Yes, the day that many of you have been dreaming about has finally come. Today, I am stepping out of the limelight. After 1 year in MARP, I feel that I need a vacation from all the games, the people, etc.

I will be uninstalling mIRC to reduce any temptation; I have already changed my Home Page from MARP. I have set up a different ICQ account, which I am keeping private. The same goes for email. If there are any important MARP votes I need to participate in, I will still have jdllama@yahoo.com set up for contact with MARP, but for MARP purposes only!

I’m certain there are those who are asking themselves “Sheesh, why is J.D. leaving in his 'prime'?” Well, to be frank, I’m tired. I’m tired of the tournaments (both participating and running), and I’m tired of the attitudes. I’m tired of Stig’s constant bugging about HoM (and the debates about TG MAME, which gets to be REALLY redundant after a while), I’m tired of hearing SportsDude complain whenever he is bored, and I’m tired of seeing Gameboy9 become more and more lazy (there are others who bother me, but I will not mention). Remember when I first got here, and he practically posted every day some inane detail that I had done? (J.D.’s graduated! J.D.’s going to college! J.D.’s got no life!) I think that the lack of updates can kill any site, so something definitely has to be improved in that aspect.

I’m also tired of #marp. Sure, it’s still thrilling to do trivia on Saturdays, but the attitude needs a major overhaul (and I too am in need of one). On Tuesday night, I watched as Joe Ledesma was having quite a bad day, then started to flip out a little. He left, and when he got back on, he was promptly called an asshole. After he left again, there were people saying things about why he should have never come back in the first place, he was so annoying. Now, all of you know that I’m no Joey fan, but to have no decency like that is just immoral in general.

I think that MARP as a whole needs to learn how to be more accepting to anyone, be it annoying or god-like.

Now, don’t get me wrong about the running tournaments. That was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done, and if given the chance, I would do it again. However, having to worry about two tournaments at once can REALLY be painful, so if the opportunity comes for Knockout 3, as long as there aren’t other tournaments, then I’d be glad to help.

Well, I might as well close this off. After I post this, I will be deleting mIRC, shutting down the messenger stuff, and I’ll be gone for a month. By that time, I’m hoping that MARP as a whole can learn how to be more caring, nurturing, and supportive for itself. I’m also hoping to, by that time, returned to the way I was before MARP changed me; an energetic guy who was always having a good time with friends. I also want to become the way I was with video games before I joined. I don’t want to worry about peer pressure from my “friends” telling me which games are socially acceptable and which ones aren’t.

I’ll see you in July, and thanks for a great year here.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey “J.D.” Lowe Jedi Drunken Llama

-- Jeffrey "J.D." Lowe (jdllama@yahoo.com), June 02, 2001

Answers

'since Zwaxy "left"', BBH? I didn't go anywhere. I've just been watching. Intermittently.

-- Zwaxy (chr1s@mail.com), June 08, 2001.

Thanks for your great effort in running both the deca and MC2 JD! I understand that you need a break from everything, and I hope you will return "whole" again like you said :=)

I will take a break myself for a while now, but only because I feel "burned out" after the deca I just need some rest:=) AND after all it is summer now.. and I can use som tan on my body I feel ehhr pale right now:=)

So I will probably be back in a few days *Lol*

Regards to you all

-- QRS (qrs@telia.com), June 02, 2001.

WTF JD! Now there's going to be NOBODY in #marp to listen to my DDR rantings!!!

j/k. I don't blame you for getting tired of things. I think sometimes we lose track of what's really important... just playing the games and having fun. Isn't that what MAME is all about? Oh, no, wait... it's a "preservation" project. Eh, close enough. :)

I don't think the MARP web site should be blamed for "lack of updates". Really, how much needs to be posted on the News page? Since the site is automated and the script updates for uploaded recordings automatically, you can check several times a day and always find new uploads. At least GB9 is actually updating since Zwaxy "left".

I still think what you're doing is a bit extreme, but it's your decision. Just remember that while we're a small "community" and problems may arise amongst the people, it's the games and recordings that got MARP started. As long as the games are fun, I'll always be around MARP... or until I get a life :P

-BBH

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), June 02, 2001.

J.D., as you know we've talked about the reasons why you're going to leave (for a while?) 3 days ago. As far as I can tell, the best way to survive to MARP (and, from your point of view, HoM), without getting bored about the others and quit, is to do what about 80% of MARPers and 95% of HoMers (Simpson?) do: play, and nothing else. They don't post messages in the boards, they never vote, they never chat and they don't give a shit about the community - they just upload their scores. Plain and simple.

You already know my opinion about Stig's behaviour - you also know that I've always avoided comments about MARP on HoM, just because I don't believe that the others care about my thoughts on my former favourite site. I understand you may be upset by his comments (especially the ones about TG), but, hell, who cares?, it's his opinion. I don't have the time and will to kick someone's ass whenever he says something I don't like; he says what he thinks? I'll say too.

Anyway, I hope you'll have a nice break - we all need one sometimes. See you in July, boy.

-- Vaz (mrvaz@inwind.it), June 02, 2001.

JD , you

-- AL (alexweir@indigo.ie), June 02, 2001.

Doh...lets try that again.

JD, you`ve done a great job , and God knows how much that takes from a person . I won`t go into politics , but take as much time as you need , re-cuperate..etc. Although I will miss you at #marp . A genuine guy with genuine nice-ness all round :)

Even though you still can`t spell 'Guinness' correctly , I do not hold this against you ( there`s more of them out there..).

Go and do your thing , and may your God be with you.

Best wishes always ,

AL

-- AL (alexweir@indigo.ie), June 02, 2001.

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hope u dont forget to reinstall mirc in a month... and to bbh i dont mind the ddr rantings at all - i'm one of the 4 people who sorta talked you into playing it

-- david oliver (pimpdavid15@yahoo.com), June 02, 2001.

David: I said it before, you really don't take "credit" for getting me into DDR... I saw plenty of other people talking about it too, just not on MARP. The problem was, I had nowhere to play the game. It was my trip to Vegas that got me hooked. It was that trip that's made me shell out money for two pads and four different PSX versions in the last few months...

-BBH

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), June 03, 2001.

DDR? BBH, are you talking of East-Germany, the player or what? Las Vegas...? I'm all question marks????

JD, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice!

-- TJT *7,47* (tiihoto@hotmail.com), June 04, 2001.

DDR is short for Dance Dance Revolution. I'd explain it but I'm rather tired right now, so check www.ddrfreak.com or something if you want more explanation :)

-BBH

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), June 05, 2001.

Yeps, google gave me many Deutschland links. Trying "ddr videogame":10th link would have told what you were talking about. Is this a fine example of videogame jargon or what? hehee.

I haven't seen that game so far, maybe I'll see it in August at CGE2001 at Vegas :)

-- Tommi 7,47 TF 100m (tiihoto@hotmail.com), June 06, 2001.