Posts by Cicatrix

41

Nosy questions for the Americans

by dobbie in

jw
friends

following on from the thread the other week with questions for the brits, i thought i'd ask a few i'd like to know about you, just call me a nosey bag!.

1. as you don't have nhs, what happens if a sick child was in a medical emergency, is there a charity that covers them or will treatment sometimes get withheld if there is no insurance?.

2. what accent does nicholas cage have?

Cicatrix

1. Treatment for a sick child is not denied. If you go to an emergency room, they must by law treat you, or stabilize you for shipment to somewhere else. There are also state insurance programs for children who do not have private insurance. Many places have sliding scale fees based on income, and payment arrangements can be made.

2. No clue

3. Does Long John Silvers count? LOL, thats the only thing close to a fish and chips spot in my area. Although a local restaurant makes some really good catfish, I've been told

4. "Vicar of Dibley" and "Rosemary and Thyme"

5. To be honest, haven't really thought about that. For some reason, I've been honing in on Canadian accents lately-probably because my son spends an inordinate amount of time watching Canadian produced teen shows. I LOVE how they say "about" LOL

6. Yes. It's called welfare, or aid to dependent children here. There is low income housing, and depending on the situation, sometimes welfare agencies will pay for a mother's apartment. Many of the programs do have a time limit, though. Also, persons on them must provide proof that they are looking for work (or in some cases, that they are going to school) for benefits to continue. There are also social security benefits for children who have lost their father in death

7.Don't really know. My kids called me "Marmee ("Little Women" was a favorite movie around our place), and my grandson called me "Buddha" for a long time, LOL. Now I'm "Gammmaw"

8. Roast chicken, yes. Hate brussels sprouts-its the only veggie I don't eat, and I have no intellectual answer as to why. What is bread sauce?

5

Going through old photos

by bikerchic in

jw
friends

i'm doing some scrap-booking and it's getting harder and harder to find pictures of my kids i can put in their books without a jw reference.

either it's been taken at an assembly, or a gathering (you know covered dish...bla.

thing is they all have told me how they hate that they were brought up in that cult and how it's affected their lives so i don't want to bring any more reminders to them.

Cicatrix

We have a few JW photos, but honestly, I was so depressed trying to be the perfect JW most of the time, that I didn't take a whole lot of pictures at JW events. I think subconsciously I was aware of what was making me so miserable for a long time. We used to give presents on assembly and convention days, so I have pictures of my kids with their presents. I also have one of my daughter and some of her friends together at an assembly, and a few of "get togethers" that other JWs gave me (although I never took pictures at get togethers myself-how interesting). We also belonged to a 4H group that had started out all JW kids and ended up with "worldly", Tarot card reading kids in it (ooohh boy did we ever get counseled for that, but we refused to give up the group, LOL), so I have pictures of that group.

For us, looking at the photos has been therapy. We are far enough out now that we can talk about both the good and the bad aspects of being JW. I think it helps for my kids that most of their friends left about the time we did, too.Although I must say, my daugher took some of my photos when she went out on her own, but left the JW related ones with me.

Putting them in a separate album is a great idea. People vary in the time they are ready to deal with the past.Some never want reminders.

16

A Poem To a Dieing God

by sweetstuff in

jw
friends

i like to write poetry, mostly mushy girly stuff,.

to a dieing god.

i look at you now, my eyes brimming with glee,.

Cicatrix

Woohooo! You go, girl!

I love the part about the flute of Pan! Ha ha, wouldn't the WTS just love THAT analogy.

28

A mother's bitterness

by jgnat in

jw
friends

i had to deal with rejection from my mom this last week.

her behavior was shocking to my poor hubby.

perhaps i dreaded it all along.

Cicatrix

{{{{Jgnat}}}

I have the same problem with my mother. I feel like a puppy who doesn't know if its going to get petted or kicked when I'm around her.I do know her own upbringing has a lot to do with it. She has this fantasy that she is going to live with all of her children in a big old house, and that we are going to take care of her. Well, only problem with that, is her fantasy doesn't happen to include our significant others, and when she lives with any of us, she targets the significant other in an attempt to drive them away. She has a bachelor's degree, and her credits are from several well known universities (a fact she likes to remind us of often), yet she won't work (she lists off a plethora of ailments/diseases she has/might have). She belittles our little community college degrees and factory jobs, but expects us and our S/Os to support her with them. Worse than that, her degree is in psychology, and she is constantly trying to analyze us and use reverse psychology and behavior modification techniques on us (I started reading her psychology textbooks when I was ten, so it doesn't tend to work on me, lol). If we object to something she says or does, she says "I"M the one with the degree in psychology." My response to her the last time she said that was "Okay, well then why don't you go to work and actually use your knowledge somewhere." But then she just did an about face and started the symptom list again to reason why she can't work-sigh

She just sent me a guilt email this week about a poor ailing grandma who no one loves or takes care of anymore. The woman is only 17 years older than me, for goodness sakes, and she acts as if she's 90! I was going to email her back and ask her if she'd become the stereotypical Jewish mother, but I just hit the delete button instead.

