I really should have liked or even admired the newly made bishop that had just moved into my ward. After all, he was cool or at least he thought he was like the Johnny Bravo egomaniac from the Brady Bunch show. The stake president had hand picked him to get my ward into line. My previous bishop was too wishy washy and made excuses for members that couldn't quite follow the rules of Mormonism. No, this new bishop was going to get the ward straightened out and correlation was in place to get it done.

I was a newly minted deacon and I was part of the Bishop's plan to get the ward into line. You see, Bishop Steely was oozing with success. He drove expensive cars, ran his own series of body shops, sold insurance and jewelry. He bought a ritzy home in the newest subdivision with customized swimming pool and his own dock on the lake.

Steely's first conquest was to win over the youth. How?
Easy! Have a swimming pool party. Of course, he had his standards that nobody was told of until they arrived. A bunch of twelve year olds arrived in their cut-off jean shorts. Oh no! Not in the bishop's pool. No sir! The bishop himself like the other endowed leaders did not go swimming or even wear shorts. Steely was attired in his beige dockers, but with a Hawaiian shirt. He wore a gold chain with his Michael Knight tinted sun glasses.

They had to call to the folks to bring them swimming trunks. Some of the girls (this was a deacon-beehive joint activity) wore a cotton t-shirts over their one-piece bathing suits. That was verboten as well. One girl refused to take her's off so she was told to sit in a corner. She wasn't even allowed to sit at the edge of the pool to dangle her legs into the cool water.

The swim test:

The bishop wanted to make sure that everyone could swim. I was the first and only one that he judged to be too risky to swim in his pool. It shocked everyone that was there. "How can you throw out Messy? He has a pool for crying out loud." Another kid shouted out "And his [pool]is deeper and has a diving board". This bishop's pool was smaller and shallower than my family's swimming pool. Steely made his point by saying "It's my pool and my rules. Messy can take some swimming lessons and if he gets a certificate from the Rec park, then I'll let him take my swim test over."

So I sat next to the girl that wouldn't remover her cotton t-shirt while everyone else had passed Steely's swim test enjoyed themselves. What does this have to do with Steely's jet boat?

Well, a few weeks later he invited the same deacon-beehive group to go water skiing behind his jet boat. I was not invited to participate. It was made clear that Steely would not allow non-swimmers on his boat. So I can't tell you about all the fun that I missed racing around the lake. However, one of the beehives had a rough time. Gretchen got tangled up in the tow line and went to the ER. Thank goodness the mighty priesthood was there to help the doctors set her broken arm.

That's interesting that one of old Steely's rules was no cotton t-shirts over the one-piece suits. He would've had JS nodding in approval.

I hadn't thought about that and his nod to the sleaziness of JS. He had a very pleasant wife that was warm and bubbly. Since she wasn't the trophy-wife type, I now realize that all the money and affluence came from her side of the family. It's not too hard to imagine him fooling around with the many secretaries related to his businesses.

Oh and Steely fled the golden state after his bishop gig was up. He went to Zion so maybe some of you had the misfortune of his leadership or being scammed in one of his investments.

It's OK. I understand the social implications of not getting invited, but you're not missing much skiing behind a jet boat. Sounds perfect for that bishop though.

>Bishop Steely was oozing with success. He drove expensive cars,

just FYI anyone who drives an expensive car is UNlikely to actually have wealth. See the books The Millionaire Next Door or Stop Acting Rich by the late finance professor Thomas J. Stanley

people with high-net worth usually drive nice quality gently cars -- but not high-end luxury cars. real millionaires drive Toyotas, Hondas or Buicks. they know that cars lose value very quickly and are not eager to tie up a lot of money in depreciating assets. nice, yes. luxury,no.

anyone who drives a European luxury car is probably not wealthy. they might have a higher than average income, but they're probably spending too much on status items like swimming pools, boats, BMWs and Mercedes-Benz cars. there's actually a negative correlation between boats and wealth.

so Bishop was likely not as well-off as he wanted people to believe.

Other People's Money....

