J0nny Ling0

From "This Could Happen To You" starring Nicolas Cage, Rosie Perez, and some other gal. After Nicolas Cage wins the lotto, and explains to his wife (Rosie Perez, the ultimate hot chiquita Puerto Rican woman!) that he has to keep his word and split half of the money with that waitress because he gave his word, they continue in their conversation: Nicolas Cage: "So what am I supposed to do? Rosie Perez: "Stiff her!" But of course she says it with that delightful cocky New York Puerto Rican accent, which just cracks me up!

And Tom, when you start to learn the chords,remember that placing your fingers in the right place and then strumming the chord is not easy at first, and at first you will feel as if your fingers are a bit retarded. But not to worry, as Bluzman said,; "practice practice practice!" And before not very long, you'll be able to play those chords clearly and nicely. But, I will leave any real instruction up to dese other guys...

Well now. I am certainly enjoying reading this thread. It seesm though as I've not much to add! But'ts all good here. Now, the Red Strat. Well, it's red. has the whammy bar deal on it as I suppose all Stratocasters have, and I am playing it through a small 90 watt Fender Automatic GT amp. There are numerous dials that give various different sounds, and what I have found to like is when I mess with it until I get a good bit of distortion. I have learned and anow able to play some bar chords, and dig that a whole lot. And, I can play some nice blues riffs to go along with them. At this point though, I really could use some instruction, for, just playing by ear and "figuring things out" is no doubt a way slow way to go. I do have an instructional DVD of Brian Setzer (now there's another gui-tar man! love his stuff!) that I gave to my heavy metal "shredder" son, but, he never did check it out. So, I guess I'll just do that my ownself. I did check out those EMG pickups on the net, and did find them to be fairly spendy. Maybe my friend paid more for them up here in Alaska, since things here are so durned expensivo... And my worst guitar story is that when I was in North Dakota on my interim year, some local guy gave aour LC (D*v*d Schm*dt) a very old, small bodies Martin accoustic guitar. Daviddidn't play it, but enjoyed holding it when we talked. He liked to hear me play it, and of course, I loved playing it. The guy who'd given it to him said it was realy really old How old? I don't know. But it played really nice and had sort of a funky ragtime sound to it. And so, everytime I went to Bismarck for a visit, he'd always make sure to get it out for me so I could play it. And then one day, out on the patio, while he was pretending to be Peter Townshend and playing the opening chords to Pinball Wizard, he smashed it down on the flagstones and it splintered all to hell! It was awefull! Well, that didn't really happen. Gotcha! Actually the reason it is my worst story is that David used to tell me throughout that year that he was either going to give the guitar to me or this one other person. And of course, I begged God to tell him to give it to me, but in the end, he gave it to the other guy. :( And so, my old Yamaha FG75 had to do me until I later married my wife who came with a nice 64 Ford shortbed pick up truck, three shotguns, and a nice Guild D-50 accoustic steel string guitar. The truck is gone now, but the shotguns, the Guild, and the wife remain!

((((Ex10))))

