Posts by arachnia

43

WERE YOU CONSIDERED A GOOD EXAMPLE?

by minimus in

jw
friends

have you ever had to deal with the thought that you really weren't that good of an example?

perhaps, the congregation was encouraged to pioneer or reach out for bethel service or go to seldom worked territory, etc.

and when you applied, you were told that you didn't qualify.

arachnia

My parents got me in the "big sister" program at about age 11-12, had a sister about 6 years older than me come over to study every week, take me in field service, take me to the meetings when they didn't go (turns out they were doing the fade-away whilst leaving me quite "in") and take me to JW-approved social events. "Make sure your child gets brainwashed/indoctrinated by a crazy religion and then YOU won't have to worry about them getting preggers, doing drugs, etc.etc." was apparently their thinking. So by the time I was 16 and getting baptised, I was held as an example because I was doing it all despite my parents being practically inactive. All the kids in my congregation except for me and one other (we are talking about 15-20 people here) ended up in some sort of judicial trouble (they were just being normal teens, looking back...) Auxillary pioneered in the summer, reg pioneered out of high school. Then...the summer afterwards, I started dating my (now-ex) husband. THAT made for trouble. Suddenly I wasn't a good example. Well, I guess I understand, as after six years of marraige to him I finally believed my mom and his mother's suspicions that he was, in fact, gay, and just refused to confront it. Thus, the prefix ex-. ;)

But all along I had a rebellious streak that they were trying to tame. Glad it finally got the better of me. :D

63

How about some embarrassing 80's pics?

by LyinEyes in

jw
friends

let's post some of our 80's pic, or even further back if you want to.

it would really be fun to see some of you in your finest witness attire, bookbag and all.

baptism pics would be a blast to see.. wild turkey had this idea ,but he already started two threads.

arachnia

Heaven - I used to sneak clothes and makeup in my suitcase-like purses to school and change there and change/wash it off before arriving home. Bad girl, I know. ;) I still love The Cure and The Smiths...actually my husband and I run a Gothic/Industrial website: http://www.murknet.com/main/ and we are pretty involved with the local scene. It's so nice to not worry about being an example any more! Now I just have to worry about conforming to a corporate dress code. But, as has always been my station in life, I set the trends and push the envelope and so far I'm getting away with it. (I have several ear piercings, a nose stud and blood red streaks in my bangs with black hair.) I love finally being able to be myself, although it puts my mom in a tiz that I'm not more of a preppy type. Oh well. As one of those great 80's bands, Talk Talk sang, " It's my life....Don't you forget...." ;-)

46

Any muscian types on j-w.com?

by pomegranate in

yes no?

any examples on the net?

arachnia

I used to play bass and then when I left my ex and the dubs and moved into an apartment, went back to school and started working 40 miles from home, I didn't have the time to do it during hours my neighbors considered appropriate. Now that I'm in a house, I traded in my old Washburn P-Bass copy that I was never a big fan of and got a Schecter Stiletto 4-string. Not the top of the line, but I like the sound, the neck was thinner (thus better accomodating my Lisa Simpson fingers), it's lighter, and the price was right. Plus, it is black. :D I'm getting back into playing slowly but surely. :)

63

How about some embarrassing 80's pics?

by LyinEyes in

jw
friends

let's post some of our 80's pic, or even further back if you want to.

it would really be fun to see some of you in your finest witness attire, bookbag and all.

baptism pics would be a blast to see.. wild turkey had this idea ,but he already started two threads.

arachnia

Nikita - thanks - yeah, I'm much happier now than I was in those old pix for a variety of reasons and so I guess it shines through in my new look. ;) It was great when I went to my 10 year reunion - absolutely NO ONE knew who I was. We had little B/W photos of our senior pix on our nametags and that was the only reason they recognized me. Hee hee! It was fun.

Heaven - Oh yeah, in Junior High I had so many "Madonna" o-ring bracelets I could wear them past my elbows and keep going (actually I still have them and started wearing them again...LOL gotta love fashion recycling..) and I loved Thompson Twins too. My tastes in high school swung more towards The Cure, The Smiths, Bauhaus (still do) but I wasn't allowed to "goth out" so that senior pic represents me getting about as "edgy" as I could back then. Whoooo!

Incense - thank you - I'm sure many people who know me IRL would agree with you that I'm full of "something" but I don't know if it's necessarily a compliment! ;-)~

This is a fun thread!

Oh and I too had the "wall of bangs" hair thing going on round about 1989. Scary times, hair-wise. But even better than Aqua-Net, for my hair anyways, has been "Freeze-It" 24-hour hold hairspray. Yeeowsa! It does the trick. :)

63

How about some embarrassing 80's pics?

by LyinEyes in

jw
friends

let's post some of our 80's pic, or even further back if you want to.

it would really be fun to see some of you in your finest witness attire, bookbag and all.

baptism pics would be a blast to see.. wild turkey had this idea ,but he already started two threads.

arachnia

Well, is this the epitome of the 80's or what? The pic on the left is a shot from the the "Best Friends" photo package at Olan Mills - I'm the one on the right. I didn't ask for that mushroom-do haircut, however, a sister who was a hairdresser did it for me and insisted that I let her experiment. Never again. In fact, it was the last perm I ever had, thankfully. The photo on the right is my senior photo. (Class of '88!)

