Resolution: I sincerely apologise for my rudeness towards y'all.

[Isaac Sauvage]

Mssrs-- Steve, Charles, George, and Paul (daggit, wasn't that almost the Beatles?),

I am beyond embarrassed upon my rudeness towards y'all, over these last few instances and years.

Sirs-- I am SORRY for my rudeness towards y'all, if you'll have my apology.

Now, if it matters upon such, I've been... not doing very well, the last eight years stress upon... well, current stuff.

 

[StevOz]

Understandable, though I do prefer the green tree frog to the Bullfrog...

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Isaac, you think too much.
We are all getting older, we are all falling apart.
I know with my own health journey, the last 7 years have been difficult. I know your health journey has been not great for even longer. Nobody (the cool kids) here is going to hold it against you

 

[GeorgeH]

I'm sorry you are not doing well. All is forgiven.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Understandable, though I do prefer the green tree frog to the Bullfrog...

*phew*
I thought you were about to say "Cane Frog," that invasive son-of-a-gun!

Isaac, you think too much.
We are all getting older, we are all falling apart.
I know with my own health journey, the last 7 years have been difficult. I know your health journey has been not great for even longer. Nobody (the cool kids) here is going to hold it against you

I think... that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Pete.
I thank you! <3

OF COURSE, I'd also like to hear how the shed is going, if that's okay?

(Note to observers: at one point, there was the possibility of me moving to the Gold Coast and living in Pete's rockin' PB-shack, taking care of and repairing his incoming EM's.) (Mateys, TBH I think I really would have liked that, since I was getting pretty good at EM repairs, had a load of curiosity, and my body wasn't breaking down too bad at the time, plus my parents could have bailed me out if the experiment didn't work out)

I'm sorry you are not doing well. All is forgiven.

Appreciate!

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

OF COURSE, I'd also like to hear how the shed is going, if that's okay?

My body is breaking down faster than yours.
Trying to work on a pinball machine when you only have one leg is not easy, and my mental state means I get frustrated very quickly.

I have always treated you with respect. The times you have felt I was against you, you were having a 'low spoon day' (the exhaustion of being disabled trying to do normal stuff) and for whatever the reason you put the blame on me.
But that is OK, I have broad shoulders

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I have always treated you with respect.

Oh gosh, you have! (thank you, mate, thank you)

Lordy, what memories...


Okay, yeah-- sometimes we were in (more or less) "lockstep agreement" (tm), and other times we were -bitterly opposed-, but credit to you... you would always respect the fact that I was willing to argue further for something, even when you were just donesville! upon the issue.

My hat is off to you there, Pete.
Like-- I knew you were pissed off sometimes, but you always gave it a good, gritty-ol' try.
(incidentally, may I take a moment to compliment you upon your champion-parenting skills?)

And TBH, and this is my specific fluff-up: I didn't realise at the time how flawed I was upon healthy communication and understanding, as well as how grouchy and intolerant my CFS/ME was making me, on or off my prescrips. It was only Zoloft, but still. My bad.

Oh rabbits, so the shed is looking PRETTY STACKED there, if I may?

The times you have felt I was against you, you were having a 'low spoon day' (the exhaustion of being disabled trying to do normal stuff) and for whatever the reason you put the blame on me.
But that is OK, I have broad shoulders

Haha, you know about the 'spoon' concept?
Nice. (and a bit scary, right, haha?)

But gosh, mate... I'll have to think awhilst to consider that... that I thought you were against me, specifically? Huh!

But I don't know; maybe?
Meanwhile, the situation kinda REEKED at times, with an absentee site-runner, the relentless, on-going pain-in-the-arsery of PacDude, and then the extra-nuclear PITA of "Shockman."

Right so, here's some thought experiments--
1) was all that strife our fault in the making?
2) who was stepping up to handle it at the time, other than us dumb clucks?
3) what kind of situation did we get handed in the first place, right?

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Right so, here's some thought experiments--
1) was all that strife our fault in the making?
2) who was stepping up to handle it at the time, other than us dumb clucks?
3) what kind of situation did we get handed in the first place, right?

We were in an impossible situation
We had people like PacDude (and others) who were prolific authors, who made good product, so we needed them, but they knew we needed them more that they needed us, so like a toddler, they kept pushing the boundaries.
Then we had that breakaway group that had caused issues before we took over. We were not part of their squabble, but they sure wanted their pound of flesh and were willing to shit everywhere.

I thought we did well under the circumstances

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

We were in an impossible situation
We had people like PacDude (and others) who were prolific authors, who made good product, so we needed them, but they knew we needed them more that they needed us, so like a toddler, they kept pushing the boundaries.
Then we had that breakaway group that had caused issues before we took over. We were not part of their squabble, but they sure wanted their pound of flesh and were willing to shit everywhere.

