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I totally feel ya OP, I have been playing since Red and I have never even SEEN a shiny aside from the red Gyrados.
On the other hand, my best friend caught his first shiny (a Magmar) on his original Silver game, then when he got to Ruby, he caught a shiny Voltorb and finally in Soul Silver, he caught a freaking shiny Grimer!
Even my little brother, who I let play on my Heartgold recently, found a shiny Stantler which I helped him catch.
Meanwhile, I've found Pokerus twice so far, the first time was on White and the second time, I was replaying my Emerald game when I discovered it.
Not sure how to feel about that...
