nolongerlurking

Sorry Sudo, but I think Dilana does look cool, for being in a rock band that is. To each his own I guess.

Hey SFSailor and Jim!!!! We are neighbors. I live in Los Altos. Yes, we have something else in common as well. We all seem to own one of those holes in the water. Note the avatar to the left. Very, very interesting.....

Hi Dot, I like Dilana because I think she is very unique. And I love her smoky voice. Just personal taste I guess. I think she has a good chance of winning. Same reason I like Lucas, he's so unique. I think the band likes Dilana, Toby, and Lucas the best so far. I guess I think the others are too "normal" looking and acting for a heavy band like Supernova plans to be.

I love Dilana and do not like Storm. Toby is ok tho. I also like Lucas. Ryan bugs me.

(((((Everyone Who Posted))))) I am so sorry to hear about all of your losses. I guess TWI tended to attract us, meaning those of us who felt abandoned, left behind, alone, abused. Others who suffered loss at the hands of TWI, well all I can say is that I'm glad you're here now and hope that all of us at the Cafe can help make up for your sordid past. Evan, both parents killed themselves?!?! When you were just a little old eleven-year-old. That is tragic beyond words. It makes me feel lucky that mine died accidentally. Incidentally, I just found a long-lost cousin yesterday after searching for him for a full year. He is my mother's nephew, her brother's son, who I never met. He is 14 years older than me, and knew my mother. I will be going back to Maine to visit in a month or two. Better yet, he told me about another person, one Nancy White, who still lives locally. Nancy was my mother's friend growing up and knew her well. I can't wait to see both of them. I am also planning to look up any and all others I can find while I am back there. Wish me luck. This is a treasure better than I could have ever hoped for.

Hey, how about that chair alignment?

Hi Folks, The 9/11 thread has given me an idea for another similar thread. What is your own personal 9/11? Your own day of infamy that you will always remember, still remember daily, changed your life more than any other day, etc. My 9/11 is 3/28. March 28, 1971. That is the day that my mom and dad died instantly in a traffic accident when I was 16, leaving me and my 14 year old brother orphans and homeless. I have written about this in another thread called "A Strange Conversation 35 Years After the Fact", so won't repeat it here. But this thread is about your 9/11. What is the one day in your own history that changed your life forever. We're talking here about the VERY WORST day of your life, not the very best, as 9/11 was not a good day but a very bad one. Forgive me if you think this is a negative subject, but sometimes discussion of events like this can be healing to people. It's somehow cathartic to tell your story. So, if anyone is game, let's hear it...

Does anyone out there happen to live in or near the San Francisco Bay Area? I was thinking about having a SFO Weenie Roast. Maybe. Perhaps.

I usually fill up right after I run out of gas on the side of the road somewhere and AAA has come to my rescue. No kidding, this seems to happen to me quite a lot. I hate stopping for gas.

Dave and I spent $7000 on Buddy, our Aussie who died last month, all in one week for emergency surgery, blood products, and a 4 day hospital stay with meds & monitors and stuff. Didn't do him any good as he had a terminal illness, but we didn't know that until the biopsy came back and by then the money had already been spent. Two years ago we spent about the same amount of money on our dog Maxwell. He also had a terminal illness, but lived for 3 months with it. Turns out Max and Buddy both died from the same thing. Hemangiosarcoma, an agressive and nasty cancer of the vascular system. But, we wouldn't have it any other way. We loved Buddy and Max and still do. We love all our pets and don't hesitate to spend money to care for them as long as there's hope. Ex, maybe there's a low cost vet in your area, or a rescue group that helps people with vet bills. I know those things exist out here. Regarding your home improvements... do you have a large Craigslist community in your area? We do and there's a category of people who barter goods and services. Perhaps a tradesman would be willing to do your work in exchange for housekeeping or sewing or something -- whatever you might be skilled at. Just a thought anyhow. I will pray for your dog and your a/c and trust that all will be well.

Now that's a group of buff, robust lookin males if I ever saw one. Does the place clear out when you guys walk in?