I thought we did well under the circumstances

Oh man, that's very well said and summarised.
Yeap... yeap, yeap, yeap.

And yeah, that's a good point-- we DID try hard, do our best, and we were indeed a decent admin team IMO.

Now, I --do-- think I kinda screwed it up a bit by insisting upon the motto "we must live up to The Loafer's group," although OTOH, you seemed to be thinking initially "it's our site now, baby, let's do what we please, wahoo!"

Both of which are likely some caricatures (lol), but what the hey-- isn't that just like life? In any case, I guess we more-or-less struck up a healthy balance 'pon that, over time?

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

At the end of the day, VPF closed over 15 years ago, everyone moved on.

For me, I had some fun, learned some things, meet some people.
It is in the past, not something I think about much

 

[Popotte]

At the end of the day, VPF closed over 15 years ago, everyone moved on.

For me, I had some fun, learned some things, meet some people.
It is in the past, not something I think about much

But before, VPOriginals, VPGD, Shiva's site (and I think I'm forgetting others) closed too.
Oldies but goldies...
VPGD

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

At the end of the day, VPF closed over 15 years ago, everyone moved on.

For me, I had some fun, learned some things, meet some people.
It is in the past, not something I think about much

Not me.
I have a lifetime of fuck-ups and regrets that I like to turn over in my mind, like a caveman overseeing a flank of prey on a roasting spit.

TBH, this curséd disease (CFS/ME) leaves me with waaaay too much time on my hands to think about this, that, and everything else. Funny I guess, because during the brief periods where some med was working for me, I had a sense of energy and well-being, and was all about action, projects, and just... grabbing life by the throat (in a good, productive way), not necessarily with much reflection involved.

Point is-- it's kinda wild to me how I've approached life from completely opposite ends, so to speak. I guess on the positive side, it's a good way to stretch one's boundaries and challenge oneself right to the core, if that makes sense.

Ah, fuck it, I shouldn't be confessing all this here, and nobody is listening, anyway.

But before, VPOriginals, VPGD, Shiva's site (and I think I'm forgetting others) closed too.
Oldies but goldies...
VPGD

Incroyable, I can't believe Jay's site is still up.

That dude (he used to go by "Gottlieb," and even has an acct here) was way ahead of the game, way back when.

I wonder what he might have to say about today's project, and such...

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

I just try to be as positve as I can.
I was really pleased last year with the 'Guess the Game' we had running on the site for a few months. 33 pages of participation

I am chuffed today, a question popped into my head about EMs, and one of the designers who worked at Gottlieb in the 1970's, John Osborn, was a member of the site and answered my question. Cool

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I just try to be as positve as I can.
I was really pleased last year with the 'Guess the Game' we had running on the site for a few months. 33 pages of participation

I am chuffed today, a question popped into my head about EMs, and one of the designers who worked at Gottlieb in the 1970's, John Osborn, was a member of the site and answered my question. Cool

Godammit Pete, what a relentless troublemaker you are! ^^

(note: in the States, we tend to say the word "c--t" with different connotations, otherwise I'd speak to you with a little more 'Aussie clarity,' hahaha)

But yeah, "Guess the Game" was pretty-dang awesome, was it not?

Bah... over time, though, it became... actually a bit depressing, at least for me.

I mean, I love pinball and I love history, but those visual & knowledge challenges swiftly became WAY over my head. In the end, it kinda made me feel like a worthless pinball fan, so of course, I decoupled...

I don't think any of us want to feel bad or worthless upon the hobby we pursue, if that makes sense.

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

The idea of GTG started w-a-y before I posted it here.
On a few pinball sites I view, many people have posted a picture of the underside of a playfield they are repopulating, and they ask to name the game based on the layout of the inserts. This is not too hard as only ~100 playfields have been reproduced, and they come from certain eras of pinball. None of those troublesome 1960-'s Gottlieb's
The real fun was somebody posting the view inside the coindoor of an EM. With a huge drop target bank on the left, and not much on the right, and obviously a Gottlieb, it was either a Lawman or a Sherif

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

I mean, I love pinball and I love history, but those visual & knowledge challenges swiftly became WAY over my head. In the end, it kinda made me feel like a worthless pinball fan, so of course, I decoupled...

It was never meant to make anyone feel bad.
Many times I challenged myself with trying to show as much as I could without giving anything away.
My next one will show almost half the playfield, and it will still stump you

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Hmm, I get the sense that we both have some regrets and latent kindship lurking here and there... for what it's all worth?
***
Ah, Pete, you had an absolutely astonishing ability to entertain new, different BS, over and over again
***
Ah, fuck my life...
I just lost my best friend in the area.

I really liked that dude.

Jesus Christ...