Isn't it interesting....

[ProphetofOccam]

I liked the mantis story. It was given a little atmosphere by the music I have on, as well. I really like the kind of personal mythos you've got developing around you. I wish I'd known the little girl story came first, as it would have been neat to see it unveiled chronologically, but I'll just consider it a prequel to the developing idea.

You should consider writing down all of these types of connections you notice on a daily basis, and then report them at the end of the day in a new thread in the personal experiences section. Just reporting in every night to keep interest going. If nothing else, you'd have me entertained for a few minutes out of every day. Best case scenario, some new, or old, forum members have similar events happen to them. I'd definitely be interested in hearing about any more encounters with mantids or anything related to mantids in the future.

 

[Randall]

I think it'd just be a lot easier for everyone if you refrained from reading my posts, I guess. Nobody agreed with you. Nobody sees it that way. I'm not getting into this ridiculous garbage with you, again, as it's not very fun. You seem to be incapable of having any other conversation with me, and you're completely indifferent in regards to how many threads you've got to derail to take the conversation there. If I'm that much of a fuckface, just don't read my shit. Yeah, yeah, you're the bigger man and something about maturity and conversation, or whatever. I know. However, since you're incapable of allowing me to participate in threads without venom, I really think it'd be best if you granted me my childish peace.

Other than that, have fun!

You're the one who made the post. So like I said before, if you're going to post here, expect that you might get responses, and that not all of them are going to agree with your views, especially when you declare yourself to be a non-believer skeptic, and although it's certainly your right to reply with provocative language ( as above ), the assertion that I "don't allow you to participate without venom" couldn't be further from the truth. I much prefer rational counterpoint that addresses the point of the discussion. So if you've got it then post it. BTW, you might want to bear in mind that we've also had several very good exchanges and I don't hesitate to grant credit where credit is due. I hope to see more of that in the future.

 

[Wade]

I liked the mantis story. It was given a little atmosphere by the music I have on, as well. I really like the kind of personal mythos you've got developing around you. I wish I'd known the little girl story came first, as it would have been neat to see it unveiled chronologically, but I'll just consider it a prequel to the developing idea.

You should consider writing down all of these types of connections you notice on a daily basis, and then report them at the end of the day in a new thread in the personal experiences section. Just reporting in every night to keep interest going. If nothing else, you'd have me entertained for a few minutes out of every day. Best case scenario, some new, or old, forum members have similar events happen to them. I'd definitely be interested in hearing about any more encounters with mantids or anything related to mantids in the future.

Truth be told I do write down these incidents no matter how minor or fleeting and I've also gotten pretty good at memorizing many of my dreams. As far as posting them I have to admit I have in the past thought of doing exactly what you proposed to give people a chance to see what I have been prattling on about but most these cases are pretty mundane and are very much open to interpretation as to whether there is anything there but having said that I have no objections to others weighing in.

Case I'm point on another thread you started (unmasked) I tongue in cheek posted that I was hoodwinked into divulging my identity. No sooner ( five seconds tops) had I posted that when a news report I was listening to used the same term (hoodwinked) about an hour later two people came into the store and used the very same word and lastly my boss (and the owner) of the store called in as he usually does before I lock up and he also used the word hoodwinked in recalling a event over the weekend between hisself and a car salesman. Probably I'm making too much of it but it seemed to be more than a mere coincidence that this word kept cropping up in such a short period of time but I admit it is a personal judgement call, if I hear the word "was" several times throughout the day I wouldn't think twice about it but like the word that I mentioned in that story (non sequitur) it just seemed this word( hoodwinked) was destined to haunt me for awhile and this is what I wrestle with, because is it reasonable to question or note why one word (hoodwinked) should deserve special attention and notation and not another word such as "like" or "and" or "was" there is no rulebook here.

