mapleaf18

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Posts by mapleaf18

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  36

  Would you change your past if you could?

  by John Doe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i used to live with many regrets, thinking that i'd screwed up.

  recently, i've been thinking that regretting past actions is not constructive.

  sure, we should base our current actions by assessing the results of our former actions, but regretting decisions we've made is, in effect, yearning to change the person we are now or rejecting ourselves.

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  mapleaf18

  i'm with you purps (same deal with me)
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  1

  Unemployed

  by mapleaf18 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  don't get down adelmaal; i worked contract and temp jobs for 7 years and just recently got hired at a "real" job!!

  so for 7 whole years i had no benefits, no health insurance; no vacation.

  i'm planning to hold on to this one for dear life!!!!

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  mapleaf18

  don't get down adelmaal; i worked contract and temp jobs for 7 years and just recently got hired at a "real" job!! so for 7 whole years i had no benefits, no health insurance; no vacation. i'm planning to hold on to this one for dear life!!!!!
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  29

  Any types of books, authors, etc. you enjoy now that you didn't as a JW?

  by littlerockguy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i always loved to collect books.

  if any jw came and looked at my bookshelf now they would turn probably turn white.

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  mapleaf18

  hey lost man,

  "reading since you were 13" LOL!!!!
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  35

  How do you amuse yourself during the daily commute?

  by Crumpet in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i commute to and from work between 2 and 4 hours every day.

  does anyone else commute and what do you do to pass the time?

  how long do you travel for?

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  mapleaf18

  in three words: teeth bleaching strips. . .

  . . .but seriously. . .
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  43

  Hurray - Friday Night - what will you be doing

  by Crumpet in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's friday evening!

  how will you be spending your weekend?

  what will you be doing to relax tonight folks?.

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  mapleaf18

  "no relaxing"

  i concur. tonight my boyfriend has visitation with his kids, 8, 6 and 2 (VERY active kids; i must add; i often thought there would be NO way those kids would sit for 15 minutes straight at a KH let alone 2 hours)

  order some pizza and watch kids movies; then make dinner for me and sweety, some wine, drinks and hot lovin'
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  16

  True Funny WW2 Experience

  by JW83 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this is taken from daily telegraph, sydney, 22.9.42, after a convention had not been allowed to go ahead.

  mrs inez stoop, a jws tract distributor, said yesterday: 'do not ask me why the conference was not held.

  you are from a newspaper, and all newspapers and their reporters are of the devil.

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  mapleaf18

  Is this the "stoops" of bookbag manufacturing fame????
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  26

  Did You Hate Meetings and Special Events?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i really hated "special" programs and events such as a visiting bethelite giving an extra 1 hour talk after the wt.

  study.

  everyone was expected to stay.

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  mapleaf18

  yep. same ol' same ol'. but do you remember "repetition for emphasis" and the "reminders, orders" even imbedded into the kingdom songs? the only thing i liked was the singing; which i love. i've always wanted to be into singing and professional chorus (but wasn't allowed as a school girl; too WORLDLY!)
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  62

  Are You A Better Person Now That You're Out of the "Truth"?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you feel better?

  act better?

  think more positively?

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  mapleaf18

  didn't mean to be insulting to any jw or former-jw guys with my comments, however, where i live (in upstate ny) the general population has women far out-numbering the men. you can just imagine how that is compounded to the Nth degree within the KH. there were so many 40-60 something women who had never been married or had a boyfriend because the men just weren't there. these women were all living with their aged parents in order to be "pleasing to jehovah" and not venturing outside the organization.

  other than that there were either married couples who were together before coming to the KH or a smattering of ill-educated (can't blame them for that the way the WTS views education), oafish, domineering, inept, lazy, stubborn so-called men.

  these were usually guys who were "raised in the truth"

  i married two of them who just couldn't wait to use the iron fist (literally) of the headship principle.

  i guess that doesn't say much about me other than the fact that i was indoctrinated from an early age; i attended my first meeting wehn i was 2 days old (i'm 46 yrs old). my mother said i was too young to be dragged out on a cold snowy november thursday night, but oh, no my special pioneer/elder dad INSISTED that i attend!! my birth put a serious crimp on their pioneering which i don't think they will ever be over.
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  26

  Awful Friends.

