OperaBuff

Adding dark brown sugar to the coffee cup introduces another dimension for your tired taste buds to consider. That info is just a warning blessing from my former twig leader. (But, just between you and me, your taste buds will eventually know that they have been tricked.) OK, here's another: You know you are in TWI if you think you know more accurate Bible than every other Christian on earth.

Happy New Year! This thread is TOO FUNNY!! Here's my top 10: 10. Your WOW family lives across the street from a porn shop and your BC tells you to "lift it". 9. You drive a car with a hole in the floor large enough to put your feet through. 8. You drive said car 600 miles to hear a tired old teaching and drink some truly nasty coffee. 7. Your dreams are laced with thoughts of regaining your freedom of will. 6. Stale coffee with brown sugar in it starts tasting good. 5. You get excited when some old mint-sucking drunk at a podium shouts "i love you". 4. You have (and quit) a steady succession of paper-hat jobs in some city you don't like. 3. You sing in Greek but don't speak Greek. 2. Getting 4 hours of sleep is considered a restful night. 1. You get excited again when some old mint-sucking drunk at a podium shouts "i love you" again.

The whore of Babylon? I thought Madonna was in Scotland.

Cult leader jailed for sexual misconduct in New Mexico.

My grandfather was quite a man, too. Everyone called him pap except grandma, who called him dad. They were both wonderful Christian people, deeply spiritual, who freely and frequently quoted from the Bible in their daily conversations. Each Sunday morning they would get in the Dodge and drive about 100 miles to attend their favorite church to hear their favorite preacher, rain or shine. During the years I knew him, pap ran his own car repair garage next to their house. He had lots of business because he knew everybody in town and was a great car repairman. He would charge fair prices, sometimes not charge anything if the customer was unable to pay, or sometimes take payment in fresh home-grown vegetables. He lived into his 70s, and right up to the end kept himself fit by lifting weights and using his punching bag that hung in the cellar next to the coal furnace. He would just wail on that bag! He'd get a rhythm going, punching it with both hands in turn: pa-POOM-pa-poom, pa-POOM-pa-poom, pa-POOM-pa-poom, on and on. Then one Sunday morning, he and gram got home from church and were changing clothes when he had a massive heart attack and died. I have my pap's laugh. And I have my late father's belch.

I find this all very interesting. I'm too new here to fully understand all of what is being said about past edits, deletions, etc. Rules are rules, we choose to follow or not to follow them. This is just an Internet forum after all, not holy writ. What strikes me most from my few months of reading and posting here is the inescapable fact that twi must absolutely hate Grease Spot Cafe. I mean, they must just HATE it. Would it be beneath current twi leadership to plant subterfuges in here? Posters whose purpose is to attempt to make GSC a nugatory forum from which to challenge twi? Would twi stoop so low? Are they that afraid of the information available on this site?

Why didn't he swim instead of walk? That stranded Fedex guy in Cast Away. The scene where he was walking in the ocean and his feet were getting cut on the coral. Why didn't he swim instead of walk?

whew!

One can easily imagine the brutal politicking that must have been going on between the upper echelons of TWI after VPW's dust had returned to the earth. Particularly when the cold-eyed political fighters saw that Disco Craig was left in charge of the tens of millions of dollars in the bank and all that lovely real estate. The sharp elbows were effective for a short while, but soon even they could land few blows against the blackmailers. My dear, the blackmail must have been rampant! What things Chris Geer must have seen go into the twi lock box during his days as valet and driver, eh? Ah, bless your heart, I love you. And all this coming towards Craig, dear Disco Craig, who couldn't even perform a proper pirouette on the dance stage.

Merry Christmas! Paw, I volunteer to be one of your elves, if you like. I've got time, and I've got experience building and maintaining Web sites. Last year I took an early retirement from the US Department of Defense, where I was a project manager and senior data analyst. Supervised the building and daily management of several Web sites. So I know how it is. It's always something and it's one d*mn#d thing after another, is how it is! I'm not afraid of it, and I'm not easily intimidated by people. It takes guts to wear a tiara, you know.

You've got to take care of number one, brother. If you don't, nobody else will. Dot Matrix, your words above are inspired. You can borrow my tiara anytime you like.

Besides, nothing beats a tiara. But I do remember one morning, years ago, waking up sideways in bed with my head on someone's

Using other men's works as his own. Using other men's wives as his own. Does anyone else see a connection besides me? Paging Doctor Freud, paging Doctor Freud. Doctor Freud, please call your office..

