The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

[Veda]

A Request for your help from The Magic Thetan
Chapter -1 Supplement Number 1-10082010
of
The Johnny Raff Chronicles - The Scientology Years
​

With regard to further ESMB postings, I would like to request your help in determining what to do, or not do, in that regard.

After my 1st ESMB post I got an overwhelming response.

After the posting of my 2nd Johnny Raff Chronicle, about “Hearing People Think”, I got an underwhelming response, although some of you were most kind in expressing your enjoyment of it, and to those my sincere appreciation.

So may I request some feedback that I can use to determine what to do next.

1) Did you read Chronicle Number - 2 4 August 201 Post # 4360 entitled, “Able to Hear people Think.”

2) If yes, what did you think of it, and was it of value to you?

3) Did you read post number 4441 5th August 2010, 10:11 PM entitled “Ron was not Source - The Tech was not Source - You are Source” It was posted on The Old Days Aboard the Apollo thread?, and if you did, what did you think of it, and was it of value to you?

4) My 3rd Johnny Raff Chronicle entitled “Trapped on the Road to Total Freedom” is seventeen pages long. Do you want me to:

A) Post the entire 18 pages?
B) Break it up into several postings, and if you answer yes to
this, how many parts?

I plan to release this post on both threads, The Apollo one and the My Story one, as I want to get it to as many people as possible. I apologize if that is something you cannot experience easily, and I will simply have to work on increasing my ability to experience anything.

It is my current intention to re-write and submit Chronicle Number - 1 so that it harmonizes better with the two rules of happy living I delineated at the beginning of the post.

Thanks for your answers.

All the Best, John

My advice is to post the entire Chronicles in their original form. A link would be best for the complete longer version, otherwise do it in segments.

You'll never be able to please everyone so why try? Just freely communicate your experiences and views. Everyone here, including those who disagree, are "able to experience it easily." Really, it's not a problem.

Be yourself. Be frank and direct, and it will be refreshing.

Some will disagree, but so what?

Express you views, and accept the applause and the boos that will follow.

You don't need permission to have a point-of view.

If you modify your views to suit others you'll end up with their views not your own.

You're not hurting anyone by expressing you views.

Revise nothing. Let's see what ya got.

Be bold. It will be refreshing.

Even those who disagree with you with admire your forthrightness.

 

[Ted]

What He Said

My advice is to post the entire Chronicles in their original form. A link would be best for the complete longer version, otherwise do it in segments.

You'll never be able to please everyone so why try? Just freely communicate your experiences and views. Everyone here, including those who disagree, are "able to experience it easily." Really, it's not a problem.

Be yourself. Be frank and direct, and it will be refreshing.

Some will disagree, but so what?

Express you views, and accept the applause and the boos that will follow.

You don't need permission to have a point-of view.

If you modify your views to suit others you'll end up with their views not your own.

You're not hurting anyone by expressing you views.

Revise nothing. Let's see what ya got.

Be bold. It will be refreshing.

Even those who disagree with you with admire your forthrightness.

 

[FoTi]

Yeh, what he said

My advice is to post the entire Chronicles in their original form. A link would be best for the complete longer version, otherwise do it in segments.

You'll never be able to please everyone so why try? Just freely communicate your experiences and views. Everyone here, including those who disagree, are "able to experience it easily." Really, it's not a problem.

Be yourself. Be frank and direct, and it will be refreshing.

Some will disagree, but so what?

Express you views, and accept the applause and the boos that will follow.

You don't need permission to have a point-of view.

If you modify your views to suit others you'll end up with their views not your own.

You're not hurting anyone by expressing you views.

Revise nothing. Let's see what ya got.

Be bold. It will be refreshing.

Even those who disagree with you with admire your forthrightness.

Yeh, what he said....^^^^^THIS^^^^^^

 

[AlphOhm]

A Request for your help from The Magic Thetan
Chapter -1 Supplement Number 1-10082010
of
The Johnny Raff Chronicles - The Scientology Years
​

With regard to further ESMB postings, I would like to request your help in determining what to do, or not do, in that regard.

