ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Talk about anything that you would like.
User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Bank-Coil wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2020 8:29 am A couple of thoughts about routine and the effects of change,
As humans we are a highly adaptable species. Changes mean adaptations and those that adapt best, survive best. A higher level form of natural selection.
Unfortunately this situation in many respects accentuates the gap in socio-economic classes especially in places where that gap is most pronounced. Those with greater resources are able to protect themselves better
Thanks my factual friend for your contribution in these weird times. I know you as someone who moves ahead and works at making a difference by having a positive influence on the lives of the people you care about and who you believe to have good moral fiber. From an existential perspective, the choices we make in that respect can at least influence natural selection. Our actions in choosing to support and help along the lives that we believe in is also be a sort of natural (add voluntary) selection - choosing lives which will ideally best promote the good qualities in making up our collective nature.


In the mean-time :

The Quebec government has suddenly sprung the news many have been waiting for. As of yesterday, bars which do not have a licence to prepare and serve food can open again, with restrictions ofcourse. This time the government didn't call for separate dates for outlying areas and Montreal. No dates, just open anytime and anywhere in Quebec. Weird. They had provided a reopening schedual for restaurants that serve alcohol within two time frames, but they just sprung yesterdays date on bar owners and alot of them were not quite ready for that. Most were in the process of adapting their establishments based on the rules they could only anticipate from those laid out for restaurants that opened on June 22nd in Montreal and a week earlier outside the metropolis. Bars were not provided the convenience of such schedualed dates for reopening. If they had been provided such dates and the conditions, they could have likely been more prepared in putting into place the exact adjustments required via a timely announcement. In a way, not providing a time frame in advance was not cool on the part of the authorities. This can be interpreted as a bit of a fuck you if you own a bar without a kitchen.

One new restriction public safety added to the already well known ones will take some reasoning and will call for added creativity. In drinking establishments where meals are not being served, patrons have to be sitting at a table or on a stool and are not allowed to be walking about chatting while attempting to respect a two meter distance which will be difficult through the music & noise generated in such a social environment. There will be no dancing or jumping about all over the place either, even if patrons are happy to have a good cocktail while seeing their friends once again in a public/social establishment. So dance bars for example are not allowed to practice their essence, they can open, but you can't dance. Weird, but kind of understandable as people get close to eachother after consuming some sort of giggle water that suits their taste buds. Is this new rule to be read as reprisal for some bars openly defying the government for not responding to their requests with at least being forthright in providing a date to reopen ? Don't think so, but purely drinking & social establishments are not seen the same way as other businesses in Quebec it seems. The government may want people to drink, but they certainly would rather have people do it at home and not get too excited in public. Get drunk at home and jump around there, less work for the cops or the EMT to find you for whatever reason. :shock:

Well, at least this next routine coming out of confinement seems to be slowly making its way back. As of tuesday, Jordan and I will execute a maintenance oriented line up check of "the herd" at North Star. This will surely bring back feelings I have forgotten about. And when Montreal's first pinball bar opens again, it will likely feel different. Having people playing pinball sitting down on stools in front of those colourful tables will be a sight to see. Body English is also deemed to be dangerous it seems, and we will have to leave excitement out of playing pinball for a while yet. Maybe it can be more of a meditative activity for a while, Zen pinball. It has mostly been that way for me lately, with the exception of a few exclamations of joys and sorrow thrown in for a good measure of balance.

Today I am on the road with Joanna fixing people's machines in their homes, a place where people are more apt to be reasonable and less prone to bouts of jumping about, we'll see. I will report back from these strange times indeed. In the mean-time, be good to eachother.

Rab
Last edited by R.A.B. on Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Another Saturday on the road.

Sounds like I am making it out to be ordinary by laying "it" down using those words. Well, it wasn't. It never is if you look for what never happens the same way twice. What is life without attention to details ? Life without details is just business, just one-dimensional shop keepers business practises. Details are the stuff which makes up the true luxury of life, and yet, many of us persist in being unimaginative in the day to day of our lives, mainly due to fear and contempt/disdain/loathing etc.

JoJo and I were on the road again. We had two Montreal Pinball clients lined up yesterday, and maybe a third one if we were feeling up to the challenge in mid afternoon. The details of this day proved to be plenty, and I was more than happy about that. Whether they were details about an actual pinball repair or the details in the story of how we got to do what we do, or even how good the Wendy's "style maison" chicken burger tasted while sitting in a makeshift park next to Sources boul. talking about Alfred North Whitehead's works. Details are why I do this work, and may even provide another reason for staying alive. The rest is the day to day, and I have had enough of that in my life. The whole catastrophe of following the predetermined path laced with rules laid out while trying to convince myself that I am happy because that is as good as it gets. No.

The tasks are simply tasks, we know them and we repeat them until we reach new ground, that level where details become abundant. That is where things begin to get interesting and that is where I want to live, not just alongside the repetition of things which inevitably become routine and leave you begging for change once again. The routines as far as I understand them, serve as a ground to use if I get lost or feel that life has derailed from its continuation, but that is rare. I realize that sometimes we may need mindless work when we are lost, like assembly line work or sitting in front of a screen feeding in data or clicking aimlessly because we are there and trying to get "out there" through a window in a screen. Well, I guess it can be a sort of meditation, - hell did I just say that ?

Routine usually has a utilitarian purpose, it produces an anticipated result to those repetitive actions that may not be what everyone understands as providing a full life, a full life being impossible anyway. You just need to get as close as you can to the idea. Necessary as it may seem, we have learned recently through the restrictions of isolation and lockdown that alot of things are not really primordial to that very real goal of living a good life. Those established and anchored routines and marketed distractions may well serve in keeping us thinking that this is as good as it gets.

Ah fuck it, just some morning thoughts to put out there. That hari krishna post really put the hook in me. :lol: No onions or garlic you say, what about the details dude, the stinking details of it all ?

We started off in N.D.G. fixing Gottlieb EMs. Good coffee and dirty contacts were at the rendez-vous. Joanna was aces working on stuff I told her to troubleshoot while I fixed stuff the client wanted to improve upon in his line up. The details of the match replay on El Dorado not displaying accurately and things like that. Lovely stuff that FS relay detailing. Jojo fixed stuff the client hadn't noticed but that obviously wasn't quite right. I realized once a again a lesson I learned from doing weekly line up checks at North Star, the details which are catered to will shine mostly via the amount of maintenance we dedicate to regular repair tasks when it comes to pinball machines. Maybe this goes for other stuff as well, like relationships of all sorts. Just make sure you do not run out of details or stop paying attention to them in whatever you take on. Create an environment through your routines that leaves some room for attention to details.

