mchud11

If this is directed to me, I do apologize for being perceived as not within the context of the threads purpose. It is actually my desire to get in contact with everyone I have posted in a thread. I met Bob in a specific circumstance some time ago, and to me, that is who he is. If Bob has changed, that is actually not relevant to me in the sense of me talking to him any differently. I feel I am at a point in my life and more specifically at a point in my life with regard to GSC or anywhere on the Internet, that "compartmentalization" is the way to go. If your posting is directed to me, I acknowledge that you do not know me, and I feel that time is the only dependent condition of that knowledge. Please do note that I am referring to knowing me, not "understanding me", the later, is to me, not entirely available. Link for reference to the concept: http://changingminds.org/explanations/beha...ntalization.htm

Whoops, where be the pic? Lets see it !

I listened to both parts of the Episode Two last night, before going to bed. WOW !! And awesome. The recording covers a great deal of subjects, circumstances, contexts, views, in my opinion. I didn't feel shock, more like surprise. The information and details for me, having been away from TWI felt like closure, or validation of what I have been perceiving for some time. Its almost like TWI logically broke down, as in, the seeds of failure, regardless of when and where they were first planted, grew and developed and resulted in their logical result. There are parts of the Episode that are kind of scary. All in all, excellent, excellent point of view, the telling of a story and an experience first hand. Great job, my thanks..michael

Great one, Tzaia, in my opinion. I feel many of us can relate to this one. If we would have had our "defenses" up, as in, if the statement you have posted brought up a red flag or two in our minds, it is likely we would have taken more thought and more time to ease into involvement with TWI. I fully acknowledge these two statements didn't: click, register, effect, sink in, alarm, or anything else with me, it was dive in, and throw caution to the wind...

History, the history of the United States, is fascinating to me. Back in High School, I was fortunate enough, I feel, to have been exposed to far less censorship and "political correctness filtering" than what I perceive our youth receives today in the class room. After watching hour after hour, day after day of the OJ Simpson trial, I found that I had a reasonable tolerance for law and felt I could handle the details of law. So, some years later, I got my self into Loyola for a year for Paralegal Studies. Being the madman that I feel I am, a whole lot of my time was spent reading Supreme Court decisions. I did not go totally quazy in this regard, there are no Thurgood Marshall (I hope I spelled that right) action figures in my basement, but I did read a sizable portion of some of the most influencial decisions or matters brought to the Supreme Court over the history of the United States. So, that is the intro. My quiz still needs a few more details. I would prefer not to be perceived as putting forth an agenda, so please don't read into the why of why I am asking for comments or opinions, its just a quiz..just a quiz, nothing more... Name, in your opinion, the two individuals who have gotten into the Supreme Court "arena" that helped define or refine the United States's concept of obscenity more than anybody/anyone else? No prizes awarded. I may not even get one response. Merely opening up the floor for discussion.

And, of course I agree with you Mark. Writing is the task of writing and re-writing. I am most likely less detailed that you are with regard to postings. Writing and posting for me is a balance of time and quality. I do endeavor to qualify my statements, however there will be holes in those qualifiers. The use of language, words, is a refined skill. Your response to me is quite welcomed and I do appreciate the feedback. For me its one of those iron sharpening iron affairs. And to me, the even bigger picture is that life tends to bring to each of us a challenge to grow, learn, develop, as in, if I have failed or ignored how to deal effectively with say some circumstance, it may disappear for a while, but it will come back in another form to challenge me again. Personally, I do not like words, specifically labels, in that the older I get the more it feels like labels have a spectrum of meaning. Self qualification, I feel is almost always better than stating information as fact. So, turn around is "fair play". The statement, "I happen to be more into communication...", then I read to mean "I feel I happen to be more into communication..." So, yes we, I believe are on the same page, please do feel free to offer any and all constructive criticism with my postings. regards, michael

Thanks, Cman, great job. I will be re-reading this by afternoon. Isn't the Internet just the best library ever? Yes, yes it is.

