A true and tragic Pokemon tale. The Pokemon Nana story - Was he going to pay for grading the cards at PSA? A video review of services.

UPDATE!

I would like to respond to his post:

So thats my response to his excuses..... 
Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. ~Author Unknown

 

the video is below if you interested.

For those of you supporting me I appreciate you> For the ones who hesitate (for now) I get it, I forgive you,  I can see how he works. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Is this how it works? Inquiring minds want to know.




I'll let the video speak for itself because it's so convoluted, it's nearly impossible to lay out or follow this story if you just walk a straight line. 


The star of the show (the barely famous): "He who shall not be named" flip flops around so many times and with such apparent ease, you get virtual whiplash from all the wondering what the heck?

The real head scratcher is trying to line up his words with his actions.

He touts himself a well respected professional but  He took her Pikachu binder giving her the expectation he was giving a valuation. When he was too busy to give her a valuation after several days of him not getting back to her, apologizing that he had been too busy to look yet, she asked for her binder back.     He asked if he could call her in about an hour.
He did not call her.     She tried again next day  saying she waited for the call.

He finally got back to her and gave her the news that he had sent some cards to PSA for her.

She was shocked, she still had no valuation.
She asked for her binder back again. 

He gave her several excuses and dragged his feet but eventually returned it with  cards not only in the  wrong order, but random cards were missing and he apologized alot but offered  no  accounting of what was missing.....  

Which is where I entered the picture, I showed up to support my Mom getting her binder back since she had been waiting on his doorstep in the dead of night while he was inside putting the binder back together.....(I took the video of us on his doorstep, and let's note that I walked into this unknowing so  giving him the benefit of the doubt) 

We left his house asking him to account for the cards he took and trusting that  a list would follow us home via text...but it took a full day and a half of us asking and eventually threats of going to the police. Initially he offered only lengthy, wild excuses before he actually sent any of the photo evidence of what he took. And when he finally, made an accounting of the missing cards, he was short accounting for 10 cards. 

My Mother had to do the work of lining up the cards back in her binder and with that, she showed  him in photographic evidence, the 10 cards that were still missing. Only then did he come clean and say those cards were still on his desk at home, he had been so rushed he forgot to include them. 

Even though he was 100% sure where those cards were, it took yet another full day PLUS eventually police intervention to get only 6 of those cards back, 4 of which  had magically changed places and gone from his card sorter at home, to his shop in Richmond for cleaning, cards including the Birthday Pikachu referenced in the video as an example of one of the best cards he kept........ had now suddenly gone to his office instead of being at home.......it took another couple of days and another police officer's help to retrieve only 2 of those four cards. 

In the meantime the police assisted in retrieving the cards that were sent back from PSA.

As of this writing, two cards have still not been returned to my Mom. 

Of  the original 10 that Alex did account for, one card  (in the video you will see him talk about this card, promising it will come back sealed/unopened ) came back from PSA unsealed.

So those are some of the highlights.  Other things I find fascinating?

The LOOOOOOOONG texts from him that I scroll through in this video?  Are not of the list that we asked him to produce, over and over (to account for what he took from her binder).
Incredible right? He tells us right in the video that he would send the list, that he had already mailed PSA, so a list should be handy, easy to find. 
INstead of sending them,   those texts are all  his excuses justifying what he did  and they strongly feature  self declarations of what a professional he is. 



So, I would like to ask the Pokemon community, is this how you all do business? Because we were told this is how it's done. And all I can see is that. He has broken my Mom's little Pokemon heart. 

Rachael 

Why am I doing this this way?

The police told her  that Alex told them he  would find the missing cards 

or compensate her for the full value.  
Alex has blocked us so we can't contact him, he needs to contact us. 

It's been a week and we have heard nothing. 



UPDATE: He posted this in his group.  Lets see how it lines up with reality...

You see the thing about texts and timelines...... they are unalterable.  (response above)

So right here, I can prove you don't have the timeline right, Alex. 
As you said to me during our last communication, in January...."Go call the police, lets see what social media thinks of this?"
Let's go then.  I gave you until March.

Aside from your small group, so far it seem's like this is Pokemon's #metoo movement, a lot of people resonate with this experience. 

Anyhow when you do call the police, I have the texts in neatly a timeline that crap all over your excuses. 

UPDATE 2025-03-24
Finally, as the dust settles around this case,  as I wait for the police to get back to ME regarding the comment he says they made,.........  I realized while taking notes off of my own video that I could be helpful to you Pokemon Collectors by making you a  

 ....got Pokemon?  