After my 1st ESMB post I got an overwhelming response.

After the posting of my 2nd Johnny Raff Chronicle, about “Hearing People Think”, I got an underwhelming response, although some of you were most kind in expressing your enjoyment of it, and to those my sincere appreciation.

So may I request some feedback that I can use to determine what to do next.

1) Did you read Chronicle Number - 2 4 August 201 Post # 4360 entitled, “Able to Hear people Think.”

2) If yes, what did you think of it, and was it of value to you?

3) Did you read post number 4441 5th August 2010, 10:11 PM entitled “Ron was not Source - The Tech was not Source - You are Source” It was posted on The Old Days Aboard the Apollo thread?, and if you did, what did you think of it, and was it of value to you?

4) My 3rd Johnny Raff Chronicle entitled “Trapped on the Road to Total Freedom” is seventeen pages long. Do you want me to:

A) Post the entire 18 pages?
B) Break it up into several postings, and if you answer yes to
this, how many parts?

I plan to release this post on both threads, The Apollo one and the My Story one, as I want to get it to as many people as possible. I apologize if that is something you cannot experience easily, and I will simply have to work on increasing my ability to experience anything.

It is my current intention to re-write and submit Chronicle Number - 1 so that it harmonizes better with the two rules of happy living I delineated at the beginning of the post.

Thanks for your answers.

All the Best, John

Hi John,

I like all of your stories so far. On this board I have to go searching for them, though. I missed the one about hearing "others" thoughts until earlier today when I saw it mentioned and looked it up.

You mentioned having trouble getting in contact with your website admin or getting him to post things. Have you looked at making a separate blog site? Some are "free"--others you can put a couple hundred websites on a single account for maybe 8 dollars a month. There are easy to operate blogger programs available--you don't have to be an HTML guru.

I think it would be handier to have all of your stuff up and indexed, then post here what you want to discuss as a quote. That way you may get more reading or comments from the "tl;dr" crowd.

Another possibility: make YouTube videos of your Chronicles? See examples with Magoo (Tory) or Wise Beard Man (Mark Bunker/ XENU-TV).

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

I've been acting a bit weird lately. I decided to take stock of what I've been doing and want to keep the good things and get rid of the not so good.

Me too. I passed on an e mail with confidences and broke a major trust.

I criticized FoTi's story of her nanny. I didn't think. The relationship, she described was a beautiful example of being color blind and of caring. I chose to rip her parents' actions and the treatment and pay of nannies in general.

Some days are diamonds, some days are rust. My actions are my responsibility.

 

[lkwdblds]

Kudos and salutations to Veda and Carmelo.

Me too. I passed on an e mail with confidences and broke a major trust.

I criticized FoTi's story of her nanny. I didn't think. The relationship, she described was a beautiful example of being color blind and of caring. I chose to rip her parents' actions and the treatment and pay of nannies in general.

Some days are diamonds, some days are rust. My actions are my responsibility.

Veda - you appear to have pulled off the impossible. You wrote a post which was so spot on that it received nothing but raves. Well Done!! I hope Johnny reads your post very carefully and applies what you say.

Carmelo, kudos for realizing an error in an earlier post and noting it. Its also nice that you referenced my post which was an attempt to do something similar.
Lakey

 

[lkwdblds]

Update on Ginger's Wellness Center.

My hypno therapist female friend EC, whose first name is Edey scheduled my friend Eddie, the masseur and a licensed Physical Therapist to come to the wellness center where Edey works.

Eddie is the guy who I picked up accupressure tech from when he worked at Jack Lalanne's health spa. I received massages from him for about 13 years, 1974 ti 1987 when Jack LaLanne's closed down. Ed offered to give Edey a free full body massage and they both wanted me to be there and watch. Ed was going to formally hat me on the names and various meridians of the body while I watched him massgage Edey.