Ah, a voice of reason, this is the page I am on. If we get a second to a nomination of Paw, and he takes it on, surely he, Paw would "negotiate", something like a car, or a vacation package. Doesn't Oprah'a publicity mill get more lubed up with bigger gifts? I was under the impression she hit a real high (rating) with the cars for the teachers...

Tuxy doesn't look too, too overweight. Great setup you got, they both look snuggled in.. Here is a picture of a fat cat..this is my oldest. The story with her is that while I lived in West Hollywood, my ex-wife and I were looking for a kitten, well talking about looking for a kitten. And we dropped by Petsmart and in the corner of this big cage was this kitten laying down length-wise but looking real sad. And we got her out and there was a big gash that was healing up on her neck and the volunteer said someone just dropped her off a few minutes ago and that she was the only survivor of a litter, where the male father cat killed all the kittens..so we looked her over, put her back in the cage...and then the wierd thing happened, this actress walks up with a photographer, it just happened to be one of the actresses of my ex-wifes "favorite" tv dramas, which was Providence, the actress was the young assistant (the cute one) to the Vet in the program, of prior MASH fame (name on the tip of my tongue), so she is playing with the kitten and doing the "oh how cute, I want to take you home" and the photographer is snapping away, but then, a miracle, she puts the kitten back in the cage and begins to oogle the dog in the next cage...so, we take the kitten back out of the cage and tell the volunteer that we wanted to adopt her...true story..yep, Maddie the cat who could have lived in west hollywood forever, now all fat and sassy living on a farm..

Yes, they are entertaining in some unusual ways. The one kitten that I was writing about, bottle fed, just like most cats/kittens follow you everywhere, once while I was using the toilet, standing up, she jumped right into the bowl..ya..they do weird stuff, and it was right into the shower with you, troublemaker... cats and painting doesn't work real well either, you know, they are always there to help or investigate, and a few weeks ago, my youngest cat, ignored me trying to brush her out of the way and it was a jump right into a 5 gallon bucket of paint and then run away with a messy latex paint paw trail..lets see, 5 minutes of painting and 15 minutes of unpainting the floor....cats fasination with water is pretty entertaining, they do like a dripping faucet, around here I always have two cats waiting on the other side of the shower curtain, or a worst pawing away at the shower curtain to see what going on...and of course I taunt them by making distressed cat sounds....they just cant help themselves...gotta be there, gotta be involved..

Sounds like you got a family there. The clay stuff just doesn't work in gardens, corn based, wood based, that stuff composts, clay just makes the ground harder and er, like more clay like, and I have used it, many the brands really clump up and have a fresh smell additive, but I prefer the others feline pine, and so on, that is to say I have to travel 45 miles to get it, so its back and forth on brands.. My oldest cat is like your Tuxy and it does get to be a chore on feeding. the vet told me that if I halved the food for my oldest, she would lose weight, but to do that it means separating cats from cats with food. Once cats know there is food, they all come running. And then there is the once I get the fat cat separated, she spends more time letting me know she wants more food. Its like cats have their own little minds.. With mine, I go both ways on food, wet and dry, with the wet, I have few failures on them being picky, if its a cheaper grocery brand, I go with the brand that looks like it has the most gravy in it, with the petsmart brand they seem to like avoderm and natural balance. With one rescue cat, that I got, which was around 4 to 6 days old, I bottle fed her, every 3 -4 hours for seemingly weeks on end, graduating to gruel, and then I got really fancy by making my own ground food using raw tuna, vegetables, grains, and so on...and she really liked it, but very, very time consuming... I have never found a real recipe for just making gravy, that cats would like, there is one "vitamin gravy" out there and have tried that, its what it is, but someday I would like to find or figure out how to take like chicken and some other things, maybe use arrow root as a thickener and make a gravy that I could add in, not that worried about vitamins, I guess to cats is all about smell.. I dont know what Crypto is telling you, cats do a pretty good job of talking to us humans, but its like that tee - shirt "what don't you understand about meow".. one of my cats, the hunter of the bunch, makes a lot of noise when he senses a mouse in the basement, its me--owww, me--owww over and over again, one cat seems to meow when he wants to play or is not happy about being handled, but cats do have things to say when they start talking to you...

