socks

I hear ya, CKathy. You've got a lot to look forward to though. Tampa - which part are you looking at? I miss the warm gulf water. When our kids were little they loved the beaches off Clearwater. The fishing was awesome, fresh and saltwater. Most of the year you don't need more than a light jacket or sweatshirt, max. Great place to build up your collection of baseball caps. We used to head up the gulf coast towards the panhandle, and found a place named Cape San Blas. Absolutely beautiful, small bays, crystal clear water. Scalloping in knee deep water. Couple times we went for a few days we hauled the kids around on a little inflatable boat thingie and scalloped and shrimped in this one little bay for hours, scopp 'em up in little nets and toss up into a bucked of ice. NOTHing better than fresh scallop and shrimp that way. All kinds of horseshoe crabs lumbering along. Heavenly place! Lots of cool music that way too. Florida's got a lot to offer, no question about it. I always thought a blend of bluegrass and 'island' musics would be a cool sound, and it kinda rang in my ear when we lived there. The guitar, lap style like you're learning, maybe a mandolin and some percussion, with a bass. Light, reggae-ish but based on bluegrass music. Take the BG sound and add the lyrical qualities of some other stuff. Gotta add - the fish. yeah, the fish aisles. Yeah! What I remember of Ohio fish is synonmous with "breaded". Lots of breaded and fried or baked fish. (although I made a serious dent in the bass population down around Shelby County myself!) But nothing beats just slapping that fillet in a pan with a little hot oil, some salt and pepper and a wack of lemon and vinegar added, hot off the skillet! Hmmmmmmmm.....healthy, cheap. Can't beat it.

I'll do dat Polar Bear. Thanks! Ain't no Wes T-Bone, appreciate it though! Chatty, I highly recommend seat-scootin' to the tune! A la I have one friend still, Tom Strange visited and I dumped the other "Tom". Any friends who desire to friend-up please do! Chatty, I don't wanna drive with you! You'll soon be in the land of Love Bugs (remember those?) and Palmetto bugs that kick sand at mice. Picture Bill Murray in Ghostbusters, heading up the elevator in that hotel, where the guy next to him asks who they are....He says "Exterminators. Somebody saw a cockroach". The guys says "That must be a helluva cockroach!" and Murray snorts, "Bite your head off". Florida!! A la - the female voice is from Acid Loops, if I remember right. The percussion, and various sounds are sound samples too, edited and looped as needed. Bass and guitars are me.

This is way too funny Hammer-on! :biglaugh: The shorter version of my name got "King Kong Geek" The full name with "Jr." got "Macho Boulder"

The A.P story adds this quote of P's - "I have a relatively good track record," he said. "Sometimes I miss." On his site he's got a beery letter of condolence posted to the victims of a plane crash in Connecticut, a plane owned by one his "corporations". He definitely missed that one. He doesn't give predictions or prophecies as much as he gives "judgments". None of his so-called prophecys are specific relating to any date, time or place that would allow for anyone to save themselves. He doesn't even bother to preach a brimstone filled sermon on what the soon-to-be devestated might do for his god to avoid such wrathful events. All he really does is announce judgments, from "god", for whatever it is he says is wrong. So he's really more of God's Judgment Announcer of Wrath That May or May Not Happen Pretty Soon or Sometime After That. He's so despicable there aren't words. He pinches out things like "If I'm hearing the Lord right"...... I can't see how anyone can watch his Alfred E. Newman bobble-headed act on TV and not barf let alone send his asinine company money.

Chatty!!! A la!!!! Moving!!! A la, you're a moving experience, for sure. Chatty, I hope this is a really good thing for you and yours. That's great, and I don't envy you the packing but there's nothing like a move to groove ya! That means you've got a lot going on. When is the move planned, if I may ask? Tampa!!! Fresh Grouper, hmmmmmmmmm.....just talking about that a week ago! Speaking of Amazing Monkeys of the Sea (ASM's be praised), one of my New Year's resolutions ( a year ago ) was to try and start a myspace music site, and after a dozen aborted attempts I finally got it to work before the year ended. Whoopee, I guess I can check that off. I don't know if or how I'll pusue it but I suspect it's much easier to do than I made it. It might be a useful tool for others of you. Anywayagain, I put a song up, "Desert Dance (I Like That Beat)", an aural ode to our little briney friends. I wrote it awhile back and posted up but this is reworked. And I think the link works below, if it does you just hit the Play arrow on the skanky looking page that comes up. It's as far as I've gotten on the page itself, which is nowhere. Probably best heard through ear phones or speakers loud, hope you enjoy it! Desert Dance (I Like That Beat)

