Dweeb's Story

[Dweeb]

Hi All

Ive been lurking for a few weeks now after being sent a link to ESMB by my step sister - her story is on these boards also.

My original intention had been to come and read Trish's story then move along - Ive been out of scn for over 20 years and hadn't really been interested in what was happening with either side of the pro/anti debate so I had never bothered visiting any sites or message boards on the subject, but apart from the family connection, I'd always had a lot of respect for Trish - both for the integrity she always managed to maintain no matter what they threw at her while she was on staff and for the things she has done with her life since getting out, so I came to pay respect to her story. That's probably the sort of thing I should tell her myself one of these days, but my family know me well enough to know that will probably never happen lol - I'm pretty good at lurking in real life too

I started reading other stories... I thought I had heard most of the horror stories over the years...I was wrong. It's one thing to read about something in the paper with all the raw human emotion stripped out of it, it's a totally different experience reading those "little incidents" being recounted by the people who had to live through them. I was surprised at how much it bothered me - I had walked away from scn barely out of my teens and now in my mid forties I thought I had dealt with it all many years ago, apparently not as well as I thought I had. Thank you for sharing your stories

I've seen talk in a few threads about agendas, so I'll be upfront about mine- this is mostly about me. I've never talked a lot to anyone about my time in the CoS and I think it would be good for me to do so, if my story helps someone else that's a bonus. There will be times I resort to scn terminology, if that upsets or offends anyone I apologise in advance - but sometimes the best way to describe what was happening is to use their own language. Some of my opinions on some people may not sit well with some - but I believe in judging people based on your own experience, my experiences with most of the people in my story are more than 20 years ago they may have changed since, but for this to be of any benefit to me or anyone else it has to be honest - or at least the truth as I believe it to be - so again any upset/offense is not intended.

This wont necessarily be told in sequence - some things stick in my mind more than others, there will probably be a few random sidetracks too - I tend to just write what I'm thinking. There are worse stories than mine on these boards, and better written ones, but for what it's worth this is my experience with scientology

 

[ThetanExterior]

Yes, please tell us your story Dweeb.

I also joined this board recently after a long time out of Scientology. I too thought I was over it and had moved on but joining this board and reading all of the different stories and points of view has given me a whole new outlook on my experiences.

 

[Dulloldfart]

This wont necessarily be told in sequence - some things stick in my mind more than others, there will probably be a few random sidetracks too - I tend to just write what I'm thinking. There are worse stories than mine on these boards, and better written ones, but for what it's worth this is my experience with scientology

Welcome to ESMB, Dweeb.

Just tell whatever you want in the order it wants to come out. It tends to work best that way.

Paul

 

[Dweeb]

In The Beginning....

When I was 12 my sister and I were living in Ellerslie (Auckland) with our grandmother. Dad was living with his new girlfriend, Pat, in a boarding house in Herne Bay.

Dad and Pat's relationship was getting serious so I guess they decided it was time to start involving the kids, so my sister and I started going to stay at the boarding house on weekends. I loved it - it was an amazing old 2 story house in what is now one of the most expensive parts of Auckland. We could walk to beach down the hill within a few minutes and the people who were living there treated us like adults, they didnt talk down to us like the little kids we were, they talked to us like equals. Although I didn't realise it at the time I had met my first scientologists - all the tenants at the boarding house were either staff or on public lines at Auckland Org.

The other thing I didn't know at the time was that I had just met 2 people who would have a massive influence on my life - My stepmother Pat, and Karyn Rogers.

Karyn and I got on like a house on fire from day one. I was babysitting her son while she was working at the org and out side of that we would talk a lot, she was like the big sister I didn't have. We had both had kinda messed up childhoods which made it easy to connect and talk about things. Karyn was my closest friend for many years until we eventually lost contact in my late 20's.

Pat was like a walking advert for all the things scn promised you could be - she just had a presence, you just kind of got the feeling if she wanted something to happen it would happen no if buts or maybes about it, in some ways it was a little intimidating but very very cool.

Thinking about it now, they were the perfect tag team to get me hooked on the concept of scn - not that either actively pushed it - it was just the people they were - if this is what scientologists are like then I wanted to be one.

Random thought about that kind of tag team being used to get the raw meat on board :That's Joe - he's been using purple mittens for 5 years now, see how rich & successful he is ? woman want him and men want to be him, and this is Bob, he's only had the purple mittens for a few months but he already got a pay rise and a new girlfriend! So Mark, how many pairs of purple mittens would you like today? I would have bought the mittens just like I bought the dream of changing the world....though it's probably a little early in the story to be letting the cynic in me loose

 

[Dweeb]

Thank you for the welcome

I'll add some more after work tomorrow - I'm surprised at how long it actually took to get written down, not as easy as I thought it would be.

