A letter from tiltjlp!

JonPurpleHaze

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I spoke to tiltjlp on the phone last week and just received the following letter that he requested to be posted on all the forums! :)

To My VP Friends:

While I've left the Internet, I still do consider myself part of the VP family. I had intended to post a farewell message before I left, but the phone company jumped the gun and disconnected the phone service on a Saturday instead of a Monday. The reason I've had to leave the Internet is because of severely worsening circulation in my lower legs. For the better part of a year, I have been under strict orders from one of my doctors to restrict my computer use to two two hour sessions a day. Obviously I have ignored my doctor and spent 16-20 hours a day on the computer, most of it online on the various VP forums.

Because of this, my lower legs had gotten progressively worse to the point that my legs, ankles, and feet become badly swollen and enlarged. There have been many times when the brace I wear on my right leg would not fit onto my bloated leg. If I were to have continued ignoring my doctor, in time I would have lost the use of my legs, and probably needed surgery on one or both of my ankles. The bottom line is that the pain and discomfort became too intense to ignore. In the short period I have restricted my time on the computer to two hours twice a day, the condition of my legs have improved greatly.

While I will no longer be online, you won't get rid of me that easily, folks. I have sent JonPurpleHaze updates for both of my Bronco Buster tables, and for Reactions Bagatelle. Each has had the nudging force adjusted upward, & Flipperless Bronco Buster has had nudging added through the shift keys. I have also added new contact information, making JonPurpleHaze my representative online for the Reactions Bagatelle and the Bronco Buster tables. I have also included my home address in these three tables, if anyone would care to write. Please include a self addressed and stamped envelope if you'd like a reply.

As I've mentioned many times in the past, I do not want any of my original tables modified for release, which is why I have made JonPurpleHaze my online spokesman. As for the 3 originals I have been a secondary partner for, there are other people who are the primary contacts. Mack1 is the author and contact person for Rocketman, which he may have released by now. Sheltie Mom is the author and contact person for Don't Lose Your Marbles, and Terry Briggs is the co-author and contact person for Country Carnival. Scott Bermel is the co-author of Bronco Buster, while I converted the flippered version to Flipperless solo.


I also co-authored two Flipperless recreations, Seven Up, with Nissananimal and Russ Jensen, and Double Poosh M Up with Eric, Nissananimal, who is the contact person for both tables. We'd also nearly completed Buddy Bowling, a Flipperless recreation, and Eric shall be the contact person for it also, when it is released. All eight tables are represented online for me by JonPurpleHaze. Because of the time restrictions imposed by my health, I have joined Duglis in retirement from VP authorship. And while any Flipperless author should feel free to write me for advice or questions about bagatelle dynamics, and even send me Flipperless tables to test, my response time may not be as fast as you would hope for. I will no longer be able to help anyone with either designing or tweaking of any tables.

I was stunned to hear from Will, Druadic, the wonderful show of support for me, and the offer by a number of people to help me financially obtain a separate phone line. Because of the health issues I've mentioned, I'll have to decline your generous offer, but would ask that each of you consider contributing to one of the forums whatever you were prepared to offer to me. I'm proud to realize that I was considered a positive part of VP, and it would be a shame if my absence caused even more stiff in the VP community. If you feel that I'm worthy of some tribute, though I assure you I'm not, please make an effort to be more tolerant, more understanding, and forgiving, and more helpful to everyone in the VP community. In that way, my peaceful spirit can help make VP as strong and vibrant as I had hoped it might become.

Most of all, please don't worry about me. Now that I'm following my doctor's orders, my circulation and health will improve, but the damage is much too severe to heal itself. I won't simply go off into a corner and wait for the end. I'll now have time for all the reading I've postponed the last two years. I've begun working on at least one book, and maybe several. I'll also write poetry again, something I haven't done nearly enough of since I discovered VP. In fact, I've written two new poems since I left the Internet, which I've asked JonPurpleHaze to post at TMOF. I invite you to DL them, which are both spiritual & introspective, and see that there is more to tiltjlp than pinball and VP.

So while I can't be among you, in many ways I'll still be with you and the VP community. While it might take a while, I hope to write a few things for TMOF. I'll be in close contact with both Will and JPH, and now that I've made my address public, please touch base with me if you want. I have been forced to leave the VP scene, but I'll still be around, so make yourselves proud.

Countless folks have commented not only on how helpful I tend to be, but also that I'm genuinely nice most of the time, and have asked what my secret is. Very simply, in one word, Meditation is the key to my inner peace and calm. It doesn't happen overnight, but after 30 years of meditation, I'm able to weather storms of any sort, including the need to leave the Internet. I'd rather be able to remain an active part of VP, but my health is more important than being online, and I've accepted that. I hope you can all focus, not on my leaving, but on trying to strengthen VP so that it continues to grow. If my absence is used as an excuse to divide the community even more, than what I've said and done the past two years will have been wasted.

For over 11 years, I've hosted a shared meditation each Friday at 7 PM, Eastern US time. Many people are a part of these weekly meditations, which are often spiritual, always reflective, but never "religious" in scope. I am the host for these sessions, I am not their "leader", since meditation doesn't require leaders, hosts, or anyone other than yourself. I began these meditations because I felt they were needed, and I sense that others through the world host similar shared mediations. If my time frame isn't workable for you, I urge you to open yourself up to meditation, if you feel sharing might be beneficial, and you might find that you'll sense a togetherness whenever you make the effort. If you happen to find this comedic, have a good laugh, I'm sure that it will make you feel better.

So there you have it in a nutshell. VP doesn't need me to thrive and improve, but it does need an effort by all of us. I've done my part, so now it's time for others to make the effort. Write me if you want, about VP, Flipperless, meditation, or any other topic of your choice. I'll reply to any correspondence I might receive, and since I don't expect many letters, it shouldn't be to long before I respond, but my computer time is limited, so be a bit patient. My best advice is not to take things so darned seriously, and to ignore whatever upsets you. Inner peace isn't hard to achieve, but it has to start with you, no one else can provide you with it.

tiltjlp

Table Updates are here: https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/i...tegories/vp-recreations-flipperless-games.51/

tiltjlp's creative works are here: https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/index.php?forums/tiltjlps-articles.129/

Edit: updated links. --Ike
 
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Thanx

JPH -

I already replied to this post at VPF but I'll do the same here. Thanks for the update and I as well have receieved a letter from tiltjlp myself. I've just finished a letter to him and it will go out Saturday along with my WIP.

Thanks Jon!

Will / druadic
 
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