And Ex10, I need to be fair to you. But first of all, what Doojable just said about me and my post is true. I definitely was NOT saying that our lovely women were running around tempting the top leaders. I was saying that I was tempted to follow through on that gals' advances. I mean, hey, I'm gettin my pants hemmed and she holds the tape tight up into my inseam for a really long time while grininng at me, and then she flat out grabs IT. And so, being a guy, I was really tempted. But, I was also confuesd over the whole thing, because I was a first year Corps guy, and I just didn't see how this fit with "It Is Written", and this coming from a clergy gal and Corps grad. It threw a wrench into my idealistic thinking... But, I am also willing to admit, that it certainly was not the same as what you described, even though it was my flesh that was sought after, just the same as with you. For I know that if this gal actually tried to hold me against my will, I would easily have brushed her aside with a laugh and with the greatest of ease, walked on out. Not so easily done by a woman being held by a large jock of a man like LCM. With a woman in that situation, there is obviously going to be way more fear of the rape scene. The truth is, the ratio of men getting raped compared to women is way lopsided. Women are far more often the prey of the male predator, except for when men are in jail I guess. And so, I also have to say that it wasn't all that traumatic to me. If I was locked in a room with LCM as you say (and I was a girl), and he "wanted me"), I guess I'd be scared too, unless I was Lara Croft or, Zena, Warrior Princess! I will say though, and I've said it before, that my wife when she was young and single and in the 7th Corps, LCM tried to "get her" in his hotel room, groped her breasts, caused her great hurt and confusion, but to his shame, she gave him an instant Bible lesson on adultery, the Love Of God, and, the Way Corps Motto of "It Is Written". And he then, shamefacedly, watched her stomp out of the hotel room. There are things that happened to me publicly that were FAR more humiliating to me than that situation (the one with me, not the one with my wife). I guess I just took exception to what you said because it seems sometimes that many women have thought that being sexually harrassed only happens to women, and I felt like pointing out that "you weren't the only ones". But, I do stand corrected (by my Strange Friend Tom in a private message) that it was worse for you all than it was for me in that situation. Okay? Sorry... But, but, but!, I still believe that no matter what the hurt, as Sunesis said so well, I do believe that the forgiving of another is primarily for the victim, and not the predator. One time, when in Alaska, a certain Limb Coordinator, sprang a surprise "reproof meeting" on me, where I was the focus of the reproof. All of the people in my Twig Area (five Twigs) were there. He accused me of all kinds of evil deeds which simply were not true at all. My wife was even sucked into it, and I felt as if the whole world had vomited upon me. He did it with arrogance and a pridefull spirit, and he was wrong. Those details are not worth repeating, but I will tell you, this was far worse to me than some single gal grabbing my tallywhacker! Hell, I'd rather have that happen to me any day of the week compared to that! At any rate, I was so humiliated, I went and took a job as a mate on a commercial halibut boat, and said to my wife; "See ya, I go a fishin!" And I was gone for a week straight with out a word from me. And oh, did we kill fish! One of 'em was a 280 pounder, and we had to harpoon him to get him into the boat, and then we had to shoot him in the head with a .357 magnum! Way cool! Just what Dr. Jehovah Rapha (the lord our physician) ordered! It wasn't quite as grand as when Peter obeyed Jesus and almost sunk his boat with fish, but we did well! And when we got back into port at Homer, Alaska, we tore it up, got drunk, and I had a really good time! Went to "Alices Champagne Palace" as a matter of fact. Fine place. Jerry Jeff Walker played there, but sadly, the week before I got there. Can't have it all I spose. And also during that time, I was purposefully skipping the meeting with the LC where they discussed "this new "Passing Of A Patriarch business." And so look EX10, like you said, one person's hurt may not be the same as another's, but, who is to judge how one thing will hurt another more than someone else? Just maybe having my whole existance called into question by some Reverend whom my friends and wife looked at as "an authority" is also very very bad and very very hurtful. Once my wife saw through it all, she took a long time to forgive him as well. And, it was easier for her to forgive LCM for his "attempt at boffing her" than it was for her to forgive the LC for slandering me publicly and causing her to doubt me... But just the same, even though he, the LC never apologized to me or acknowledged that he was wrong, I still forgave him. Like I said before, for me, personally, forgiving those who wronged me is a "pressure relief valve" (PRV). I am a marine engineer, and this analogy fits for me just perfectly. When the pressure in a boiler gets beyond the capacity that that particular boiler is designed to hold, that PRV simply pops, blows the excess steam into the air, and the machinery is saved from an internal explosion. And not only is it logical by way of lots of analogies, Jesus said to do it, and I believe in Jesus...

Just Loafing: I totally appreciate the desire to be given an honest "from the heart" apology. On a few occasions, I received this from ExWay leaders, and truly, it was like slipping into a hot jacuzzi after working on a cold, wet, commercial fishing boat for a week. One such apology came from one of the campus/Corps coordinators of Gunnison. He flat out told me that he'd been an a-hole and that he'd been on a power trip, and that he was terribly sorry that he'd been deceived into becoming a "lord over God's heritage". Yeah, he truly was/is a changed man. And so naturally it was very very easy to forgive him at that point when he said; "And I hope you can forgive me for I am so sorry". And I did, and we had a fine time talking about all of the "stuff". And, we laughed alot too! And so, well hell ya the apology makes it so much better! But for those whom I will never see again who may well want to apologize and would if we ever met up again, and for those who don't feel the need to apologize, well, I personally choose to forgive them all. But, as Free From Cults mentioned, "to each his/her own". Peace out... :)

And, like I said in my first post, for me to forgive does not mean that I would ever trust him or them again, for I have learned that there is only One whom I would ever trust again. No, let me say that there are only Two whom I would trust. God and Jesus Christ. And like you said FFC, "to each one their own", which does in fact fit with what I said in my second post when I said that God has given us all freedom of will to do as we choose... :) Signed, "Lingo"