 

[tetloj]

 

[Dean Blair]

Welcome to ESMB Dweeb. You have my interest, please continue.

 

[Polly]

Welcome Dweeb!

Glad to have you here.

 

[HappyGirl]

 

[In present time]

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Welcome, Dweeb.

So glad you are here with all of Us.

Looking forward to reading all of your story.

Relax, settle in and take your time. Every story here are tiles to the mosaic. Your tiles will "fit", be "part of" and help complete the "picture".

Face

 

[Happy Days]

Dweeb.

Looking forward to reading more

 

[jenni with an eye]

Dweeb

 

[Dweeb]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and encouragement

I started my first course not long after we started going to stay with Dad and Pat. Dad wasn't totally sure about the idea thinking we were too young, but since it was a study course he thought it might but of benefit to us at school. My sister and I were already good students and we had always got good results at school but it wouldn't hurt if they were even better. At that time there were a few different flavours of study course aimed at different age levels. My sister, who was a year younger than me, was going to do the children's study course and I was going to do the students study course - the tech was the same it was just presented in different ways for different ages.

At that time - this would have been mid to late 1981ish - Auckland Org was a happening place, there was lots of staff and lots of public, the missions at Ellerslie and Christchurch were still going, there was a Narcanon in Mt Eden and there were active FSM's sending people into the org. Div 6 had its own basic course room with its own supervisor so raw public were never exposed to anything too far outside their own level of reality. The org still had the shop space at the entrance to imperial arcade which had a bookstore and personality tests/iq tests were done down there so people weren't even coming into the org unless they were ready for services - it was the closest thing to an ideal org I had ever seen at Auckland. The place had a real vibe and was exciting to be around. I still struggle to understand how it was all gone by the time I joined staff a year or so later.

There are still some things I learned while involved with scn that I still use today, whether they were originated within scn or borrowed and repackaged I have no idea but the stuff that works for me I kept. One of those things is study tech. Even after all these years it still blows my mind when I think of a what a single misunderstood word has the power to do, I still love clearing words and while its been years since Ive had a demo kit I can still be caught playing with nearby inanimate objects sometimes while getting my head around a new concept.

After the study courses My sis and I did the old Success Through Communication Course, I was still having fun and still impressed with it all. For my sister this was her last involvement with scn but for me this was just the beginning, at the time I thought I was the smart one of the two of us....

A year and a bit later, during my first year of High school, I was sitting at a desk outside HCO with Pat and Graeme Watson who was the AK Fdn staff recruiter at the time signing a 5 year contract, it was a few weeks before my 14th birthday.

 

[JustSheila]

to ESMB, Dweeb!

Thank you for your story, waiting to hear more, please!

 

[Bea Kiddo]

Welcome Dweeb!

Signing 5 year staff contract at the ripe age of 13!!!

Typical!!!

 

[Arthur Dent]

Welcome, Dweeb!
Glad you're talkin'! It does help others... it's a chain reaction.
5 yr. contract at 13 yrs. old!! Sheesh!!

 

[Dweeb]

I'm typing this up at work on my phone so lets hope auto correct treats me kindly lol

I guess that last bit came out sounding a little dramatic, I had momentary aspirations of trying to write as well as scooter, I was just about to turn 14 so its not so bad

in the interest of fairness, for what thats worth, plenty if people tried to discourage me from signing up including the people who signed me up lol I made my own choice about it and then spent the time to convince people that not only was I able to make that call but that I was worth having around.

A lot of people would argue that I wasnt capable if making that decision at that time but I thought I was, and looking back at it now I still believe that.

I'll go into that a little more at smoko work just got busy so I should pretend im earning my wages ;p

 

[Dweeb]

So I had just finished posting and on the radio comes christina perri's song jar of hearts.

I'd always liked the song but it was kinda weird listening to it in the context of the stories we share

if you dont know the song its well worth a youtube

 

[The_Fixer]

Hey Dweeb!

I was another Auckland Fdn sucker. I have posted my story here before. We have never met, I left late 78.

My story if you want to see it: http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?22268-Not-a-big-story-but-it-s-mine

I sort of knew Pat and your stepsister, her Dad I knew a little better, though I admit she knew who I was better than I knew her.

Karyn and I were great friends as well at the time, we had no contact after I faded out of the church (hawk, spittooie!). I liked her a lot, a nice and warm lady then.

Welcome to our family!