The next call after lunch was even more suited to finding out how the detailing of a pinball machine affects the pleasure one can derive from playing, but hell we know this, even though I don't play much anymore. I was just happy to see that the client, (who is mostly a player) beginning to see the difference in his games and how they played when we had the luxury of time to tune a few things up. It is generally difficult to attend to all the details of having a pinball machine play well on a service call. You repair what you are called in for, and if you can swing a tweak or two in between, you do it because you think it matters even if the client doesn't notice that this "something" wasn't quite right. I love that, but time is always the measure for the depth of your life and work. It (time) can be like a life sentence with a jail guard at the gate, or it is like a guy idly leaning on a post smoking a cigarette who quietly reminds you under his breath to stay alert and look around you.

Wacka wacka
Last edited by R.A.B. on Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:11 pm, edited 4 times in total.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
Chris Silver
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3076
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Hawkesbury, Nowhere Ontario
Has liked: 72 times
Been liked: 79 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Chris Silver »

I find the utilitarian purpose of routine is necessary and inevitable. I've seen people trying to live every moment in life to its fullest. That's gotta be exhaustingly impossible. Sometimes you just need to turn the brain off and hit cruise control. Mundane repetitive labour is a great distraction offering a moment to reflect, plan and get bored. Getting bored brings out imagination, creativity, and appreciation so you can plan and truly enjoy the good times and little things. When the "new norm" is over, we'll be enjoying the chicken shit that goes by unnoticed or that we've always taken for granted.

You ever been driving and don't remember the substance? I might look up some onions and garlic recipes today. I'm hungry for change.
Pins: Spirit, Centaur II, Af-Tor, Avatar, Embryon, Timeline, Baby Pac Man, SkyJump, Night Moves, Split Second
Gone: Space Station, Top Score, Flash Gordon, Solar Fire, Haunted House, Fire (x2), Vector, Bally Playboy, Tropic Isle, Beat the Clock, Blue-Chip, Disco, Punk!, Lightning, Time Fantasy, 8 Ball Deluxe LE, Double Dragon, Stellar Wars, Alien Poker, Panthera, Elektra, Blackout, Black Hole, Black Knight, Silverball Mania
WTB: Medieval Madness, Rush
Its better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Chris Silver wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:29 am I find the utilitarian purpose of routine is necessary and inevitable. I've seen people trying to live every moment in life to its fullest. That's gotta be exhaustingly impossible. Sometimes you just need to turn the brain off and hit cruise control. Mundane repetitive labour is a great distraction offering a moment to reflect, plan and get bored. Getting bored brings out imagination, creativity, and appreciation so you can plan and truly enjoy the good times and little things. When the "new norm" is over, we'll be enjoying the chicken shit that goes by unnoticed or that we've always taken for granted.

You ever been driving and don't remember the substance? I might look up some onions and garlic recipes today. I'm hungry for change.
Hi Chris,

Are you up for another philosophical bout on this thread ? I am totally game, - the stuff you wrote above got me thinking again, well at least a bit more than usual. And if we do go at "it" philosophically again on this thread, I promise to not text you extra theories or receipes using excessive onions, garlic or ellicit sex so as to complicate things.

I have a day off coming up Wednesday, oh wait, I don't believe in days off anymore, but we can still ramble on with or without routine being necessary to any conclusions.

Virtual HUgs,

Rob
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
Chris Silver
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3076
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Hawkesbury, Nowhere Ontario
Has liked: 72 times
Been liked: 79 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Chris Silver »

I got lucky on that one flowing easily. It was natural. I had to wrap my head in bandages the last time you made me think. The attempt to think philosophically absorbs all my attention. Normally I like to toss inspiration at you and sit back and enjoy the ride. Sometimes I'm compelled for debate. It all depends on which way the wind blows. I've got my window rolled down.
Pins: Spirit, Centaur II, Af-Tor, Avatar, Embryon, Timeline, Baby Pac Man, SkyJump, Night Moves, Split Second
Gone: Space Station, Top Score, Flash Gordon, Solar Fire, Haunted House, Fire (x2), Vector, Bally Playboy, Tropic Isle, Beat the Clock, Blue-Chip, Disco, Punk!, Lightning, Time Fantasy, 8 Ball Deluxe LE, Double Dragon, Stellar Wars, Alien Poker, Panthera, Elektra, Blackout, Black Hole, Black Knight, Silverball Mania
WTB: Medieval Madness, Rush
Its better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Chris Silver wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 4:45 pm I got lucky on that one flowing easily. It was natural. I had to wrap my head in bandages the last time you made me think. The attempt to think philosophically absorbs all my attention. Normally I like to toss inspiration at you and sit back and enjoy the ride. Sometimes I'm compelled for debate. It all depends on which way the wind blows. I've got my window rolled down.
You have a talent for metaphor Chris, and that's the crux of being a poet in my opinion. As for professional thinkers, (i.e.philosophers) the majority of them are on their way out during these times of anxiety, uncertainty and the end of civilization lurking so near and all. The philosophers who do not learn to use metaphors to express the epiphanies that come to them via their thoughts that in turn expose a truth will not survive. Those who do learn to use metaphors will be baptised and renamed as Poets. My prediction is that Poets will be rampant again before we reach the next renaissance while philosophers will become scarce and something to mock. The songs of the doomed will sound via the Poets voices aimed at the masses, so listen for it, or in your case Silver, start singing out loud. LoL

So no more bandages necessary for any thinking wounds Chris, let's save them for the impending physical ones.

We should all have alot to say in the coming days, so there will be plenty of opportunity for discourse, comment here and there and elsewhere laced with lots of stupidity and anger with an occasional, "wish I had thought of that before" afterthoughts.

There are troubling times ahead, staying alert will be primordial and so will the ability to sneak under the fence will be a valued skill to have.