Let's see... How about the time I invited the newly paroled rapist to twig at our house when we were two single women with kids living there. Or the several times I drove solo from California to Ohio for ROA with my infant/toddler daughter in the car. I used to pull into truckstops to sleep because I couldn't afford a motel. Just me and Shannon, sound asleep, in plain view at some remote truckstop in the middle of the night.

You might try those "Magic Eraser" things. Mr. Clean makes them, but you can get generic brands at Target, Safeway, etc. You wet them with water before use, but you also squeeze the water out like a sponge, so they should be ok to use on the keys without getting water into the piano. I swear by these things and they're CHEAP. Do yourself a favor, go buy a box and try it on just one key. What have you got to lose if you're already looking at replacing all the keys anyway. Good luck.

Well, I have alot of time on my hands, so I think I'll look for a willing attorney and sue em. If nothing else, it will serve as my "nipping dog" at their heels. Not really fatal, but severely annoying. Anyone else on Greasespot be willing to join the class?

Shortie, I don't think a Statute of Limitations would apply since TWI continues to extort money from its followers at the present. In Class Action, all present and past "extortees" should be included.

The Hobbs Act defines "extortion" as "the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right." 18 U.S.C. S 1951(b)(2). TWI obtained money from us with our concent using the threat of fear, fear that God's protection wouldn't cover us if we didn't give $$$ to "The Ministry". TWI also obtained money from us with our concent "under color of official right".... which is them saying they had the God given official right to collect and use our ABS for their purposes. I believe that TWI extorted our ABS from us, and that they could probably be sued by class action for it under the Hobbs Act. What does everyone else think?

I left in 1986. I was in the apprentice corpse and more miserable than I had ever been in my entire life.

Divorced twice and happily remarried now for 17 years. Third time's the charm doncha know...

I have a question for you all..... I suffer from bipolar disorder. I have often wondered if my life circumstances have caused/contributed to my emotional imbalances. I wonder if I allow myself time to really greive my folks passing, and get to the point where I can still have them in my life today via knowing their history, if my bipolar situation will ease up. What do you all think?

J, Craig and I lived together with my high school drama teacher for the summer. At the end of summer, I was hungry to be with family, so I moved to Missouri to live with my aunt. New guardian, new town, new high school, new friends, the works. It was in Missouri, during my first year of college at MU Columbia, that TWI got me. I guess I was ripe for the picking for an organization that promised a sense of family and unconditional love. I went WOW and requested to be sent back to California and have been back here ever since. Craig stayed in California with Neil & JoAnn for about 2 more years and then he also moved back to Missouri, where he remains to this day. In fact, he and his wife now live on the farm where my Grandfather raised my dad and his brothers and sisters. My 92 year old uncle, the only one of my mom or dad's siblings still alive, lost his wife and remarried several years ago. He moved into town to live with his new wife, and asked Craig and Debbie if they would live on the farm and take care of it in exchange for free rent. All happily agreed. Dave and I go back to visit them every other year or so. I feel good walking the land where dad grew up and Craig likes living there. On another note, I plan "mystery trips" for my husband every now and then. I tell him to take some time off work and then transport him off to a surprise location to do fun stuff. I just planned one for mid-August. Turns out that Neil and JoAnn now own and operate a whitewater canoe school in northern California. I have made reservations for Dave and I to take whitewater canoe lessons with Neil. I haven't seen Neil or JoAnn, nor spoken with them in over 30 years. Neither of them know that it is me, Neil's old high school student who they took in after the death of my parents, that will be his client that weekend. Surprises all around!

