i'll tell you a bit of what me and jehovah's relationship was like.
i talked to him, but he never responded.
whenever something good happened to me, i believed that he had everything to do with it.
Without Jehovah, you can still breathe. Without Jehovah, you can still start a fire. Without oxygen, you're dead, and, not that you'd care, all your food is cold.
Better to nurture that relationship with Oxygen, I'd say-if only for a hot meal.
Shoshana
no one noticed it but me.
but it did not go uncelebrated and unaccounted for.
when i was 19, i attended my last meeting while vacationing on a tropical island with my family.
No one noticed it but me. But it did not go uncelebrated and unaccounted for.
When I was 19, I attended my last meeting while vacationing on a tropical island with my family. I knew it was going to be my last meeting for about a month, when I decided I was bagging the religion for an actual life. My mom is the JW, and although she didn't know my plans at that time, she found out as soon as we got back (oh, that explains why my daughter broke out the bikini on the beaches instead of that modest one-piece I picked out for her at the Mode O' Day...).
That was 19 years ago. About two weeks ago was the day that marked my transition from more of my life as a Jehovah's Witness to more of my life not a Jehovah's Witness.
And even thoug I totally did not plan it, I was on the same tropical island! I was on a vacation with my family (the same one). I didn't pick the location myself, an unaware uncle did. But at just the right moment, I did drop the bombshell on my mother (the JW) while enjoying a particularly rummy tropical view.
"Mom, do you realize that exactly half my life ago, we were here together vacationing? I was 19 and now I'm 38, and here we are again, in the exact same place." I watched carefully for her expression to cloud. And it did, but only for a second. Then she was back to her compartmentalized droid self.
Shoshana
Of the "still knows how to twist the knife" class.
i met some people thursday night that are going to a halloween party .this will be the first halloween that i'll actually be doing something, but i cant think of anything to go as.
do you guys dress up and go to parties and such?
any good ideas?
I always like something topical and scandalous. This year, the funny get-up will be with May-December gay couples: Foley and a Legislative Page. Too funny, and pretty easy to do.
Shoshana
is that possible?..have there been any cases like this?.
my family have been on my case about me hanging around with people (non-jw family) that like to drink alot.
they went as far as to call me "a drunk"...now i do admit that i have been gotten drunk before on occasion, but i am not a drunk or an alcoholic.. so, i told my mother (obese) that if i were "a drunk" for getting drunk from time to time (not every day), then can she be considered "a glutton", for eating to much, obese, having health problems, all because of the way she eats?
No matter how on point the remark was, I don't think one would see past the insult of being called fat to understand she's being a hypocrite. Of the hell hath no fury like a woman called fat class (even if she is as big as a VW bus). Shoshana
i had an interesting encounter today, actually my son and i both.
well my good intentioned ex-husband and father of my son thought he would have the local congregation elders call on us and try to get us back to meetings.
well i had been getting literature from this local elder's wife without her knowing i was ever a jw.
Visit the laundromats. There are usually some magazines there. Also, figure out where the "favored pioneers" get to "street witness." They may be set up at a table at one of the local malls. With a little planning you could have a little contact with lots of different JWs, rather than a lot of contact with just one. Malls that allow them to set up a table may tell you what their schedule is.
Shoshana
I just don't answer the phone. Some have started leaving automated messages, which I also ignore. What drives me nuts is that my neighborhood seems to get lots of door to door sales people who have started to target the dinner hour. I walk up the peep hole to make sure it isn't a neighbor, and when they hear me they have actually started to talk, even if I don't open the door, and don't say anything. Last night it was the pest control company that comes around every other day, and tonight it was someone selling windows.
I have got to call the pest control company and ask them if they have anything that eradicates door to door salespeople...(I asked one that question once-he wasn't amused....)
Shoshana
Can you imagine what would happen if the JW women, in solidarity, went on a strike for equal rights (er "privileges")...No more service, no more comments, no more bible studies, no more writing their husbands' talks. If the women at Bethels stopped cleaning and doing laundry,...stopped providing marital due...
Hoo boy. In Lysistrada, they stopped a war (and were funny about it too..)
I might show up to watch that.
Shoshana
Can you imagine what would happen if the JW women, in solidarity, went on a strike for equal rights (er "privileges")...No more service, no more comments, no more bible studies, no more writing their husbands' talks. If the women at Bethels stopped cleaning and doing laundry,...stopped providing marital due...
Hoo boy. In Lysistrada, they stopped a war (and were funny about it too..)
I might show up to watch that.
Shoshana
i am trying to help my wife out by baking a pound cake.
i volunteered after going over the recipe.
actually it seemed simple enough and i thought it would be a snap to do.. i was wrong.. the problem is it looks fine in the oven.
Make sure the pan is exactly the right size. Glass pans can be put in a slightly cooler oven.
BUT TRY THIS
Make sure the oven if 100% preheated before you put that poundcake in.
Use an oven thermometer to make sure the oven really is as hot as you think it is.
Do the toothpick or knife test. Slip one into the highest part of the cake-it should come out clean, or with a couple of really tiny fully cooked crumbs. It should not look like you just stuck it in a bowl of pancake batter.
Shoshana (who treats baking like her high school chemistry labs-follow all directions exactly, leaves nothing to random chance...)
P.S. pound cakes are hard to get right, because of the density of all the ingredients. But the ones at Whole Foods are quite perfect.
top ten signs the california bar exam is not the deliverance is at hand convention... .
10. there is a seven dollar per day parking charge.. 09. everyone has packed a lunch.. .
08. it's 105 degrees outside and the shade offers no relief while "they" make everyone wait outside until the afternoon session starts.
Top ten signs the California Bar Exam is NOT the Deliverance is at Hand Convention...
10. There is a seven dollar per day parking charge.
09. Everyone has packed a lunch.
08. It's 105 degrees outside and the shade offers no relief while "they" make everyone wait outside until the afternoon session starts. There's a schedule to keep, dammit, and ALL the CA bar exams, up and the state, must allow the exact same amount of time for each session, down to the second.
07. There are attendants (oops, I mean proctors) directing everyone to take their seats, refrain from talking, holding signs, and watching your every move (don't get caught chewing gum, you might get a Rule 12 Violation. I'm not sure what happens if you get one, but I'm told that you have to meet before a committee (of bar examiners)).
06. The auditorium is the size of two football fields, and you still aren't allowed to save seats (which, by the way are hard, plastic, and designed with the specific purpose of being uncomfortable for everyone).
05. You have to wear your name badge - All three days.
04. As you enter the animal exhibit hall come-exam room, you hear the speaker (er, I mean chieftess proctor, her highness) over the echoing P.A. system (yes, that can be heard in the ladies' room), commanding everyone's absolute obedience, even on their trips to the restroom!
03. The line to the ladies' room is 35 deep, and the line the men's room is, well, there is no line to the men's room.
02. Everywhere you look you see fear, pain, and stress, and it smells like it too.
And the number one reason why the California Bar Exam is NOT like the Deliverance at Hand Convention (drum roll please,...)
01. While everyone there has already sacrificed years of their lives to be there, at that moment, fewer than half of those there, who appear to be "qualified" will actually "pass the test..."
(I kid you not...there's something to be said for developing a tolerance for that sort of nonsense...)
Shoshana (who is a little shell-shocked, realizing she feels as though she has just been released from a four-year prison term...)