First. my opinion of that Centre rose higher and Edey is just amazing. So far, she knows just about everything I know. I talked to her about time and how the Universe came to exist and a model for the Universe such as Vinay often discusses and she knows about as much as I know about the subject. If she posted with Vinay tonight, she would be one of the better informed posters on his thread in my opinion. The only thing which these mystic types don't know a lot about, from my current experience, is locating the correct charged areas to run out of one's case and then using techniques to "as-is" the charge, thereby getting the charge to blow.

I did it again on Edey and she is demanding that I teach her how to do this! Edey explained today her concept of what is going on to Ginger and she said, "Lakey is somehow able to get into your mind and know what it is that is bothering you and knocking you body out of alignment. Then after he finds out what is bothering you, he has some mysterious techniques to dissolve the electricity which is stuck in the mind and on the skull and have it run down through his arms and legs into the ground, it is really amazing!"

While Ed was massage her feet and legs, she told me to work simultaneously on her head and neck and in so doing I found this huge charge on her head and ran it out.

THE LIMITED TECH WHICH A HYPNOTHERAPIST HAS. - Edey has some valid tech at her disposal but it is very rudimentary when compared to Scientology type processes. Basically, what she does is ask the person what they want to handle. Something is found such as quitting smoking, having a better sex life, sleeping better, getting rich or any of a number of things. Once this is established she tells you the theory is that the being gets whatever it is deciding to have. Therefore, if one is not making good money, that is what the person is deciding is best. Heir technique is relaxing person thoroughly and then taking them into hypnosis and removing the current postrulate and replacing it with a postulate which she voices that you are going to be making tons of money. She claims to know how and where to place that postulate in one's mind.

The relaxing techniques consist of sitting in a special and expensive anti-gravity chair while Edey plays very soothing Eastern type meditation music and starts counting down from 100 and telling you that when she gets to zero, you will be hypnotized. When you are under, she removes one postulated from your mind and suggest an opposite postulate be inserted in its place. She then wakes you up slowly and gently and tells you to come to present time. That is what they do. She makes a recording of the session and gives it to you to take home.

EDEY IS VERY PERCEPTIVE She sees that my technique is more advanced and probably she wants to add it on to what she does and not replace what she does with what I do. She faced me twice now and looked me right in the eye and said, "Lakey, I want you to teach me what you do." I need to be able to use your technique to help my patients."

AMUSING SIDE NOTE Edey will turn 60 in October and her legs have no cellulite whatever. Lying on her stomach, I expected her rear upper thighs to be fully cellulite in a woman of that age and yet they were firm and smooth like those of a 20 year old girl. It is amazing. She has never been married nor had any children so that might be the main reason.

I am very impressed with Edey plus all the other people whom I met at that center today. I just had no idea they know as much as they know!!
Lakey

 

[Blue Spirit]

BE BOLD JOHNNY

My advice is to post the entire Chronicles in their original form. A link would be best for the complete longer version, otherwise do it in segments.

You'll never be able to please everyone so why try? Just freely communicate your experiences and views. Everyone here, including those who disagree, are "able to experience it easily." Really, it's not a problem.

Be yourself. Be frank and direct, and it will be refreshing.

Some will disagree, but so what?

Express you views, and accept the applause and the boos that will follow.

You don't need permission to have a point-of view.

If you modify your views to suit others you'll end up with their views not your own.

You're not hurting anyone by expressing you views.

Revise nothing. Let's see what ya got.

Be bold. It will be refreshing.

Even those who disagree with you with admire your forthrightness.

In reading Veda's words, I find that they reflect my viewpoint accurately too.

Johnny, remember who it is that says: "BE BOLD".

My advice is to act on Mr. B's advice.

Don't water down your story to please some, who are often victims.

It is YOUR story, and if you had read more stories on ESMB, you would realize
that telling it "your way" is the prevailing mode of story telling here.

