CoolWaters

Ohhhhhhhh David...are you looking for a spanking...or just flirting? LMAO!!! You can be a bad boy, can't you? Love that in a man! ;)

OMG!!!!! It's true!!! ALL MEN ARE ALIKE!!!! :o :ph34r: And the all time best use for any tool, imo, is... COOKING! I just loved the guys at K&B Construction on Home Improvement. You can search episode archives for the episode "Flying Sauces"...which is where I found the following pics: http://feyaurora.com/images/photos/toolcooking000.jpg http://feyaurora.com/images/photos/toolcooking001.jpg http://feyaurora.com/images/photos/toolcooking002.jpg http://feyaurora.com/images/photos/toolcooking003.jpg

You all are a riot! LOLOLOL! What got me about the whole thing was finding out the meaning of the word. It's like Geico is saying on many different levels, "All the other stuff in the world is trifflin' next to Geico." What's soooooo hilarious about it for me is that the Geico ad team must have known there would be folks like me out there in TV Land who would actually learn to spell the word and go look it up...all for some trifflin' superiority complex or something. LOL Geico really zinged me with that ad! LMAO!

Don't remember if I did anything on the other thread...too lazy right now to go look. LOL Whatever, I don't think I've ever told the 'whole' story because the story evolved so much...so here goes... Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy back in the day (1998 or 1997 LOL), we got WebTV. I had no clue as to what the internet was, how it worked, why anybody would be so interested or anything else. All I wanted was to be able to get email. Well, the guy who installed our WebTV asked me what I wanted my name to be on the internet. I said, "Well, my name." He explained why that wasn't a good idea and urged me to choose something to describe myself...and then he said that whatever I picked, I'd be stuck with it forever. I've learned a whole lot since then! LOL Anyway, life was going pretty good for us. We were well established in our own home for the first time ever, we were 'upstanding citizens' of our community, our kids were doing great, and we were pretty sure we had broken the twi addiction. (We hadn't yet, but didn't know it until GSCI.) So I felt as if our long time in the desert (like the Hebrews after the exodus) was finally over and life was Cool. But 'Cool' was taken. So I had to think some more. Sigh. LOL. My son said to think of it like I was taking my Native American name. That was kinda kewl to me! My element has always been water...and what else besides CoolWaters does a desert good? :D Then I remembered Proverbs 25:25 "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." Well, it just all fit what I wanted to say about myself and to grow into. On trancechat I was always CoolWaters. Then there was this big fight about people too 'sneaky' and 'dishonest' to use their real names, so when WayDale came along, I registered with my real name...Victoria. After awhile, that got butchered into some nasty stuff...and I was feeling more grown up in my life (which meant, partially, that I was not caring so much about people's 'comfort level' with what handle I used)...so I went back to CoolWaters. As I said earlier, I wasn't even aware of how much waybrain was in my head until GSCI...and CoolWaters is a name I had to grow into. (Whether I'm worthy of the name even yet, I dunno...but I'm working on it! :D ) Then came my 'pagan' period. I settled into Shamanism and CoolWaters was absolutely exactly what I was doing. Add some yoga to the mix and CoolWaters was my mantra. So for my eclectic travels in the spiritual realm, CoolWaters has stuck like glue even in 3D. In fact, more people call me CoolWaters than call me Victoria or Vicky! LOL And this is also where my avatar finally ended up...the yin yang...the balance of all things...the journey of the sun throughout the year...the interrelatedness of everything...the importance of recognizing patterns and cycles. The words under the avatar go with my moods, as do my signatures. "Curiousity killed the cat...satisfaction brought her back!" is totally descriptive of where I'm at in life right now. Cheshire Kitty and "whaddya lookin' at?" seems quite apropos for it all. LOL Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! :P

OK...you know the one...the spelling bee...with that word. It took me like 5000 viewings of the thing to learn to spell that word. Floccinaucinihilipilification. So now I can spell the danged word. The only reason I was even interested was to see if I could even guess at the meaning. Kinda a little game with myself. You know how it goes when you think you're sooooooooooooo smart. Anyway, I figured it was some sort of biological word...the whole 'flocci' prefix and the 'nihilipilification' suffix. Add to that the 'nauci' middle part...well, I figured it was some sort of marine biology term. I wasn't even close! Taken from http://dictionary.reference.com/ : Now don't I just feel stoopid? But dang if that isn't one of the best commercials I've ever seen! LOL

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...fresh Alaskan smoked salmon.......ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I've actually got goosebumps! And hunger pangs. :P Also a story about DYI smoke jobs... Summer 1982, Valdez AK, living on the spit, cutting salmon for a living. Bill hears how much I like smoked salmon. Gets something up his you-know-what, decides that since a 55 gallon drum works as a barrel wood stove then it ought to work as a salmon smoker. And what the heck, all of us lived in tents and had camp fires going all the time, so nobody would notice. Right? Well, we had a heckuva feast one night. Wet-smoked salmon all around and plenty to send home with everybody...and enough leftovers for days. Such a success! So he does it again. This time the Valdez Volunteer Fire Department shows up and douses the whole thing and threatens to file charges against us for "wreckless fire practices". What fire? It was just smoke! Anyway, it's a good story to tell the grandkids. Gawd I would LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEE smoked salmon, halibut cheeks and roe for Christmas dinner! Jonny...what a guy to share such a divine dish! CC...you've been blessed by all the gods of the universe! :D

