Spongebobs looks pretty nice too.

I used to spend Halloween at a large peice of land in western NY south of Buffalo with a group of people and we called it Gruple Fest. We had a large dome made of sapling trees woven together and the top was open. There was a huge fire pit in the middle and we had lots of drums to the side. All night we would drink a concoction of vodka, OJ, and lsd. People would dance around the fire and play drums all through the night. There was this young girl (probably >18), who nobody messed with anyway, who would dance naked around the fire with a little wispy cloth in her hands looking like a baby deer. We were all pretty close and we looked out for each other. Those were good times. Most of the experience was of the sort Brandon describes and none of it was evil. Nobody was trying to influence anyones will against their will, or for them to do anything that wasn't in their best intrests, and other than the massive hangover I got once after drinking too much and falling asleap with my back bent over a huge 4 foot diameter log it was pain free.

I remember the arcades. I also liked to go to supermarkets and walk the iles bugging out in the light. We'd buy a bunch of donuts, ice cream, and whipped cream and have a munchie fest.

I wish there were still arcades like they used to have. I think the games have gotten worse not better. I haven't played a video game in years.

That's a topic that really gets me worked up. Bad parenting! I thought my parents were really weird, them being scientists and all, but now that I've grown up I realise that I had it pretty good. My GF's a terrible parent. Her son is now 6 and he has daily screaming tantrums that are horrendous to experience. He bumps his head and them works himself into a frenzy of screeches and sounds no-one should ever have to deal with, and she has no idea how serious this is. If he doesn't bump his head or something he will start out of the blue with this behavior. It ruined every single dinner I had when they lived with me, and I swear I would set the kid straight if he were mine. She enables the kid though, and she's going to have a nightmare on her hands when he's older. If she's looking at an apartment or getting food from a fast food place she can't have her kids come in because they are out of control.

My son doesn't have a punishment because I "got it" when it comes to parenting. He is so easy to deal with and I don't want him around her kids ever again. I have happyness in my home when my son is around, and there is even good energy in the house when her kids are just with me. It's when my GF comes into the picture that her kids start acting out.

OK! Enough about this as it pisses me off that some parents just don't get it.

No. I haven't heard of the PS3 console. I guess games must have gotten pretty cool but I haven't gotten into them.

A lot of people who experienced the 60's and who had parents who forced them to go to Catholic school and such went the other way and turned into Wickens and pagans. I liked the group I was with (where I was one of the young ones) even though it had it's issues that eventually brought it down. They weren't into spells and weird black stuff like that. The idea was to have self responsibility and be responsible for ourselves, even though most of us couldn't deal with the non monogamous part of it.

OK I'll probably get some resentment for this, but some church goers I've met, and that goes for a number of religions, are not very spiritually wise. PS I also know some who are wonderfully considerate and thoughtful believers and do happily live their truths, and they truly do shine with wisdom, it's just not the majority in my experience. I guess with some people either their rules are too restrictive that they can't possibly live them, or they think that because they'll be forgiven that it gives them licence to be as bad as they want without feeling bad about it. I think the worst thing is to feel that you aren't allowed to question or discuss rationally your faith. You can't grow in wisdom and understanding if you're not allowed to question and prove for yourself that what you've been taught is right or wrong. To just let yourself be programmed without thinking about why you feel as you do, to not have ownership of your opinions, gained by hard contemplation, is dangerous in my opinion.

EEEKS. I changed it a little cause I'd rather have friends than press buttons.

Christina! Bitten 3 times!!!! I guess snakes like you or not!

I think the fact that you're still talking to me says a lot to me. I think there was some guy once who didn't like how things were going in the church of his time and he got rather emotional about it. I have a little bit of passion about some things and I use that part of the history of that somone to justify it.

Just cause some cult of men (mostly men) says it's so and can't be corrupted dosen't mean you have to believe them, even if everyone else wants to recite their words verbatum. Mankind is corruptible, and anything under the control of mankind is corruptible, especially if there's numbers of people involved, and power that can be derived from them.