"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" Robert Zimmermann

http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Last night I felt another routine creeping up my spine. North Star officially opens again tonight via a reservation system since our limit of patrons is now set at 20. Last night we thought it best to hold a soft opening in order to test the set up and see how it flowed with 15 to 20 people in the bar. I am happy to say that the place looks great and the plexi panels Jordan installed are tasteful and non obtrusive for the most part. Here is a picture from last night which looks like everyone playing pinball has their own peep show booth. Very cool, and again tastefully done.

20200703_213639.jpg

Chris Da Costa wrote the following comment on the North Star facebook page yesterday:

It’s imperative to play pinball in a public location during the pandemic. This is a moment to tell your grandchildren about.... and that we followed the rules and did whatever it took to hammer that ball around a playfield. It’s a historical moment. Support our pinball establishments.


What I will tell my grandchildren (or anybody else's grandchildren for that matter) and whoever else is willing to listen to me babble will go something like this -

"Back during the summer of the great pandemic of 2020, people were getting increasingly thirsty for social interaction & good cocktails. Intelligent conversation was dwindling fast, while people in the u.s. were getting ready for civil war and arming themselves to the teeth. They couldn't declare war on anybody else but themselves mainly because the borders were closed. (78 year old man laughter). They had put their air force and navy on e-bay while trying to pay off their debt to china after being threatened with consequences beyond any of their imaginations. I won't get into this, because you don't need to know about the horrors of greed. Greed started off as an american problem when that company calling itself a country was incorporated, and it is a good thing that greed died with the virus and trump was fired by his own spin doctors who had lost their minds trying to correct what he would say next. Later an autoposy revealed that the virus knawed at what was left of his brain instead of his lungs. Eventually both the empires (china and the u.s.) crumbled due to their inability to declare war (or do business) overseas for profit, and hence they ended up declaring war on themselves because they were going broke. Russia meanwhile began to eat its own comrades after the e.u. said no more poutine for you. People had lost sight of what was vital and necessary in order to get to the other side of that worldwide crisis without overwhelming conflict and violence and destruction and death. These were hard things to avoid back then. What also hurt was that the average folks that were left felt that the little ground they had gained and saved for in the 20th century for what they liked to call their "golden years" back then and which I still think is utter and fabricated bullshit, was slipping through their hands fast because we hadn't collectively killed this bug just yet. It took years to get to the renaissance you are now living and enjoying once the vaccine was developed and distributed to those that were left and so now everything will be quiet for the next hundred years. Anyway, a couple of months before the land of opportunity below us really erupted, we ended up cutting off their water and regulating it in order to keep those crazoids under control until they understood what matters most.

Regardless, there was a very cool looking bar in Montreal that continued to open it's doors to those who wanted to play pinball and forget that this really felt like it was the end of civilization as they knew it. It was a similar vibe to that bar in Casablanca during the second world war, - a refuge of sorts, and many of us admired the courage it took to reopen during that summer of 2020. At the time, many of us believed that things would never be the same again, but we showed courage and resolve in our actions and never gave up hope. Many adjustments came thereafter, but the consequences of the isolation, along with the second wave of that virus were devastating to people's mental health and what little was left of that old washed up repetitive & unimaginative economy. I was there the night before Montreal first pinball bar officially reopened. I was there with my partners and an apprentice I like to call JoJo along with some of the more hard core North Star regulars. We were all there for the soft opening, and to test the measures that were put into place so that people could play and talk again at one of, if not the best place to play pinball in Canada. The North Star - Machines a Piastres. Ok, that's enough history for today, one of you little weasels get up and go get me a shot of marshine and some synthetic Dunhills."

Boom Boom & Yabo to the world we now inhabit. To all who give a shit, please sound your barbaric Yawp!!

20200703_220656.jpg
Last edited by R.A.B. on Thu Jul 09, 2020 5:45 am, edited 26 times in total.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
Chris Silver
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3076
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Hawkesbury, Nowhere Ontario
Has liked: 72 times
Been liked: 79 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Chris Silver »

“ They couldn't declare war on anybody else because the borders were closed. (old man laughter)“. LoL

I actually laughed when I read that line. You’re telling of the tale was a lot more in depth and flamboyant than mine. I did not know you trolled Facebook.
Pins: Spirit, Centaur II, Af-Tor, Avatar, Embryon, Timeline, Baby Pac Man, SkyJump, Night Moves, Split Second
Gone: Space Station, Top Score, Flash Gordon, Solar Fire, Haunted House, Fire (x2), Vector, Bally Playboy, Tropic Isle, Beat the Clock, Blue-Chip, Disco, Punk!, Lightning, Time Fantasy, 8 Ball Deluxe LE, Double Dragon, Stellar Wars, Alien Poker, Panthera, Elektra, Blackout, Black Hole, Black Knight, Silverball Mania
WTB: Medieval Madness, Rush
Its better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Chris Silver wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:51 am “ They couldn't declare war on anybody else because the borders were closed. (old man laughter)“. LoL

I actually laughed when I read that line. You’re telling of the tale was a lot more in depth and flamboyant than mine. I did not know you trolled Facebook.
Ofcourse I have no facebook account Chris, I think you know this. Why would I ? Just more routine like stuff & comments to read from people who are generally bored with reality.

Trolled ? I watch and read the North Star page mostly, especially during exceptional times of uncertainty.

Spent this day on the road with JoJo. And so on this hot and humid Saturday we decided to visit tonysoprano. He immediately made us a cheese and ham omelet while we chased a bug on his Bally "Night Rider". It got late quick and we struggled through traffic and found some ice scream near North Star. Noticed that in some parts of the island it's looking like the wild west is back in style again, especially on the roads. Yikes !!
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Things have cooled down in Montreal this morning, but it promises to thunder this afternoon and I will be on the road looking out for trouble.

"No reason to get excited,....." nor any need for a line up check at the North Star this morning. That routine can wait until Jojo and I get there later this afternoon and check the place out for any adjustments. Today we are going to take care of some details that were not catered to in the past weeks, and doing some sorting in the parts dept of life. Taking care of what matters, friends, family and those who need to talk during these times - some people are having a real tough time sorting out what is coming down the pipe. Below is a passage from early on in this thread that I like very much, and here's hoping that it will bring some light to the mess we are living and to the incredible consequences of this historical occurrence & its magnitude which we are reacting to in ways that will change our course as if there ever was one we could anticipate to begin with.