I have 4 rescue cats. Another rescue cat is with my ex-wife. I have tried a lot of things with cats, its a never ending battle. Feline Pine is pretty good stuff for cat litter, keeps the odor down, I use it, believe it or not, due to being all wood, which I can throw into the garden, and even further, there is a cash rebate for points, and further yet, in that my garden in progress is a business, I have sucessfully written off 10% of the cost of the litter on my federal income tax...reusing the material, as being an organic matter, compost, is a legal writeoff/expense for the biz...lately I have tried the new armour and hammer all corn litter, its like 8 bucks a pop, very, very light material and the cats dig and dig, they like the texture. The pee thing with the male cats, catches me from time to time, at worst its in the same spot, so I clean it with an enzyme cleaner for pee and then put their food bowl over it, they won't pee where food its so I basically force them out of the habit. The spray bottle is the only thing I have ever used in discouraging behavior, it doesnt take them long to associate the bottle with "don't do that" and they run away. I got no clue on the covering the poop thing, my oldest cat has been doing it for a while, no clue what so ever..I have yet to spend the money for one of those automatic, connected to the water system, all in one, boxes that clean everything and you do nothing for a year and then replace the pellets, I am not set up that way, but I would go that direction in the right circumstances... Thats all I got..

Thanks for replying, interesting about the LCM tie and all, if you feel like filling me in with details privately I would be ever to happy. Not that I enjoy the dirt, its more about understanding the downfall..and thanks for the welcome, I guess its a double espresso with a dollup of foam. regards, michael

Nah, I feel exactly the way you do, opportunists, or more properly, they behave like opportunists. That does not imply though, that getting GSC posters/contributors on Oprah is a far fetched idea, it may sound Ionesco-ish and that was my intent, humor and all, but then again, would it be that absurd ?

I am still into Bjork, Tic Tac Toe (warum), Soundgarden, and every artist that died from a drug overdose. Bjork still won't answer any of my letters, Tic Tac Toe broke up, Soundgarden broke up, and the rest, well their dead and I haven't heard any new stuff from them. I used to spend a whole lot of time listenning to jazz, per influence from Howard Yeremian, the old stuff, whiny saxaphones, Miles Davis..but then again, I delved a lot also into spiritual reggae, like I and I, and being in a babylon...yeah, thats me, living in a babylon, with the man holding me down...

Oh, but I do, my medication hasn't kicked in. But just to warn you, Doctor Full, whoops, Doctor Phil, hey, thats my man, don't go there, don't do it...

I agree with you Waysider, and yet I think, I think I understand it. Remember that story Doctor used to tell about the guy in the Way Corps who didn't know anything about a shovel...he went on with something like, "he thought it was to poke holes in the ground". From that perspective I think it makes sense, like, I knew before TWI how a shovel was used...but I did not know that there were "shovel shaped penises or breasts"....ya, thats bad, but its all I got..

I would like to nominate Paw to contact the Oprah Winfrey show. From what I have seen, there are enough frequent posters/contributors to fill an audience. She could do a show with an audience of all ex-TWIers. And knowing Oprah, who knows, maybe she would spring to an all paid vacation to Jamaica or Hawaii for everyone...any seconds to the motion? Anyone, anyone..

Yeah, off topic, go, go.. Another one of these wierd things about differences, the U.S. and Europe, specifically the U.K.. is commercials regarding alcohol. Here, alcohol and sexy women and men getting lucky with sexy woman with alcohol, and even sexy hamburger and soda commercials are the way of the world and media..in the U.K. they diligently tone down the sexual part with regard to alcohol consumption, I have a friend from the UK, we worked together on computers and we would watch the television and a beer commercial would come and and he frequently would say to me that that commercial would never be allowed on the tv in england...maybe its changed, but I dont think so..

I agree with what you have said here. Violence, hey whatever, sex, nudity, whoa...need a cut here, a cut there in the film or NC-17. The U.S. is surely way too much on the "moral" agenda, and it most likely won't change. Just a side-line, back to CF&S, I can surely say that the class was arousing, it was not arousing because of the content, it was arousing because I hadn't had any sexual relations in the prior three years...so it didn't take much of anything on that score..