Let me see, I like mine with butter, salt, ginger, and dulse.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” Albert Einstein

“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” Lao-tsu

When I was in 8th Grade and a Frosh in High School my older brother was living at home and commuting to college. His Major was Sociology and, after two years there, he moved away, got married and eventually earned a Masters in Sociology. The impact of these two years was huge for me. The tiny room that we shared was filled with books that I probably never would have come across in the rural small-town library I had been “haunting” for years. Books, for me, were my own personal “transporter” and “Time Machine” and, because of them, I could travel all over the world and centuries into the past and future.

During the ‘50’s there was TV show called, “I Lead 3 Lives” about a guy that was double agent for the FBI. Privately, that show was very “relative” to me as I was, more and more, leading 3 lives. One life was that of a “book worm”. By the time I was in 8th Grade my reading level, speed and comprehension tested in the 99th percentile. I read what I wanted to read at every opportunity. I would follow “lines of inquiry” in numerous subjects and the “Why’s” and “What’s” I delineated in my earlier post. Libraries were my “hollowed ground”, my “cathedral of worship”. When I was in a library, all the volumes on the shelves “spoke” to me…the feeling of “Life” and “Thought” from the books on the shelves was palpable. My personal Library has over 1,500 hardback “friends”. Although I am not able to read well or much anymore, it’s very comforting to have them around…they still “speak” to me.

Another life I was leading was that of a somewhat daredevil, mischief maker and partaker, hard-hitting jock and honors student. In many ways, I was a typical young boy…full of energy and lacking good sense. I was equally at home with, and accepted by, the “smart kids” and the “tough guys”. I rarely discussed my “library/inquiry” life with anyone…I just didn’t feel comfortable doing that…I just wanted to get along with everyone and was interested in their life and what went on in the world of others. Academically I was among "smart kids" of my class and athletically I was a pretty darn good all-around team sports player.

My 3rd life was that of the “Bad Son” that was under Lucifer’s spell and headed for Hell unless he came “to Jesus”. I did everything I could to spend as little of time as possible at that house. My parents hated each other and fought constantly. Sometimes I was their “weapon” of choice…”You’re the reason Face is turning out so bad, it’s all your fault,” etc. The “solution” that my parents had for my “evil” ways was to try and shove as much of their “Jesus” down my throat as they could, ridicule and carp at me continuously, slap my face regularly and, off and on, whip me, bare butt, with a razor stropper. The efficaciousness of their methodology served only to make me more determined than ever to never “give in", to stand my ground.

If you had only gone here:

My brother’s college books were fascinating…everything from “Catcher in the Rye” to “Coming of Age in Samoa” to “The Status Seekers". Two of his books, one from his Astronomy class “The Creation of the Universe”, and one from his Comparative Religions class “The Tao Te Ching”, entranced me…befuddled me. Over the years of my “illicit” late night reading sessions I occasionally would have a feeling of “peace, uplifting 'elsewhereness' and wonderment” and I would slip outside the house and lay in the grass, gazing up into the stars, searching the Universe for answers to questions only “sensed” and not yet formulated in my child’s mind. I read the “Tao” and “Creation” several times and found many of the ideas and thoughts of Lao and Einstein to be amazingly in concert; I also knew I didn’t fully fathom the depth and breadth of what I was reading and spent many a night, looking out into the vastness of infinity, wanting so much to understand “It” all.

During the summer between 8th and 9th grade I made my “Declaration of Independence”. I was not going to be baptized when I was 14; I was not going to attend Church anymore; The next time a hand was laid on me, I was going to fight back and if that resulted in my being sent to County Juvenile Hall, so be it. My Declaration resulted in a form of “shunning”. For my daily chores I would get my 3 squares a day, a roof over my head and medical care if I got sick…anything else like my athletic equipment and insurance, clothes, etc. I would have to pay for myself. In short, I was on my own. It was sink or swim time and I took to the waters of freedom like a duck. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me and I wouldn’t trade those days—or any of my days for that matter—for anything.

