Belle

I didn't know God wore a cup. That is a cup he's wearing, no? And, does that price tag say, "Life.Soul"? Not sure I want to pay that price for a doll. :huh: I'm already paying an arm and a leg for gas. With all this inflation, there's not going to be much left.

I'll believe it when I see it. This thing's not over and, unfortunately, too many times those with money and loud mouths get away with too much.

I've been watching you, Ham. Just not here at the cafe, but rather here:

:biglaugh: Nice, Bolshevik, real nice!

(((((JavaJane))))) I"m sooo sorry!! You're absolutely correct that some of us did have that figurative gun held to our heads. Absolutely! When it's death, hell and damnation or doing what the leadership of TWI told us to do, there really isn't much of a choice.... not from our perspective and reality at that time. I'm afraid you're going to have some folks on here most likely retort with some harsh words as they think we should have just left, but they don't have much compassion and they absolutely have no idea how intense the pressure and how powerful the threats were for those of us who experienced it. You said earlier: It makes perfect sense and is bang on accurate, I think! That's what I started saying the last few years I was involved, "My own Daddy treats me better than you're telling me God is going to treat me if I don't do what you say." All the threats of God removing his "hand of protection" ... God not spitting on my direction if I didn't give more $$ to them .... God not being able to "bless me" if I missed a single friggin' meeting ... God "allowing" horrible things to happen to my family if I didn't witness more .... Losing "eternal rewards" if I didn't obey leadership better.... Getting possessed by devil spirits if I looked around on the internet.... Losing my life or causing my husband to lose his if I continued to be disobedient. <_< Yeah.... that's a LOVING god... NOT! My own flesh and blood father doesn't require me to jump through half the hoops TWI's god does. :eusa_clap: Leaving TWI is the best way I know to get rid of that fear, but to do that one has to first get over the fear of leaving TWI. It's hard. It's very hard to do once a person has been beaten down about as far as one can get. :(

DANG, DAVID!! I must neglected to mention NASCAR on the original quiz! I will have to get that one to add to my collection! I know I have the patron saint of new beginnings, the patron saint of animals and the patron saint of partying, but did not know there was a patron saint of NASCAR! That's da bomb!

What?!? You think I can't serve him properly?? <---- still thinking there's a short bus out there somewhere missing its passengers.....

ex, maybe you need Saints for Sinners. I took their quiz and ordered St Patrick and St something or other for animals. I like 'em. Wear 'em occasionally.

:eusa_clap: Thank you, Roy! You are the epitome of kindness and light.

Psalmie, if you have any colleges with dormitories (but they are called "residence halls" these days) you might check with them, too. They usually have some surplus or beds that are no longer needed as well. It's a good thing! Also, www.freecycle.org is a great place to find all kinds of things that might normally be heading to the landfill.

:biglaugh: I love this place!!! WordWolf, you'll experience peace like you've never known before! I highly recommend use of the "ignore" option.

Jordin, isn't she a member of Bula Bula? I thought she won the immunity idol last week? :unsure: :biglaugh: I LOVE all three left! I was pulling for Melinda to win, but have since changed my vote to Jordin - she's just da bomb! All three of them are, though. I think there's not a loser in the bunch. I am a shameless Survivor fan, too, though. Thursday nights - don't call my house between 8pm and 10pm (Gil Grissom is my fantasy man) .... well, don't call after 10pm either as that's definitely bedtime. But Thursday nights I'm useless. Glued to the tube.

No obligation to read, ex. It's probably better that you didn't.... especially not on an empty stomach. It could set off gag reflexes. I've heard the sob was a joke, but not any jokes specifically about him. Maybe this one is about him? I Not Come to Work Hung Chow calls AIB where he works and says, "Hey, boss I not come work today, I really sick. I got headache, stomach-ache and my legs hurt. I not come work." The boss says, "You know Hung Chow, I really need you today. When I feel like this I go to my wife and tell her to give me sex. That makes me feel better and I can go to work. You should try that." Two hours later Hung Chow calls again, "Boss, I do what you say and I feel great. I be at work soon. You got nice house."

