find your way through what you wanna post, you know, and that's okay. Obviously, you're, that's part of the journey.

Ginger Jirachi: 26:55

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 26:56

an idea of what type of community you kind of hope to build around that page at least?

Ginger Jirachi: 27:00

for me. You know, personally, Pokemon has been such a, saving light in my life. I just want to share, things that inspire people or make themselves proud of themselves. You know, a lot of, there's a lot of great artists out there. There's a lot of great pages out there. so I, try and keep it focused on like the smaller guys. as far as, sharing content goes because it's like, if I want to grow my page, you gotta put in and show that love back to the community. So definitely focused on more, like grassroots type type right now. but as far as content in the future, if you click on my page, I want you to. It should be a cozy, welcoming place where, you know, you can know, you share, whatever it is, you know, whether it's Pokemon related or you can even DM me and, start a conversation. I want it to be very communal. Pokemon has been such a communal thing for me overall these years. So So I'm really just kind of focused on keeping my feet on the ground and keep things rolling. You know, if you guys stick around, you'll see the page slowly mature over time. like I said earlier, I kind of wanna do like an artist highlights on some of the, uh. Illustrators, because some of that artwork is really incredible. And some of, you know, some of these people have been doing it for so long, but, the only artwork of theirs I've seen have been on the card. it'll be Pokemon related, but I'd also like to delve into some of those artists as far as like their backgrounds go and, You know, see where their styles started. that's just something that, turns my brain on and, uh, I've just had so much positive, feedback from what I'm doing already. I imagine that somebody will feel the same way. I.

David Hernandez: 28:34

feel the Well, ginger Jirachi, I want to finish on this last question. You know, you've gone through so many hard seasons that people will probably be able to relate to in different ways. what message do you want, your page and your story to give to people who may feel down and out, or who may be kind of where you were a long time ago?

Ginger Jirachi: 28:51

you know, to stay on theme. And it's something I genuinely believe in. sometimes wishes do come true, outside of spirituality or religion, praying for something or manifesting something, I just wish the best for. all the trainers out there, you know, Pokemon has been such a, it's been a healer, it's been a friend, it's been, an outlet. I just want people to know that, sometimes wishes do come true. You know, sometimes you can, make a big life change for the positive and realize you know, what you've wanted all along, has been right at your fingertips. You just gotta put in the training for it.

David Hernandez: 29:24

Well, Ginger Jirachi, if they want to check out your page, if they wanna connect with you, where can they go? By all means, please plug away.

Ginger Jirachi: 29:30

So, I'm really just on Facebook right now. I love being just on Facebook, but there is going to be a point where, I'm gonna need other socials to, continue this journey. So, yeah, for right now it's just. just finish on Facebook I wish all the trainers the best. And, if you decide to check me out, I'll be there.

David Hernandez: 29:48

Thank you for listening to As The Pokeball Turns, if this story resonated with you, share the podcast with the fellow trainer and don't forget to follow us. For more voices, more journeys, and more memories. David Hernandez, and remember, your next Pokemon adventure begins here.