I started doing odd jobs for neighbors and saved up enough money to by one of those new 10 Speed bicycles. I was a good worker and was offered a job by the local butcher, cleaning up the shop several times a week after school and all day Saturday and Sunday. By the time I was 16 I could cut up a chicken in seconds, break down a side beef or hog, cut all the steaks and roasts, grind the sausage and hamburger and put together all the trays for the display cases on my own. I could run a cash register (before bar coding and automatic change machines) and handle customers with confidence and skill. I bought cool, nice threads for school and eventually had my own, pretty cool for High School, car.

I found High School to be very boring and very exciting. Most of my classes were with the same 25-30 students…the advanced College Prep crowd. I loved the sports, extra-curricular activities, student government and sang Bass in the Advanced/Madrigal Choir. I bought a Spanish guitar and got passably good on it. I did the bare minimum to get A’s & B’s but my main focus was my own personal reading, work, activities and athletics (football, basketball, baseball). The sports, activities and work not only kept me from getting in the trouble I was capable of and would have, they gave me confidence, self esteem and the certainty that I could fend for myself in this world. I was learning that, in the "outside" world, I wasn't such a "bad" person afterall.

And, I also learned that I really loved being with people, enjoyed talking with all types of people, working with people, helping people, being part of a team, doing something worthwhile and doing it well. I learned that there was a bigger world out there other than the “little world” of hypocritical Christianity and that was the world I wanted to live in, and I had my plan; get through High School, prepare to walk away and out into the world the day after graduation and somehow, someway go to college. I was going to go out into that bigger world and I was not going to ever look back. I had learned that I was not destined to be a super star but that I was a very good team player.

My quest was to find my place in this world…to find my “team”…and to find the answers to the questions I still didn’t even know how to articulate.

Face

I hope that we are part of your team.

So much similar, the family schtick different from mine. I was an only child. Not knowing your exact age, roughly at the same time, I was eating up Vance Packard and "The Status Seekers" and "The Waste Makers" too. I had my parents take me to a lecture he gave at San Jose City College. Without your mentioning that book, I never would have even recalled that.


Starting in 6th grade, my friends and I were "reading" magazines. One, in particular, got me hooked on reading (no joke). It carried articles and stories by Hugh Hefner, Shel Silverstein, Nat Hentoff, Alan Watts, Ian Fleming, Jack Kerouac, Robert Ruark, Kurt Vonneut, Jr. and oh, so many others. As I recall, there were photo essays also.

I read all of J.D. Salinger too.

I was reading voraciously, just like you.

Because I was spoiled rotten, I got my parents to take me to movies and stage shows that I wanted to see. As a kid, I saw Cyrill Richard in "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd," Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, Roger Miller, Maurice Chevalier, the Lennon Sisters - to name a few.

Because I was a country boy,

I went barefoot everywhere, day and night, rain or shine.

At night, before bed, I'd wash my feet off in the big laundry tub in the back porch laundry room. One night, around midnight, while reading "Lord of the Rings," I was so frightened, I took my 6 inch switchblade knife with me to the back porch to wash my feet. I was scared. Gollum was not going to catch me flatfooted.

I did paper routes from about age 12. I loved getting up at 4:30, riding my bike to the "drop," folding my papers,(listening to Russ "the Moose" Syracuse on the all night show on KYA on my Japanese transistor radio) and tossing as many papers as I could on the porches as I rode by at a fast clip. I was done by 5. On my first month's paper money, I bought a Schwinn Sierra 15 speed. I still have it. It is still a bike I ride.

By the time I was 15, I was carrying Super Beatle amps and doing sound checks on week ends. I can't sing on key, or play any kind of musical instrument that requires either hearing notes or keeping in time to a beat, but I can carry amplifiers and drive a truck.