These Way leaders today are fixated upon gaining forgiveness for adulterers and restoring correct moral behavior. I wonder why? Calling Doctor Freud, calling Doctor Freud. Doctor Freud, please call your office...

Well, there are about 2,500 registered GSC folks, which means maybe 25 of you enjoy opera. So for you 25, and for anybody interested in learning about opera, I offer the great Italian soprano Cecilia Bartoli performing a beautiful aria called 'Sposa Son Disprezzata' by Vivaldi. It takes my breath away every time I hear her sing this poignant plead.

It depends upon who is looking, bon ami. Ah! I wish you could have seen it in the original. Oh, wait. You did see it in the original. Quite so. Never mind then, just start sending your money again. That whole Word Over the World thing? Just a theory. We ran out of money, is what happened. Ooops!

Good question. I'll be interested to read more responses. For me, I can't honestly say that I ever felt a calling. I also had a strong sexual attraction to the guy who first witnessed to me. Oh! My! Gawd! Nothing ever came of it, alas, but that hidden desire carried me on its wings for several months. Learning the Word eventually became very important to me, and it remains so today. Does all that add up to a calling? I don't know. I heard no audible voice from God, saw no snowy gas pumps, created no tax dodge of a corporation, bought no real estate holdings. The fact that I left after just two years means the drudgery only began to affect me. It became obvious to me that so much of the daily activities and meetings etc were just busywork. I felt myself becoming somewhat brain dead -- unchallenged in any meaningful way, not supported in ways that I needed support. When that hit me, it was not difficult to put TWI in my rear-view mirror. It was a mentally liberating day in my life when I fully realized that The Way does not own the Bible. They never claimed to, I know, but they sure had me believing they did there for a while.

My forgiveness will come when I see twi financially bankrupt. They will have more forgiveness than they can handle when that day comes. Until then, they can suck it.

Potato Haiku Poor cold potatoes not wanting to be eaten keep their jackets on. ((((potato))))

Fear is the glue that is holding together what remains of The Way International today. And we all know what that means. The nail that sticks up gets hit with the hammer. To me, that explains why they have repackaged themselves in Lawrence Welk clothing. About that W.O.W. program. Was it a success, or was it a failure? Did it achieve its stated goal? If it did achieve its goal, where is my financial reward? If it did not achieve its stated goal, could WOW vets join in a class-action lawsuit for breach of contract?

I'd love to take a trip to the UK, can I come to the reunion too? It would be awesome to meet you all. Several years ago I spent 10 great vacation days in London, but didn't get away from the city. Would love to taste that *burp* delicious British grub again and those *burp* lovely ales. Someone served me rabbit once at a dinner party, but I couldn't bring myself to eat it. I had a strong desire to pet it, however. NO SQUIRREL!! Maybe we could take a road trip to Gartmoor and toilet paper the trees? That whole Chris Geer thing happened long after I left. Several years ago I read PoP and my first thought was, sheeesh, what lunatic wrote this mess?

v2p2 has twelve 'volunteers' in his current group. Jesus had twelve apostles! WOW, that is soooo spiritual.

Ah, the campfire! The campfire, the campfire. How much human history has been set in motion around the campfire? Wars. Love. Schemers. Plotters. Steelworkers. Cooks. Arsonists. People who love smoky wood.., Ah! Ahhhh, yes. I can remember it now, as if it were yesterday. The summer school class of 1975 at Way HQ, sitting in The Way Woods around a roaring campfire, all eyes fixated upon the flames. Relaxing, relaxing, relaxing, upon our earthen seats. A time when all defenses were down -- a time when, after a busy day of school we would gather and sit (oh, no, S.I.T!) and wait for doctor to arrive upon his golf cart. Then we would sit and listen to him speak from his heart, into hearts that were helpless and open. Ahhhh, yes. The tender times around campfires... Makes me want to break out in song, it does!

I'm a blog fanatic, such a healthy and effective way for people to contribute our two cents to the public discussion. dKos isn't my cup of tea (even his vaguely Soviet masthead artwork irks me) but as you say it is a high-traffic site. The Huffington Post might give you a forum, not sure since I don't go there often enough to know its policies. I recall reading they are planning to expand into local news coverage. (Plus, Arianna effortlessly morphed from being a conservative to a liberal, so she's certainly familiar with changing one's thinking!) There's also Salon.com and Slate.com Faith-based initiatives is such a gooey glob of a phrase. Everyone gets to invent a definition for it. Good luck to you!

You post on DailyKos? Mon Dieu! :(