Main Street
Andrew Cornelius shines in Pokémon mania
By Mary Ann Cook
POKÉMON MANIA: Pokémon is sweeping the country, and one group who really got caught up in it is the Cornelius family of Los Gatos. They bought the highly complex card game almost as soon as the Japanese import appeared here in January.
Son Andrew, 12, won a national Pokémon competition held in Hawaii this summer. He beat out 18 other regional winners selected from the entire country to compete in the Tropical Mega Battle. Andrew qualified for Hawaii by winning the regional contest in San Francisco.
When he traveled to Hawaii for the international event, most of his family--parents Wendy and Robert Cornelius and siblings Colleen, 16, William, 7, and Isaac, 16 months--went with him. Brother John, 15, went to Utah instead.
In Hawaii, Andrew survived more than six elimination rounds to emerge the victor. He won a huge gold medal with the word "Exeggutor" on it. After the competition, the 18 U.S. players and 18 Japanese youngsters, who had competed in a separate contest, now held exhibition matches against one another.
Since his Hawaii win, Andrew has won three other, smaller contests in Scotts Valley and San Jose. Both parents have their own set of cards and have since early on. "We play as a family," says Wendy, about the Cornelius' enthusiasm for Pokémon. (Though the Cornelius teens prefer the card game Magic.) Wizards of the Coast sponsored the Mega Battle.
TRAVELER: Just back from a trip to Greece is Millie Bernstein, a.k.a. Niki or Miki Nadler. Bernstein/Nadler is a real estate agent, and one of her clients, who happens to be of Greek origin, said he'd help finance a trip to Greece for her if the price his house sold for was as high as the figure she thought she'd get.
It was and he did. The bonus helped transport Millie/Miki/Niki to Greece, a destination she'd always cherished. Although the sale was about 10 years ago, she couldn't go at that time, so the money was invested and grew and grew.
Now, about all those names: At work at Remax, she's Millie Bernstein; elsewhere, she's Miki or Niki Nadler. She's also an outreach volunteer for the Los Gatos Library, delivering books to the homebound on a regular monthly basis.
IMPRESSIONS OF JAPAN: Margarite Guy, who received a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholarship, funded by the government of Japan, is back after her three-week sojourn there and calls it an incredible trip. She's brimful of impressions. Herewith a sampling:
The people are so polite and the education system so thorough, based on the European style. Students attend school from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week. At 3 p.m., the academics are over and the students take over the custodial chores, including scrubbing toilets. The schools are spotless.
After the cleanup, the remaining time is dedicated to team sports and arts or music classes. High school is not mandatory. Those who don't go on to high school usually go to trade schools.
"They participate in a lot of activities by themselves without supervision, very self-disciplined. No deans, no counselors, no custodians," she says. And it works. Though they will pare down to five days a week early in the next century.
Problems are resolved through parent-teacher-student conferences.
Other highlights: a rare sighting of Mt. Fuji, riding the bullet train at 160-170 mph, harvesting rice halfway up Kyoto Mountain with a machete, and watching blind students play baseball, ping pong and--even more amazing--operate wood-cutting machines.
Cultural events included--Kabuki Theater, Noh drama and life-size puppet shows. Guy participated in panel discussions, classroom lectures, met other educators. Guy lives in Los Gatos and teaches Spanish and ESL at Prospect High School. "I loved the food--so much variety." And, she can't wait to get back.
FOOTBALL FEVER: The Los Gatos football team is doing well this year, as it generally does, and one of the reasons for its successes may be the local support for its coaches. Case in point, Mike Ferla, an avid fan and no mean host, recently feted the six coaches at a steak dinner at his house after the Mountain View game.
Those royally fed were varsity coaching staff members Butch Cattolico, Eric Van Patten, Mark Magagna, Craig Sakamoto, Jeff Dunasky and Shawn Thomas. Ferla also does his part for the team by relaying players' numbers to the announcing booth.
MORE MESSAGES: George Sampson, general manager of KCAT, was pleasantly surprised at the response when he revamped his station's community message board. Dozens of viewers called to compliment him on the new look. The new board, which was created on a Macintosh computer with Microsoft PowerPoint graphics, can store a lot more messages, plus scan in photos.
The old system was on an Amiga computer with a program written by Chuck McMannis. That system now will go to McMannis himself, whose garage must look like Amiga Heaven, conjectures Sampson. A fit resting place for equipment that served the station well for 11 years.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
