TerryWalstrom

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Posts by TerryWalstrom

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  7

  The punchline is tuna

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the punchline is "tuna".

  (excerpt from my autobiography, a funny thing happened on my way to armageddon).

  esther had very long, bright red hair like a disney character and she might have been almost attractive--if it weren't for two things.

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  TerryWalstrom

  I've been thinking about Esther and her daughter Vicki for the last 24 hours and curiosity has gotten the better of me. I am making inquiries.
  If I find out I will post the update.
• 
  17

  Man on the High Castle

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  g. was binge watching on amazon prime the serie the man on the high castle.

  because my interest in history subjects a good choice!

  what i mentioned was the family of john smith, the obergruppenfuhrer.

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  TerryWalstrom

  Man in the High Castle is one of the most compelling series I have EVER watched!
  The production values are off the charts; acting, photography, and music never less than top form.
  
  I'm very happy another Season has been approved.
  
  I would say--if you're only thinking about watch--sit down for at least the first 2 episodes.
  That will do it--you'll be hooked as I am.
  
  There is the world we live in and the world that we might have lived in if other choices were made we are all haunted by and the idea of merging these is fascinating.
• 
  7

  The punchline is tuna

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the punchline is "tuna".

  (excerpt from my autobiography, a funny thing happened on my way to armageddon).

  esther had very long, bright red hair like a disney character and she might have been almost attractive--if it weren't for two things.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  TerryWalstrom

  Not that it matters in the least--but, I finally remembered her daughter's name. It was Vicky.
  
  Vicky was a "Princess". As I recall, she let her hair grow so long it was all the way down to the Australian Outback. Sort of another reason to grab attention as I reckoned it.
  
  When I departed Texas for California, I left all those Dubby "friends" to languish in the past.
  So I wonder what happened to them?
  Mostly they died off like some endangered species.
  
  They'd never grow old in this "Old System of things".
  How important we all felt back then...to be the very ones who'd see the Old pass away and the New World Order commence.
  
  This morning when I woke up I must have had some burp of memory spill over into my dream and Esther, Sister Esther was there again.
  
  My fellow JW, Johnny, and I used to make jokes about Sister Esther.
  
  Q: Why is Esther flat-chested?
  A: Not enough Esther Chin
  
  (Insert laugh)
• 
  7

  The punchline is tuna

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the punchline is "tuna".

  (excerpt from my autobiography, a funny thing happened on my way to armageddon).

  esther had very long, bright red hair like a disney character and she might have been almost attractive--if it weren't for two things.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  TerryWalstrom

  The Punchline is "Tuna"
  
  
  

  (Excerpt from my autobiography, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON MY WAY TO ARMAGEDDON)

  Esther had very long, bright red hair like a Disney character and she might have been almost attractive--if it weren't for two things.

  1. She was awful

  2. She had no chin.

  I mean, just don't look at her in profile. That's what I mean.

  I, on the other hand, have a magnificent chin. Consequently, we were foreordained to become natural enemies.

  She was Esther Brown. Sister Brown to all JW's.

  When her husband died she discovered he was well-insured and she was suddenly very wealthy. Moreso than ever before.

  Unlike most of the members of our local congregation, Esther lived the high life. New, sleek cars, sparkly bracelets, and frequent trips to exotic lands set Esther and her daughter apart from mere mortals.

  She was, on her best day, awful.

  I said, her BEST day.

  The daughter was even worse, IMHO.

  We were Jehovah's Witnesses and it was 1960. The religion was a wee bit different than today. We could have picnics and parties back then.

  Esther Brown threw lavish parties! Big show-offy parties.

  I was invited even though painfully shy. (Esther was required to invite EVERY JW, you see.)

  I was a wallflower. My best friend, Johnny Santa Cruz was the opposite. He was loud, funny, and knew how to create a vortex in the Space-Time fabric of the Universe.

  I sat in his shadow whispering one-liners which he'd repeat and get big laughs. (I played the role of Cyrano.)

  I guess you could say I was an apprentice to Johnny, under-study for the role of LIFE OF THE PARTY.

  "How does he managed to be the center of attention?"

  I wondered scientifically whilst quietly making it my scheme to achieve a breakout performance someday.

  These JW parties inevitably devolved into parlor games and I never participated. Too shy.

  So...

  Sister Esther Brown singled me out. At a quiet moment, she stood in front of one and all and pointed to me and spoke in a "stage whisper" (so everyone could hear).

  "If you're not going to join in with the rest of us, Terry, why do you even bother to show up at my party?"

  _______

  Red-faced embarrassment stunned me.

