Posts by Ravyn

29

Anyone Remember this little Gem?

by Gizmo in

jw
friends

edited to add page 6&7 .

who remembers studying this book?

hands up.

Ravyn

funny, even when I was in the PSS I was not impressed with that book. I remember everyone was underlining and writing in the margins and studying for hours and I still have my copy with nothing but signatures on the back inside cover. I felt superior that I did not have to underline anything in that book--I felt so far advanced from even my fellow slaves---but it never occurred to me to blame the borg for not giving me anything substantial to want to underline and study. I was such an a$$hole. I was like the PSS pet. Everyone loved me and I was the center of attention. I was the poor faithful sister who was using a walker and who's annointed father just went apostate but still got in my hours!

I make myself sick now.

Ravyn

16

Subconsciously breaking the bonds?

by acsot in

i wonder if any of you who are now da or just faded have consciously or subconsciously done what i seem to be doing lately.

that is, cutting ties with people.

i don't mean cutting ties with people who are obviously abusers, etc.

Ravyn

Acsot- first of all you need to realize that the borg has been defining your whole life including your definition of 'friend' and who you have the choice of being a 'friend' with. When I realized this it was an epiphany! (Talk about new light! LOLOLOL) I suddenly realized that I did not HAVE to love everyone unless I wanted to, and then it was NOT this automatic biblical 'agape' thing. Friendship is finding someone who you have enough in common with to develope a relationship where you both get something good out of it. Friendship is not these imposed 'loving' relationships where you are expected to be the good guy and listen to all the pitiful crap someone else spews out to vindicate their own compulsions or make them selves feel better by having an audience to their warped opinions.

You may be cutting some cords, but the feeling you are having is the 'I-am-getting-a-life-and-you-aint-in-it' feeling of freedom of choice. I don't love everyone, and I don't have to. I am also not used up by losers anymore. People who love me now love me because they know me, not because someone told them they had to. I can grow in that. And that makes me want to give to others who give to me. Real love is free.

Ravyn

13

Any Ex-JW'S From VT?

by mackey in

jw
friends

if so , what kingdom hall did you attend?

what was the enviroment like within it.

just curious.

Ravyn

OMG! mackey tell her not to ever have anything to do with Maura Barden! I was her two teen agers' STATE APPOINTED foster care guardian(they are both adults now) and she is the one who caused all the $h!t. I still think about those poor kids and hope beyond hope that someday they will leave JWs and maybe look me up. the elder body in that cong was just flat out nuts. they had wives in the local mental hospital and there was a major cover up going on for sexual abuse from another cong where half of the members got up and moved in to Bratt. One of our best pioneers had postpartum psychosis and they ended up moving to europe to be near his family to take care of the new baby....

it was the biggest mess I had ever seen and I dont see how it could have been all taken care of in just 6 years or so, because it was not being taken care of properly the last I heard--about 3 yrs ago.

it was the single most corrupted cong I had ever been in---and I have been around! I had two elders hit on me while their wives were in the looney bin! It was BAAAAAAD.

Ravyn

28

TWO REALLY STUPID QUESTIONS

by MYOHNSEPH in

jw
friends

i tried to figure out a way to do this anonymously, because i really hate looking stupid.

well, this stupid anyway!

but you see, i'm not really much of an internet person.

Ravyn

my guess is: Does It Look Like I Give A F***

Ravyn

13

Any Ex-JW'S From VT?

by mackey in

jw
friends

if so , what kingdom hall did you attend?

what was the enviroment like within it.

just curious.

Ravyn

I went to Brattleboro, Cong. Most arrogant bunch of SOBs anyone could ever hope to meet. Crazies too. There was actually a fist fight between two sisters after the special talk in 1995! I bent over backwords to make those people happy there and it all came crashing down--on me --not them. Only good thing I cansay about is that it was that little bit of corruption that finally got me out. But I was third generation JW, 15yr pioneer who had survived living in California for 10 yrs--and that cong in VT is what broke the camel's back---extraordinary! even now I am still shocked when i remember what went on there! Those people actually came into my house when I was gone and literally took everything I had! They stole all my furniture and everything! And I was told that I could not get it back, nor sue them--because they were my 'brothers and sisters'! Even now I curse whoever got my standup mixer! (My roommate who had a nervous breakdown told them I had left for good and said they could have whatever I left in the house...)That was back in 94-96. That corrupt body of elders are who removed me as a pioneer after 15 yrs because some looney-tune jealous sister started gossip about me and they claimed it ruined my reputation(no one even knew about it except the elders...)the CO made them apologize 3 months later and told me to reapply, but it was too late. I had already lost everything and I was just done with them all. But boy can I name names--and I have!

