Now who's responsi- I say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person? I say, I say, I say, pay attention now boy, this is, of course, Foghorn Leghorn presents the Pinball Junk Drawer. You all asked for it, I say, I say, you all asked for it now, you're gonna get it. Boy, oh boy, are you gonna get it. Go, I say go away boy, you bother me. Now then, I'm going to do something I call the compliment sandwich, where I say something good, then talk about where you need improvement, and then end with something good. Ah, yes. Nothing like foreshadowing via popular movie or popular TV clips. Ooh, interesting. This is, of course, Foghorn Leghorn Presents the Pinball Junk Drawer. Yeah, I had to stop. I'm like, I was thinking so much about the show and what I was going to do that I forgot the name of the show and what I was going to do. Yeah, good start. Off to a good start. I digress. My name is, of course, Foghorn Leghorn, and this is, of course, the Pinball Junk Drawer. Now, as alluded to by Stewie from Family Guy, I'm going to start off with something really good. As you may or may not know, I have pulled back from a lot of the pinball content out there, But, of course, being a long-standing member of the Poor Man's Pinball tribe, well, that goes out saying that I'm going to listen to the Poor Man Pinball tribe. And recently, not only on Drew and Rachel's Poor Man Drop, but also on the Tribe Multiball with Tim and Rachel, or Rachel and Tim, whichever. I believe either way is fine. Got a lot of love. And, you know, in the year of our Lord 2022, compliments and kind words seem to be a bit hard to come by. Also, I don't really know because I try to keep this show very, very upbeat and happy. But by and large, I'm kind of a reserved fellow in reality. so when you know i heard a kind of an outpouring of of um positivity about the show this show and also you know some of the stuff i've done over the past for the tribe or with the tribe whatever and also uh you know even mike williams saying it was fun to listen to some of my wacky stories on the tribe multiball i was i was taken aback a little bit and i don't know you know again i don't really feel that kind of, I try to kill all emotions with beer, but I was sitting at work and listening, and I kind of felt a little verklempt. Is that the word? I don't know. Like, I was like, wow, you know, thanks. So a genuine thank you. If you are listening and you're enjoying it, if you did enjoy, you know, some of the stuff contributed over the years to the poor man's pinball tribe, and that's not what it's about. I mean, but that kind of thing is really awesome. so from the bottom of my heart thank you rachel thank you tim thank you drew and any of the tribe out there that's digging some of this stuff and liking it well thank you for listening and thank you for you know caring so that's all i i also didn't want this to come across like oh i'm trying to like get more positive feedback that's not what that's about it's just you don't hear it much and it struck me kind of when i was thinking about it like you don't really hear a lot of positivity coming back or you don't you know it seems to be like hatred and negativity seems to be the the you know the soup du jour in our little hobby and maybe in all hobbies i don't really know um but i digress so that was the good thing yay okay now uh this small segment oh but just to warn you beforehand there's no interview on this show so i'll i'll wait a minute if you want to click off you know you're like oh oh no no interview this guy's terrible and then turn it off so this is going to just be a kind of a random thoughts show i had a few different things i wanted to talk about and i have a big personal anniversary that did highlight pinball in my life so that's where the main thrust of this is going i said thrust uh so the second thing you know the pinball community, the world, as it were, lost a very influential, very awesome person, you know, and it's come to light that this was, you know, through suicide. I I did want to kind of say you know if you need help please reach out and get help There's a helpline. You know, there's plenty of places online. Now, I'm going to give a tiny little Cliff Notes version of my philosophy on life. I know. Who signed on for this? But so and this isn't right or wrong. this is just what got me to where i am in life because i you go through different phases in life there you go through different feelings and so being advanced in years as i am i've kind of come to the conclusion and this just works for me folks i only believe that this is it i don't believe in afterlife i don't believe in heaven hell any of that stuff doesn't mean don't at me this doesn't mean that's right or wrong. This is what I believe. So let's just put away your hatred hats. I don't need an email. So this is the only go around. So that's my first logic base that I use. The second thing I think is the only true currency is time. All the other stuff's fake. You know, so basically, if you boil it down to all I have is this one go through and the only real thing that a value is time. Now, don't get me wrong. You need money. Money is what you use to pay the electric, buy pinball machines, eat other things. But I hear children need clothing to go to school. but the formula is you've agreed to trade your time for x amount of dollars per hour or x amount of dollars per year so again it boils down to all you have is time and this is the one go through so using that as a logic base you kind of owe it to yourself if not those who care about you or around you or those you influence to try to try to make sure things are okay because