  All eyes on me.

  Today I'd have a quick retort--not so back then.

  I shrugged like the big schlub I truly was.

  However...I plotted revenge...a dish best served cold, as they say.

  ________

  Shortly after my being "called out", I slunk away and walked home from the festivities. I was pleased with myself and the dish served cold I'd left behind.

  Fast-forward a month or so.

  Esther Brown, self-important Sister Brown, was complaining about how she would have to sell her house. Oh, how she loved her house--but it had become uninhabitable!

  Real Estate agents couldn't even show the house until the problem was solved.

  Not until her furniture was moved into storage did an improvement commence.

  Sister Brown and her snotty daughter went on a trip to China in the meantime...remaining for a month.

  The house sold.

  Sister Brown returned--with a NEW HUSBAND!

  He was a Chinese Jehovah's Witness.

  We all shook his hand (secretly feeling sorry for his destiny.)

  Well, can you guess?

  He had a strong personality and ruled over his wife with a hand of iron.

  She meekly obeyed.

  Wow!

  They built a new home.

  Out of storage came the old furniture.

  A horror of horrors! The old "problem" was back!

  You see--there was an incredible STENCH which would not

  go away. A sort of Old Testament plague.

  Perhaps it was DEMONS!

  Professionals were brought in to determine the cause.

  Not the sofa.

  Not the curtains.

  Not the mattresses or rugs or pillows.

  That only left the curtain rods...big brass curtain rods with the end pieces removed revealing putrifying contents.

  The punch line is Tuna Fish.

  Tuna casserole, to be exact.

  I think I had read about this in a book or maybe a film.

  I can't recall exactly. Maybe I thought of it myself on the spot during the party.

  58 years have passed and memory fades, you see.

  Our story has a happy ending, of course.

  Sister Esther Brown had a long and happy marriage to her second husband, Wang Chin.

  Yes! Finally, Esther had a Chin.

  And I had my revenge.

  ______

  
  
• 
  15

  Terry's Editorial on the Pledge of Allegiance

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  terry's editorial on the pledge of allegiance_____.

  can one child in a thousand actually define the word or give the meaning of "allegiance?

  " can you--without stumbling around about it?give me a moment of your time, will you?first, in medieval times, wealthy landowners allowed peasants to cultivate their property as long as these pitiful souls made a pledge of fealty or allegiance to become a soldier for that lord of the manor if he needed to go to war against some imagined enemy.

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  TerryWalstrom

  The phrase, "...a fighting A.I. army" sends chills...
• 
  15

  Terry's Editorial on the Pledge of Allegiance

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  terry's editorial on the pledge of allegiance_____.

  can one child in a thousand actually define the word or give the meaning of "allegiance?

  " can you--without stumbling around about it?give me a moment of your time, will you?first, in medieval times, wealthy landowners allowed peasants to cultivate their property as long as these pitiful souls made a pledge of fealty or allegiance to become a soldier for that lord of the manor if he needed to go to war against some imagined enemy.

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  TerryWalstrom

  I wonder what other countries have similar to our own Pledge? I'll have to do some research.
• 
  15

  Terry's Editorial on the Pledge of Allegiance

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  terry's editorial on the pledge of allegiance_____.

  can one child in a thousand actually define the word or give the meaning of "allegiance?

  " can you--without stumbling around about it?give me a moment of your time, will you?first, in medieval times, wealthy landowners allowed peasants to cultivate their property as long as these pitiful souls made a pledge of fealty or allegiance to become a soldier for that lord of the manor if he needed to go to war against some imagined enemy.

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  TerryWalstrom

  It is for these very reasons, I believe, we have new generations of very cynical kids.
  Finally, the curtain pulls back and the death's head peers back at them demanding fealty and they demur.
  It isn't a virtue to demur, it is an act of self-interest. The good kind.
  Our newspapers and news media have been bought with corporate money and politics is as much a servant of money as it has ever been. Who is left to refuse war?
  War is just GREAT for industry.
  The same billionaires own a piece of all the above.
  Our kids will die for Apple, Amazon, MSNBC, and General Electric.
  Now that is a Pledge of Allegiance I can't wait to hear.
• 
  15

  Terry's Editorial on the Pledge of Allegiance

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  terry's editorial on the pledge of allegiance_____.

  can one child in a thousand actually define the word or give the meaning of "allegiance?

  " can you--without stumbling around about it?give me a moment of your time, will you?first, in medieval times, wealthy landowners allowed peasants to cultivate their property as long as these pitiful souls made a pledge of fealty or allegiance to become a soldier for that lord of the manor if he needed to go to war against some imagined enemy.