Not too many of us are well equipped to deal with uncertainty, if you are steady these days help others you care about along and carry some courage and resolve for them.

What is below is from this thread, (1st page) and not meant to be derogatory, just what I was feeling at that time last year.

In times of personal difficulty or social unrest (on whatever scale) many people cope by placing great importance on the concept of their "NOW" as the end all. And by that focus they have become philosophical zombies who feed off self help books and often step away from their past and back off from anticipating the complexity of any future which as always, is looking uncertain. Both concepts are far too overwhelming to lurk in for too long. So in order to survive going crazy, philosophical zombies find refuge in "the moment" and call it mindfulness. That's OK, it is the fashionable way to handle the unbearable lightness of being without going totally bughouse as they finally acknowledge and understand their true individual insignificance on this immensely complex web of being. This paradox still manages to insult many of us, especially the ones that call themselves americans or live on facebook. So many continue to maintain their illusions of individualism amplified with a focus on "their NOW" and this often makes them unpleasant and quite embarrassing to be around. I understand the need for some sort of usefulness and to continue to function in a world where most of us are quite useless to the big picture which is also doubtful in purpose. So what is the essence of Being,the question seems to carry more clout in these overwhelming times. Yet existing on this complex web of Being is more than enough to keep anyone busy who has the mind and courage to look back and forward from the solid perspective of an existential present. All along the watchtower indeed.


Last edited by R.A.B. on Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
Chris Silver
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3076
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Hawkesbury, Nowhere Ontario
Has liked: 72 times
Been liked: 79 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Chris Silver »

I never did understand the concept of self help books and having little notes around the house stating “you are special, you can do it”. Individuals in society have become very frail and fragile. There used to be a time where you had to walk around in the wilderness and find something to eat or you’d die. Life is too easy now, but everybody thinks it’s so hard.

Realistically, all of us will never be Gandhi or Mother Theresa. The best we can do is be the best we can be inside our own little bubbles while reaching out now and then into other’s bubbles. We will have an impact and leave a mark on them. Hopefully, we leave positive echoes that trickle beyond.

Remember the past, live in the present and be mindful of the future. Self-help books are a cheap substitution for common sense. We all need to just be good, be kind and enjoy the ride.
Pins: Spirit, Centaur II, Af-Tor, Avatar, Embryon, Timeline, Baby Pac Man, SkyJump, Night Moves, Split Second
Gone: Space Station, Top Score, Flash Gordon, Solar Fire, Haunted House, Fire (x2), Vector, Bally Playboy, Tropic Isle, Beat the Clock, Blue-Chip, Disco, Punk!, Lightning, Time Fantasy, 8 Ball Deluxe LE, Double Dragon, Stellar Wars, Alien Poker, Panthera, Elektra, Blackout, Black Hole, Black Knight, Silverball Mania
WTB: Medieval Madness, Rush
Its better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.

Guard
MAACA Super Contributor
Posts: 585
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 1:23 am
Location: Guelph
Has liked: 82 times
Been liked: 71 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Guard »

Fully agree,...just like body products, they must convince you that you look, and/or smell bad first if they wish to sell you something.
PINS- Hit The Deck/ Tee'd Off/ Flash Gordon/Bluenote / Stern POTC/ DE Star Wars/ Big Hit/ Algar/Asteroid Annie and the Alians/Slugfest/Batman The Dark Knight/DE The Simpsons/Dirty Harry/T2/ Devils Dare/ World Poker Tour/Swords of Fury/ Lethal Weapon/Ripleys BION/Circa 1933/Striker Xtreme

RIP- Sinbad/ Supersonic

WARLOCK
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 2946
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:13 pm
Location: The Bluffs - Scarborough, ON
Has liked: 277 times
Been liked: 54 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by WARLOCK »

Indeed. Great sentiments and thoughts my friends.

Just be. That is the meaning of life; other than the more precise numerical answer of 42 of course...
Many of us don't have the requirement to "rush" around, or "panic" like anything is really important or matters.

It all matters, but it also doesn't either. Take care of your relationships and take care of each other.
In the end, that is what is left.. those relationships and those that you care about and that care about you.
I used to close every show every single night with: "Goodnight. Be good to each other." Still applicable me thinks.

Live, Love, Do, Be.
Yes, there is a song in there...

All the very best. Be safe. Be well... Cheers. Salut.

User avatar
Chris Silver
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3076
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Hawkesbury, Nowhere Ontario
Has liked: 72 times
Been liked: 79 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Chris Silver »

I do not think, therefore I am not.
Pins: Spirit, Centaur II, Af-Tor, Avatar, Embryon, Timeline, Baby Pac Man, SkyJump, Night Moves, Split Second
Gone: Space Station, Top Score, Flash Gordon, Solar Fire, Haunted House, Fire (x2), Vector, Bally Playboy, Tropic Isle, Beat the Clock, Blue-Chip, Disco, Punk!, Lightning, Time Fantasy, 8 Ball Deluxe LE, Double Dragon, Stellar Wars, Alien Poker, Panthera, Elektra, Blackout, Black Hole, Black Knight, Silverball Mania
WTB: Medieval Madness, Rush
Its better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.

User avatar
cait001
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 4900
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:42 pm
Location: Centretown, Ottawa, ON
Has liked: 481 times
Been liked: 225 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by cait001 »

Chris Silver wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:40 amThere used to be a time where you had to walk around in the wilderness and find something to eat or you’d die.
I too long for the days of *checks notes* pre-agricultural nomadic tribes
backglasses wanted: Star-Jet, Fairy, Star Trek (1971 Gottlieb)
marquees wanted: Roller Aces, Quiz Dragon, Strider, Varkon, Dark Planet, R-Type (w/ship), Quantum, Ninja (Sega)
blog -- collection -- want list -- Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- ratings

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Chris Silver wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:40 amRealistically, all of us will never be Gandhi or Mother Theresa. The best we can do is be the best we can be inside our own little bubbles while reaching out now and then into other’s bubbles. We will have an impact and leave a mark on them. Hopefully, we leave positive echoes that trickle beyond.