That must have been a nice study, bliss. I've got work to do, that's for sure. ;) It is inspiring and humbling to look at their lives. For me taking an honest look at what 'churches' and other ministries do has helped me to see what all is "available", if I can use that word and I guess I did. Life can be tough, at best - how can we help ourselves and others get the most out of it? There's a quality that I've been struggling to find the words for - non-intrusive support is the best I've come up with. Where the fellowship and friendship is built on the example of love we see in the bible amongst Jesus and his followers in the gospels, and Acts and the epistles. Where people working together don't insist their own will on others, but try to help others find the "will of God" and live by their own decisions. And enjoy life as they choose to live it as much as they can. The church is made up of the members, everyone. When "a church" is what a group of leaders makes it, that's only a very small piece of the pie, it's the piece that those leaders have to contribute. So the question comes to mind, do we know what a leader of "a" church in the bigger body of believers should be contributing, with what they themselves have to offer? Overall "the" church is described as being very diverse with all of the members contributing their part, and everyone together making up a body that's 'run' and infused by the 'real' leader, Christ. Through His leadership we make a church that glorifies God. I'd assume that by the description in Ephesians that glory is fulfilled and realized when all of the participants are allowed to be engaged and functioning. We don't all do the same thing, we can't, we're not designed to. From the outside looking in, it's absolute chaos at times, I'm sure. Except when group activities are planned, like Sundays when so much of the Christian world gets in their cars and hits the road. Sundays are like the Parade of Cars or something. But that can't be all there is to the organization of the church. I had a "dream" once, a waking one. Where the seemingly chaotic disorder became fluid, like a huge ball of yarn that was impossibly tangled and suddenly the whole continuous strand moved like liguid and smoothed out, back and forth, back and forth. It looked pretty weird at first to my mind's eye but was actually pretty cool. As individual members we have to be allowed to do "our part", or else we can't fulfill our purpose as a whole group. On one hand that makes for a very laborious effort if any one of us tries to get it all in order. That's not our job, that job is taken by Christ. If we could provide the right support for that to each one of us, we could see if this whole thing really "works" as designed. I think looking at the early church gives us a view of how diverse all this can really be. It would seem that regardless of what we do or encounter, God's purposes can be realized if we maintain the right focus. What is God through Christ doing in us and what are we doing? That's a very delicate fragile process, without loving support that ball of yarn's going to look like the cat had it's way with it, y'know?

The part about the dog was all so like gross and stuff. 100. :) but I had to put on my Itsa hat.

Interesting Jonny - consider this. History and tradtion speak to one thing about "the 12". They all died for their faith. Not a one of them is said to have gone back on their witness of Christ the resurrected savior, after His resurrection and ascension. Even when threatened with death. Bartholemew-he doesn't get a lot of air time in the epistles. Yet he was called "without deceit" by Jesus. Not a bad report card. All those guys died martyrs for their beliefs, as history and tradition tells it. If we compared all the so-called "Christian Ministries" today and what's being done by them to those guys, a lot would fall way short I think. Key to their lives was that while they struggled at times something changed them to the point that they never changed their minds later in life. They died, some more or less alone, absolutely convinced that Jesus Christ was the son of God. If - that's true, it would account for why the gospel didn't fade out. Different viewpoints may have cropped up but on the basic witness of Jesus Christ, son of God, savior, died, risen and ascended, there seems to have been no disagreement. That's the "core message" that's been passed on, and again if church history is right, at the expense of their own lives. It's been said that you'd think at least one of them would have backed off, changed their story, given up to save their own lives especially given that some died far from home. Who'd have known? They could have just faded out and gone on with what life they had left. But they didn't and it figures in as the one singular fact in the whole story. They understood who Jesus Christ really was. Without that - some sense at the least of who He was and is to us, there's not much left. The rest can be discussed forever. Out of that living real relationship those guys (and many others) maintained comes all the rest of it - churches, rituals, etc. etc. But there's no gospel of Christ without Christ. I've often thought that's still the whole idea of it. All the rest comes and goes. Christ - the way, truth, the life, the son of God - that's it, that's the point of contact that we either make or don't make. And if they're any example you're right - it won't be a sleigh ride a lot of the time. It's amazing anyone thinks it should or will be, really.