AndEx10, As an aside, if I had been stalked by LCM HIMself, yeah, I'd a flipped my lid and gotten the hell outa there! For, I have always preferred women ya see... :)

Ex10, you said: And Ex10, if you had thoroughly read my post, you would have noticed that I said, and I quote myself; And so, maybe you had your situation, but, as a matter of fact, I was groped by a female clergywoman in the sewing department at HQ who also did not want to let me out of there. Oh yes, and as a guy, I was tempted. Maybe you weren't tempted, but I was. She was pretty, single, but as a Reverend, it was confusing and disturbing for me to have Rev S*s*n B*uld*n grabbing my **** when I thought she was there as a gift minister to "bless my life". Oh, but how could a young male actually "not want it"? Well damnit, I had a very pure heart and I was in the Corps because I wanted to serve God. I had already "done the World's thing", and I didn't go into the Corps for "more of the World". So don't tell me that what you had to deal with was worse than what I had to deal with. And once again, I said it in my first post on this thread, everyone has their own timetable, and I was very clear and non-judgemental about that when I said it. I still believe that forgiveness is the "pressure release valve" that helps us to be free of bitterness. Peace Sistah....

And, that is your right. You have freedom of will to do whatever you want to do. And that is perhaps one of the coolest things that I love about God. I wish you well, Free From Cults, and may you find peace after all of this, for I too know what it means to be shat upon. I am just saying that this is what I did to find peace, and I hope you find it too...

Well...I can tell that I am WAY out of my league here. But, this is Way cool too. I loves to play guitar, even though I am not that good at it. I play some blues in E, and do some fairly okay flat picking, but really, I do not even consider myself a "guitarist". I do consider myself a harmonica player though, and will sit in with anybody in a bar or on a stage. But, I do love the git-tar, and would totally LOVE to be at the place where Icould jam in some simple blues key and just plain old backing up a harp player or have a keyboard player back me up... But, technical things about guitars? Well, I'll just enjoy you boys talking about it, and learn what I can, for as the kids say these days; "It's all good....."

I forgive him anyway. In fact, I forgave him a long time ago. Jesus forgave the heinous jackals who crucified him, and so, I want to do as Jesus did/does. But as you mentioned, that doesn't mean I would trust him again, but, I forgave him. It took me years to come to that point, but I realized that the bitterness that stirred within when me when I thought of all of that s h i t just wasn't doing me any good, and so, I did finally decide to forgive him. The first big step in the healing of my heart. Him and a number of limb leaders who'd done me and my wife dirty. And it has been good for my soul to have done so. Although it's your business, I do suggest it. But it's the kind of thing that comes on your own time table. If I'd tried to forgive them all before I was ready, it wouldn't have been real, and I'd have still had the bitterness anyway. But when I finally looked it all over for the umpteenth time, I forgave 'em all, and I am thankful to God and Jesus Christ for being able to do so. Peace. I like it...

According to my friend, he put these 500 dollar pick ups on it, therefore boosting it's worth. But thanks for the heads up Bluzman. Also, he's asking six hundred for the git-tar, but the hard case is really nice so he wants an extra hundy for it. Fact is, I probably won't buy it. But I do get to play it for the next 12 weeks...

Ahh, well, I guess my lingo is good enough....The weather here has been in the teens and in the single digits, but the clear skies and sparkling snow on the crystal peaks has been totally breath taking and beautiful....Nice to see the ocean and the outer islands sparkling in the sunshine. Absolutely scintilating...

And so, yeah Socks, I guess I do not know much about pickups. I mentioned that he put brand new "EMG" pick ups on it, and I thought that was enough info for ya. I guess you wanted to know: "How many gigahertz and watts and/or amps and all kinds of electronic "whatevers" these pickups can handle or perform. And so anyway, I guess I don't know what to tell ya. It sounds really nice though. My friend said that he didn't want it because it is "RED". Is there a stigma with "red guitars"? It almost sounds like it by the way he put it...

Yeah, old Barney Fife cracked me up. I think my favorite was when he sort of "inserted himself" into the local choir and wanted to sing the solo for a concert, but, he couldn't sing at all. But, no one had the guts to tell him that he couldn't sing. Damn, that one cracked me up! So long Barney, we'll miss ya!