In my experience, most of the people who are constantly flashing and drawing attention to their huge collection of status symbols (ridiculously expensive cars, expensive club memberships, huge house in expensive neighborhood, insanely pricey shoes and attire) are in the business of trying to convince other people that they have talents and abilities that are waaaay above average (as evidenced by all of the expensive things that they have "earned") and the only catch usually is that they used OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY to buy all of those props that they use for psychological effect in making their sales pitches. 9 times out of 10 they end up declaring bankruptcy or running away to another location to avoid their angry creditors. As in: "Bernie Made Off with all of my money! But he seemed so legit when I invested with him and I thought he was doing me a favor by agreeing to take me on as a client!" That kind of thing.

When BMWs come off lease/3-yr free maintenance plans you can get some good buys. I do most of the maintenance on it myself using online parts sources so even that part is not expensive. I love the way it accelerates and handles, despite the possible negative connotations. So not all BMW drivers are in it for appearances.

I am still driving it, but sold the Camry recently after 11 years; my wife wanted an SUV like the rest of the crowd on her commute.

IN ~ for more details OPie ~

Ooops different girl who didn't want to take off her t-shirt at the ward swim party.

Your stake center had a basement? I am so jealous.

Oh, Messy, I thought the ending was going to be that he fell off the jet ski, it did a circle around by itself and ran over him.

It wasn't a jet ski. It was a jet boat. One of the biggest abominations to ever hit the waters.

Aquarius123 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh, Messy, I thought the ending was going to be
> that he fell off the jet ski, it did a circle
> around by itself and ran over him.

I probably wished him to suffer some kind of misfortune, but it never happened. I'm the one that received injuries playing sports and he always came up to me to make fun of my predicament~ crutches, knee braces or arm sling. He even made fun of my speech impediment when I wore braces.

I hated him for so many reasons. He interviewed me often and when I did my best to evade his maturbation questions, I was volleyed to one of his counselors for a second round of worthiness questions. He maintained a notebook of the detailed interviews. I was a terrible liar and couldn't remember what I had told him the time before. He used his notebook to extrapolate information as if he had spiritual discernment. I later realized that he was a very good reader so our previous interview was "fresh" in his mind, but I thought God truly could reveal my shortcomings.

It was a very long four and a half years under his bishopric.

Bishop sounds like a real @$$hat.

I wonder how many kids peed in his pool. Funny how fast the algae grows after a party.

Probably a few. I later found out that some of my peers had peed in the font at the temple.

I briefly attended seminary so there's another reason we did not get along. I remember that a bunch of seminary graduates were goaded into giving seminary farewell talks. They gushed about the great times they had and how wonderful the bishop was. He then in turn thanked them and gleefully smiled when they had pranked his car with smiley faces in shaving cream.

My quorum later paid for that prank by volunteering to do roadside trash collecting for two straight Saturdays.

OK, I am back, after thinking about this for a couple of days, I am still wondering what was so sinister about the one piece bathing suit and accompanying tee shirt. I mean besides the normal horrid (to MORmONS) superficial show of any skin and the normal horrid (to MORmONS) potential for any young person to have some fun.

After all, I thought that the two piece female bathing suit was the apex of evil for women's swim wear and thus was the forbidden item in MORmONISM. Thus, the one piece SS would / should be one step removed from the evil of the two piece deal, and the tee shirt with the one piece would / could serve as another step for a grand total of two steps from the HORRID evil and violation of two piece swim wear. ....BUT WHAT THE HELL DO I KNOW on that topic!!!!

so IF anyone is willing, I need to be walked through this in detail in order for me to understand how the one piece and tee shirt constituted a violation, I mean beyond the normal "It is impossible to please the Damn MORmONS" on anything deal.

Smirk~

You're overthinking it. He didn't want a cotton t-shirt clogging up his newly acquired swimming pool pump/filter system. It had nothing to do with church standards.

My personal feelings toward him are irrelevant, but I didn't like how Steely attempted to place his arm around my mother's back at church when he escorted her into his office. The timing was poor because Steely had run off my Dad because he had joined "the foyer doubting thomases" that liked to ask embarrassing questions that the gospel doctrine teacher couldn't answer. This group was told to either stop asking questions and enjoy the lesson or get out. So my Dad became inactive, but that created a lot of strife in my life.