Excellent. Raw excellence. I went a different way, but the end result appears to be the same. With me, I couldn't shut up, so that did not get me too far, so I wrote a book, even travelled to England to publish it. It did not get published and that was a good thing. Until some 12 years ago, I had no idea of what alcoholism was about, and I spent some time with an alcoholic, now I am not saying I know what being an alcoholic is about, having never been one...but that was the first time that I got acquainted with the phrase "digging deep". Again, I am not meaning to be an expert or skilled in "digging deep", merely that it is something important, and definitely a part of recovery with regard to TWI, in my opinion...thanks...

Copenhagen; Believe me there are books upon books on Christian Marriage out there. Many of them are in the Trinity point of view, yet many contain a lot of great stuff. CES also, has done some good things on marriage, and they, CES, get tapes from a ministry in California, I just don't have that ministries name, but some decent folks... Anyway, what I keep on hearing and reading with the Head of the Household thing is really pretty common sense. Yes, you are the Head of the Household, its like an umbrella, and yes, you do have the final say....and yet, in practice, that priviledge doesn't come up often. The context, rights, responsibility, priviledge, all those labels, one side balances the other, priviledge and responsibility...and my spelling sucks... in being the head of the household, your best friend, you wife is you greatest asset, your best source of opinion, her views, her feelings, the marriage is really from your point of view, all about her, so its never a good idea to cut off her feelings about issues...women perceive situations in very dramatic fashion, they know stuff, stuff that just goes in our man brain and right out again... Here is something or a way to think about it and its from Men are from mars, women from venus...men do not listen very well, its an acquired skill...men for the most part, are problem solvers, men get with men and the thinking/problem solving hat goes on...lets get to a solution....that hat, the problem solving hat is not how women for the most part are...women like to talk and they want us to listen, listen, just listen, not us with our problem hat on, and ready to "solve" something...they come home from work and want to talk about their day, and they want us to merely listen...and again, something else, they dont' express themselves the same way, it is not linear...they may say the same thing over and over, out of what we men think is random or without order....and its really a difference, how they communicate...well, I do not want to sound like I know it all, gona break this off...yes, I have heard all sorts of opinions about the author of Men from mars, women from venus...yet, the guy has some interesting things to say about communication....and if you want, well, you get my advice anyway...its more about communication than the need to make decisions about the household... have a good one...

I really am loving this discussion. I would think that showing a picture of a penis, like non-erect, would most likely be an NC-17. But then again, maybe an R, the Dewey Cox movie with an R, had that, again, my memory. As far as breasts, I may be absolutely off and incorrect on this, wasn't that James Bond movie, the one with the cute black chick, ah..memory, the same one who was in Swordfish...anyway, wasn't that a PG, and there was that shot of her breasts on the lounge chair? Ya, the X was back in the 70's, its still around in places, mainstream movies go with the MPAA process, small "adult industry", don't do the process, they merely go with local standards and regulations. Regardless, to me, the porn aspects of CF&S that the thread are talking about, at that point in my life were all unknowns, seeing different sizes and shapes of breasts and penises was all new ground/territory. The dog thing was like, ok, I think I might be better off remembering that, put that away in a black box. What I was looking forward to, from word of mouth, about the CS&F class was the desire to learn about dating. I was way slow in the dating area, and I really did want to get it right, and as it was, CS&F didn't do it for me. In that regard, I would infer, in very little seriousness that my mother would have approved of that, me not having a clue about dating...ya, its sad..

You are definitely funny, and not like Goodfellas, its the way you tell the story ok? Ya, the income thing, that is about my tale as well, its buy some new socks or pay down the student loan. With regard to your photo, from Sin City, very nice..I am assuming its the cool shade thing, not the dietary aspects of your life that you are going with in showing us the picture. About the Kevlar, I had to work with Kevlar gloves for a year, was working with panes of glass, tons of glass..you know, Kevlar is washable, it is interesting stuff because although its good with fire and stopping bullets, it doesn't do very well with slow moving sharp objects like a knife or in my instance, broken glass...ya still get cut...