By the way, Hi Socks! I have in my posession a Fender Stratocaster, the first good guitar I have had the chance to play on for an extended period of time. It's a red Mexican Strat. It's new, and a friend of mine who'll be out of town for awhile said I could play on it for awhile and decide if I want to buy it. He put some new expensive pick ups on it which he says are way better. They are made by EMG. Heard of 'em? He said I could have it and the new case for $700.00. He got it from a friend who died, and it didn't cost him anything. And so, he put the new pick ups on it, but now wants to sell it. And so, I have been playing on it, and it's nice... Hey, thanks White Dove! :)

I am thankful for PFAL because I learned that: Punctuation is devoid of authority (and that was/is a dandy!) That Jesus was/is no whimp ("and he looked round about on them with anger") That the gift of holy spirit is freely available to all who call upon his name That after being born again, I had Christ in me the hope of glory! -"My God people! What power we've got if we only knew it!" And as David Craley once put it; "At that point I almost spilled my Good 'N Plenty all over the floor!" That the Word of God should be our only rule of faith and practice That the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword... That "the works that he did, I could do also, and greater works than these..." (John 14:12) That the Bible doesn't have to be a strange and mysterious closed book to me, and that I, a "non scholar" need not fear to try and understand it... And that I need not pray the old "begging prayer", the "I'm unworthy" prayer, but rather that I could come boldly before His throne of grace and ask for help in time of need... That God's ability equals His willingness. And, simply put: "That God loves me and gave His Son that I might live...." Now could I have learned any of this elsewhere? Well sure. But, when I fell to my knees and asked God to help me out of my dark night of the soul, the very next morning, a bright and wonderful young gal who later went into the 7th Corps came to work aboard the cruise ship I was working on, and immediately she witnessed to me with the love of God and an open Bible. And I could not, and will never ever doubt that the Lord God Almighty answered my prayer, and the answer came via a WOW Ambassador. And for that, I am eternally grateful...

Well, I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than go drinkin and drivin' with Ted Kennedy!

And just who was "Mrs. Jonassis?" And for that matter, who was Mr. Berlercker? Tom Tuttle, can you help me out here?

Yes Mr. Tuttle. It appears as if maybe I had done a little too much fishing, doesn't it? But thank you for having the love to reprove me like that and help me to "get back on the ball", which of course, as we know, is the safest place to be... And WaferNot, yes, I do now remember the word correctly now, and thanks there too Tom. And, in actuality, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that info on orthotomounta, and find it very helpfull in the way that the word is used in the Bible in that verse. And Nandon, concerning "bold manifesters": There was a guy in the 12th Corps, a great big black guy whose name I can't remember (he had a sweet Mexican American wife) and when he prophesied or SIT w/ I, man, he blew the roof off! He had a deep baritone voice, and when he said; "Know that I am the Lord Thy God.....!", why the first time I heard him I jumped a country mile right there in my seat!!!

No problem Tonto"tomounta"! And man did I crack up when I read Mr. Tuttle's rendition of your name! It reminded me of "orthotamounta". But what did that Greek word mean? Probably something cool...

Why thank you Tonto! And no doubt we'd have gotten along just fine! And it probably would have been a blast to hang with Mr. Tuttle as well!

Well ya know, to be honest, we were in the Way Corps training program at that time, and the Corps Coordinators' instructions for us to do it that way was to help us to get bolder at doing it because there had been a time just before that when he would ask for someone to manifest, and there was a big hesitation, and finally someone would reluctantly stand and do so. It seemed to me that on the field and not in the training program, that it was done both ways: "Requesting a particular individual by name, or, just requesting that someone so inspired please do so". And so, you have to remember that some of the goofy stuff we did while in the Corps training program was for training. For instance, the "teaching to a tree" thing, or the wearing of a three piece suit at 6:00 a.m. and doing a ten minute teaching to the whole Corps before breakfast. I mean, many of things were goofy, but they weren't necessarily things to be carried out "onto the field", other than in the situation I presented in this thread being misguidedly told to us so that we could develop more boldness. I mean, have you ever been in a meeting when the request was made for "Anyone so inspired please prophesy", and then no one did it? Kind of embarrassing, until someone finally stood up, and stumbled through it, which increased the embarrassment factor. And so, as misguided as it was, it was presented to us so as to avoid those situations when actually on the field "doing the real thing". Oh but man oh man I laugh at that one! I just told my wife of that incident this morning at breakfast after I wrote it, and she laughed a good one!!

PS I still love the guy. I spent some time with him back east, long after the big Breakup and we laughed about that whole thing...