For the sake of reference, this is me at my wedding last July. Only difference btwn now and then is I've lost some weight and my hair is longer now.

\

Edited by - arachnia on 20 July 2002 21:42:57

50

Tattoos and Piercings

by SpiceItUp in

jw
friends

ok......fess up....who's got em and who wants em?

i myself have two tattoos ( i will post pics of them later tonight).

i have one on my shoulder - it the face of a cat, i call it my egyptian cat because the face is very concise.

arachnia

My first tatt was the Celtic knot on my right hip, next came the fairy with tattered wings on my right shoulder. She's playing a harp whose strings are made of a spider's web. Next will be my left shoulder, where I am going to get Lydia Deetz (the animated version) and other Beetlejuicy symbols. (I'll be getting that in September for my birthday).

Piercings - a few months after leaving the Borg I got my navel pierced, but it was done improperly and so it had to be taken out a couple of years ago. I don't know if I'll do it again, still thinking about it. It's a difficult piercing to heal and maintain due to the irritation on the waistline from your pants. We'll see. Other piercings- both ears double pierced (had that while still in the Borg); left ear has a ring on the upper cartilege (forget what that's called); right ear has an industrial; both nipples pierced (actually my appointment for that was two hours before Dateline aired in May, hehe...); left nostril pierced with a small stud. I'd like to get my eyebrow done as well as my tragus, but working in a corporate environment probably negates that given what I already have. ;)

I'm addicted, I'll admit it.

Edited by - arachnia on 17 July 2002 13:5:34

100

Age Sex Location Occupation Anyone?

by Perfection Seeker in

jw
friends

.

33 female iowa massage therapist happily married no children (yet).

anyone else?

arachnia

31 years old, female, Michigan, LAN Support by day, Goth/Industrial Scene Promoter (www.murknet.com) and Anthropology student by night. Happily married, no kids (one of the reasons we are happy!) but we have two Boston Terriers, four cats, two fire-belly toads, and one tree frog. We've chosen zookeeping over parenthood. :p

37

Were any divorced over oral sex?

by gumby in

let me explain:.

in times past, the society's policy was that a witness mate could divorce their mate who demanded or had them perform oral sex and persisted with their views.. later the policy was revised to mean a witness mate could divorce their mate who had oral sex with someone.....outside of the marriage.. are there any here who had this experience with the old arrangement, or do you know of any cases in which this happened?.

my reason for asking is, i wonder how many lives were ruined by another wt blunder.

arachnia

Hi Ashi,

Yes, he is a gravity-robbing, oxygen-stealing f***dummy, but unfortunately he took *HER* for quite a bit of money. That SOB now has a house and she doesn't, due to taking half the money that they got out of their house when they sold. The original down payment on that house, which was substantial, came from my cousin's trust fund that her mother had established prior to her death in order to care for her and her brothers who are in a group home. He didn't deserve a dime from that, but he has a house, a boat, and a big screen TV now, all thanks to my aunt's provision for her children. I'm hoping his last words are "Oh, a bus!" :p But I'll stop my ramblings now....

Can you tell I sorta dislike him? >;)

37

Were any divorced over oral sex?

by gumby in

let me explain:.

in times past, the society's policy was that a witness mate could divorce their mate who demanded or had them perform oral sex and persisted with their views.. later the policy was revised to mean a witness mate could divorce their mate who had oral sex with someone.....outside of the marriage.. are there any here who had this experience with the old arrangement, or do you know of any cases in which this happened?.

my reason for asking is, i wonder how many lives were ruined by another wt blunder.

arachnia

My cousin (now a ex-dub) and her now-ex husband (who is still a dub) had oral sex on their wedding night while on their honeymoon several hours from home. The schmuck husband had an attack of conscience in the middle of the night and called the elders at 3 AM to "confess." He didn't even bother waking my cousin up to tell her. She woke up hearing him on the phone, crying like a baby that he had done something awful. They had to face a committee upon return from their honeymoon. Mind you, he didn't see any problem with the fact that they had done the deed before the wedding, but oral sex, oh mercy! no! That was a sin! Whatever....what a surprise that they are now divorced, huh? ;-)

21

How Many Pagans?

by Moridin in

i was curious to see how many pagans were on the board and what form you practiced.

i myself am newer to the pagan scene and am studying witchcraft...something i secretly did when i was a teenage jw.

any way looking forward to hearing your comments.

arachnia

Hey Xander...

I understand what you mean about preferring life in the countryside versus the big city. I wasn't trying to suggest that being Pagan has any geographic requirements. ;) I just personally think Cei's definition probably more accurately describes the origin of the word. Many sources will just stick with "country dweller" and that's cool, it's just I think it goes a little deeper than that as Cei describes. He's an Indo-European Reconstructionist and one of the original members/founders of ADF, a published author, and Ronald Hutton even quotes him in one of his books. (Hutton is a Historian from Bristol University who has penned several historical titles that are of interest to Pagans.) I consider him a mentor and really respect what he has to say. I know that this is all word-of-mouth recommendations here though so the value to anyone else may vary. :)

Cheers,
~Trase