Jonny, I thnk skyrider hit the nail on the donkey. There's got to be many different reasons for the reaction. Hey, it's on the board. Anyone showing up and reading material like what was originally posted is bound to have some kind of reaction. Me - (in case any CES folks are reading) I'm concerned 'from a distance' as a non-participant. If I felt a personal responsibility I'd contact the people involved. But I have no context for doing that, no meaningful relationship that would warrant it or make it soluble for any of them. Writing a bunch of letters to people I haven't talked to in over 15 years about events and matters I'm not involved in is a waste of time and would stand to allow my words to be interpreted in an environment that is IMO shakey, to put it mildly. So I'm not going to waste my time or theirs. Given what I know, I feel like the principles are immature and ill-equipped to be running a 'service' ministry and/or a 'church', whichever they want to consider themselves at the moment. They do have a right to do what they're doing and at some level it's probably not harmful to people that buy a tape or a book or go to a meeting and then go home and do whatever it is they really do wherever they do it. But letting them get their hooks in you and ending up in a dependent relationship with them where they can influence you, friends and family is going to be risky, IMO. I don't mean to come off egotistical or like a slug, but arguing theology with someone like John L or the boys would be silly, like discussing advanced harmony theory with a kid blowing in his kazoo the wrong way. I'm more concerned about the quality of life these people suffer with that results in such balderdash. I don't have any Big Solutions, I think ultimately it will just have to play itself out. Maybe a few people can avoid a few bruises reading here, dunno. So me, I am in a way, sending a warning - not a big scarey one with spiders and ghouls running around, just a simple visual tug on the sleeve to get out of harm's way. GS is where I read about it but I've heard the drums beating about this stuff from distant shores over the last few years. Since this forum exists, it's about at the right level for where I'm coming from to post my ever-loving and so-insightful thoughts. Y'know? I also think your points are good ones too and will likely prove valuable to some CES people that may ramble through these aisles. You never know who's out there, reading what. :)

Youre moving Chatty? Did I miss that - moving? Where to?

Mebbe. Dunno, but if I'm as old as I feel, I feel pretty good so far this year! You don't look a day over 5, Chatty!

Birthdays? I'm not a day over 4,000 years old. Sadly (gladly!?) this isn't my birthday. W When I registered on the 'new' GS board (which followed the 'old' GS board) I think it defautled to Jan. 1 or something and I never changed it. Then - last year? - it came up Jan. 1 and I thought I'd changed it. But I didn't I guess? Or maybe I did and the new board put it back? Or maybe I am really as old as I feel and I don't remember. Either way, I appreciate the kind thoughts anytime I can get 'em, as it can get pretty tough out here, don't have to tell y'all that. But it's been pretty nice lately. I'm sorry, I didn't pay attention to the birthday thingie and it must have rolled over and popped me up. I'll have to change it. You folks are fine too, you pickers and picker 'preciators! MUCH good music, T-Bone! Wooo hoo! Everyone's going to have a good year, I've gotten that verified. :biglaugh: Oookay, won't go there. But I do hope it's a good year of listening and learning for everyone! '

That looks like an Ibanez Chatty! Happy New Years! Stay safe, happy and swell all y'all! :B) We got new furniture here!

Ya made it Fullcircle! The buttons are working fine it appears! I too wondered. Soon things will be, well, fullcircle and once we're all familiar with the new stuff we'll be back to normal. Even more normal than before. Welcome!

Very nice! Not quite as readable, but festive. (actually the yellow background is as readable, come to thunk of it). Calvin seems to like it. (his transparent background makes it look like he's actually dancing in and to the side of those streamers - COOL!) The new profile features look cool and will add a lot. I'm assuming that the New Years decorations will convert to something different after a bit...? If so, that's very cool, more new stuff coming! I'm so excited I can't sit still. Good job, especially the graphics up now. And most importantly, everything appears to work right outta the gate. That's the sign of a successful upgrade! The effort shows, good work!