Hiya Belle Louise! :) I've been thinking about this a whole lot... You know the Man with 1000s of something who runs around here sometimes? His signature says, "The lessons repeat themselves until they are learned." For me...and for me only can I speak...I have come to understand that regardless of where, with whom, with what group, whatever, I was going to learn the lessons one way or another. (I don't think I intended that pun, but what the heck...it works. LOL) In other words, nothing can be considered a waste because I was going to have to learn the lessons anyway. I can say for absolute certainty that I am glad I was in twi instead of Moses David/Children of God...which was my cult du jour before twi.

:D Hiya back you sweetie you! And MERRY CHRISTMAS to you too! :D :wub:

Make a movie of it and call it "Silence of the Flock". I may go to hell because I cannot find it in my heart to forgive this man.

:D I liked that! TYVM and right back to you! {{{{{MO}}}}} I love ya, girl.

Oh yeah...made those up from experience. LOL Yours are great! "Another bear!" LOL We can do the hot tub thing here in Kansas...that's how I got my 'hair cut' last year. LOLOLOL!

This thread is terrific!!!!! Brings me back to the day...sigh. :) A few more: Vacationing in Hawaii for the whole winter is cheaper than staying home and buying groceries. If you're buying meat or dog food, you're a greenhorn. You have at least 12 dogs, only one of them is a pit bull...and it's the 'loving family pet', you cook for them and they eat as well as (sometimes times better than) your family does. Knitting/crocheting booties is akin to a town quilting bee...and they're not for new babies. You've had pneumonia a few times and didn't know it. All the best dining/entertainment places check hunting rifles, not coats and hats. You: skinny dip in a hot springs when the temp hits 20 below; make the kids come in for recess when it hits 10 below; take off a layer of clothing when it hits 20 above; stop wearing a coat when it hits 35 above; put on shorts when it hits 50 above; and turn on the A/C when it hits 70 above...and you know by smell, not a thermometer, when the temp changes.

Very long story shortened very much... I was never 'comfortably' involved/accepted in twi. It took 'em nearly 3 years to convince me to take piffle...and then I heard vp say in piffle that if one applied what was in taught in piffle, one would never need another class again...so I took him up on his 'word' and refused to take another class but, instead, chose to try to master piffle (so I really get Mike sometimes). And I didn't try to master piffle by taking it over and over again. Nope, not me. I took piffle once and studied and studied and studied the material. Well that went over like a lead balloon. In the meantime, twi was blaming me for my first husband's homosexuality. Although that started at the branch leader level, it finally came all the way down from vp himself...in a telephone conference call with our respective limb leaders. So from the very beginning of my involvement with twi (1974) I was marked as a 'trouble maker' who wouldn't 'renew' my mind. Fast forward to 1980. First I married a man twi didn't approve of me marrying. Then, as a couple, we totally freaked out over the 'Fountain of Living Waters' idol. We took it upon ourselves to try to bring down that idol and, along with it, the idolatry of bible worship. Then the 'if you don't work, you don't eat' doctrine became a way to purge twi of 'unbelieving believers' whose bank account was either non-existent or not up to snuff. We battled that doctrine. Then vpw worship became so blatant and wide-spread that we began a letter campaign with all 'leadership' concerning all these doctrines that we believed to be rooted in idolatry. Then along came 1985 in Alaska where the branch leader/children's fellowship leader was a pedophile... Well, what transpired over all of that is well attested here on these boards. Suffice it to say, I began my twi experience in doubt and ended it in certainty...certainty of its idolatrous doctrines and practices. We were marked and avoided before there ever was an 'official' term/doctrine/practice in twi. Did we leave or were we kicked out? It was mutual agreement. Be it a man, a golden bible, doctrines of devils, an absent Christ, protecting pedophiles, whatever... TWI worshipped/worships a false god and we wouldn't follow them into the pit of hell. It was definitely doctrinal differences.

Well now we have it all on the table...and I'm not even going to try to use what I've learned...yet. Hehehehe. Thanks bunches {{{{{everybody}}}}}! :wub:

TYVM. I wondered if that was the 'bottom line' clue...one's a noun, the other's a verb. So is it 'side effects' or 'side affects'? From what you posted I'm thinking it's 'side effects'. Right? Is it 'effective' immediately' or 'affective immediately'? Again, I'm guessing 'effective immediately'...but I really am not getting it through my head. Oh...are there any little tricks to remembering this? Like "I before E except after C"?

OK...you'd think I'd know by now...but SOMEBODY help me here! Please, please, PLEASE explain the hows, the whens, the whys and everything. Use examples in sentences, too, please. Thank you very much!