Tshirt    ( just made it virtually for the images ) 

I loved my Got Hotwheels shirt from back when I was collecting redlines, I bet it would work for some of you for your sport.   

You can't actually buy these, not from me at least.  I just mocked this up to created an image for it then deleted it from the platform.  

Now it can be 1000000000000000000% clear I am taking not even a penny from this situation....and in fact am giving back. 
 
If you want the text file for free I'll gladly give it to you! 

Falling down the AI rabbit hole, now I'm confused and possibly becoming a robot?

 
So as a musician who used to work 4-6 nights a week, 51 weeks of the year (we used to beg for a weekend off but there was so much demand, it hardly ever happened),  I've seen technology take over my livelihood one bar closure at a time.
What used to be  6 night a week gigs, dwindled in many cases year after year, to Saturday nights only or a  DJ. In many cases a speaker streaming spotify.  Truly technology has been devastating to the music community. I'm lucky I can still carve out a wage singing and strumming solo, but the days of regular work for most live performing musicians (like it was in the heyday), are long gone.

Those who have been here on my blog  for the last decade plus may recall I was  adapting to the new music ecosystem when I was forced offstage, due to my being laid up after surgery.  Desperate to find a way to make some money sitting down, I dusted off my old artist hat and asked my musical following if anyone wanted a pet portrait (as I would need to find a bit of a job  while my body healed). 

This act of desperation is what turned me into Guitarious Girl. Even after I got back to the stage 6 weeks later I still wildly focused on painting, only now it was guitars. Eventually I began putting the works on T-shirts, mugs, towels, blankets and phone cases which was fun when I was touring to different towns and meeting loads of road crew and other bands who liked the idea of a music themed painting by a musician, on a shirt. 

The fact that I do the same now for pickleball is just part of the evolution as it makes sense to just use the skills I pick up along the way, in every new adventure I take on and pickleball is certainly my latest madness. 

The same with my books, I learned how to design and format my first book using the illustrations I had  contracted from  my wonderful illustrator. With that knowledge I was able to use my own art to write, design and format my 2nd and 3rd books (and I'm working on a fourth). 

So here I am adapting and dealing with the world as well as possible....but  suddenly this last year especially it seems as if AI is getting a  hold of us, hard. It's everywhere, I can barely make a computer query without some AI bot jumping in and getting in the way (and mostly getting it wrong).  My art programs have all included AI options and apps that they want us to use and they almost force it on us. I have to actively avoid using it and find ways to turn it off because it keeps suggesting itself. 

Magic this magic that..... fuck your magic you are a thief, AI. 

Lately especially all I see are ads for AI programs to do things that ARE my job. Currently you can artificially create a song, write a book, make artwork in about 45 seconds by simply typing in some sentences. There are people out there calling themselves AI artists, authors and songwriters. 
Never picked up an instrument or paintbrush, did no study or research they just typed...some....sentences.  

And with those sentences AI scrapes and steals intellectual property from the people who DID put in hours, months and decades of work, creating the pieces AI is training itself on. 

I can't even.

Until I did. One day I got so pissed off I took a free trial of one of those apps where you can insert a poem and type in a few descriptions of the music and out pops a song. I took a couple of extra seconds to adjust the lyrics a bit and voila.  I didn't download the song but I did film my phone as it was playing the mock up for me.  I guess you could say I scraped it. 

So there we have it, my toe dip into the dark side. (Yes I have a dark side and that's who accompanied me on this mission). 


Leaving it there at that, this  was going to be my only venture into AI I figured. 

But now I am confused.

On my morning scroll today I watched a few things that make me think resistance is going to be futile. 
(Please let me add in here that I wholeheartedly believe AI is magnificent when used correctly, which is the possibility picture you will see painted if you watch all of the following videos.)

So it starts here, I saw a post featuring an AI image and  some wild mis-information. Looking for clarity I wanted to know the real story the sparked the fake.
 I found the answer in the comments:

Basically a lady called out the original post as AI and she provided the real image and name which sent me off on a hunt to read this research article: Planet X / Nibiru: An analysis of Akkadian Seal VA/243 — Karel Donk


And that is how I got distracted by this guy ( check the fella in the top video, Ray Kurzweil  )

:  Exponential Growth in the Fractal Universe — Karel Donk  


The above video being 11 years old and knowing he had predicted tech so correctly, I wanted to see what he was saying about today's, future. So I looked him up and found his latest TED talk. If you'd like to see it too click this link, it's  from 3 months ago. 

