Posts by GentlyFeral

I didn't have imaginary friends so much, but I did have a whole cast of imaginary characters of endless stories. Two or three of them, in fact. I still do – whole series of novels that will probably never be written.

But I used to pretend to be different people. It started with Mowgli and went on from there.

When other little girls were playing house, my best friend and I were playing Medieval Ireland or riding golden horses or diamond Chevrolets – I distinctly remember my pal inventing that diamond Chevrolet, and the little flicker of surprise when she mentioned it – it hadn't occurred to me that Chevrolets were "allowed" in the particular fairyland we were visiting that day.

My son, when he was about two, had a whole retinue of imaginary frogs that followed him around – until the day he laid about him with a screwdriver and slaughtered them all!

My daughter has a whole clan of invisible friends – like Sirona, I'm not sure all of them are imaginary. She says they live in her head and sometimes one of them will be her for a day or so. They seem to be a pretty level-headed lot.

gentlyferal

13

Do You Love Your Neighborhood Market?

by compound complex in

jw
friends

dear grocery-buying friends,.

do you get bargains at your local market?

good service even when the store is busy, such as new lines opening up?

GentlyFeral

I love Trader Joe's – Whole ~~Paycheck~~ Foods quality and selection at Safeway prices. We were actually able to afford to switch back to butter from margarine because their butter is only $2/pound.

Across the street from our house is a delightful little place called Estudillo Produce, run by a Chinese-American family. The produce is always delicious and varied, and the prices are not much higher than the supermarkets. They also sell whole-grain breads and organic sugars, really good cold cuts, posh wines, imported condiments, snooty whole-grain crackers and upscale chocolate bars.

GentlyFeral

19

What did you imagine life would be like in the New System?

by JH in

jw
friends

i believed that we would all be young and healthy again, and there would be no more wars, but i didn't expect much change cause products have to be made and people have to work to make whatever they consume.

.

i imagined that we would be constantly watched incase we make the slightest error.. although living in paradise, it would be a constant combat, not against enemy forces but against our own desires and imperfection.. .

GentlyFeral

Well, I imagined it would be pretty much as portrayed in all those happy shiny pictures, only with more tie dye and impromptu concerts and public libraries. I was also looking forward to making friends with all my favorite historical figures (wanted to get George Washington Carver and John Muir in the same room, for instance).

And I assumed that eternal life and eternal good health would allow us to take up new professions like we take up new hobbies today. I was going to master organic farming, then weaving, then glassblowing, then a dozen or so musical instruments, while nibbling away at one foreign language after another. I figured that would occupy about 200 years.

JH:

I imagined that we would be constantly watched incase me make the slightest error.
Although living in paradise, it would be a constant combat, not against enemy forces but against our own desires and imperfection.

Not me. Perfection was supposed to do away with all that, right? I assumed that our own, perfected ability to govern our own impulses would make any rule of law unnecessary. I was sure God would give us as big a spiritual jump-start as we required to make Paradise work.

Hmmm - I was looking forward to an anarchist civilization and didn't even know it.

Then the Pharisaism started in earnest, back in the eighties - this was long before I knew about Ray Franz, the Cabeens, or any of the other back-to-the-Bible protestors at Bethel - and the glow began to wear off.

gently feral

18

White vs Black vs Grey (Gray)

by coolhandluke in

jw
friends

when i was a young man everything was black and white, good and evil, you see?

but then i grew to find that there was only grey" ~ anonymous character.

in the days of dogmatic reasoning i knew that i had the truth.

GentlyFeral

coolhandluke,

the thing is that this new mom has recently become religious at the birth of her child. whereas before she did drugs and broke other "commandments". she now is closed minded and rigid. i understand that she's just afraid of not having answers to questions that her daughter will have.

I think it's more important that she - and her baby - get a thorough grounding in the Golden Rule than which mystical story she tells her child about how the world works. But it's hard to get that across to someone who has already closed her mind out of fear.

Maybe she could profit from the example of your life.

Maybe you could tell her:

Perfect love throws fear outside
If you cling to closely to any set of church rules, you don't allow God to CUSTOMIZE your life.

gently feral

5

Jake Shimabukuro

by 5thGeneration in

jw
friends

thought you all would like this too!

.

GentlyFeral

He has not one, but seven albums available at emusic.com.

Octarine Prince,

He is the Asian-American Tommy Emmanuel/Michael Hedges/Michael Chapdelaine of the ukulele.

Thanks for these comparisons - I hadn't heard these names before, and I'm always looking for fresh music outside the Top 40.

gently feral

27

WHAT THE HOLY HELL?????!!!!!!!

by willdabeerman in

jw
friends

it is friday!!

happy friday people.

GentlyFeral

mrsjones5 plans:

Sex somewhere between that up there

Sex? Oh, yeah, I remember sex.

Well, I haven't told the family yet, but ~~we're taking the ol' Discover card out for a spin~~ they're taking me out for a nice cheap ethnic dinner and we're either going to a museum or for a walk in the woods.

Sunday I'm going to church – but Baptist, Unitarian, A.M.E., Religious Science, Spiritual, or Spiritualist? Haven't decided yet.

gentlyferal


OK, I'm too old for this one – a real guilty pleasure:

And now, a couple of my very favorites: