Posts by thecarpenter

27

feeling blah - angry at the cult...

by EyesOpened in

jw
friends

i posted awhile back, been "lurking" pretty much daily over the past months and from reading everyone's posts - i actually have gotten to know some of you... sort of... if you read my profile you will know i was a lifer, pretty much knee deep in the 'borg (picking up the slang.... i stopped cold turkey last fall - didn't go to memorial, special assembly day, district convention, circuit assembly... no field service in almost a year... these are all firsts... and i am 40 years old.... guess what, i have ignored phone calls, messages from the cong elders, everyone was panic'd for the first 3 months or so... then it all stopped... no calls... they have written me off i guess... of course it has helped that i moved 45 minutes south of my congo, back to my home town - where everyone in the congs around here know me... the rumor mill has told them something is up, but since i'm not df or da, they don't know how to act - so they just ignore me.... i just need to vent abit - feeling down lately because of the things i have learned - feeling betrayed by my parents for joining such a cult.

blaming jw's for ruining my sister's lives, blaming jw's for wasting my life... i want to go to a meeting and yell during the public talk about how foolish everyone is for belonging to this cult... .

it seems i have accepted the loss all of my conditional friends - hundreds of them in central indiana... i see them at the mall, at restaurants and they look right past me... kinda funny now, but it still hurts when my former friends - even the best man at my wedding - refuses to talk to me or even call to ask what is going on and why i stopped... i am invisible.

thecarpenter

what have you done/doing now to diffuse the anger/dismay/hurt?

Start living your life and don't look back. There are many, many positive things that you can start doing for yourself and wife... start doing them.

When I finally left, I took about 2 months to read everything I could about the jdubs to dispense with many of the concerns I had. I also started to develop friendships with my coworkers, with non-witness family members, joins some clubs (such as ex-jw yahoo meetup group) and so on. It has been about 5 months since I've been to a meeting and now I'm going to finish my college education (classes start august 30th).

As for the more difficult part I'm talking about how at night, when I close my eyes - I flash back to things that are so obviously cultish and controlling... it's almost an obsession with me... when I talk to my wife (we are still married... for now...) the conversation always ends with a rant from me about how I blame JW's... one day I looked to the sky and gave god the finger... we were talking about money and the lack of enough... I went through this for awhile before I finally left the witnesses. Yes the organization took away many of your years, Yes they took away much of your resources, Yes they misled you... it's a cult, what you expect? Personally I no longer focus on what they took away but what I can do now. I can't control what happened in the past but I can control what happens in the future. Look at what other people have went through and yet made a success of their life, you can do the same. It may take a little time, but slowly move on with your life, there is so much out there.

15

Looking for a new laptop, any one own a tablet?

by thecarpenter in

jw
friends

i'm in the market for a new laptop and the convertable tablet has caught my eye.

gateway recently came out with a 14" widescreen laptop/tablet that is a stunner.

anyone have or uses a tablet pc and what do you think of it?

thecarpenter

hey blonde,

If you are worried about the keyboard on the laptop, you can actually plug in a separate ergonomic keyboard and use that instead. I do this sometimes at work when I have a lot of typing to do. You can also plug in a separate large monitor as well and use that as you screen. (You can also get a docking station so that you don't have to constantly plug everything in, just dock the laptop and you are ready to go.) The advantages of a laptop is it's portability; can take it anywhere (I sometimes use it in the car or in starbucks.) Personally, I have a desktop as well, its a muscle machine that I use for heavy duty applications. (Yes I admit it, I'm a computer geek in my spare time).

If I had to choose one machine though, I'd go with a desktop. (I need to cut down my computer time and watch some TV)

I sort of view laptops as throw away machines after 3 years. By that time, it should be beaten up pretty good. My Compaq already has a cracked bezel, the cd burner no longer burns, still can read though; the left button on the touchpad sticks a little; the battery is losing it's ability to hold a charge (45 minutes now... used to be 2 hours); the case is all scratched up. I had put in some new memory and upgraded the hard drive about 8 months ago but the laptop is showing its wear. That's why I'm upgrading and will use this one a emergency spare. My laptop before that died after three good years, (dropped it too many times, I'm pretty sure I cracked the motherboard) Oh well....

15

Looking for a new laptop, any one own a tablet?

by thecarpenter in

jw
friends

i'm in the market for a new laptop and the convertable tablet has caught my eye.

gateway recently came out with a 14" widescreen laptop/tablet that is a stunner.

anyone have or uses a tablet pc and what do you think of it?

thecarpenter

Well I decided to give the gateway a try.
I really like the idea of taking handwritten notes on a laptop without having to use paper. Since the laptop has a mic, not only can I take notes but also record the professors lectures at the same time. The 12 cell battery life for the gateway is supposed to be over six hours (they claim 8 but we will see; personally if I get 5, I will be happy). Since I will be sitting down on a student desk, weight shouldn't be a issue. As for visibility in daylight, that is a problem with pretty much all laptops. I always had problems seeing the screen in bright sunlight and usually just move to the shade which improves things.