 

[ProphetofOccam]

I think the most interesting thing to me (I've not yet read the little girl story) is that the mantis thing was so specific and covered so many different angles (the creatures themselves, print, etc). Those are the kinds of things I find the most engaging. If you start to develop a personal relationship or interaction with the trickster aspect, I'd be interested in that as well. You mentioned looking into it, and having feelings about it, but didn't mention how you perceived how/if it fit into your situation.

 

[Randall]

... I admit it is a personal judgement call, if I hear the word "was" several times throughout the day I wouldn't think twice about it but like the word that I mentioned in that story (non sequitur) it just seemed this word( hoodwinked) was destined to haunt me for awhile and this is what I wrestle with, because is it reasonable to question or note why one word (hoodwinked) should deserve special attention and notation and not another word such as "like" or "and" or "was" there is no rulebook here.

I would suggest that because the word "hoodwinked" is a transitive verb that applies to very specific situations, it is reasonable to think that it would be less commonly used than "like" or "and" or "was" because those words apply to many non-specific circumstances. For example the word "like" when used as a simile ( or by a valley girl ) can be applied to virtually anything descriptive. But do events that in our minds represent something beyond mere coincidence really mean anything more than that?

Personally, I tend to be a bit superstitious. I recall an incident where in the span of a week there were 3 reports of tires exploding and killing people because of over filling. I went into work at the end of the week and my boss told me to overfill the forklift tires to transport a heavy transformer. I refused. Someone else went and did it. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but I wasn't going to be the one to take the chance after reading those reports. Another time I got a free parachute jump coupon in the mail from a parachuting club. I thought that was pretty cool and was thinking of trying it out, but that same day on the bus I read an article about a guy down there in the USA who had also won one, went up, jumped, and his chute never opened ... splat! Needless to say that was one coupon I let expire.

 

[Wade]

Most of the "episodes"are based on the repetition of a word being used in conversation that seems to be the word of the day and I probably pay to much attention to and have to talk myself down from making a bigger deal of it than it is, I still note it however (and as I said not at all opposed to different schools of thought) This is likely because of the mantis episode, probably I just happen to be good at picking out patterns and may have missed my calling somewhere along the line

I do sporadically get hit with one of those multifaceted(?) concepts or ideas...I'm not even sure what you would call them...where it gets splashed in various forums of media (thought , spoken, read in book, seen on billboards, corporeal (spl?) form like the mantis story in a matter of hours, but I have to ask myself if I did not live in the middle of a large city like I do and I was out in the country would I be experiencing the same thing as I admitted in another post I do avail.myself to all sorts of sensory input and certain words or thoughts are bound to turn up multiple times.

Because of these repetitive ideas that keep bumping into me I have become more fascinated with culture, society, cults and the spread of ideas and the concept of memes, controversial they may be. Most of my reading of late had been books like the copycat effect, the selfish gene and virus of the mind and i recently ordered from amazon "Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior" . One of the reasons I find vallee's work interesting of because of his control system theory , whether there is anything behind it is questionable but I have to admit I am more interested in what the phenomenon does to people as far as their belief systems more than whether such things exist or not.

In coming up with this reply you gave me an idea for a new thread...don't want to disrail this one too much about..about my brushes with a couple of cults from when I just arrived in los angeles all of 19 years old, again nothing extraordinary but in one case I may have been "tracked" by one

 

[pickles]

I truly appreciate all those (like Lance) that post on (controversial subject) web forums that have the balls to use their real names and claim their POV. I like Lance, now that we've spoken. I had a fun time actually interacting—real-time w/ that voice behind all those passive/aggressive posts and participating in a casual, earnest 3-way conversation w/ the REAL guy. He comes across quite different in real-time—like a real person who is not posturing on the web-stage for the benefit of some imagined audience.

Just like email, tone and meaning are often lost in the text. The same message given face to face or in an email can be construed completely differently.

That said, the issue isn't fear of getting shanked in a bar. The issue is, people when reading vs. listening are inherently prone to virtually random interpretations of the message anyway -- so why bother with the excessive politeness? Say your piece and move on.