I'm just wondering if a short bus crashed earlier this week and a bunch of people of former TWIts escaped leaving their meds behind. :unsure: Jonny, I never heard of this, but I'm sure someone has and hope that they still frequent the cafe to answer your question.

You haven't seen mine either! That's a puny post compared to what I can come up with in a very short time, LvonB. I'm sorry that you feel you never really belonged anywhere. Please know that you belong here and we welcome you with open arms. May I offer you one of our finest lattes?

JJ, one of your posts reminded me of my ex. He is extremely talented and creative. He can draw like nobody's business, is good with his hands, very talented musically and has a powerful way with words. He was working on a book and had written quite a bit on it. It was awesome! I felt like I had stepped into a Stuart Woods novel or something. Really good stuff! Anyway, all of a sudden he gets this burr in his saddle about it not being "on the Word" or needing to have a "message" and quits writing because he's no longer inspired. Somehow we lost the files of the book and I wish we'd have been able to find them. Maybe it would have been a healthy outlet for him. Anyway, he starts writing again, but this time, there's some "biblical" theme he wants to weave through the story - it's forced, it's obligatory in way to justify his wanting to write, I think. The story sucks - it doesn't make sense and there's no "life" in it. I dunno if he does any thing in the art world anymore - I highly doubt it since he was at headquarters making peanuts last I heard. Such a sad, sad waste of talent and heart.

I always felt sorry for parents in TWI and, honestly, it was one of my greatest fears.... having kids that I would have to raise according to TWI's standards. I wanted kids desperately (still do), but I am sooooo thankful, now, that I didn't have any with my ex-husband. He's still involved, if that tells you how screwed up my kids would be if we'd had any. :(

And, sadly, Chef, there are many more just like that. :( Moynihan learned very well from craiggers because he said things just as bad about a man here in Florida who died. The saddest thing was that they had just moved here and didn't know hardly anyone in town. Since we were all hard-arse Moynihan pleasers, nobody would give that poor, suffering family the time of day, so they had to endure the horrific loss with no local support.

That's what I thought, too, Sprawled. They learned well from their predecessors. And John Shoenheit is still part of this clown posse, no? I guess that speaks very loudly about his true character these days.

Fascinating discussion!

Then vee pee saw his dream come true, no? They taught, and conditioned, all of us to find devil spirits, disobedience and stubbornness everywhere. We were looking for reasons to turn someone else in - thereby taking the focus off of us. OR, just trying to shrivel up into as small an inconsequential little ball as possible to, hopefully, avoid the wrath of whatever p1$$ed off person we would next encounter. I remember every time we had new wc branch coordinators come into town after moneyhands got here - they were cold, indifferent and "entitled". We'd go out of our way to make their move and welcome warm, smooth and delightful. Never got a single "thank you" and occasionally, we were yelled at for not doing something right. Sheesh! Ya can't win for losing with those folks.

I'm sure the pressure on the leadership was bad, too. Some leaders used it as an excuse, license to be as abusive as they wanted to be - others struggled immensely with the expectation that they would be as abusive as craiggers and his cronies when it was the total opposite of their nature and reason for wanting to be leaders. A tough position to be in, for sure. Wanting to help folks and, part of you not wanting to buck the system because of you could stay in your position, you might be able to protect people from the diabolical evil you knew was coming out of hq and trying to destroy lives.

I didn't know about either one of those places. Learn something new every day, eh?

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS, GOOD BUDDY! On This Day: May 8 Events 1541 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River, which he called Rio de Espiritu Santo. 1794 - The United States Post Office was established. 1886 - Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invented the flavored syrup for Coca-Cola. 1945 - President Harry Truman announced the end of World War II in a radio address. 1945 - V-E Day {Victory in Europe) was celebrated throughout the free world. Germany surrendered in a second ceremony, in Berlin. 1970 - The Beatles 13th, and last, album, "Let It Be," was released. Births 1847 - Oscar Hammerstein I, American playwright, producer. 1884 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States of America (1945-1953). http://www.reference.com/thisday/archive.html

Can we bribe Andrea to drop lots of rain rather quickly on us? I can hardly breathe outside with all the smoke in the air. We're driving around with headlights on in broad daylight and still can't see through the smoke.