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  TerryWalstrom

  Terry's Editorial on the Pledge of Allegiance
  _____

  Can one child in a thousand actually define the word or give the meaning of "Allegiance?" Can you--without stumbling around about it?
  
  Give me a moment of your time, will you?
  
  
  
  
  First, in Medieval times, wealthy landowners allowed peasants to cultivate their property as long as these pitiful souls made a pledge of fealty or allegiance to become a soldier for that Lord of the Manor if he needed to go to war against some imagined enemy.
  
  "You want a place to live and a meal for your hard labor--then you must promise to die on my behalf."
  THAT, my friends, was a Pledge of Allegiance.
  
  Fast forward to modern times.
  
  Having a small child place his or her hand over their tiny beating heart and reciting an oath to Flag/Republic under GOD is something with a name: Theocracy.
  Combining religious ritual and the political rule is Theocracy.
  
  Patriotism is necessary, of course, but a coerced surrender of one's soul to politics is another.
  
  I had school chums who died in Vietnam. Why?
  On friend was drafted and another volunteered. Their deaths came at a cost. What did it really pay for?
  I refused Military Service as a JW. Since Jr. High School I had refrained from patriotic participation having been taught it was "blasphemy".
  What I did was the product of undue influence (persuasion against my best interests) the same as my school chums with patriotic duty. Two heads of the same Hydra.
  
  Our American Wars since WWII have not been legally "declared" wars.
  Our Corporate, Military/Industrial/religious foundation is rife with self-interest, money, and corruption.
  Wars fought to support corruption under the guise of patriotic duty are abominable.
  
  We still have young Americans dying in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria...Why?
  Politics.
  Anyway...
  UNDUE INFLUENCE is vile. Creating little patriots who will die for the whims of global politics is abominable!

  Teaching children to love the freedoms and opportunities of America is wonderful.
  That's the end of this editorial. Your mileage may vary.
  ____
  HISTORY NOTE
  In 1891, the family magazine Youth’s Companion asked 35-year-old Francis Bellamy, a former pastor of Boston’s Bethany Baptist Church, to fashion a patriotic program for schools around the country to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s “arrival in America” by “raising the U.S. Flag over every public school from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”
  Through the pledge, Bellamy sought to define “true Americanism” against the rising tide of southern and eastern European immigrants “pouring over our country” in the early 20th century from “races which we cannot assimilate without a lowering of our racial standard.” Although Bellamy conceded that “the United States has always been a nation of immigrants,” he argued that “incoming waves of immigrants … are coming from countries whose institutions are entirely at variance with our own.”
  
  Decrying the character and “quality” of these recent newcomers, Bellamy lamented that “we cannot be the dumping ground of Europe and bloom like a flower garden.” To him, “every dull-witted and fanatical immigrant” granted citizenship threatened the American Republic.
  
  
  ____
  
  Links: http://eagnews.org/parents-fight-back-after-school-drops-pledge-of-allegiance-for-student-authored-oath-to-global-society/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/11/03/the-ugly-history-of-the-pledge-of-allegiance-and-why-it-matters/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e637ebc123be
  
  
  
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  24

  Another JW "friend" bites the dust

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just got word one of my favorite friends died a year ago!

  only now have i heard about it.

  he remained a devout jehovah's witness--so--he could not/would not speak to me.

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  TerryWalstrom

  Thanks to all and especially for the detective work.
  I hope I don't find myself in a long queue like Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. (Gulp).
• 
  24

  Another JW "friend" bites the dust

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just got word one of my favorite friends died a year ago!

  only now have i heard about it.

  he remained a devout jehovah's witness--so--he could not/would not speak to me.

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  TerryWalstrom

  TheWonderofYou: JOE RAY PRUETT, SR., former owner of Pruett's T.V. Repair, passed away at his home on September 15, 2004
  _____
  
  Oh fer Crissakes!
  That sucks. This time I'm just more angry than anything.
  
  THANK YOU for finding this.
  
  Joe was my first friend inside Seagoville. He went out of his way to make me feel like I had solidarity with others.
  Joe had a terrific sense of humor. He spoke fast and was a bit of cut-up.
  He was paroled 6 months before I was.
  When I was paroled, I had a LIST with all the Brothers names and addresses I took with me.
  My mother ended up throwing it away. (Gr-r-r-r-r)
  
  I've searched for him time and again to no avail.
  
  I'm going to try and contact this family and simply ask (just to make certain) if Joe had been an inmate in Seagoville.
  
  Huge sigh.
  What a stab in the heart. Another one gone forever.