Posts by brooklynNY

This happened while my wife and I were still married. We were to meet up after work about 5:30pm. However she decides instead to get together with her sister and sister-in-law who were both pioneers to have a few drinks, in fact they got wasted. So after waiting two and half hours, I started to worry so I went home to make some calls. So about midnight she comes strolling in plastered out of her mind, understandably I was angry, not because she was out boozing it up with her sisters, hell she could have stayed out long as she wanted, but she could have given me the courtesy of letting me know where she was so I wouldn?t worry. As I was trying to convey this to her, out of nowhere she blind sides with a right to the eye. I had a severely bruised right eye for a couple of weeks. Needless to say I was angry, however instead of striking her back I walked into the bedroom pack a couple of bags and without a word left. For the next the three weeks she pleaded with me to come back home. I eventually returned but not until I made her life a living hell by telling her that would never live under the same roof as her. And that I going to rat her out to the elders that their favorite pioneer stayed out all night and got atrociously drunk with two other pioneers and became extremely violent.

We eventually worked things out. That was the first and only time she ever struck me, and from that point on she never dare to raise her had to me. There is nothing like putting the fear of the elders in a dub.

55

Microphone "Handling"

by SYN in

what 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.

brooklynNY

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.

75

Has Anyone Ever Met Any Celebrities?

by imallgrowedup in

jw
friends

this 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.

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.

69

How old were you when you left?

by somebodylovesme in

jw
friends

i 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.

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.

21

What are some of the wackiest comments you've heard at a meeting?

by doodle-v in

jw
friends

nearly 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!

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.

25

OK you New Yorkers, WHERE ARE YOU!

by jst2laws in

jw
friends

i 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.

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.

43

were there any psychopaths in your congregation?

by badboy in

jw
friends

any comments?

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."

40

What is the mood in the Kingdom Halls nowadays?

by JH in

jw
friends

when 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.

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.