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have some awful friends.

  loud, demanding, boorish, mean, cantankerous, boozy, critical, flirtatious, foul-mouthed and generally obnoxious in every possible way.

  but they're still my friends.

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  mapleaf18

  i found that most of the "friends" at the KH were either excessively needy--to the point where you felt like you were being mauled or just plain aloof.

  one in particular that i can think of. . . an extremely manipulative older lady who was short on IQ but was clever enough to use that as an excuse for badgering you into anything. she had a full set of false teeth which she rarely wore; and emotional issues which caused her to shove food into her mouth when she ate w/o chewing. it made you sick to your stomach just to sit next to her during "gatherings."

  she was always asking you to take her here and there and would literally curse her beleagered son out if he didn't do what she wanted. she was and still is a master at guilt and her personal cleanliness/ habits were atrocious. a GREAT burden to the whole congregation as she really could not care for herself properly for years and years and should have had round the clock supervision by a professional (she was always hearing voices to kill people, etc.)

  she "befriended" me immediately to the point of taking over; calling me every second and trying to have her son drop her off to "visit" me. she had the elders on speed dial and was constantly calling them.

  i don't miss ANY of those types of friends nor do i miss the extreme gossipping that always took place. my mother and father still have "gossip" fests about who is doing what and who got d'fd etc. etc. my father is a natural ham and i think he stays loyal to the WTS just for the talks he gets to give on the platform. he is often the centre of attention as he volunteers himself for the press releases and media committees to draw attention to upcoming conventions. if he sees a tv camera or radio mike, he is THERE and just LOVES the limelight. i really think he is a frustrated stage actor.
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  62

  Are You A Better Person Now That You're Out of the "Truth"?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you feel better?

  act better?

  think more positively?

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• 

  mapleaf18

  TOTALLY new here so pardon my rambling!

  i'm much more relaxed now. have stopped going to meetings for over a year. (whew, what a BURDEN that was; me a single mom trying to work two jobs and be active at meetings/service)

  my kids are grown now and making their own decisions (thankfully they have chosen not to be JWs). i feel bad for all the kid stuff they missed out on, though (holidays, etc)

  i'm LIVING with the love of my life (gasp; horrors!) a worldly guy 10 years my junior who treats me like GOLD!! he's handy; can fix ANYTHING and actually WORKS for a living (totally opposite from the few and far between lazy "men" in the congregation who couldn't tie their own shoelaces; my elder dad included) plus he's gorgeous! no chance of that at the KH where you see horse-faced dudes paired up with knockout women just because of the 20-1 ratio (women to men)

  was recently "visited" by two elders in my congregation (the lead elder has both kids in a psych hospital) wanting to know if i was going to marry this dude (of course not! i was in two JW marriages which were both HELL on wheels; i don't think i need to marry to prove anything)

  i wrote a very brief letter of disassociation; i couldn't care less if i'm gossipped about by old women and mental basket cases.

  haven't told my fairly elderly parents yet; it will probably kill them because my dad used to be a "special" pioneer and acts as a sub circuit overseer/still is a looked up to elder (although he never spent any time with myself or my sister in recreational activies--nothing but school, meetings and service); my mother is an emotional wreck and always has been on one medication after another.

  i was always disgusted when "brothers" and "sisters" came up to me and said "oh your father bro. so and so is SOOOO wonderful; you're so FORTUNATE to have him as a father" and i thought, "if you only knew how awful and neglectful he really was." of course no parent is perfect, but dad towed the watchtower line to the HILT but NEVER provided any fun activities for us whatsoever. life was a total drudgery as a child, especially with my mother in and out of mental hospitals for "anxiety."

  i can't help but think that if my mother was released from my very controlling dad and stopped being told that she was inadequate, unworthy, just needed to "do more" in the service, that she'd be a whole lot happier. but she is staunchly loyal although her life is miserable.

  i also feel sorry for all the "old maids" in the KH who would dare not have a relationship outside of the WTS and so are doomed to live a life with their elderly parents; never experiencing real happiness.