(825) The Last 6 Decades of AI — and What Comes Next | Ray Kurzweil | TED - YouTube

So he has some pretty amazing predictions, I mean, nanobots? Enhanced humans? I've seen some stuff that says it's going to happen.  I can't deny that AI used well will be beneficial for society if everyone can actually win with it.  That actually means everyone though. I mean if it makes me lives forever super but if I can't be creative productively and must instead do something I don't enjoy (because people stealing with AI don't have to hire artists anymore), then what is the point of living longer?  (I could be overdramatizing here)

Overall and personally and outside of modern medicine and science, I'm just saying my concerns still address a basic happiness level that computers can't enjoy. I don't know why you would  use AI to do things that are joyful, like being creative. Especially since we know AI is trained on actual artists work,  it just vomits it back minus the soul. 



So to round it all up I will be vigilant about my intellectual property as always, but I am open to the idea that we will have to embrace this trend in one way or the other. It would be folly to think humans will be able to operate in a bustling civil society without all of us cooperating in some way, it's just a matter of how intrusive it becomes and what we will tolerate.

All the people will need to be able to win as well, everyone, not just the fancies (which could be the  challenge and the kick in the gut from reality). 

Here is another great TED talk for balance. 
AI Is Dangerous, but Not for the Reasons You Think | Sasha Luccioni | TED (youtube.com)



She brings a lot of important points for society and at least one of her concerns is the same as all  artists, authors, musicians and creatives,  so  she and her gang have enabled a resource for those who are interested, to help you search your IP property. 
Spawning AI 


Ok that's a lot of falling down the rabbit hole over one bad AI image I found on facebook. Wow. 

Rachael. 

Playing music at the Barnside Harvest Festival was an absolute honor!

Look I play music in front of people nearly every weekend of the year but for the most part it's an ignore-athon. I am wall paper, brought in by very, very nice establishments to color the room with gentle sound. People aren't buying tickets to see me they are coming to the venue so the venue relies on me to give the right level of music where their guests can still chat to one another yet still daydream off to a tune if they need to. 

I LOVE being wallpaper. I can sit for 3 solid hours and play music and never bother anyone with it,  and that is my special sauce. 

So when the Barnside gig was on my to-do list I was nervous and excited right from the start because I knew this would be different than being background music, I had played at enough of these festivals on the big stages  to know that on this day, even in a small tent I wasn't there as wallpaper, I couldn't disappear because  if anyone showed up, they were there to see me so I  had to step up, I wasn't able to just slide in and make up a song list  like I normally would. I only had half an hour of play time and I didn't want to waste a second of it. I played a few covers, a pickleball tune and some of an original! 

It was as exciting as I'd hoped it would be and so was the rest of the weekend which I documented over on my facebook!

Well done to the entire cast and crew of the Barnside Harvest Festival. Do go there to get the full goods! 

Thanks to all the wonderful pals who showed up and partied with us! 

Summertime strumming in a grapevine tunnel! (at Lulu Island Winery)

 It's been a pretty stellar summer and I've lucked out with only one bad weather cancellation all season!

This is one of the last summertime picnic gigs at the winery and the tunnel is so lovely, I asked the customers to send me clips which they thankfully did! 

Enjoy~ 

Pickleball Kitchen Party - a sing along list with lyrics for pickleball parodies ~ Rachael Chatoor, sing along lyrics.

Pickleball parodies/lyrics , for Sing Along with Rachael Chatoor 

My new Pickleball song book Volume 1 and 2 is out!!  GO HERE to find it!

1 Dink em song!
      (sung to the Gambler)

You gotta know when to dink em
know when to sink em                                                                                                                         

know when to cross the court and                                                                                                know when to lob                                                                                                                                                                               

You never count your points                                                      

while the pickleball is still bouncing                                             

there'll be plenty of time for counting                                         

when the dinking's done.

2  Don’t go Chasing Pickleballs

     to the Tune of the Don’t go Chasing Waterfalls: TLC

Don't go chasing pickleballs

Please stick to your court and tell the people: 

it’s coming through…

If it goes astray just stay, 

I know you’re missing your ball,

 but everybody’s moving so fast ...

3 Here Comes the Rain Again

  Same tune, pickleball version

Here comes the rain again

Spoiling all our plans it’s a tragedy,

Falling on the courts slipping up the traction

 I want to play where there is no wind.

I want to smash like the Waters do.

I want to drop into your kitchen.

Once the raining is through                      So baby, pop to me

I’ll follow through.