Ravyn

46

What were you like in high school?

by Aztec in

jw
friends

i'm sick of talking about george bush and iraq and war so.... what were you like in high school?.

i was an orchestra geek.

i played violin and took all the math classes i could.

Ravyn

I was a knock-out but didn't know it, coz I was a JW. I found out yrs later that some of the cutest boys were afraid to ask me out. I was totally in love with my 7th grade science teacher and I had a very cute single 8th grade Math teacher too, so after 2 or 3 yrs out of HS I went back to visit my old JHS teachers and the 8th grade Math teacher asked me out! About 15 yrs later, I went to the same school on a visitors day with my nephew and the 7th grade Science teacher saw me walking down the hall and literally ran to meet me and swept me off my feet in a bear hug and told me I still looked like I was 14! I fell in love with the man all over again! Then I met his wife and son. And I liked them too. Made me feel good about all that HS crap and insecurities I had, to think that I could have had the teachers if I wanted....:: wicked laugh :: forget the students!

When I left the JWs, inside of 6 months I met a wonderful man, married him a year later, and he thinks all JW males must be blind and stupid.

(remember that pic of the women who tempted the angels to come down and become demons in the Live Forever book? I was the one in the front foreground....had a friend at Bethel who was in the art dept...guess I could tempt angels, but not JW males.....)

Ravyn

31

Weekly Food Bill Survey

by patio34 in

jw
friends

after reading the thread on portion sizes, it'd be interesting to see what folks spend weekly on their groceries.

one of my new year's resolutions was to improve my finances and groceries are coming under scrutiny.

i spend about 30 a week (now), but when i wasn't paying attention and stopping in all the time, i'll bet i was spending double that.. so, what do you spend?

Ravyn

My husband and I spend between $80-$100 a week on quality stuff, and that includes his lunches and breakfasts. We also have three cats and one large dog. The cats' food I make myself-less expensive then throwing out the stuff they refuse to eat. I buy kibble and make the wet stuff(once a day) out of baby food rice cereal and formula and baby food meat in jars and fish oil caps(that I take myself too). The dog has to have rice and fish too--she is japanese and her breed is prone to thyroid trouble since they came into this country. So put the pet expenses and stuff like laundry soap and sundries. And you can add another $100 a month to that. But I shop at Dollar stores alot for toilet paper and personal items. We spend $500 a month easy. I rarely buy canned veggies, mostly everything I get is for the freezer. I could probably save some money--but I try to eat better than junk food. And we do not usually buy sweets either.

Ravyn

13

? re: nose bleeds

by beepers in

i was talking with my brother the other day and he asked me " what were you suposed to do when you got a nose bleed?

if the blood runs down the back of your throat.

" he said that technically that would be eating the blood in the eyes of the jw's.

Ravyn

I had severe nose bleeds as a child, and I was also a JW. I nearly died from the loss of blood three different times.

But I think now it is actually that the blood does not leave your body so it is ok to swallow it.

Ravyn

23

The thing I love about America the most is...

by dolphman in

jw
friends

i won't get executed for leaving it.

in other words, it's not like n.korea... http://www.msnbc.com/news/863322.asp?0cv=cb20.

but i guess if we're to believe the saddam lovers and communist/socialist and honda prius driving folks here then america is much, much worse than i think it is..... .

Ravyn

freedom of speech? obviously no one who has answered on this thread yet comes from any place east of the Mississippi river and south of the mason-dixon line....

I liked california too, but it is not even close to being 'America'

Ravyn

16

Facing the inevitable....how will you handle it?

by Makena1 in

or - how are you handling it?.

my subject is how we deal with getting older - realizing that we are headed in just one direction, aging and eventually dying.

for most of us born after wwii, raised as jw's, we did not give a thought to getting older.

Ravyn

I feel cheated and I wallow in my bitterness. I was a beautiful young woman and now I am not. I wasted youth and strength and beauty and the JWs are to blame.

I turned 40 this yr. I don't like it. Not one bit. My husband is 4 yrs younger, that is hard. He knows better than to tease me about it. I don't have any plans or goals. I don't know what to expect from the future.

I am not unhappy. Not at all. But I live one day at a time.

Ravyn