View one

On a side note, isn't it bizarre how people don't use laptops for taking assembly notes? (at least, no one in the audience does.. the bros downstairs do though). If I was really serious about taking notes at an assembly, I would absolutely use a laptop to do this effectively. Always bothered me that pulling out a laptop would be viewed as "stumbling" via materialism... so short sighted. Oh well.

That is ironic, since I can type faster than I can write. I ran into this problem at the hall as well, one elder told me it was a distraction and strongly hinted no to do it.. sheeeczz!!!

But there are advantages to writing, you don't have to worry about battery life and it is a lot cheaper. I look forward to downloading the teachers class lecture and digitally writing my notes on the lecture sheet.

15

Looking for a new laptop, any one own a tablet?

by thecarpenter in

jw
friends

i'm in the market for a new laptop and the convertable tablet has caught my eye.

gateway recently came out with a 14" widescreen laptop/tablet that is a stunner.

anyone have or uses a tablet pc and what do you think of it?

thecarpenter

thanks for the responses, i needed the tablet for it's note taking capability. I sort of view it as the next progression of computers as soon as the prices come down. I've owned several laptops already and haven't had any major problems with them. Sorry to hear about your problems Gary, I hope your next laptop doesn't give you trouble.

15

Looking for a new laptop, any one own a tablet?

by thecarpenter in

jw
friends

i'm in the market for a new laptop and the convertable tablet has caught my eye.

gateway recently came out with a 14" widescreen laptop/tablet that is a stunner.

anyone have or uses a tablet pc and what do you think of it?

thecarpenter

I'm in the market for a new laptop and the convertable tablet has caught my eye. Gateway recently came out with a 14" widescreen laptop/tablet that is a stunner. Anyone have or uses a tablet pc and what do you think of it?

47

Snakes on a Plane...for or against?

by jgnat in

i admit it, i'm not cool.

i miss the trends.

i don't notice a new fashion until half the women in this city are draped in it.

thecarpenter

Elders and apostates on a plane

I'd pay to see that.

well as mrsjones said, it's a fluff movie. You don't go to see it for social commentary, you see it to escape reality for two hours. I loved 'eight legged freaks', another b-movie that was fun to watch. Sam's the man!!!!!

31

Wanting a new computer, and a new OS

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

i'm still running win95, and it has been good to me for the past 8 years or so.

unfortunately, it seems that win95 is officially becoming obsolete, especially with browsing the internet.

some websites require ie6 or newer, and win95 can't run it.. so, i'm thinking about getting a new computer, or even a used one that isn't too far behind the times.

thecarpenter

hey stevenyc

Since you have the new macbook, and have loaded xp, what about the drivers for the xp part? Do you have to go to the vendor and load each one separately? Sometimes it is hard to locate the right driver (ex: graphics drivers, dvd burner driver, etc...). Also, have you done any video editing with your new macbook? Right now I'm contemplating upgrading my laptop looking into different options. One more thing, how long does the battery last?

thanx

thecarpenter

31

Keith Reddin's "Brutality of Fact" playing in NYC on Jehovah's Witnesses

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

want to go see a play on jws and shunning in new york city?

support jeffrey and his work, and you can even go for free!.

randy.

thecarpenter

Oh, one more thing, lonelysheep asked me we can all sit together? The answer is yes, it is open seating so we can sit together. Also you can purchase your ticket via credit card and pick it up the night of the play. Just make sure you bring your credit card so they can identify you.

31

Keith Reddin's "Brutality of Fact" playing in NYC on Jehovah's Witnesses

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

want to go see a play on jws and shunning in new york city?

support jeffrey and his work, and you can even go for free!.

randy.

thecarpenter

Note: when I said I was going to pick up 5 tickets, it is for a group that is not on this forum, just some friends who left the Jdubs. Those on the forum need to pick up their own tickets. If anyone is free that evening and is in NY area, join us.

42

Did anyone see or do a random act of kindness today?

by okie46 in

jw
friends

today while unloading my groceries, i witnessed a random act of kindness... someone in a ford explorer was waiting for a car to leave a parking spot so they could pull in there, they had been waiting for several minutes when finally the car in that spot backed out and left.

before the person in the ford explorer could pull into the spot, a lady in a ford taurus pulled on into that parking space.

the person in the ford explorer who had been patiently waiting, just sat there, they didn't honk or flip the person off, then the lady in the ford taurus realized that the other vehicle had been waiting for that spot and backed out to find another spot, letting the guy who had been waiting have his spot.

thecarpenter

This is a nice thread, it is good to get reminders to do good things for others. As a ancillary benefit, it really frustrates the brothers when people speak well of people who left the bOrg and became more Christ-like.