well my luck shifted, i got the game in 2007, i never saw a shiny until 2009, when i got gastly. since then i caught 6 shinys myself, one i traded for another legit shiny. what i do is EV train off wild pokemon then when my EVs are done i level up in the high level wild encounter areas. this way im always running into wild pokemon, and that 1/8192 chance is always there. now if your particular it may be harder, but gastly is fairly easy to farm for in the old chateau and i got mine while EV training a normal gengar, go figure lol. and pokeradar helps too, i use the pokeradar to help me chain pokemon i need when EV training. Thre is no real reason to battle the elite four unless you wnt the ribbons, for leveling, just do high level wild encounters and for money there is that old couple you can VS seeker in the garden area outside the pokemon mansion. with an amulet coin, their final stage gives 24000 per battle, and they only have one level 60 pokemon.
anyway i didnt know if you knew these tips already, but i thought id throw em out there for ya, its the least i could do for you after you invited me to the socal group ^_^