All my life, I've been going to the beach. In junior high, I bought a bellyboard, which I still have and use.

later, I got surfboards.

Our family went on vacation every year to Yosemite. Mornings, I would do Junior Ranger Camp. During the day, we'd hike to the top of The Mist Trail, to Nevada Falls, and to Glacier Point. In the afternoon we'd swim in the Merced River (which is recently melted snow - cold). We floated down it too. We climbed all over the bases of the waterfalls. There was never any time for rest.

At night, the rocks give off the heat, that they have absorbed all day. It is a pleasant warmth. As dusk approached, we would go to the nature lectures and entertainment at Camp Curry. I'd buy books, chotchkies, and Borden's Ice Cream Sandwiches. I love (even the memory of) those ice cream sandwiches from my youth.

It was here, in Camp Curry, in the general store that I found my first Ayn Rand book, "The Virtue of Selfishness." I devoured that book. I'm still, to this day, a big Ayn Rand fan.

At nine o'clock, singers would sing "Indian Love Call" and then, someone at the base of Glacier Point (near Camp Curry) would yell up "Hello Glacier; Let the Fire Fall" Then from Glacier Point someone would yell down, "The Fire Falls." At that point, up on Glacier Point, they would slowly push burning fir bark coals over the side, making a firefall to rival the natural waterfalls of the valley.

We would sleep in camp grounds, laying on air mattresses on the ground. Bears would walk through the camps looking for food from the garbage cans. The stars were old friends to fall asleep looking up at.

and what I did growing up, my children did growing up, and now my grandchildren are on the same track. We take them to the beach (the very same beaches). We take them skiing, camping, and in a couple more years scuba diving. We took our kids to see Rex Harrison, Yul Brynner, Dick Van Dyke, Robert Goulet and loads more - live on stage. We had video tapes of all the best musicals and comedies. Music was always playing in our house on our 33&1/3 RPM LPs stereo. It was the cat's meow for the time. We just took one of our daughter in laws and granddaughter to see "Wicked." Now we have ipods playing in the car, in the office, everywhere. The hits just keep on coming with the next generation(s)

 

[SweetnessandLight]

I miss the fire falls...

 

[Leon]

Ja, Johnny - Veda's got it right. Bring on the chronicles thick and fast!

 

[RogerB]

My advice is to post the entire Chronicles in their original form. A link would be best for the complete longer version, otherwise do it in segments.

You'll never be able to please everyone so why try? Just freely communicate your experiences and views. Everyone here, including those who disagree, are "able to experience it easily." Really, it's not a problem.

Be yourself. Be frank and direct, and it will be refreshing.

Some will disagree, but so what?

Express you views, and accept the applause and the boos that will follow.

You don't need permission to have a point-of view.

If you modify your views to suit others you'll end up with their views not your own.

You're not hurting anyone by expressing you views.

Revise nothing. Let's see what ya got.

Be bold. It will be refreshing.

Even those who disagree with you with admire your forthrightness.

Good sane post, Veda!

And well stated. It exemplifies the principle that we each have the right to our views and we ought exercise the integrity to express them honestly.

Honest folks will dialogue without opponency or destructive, put-down intent. They will ask honest questions to gain expansion of understanding and clarification. The rest can safely be ignored.

Rog

 

[lkwdblds]

I remember well the program "I led Three Lives"

I was an avid watcher of "I Led Three Lives" which ran in the early part of the 1950's. It was based on the character of Herb Philbrick. The 3 lives were something like 1. He was working for the U.S. government spying on the Russians. 2. He was secretely a Russian counterspy, only pretendeing to spy for the U.S. but actually spying on the U.S. for the Russians. 3. He was actually a U.S. counter counter spy. His hat as a a counterspy woking for the Russians was just a ruse to get him deeper into the Russian inner circle so as to be a more effective U.S. spy. It was a very interesting show because various personna knew him as either personna 1. or 2. Only a few knew of his personna 3 so opposing factions of the U.S. government were spying on him, some of which thought of him as a traitor and a few higher ups who knew he was a great patriot risking his life for the U.S. There was always a danger that the Russians would find him out and if that occurred they would immeidately kill him.