Remember the past, live in the present and be mindful of the future. Self-help books are a cheap substitution for common sense. We all need to just be good, be kind and enjoy the ride.
That phrase in the last sentence of your quote above is about how to deal with the different time zones of one's life. I believe that it stemmed from the Warlock's brain one night during an inter provincial Pow-Wow. Yes, I remember now. I was so impressed by the combination of those words 7 years ago that I ended up writing it on the wall at the entrance of that Montreal Pinball loft and sanctuary back in 2014 or so.

"Remember the past, live the present and anticipate the future" was the exact phrase I believe. Then I added - "Here and now is where you will find yourself."

You substituted "anticipate" with the word "mindful" and that is fine for 2020, but in my case it just ended up reminding me of the philosophical zombies I see everyday, though I am sure that it wasn't your intention to provoke any nightmares for me the next time I find slumber. Hell, just the connotation which that word now carries these days for me makes me cringe every time because it seems to be an automatic passport to enlightenment for all the lost souls of this age, and god there are alot of them. Mindfulness use to conjure up images of scranny gurus on mountaintops who worked at solitude and reaching nirvana, but before the lockdown I would see zombies walking the downtown streets going to work in sneakers and looking very intentful as they head for their cubicles and to be enlightened by their screens.

Your words Chris have got me thinking again, but no banadages necessary. All these thoughts are entertaining at best and I am taking them into account as I write and edit this post. But for now, here is a picture Chnillapoil sent me recently of a thoughtful moment. Alain must of had some time on his hands to look back, or got a new phone and dumped the pics from his old one onto a usb key or something like that and said, "hey, I remember that night." ......been thinking, what a long strange trip its been.

No passengers allowed. "Ah, but those were the days that I want to hold you man."
Crane Building freight elevator thoughts.jpeg
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Chris Silver wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 8:03 am I do not think, therefore I am not.
You are a genius & a poet Silver !! :jumpy You and I and a few more geniuses/poet/writers/thinkers & babblers should get to the campfire at uncle Geesters place at least one time before this summer expires into crap along with a bunch of other things. We should record the conversations for future generations and publish it in the cloud(s). :ugeek: They will dismiss us as fools of a by gone era, that we can be sure of at least.

And Chris, one more thing before I let you be yourself, - just like Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in his existential novel Nausea "I do not think, therefore I am a mustache.", your quote is appropriate for 2020, as his was for 1938. These type of ribaldistic phrases seem to come out of human brains when the end of a civilization seem to get close again. Sartre wrote his just before world war 2 and now Silver wrote his just before the second wave of the 2020 pandemic and the probable crash of the american economy leading to a loss of their identity which usually leads to some form of nastiness when a people and its leaders do not have the flexibility (or brains) to reinvent themselves. A terrible stubborness in the face of great change will bring on great despair. Love it how history repeats, and hate how we ignore what we should have learned to watch for and not allow to repeat (or at least recognize) in order to move our humanity forward intelligently and peacefully and at a throttled controlled pace instead of letting our anger, stupidity and pedal to the metal ignorance run amok while burning rubber in the face of those riding behind us, the younger ones who harbour hopes that we know where we are going.

Anyway, enjoying the ride until then, and every god damn moment of our lifetimes while you are at it, as if I was saying something new. It is raining this morning here and these skies just look more amazing than usual along with hopes that it will have a cleansing effect on the world.

Yesterday I did a repair estimate for an long time collector buddy, also saw Mindstorm88 briefly, rode around with JamesSchid and wrote up an evaluation document for insurance purposes detailing the monetary value of a large pinball machine collection. What do I know about the prices of these things, let alone the mods added and the extras extras extras and what are considered "upgrades" to these impressive objects born of American workmanship (Sterns excluded), but I certainly do know about the value they have for people these days, even Sterns. I do still feel at odds with this environment, and I like that in a way. And since we are into quotes this morning, Oscar Wilde said it best - “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

My little service company has never had such a busier summer than this one, and this is so out of the yearly mid summer routine of basking in the sun or watching the rain while drinking vodka and eating peanut butter sandwiches on a back porch as it hammers out the earthworms. Instead, the next two weeks are going to be very busy on the road with home service, practically non-stop, so I am lining them em up and going to knock them down. A temporary summer routine for 2020 before heading back to my parts person job on August 3rd, just a month before this years ironic labour day weekend. Is there anything to celebrate this year ? I don't know of many people who are in the mood to jump for joy in this climate, especially since they will likely be frowned upon or fined. Courage and resolve and keeping your eyes open are what it takes when you get down to the nitty gritty of this existence.

OK.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
Chris Silver
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3076
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Hawkesbury, Nowhere Ontario
Has liked: 72 times
Been liked: 79 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Chris Silver »

RAB “ Is there anything to celebrate this year”?

Well, guaranteed the Band-Aid has been pulled off of the consumable rut and decadence of our existence. We have been forced into change be it both positive and negative.

Definitely, I can celebrate the rest and reboot. I can celebrate quality time with the family and the re-organization of my life both mentally and physically. I can celebrate all of the knickknacks carried out around the house and the tuning of my pins. I will celebrate with friends who have checked in and will move forward in a new thought out direction.

In many ways, this year has been a refreshing awakening.

Life is like a game of chess.Sometimes you win, eventually lose. Enjoy playing while it lasts. Offer up a gambit. Attack with a fork. Knight to F3.
Pins: Spirit, Centaur II, Af-Tor, Avatar, Embryon, Timeline, Baby Pac Man, SkyJump, Night Moves, Split Second
Gone: Space Station, Top Score, Flash Gordon, Solar Fire, Haunted House, Fire (x2), Vector, Bally Playboy, Tropic Isle, Beat the Clock, Blue-Chip, Disco, Punk!, Lightning, Time Fantasy, 8 Ball Deluxe LE, Double Dragon, Stellar Wars, Alien Poker, Panthera, Elektra, Blackout, Black Hole, Black Knight, Silverball Mania
WTB: Medieval Madness, Rush
Its better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Chris Silver wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:40 am I never did understand the concept of self help books and having little notes around the house stating “you are special, you can do it”. Individuals in society have become very frail and fragile. There used to be a time where you had to walk around in the wilderness and find something to eat or you’d die. Life is too easy now, but everybody thinks it’s so hard.

Realistically, all of us will never be Gandhi or Mother Theresa. The best we can do is be the best we can be inside our own little bubbles while reaching out now and then into other’s bubbles. We will have an impact and leave a mark on them. Hopefully, we leave positive echoes that trickle beyond.