Drop to me

I’ll get that too.

lob to me

The best ones do.

4   POWERS! inspired by: Miley Cyrus; Flowers

 
I walked up in my shorts,                                                                                                        looking good for the pickleball courts. 

I said: "Hey, can I play?"                                                                                                                    Just one look and they turned me away. 

They said: "All you do is slam it. Go find another group". 

So I called my friend Lee: Tell me what should I do? 

She said:
"Don’t use all of your power, 

loose the grip of your hand, 

practice your drills for hours, 

so you got skills on demand. 

Don’t just go out there banging 

you need some kind of plan 

but you will play pickleball 

better than they can! 

Play it better I can play it better babe! "

 5    Straight Down the Line                                                                  (Sung to Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond)

It’s the end of the day

I’d like play one more game now

Really I should be moving on

Im working my shots

My drive you won't see it coming

Ive been pickleballing since the dawn

Fast...it's coming fast.                                                                                                                       I reach out,                                                                                                                                    and drive the ball right back to youuuuu!

Straight down the line.... ba ba ba!                                                                                            Can't believe it hit so good.....                                                                                                       so good so good so good.                                                            

It felt so divine........ ba ba ba!                                                                                                            to see it land right where it should and now I...... 

I wait for the serve

I try to be calm not rattled

Bending my knees and playing strong 

We get to the net

I brace myself for the battle

Everyone’s watiing   for the ball

Fast...it's coming fast.                                                                                                                       I reach out,                                                                                                                                    and drive the ball right back to youuuuu!

Straight down the line.... ba ba ba!                                                                                            Can't believe it hit so good.....                                                                                                       so good so good so good.                                                            

It felt so divine........ ba ba ba!                                                                                                            to see it land right where it should and now I...... 

I look at the court,                                                                                                                     adjust how I hold my paddle                                                                                                      and wait for a ball that looks divine.                                                                                                

I split step my feet,                                                                                                                       and look a bit over my shoulder                                                                                                       patiently waiting for a sign.

Fast...it's coming fast.                                                                                                                       I reach out,                                                                                                                                    and drive the ball right back to youuuuu!

Straight down the line.... ba ba ba!                                                                                            Can't believe it hit so good.....                                                                                                       so good so good so good.                                                            

It felt so divine........ ba ba ba!                                                                                                            to see it land right where it should and now I...... 

6   Pickleballin 
      (sung to Surfin Safari by the Beach Boys)

Let's grab a paddle now 

everybody's learning how 

come on pickleballin with me 

come on pickleballin with me. 

Early in the morning 

we'll be starting out 

everybody's coming along. 

We're loading up the rack 

get your paddles in 

find the court 

where you belong.

 

                  dink and drop and dive and volley, dink and drop and drive and volley 

Come on baby wait and see you're going to love pickleballin with me.

                   dink and drop and dive and volley, dink and drop and drive and volley 

Come on baby wait and see you're going to love pickleballin with me.

Let's grab a paddle now

 everybody's learning how 

come on pickleballin with me 

come on pickleballin with me. 

7   Pickleball AGAIN                                                                        (sung to Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett)

I twisted my ankle it turned into a cankle                                                                          so I couldn’t go to the pickleball courts                                                                                           

I tell you I'm itchin to get to the kitchen                                                                               cause working this kitchen it isn’t a chore

I just can’t wait to go and pickleball again

Anyone can be good      if they give it their all

Just  one play and  you'll know why we love the game

cause its more than  just pickleball.

Now don’t be downhearted, once our game has started                                               we could be friends but right now we’re at war                                                                          

So lets get the scores right, and watch for the gunfights                                                     Keep  playing  again till there’s  laughter galore

I just can’t wait to go and pickleball again

Anyone can be good      if they give it their all

Just  one play and  you'll  know    why we love the game

cause its more than  just pickleball.

Pickleball’s growing, friends are now flowing ,
you see  this game is much more than a sport
With dinking and driving seems the whole world is thriving                                               Its common to hear can we all play one more?

Serve it up  Serve it up Serve it up

I just can’t wait to go and pickleball again

Anyone can be good      if they give it their all

Just  one play and  you'll  know why we love the game

cause its more than  just pickleball.




8  To all the points I've lost before:
     (to Willie Nelson All the Girls I've loved before)

To all the points I’ve lost before 

I’d love to add you to my score 

From volleys I took wrong 

to drives that went too long 

don t want to see those anymore 

 To serves that really weren’t my best 

To dinks I didn’t quite caress 

and drops that hit the tape 

or shots I couldn’t make 

I’d like to see you never more ! 

 sometime when the winds are blowin 

NO matter how hard I might try 

I can’t connect the ball to paddle 

 I flat out miss and it flies by.... 