Welcome and Happy New Year Gomer! You're just in time for the mid-Winter tan version of GS! Catch some rays! Yes. Can you offer any other sides? Encourage any other sides to present those other sides? Other sides would be welcome!

Maybe it's our world-wide marketing culture, maybe human nature, but people do like to label things. Give it a name, a logo, a font, color-brand it for communication purposes. Standardize the whole thing for consistency. Stamp it out and do it again and again. Product #32500 can be guaranteed for quality and freshness, satisfaction guaranteed. I like consistency. I like fresh stuff, I like snappy colored wrappers as much as the next person. Maybe more. I'm so excited I can't sit still just seeing the new Holiday design on GS today. But can everything be treated that way? You'd think so - everything from erectile disfunction to Funeral arrangements and your final expenses are marketed with song and dance. (" Celebrex, Celebrex, dance to the muuuu-sic! " ) "Personal Prophecy" strikes me that way. The bible talks about prophets, prophecy. Visions, dreams. It's there, they're all there. Adding a name like that to it and the inevitable short hand "P.P." seems cheap, self-serving. Classes, syllabii. Tests? How do you quantify successful completion of a Personal Prophecy seminar? Predict something? ("Well, we're sure sorry that Hank got that other job instead of the Nursery gig you prophesied about but you were right on about him being tighter than a turkey on Thanksgiving. Good imagery! That's the stuff, your heart was right, keep at it!! You'll do better!" Do pens come with it? Branded notepads? Bumper stickers? "Personal Prophecy - Ask Me About It!" Reading the records in the bible it sounds at the least interesting and possibly neurotic, but hey, a little eccentricity with your coffee can be good. At the most it reads exciting, interesting and at times wonderful......"What's going on here? Are these people nuts? What happened?". Personal Prophecy sounds less "nuts" and more just plain boring. I don't need to get my feel-goods from Bobby Joe or Sally Sue sitting me down and telling me what they're "getting" on me and taking notes to verify it later and grading their accuracy rate to determine how they're doing. That's just lame.

WordWolf, on Lindyhopper's "Devil" thread:

What's the matter with you guys! All you do is post and whine and back stab everybody! Why don't you call some people up and try doing that face to face! I mean, over the phone, but as if you were face to face, while you're on the phone! That would make more sense! Can't you see that this is exactly what happened in Deuteronomy????? Geez, if you'd have your way, God would have been mad at even DAVID! Get a clue, people. It's time to eat the baby and spit out the diaper! I mean, fish the pond but be sure to throw your trash away in a trash can! Get it!!!???? I love you! But I have no problem with any of this because I know what I've been forgiven for! I know because I got it in my own personalized Personal Prophecy Prize Bag! and every word was true, even the stuff that hasn't happened yet but that I can already see is the way I really am and if I can just be a little more meek I can .... This one's GREAT!

Ohhhhh, yeah. That's the stuff! Thanks Chas and excardia - I just got it! I'm feeling better already.

Was that a "menage a quad" exthra?

Chas, I confess I get it, or think I get it. Either way, here goes, and I'm sure to get it, coming and going... Mr. Hammeroni - you're saying "the light", the faith or belief or truth/Truth needn't be packaged and resold as a commodity. Through religious endeavor or other means. Promoted in Home-Shows or Malls. I would agree, if that's where you're going, that's the way it struck me anyway. The licensce conferred is NOT transferrable, or assignable to any other persons, living or otherwise. :) I view it as when a person comes to what I'll call an enlightened state of mind and heart, the desire to communicate it to others needs to be authentic, real, in real-time and in real-life. Light shines. It's there to see. I might put a cover on it or a name, particpate in whatever rituals I deem right and appropriate to celebrate it, continue it, develop it. But the light isn't for sale indeed. I have my "faith". Everyone has to get their own, I can't give them mine. What kind of person would try to "sell it"? That speaks for itself, in a way. I think we will always have that tendency to want to share what and who we are. Well, some will, some won't, some more than others.