Remember the past, live in the present and be mindful of the future. Self-help books are a cheap substitution for common sense. We all need to just be good, be kind and enjoy the ride.
Since times are fucked, and as we await the next trial, I thought I would post this as part of what Hunter S. Thompson would have called the songs of the doomed.

FROM : ABOUT 6 YEARS AGO

Re: RAB'S MOSTLY PHILOSOPHICAL PINBALL REPAIR JOURNAL
Post by R.A.B. » Mon Aug 18, 2014 9:28 pm

WARLOCK wrote:
What a playfield..
Where do you go?
From here; With,
Clients like this?

Remember the past.
Live the present.
Anticipate the future.

In the here and now is where we will find ourselves. ;)

WARLOCK
MAACA Wacko
Posts: 2781
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:13 pm
Location: The Bluffs - Scarborough, ON

Re: RAB'S MOSTLY PHILOSOPHICAL PINBALL REPAIR JOURNAL
Post by WARLOCK » Mon Aug 18, 2014 9:35 pm

LMFAO.
I ambushed myself.

Very clever timing sir.
To quote me my own words back...
(Cleaned up a bit better than I originally wrote them as well!)
I'm honoured for them to make the wall on Pitt street in Montreal if it helps us, or anyone else out.

Very nice!

Cheers.
Salut!

All the very best my friend.
Keep it up.



There is a future, but no one knows what it will look like a this juncture. It will hopefully come into focus soon and we will most likely feel better via our usual illusion of knowing what we believe is ahead.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
Chris Silver
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3076
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Hawkesbury, Nowhere Ontario
Has liked: 72 times
Been liked: 79 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Chris Silver »

Those are wise words that must’ve stuck in my head and modified to my perception. I do remember Pitt St. being empty at the end and those words on the wall. They were great times (on my side) fondly remembered and missed.
Pins: Spirit, Centaur II, Af-Tor, Avatar, Embryon, Timeline, Baby Pac Man, SkyJump, Night Moves, Split Second
Gone: Space Station, Top Score, Flash Gordon, Solar Fire, Haunted House, Fire (x2), Vector, Bally Playboy, Tropic Isle, Beat the Clock, Blue-Chip, Disco, Punk!, Lightning, Time Fantasy, 8 Ball Deluxe LE, Double Dragon, Stellar Wars, Alien Poker, Panthera, Elektra, Blackout, Black Hole, Black Knight, Silverball Mania
WTB: Medieval Madness, Rush
Its better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Chris Silver wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:54 am Well, guaranteed the Band-Aid has been pulled off of the consumable rut and decadence of our existence. We have been forced into change be it both positive and negative.

In many ways, this year has been a refreshing awakening.

Life is like a game of chess. Sometimes you win, eventually you lose. Enjoy playing while it lasts.
I have so much to say these days, and this time around it is starting to make me uneasy. Maybe I should stop reading the news and return to having my smarter friends provide a more familiar and thoughtful interpretation of the events through their filters. I can always count on them to tell me what they are thinking and concluding when something important happens. This allows for more of a shared & essential approach to the conjured up sensationalism and controlled reporting of mainstream media since these friends are critical enough to filter the useless info out of our exchanges. Problem is that most of them are starting to keep to themselves under the growing confusion, contradictions and added restrictions of these times. No one really wants to discuss, let alone get together and speculate too deeply on what could happen if we don't get back to what we had as a more social way of life during what we can now affectionately recall as our forsakened familiar normality.

I think alot more people than we think are starting to freak out inside. It may only be a matter of time before those with less self-control and who lack the steady consciousness of being alive amongst others will eventually translate their disorientation, despair, and angst into action. Maybe a civil climate will continue to prevail as the government provides the appropriate dose of sedation and/or rubber bullets & pepper spray for those who can no longer see any sense to their lives because their routines are not coming back in the same fashion as before. The new world which is still very much in flux is no longer something they can understand or follow, let alone accept, so they simply react based on the old values for some sense of stability.

The band-aid Chris talks about in his quote above has indeed been removed and has exposed how non-essential most of the work we do to earn a "living" in this system really is. The fact that work and money is generally validated as worthwhile via the ability to acquire goods, property, status and private leisure and is suppose to be the measure which convinces us that we are doing well should be a dead giveaway. It is now clearer to more & more of us that all this crap (the making of and the purchasing of and the disposal of and the recycling of) is just stuff to keep us busy until we age and eventually "check out" leaving little trace of anything worth a damn except a truckload of stuff and maybe some offspring as replacement cogs. It is a hard thing to admit, let alone grasp - the idea that we are basically just tools for all this stuff going round and round.

That is where the last phrase of the edited quote above starts to make a new kind of sense. Finding ourselves alive and looking for meaning in this pandemic as small "b" beings is challenging at best. Unfortunately most "little brains" often refuse to accept their own insignificance as a starting point even in the face of a wider understanding of life from a big "B" Being perspective. There seems to be less individualistic arrogance when we wrap our heads around how Big life is, but first we must let go of what we have been led to believe. That is the starting point for getting out of that pathetic cycle of consumption described above. First admitting the void of meaning in what we have been told was meaningful (going to school, becoming domesticated, making lots of money, then planning for "the golden years" etc.) and now, through this pandemic seeing that all of what we were told was vital to our well being can start to erode in less than 6 months and start falling apart, and we are not done yet by any means. We need to be injecting new meaning and values as fast as we can into the things that are changing and being blatantly exposed by the removal of the band-aid which we applied over our way of life (especially in America) after the second world war. Yes, they were prosperous times after all the death and destruction which brought on the baby boom and the renaissance that followed in the 60's, but right now we are in the shitty part of that cycle. It will take time to get to the other side of a better life. It is a long process and cycle that will have to run its course regardless of those who still think that they are so important and essential to life carrying on in the way they want it to, we are not that important.

As we move forward, the real danger continues to lurk in stupidity and carelessness and reactionary behaviour which are all specialties of the little brains in this landscape of eroding values and beliefs. Stupidity in this climate is now becoming more deadly. It use to be laughable for the most part, but now it is turning into a hazard via loud exclamations & bold actions that can sometimes result in claiming other peoples lives who often had nothing to do with whatever was troubling the little brains that were not able to process some information or begin to understand what was happening to them inside or out because of an overabundant intake of whatever they interpreted via their limited filtering capacity and education, or complete lack thereof.