 To all the balls that hit the net 

It‘s you I wish I would forget 

I tell you every day 

 I’d take back every play 

where patience wasn’t part of it

9  Lets Go Play Pickleball!
(to the tune of Let's call the whole thing off)

You want to drop it, I like to smash it

 You choose to dink it,, I tend to bash it 

Drop it, smash it, dink it, bash it 

 lets go play pickleball! 

 You take the side line I’ve got the middle 

Try not pop up, Just soften a little 

One day this whole game wont be such a riddle 

 let’s go play pickleball!

10  Pickleballer

   to the melody of Chiquitita by Abba 

Pickleballer tell me what’s wrong

You can play more games tomorrow 

If you like 

I’ve a new ball you can borrow. 

Can’t you see the sun is now gone 

And it seems you’ve broken your paddle  

I don’t think 

you should throw it after battles 

Pickleballer what can I say

When the rallies  don’t go your way it’s time a for learning  

(Everyone they saw you throw it no one wants to see you sad) 

You’ll  be playing once again and again and again 

Whether or not 

you are hurting 

parody lyrics written by Rachael Chatoor inspired by the original songs noted ~  not for commercial use, for fun and sing alongs only, intended to bring tunes to the after game kitchen party. 

And here is how you use it:

Brought to you by Greedy Little Dinker

Summer singing and strumming on the patios of Vancouver BC

 I'm still a musician and so like everyone else who has to work I must still go sing and strum to pay for my pickleball addiction.
So I wanted to circle back to music here on my diary blog now that I have moved my pickleball artwear blog world to it's own home at Pickleball ARTwear.com Pickleball ARTwear.com 

I'll keep some of these old pickleball posts up- for historical sake and there are even more that I unpublished but are still in the Google cache.  And do scroll past them if you are looking for music history. 

I've been on an art binge lately so new music hasn't been flowing as much. With a backlog of things on my creative to do list music gets a back seat sadly. 

The good thing about my job is that it forces me to keep my chops going whether I practiced a lot or not, three hours of work means 2 hours and 45 minutes of playing. ( yes I've started taking 15 minute breaks at venues, and anywhere I have to play for more than 3 hours I use their allotted break schedule).

I have some new venues to play this year and have been promising to put a schedule up so today I'm doing it. 




June 6.....    Westin Bayshore H2 Lounge 5:30-8:30

JuJune 9......    Ladner Village Farmers Marketer Village Farmers Market    

10:30-3:00ne 14 ....  Shaugnessy Golf Club (Private Club)  6-9 

June 16....Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. (Private Club)   6-9

July 5........Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (Private Club)  6-9

July 6 ........Musical Marpole (Marpole Business Association Music series) 1-4pm

July 7  ......Lulu Island Winery ........2:30-4:30 (need tickets and reservations)

July 11 and 13........Westin Bayshore H2 Lounge  5:30-8:30

July 12 .......Lulu Island Winery Happy Hour 5-7
July 13         Westin Bayshore H2 Lounge 5:30-8:30

Aug 4........ Lulu Island Winery  .......2:30-4:30 (need tickets and reservations)
Aug  9 .......Shaugnessy Golf Club (Private Club)

Aug 10.......Musical Marpole  (Marpole Business Association Music series) 1-4pm

Aug 11.......Concert in the Park.....  City of Delta at Sungod (front park)    2-3pm  

Aug 16.......Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (Private Club)

Aug 25..... Ladner Village Farmers Market   10:30- 3:00

Sept 1 .....Lulu Island Winery.......2:30-4:30  (need tickets and RSVP)

Sept 8..... Ladner Village Farmers Market   10:30- 3:00
Sept 15    Barnside Harvest Festival   1:00-1:30   Heritage Pavillion. 

Don't forget I have a SONG REQUEST list that you can use to boss me around onstage if you see me playing! 

Pink pickleball Ribbon by Pickleball ARTwear..............

 I've had a pink ribbon for pickleball in my mind since forever but there was so much else to do first. I've added the artwork clip with my song Standing and you can find that on Itunes or my Reverbnation

You can find the design on all sorts of nifty item on my artist portals like this one HERE, Pickleball Artwear by Rachael Chatoor dot com, facebook, or contact me to custom create some team or tournament wear for you!