Declaration of Dependence

by Stephanus 27 Replies latest jw friends

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  Stephanus

  Heh, heh, Ozzie! I was actually carpetted for being the last to sign!

  Prisca: Fang was a good ratter, but would never have crossed paths with the rats - they appeared next to the stove and didn't need to venture further into the house. Fang entered and left the house via my bedroom window (nailed at the edges so it couldn't be raised high enough for a burglar to enter) at night, and my bedroom door was closed. As for the Oleander rule (thanks for the correct spelling!), patience! If you like Oleanders, you may think less of me when you know...

  Greven:

  You just gave Fang a piece of your share, nobody else's so how would that be wasted?

  Precisely my point! It was argued (not by the house leader) that having given Fang a piece of my slice of cheese, I would probably need to cut more cheese to fill up, therefore it was waste.

  To the other list of rules I will add two I remember:

  "The Three-Legged Cat Rule"

  "The Tick Off Rule"

  Here is the Cereal Bowl rule:

  The house leader noticed that people in the house would often snack on bowls of cereal. To put a stop to that, he imposed a "one bowl of cereal per person per day" rule. All that did was show how creative people could be at stacking ten Weet-Bix in one bowl! (On this page is a picture of a stack of 5 Weet-Bix in a bowl ) Just goes to show that making rules doesn't make people righteous, doesn't it! When will Bethel learn?
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  greven

  "The Three-Legged Cat Rule"

  LOL! Now I really wonder what that one was about.... Don't feed the stray three-legged cat?

  Greven
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  Prisca

  No, Greven, it was "Don't cut the leg off the cat in order to stretch out tonight's casserole !!!
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  Stephanus

  LOL Greven - you almost have it, but not quite...

  No, Greven, it was "Don't cut the leg off the cat in order to stretch out tonight's casserole !!!

  Pris, we never had pussycat casserole, but we came close. Everyone in the house had to take turns cooking dinner. Once we lashed out and bought some Blackfish (the cheapest, nastiest fish you can buy) - that night's cook filleted them and battered and fried the fillets. However, tight as the house management was, the bones and heads were not discarded (or given to Fang) but frozen for later use. Several weeks later, the house's head hippie decided to cook a fish soup/stew using the fish bones and heads - the whole house smelled like something had been dead in there for months!
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  greven

  LOL@Prisca!

  (you know, I used to think that pic was you until someone poimted out to me that it was Sandra Bullock, LOL)

  Several weeks later, the house's head hippie decided to cook a fish soup/stew using the fish bones and heads - the whole house smelled like something had been dead in there for months!

  Iewwww!

  Greven
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  Prisca

  Greven,

  I used to use a pic of Sandra Bullock, but the pic I now use is really me.
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  greven

  Then...you are pretty stunning! And even look like Sandra!

  Greven
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  ozziepost

  I look like me, too!
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  Stephanus

  Face it Ozzie, you're always going to look like a public servant.

  The Sunday Chore Completion Rule:

  You had a week in which to complete your chores. When you were a newbie, your chore was cleaning the toilets and bathroom. Then you progressed to cleaning the stove and fridges. When I'd been there 4 or 5 years I did the rent collecting, book-keeping and house shopping. The Girls' House had a rotating chore roster, but I guess the Guys' House leader saw himself as too important to clean toilets, so you were stuck with your chore until someone moved on and a newbie came in. Anyway, we had a weekly cooking roster posted on the notice board and a space for signing when you had completed your chores. Chore completion to be signed by Sunday. However, the house-leader had a thing about working on Sunday. That would have been fine, but the house leader felt that his reluctance to work on a Sunday should be binding to the rest of us. We all worked or attended Uni or Tech on weekdays and Saturday was your day for sleeping in and getting your personal shopping done (shops didn't open on Sundays back then). Whereas Sunday was a lazy day punctuated by a church service that ended at lunch time and an evening one that began at 6:30 - there was a huge block of nothing to do in between - the perfect day for doing chores. It was always the house leader who believed in abstenance - I pointed out to him that in Romans 14 it is always the abstainer who is considered weak in faith - why was he, therefore, our "spiritual leader"? I was never very popular with him, as you can well imagine...
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  Prisca

  LOL, I love hearing these stories - they almost make the JWs look normal!

  The toilet-cleaning is a familiar one - guess what chore many newbie Bethelites would be assigned when they first joined Bethel????

  BTW, I still want to know about the Oleander Rule - what was it, "don't chew on the oleander leaves" LOL!