i had my first real birthday party yesterday.
call me an irredeemable pagan, but i was massively excited about this, the whole thing was very special, i got a little emotional and i think my friends must have found it a little strange but it was just nice to be creature worshipped.
when i was a child my parents always used to tell people i didn't miss out by not celebrating my birthday but i did miss out.
My mom celebrated our birthdays reluctantly and loaded with guilt until we were 6 (Im a twin). My poor little sister didn't get any (5 years younger).
when I was 16 and out one of my friends gave me 16 birthday cards. It was a sweet gesture, He has passed on now (AIDS at 26), but I still remember his kind heart and a thoughtful nature.
it's only been a couple of years since i fully woke up to ttatt.
although it's....almost never too late to turn your life around, definitely the older you are, the harder it will be.
i had put marriage, school, traveling, and 'worldly goals' aside because the end was 'just around the corner' and those things shouldn't be pursued.
I'm glad to hear you are not letting regrets about the past stop you from taking the actions you need to for the future. I think some of us get paralyzed by the old WT thinking. You, clearly, have chosen to not take the disability route (downtrodden victim). Good for you!
i am not talking about posters here on this board ( otherwise i wouldn't be here would i) but in general.. si i am talking those ex j.ws in my community and we just dont get on.
well ok its a bit of an exaggeration to say i don't get on with them, we just dont associate.
this botherd me at first as i thought we would have much in common, but it wasn't so, and it's just the way it is.
Your local xjws were your friends before because they had to be. They were kind of like family-you were stuck with them. They may or may not have been people you would ever have chosen to be around. And you saw their cult side and maybe that memory taints them to you a bit.
Honestly, here there are people whose personalities attract me and there are others who repel me. I can associate or seek out the folks that I like.Just like in real life. And, I don't have to pretend to be buddy buddy with those who just leave me flat (or piss me off).
i did a behind the scenes & launch party shoot for british fashion designer elizabeth emanuel's new luxury women's blouse collection a couple of days ago.
for those that are not familiar with her she is the 'emanuel' that designed probably the most famous wedding dress in history for the late princess diana.
she is a wonderful sweet lady and i do all her events and fashion shows.
It was fun to see the models transformations-speciallly the young blond girl. She looks so sweet and so YOUNG in the first pics-before her 'makeover'. It should make every parent leery of their very young daughters wearing makeup:)
The blouses were actually beautiful (or you made them look so). Fabric looks amazing.
i am compelled to write a bit about this at this late hour here in the us, because it is keeping me up.. the recent four year old thread on the briggs myers personality type test that was dug up, produced an interesting finding.
many here, (at least tested informally for), the intj personality type.
intjs also do not understand irrational behavior particularly well at all.. why does this matter?
I'm an INTP (I took this years ago). So, I'm close, but no cigar. I'd be so interested to know how my mom scored:)
it seems the watchtower staff have made a runaway train with the introduction of the mark jw.org.. the combination of using a gadget driven platform and the fact that the common jw is low educated and easely influenced.
by new occurrings in their religion makes the situation getting out of hand.. proof: gb members wearing jw.org buttons during their speech, gifts with jw.org are given away, umbrellas with the jw.org are available.
jw.org is more important then god, his son and the gospel.. it's the gadget and the jw.org mark that counts.. i am so happy my grandparents are not confronted with these idiots.. it's a runaway train heading to the end of the track.. gorby .
The content being weaker is a reflection of one thing-attention spans are shorter and people have lots ofother sites to visit. Few go to the internet for anything other than to have their ears (metaphorically) tickled. I've even noticed that I am not as likely to dig into things online anymore-lots of distractions. Unless something REALLY catches my interest-I stay on the surface because there is just info overload.
Plus, JWs ultimately have nothing important to say. Whatever urgency they had, is lost-and honestly, as their credibility is shot (and so easily discovered, even with only cursory research) that they will never get back the kind of response that they got in the early 70's.
The only ones that would bewilling to drink the coolaid are the ones that have been in since then or who are raised obsessively by JWs were are still deluded. I don't think any new ones will give them the kind of loyalty that they demand, though they might show up for meetings.
I thought gag orders were now illegal in California. Settlements with a nondisclosure clause, that is.
okay, some good takeaway:.
i have never been to a convention quite like this before.
a very friendly vibe all around, lots of banners and posters with sayings like "sending love to all our brothers", "see you in the paradise", "ecuador sends greetings", and "jehovahs-witness.net" (okay, i lied on that last one...).
I am sure that your summary was more entertaining than the whole day was. sorry you had to go through that to amuse us.
BTW, Texas flags? Here in Texas, I think those flags are simply an identity thing, not a political statement-Texas is just kinda different. I can actually see how JWs wouldn't think of it as an issue. Heck, they are more like a logo for Texas-the Lone Star state. While there is something underlyingly polititical about the Texas vibe (we are only here at our pleasure, thank you very much), it is just kind of ingrained.Like brisket and BBQ.
I am a transplant and the standard (and expected) response to the query about where (outisders) are from, is to say the place they came from and add "but I got here as fast as I could".
BTW, I LOVE TEXAS!!!
Just my opinion, yours may vary.
my thread was inspired by gentledawn's insightful comment about the effect the events in wales had on her jw husband.... hope any lurkers out there can filter out the signal (storys and experiences like this) to noise (the current trolls running amok on the forums) ratios.
this the problem with those who focus on outrageous fantasies about the watchtower.
it distracts from the real issues that need to be highlighted.. what happened in wales was for real.
The focus of all these troll visits is to discredit ALL former JWs. Make them look like they are off their collective rockers. Then nothing is credible.
there was a brother in my congregation who was an elder.
he got disfellowshipped about two years ago for looking at child porn and also trying to meet up with a thirteen year old boy online.
he was also arrested soon after this.
Don/t you have to suffer through at least a year of being shunned at EVERY meeting before they reconsider you for re-instatement? Lots of begging, groveling, showing that you are not hanging out with bad influences (or anyone, really, considering JWs can't talk to you)? That seems kinda inequitable when they DF a guy just for giving an appearance of evil (suspected fornication with two witnesses that they spent too much time alone or something)
