As of late, I've been busy copying some of my old reel to reel tapes to digital format (for those who know me better, these are my Canned Peaches masters). Once I'm done copying the stuff I want, I'll go through the other tracks and see if there's anything interesting I've either partially taped over, or recorded on the other side (I only used one side of a reel to reel tape). I just found something that brought some JW memories flooding back.
When I was a teenager, I almost always had a cassette in the tape deck, ready to record anything that was either interesting, special, and even degrading. Back in 1995 (when I was 17), I planned to go camping for the weekend with my WORLDLY cousin. My mother was very against this and I got a lecture about it. I recorded the conversation and played it back for my cousin. All he could do was shake his head. I haven't heard this recording in about 10 years.
Whenever my mother talked (especially about anything related to the "truth") I usually kept my mouth shut and let her talk.
The sad thing about this recording is it's really chopped up (one of my Canned Peaches projects was recorded on the other track which involved a lot of splicing). I'll transcribe this small piece I found as best as I can...
So, you're in the truth right now I can see. Eh? I can see that. Ummm... and so, I'm almost kinda sorry you got a talk this week because it would be more of a challenge for you to come to the meeting knowing that you are going camping on the weekend.
[snip, gibber]
But while you're going for that reason I hope you consider how [snip] I know that. Because, before I studied the bible, I was ready to [muffled speech]
...and I started studying the bible and saw that Jehovah expects us to [muffled speech, snip]
When you go on this camping trip, I hope you will think before you do some action [muffled speech] situations [snip]
Anyway, I think you get the point. It's funny. For how edited this turned out because of the splices (and considering how much of the tape I ended up throwing away in the editing process), this speech must have dragged on and on and on. Yet, I can still get the idea of what the message was. "Feel guilty because you're going camping with a worldly relative. And don't forget, Jehovah's watching you."
It's one of the sad reminders of how sheltered my teenage life was. I didn't have any friends in "the truth" to hang out with. They'd all plan something and "forget" to invite me. Yet, I wasn't allowed to hang out with worldly friends or relatives.
The recording (or song) on the other track (which caused the splices) was what I spent my time on, and it was also an outlet for my frustrations. It's ironic that I called the song "Bad Stuff" not knowing that this JW lecture was on the other track.