Something that's helped me is to limit my communication with her to when I am feeling stronger. If there are difficult family issues I have to deal with, I just don't maintain any contact with her at that time.I don't share intimate details of my life with her, because she collects it and uses it as ammo.I've gotten the same type of rejection regarding visits as you have,so I only plan to visit her when I'm going to be up in her area visiting others or camping. That way, if she calls it off, it's not a wasted trip. I no longer ask her to attend any of my family's important events. She just says no, anyway, then makes sure my children know she's attended their cousins' events.I used to still invite her to my events, but then she decided she wasn't coming to my graduation from nursing school, after diagnosing my "lack of nursing assessment skills" over the phone (because I wouldn't give her symptom list a medical diagnosis-something nurses ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DO).Now I won't invite her to my events, either. I am just tired of rejection! It's time for me to get on with my life instead of beating my head against a brick wall.

LOL! Here-replace your mom's song with this rhyme:

There was a little girl who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forhead

When she was good, she was very very good

But when she was bad, she was horrid

25

Body Modification/older societies/similar to WBTS view of women

by restrangled in

jw
friends

i have just read the book, "snow flower and the secret fan" along with watching part of the national geographic series "taboo".

sadly, most of the modification involves distortion of the female body which then inturn, affects the minds for generations.. most of the justification for the body modification was to keep women in line mentally.

generation after generation of mothers were taught that neck lengthening, breast flatening, foot binding, and female circumsizing kept the girls clean and free from attracting men and kept them "down" in their societies.. i am not suggesting the wbts society approved of these physical methods, but the mental ramifications were adhered to and the result is the same.. women are considered second class citizens in this patriarchal society.

Cicatrix

I agree with you, Restrangled.

Kinda weird we are supposed to be the most powerful country in the world and we've NEVER had a female president, even though women have had the right to participate in politics for around a hundred years now.

Awakened: When I left the JWs I did feel like an alien, lol. Still do a lot of the times.

I am amazed at the number of women that just accept things as they are and don't speak out about this.Well then, of course when I do, I'm labeled a " RADICAL FEMINIST CRAZY ^&*()" LOL-ooh, scary.

I am puzzled when men use sayings like " don't be such a pussy" and "quit being such a girl" to taunt each other, then say that they don't view that as being a putdown toward women. They call each other "f*g" and "homo*" too.If they don't like something, then its "gay"

Men who are assertive in business and politics are "successful go getters." Women are labeled "ball busters" and "butch," among other not so flattering terms. And the worst thing is, even other WOMEN join in this type of name calling, like doing so helps them jockey into a better position with the ruling class.

Can someone please explain to me how using a word that describes something about a member of the opposite sex or someone of a different sexual orientation as an insult is NOT a putdown toward that group????And DON'T use that tired old phrase "boys will be boys". What-are boys and men all mindless robot drones? Do they just speak and not think about what the heck they are saying? Why is that okay? Why is it wrong to gently point out that what they are doing is offensive?

Yeah, yeah. I know "LIGHTEN UP." The catchall phrase that is constantly used whenever someone objects to objectification

97

Mr. Flipper's Son Hears and Sees Bigfoot- I'm Serious, Not Joking

by flipper in

jw
friends

i know i'm setting myself up here, but here it goes.

first of all if you want to crack funnies about this or jokes, that's perfectly cool, it's alright, i don't mind.

however this is a true story from what happened in may and my motive for writing about this is not just humor, but i want to see if anybody else has experienced what my son went through while being in the mountains or anywhere.

Cicatrix

Never did, but always wanted to. I used to live in perfect Sasquatch country- the middle of a national forest.

Don't think I'll see many here in the farm fields, though.

9

Last hike of the summer.

by BrentR in

jw
friends

we were able to sneak up to mt rainier national park on fri before the labor day masses came up.

i wanted to explore the far northeast area of the park and check out the mineral hot springs.

nirada falls.. .

Cicatrix

How beautiful! Thanks for sharing. The color of the water is wonderful. Hope you all had a great time!

17

What Should I Expect?

by R.F. in

jw
friends

the co's visit is coming up soon and i'm wondering what i should expect.. what i'm asking is in relation to my burden responsibility as a ministerial servant.

i managed to get deleted as a regular pioneer and now i'm wondering if i should expect a second meeting, and perhap one with the co.. i most certainly don't want to have to endure another meeting!

i quit field service and meetings suddenly and i'm a couple of month away from being "inactive".

Cicatrix

Hmmm, it's a nice time of year for a vacation from your house. Lol, I'd find a nice little campground near work with electricity for my alarm clock and "disappear" for the week.

31

Hey i've just noticed...

by dobbie in

jw
friends

i'm now a jedi master!

!been trying to move up to the next one for ages!going to go and borrow my sons star wars light saber now just so i'm an authentic jedi lol!

.

Cicatrix

May the force be with you

22

The most irritating dub(s) you had to put up with?

by greendawn in

jw
friends

for me it was a ministerial servant a real boor who always told me off and humiliated me for all sorts of silly reasons whenever i went to the fs group that he headed.

i soon stopped going there.

he even gave talks that were incredibly boring and brain duling and not surprisingly i recently heard that in his mid fourties he abandoned his aging wife who was of a similar age and run away with a woman in her early twenties that is half his age.

Cicatrix

Me. Only I didn't realize it then