Yikes !!

With routines coming back into focus precariously, and very little tasting the same as it did previously, many are still desperately trying to hang on to some sort of anchor as instability and social unrest keeps growing. For each one of us who believes in getting to the next renaissance, it will take a busload of courage and resolve to stay the course of steady actions allowing for process. Essentially, the path is now to bullshit oneself and others who you care about who may be having a difficult time into thinking that life is worth living these days and give yourselves reasons to stay the course even if we don't know where this is going to end up. In a sense, it is just life making an adjustment and where & when it stops nobody knows. The condition of life has been bestowed on billions and billions and trillions of various beings. Having been thrown into it means nothing at all in itself, well at least until you make it mean something. So accepting this involuntary plunge means dealing with this type of crap and accepting uncertainty. We need to get to the next renaissance somehow, whether it begins to dawn in a year from now or in five, we need to go through this phase, even as many more of us than we know are having a rotten time. In any case, the older ones of us know that life just ends up becomes a maintenance program in the later years and that process becomes key to staying with it. Maybe there is something the younger wilder gens can learn from that in this here and now since we are asking them to give up part of what makes them thrive.

None of us should expect to generate much joy as an immediate goal these days, it can not take root, let alone sustain itself in this here climate. Mostly because of not having too many other people around you to uphold & nourish the concept of joy and peace and well being. These are tough concepts to fabricate, promote and maintain on your own. Quite the tough order this joy thing, but in the end, that is the reason we stay alive. Again, joy is a difficult state to maintain outside of a stable environment, however it will easily grow, prosper and survive during a renaissance. This pandemic has divided us in so many ways other than the obvious physical distancing we must practise. It has given our social nature a real kick in the pants, and the pain of that blow is reaching our brains now. And as stated somewhere before, there will be no dancing or body english nor jumping about for a good while yet.

Rab (i.e. kilgore trout)

Last edited by R.A.B. on Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:24 am, edited 7 times in total.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Yesterday I went to the North Star shop to use the desoldering station on a 7 digit numerical display glass that has no nipple on its back. I need one of those for a Black Knight I am in battle with for the sake of an eccentric client who has an amphicar & memories of playing Black Knight in his younger years.
DRIVING ON THE LAKE
DRIVING ON THE LAKE
Also made it to my parts locker to get some more stock for the Montreal Pinball home service calls which continue to loom. I admit to having very little desire to do the calls lately and realize that I am more apt to doing this type of work if I have someone with me. Good work, enjoyable work and accomplishments have always been better as a social activity in my mindset, maybe that is why I hated being in front of a screen all day at Player One in the last three years of that bad trip where I didn't interact with clients as much. Some like that, I don't. And when a client becomes a pain as they sometimes do, I turn it into fun. Simply just take their brain out and reinstall it upside down and see if it makes a difference in how they talk and listen. And in the best case scenario when a client is colourful, knowledgeable and smart I simply take the time to enjoy the exchanges and learn stuff from their disposition and this feeds my resolve to carry on with the work. Yet, the problem of working without much interaction these days still haunts me, especially in this pandemic. I do not see the point of working alone when there is so much more you can accomplish by working well with others. Maybe being on a two week vacation from Alouette has made me feel this way. Those 3 days a week of dealing with clients there is just the right dose as a work base as my patience thins. And since I am not there until next Monday and making it a two week hiatus, that may be why I am feeling a little incomplete and less human lately. Monday the 3rd is going to be pretty busy, so.......maybe wait until I become less warped to begin dealing with me again, say like the wednesday the 5th.
Back to Work.jpg
Back to Work.jpg (69.06 KiB) Viewed 1652 times
I anticipate that this distance from others is going to be a tougher practise in some ways come the fall and winter of 2020. The majority of us will tend to move towards the indoors and will sit for longer periods in front of some device or another instead of being outdoors sitting in the summer sun and wider open spaces. Winter sports I guess will be more popular for those who understand what it takes to avoid going bughouse.
Last edited by R.A.B. on Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Simple truth - all things that come into our lives by choice or circumstance and which we acknowledge by assigning them a name inevitably creates a relationship. A place, an object like a pinball machine or a video game, a friendship, a pet, an addiction, a vehicle, a hobby, a passion or peeve. In fact, any regular routine like activity or thing whether it be work, leisure or sport related, once you name it, that thing ends up creating a relationship with you.

On a side note, we also have the ability to remember these relationships when we are no longer involved with them, and this can bring on a vast gamut of emotions, but that is not what I want to share with you in this age of broken routines, abandoned pasts and just plain endings.

And so many of the relationships we create by naming them will end and/or be replaced in our lifetime, that is natural fact, - jack !

So when something leaves us, whether it be by choice or circumstance, it inevitably leaves an emptiness. The best way to see this emptiness is as an opportunity. Emptiness grows proportionally to how many things you let go of, are taken away, simply leave or are lost and have not yet been replaced, that is the only real cure for emptiness, never allowing one thing to end before at least knowing that another (hopefully a better one) will begin. It is all about your relationships which you maintain with whether with objects, occurrences or others. Some are simple some are complex.

"It left an emptiness, but by then I knew that everything good and bad left an emptiness when it stopped. If it was bad, the emptiness filled up by itself, if it was good, you could only fill it up by finding something better."


The above quote is in reference to no longer playing the horses in the 1920's. From the book "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest "papa" Hemingway
Last edited by R.A.B. on Mon Aug 03, 2020 5:23 pm, edited 3 times in total.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

User avatar
Chris Silver
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3076
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Location: Hawkesbury, Nowhere Ontario
Has liked: 72 times
Been liked: 79 times

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by Chris Silver »

I’ve always enjoyed your writings Robert. They give this monkey things to think about while trying to remember which button to push to get the cookie.