My purpose of writing about Steely has me asking what the hell did I do wrong?

I reflect and in looking back, I just don't see how I could have ever pleased him. He simply did not like me from day one.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2019 02:45AM by messygoop.

messygoop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Smirk~
>
> You're overthinking it.

DAMN !!! There I go again!!!

.....and HERE I go again!!! I could have sworn that I was UNDER thinking things, not "overthinking" them.

WHen a story is presented in the context of "Can you believe this (insane) MORmON BS ??"

Generally:
I tend to think of mentions of rule enforcement and attendant "Violations" as being based on MORmON ideals and thinking, unless a specific note is specifically made specifically designating the specific exception .....which then makes me wonder why the exception was ever was mentioned at all given the (MORmON) context.

Specifically: I tend to think of crazy contrived MORmON guidelines and sentiment on female swim wear and NOT think of pool drains (!!!!!!!)


My super MORmON (BITCH!!!!) and Super MORmON enforcement agent (BITCH!!!!!) aunt burned my Farrah Fawcett poster that I had bought when I visited her,
.....that was still rolled up in the shrink wrap for best transport back to my home, AND that I had never mentioned to any one which means she had to root through my personal belongings in the room that I was allowed to stay in, in her SUPER MORmON home, in order to find that poster that she otherwise NEVER would have known about ......NOT that I was trying to hide it, because SO UNLIKE her, I did NOT see anything wrong with it.


The day before I was scheduled to go back home, I began asking about my poster that had "somehow" come up missing. Eventually my (BITCH !!!!) aunt asked to speak to me in private in her living room. She pointed to the fireplace and asked me: " Do you know what that is ??"

Guess what I said !!!! -"Ummmmmmmm a fireplace!!!!!!!!.....?????.....!!!!!!"

that is (UNDER THINKING) me in (UNDER THINKING) action!!!!

can you fill in the blanks on the rest of story???


> He didn't want a cotton
> t-shirt clogging up his newly acquired swimming
> pool pump/filter system. It had nothing to do with
> church standards.
>
> My personal feelings toward him are irrelevant,
> but I didn't like how Steely attempted to place
> his arm around my mother's back at church when he
> escorted her into his office. The timing was poor
> because Steely had run off my Dad because he had
> joined "the foyer doubting thomases" that liked to
> ask embarrassing questions that the gospel
> doctrine teacher couldn't answer. This group was
> told to either stop asking questions and enjoy the
> lesson or get out. So my Dad became inactive, but
> that created a lot of strife in my life.
>
> My purpose of writing about Steely has me asking
> what the hell did I do wrong?
>
> I reflect and in looking back, I just don't see
> how I could have ever pleased him. He simply did
> not like me from day one.

This is actually somewhat of a repeat of my first story except with different details.

In my Protective ORder violation trial, the prosecution asked me what I was doing near my daughter's school as I was in my (MY!!!!!!!) neighborhood at my (MY!!!!!!!!!) nearby residence/ house, by which I mean my (MY!!!!!!!!) legally listed, MY!!!!!! legally documented, MY!!!!! legally allowed residence right on the court documents pertinent to the PO, MY residence which was NO longer my daughter's residence since she had moved to a different town. I might have said "you mean WHY was I at my own residence / house??? You mean besides because I have to have some place to live IF I am allowed to exist" but that was too obvious (TOO OBVIOUS!!!) even for Me in my most Capt Obvious modes.

WHen the Prosecution suggested that I was in the area to stalk my daughter, I told him that was not likely since I did NOT know that my daughter was attending that school which happened to be near MY !!!!! residence and that was NOW many miles away from my daughter's new legally allowed residence.

Once again, I simply stated the ABSOLUTE Truth relative to the matter: I did NOT know that my daughter was attending that school.