they're not always okay and i'm not blowing any sunshine and if i'm also not doing any judgment one way or the other if it's time to push your chips in i don't know what's going on in your life i'm trust me i'm not a counselor so again you know if it's time if you think it's time all i'm saying is exhaust all avenues first. Reach out to some hotlines. Reach out to EAP employee programs. These are good things. So if you're in a dark place and you're looking for a ladder or you're looking for a flashlight, you're looking for someone to help you, at least exhaust all avenues. And then if you've still reached that conclusion, it's on you. I would suggest if you are in a really dark place and you don't feel like anyone needs you get a puppy or two because that'll be you will be needed always so and loved eternally so but i digress so again i didn't want to deep dive into this i didn't want to this isn't a luxury thing this is and there's no judgment on anything any you know like i can't stress this enough when i'm doing this show because i know for all the happiness what i said about how drew was you know i know sooner or later the she was going to drop. Someone's going to attack me or someone's going to, this guy is terrible and it's going to be a thread somewhere. And then, and that's going to break my heart. You know, like I've been doing this a long time. So it's kind of like, you know, water off a duck's back, but it still hurts. So, so again, I'll bask in my glory for a few moments until something happens and oh my god so i try to keep this show very positive very light you know this is an hors d'oeuvre you listen to this and you're like well that guy's a little crap and then you go listen to the other thing you like to listen to whatever so okay now enough of that i think i got my point across before i talked in circles for another minute and a half that seems to be my that is really my style is just to say one thing that could be i'm literally the meeting that could have been an email that should be this show's title the pinball podcast that could have just been an email so what I wanted to talk about now on to the last happy part see sandwich just like Stewie said so the last thing I want to talk about is this is the 10 year anniversary of me getting back from Korea like within a week or two beer has killed a lot of like you know specifics about things which is convenient but also kind of troublesome at times So 10 years ago it was this Valentine Day 2011 I left everything I knew and got on a plane and went to a country I never knew and taught English to kids who didn't want to learn English for a year by myself. Now, this was through a government program called EPIC. That's the Korean English whatever. so it wasn't like I literally had never been alone before in my life and I had gotten to a point in the graphics world where I was a graphics production floor and I'd been in this world for 20 some years and I couldn't kind of take it anymore so what happened was at that time I was really into Japan well I still am into Japan but like I was taking Japanese language we had had numerous Japanese exchange students. So I knew the culture and I tried to go teach English in Japan to kids who didn't want to learn English. But Japan is a very hot commodity. So and a lot of kids go there, like want to go teach there. So they kind of only import young blonde women. So young blonde girls, you know, college kids. So I didn't, being a Dan, advanced in age and girth, I didn't have a chance. So it turned out that the Korean program actually was much more financially beneficial and better overall. So I went to Korea. My wife stayed at home. My parents moved into the house to help keep things running and sane and keep everything together. And I went off on my adventure alone. And over my summer and winter breaks, I would go and stay in the, with the exchange students' families, you know, or near them, and they would kind of show me around Japan. So it was a wonderful time. What happened was, there was no pinball in Korea or Japan. None. And I went to, I'd heard rumors that there was one at a bar in Korea, and I went to that bar. It wasn't there. And I heard rumors of, and I went to the Capcom five-story, you know, five-story arcade in Japan, in Akihabara, and that had crane games and some cool games, but that did not have any pinball. So over the year, I found myself really, really missing pinball, like bad. Previous to me going over to Korea, I would, I went, you know, I was doing the restorations where I'd buy an old beater and restore it, play it for a while and sell it, and I had the one Austin Powers machine in the house, you know. So I was in the pinball world, but it was just kind of a thing that I did. And I didn't realize it at the time, but that was like one of my escapes where if I had a bad day, I'd come home, go in my room, play pinball for maybe even 10 minutes, 5 minutes, doesn't matter, a couple games, and that like kind of rejuvenated me and made me feel better. And I didn't really realize that at the time. So when I went to Korea, I'm alone, and you're just, you know, I liken it to like somebody who's institutionalized or in jail or they always kind of say, you know, it's funny the things you miss. Not that Korea was jail, just meaning that I was isolated, foreign or stranger in a strange land. And I was just I could not wait to get home and play pinball again. And that's kind of where I launched into. I did a couple. You know, that's when I came home and I did a my first tournament, which I never did one of those before. and I went over to Disney, what was it called? I forget the name of it. Disney