Yah, Mr. Hammeroni. Ethics. By the by, you're a good read! I may not be getting my money's worth on GS. I've never written to PawT about anything posted. I pretty much post whatever it is I would send to him. I may have a higher tolerance for abuse. Reading my own posts, I'd have to say I do, yah. This is very thought provoking, Cool Waters. But White Dove and ex10 and Jonny are making me think... I seem to be missing out on my fair share of harrassment. Any peanut butter shampoo left over? I know this is kind of off-topic (or...is it?) but - I tried to re-read one of my recent posts and actually got so bored I started surfing other threads and came back when I thought it was over. And it still wasn't. I ended up doing several New Year's Resolutions lists before it was all done. Maybe we need a Cream Pie smilie guy. Or a Squirt Gun smilie.

One other thought - if a person writes you (regardless of the content) and you don't want to get anymore, just write the person back and tell them please don't write again, you don't want to exchange PM's, case closed, thank you. You can keep it in case it happens again, and that's that hopefully. No need to go to PawT, or Mod's or whatever. Just handle it. Or you could suggest you're interested in communicating, but let them know it's only going to happen if (whatever your concern is) can be understood, etc. Write the person and ask them to stop or suggest a way to work it out, if you're interested in communicating. (to add - I've only gotten nice PM's myself, whether it's a disagree or agree, 99.9999 per cent have all been welcome, although not all contain a donation, which bugs me but is a whole nother matter) Speaking only for myself, if a person PM'd me and wrote "STUPID @#$%!!! idiot! I hope you fry like bacon!!! You're the worst @#$%%%^&! I've ever seen, DIE!!! DIE!!!!" I would... Take the first part of the PM as simply being from an unenlightened person who can't see me for the wonderful person I really am. If that's all there was, I might write them back and say and ask what's the problem, mon? Or thanks but no thanks, please don't write again. IF YOU DO, I'll forward to the Board Mod's for further processing. AGAIN _ PLEASE DON'T WRITE ME AGAIN LIKE THIS, I don't like it. It only goes to the Mod's because I've given it a try and it didn't work out or asked someone to stop something directed at me I don't like, and they refused If the last part "DIE DIE" was there, I'd report it to the Mod's immediately, since that's pretty strong language. I'd write the person back, let them know what I'm doing and to please STOP SENDING anymore PM's like that, as I'm taking them as threatening. It goes to the Mod's because of my feeling threatened, DIE DIE might be venting, but it's a little over the top. (to me). I for one don't like the idea that a PM message gets posted without the permission of the other person, in general. It's just common courtesy, "hey, do you mind if I..." etc. We all probably do that now I'm sure, when things are friendly, agree or disagree. It's done because it furthers the discussion in some way. At the same time, the fact is that once sent, any communication is up for grabs and out of your control. Plus, it's completely possible for someone to edit it, and copy/paste it and distribute it without your knowledge outside of this board and say you wrote it. My advice - if anyone has any twinge of a concern that what they're writing or getting might be mishandled later, even by accident, be careful what you send and keep a copy of the original.

.... or is it? Thanks Garth, our minds are a terrible thing to waste. dmiller, my stomach hurts! Thanks, thanks thanks! Speaking of spanking the monkey though, I might add a brief Word, on the offered sub-topic of boxers with lisps, namely Mike Tyson. (related Words of input are being collated and analyzed for truth and veracity and will be posted, divided according to their relation to the 3 Tiers of Authentic Rambling, and indexed according to status: "Agrees/Right" and "Disagrees/Wrong") Although Tyson never achieves long lasting iconic status in the boxing world he does offer an interesting character study. Young boxer, held in check by the only person he really trusts, his trainer. He's roughly hewn but ferocious in the ring, as long as his trainer is alive. After his trainer dies, his life bounces around, and he never seems capable of fulfilling his potential, basically running rampant from one mistake to another. He can box, but he's never seem to be able to go for any kind of distance. At points Tyson's life draws symapthy. His fractured upbringing, the hardship he faced due to his lisp, the street fights that began to shape who he would become later. Brought to the trainer Cus D'amato he starts to take shape - Iron Mike, the Baddest Man on the Planet. His character faults and lack of control brings him down over time, step by step but there are points early on where it could be said he's being taken advantage of by others, promoted like prime beef to the highest bidders who aren't as interested in Mike the Man as they are Mike the Money Maker. In time though, his actions stand on their own. He is the man he is and he does the things he does. He's accountable and responsible for them.