Thanks for your long and interesting post with many pictures. It seems is if you still have that interesting trait which you mention early in your post. You were both an intellectual and a jock and a rebel. Most people in school are either considered "serious" and study hard and get good grades OR they are "Jocks" and excel at sports OR they are non conformists and Daredevils who race fast cars and take a lot of chances in life. You combined all those personna in school and seem to be still doing it on ESMB. (This applies to both Face and Carmelo.)

Also the Church of Beaver Lick, what a name for a Church! I wonder if anyone has tipped off the pristine Board of Directors what the name of their Church signifies in slang. A lot of plays on words could be made with that name. "Come to Beaver Lick Church and experience the full meaning of the Virgin Mary." Perhaps there could be a Youth Club for girls, "The Beaver Lick junior Beaverettes." or for boys, "The Young Beaver Lickers." The possiblities are nearly endless.
Lakey

 

[Ted]

St. Thomas Aquiness Said...

St. Thomas Aquiness: "We must love them both, those whose opinion we share and those whose opinion we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth and both have helped us in the finding of it."

In those categories above, I do not include those who professed to know the truth, but lied in order to manipulate and dominate.

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

In reading Veda's words, I find that they reflect my viewpoint accurately too.

Johnny, remember who it is that says: "BE BOLD".

My advice is to act on Mr. B's advice.

Don't water down your story to please some, who are often victims.

It is YOUR story, and if you had read more stories on ESMB, you would realize
that telling it "your way" is the prevailing mode of story telling here.

Let me see, I like mine with butter, salt, ginger, and dulse.

As usual Veda cut to the chase.

I agree.

Face

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Enjoyed this last post, Face, about your days of youth. I hope you're going to continue with your story.

I find it so much fun to read the stories on ESMB and learn about other people's lives.

Thank You.

I will.

Me too.

Face

 

[lkwdblds]

A Hat Pack for Posting! Two bulletins and a technical treatise.

St. Thomas Aquiness: "We must love them both, those whose opinion we share and those whose opinion we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth and both have helped us in the finding of it."

In those categories above, I do not include those who professed to know the truth, but lied in order to manipulate and dominate.

Great quote, great add on by Ted! This quote, with Ted's addendum really says it all with regard tp Johnny The Magic Thetan's questions about the most effective way to post. If you put Veda's post on the topic and the quoted post of Ted above into a folder and Label it "Hat Pack on Posting" you are going to have the most important elements of effective posting contained in those two posts. Someone brilliant in the technical aspects of posting, such as Paul, could add in the technical tricks of the trade and voila!, a hat pack on posting would exist.
Lakey

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

I see the setup happening for ya, Facey. Good writing.

It never occurred to me that the light I saw in the tunnel was a train.:confused2:

I appreciate the compliment.

Face

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Me too. I passed on an e mail with confidences and broke a major trust.

I criticized FoTi's story of her nanny. I didn't think. The relationship, she described was a beautiful example of being color blind and of caring. I chose to rip her parents' actions and the treatment and pay of nannies in general.

Some days are diamonds, some days are rust. My actions are my responsibility.

Your sins are forgiven, my son.

Say ten WTF’s :confused2: and go and sin no more (that’s the part where I always screw up).

Father Face

PS: "Diamonds and Rust" is one of my Baez favorites.

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

If you had only gone here:

I hope that we are part of your team.

So much similar, the family schtick different from mine. I was an only child. Not knowing your exact age, roughly at the same time, I was eating up Vance Packard and "The Status Seekers" and "The Waste Makers" too. I had my parents take me to a lecture he gave at San Jose City College. Without your mentioning that book, I never would have even recalled that.