used to have an arcade. And I was in that all day from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. just playing and playing and playing. They were literally pulling me out of that place. And it's Disney Quest? I think it was Disney Quest. God, memory, huh? And that's where then I started to really kind of get crazy with pinball and get immersed in it. And I've often said since then I've pulled back a little bit, but I've really made sure that I keep it in my life and keep I'm always looking for machines. I'm always like playing the ones we have, you know, tinkering with them, keeping them updated. But that's where I landed on my kind of like how much it meant to me, how important pinball really was, because people look at it as like, oh, it's a silly game. It's a silly game. Well, no, it's not. not to me and I'm sure not to a lot of people listening because if you're listening to a podcast about pinball well then pinball's kind of important to you too you know it just took that that event in my life to kind of shine light on how much it did mean to me you know because it very easy to just you stop playing them for a while and then you like oh no then all of a sudden that just where like laundry is folded or where stuff like that famously happens to pool tables. Anytime you put a pool table anywhere in a house, you know, some people love pool. I've never seen a pool table that literally wasn't just a laundry storage place, you know, and I've also never been a pool table in a house that had enough room for a pool table in a house. You always got to like use a little short half sticks and stuff. It's terrible. I digress. So, you know, I feel myself kind of like the ebb and flow of where you are in pinball. And I talk about this on a couple different shows now. God, pick a subject, huh? You know, where you are in pinball, that does like have an ebb and flow. I can feel myself as this show is kind of going along and as a, you know, Now I'm going to MGC. I had a great time at Expo. I can feel myself kind of getting a bit more into it than I was for the last half year. Now again, moving, changing jobs, changing states, changing houses. I've been through quite a lot in the last year and a half. And that's no understatement. I've literally changed everything in my entire life except for my wife, my cats, and my pinball machines. So, you know, that's one of the things that now I'm noticing I'm kind of like latching on to. Plus, we have a nice basement that is going to be a barcade. So enough of this. I did. I'm not sure the point of this other than just, you know, I also try to be like a positive influence. And that's not as easy as you think. And that's part of the reason I went to Korea. As you get older, your mind shrinks and your viewpoint shrinks. keeping an open mind as you age is very difficult that's it takes a conscious effort you know get off my lawn with your baggy pants and your beepers and if you don't know what a beeper is ask your grandfather and it's just like one of those things where you kind of go like oh my god you know so and then like living in a different country for a year where you know none of the language nobody you don't know anybody you're just there you see different ways of things you'd see different points of view, a different way of life, you know, and then you go to Japan for a while, which I was, and that's a different point of view, you know, so it does help. But, you know, I guess I should have put that part this, I was just talking about that. I should have put that in the beginning and I don't edit. I am literally the Ed Wood of podcasting. You know, I don't waste any content. So I just keep talking and I eventually turn it off and hope it's fun. So I guess my main point is, you know, enjoy the time you have. And if you can enjoy pinball and make that part of some of what you enjoy and do it, if you need, find what you need to be happy. And hopefully part of that is pinball. It's not, you know, don't, it's not all pinball. Not everyone is all pinball all the time. But hopefully, you know, maybe even this show, or poor man's pinball podcast is something you look forward to you know and you just find some little sparkle of thing it just makes time we all have to go to work well not all of us many of us have to go to work many of us have to do stuff we don't like don't like scrubbing toilets or washing dishes but you kind of have to and you know but latch keep make sure you keep the things that are good and positive and fun in your life and kind of you know keep those in your heart as you're doing the crap you don't like to do you know wow put a bow on that whole thing huh yikes i digress i will say that's gonna be it for this show next week i will dig out one of those interviews so if you turn me up well i should have led with that because if you turn me on then you wouldn't you don't know anyway if you know someone that only listens to the interviews will tell them well there's gonna be an interview soon so it's gonna be okay all right that's all for this week thanks for listening everyone uh you know go get a puppy or a kitten kit i always say kittens because we have like we always have three to four cats in the house we i'm i'm constantly outnumbered by felines and that's a good thing all right see you next time everyone same bat time same bat channel scream us out of here aliens guy bill i can't even tell that guy's name bill uh bill paxton i always say Bill Pullman too. I'm that guy. Ugh, terrible. The over-actor from Twister and the over-screaming guy from Aliens. Game over, man. That's all, folks. That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over.