Ham

so.. where did chat go? No more parachat?

I think "branch leader" may now be a "promotion" for aging staffers. No, it's likely not a paid position anymore.. but the one here (and I think technically he's a branch leader..) makes pitches for twi's wares..

I really think the vicster started with a vewy vewy little god, and "rightly divided (dissected)" him.. it wasn't even half a god.. any god that needs ME to tell him what to do.. isn't exactly God, in my estimation.. one teaching I NEVER heard in da way.. sometimes "no" is the answer to prayer. Even if it looks bilblical and lines up with all the supposed keys and all.. reminds me of an old bugs bunny cartoon.. Bugs and Christopher columbus. Everybody else jumped ship.. and it came down to only one bean left between them in the galley.. Bugs with carving knife..and the poor little bean.. "use your imagination Chris.. will it be light meat, or dark?" Yeah.. I'll take the good half..

Only eight votes? well.. I thought I'd bring it to the top, for those who may not have seen the poll..

Perhaps. Or they voluntarily, or involuntarily put themselves and or were put in situations where maniacs could apply psychological conditioning. The techniques do work..

look at the "abusive systems" thread. After a half a page or so it should be apparent.. It's the "way ministry, III".. very very small, at the moment..

Next question. What are you going to do in twenty, thirty years, when your "staff" and "volunteers" are beginning to show the wear of age? Sure, pa, mac and a few will get a few "benefits".. without question or explanation. Or it will be something like, "we owe it.. they sacrificed their lives.. and the adversary attacked.. it's da debil's fault.." and that WILL be the spin, if they get some horrid disease, or God forbid, cancer.. will you merely hide these "issues" from the followers? I suggest history will repeat itself. You've got a doctrine which supposedly guarantees success.. a "law" that "works" for saint and sinner alike.. mathematical exactness and all. what will you do when things go "wrong"?

that's one major objection I have with the sewers camping experience. They are so young.. and the idjits are running it on the fly, just like gramps did.. and if they so fervently hold to gramps doctrine, when people start aging, it will be history repeating itself. There will be purges, confrontations.. mark and avoiding.. not because people are "ungodly".. but because they are just HUMAN. The kid actually considers the corps program and ministry to be a success, before the "bad people" came in.. somehow, I don't think it will ever come close to the success in terms of numbers of its parent.. I hope people are smarter.

One post-upgrade question.. where's chat?

I was impressed with the professionalism.. the person said, "if we meet in a store, and I don't say anything..don't be offended.. it's because I can't. I won't even say hello, unless you do. I will not publicly acknowledge we have met in a counselling manner.." I think I was studying the "professional" more than they were me..

I think its like anything else.. you have to feel them out.. so to speak.. find one you can trust.. then don't waste your or their time.. This one helped to show me I needed to "educate" people how to treat ME.. I told the therapist of years in the group.. lack of boundaries.. etc.. and that's my weak spot. Lack of boundaries. and after a few short visits.. it was time to move on..

Sometimes the therapist needs a little more information than we give them.. and no, they are not going to just throw one in a "nuthouse" or something.. it's too expensive. Governmental budget cuts and all.. Yeah.. I saw one, a few times.. the therapist ended up being more an academic guidance counsellor than anything else.. s

About the best I've done.. since the seventies is about 700 or so Heavenly Blue morning glory seeds.. don't drink red wine before it hits.. you might have to convince yourself that the air doesn't really taste like cabernet.. you know.. breath the air, it is solid wine.. cover yourself with a bedsheet and its just normal air again. Remove the bedsheet.. and the air is solid wine again.. heh well.. it's about as real as it gets, anyway.. heheh

Interesting at least one other greasespot brother brings up the acid.. heh.. some days.. I wish *they* still made the stuff.. Bring it on, Mr. Owsley.. I'll take whatever you've got to dish out..

Heh.. I am looking at up to seventy.. two classes.. remedial algebra.. I get a stipend.. underpaid? No kidding.. but if I can make at least one difference or two.. good for me.. they didn't give me the 8am class. well.. that would have been fun as well.. heh

so.. what's the new job like? My new job.. will be "interesting".. (understatement).. but it is what I asked for.. :) the youngest guy.. he is twice as smart as me. How does one handle thirty five kids who don't want to be there.. well.. I'm sure *we* will find out.. heh I sincerely hope.. I can reach a few there..

In a weird way.. I quit looking for "help".. and started looking for more connections.. some of the languages are quite different though..

Ah.. that's it, or is it.. a small group who can understand some archaic dialect.. a connection of sorts.. is that it? I had a similar experience.. in less than a few seconds I realized all (or the majority) of what I had learned was wrong.. One thing I absolutely love.. is the connection I have with even a small group.. nobody else can "get it".. I have a few "new" connections as well.. there is one character from my graduating class.. he's got the same "assignment".. and he is far more brilliant than I.. math 105, instructor. and the first meeting with the ones in the assignment.. will be one of sheer terror.. heheh. Both of us will learn the same language.. heh I've learned the same language, in more than one dialect..

Half a god.. hmm. maybe.. in the old days, when travelling preachers roamed the earth, for sustenance.. now in the house there were two mogs, with a god. One, in a Drambuie stupor, overlayed their god. Seeing any god is better than a dead one, he switched his for the other. A living dog is better than a dead lion, fer crying out loud.. the next morning, the mog considered his dead god. It was not the likeness of the one which he thought he remembered. "aha" said he.. and clamored at the ruler of the land's court.. "he overlayed his god, and stole mine." Continully they litigated, from court to court.. finally the supreme judge ordered the god divided, and the resources equally distributed to each party.. at which, the vicster cried out, "fine. As long as I get the good half.."

but it would be fitting.. in more way than one..

I dunno. Maybe some of us were like "sleepers" or something..

I think its a valid point as well. Well, maybe a HANDFUL grow old in da way.. there's rosie, the donster, and why they keep howard the duck around I have no idea. Maybe when he's old enough to forget where the skeletons are buried, he'll be put out as useless too.. but long term staffers and families. What about them? I know some who are in their late fifties, early sixties, sent out "on the field" basically to fend for themselves. Why is this? The real pathetic part of this.. some around here STILL can't see it for what it is, and still try to peddle twi's wares. In their fifties and sixties, I think they begin to present the "household" the *significant* burden of age, sickness, and eventually having to put the right spin to their deaths. So bub..and I KNOW you're reading.. that's the ONLY reason rosie and gang pressured you out.. with tactics which I will not outline here. They just didn't want to have the "burden" to put the right spin on it at your or loved ones funeral.. you just happened to be a nice guy, and not know where enough skeletons are hidden..

I really thought about sending a copy of that to one of my former english professors, and see what he had to say about it, but I didn't want to see him have a heart attack.. "death by composition"..

I think one would normally have a trusted, honest individual review something like that before publishing it. Was there even any kind of review here? Maybe he's *above* that.. not how he thinks *god* breathes or something..

Yep.. but this last "great" epistle of sorts.. my opinion.. it was like someone took the broken ramblings of a drunken sailor, regarding lost love or something, and just ran it through the spell checker.. as far as grammar and spelling.. it passes the microsoft first hurdle..