Pokemon and Ghost Ranch
In 1999 I took my first art class with Nancy Crow here in Colorado. I loved the workshop and knew I wanted to continue to study with this instructor so I kept an eye out for future workshop opportunities.
Although I would be leaving for a 5 month sabbatical in New Zealand in November of 2000, I discovered that Nancy would be teaching 2 weeks of classes at Ghost Ranch in October of 2000. As I mentioned a few days ago, I grew up in Northern New Mexico and was thrilled with the prospect of returning to the area for a workshop.
Problem was I had no money. I was a stay at home mom with no income and no desire to get a job and finding $2000-$2500 for the workshop seemed rather unlikely, especially with the expenses of the sabbatical to consider. But I was determined and signed up for the workshop in early 2000 without a plan on how to pay. I knew it was important for me as an artist to take this class.
At the time, I also had an 7 year old son that was crazy for pokemon cards. Although my son wasn’t interested in just collecting the cards, he loved to play the game. I went with him and played pokemon with all the kids at the card shop and toysRus twice a week. I wasn’t comfortable leaving him for 3 hours with thirty to forty 10-14 year olds and actually it’s a pretty fun game so I didn’t mind. We quickly became some of the best players in town, mostly because I spent hours every week reading pojo’s pokemon website.
Problem is pokemon is more expensive than Nancy Crow workshops. Having the best decks meant buying lots of cards to find the best cards. Whoever invented trading card games was brilliant. It quickly became clear that we couldn’t afford to play pokemon at $3.49 for 11 cards.
So I started selling pokemon cards on ebay. I’d buy in bulk, keep the best cards for playing and sell off the the rest on ebay. I started turning a profit, not a large one and I was barely making minimum wage but over the course of the year I managed to save up enough money to pay for the Ghost Ranch workshop, while at the same time becoming a hero to my son.
The workshop at Ghost Ranch was everything I had hoped for and I’ve gone on to take 6 or 7 more workshops with Nancy. I don’t believe I would be where I am today without the inspiration I gained from these classes.
In addition, during the summer of 2000 my son came in first place in a qualifier pokemon tournament and he won a free trip to California to compete in the first national pokemon Super Trainer Showdown aboard the Queen Mary. He did great and beamed the entire time. I didn’t do so bad myself in the 16+ age group until I dropped out because he wanted to go eat crab instead.
Sadly pokemon at our house came to an end not long after our return from New Zealand, my son lost some interest as the game changed and he grew older. He’s now moved on to playing Magic the Gathering and is again doing well competing against older kids and adults, although now I just drop him off at the card shop because today instead of being a hero for hanging out with him, at 15 he’d die of embarrassment if I joined him.
We do play Magic at home. He can beat me pretty much every time as he’s now spending hours online playing and reading about strategies, but I no longer buy and sell cards to keep him in his habit. He has to win the weekly games at the card shop to get more cards.
Although I bet I could still beat him in pokemon. I rocked. I wonder where my wigglytuff deck went…
Posted by Lisa in: About Me
Robin said,
September 25, 2007 @ 11:14 pm
You crack me up! I always wondered if my boys were playing a real game or if they were just making it up as they went along. Guess that stuff is for real. You must rock as a mom!
Penny said,
September 26, 2007 @ 6:00 am
Doesn’t this show that if we dream hard enough — it comes true and often in a way that we never expected. Good for you!!
Schnoobie said,
September 26, 2007 @ 7:53 pm
Wow!
That’s quite an inspiring story.So very determined!!! I have 2 Pikachu cards just because I thought he was cute and cheerful.
cynthia said,
September 27, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
That’s such a hoot, Lisa!
I have to tell you, the other day, I was substitute teaching at my daughter’s school and a fight broke out amongst several boys over a certain Pokemon card at recess. It must still be very popular - though I know my daughter is not interested.
I often want to take a workshop but always stop when I find out the cost. I should probably just go for it and figure out expenses later.
Lisa Call said,
September 27, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
Thanks all. Tonight my daughter wanted to play monopoly and turns out the only set we have in the house is a pokemon version of the game. Interesting timing.
Cynthia - I didn’t take any art classes in college so I’ve looked to these workshops as my chance to take some art classes. While I love taking them I’m not sure I’ll be taking many more quilt related workshops. I’d love to take some oil painting classes or workshops though.
Tracy Wall said,
September 29, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
RE: painting classes or workshops
Don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, but http://www.asld.org has been great for me.