Starting in 6th grade, my friends and I were "reading" magazines. One, in particular, got me hooked on reading (no joke). It carried articles and stories by Hugh Hefner, Shel Silverstein, Nat Hentoff, Alan Watts, Ian Fleming, Jack Kerouac, Robert Ruark, Kurt Vonneut, Jr. and oh, so many others. As I recall, there were photo essays also.

I read all of J.D. Salinger too.

I was reading voraciously, just like you.

Because I was spoiled rotten, I got my parents to take me to movies and stage shows that I wanted to see. As a kid, I saw Cyrill Richard in "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd," Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, Roger Miller, Maurice Chevalier, the Lennon Sisters - to name a few.

Because I was a country boy,

I went barefoot everywhere, day and night, rain or shine.

At night, before bed, I'd wash my feet off in the big laundry tub in the back porch laundry room. One night, around midnight, while reading "Lord of the Rings," I was so frightened, I took my 6 inch switchblade knife with me to the back porch to wash my feet. I was scared. Gollum was not going to catch me flatfooted.

I did paper routes from about age 12. I loved getting up at 4:30, riding my bike to the "drop," folding my papers,(listening to Russ "the Moose" Syracuse on the all night show on KYA on my Japanese transistor radio) and tossing as many papers as I could on the porches as I rode by at a fast clip. I was done by 5. On my first month's paper money, I bought a Schwinn Sierra 15 speed. I still have it. It is still a bike I ride.

By the time I was 15, I was carrying Super Beatle amps and doing sound checks on week ends. I can't sing on key, or play any kind of musical instrument that requires either hearing notes or keeping in time to a beat, but I can carry amplifiers and drive a truck.

All my life, I've been going to the beach. In junior high, I bought a bellyboard, which I still have and use.

later, I got surfboards.

Our family went on vacation every year to Yosemite. Mornings, I would do Junior Ranger Camp. During the day, we'd hike to the top of The Mist Trail, to Nevada Falls, and to Glacier Point. In the afternoon we'd swim in the Merced River (which is recently melted snow - cold). We floated down it too. We climbed all over the bases of the waterfalls. There was never any time for rest.

At night, the rocks give off the heat, that they have absorbed all day. It is a pleasant warmth. As dusk approached, we would go to the nature lectures and entertainment at Camp Curry. I'd buy books, chotchkies, and Borden's Ice Cream Sandwiches. I love (even the memory of) those ice cream sandwiches from my youth.

It was here, in Camp Curry, in the general store that I found my first Ayn Rand book, "The Virtue of Selfishness." I devoured that book. I'm still, to this day, a big Ayn Rand fan.

At nine o'clock, singers would sing "Indian Love Call" and then, someone at the base of Glacier Point (near Camp Curry) would yell up "Hello Glacier; Let the Fire Fall" Then from Glacier Point someone would yell down, "The Fire Falls." At that point, up on Glacier Point, they would slowly push burning fir bark coals over the side, making a firefall to rival the natural waterfalls of the valley.

We would sleep in camp grounds, laying on air mattresses on the ground. Bears would walk through the camps looking for food from the garbage cans. The stars were old friends to fall asleep looking up at.

and what I did growing up, my children did growing up, and now my grandchildren are on the same track. We take them to the beach (the very same beaches). We take them skiing, camping, and in a couple more years scuba diving. We took our kids to see Rex Harrison, Yul Brynner, Dick Van Dyke, Robert Goulet and loads more - live on stage. We had video tapes of all the best musicals and comedies. Music was always playing in our house on our 33&1/3 RPM LPs stereo. It was the cat's meow for the time. We just took one of our daughter in laws and granddaughter to see "Wicked." Now we have ipods playing in the car, in the office, everywhere. The hits just keep on coming with the next generation(s)

What a great post, Carmelo.

Love the pics.

A wonderful childhood and adolescence with great toys, great venues and, most importantly, great folks.

Way to go, Carmelo, way to go.

Face

PS: You betcha...all y'all are part of my "team".