I found this thread, within a thread. I read like 20 or 30 posts, theres like 60 pages worth. Anyway, my opinion, on what the thread appears to be about: The things I have read, say that those who experience abuse do tend to become abusers. Hence, getting couselling after abuse is a common sense response and may enter into that area of "personal responsibility". That is, I owe it to myself to get counselling so that that tendency to become an abuser does not take form. Personally, I have met many individuals who were never involved in TWI, but have experienced date rape, assault, and so on, and unfortunately they never sought out help or counselling or even filed a police report. I do feel I can relate to this, the embarrassment of talking about being abused to someone, after all, its a situation where the individual is acting against their deep feelings (fear), moving forward and in effect "trusting" someone with intimate details of an incident, not really the easiest thing to do. I personally do not feel I handled "rage", "anger" and "contempt" with my experience in TWI all that well. I have had periods of my life, with some individual who were at the time still in TWI and I in every way you can put it, "let them have it", as in uncontrolled, illogical, nasty, personal, and illegal behavior. Those incidents were some time ago. And to me, the process of going from TWI to being "normal" was very rocky at the beginning. I was always responsible for my actions, they did not reach the legal standard of "temporary insanity" and it is very true, I could have been held accountable in a court of law... but that never happenned. Fortunately for me, the human condition does include tolerance, and many, many individuals, none of whom have any idea of what TWI is or was about have helped me over the years. Our legal system, well, actually our government, is based on the idea of "a republic", that is, we are a democracy, but with an added kick of genius. Its not enough in our country to convict someone based on a majority vote, there are balancing elements, one of which is called the Bill of Rights. The Judicial System of the United States, is an ever evolving branch of the Federal Govenment, it changes, ever so slowly behind the real world, but it does respond. Courts of law, in my experience, knowledge, schooling, do not decide issues of "fairness", per se. They only determine facts. Those facts apply to the circumstance(s) of the specific issue/context of the case before them, whether that is determining what damages are due to a party that has suffered or endured a loss, or whether a law/statue flows with the constitution, whaterver. Where I am going with this is very specific. TWI promised me they "endeavored" to rightly divide the word. I gave them, freely, money. If I were to call TWI at HQ and ask them where the closest twig was, I doubt they would tell me. One of TWI's positions was that you do not have to donate money to us, as a matter of fact, TWI even used to say, that if I did not trust them, sure, go ahead and take money out of our abundance sharing. If, I had the opportunity, I would be at International, the Sunday meeting and remove every dollar, up to the amount I donated some years ago. They would most likely not like that, and say it wasn't fair. What I say, and believe is that its not "fair" that TWI made a promise to me and was/is unable to keep that promise. Is it an issue I can take to a court? No. My empowerment in daily living, is due to my legal training, just one year, one year of assocation in a classroom environment with ex-judges and practicing attorneys. TWI, did not, in my opinion, empower me or anyone else with regard to dealing with the real issues of daily living. The lawsuits that came about, with regard to LCM I have read and to me, I feel the plaintiffs in the action got very, very lucky, far luckier than I ever was. The plaintiffs, in my opinion, could not have possibly been as trusting as I felt I was while in the TWI, and I say that, due to the result, they got something. With regard to dealing with an offense. If its available, I feel confrontation is available until I am dead. I feel I have forgiven those who have offended me, its not like I carry around anger at them anymore...and yet, if I come in direct contact with any of the "offenders", I will be confrontational about the details of those offenses. I do not feel forgive means forgetting, I feel forgiving means taking the emotions of victimization off the table, the why me's of the offense. And I feel I trust myself enough to have the communication skills to be as objective with a confrontation, if it ever occurs, to get to the truth of a matter with someone who has in the past committed an offense with me, just like a court of law. And the amazing thing is, that from my experience, the countless situations I have been in with daily living, it is so incredibly obvious to me, that almost no one can handle being treated the way I perceive they have treated me...it really is a big secret... So, in closing, the best offense is still a good defense. michael