JW Children - We're normal, and have fun at conventions, etc.

by berrygerry 25 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  rebel8

  Yesterday, stumbled upon this contradictory gem

  Great find!
  
• 

  AFRIKANMAN

  Favourite convention strategems as adolescent:

  1- Volunteer for Parking attendant as this involved looking after the cars during sessions - but very boring.

  2- Work in Food Prep - This took up swathes of time during sessions - you could bump into some nice girls too - but a lot of greasy hard work.

  3 - Attendant duty - as you could get up and walk around with a 'motive" - you spotted the girls and it had a little "status" attached to it/ - :"Attendant" badge.

  4 - Slip out and go downtown to play Pin-Ball or even take in a Rugby match being broadcast on TV at a local pub.

  5 - Volunteer for Overnight Security detail - At one venue there was an hotel nearby with live Jazz on Fridays and Saturdays - you got to see some nice girls and could have a few toots.
• 

  WTWizard

  Since when do they have time to explore the host city? Typically, you go to the city and sit through the program that day. They do little besides finding places to eat, and maybe a small shop near the venue.

  For instance, suppose you live in a small city near Albany, New York. You find your Grand Boasting Session in Syracuse. Chances are good that you will drive from Albany to Syracuse, prepared with your luggage in your car, to go directly to the Super 8 on Oswego Road after. You go directly to the OnCenter and sit there for the day. After, you go to the Super 8 for the night. Thankfully, there is a Wegmans store a short drive from there, so at least you get some cultural experience from that. You go back to the motel, and sleep (if you are lucky, you might watch a little TV or have a radio on). Next morning, it's back to the OnCenter for another day. Then back to Super 8, and probably to McDonalds (and, with the no food arrangement, Wegmans). Back to your room, back to the OnCenter next day, then directly home from there. Cultural or vacation experience?

  Or, if you are really unlucky, you will be at the Budget Inn on South Salina Street. A short drive down State Street near I81, and all there is down there is a dumpy Tops store near a dumpy plaza (and, if you are lucky, you get to stop at McDonalds). That doesn't qualify as a cultural experience--at least Wegmans is renouned worldwide as one of the greatest supermarket chains in existence and many people leaving the Northeast miss Wegmans more than anything else. Or, you will be in the middle of nowhere and end up in an even dumpier region.

  As for vacations in the above example, how many of them spend some time at the State Fair (held in Syracuse)? None. How many find the attractions in the area? How many even know there is a rather significant lake just to the northeast--and not Lake Ontario, either? You can go to one of these things and not even know what is just a few kilometers to the north or west of the venue. Do they even attempt to find the amusement park or museum nearby? Do they even have time? Not when they are in the Grand Boasting Session from 8 in the morning until perhaps 5:30 or 6 PM each day, and then they have to find some place to eat (as often as not, McDonalds).

  And that's if they are lucky. Often, they have nothing nearby except low-rated supermarkets or fast, good-tasting poison outlets. Go to the wrong motel, you might be finding the highlight of your trip being the Walmart trip for your lunch the next day. Or some other bottom rated supermarket. You could be driving 20 kilometers between the motel and the venue, only to find that there is nothing but Walmart and McDonalds between. A vacation? Hardly--even if you are lucky enough to be near a Wegmans, Publix, or Raleys (all top-ranking supermarkets).

  Recommendation: Skip the Grand Boasting Session. You want a real vacation? Book your own motel in the city of your choosing, and then go wherever you feel like. Whether it be where everyone else wants to go (Disneyland, for instance) or out in the outback of Maine or Nevada, you will enjoy it more if you go where you feel like going. And, if you live near your state fair, you can go when you see fit--if you choose to attend the fair, you are free to do so.
  
• 

  berrygerry

  You go back to the motel, and sleep (if you are lucky, you might watch a little TV or have a radio on).

  Sorry, no - you are supposed to be reviewing the program with your family.
  
• 

  smiddy

  Watchtower-free

  That`s what paradise would be like under the Borg.A good movie in it`s day ( a bit dated now though )

  Then again that just may sum up what a lot of older JW`s are these days.

  smiddy
• 

  William Penwell

  All I remember growing up is that anything we would do would not come guilt free, unless it was something the WT approved. I recall my mom having a party for all the dub kids at our home to give us all something to do. The mistake my mom made was having it on Halloween night. Well as soon as this got back to the overseer, my mom got raked over the coals. Even though it wasn't a Halloween party, the overseer made it out as having one. Too this day I don't know why my mom stayed in the cult as long as she did.
  
• 

  SonoftheTrinity

  Na nananana I'm the unbelieving husband who is the only one with a drivers license! I can make sure the vacation spirit infects a convention visit. Bwahahahaha!
• 

  berrygerry

  12. Since many of us include attending the assembly during our vacation period.

  This could probably use a new thread, but I may as well add that, Yes, attending the assembly was "included" during our vacation period.

  In fact, I told one employer that I was quitting just before the business' absolute busiest time of year - and so, the owner paid my plane tickets to attend the convention, and I quit after the busy period.

  One year later, as per WTS instructions of Putting Kingdom Interests first, I did quit the next job, as the employer would not accommodate my demand for a premium week of vacation to attend the convention in another city.

  No, not a cult, not at all.
  
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  stan livedeath

  i cant imagine why any normal kid would stay in the cult when they grow up.

  oh--i was forgetting--a domineering dub-mother probably.
• 

  stan livedeath

  and--guess which 20 year old pioneer attended a district assembly---on his honeymoon !!!