{{{{{ExC}}}}} You know where you stand. Doesn't matter a damn to anybody else...and if it does, that's THEIR problem, not yours. Always here for ya.

Ah {{{{{Mo}}}}}. BB's right...we never find what we were looking for. The biggest clue...to me...of what's going on here is that you are the only one who was brought up as an 'only child'. This tells me the other two know the sibling games...and know you're caught in the middle. My personal advice? Leave them to their own troubles and keep each one separate from the other in YOUR life. Whether aware or not, ANY person who has ever been a sibling knows how to manipulate/maneuver things into their own favor. Best for any 'only' to stay the hell outta the way...you'll never ever get one leg up on the whole game. And it IS a game...especially for divided-then-blended families. Tell each sibling that you are not a go-between, you are not a 'fixer', you are not interested in anything but YOUR relationship with each one INDIVIDUALLY. If either or both cannot handle this position, then let 'em stew awhile...you've gotten along without them just fine, and you'll do it again if they wish. Just don't get put in the middle. EVER.

I am currently taking the Alpha Course at my church...but out of 5 videos I've only attended 2. Sigh. Maybe I'll get it together and go this evening? :) Anyway, my church does the course 2 or 3 times a year. When they first introduced the Alpha Course in 1999 (I think that was the year), I was still in too much twi shell-shock...as were the other half dozen or so extwi folks we were with. We all got up and walked out...well, one of us ran out...we were so shaken up about the whole thing. One of us ended up vomiting into a trash can and another one of us ended up hardly able to breathe due to the panic attacks the ad video triggered. The congregation and the pastor were so worried about us! They thought they had done something terrible to us. After about half an hour of comfort from some of the congregation while we sobbed and puked and caught our breath, we were able to explain our reactions. I didn't sign up for the course until last month when it was offered again. It is very different from PFAL, to say the least. There is no pressure (as you can see by my lack of 'faithful' attendance) and our church allows the discussions to free-flow...and they don't back off the hard questions, either. My friend is re-taking the course with me so that we can bunk together on the retreat. I'm so looking forward to it!!!!! All-in-all, our church uses the Alpha Course to help people 'work out our own salvation'. That's good by me! But I'll bet that the experience varies from very good to very bad...depending on the type of church presenting the course.

Hiya Mike! So nice to chat with you about something besides our differences!!!! It's really nice! :D I'm not sure what exactly you're looking for so I thought I'd link you to this thread. Let me know if that's the kind of thing you're talking about, OK?

Unless, of course, Rich is still beating it into her head...and she is still letting it get beat into her head...that she doesn't need anything but 'believing'. Would Rich Urquhart let his wife's health problems do her in if it meant staying in hiding from the law? You betcha he would! Rich was the 'prophet of doom' when I knew him...always 'prophesying' that people were going to die if they didn't do things his way, so he's probably pulling that same crap on Sharon. Well, Sharon, I want you to know that I didn't die in 6 months...or 6 years...or even 20 years! Maybe Rich meant 6 decades? :blink: Whatever he meant, Sharon, HE WAS WRONG AND IS STILL WRONG. Sharon, you are the key to helping all the children that he has hurt and will hurt. Can you put aside what you see as your personal comfort to save children? There was a kind, gentle human being inside of you when I knew you. If it's housing and food and such that you are worried about, Sharon, I promise you that if you turn Rich in and get him away from children, I will help you however I can. My email is in my profile. You can also start a private topic with me. I am hoping AK is on the chase for him.

I just received a reply to my email that said, "Thank you". I have also just posted on Dr Phil's message board about twi because somebody else there had mentioned twi due to the show he did this week on cults. You can find the discussion Here.. It will take "a few hours" for my post to be approved. Here is what I posted, though: Maybe we can generate some attention to twi's history with pedophiles?

I am going to email, too. What blows my mind is how quickly Rich was found (Sharon is the name of the wife he had in twi) by us 'civvies' while law enforcement has 'lost' him for many years. Did anybody watch Oprah yesterday? On her website she's putting up the Most Wanted. Haven't checked out the site yet, but I'm thinking about emailing her if AK doesn't 'find' Rich... Hi Mo.

Well, Alaska needs to be blamed! Oh...sorry...I slipped out of body there for a minute. Anything exciting come out? ;)--> :D--> You know it's just jealousy. Right? And what happened to Subsistance? Bill always got us on the Subsistance programs every year...not that we did much with the opportunities...but we could have. And speaking of politics in Alaska, are there still such things as "Spenard Divorces"? :D-->

We've tried out many churches since leaving twi. Let's see...there's been the Apostolic Church, C.O.G.I.C., United Methodist Church (where I was water baptized right out on the lawn! and after I came up, a butterfly flitted down to me :D--> ), Unity Church, some Catholic churches, several 'unaffiliated' churches, a twi offshoot church and now we're regularly attending Harmony Vineyard in North Kansas City, MO. (Can't get the link thingy to work, but here's their website: http://www.harmonyvineyard.com )