I have been doing some research into the lives of my mother and father who died in a 2 car crash in 1971. I was 16 and my brother 14 at the time. We were both at home when the accident happened, and were informed later in the evening when the County Coroner appeared at our door with the news. Among other information, I recently came across the name and current address and phone number of the person who was driving the other car. I thought about it for a few days. Then last night about 7 p.m. California time, I gave the guy, who is now 63 years old, a call. I wanted him to tell me what happened. I wanted to know what he saw. What my folks looked like after the accident. Where they were. The condition of their bodies. The activity that went on. Because, 35 years ago, my relatives thought it best to keep much of this information away from me and my brother. The absence of this information has left me with a huge "missing piece" in my life. I really needed to know. The man's name is Gary. He was 28 at the time of the accident. He and his then wife and brother were driving to church on the highway. There was an intersection ahead with a 4-way light. His light was green. He was moving at highway speed -- about 60 mph. Suddenly, my father ran the red left turn light and darted out in front of Gary's car. Dad saw what was about to happen and gunned his engine. At the same time, Gary swerved to the right to try to avoid the collision. As fate would have it, both drivers chose to move in the same direction and collided. Boom. There was only one other car on the road at the time. That driver saw the accident happen but was not involved. The occupents of Gary's car were wearing seat belts, which was unusual at the time. Gary and his brother were unhurt. Gary's wife sustained chest injuries, but was ambulatory. After everything stopped moving, Gary and his brother got out of the car to go check on my mom and dad. The driver of the other car, the witness, also stopped and came to investigate. My mother was laying across the front bench seat. She was externally uninjured. But she had no pulse and was not breathing. They determined she was dead already. No CPR was attempted. My father had been ejected from the car and completely pinned beneath it. They could not get to him to determine if he was still alive, nor could they see if he had external injuries. So they all waited for the police, fire dept, and paramedics to arrive. When the authorities got there, they pronounced my mom and dad dead at the scene. Statements were taken from the occupents of the other car and from the uninvolved witness. After that, Gary and his wife and brother were taken to the hospital by ambulance to get treatment for his wife's chest injuries. He doesn't know what happened at the scene after he left. Bottom line is my father screwed up. We all make mistakes like this every single day. Most of the time, our errors have forgiving results. This time, my dad's mistake cost our family everything. Everything. Our parents were dead. We were in process of moving, so our house was sold and escrow was about to close. My relatives lived far away, and my brother and I didn't know any of them. Suddenly, our house was filled with strangers determining our fate and we were adrift in a sea of emotion and chaos. From that point forward, our lives changed completely. It was rough, very rough for a good while, but time passed, brother and I grew and made lives of our own. Now I am here, writing about this surreal event from my past. I thanked Gary for his time and willlingness to talk to me and said goodbye. I am glad I called.

Confidence is sexy. Confidence in everything, not just in one's sex appeal. And confidence in a humble sort of way, not in an arrogant way. IMHO, top of the sexy list and the way cool list as well has to be Johnny Depp. Just MHO.

Jardinero, Looks like both your mom and dad died young, as did mine. My father was 53, and my mother 50. They died together in a car wreck. I also miss them terribly. Here's to yours and mine. Lynne

Just to clairfy a few things. My spouse and band mates/spouses/girlfriends were not doing anything bad or immoral in any way shape or form. It was a BBQ. People were drinking beer/cocktails, but nobody overly so. It was just good clean fun. My feeling of separation came from the fact that everyone there wasn't a "like minded Christian". Sound familiar? Also, the church that I had been attending was very much of a "soul-winning" mindset. They weren't rabid like TWI, but their goal was/is to win souls to Christ. They are very much a church on a mission. I think what was happening was that I started to get back into the homogenized thinking pattern, and the "be ye not unequally yolked" believing. And, I do not want that in my life. So I ran for the door.

I had something terribly disturbing happen to me recently. I started attending a Lutheran Church in February. Seemed innocent enuf for awhile. They didn't do anything untoward or chase me down to come to meetings or confront my lifestyle or anything else Way Like. All they did was live according to their understanding of the Bible. And all I did was go to church and associate with them when I was there. Never outside of church. Then, a few months after I started attending, something very familiar happened to me. I was at a BBQ with my spouse of 16 years and his band members and their wives/girlfriends. I had been in this situation dozens of times before. Suddenly, I was sitting out by the firepit and I looked over at everyone and felt STRANGELY ALIENATED from them. DISTANCED from them, even from my husband, because the thought occured to me that they were not LIVING THE WORD, that I KNEW BETTER, and that I WAS NOT LIKE THEM. Needless to say, I immediately stopped going to church for fear of ruining my life. Has anyone else had something like this happen to them? Geesh, I haven't associated with TWI since 1986, nor have I gone to church since then until now. Somebody please tell me what's going on here.