Regarding emptiness, I feel life is never completely full. There’s always a couple of drawers left empty to accept new trinkets. I would hate being forced to throw something out to make room for the new. A little bit of emptiness gives us inspiration, creativity and motivation to advance. Emptiness offers drive and purpose to aim for the brass ring whatever it might be in the moment. One of 42’s purposes is the unobtainable attempt to fill the drawers while the whole time pushing buttons to get that damn cookie.
Pins: Spirit, Centaur II, Af-Tor, Avatar, Embryon, Timeline, Baby Pac Man, SkyJump, Night Moves, Split Second
Gone: Space Station, Top Score, Flash Gordon, Solar Fire, Haunted House, Fire (x2), Vector, Bally Playboy, Tropic Isle, Beat the Clock, Blue-Chip, Disco, Punk!, Lightning, Time Fantasy, 8 Ball Deluxe LE, Double Dragon, Stellar Wars, Alien Poker, Panthera, Elektra, Blackout, Black Hole, Black Knight, Silverball Mania
WTB: Medieval Madness, Rush
Its better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.

User avatar
R.A.B.
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 3523
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Fluttering above the trees and the bushes on the Island of the Nones.
Been liked: 240 times
Contact:

Re: ROUTINE ON THE ROAD – REFUGE BY THE RIVERSIDE

Post by R.A.B. »

Chris Silver wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:35 am I’ve always enjoyed your writings Robert. They give this monkey things to think about while trying to remember which button to push to get the cookie.

Regarding emptiness, I feel life is never completely full. There’s always a couple of drawers left empty to accept new trinkets. I would hate being forced to throw something out to make room for the new. A little bit of emptiness gives us inspiration, creativity and motivation to advance. Emptiness offers drive and purpose to aim for the brass ring whatever it might be in the moment. One of 42’s purposes is the unobtainable attempt to fill the drawers while the whole time pushing buttons to get that damn cookie.
Thanks Chris, I understand everything you wrote above.

Yet there are lots of things I can't understand which take place in daily life. And even when I give it a chance, and then again give it a real solid freakin' college try, I still end up questioning myself way before doubting the validity of the thing or action I am trying to understand which is inhabiting others and obviously controlling their behaviour. I say to myself, I must be missing something, because I just don't get how this is happening. This must be my shortcoming if I don't get this. And instead of getting defensive and angry like little brains do when they don't agree with something they don't like or accept as different and suddenly start spouting off their perspectives based on the education they have mostly received & accepted from parents who were not likely big thinkers, I will continue to question until I finally understand and finally have to shamefully and broken heartedly admit that some people are just extra stupid in how they let their lives go by and don't ever seem to wonder about what they think can possibly be a truth beyond their limited scope of vision. I think that this may just simply be a matter of fact, and I still can't grasp it as valid. Then again, kindness and understanding eventually prevail once again in my being as I understand that it is their choice even if they don't think they are making one, but when push comes to shove there will be less choice of actions for them to choose from. Maybe in their case, it is easier to fall by the way side when things get rough and maybe they are Ok with never "getting it". That idea that we must protect our ability to choose and act upon it as often as we can when things start to narrow down on us and choosing gets tough. Even if this latter limitation concerns me immensely, it may not matter to others, or they do not see a problem with not choosing. And what we have allowed to come forth by not questioning the conditioning taking place on the fate of the upcoming gens, we must understand this conditioning as not being something that will allow them to prosper, at least not until we begin to understand it. What we need to keep doing is to practise our ability to choose as often as we can, act responsibly and act socially for what is best for the collective first. It should not just be about the "me" of our slothfullness, pleasure, convenience and that horribly ugly fixation on self-importance.

But unfortunately, protoplasms can also take on a human form these days, and it isn't totally their fault since they are likely not existentialists. Many say that it is the fault of not being challenged anymore and that somebody or some interest wants them complacent and that the younger ones are finding good refuge in the role of claiming victimization. I hate that, we are hardly ever victims except when we choose to be, and it is so rare to be a victim since we more than often can still exercise choice while maintaining that existential perspective which liberates us from what falsely tries to weigh us down, and that includes the belly fat one accumulates by hiding out and getting paid for staying home and wallowing in miserable ease. But then again, if I am writing these posts on a god damn pinball forum I must be crazy, but I am just trying to wake up the natives and exchange with them, at least the ones I have come to appreciate and now through these words we can maybe make them lose that weight that keeps them anchored and complacent and help them to stop thinking that they are better off taking the easy road (which is a trap) while claiming to be poor victims to these difficult times. Fuck that, we are going to need eachother again very soon and we better get on the same page on what we are capable of accomplishing & changing with the better awakened side of our nature.

Here is a quote from a thinker -

"Communication seemed to have been easier in the past during the rat race. Everything was go go go, but there was always time for a visit or a phone call. Now life’s a Groundhog Day. It seems to be a cross of repetitively mundane and peacefully reclusive doldrums. I think the conditioning is working. "





Forgive me, since it is a full moon that helps to make me crazy with thoughts and emotions. Yet I can not be victim to this since I know and understand it as having an effect on me. I know when and I know how, so I am can choose how to react when in the presence of the effects of this monthly stimulus.

Kilgore Trout (rab)
Last edited by R.A.B. on Wed Aug 12, 2020 8:48 am, edited 2 times in total.
http://www.montrealpinball.com
https://amusement.evolvo.com/

Bally 1936 "Bumper" - North Star 1949 "Sea Breeze" - North Star 1950 "Richelieu" - Universal 1950 "Feature Bell" - Gottlieb 1952 "Queen of Hearts" - Williams 1960 "Ten Spot" - Gottlieb 1971 "Challenger" - Williams 1973 "OXO" - Bally 1976 "Bonanza"

Maxed out at 10 machines, no more. Un max de 10 machines, pas plus.
Une règle suivi guéri de tout. A rule respected can cure anything.

A philosophy of doing shall rule until the days when I can no longer "do" arrive. Because when I am too old to adjust an AX relay or relieve a woman friend from sighing, there will only be memories to fill my time. So, the task at hand is to build that RRSP of memories in order to joyfully cushion the later stages of life.

Personally prefer the exceptional qualities lurking beneath any normal state of affairs. Alas, our day to day is being promoted as extraordinary via a world wide web largely fueled by the new dumb & followed closely by the latest breed of unscrupulous scoundrels & judas goats. So, god bless the fool hearted, the crazed, and the railroaded all in good measure for they will likely inherit what is left of the earth after the screwheads are done with it. God damn darwinian primates, why do they refuse to evolve, even after all we should have learned from being dumb savages for so long.

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you, to be just like them. " - Zimmy

Locked