I was drafted on microphone duty at the age of 14. I have to agree with AlanB, I didn?t mind handling the microphones too much, it was better than sitting for two hours listening to mind numbing nonsense. Our kingdom hall had a separate room where the sound was controlled and the records were played. We routinely chill in the sound room completely ignoring the meeting, discussing sports, cars, sisters or whatever. I didn?t consider it a big deal the privilege aspect of it all I know is I didn?t have to sit through those boring meetings.
brooklynNY
JoinedPosts by brooklynNY
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55
Microphone "Handling"
by SYN inwhat is all the fuss about?
when i was still assimilated (i.e.
still in the borg, but wanting out every second of that time), there was so much emphasis put on microphone handling that it was almost unreal.
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75
Has Anyone Ever Met Any Celebrities?
by imallgrowedup inthis is a spin-off of another thread where my *mild and chaste* friend, mouthy, admitted to wanting to meet her dream man, tom jones, and that she would even go so far as to throw her bloomers at him, if that is what it would take to get his attention!
well, the mental picture this painted was far too much for me to bear, so i encouraged her to save her red polka-dotted "unmentionables", not only because she might need them in the future, but because i didn't think she'd have to go that far to get his attention.
and i said that - because of a personal experience with him.
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brooklynNY
Living in New York City I have had various celebrity sightings, however while not being formally introduced on two of the occasions I had the opportunity to talk to Chris Rock, Wesley Snipes and Rosie Perez. Back in the late eighties Wesley Snipes use to live use to live a few doors down from me. We engaged in small talk on a couple of occasions.
In October of 1996, I was dining at a local restaurant and an extremely thin individual wearing a jacket with a hood over his head walks into pickup an outgoing order. I didn?t give him a second thought until our eyes happen to meet, and at that time I realize it was Chris Rock. I didn?t make a big deal about his presence and I think he appreciated it. We engaged in some conversation for about three minutes discussing his recent HBO special until his order was ready. I remember it being October of 1996 because the Yankees won the World Series that year, and seeing Chris Rock sitting next to Robert DeNiro at Yankee Stadium on television the next evening.
During this past summer I frequently would run into Rosie Perez while she was walking her two dogs as I was going to work. It got to a point where we would say hello to each other and engage in brief chat at times.
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How old were you when you left?
by somebodylovesme ini only know a handful of witnesses, but i do know several ex-witnesses.
all of them left in their late teens, which (as i've read here) is pretty common.
i know there are a lot of people here who left later in life.
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brooklynNY
I was More or less raised in the "truth." Got baptized at 18 appointed MS at 21 then at the age of 28 after attending an Elders and MS meeting with CO I walked away and never came back. I gave no indication of my departure, and no slow fade just left cold turkey. The congregation was perplexed. Here I was a MS in good standing and I just stopped attending the meetings and going out in field service.
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What are some of the wackiest comments you've heard at a meeting?
by doodle-v innearly every cong has few goofballs who you can always count on to give some really off the wall comments during a meeting.
i remember one sister in particular who would give incredibly loooooooooooooooooong comments lasting 5 minutes at least!
lol!
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brooklynNY
The conductor at the book study I was attending once make this weird comment regarding the tower of Babel. He said that mankind?s knowledge was advancing too quickly and if God didn?t confuse the people by changing their languages, they would develop the technology to space travel and discover Jehovah?s other inhabited planets. He also said that by confusing the languages God brought himself several thousands years before man would acquire the technology to travel at the speed of light.
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OK you New Yorkers, WHERE ARE YOU!
by jst2laws ini know there are some new yorkers here.
you are well represented by franklin j, blueblades (i think), and homey.
what i can't understand is new york is, to me, the archetype of independent thinking - individuality.
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brooklynNY
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, and attended Crown Heights, Brooklyn Center and a third congregation that I won't mention at this time. I was your basic dub, went out in field service, gave talks, became a MS at 21 and got married to a prototypical pioneer sister. I always thought it was ridiculous when I hear the "friends" say that New York was more spiritual because of the proximity to Bethel. I'm glad no longer associated with this organization. I didn't do the fade thing, after attending an elders and MS meeting with the CO I just never returned to the kingdom hall. I had a lot of people guessing what was the cause of my departure.
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brooklynNY
I don? know if I would call him a psychopath, however in the 70's we had this bethel elder in our congregation named Ciro Aulicino who was a bit screwy. He would distort his face while listening to the speakers and talk to himself at times. I was in my early teens so I don?t remember many details other than he was very strange, but he appeared harmless. However I do recall that he gave fiery talks, they where never boring. He would have the microphone fitted around his neck and he give these talks that were animated, his arms would be flapping and he would be moving from side to side on the stage. I sometimes wonder what became of him, and if he is still in the "Truth."
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What is the mood in the Kingdom Halls nowadays?
by JH inwhen i used to go the meetings in the late 80's, the mood was good, knowing that the end was close.
later on in the 90's while i still attended once in a while, people were starting to be less zealous and were starting to put their needs before those of the kingdoms.
people started to buy houses, instead of living in apartements, they were buying nicer cars, taking vacations far away, and mostly, the women started to work, to help pay for the better life style they were living.
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brooklynNY
The congregation that I attended in the early to mid 80's was like a social/religious organization. The various clicks would always have something going on like concerts, plays, and weekend trips to varied places. "Friends" from around the circuit would call us the party animal congregation. The CO eventually discovered we were having too much fun and had the elders present a Local Needs Talk to put a stop to us from making too much merry. At that time our congregations had the highest number of publishers, pioneers, averaged hours per publisher, magazine placement and meeting attendance in the circuit. Now that I think about the reason we excelled as a congregation was because we enjoyed a life outside of the Kingdom Hall. I was talking to my former brother-in-law about six months ago, his wife is still in, the Sunday meeting averages about 85- 95. This is down from about 175- 200 back in the mid eighties early nineties when I was attending that congregation.
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any movies with prominent JW characters?
by Azalo inive seen the one with kevin costner.
"perfect world" i think, any others?
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brooklynNY
Does anyone recall a two-part miniseries on PBS called White Teeth, I believe it was filmed in the UK? I just caught bits and pieces of the movie. However, I remember watching a scene where a Jehovah?s Witness mother and daughter are out in field service preaching that the world would come to an end in 1975.
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JW's and Pubs/Bars
by Heatmiser ini have noticed on past threads from posters from other countries than the usa that they would be hanging out in pubs and such while still jw's.
in the us i believe that going to bars would pretty much be a df/da offense.
in other countries is the policy different?
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brooklynNY
The congregation I attended most of us MS would frequently go out after the Friday night meeting for drinks. We never talked at it much to anyone else, but I?m sure the elders were aware of it. It was no deal to us, we would go to this bar in downtown Brooklyn that would serve drinks that were equivalent to a triple shot. Those were the days, and one of the few things I enjoyed from my dub days.
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WHY did you get baptised?
by fairy ini was just thinking back to when i got baptised.
and i dont really remember the real reason why.. thinking about it seems to bring up the idea that i only got baptised because of the way everyone treats you when they find out you are getting dunked - and not specifically to serve jehovah.. baptism day comes and you sit there and listen to the talk.
then you go out and get your swimming duds on and line up at the "whatever it is they decide to dunk you in".
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brooklynNY
I was raised in the "truth" and never got any real pressure from my parents to get baptized after I turned sixteen. But I was still a publisher, and gave talks. I got dunked at nineteen not so much that I believed this way the truth, but I wanted to date this hot looking sister in my circuit. Never did date her.