The "Family Values" MORmON judge convicted me of violation of the (baseless) PO (which never should have been issued in the first place, the grounds for which were later overturned by my appeal with DCFS .....after the damage had ALREADY been done), as super MORmON judgy poo accused me of lying to the court, based on his unassailable certainty "that every parent knows where their child is attending school!!! "

even as I had NO WAY of knowing where my child was attending school, OR IF my former child was attending school AT ALL !!!!

even as my NUT CASE wife at the time had home schooled the children right up to the point when she abducted them, and then I did NOT have any contact with my ex wife to be to know what she was doing as she enrolled my daughter in the school near MY residence, because I was obeying the Protective Order. ......NEVER MIND that I had NO actual contact with my former daughter to constitute an actual violation, as every time that I saw her in MY!!!!!! neighborhood, there was a piece of window glass between us.



SOOOOOO My mere presence in MY !!!!!!!! neighbor hood was SO SINISTER that it warranted convicting me of "violating the Protective ORder"

SOOOOOO after insisting on convicting me of violating the Protective Order because I am THAT sinister, what did the Family Values Judge do ????????????????? ......
-Asked me to NOT proceed with the divorce that I had filed for !!!!!! In the interest of preserving the family .....for his gratification ....... OBVIOUSLY, AT ANY EXPENSE TO ME!!!!



You see, MORmON Judgy poo had read my pre sentencing report where it mentioned that I had served a MORmON mission, SOOOOOOO MORmON Judgy poo made ANOTHER bad assumption just like his bad assumption that about how every parent must know where their (former) child is attending school -that he could abuse me and order me around just like some kind of a MORmON and that I would take it, because judgy poo just could not comprehend that sometimes parents do NOT know where their kids are going to school AND / OR and that certain people (like me) have QUIT "THE" MIND FUCK MORmON CHURCH!!!!


Guess how Good OLD Judgy poo's request that I NOT proceed with the divorce worked out !!!! AFter all that the MORmON judge had done for (TO) me!!


Here is a clue!!! NOT ONLY did I NOT know where my former children were attending school at the time, but I have NO IDEA where they live now !!!! because I have ZERO contact with them. I have NOT remembered their birthday on their birthday so much as single time ever, EVER since their nut case mother abducted them back when, but you can bet your ass and your eternal salvation that Protective Order has been strictly abided by in my case since my first supposed PO violation. ......because I do NOT let MORmONS have it both conflicting ways at the same time, the way that the MORmONS like to do. When the MORmON judge said that the protective order was his top priority, then he "made his choice". He does NOT get to have 2 or 3 or 4 exclusive priorities.



Got any questions about my inability to stay away from my former children so that the mighty law has to intervene (TO MAKE ITSELF LOOK GOOD WHILE MAKING ALL KINDS OF BS SELF ELEVATING STATEMENTS ABOUT PROTECTING CHILDREN https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-statement-separation-of-families-at-us-mexico-border ) ???? OR about whether or not I really knew my children were attending that school near my legally designated residence???? THEN ASK my former children, where the Hell ever they are, who have not seen their former male parent in nearly two decades.

......Some people may think that I am over explaining this, but there are ALSO lessons in my deal that may apply to your deal....that you are wondering about.

A. When the MORmONS feel inclined to play some one off as a villain to make themselves look better, and the next person to come long happens to be you, then you are going to be played off as a villain REGARDLESS !!!!

B. It is NOT possible to make the POS MORmONS happy (with out selling your soul to Hell and making other people abjectly miserable for the MORmON cause!!!)

In my neck of the woods, if you did not know who they were, you would never guess the wealthiest people.

I know and work with many of them.

One i know, with a net worth over 30mm, i have never seen wear anything other than bib overalls.

Not sure if he plans to be buried in them.

My wife's family owned some farmland we inherited and the guy that does the work on the land (or manages the work by now, he's about 70) is probably the wealthiest guy I have regular contact with, besides maybe some acquintences at my current church who are in the home building/development business. He owns multiple plots and manages others for people like ourselves. He's very conservative about expanding his holdings, but slow and steady wins the race. Aside from having a new F250 every few years and his wife a new Toyota every few years you'd never guess it from looking at his attire or talking to him -- always concerned about the crop in the field or the next crop.

If people don't display their wealth, how are others to know how much to like them?