Belle

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS, SUSHI/VERBALKINT/MAN OF A MILLION SCREEN NAMES MAY THE YEAR BE FULL OF EXCITING ADVENTURES! I tried to find your former creepy vampire avatar to post, but to no avail..... Verb and the usual suspects will have to do. You're an awesome dude and I'm so glad to know you. Hope your day is wondermous!

I came to find out what TWI wasn't telling us and to see why they were so adamant about keeping us from the internet - obviously there was stuff out here that they didn't want us to know about. I stayed to stay informed since TWI wasn't telling us anything. Then, got help working things out in my pea brain - support for my impending divorce and oust from TWI. I had fun sharing what was going on inside the walls of TWI because I knew it p!ssed them off to no end. Once I was out and divorced, I needed the cafe desperately for help with all that nasty carp we go through finally being on our own and discovering the brave, new world out there. By the time I felt strong enough to stand on my own two feet I had developed deep, lasting friendships with some of the patrons and couldn't imagine NOT staying in touch with many folks here. Besides that, I've accumulated quite the gum collection under all the tables and booths..... don't want Paw scraping away any of my hard work. :P

I was looking around to help someone find a therapist with experience in cult recovery and browsed the message boards at Rick's website. Found this interesting thread on TWI and thought I'd share it with y'all. The Way International He gets way too deep into the doctrinal stuff for me to actually read, process and dwell on what the guy was saying, but in case you're interested... He does provide a list of offshoots of TWI and their corresponding websites. Some of these guys I've never heard of.

I think, too, at least in the 90's, the scars left on kids is the knowledge that their parents would ship them off, desert them, disown them and cut them out of their lives if TWI told them to. It's a total violation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The need to feel loved - the need to feel safe - the need to feel part of a family - the need to belong - the need for self-respect, self-esteem - to be respected - Not having that assurance that your parents are there for you no matter what has got to be one of the most fundamental needs in a child's life. The security of unconditional love from one's parents was non-existent among the children I was around. They had this cloud of fear over them that it was possible to screw up so badly that your parents would wish they were in the OT times and could stone you to death for being disobedient. ... but I guess that ties back into the pressure to be "the best" and the perfectionism required from TWI leadership and one's parents. Parents were taught, and expected, to act without natural affection toward their children and those who were the best TWIts were the best at alienating their kids emotionally, mentally, spiritually and especially where parental love was desperately needed. I realize all parents weren't like this. I'm only speaking from my experience with the families in my area. Heck, the Carrolls (sp?) PLANNED her pregnancy so that she would not be in danger of delivery when a class would be running. Gawd forbid someone in the WC should have a kid while they should be running a class! <_<

Is this him?

The network nazi here at work has us on lockdown so I can't see it, but since Hope mentioned it in the Sopranos thread, thought I'd bring this back to the top for others who may have missed it. :)

Yeah, ummmm hmmmmm.... I believe you, Sudo.

:eusa_clap: Reminds me of Grandpa Bert! Exactly what he'd have done. Gotta love our seniors!

just too much of a skeptic.... or you underestimate the power of imagination and ingenuity. 'Tis very, very cool!

Shoulda quit posting while you had it..... ^_^

Funny, Roy!

Between your stories and clips like this, Jonny we'll never be bored at the cafe. :P I cracked up reading Bow's post.... she beat me to it! "You've been feeshing again, haven't you, Jonny?" We might should dig that awesome tale back up for those who missed it the first time.

I'm soooo sorry I missed this! I even had some questions for him. :( 'fraid I got caught up in flipping between NASCAR and college baseball and utterly lost track of time.

Got me! ... and I thought you had some huge kahones bringing that up! If I'd have known you wanted straight hair, I'd have gladly traded with you. Mine's as flat, straight and fine as Jennifer Anniston's.... I just don't have the body to go with it. They have come a long way from frozen orange juice cans, haven't they? As for the other .... well, it's also well worth the price.

I don't/haven't watched it, but dangit if I didn't wish I did given all the hooplah over it. Robin Roberts on GMA this morning said she thought her cable had gone out. I suppose that's one way to make a memorable ending - give all your viewers a heart-attack thinking their cable went out at the most crucial point of the show.

Will CoolChef be providing these at the Weenie Roast?

ConGRADulations!!! Good looking family, too, Pirate!!

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS, BOW!! I HOPE IT'S THE BEST YET!! Love ya bunches and bunches, Girlfriend!!

There's this really cool feature here at the cafe - it's called the "search function" and it can be found in the top right corner of the screen. If that's too hard for you, here's a link to the "advanced search" page. OR, you can click on "Members" which is directly to the left of "Search" - Look up "Research Geek" and then go through his posts. Amazingly, one can look up all sorts of information using those methods.

Paris Hilton was just ordered back to jail in Lynwood to serve out the remainder of her sentence! She'll get credit for 5 days already served. Hilton left the courtoom in tears, screaming, "Mom, Mom, Mom." One witness described the scene as: Paris was "physically escorted" out of the courtroom by a female deputy. Hilton's mother was later seen pacing the hallways, telling reporters, "I'm paralyzed right now." Rick is still in the courtroom. www.tmz.com :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap:

If the Dawgs win this series we'll be back to the College World Series and I'll be there with my little brother to cheer 'em on! GO DAWGS!! Mississippi State plays host to Clemson in a best-of-three series starting Friday with a trip to Omaha on the line. And the fans are responding. Lines snaked out of the MSU ticket office for much of Tuesday, and order takers were swamped. "(They're) probably as excited as they've been in several, several years," said Templeton, who expects more than 10,000 fans for each game. Two wins will send the Bulldogs to the College World Series for the first time since 1998. One recent MSU grad, Camp Murphy of Flowood, said the postsesason run has reminded him of MSU's glory days, when it went to the College World Series six times and played in the postseason 16 times over a two-decade span. "Finally, it seems like we're getting back to where the majority of Mississippi State fans feel like we should be and where we were in the late 1980s," Murphy said. "Especially, given our athletic woes during football season, this is something to be proud about." He'll be celebrating it in the Left Field Lounge, the most famous area at Dudy Noble Field, the place Sports Illustrated once deemed the top spot in the country to watch college baseball.

:biglaugh: *giggle* *giggle* *snort* I can NOT believe you underestimated GT like that! :lol: :P

It IS excellent, thanks, The Highway! Your earlier post coulda been written by me verabtim (except I don't have kids). It, too, was an awesome post! I was trying to respond to everyone, but ran out of time. Hopefully, I'll still be able to get back to pick up where I left off.

I remembered, but just cause I've always, always, always called my Paw Paw on the anniversary every year to thank him. :wub:

Oh we sooooooo need one of these in the office! Nobody'd have to change how they talk - we'd just be able to have more interesting happy hours.