Miss Raquel's 2nd Novel- Part 5

[ladyamylynn]

In her post about moving out, she mentions that she found her current church after the pastor contacted her, a stranger, on social media, offering her a place to live. Does that seem sketchy to anyone else?

[Vex]

8 hours ago, ladyamylynn said:

In her post about moving out, she mentions that she found her current church after the pastor contacted her, a stranger, on social media, offering her a place to live. Does that seem sketchy to anyone else?

Yes. Yes it does seem sketchy.

I just wanted to share a pome with you guys, from Raquel's "Poetry Nook". I found it pretty hilarious given her lack of skill with punctuation and grammar.

 

Quote

"Punctuation"

All sentences end
Each with a different mark
A punctuation
Declaring the kind of sentence it was

All lives end
Each in a different way
Abruptly
Slowly
With pain
With joy
With or without a word
But always a type of punctuation

What sort of punctuation is at the end of my life?

Will my last breath be one of salvation
Or of declaration
Or a question perhaps?
Will I slip out of this life and into the next
Not knowing why my first one was lived
Or if I had lived it well?
Will it end instead in an exclamation of joy
Power
Thankfulness
Utter ecstasy?
Will it end with a trail of unspoken thoughts
Wishing
Regretting
That they had never been spoken?

Will it end in such a way
That people will look at that end mark and think
'She lived her life well
She has nothing to regret...'

 

[Georgiana]

What sort of punctuation mark indicates "utter ecstasy" and how can I incorporate this into my daily life?

 

[Terrie]

Man, she is on a blogging rampage. Her latest made me question the quality of her homeschooling even further. In what world does a kid NOT get the lecture on the dangers of smoking? I swear I got it weekly as a kid.I suspect Raquel has had plenty of warnings in her life -- she's just chosen to ignore them.

[formergothardite]

Quote

Why aren't we warned that life will hurt us, even when we have done nothing to encourage it, to invite the pain, to want to feel the sharp sting of betrayal, of lost love, of anxiety and depression, of self-consciousness, of fear?

Surely her parents didn't raise her in such an isolated bubble that she never learned that life can be bad and that you can do all the right things and still have everything turn out wrong! A lot of this is stuff you just pick up naturally. I'm with @Terrie, she was warned, she just ignored it all. 

Quote

 

Life will hold painful moments for us.  

Life is sad sometimes. 

I get it.  

Adults don't want to be raising us, telling us all these horribly depressing things.

But I wonder if it's worse to find it out on our own than to be warned..

 

Even most kids realize like is sad sometimes and there can be painful moments. Raquel, these are not deep, profound thoughts you are writing. 

I guess she didn't get a good grade in that writing class. 

[ladyamylynn]

Guess her homeschool curriculum didn't cover "when a guy doesn't respond to your 400th text of the day." Poor gal.

[refugee]

2 hours ago, formergothardite said:

Surely her parents didn't raise her in such an isolated bubble that she never learned that life can be bad and that you can do all the right things and still have everything turn out wrong! A lot of this is stuff you just pick up naturally. I'm with @Terrie, she was warned, she just ignored it all. 

At least one church her family attended (years ago, that is) taught the implicit message that as long as you followed the checklist for godly living, life would be good. Of course, to reinforce the cognitive dissonance and keep people from thinking critically, there were also messages about being persecuted for Christ's sake, and suffering being a part of life...

...except that people also seemed to think if they could project a perfect facade of a perfect family, everyone else would be inspired (to look up to them) to follow the Lord in the same way (to put on masks and always show the world a smiling face so the world could see how superior christians were and want to be christian, too). 

...and if you were suffering, it was because of sin in your life. (Now, this church sneered at the health-and-wealth gospel types, but displayed a lot of that same thinking; if you had enough money to be comfortable, if there was no serious illness, if god blessed you with baby after baby, etc. then you were enjoying the favor of god and somehow it indicated your righteousness and capacity for obedience. If troubles or tragedy, well... you were "doing it wrong" or were nurturing some secret sin).

These were Presbyterians, BTW. Doesn't sound like the typical Presbyterian church? Well, they were on the fringe and slowly slid downhill into the lunatic fringe.

"and that you can do all the right things and still have everything turn out wrong"

Um, no. I know the message in at least one church attended by her family was that you can do all the right things, and things will not turn out wrong. Even if they do, you still have that verse to fall back on, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Or something like that. It was held up as an example for families with "wayward" children that if they just stuck to their guns and shunned the kid and cut him/her off from all love and support and family, he/she would come crawling back someday, a la the Prodigal Son.

And going to a church like that, when your kids are little, even though you might see teens and twenty-somethings walking away from the church and their family, you kept your head firmly in the sand and kept the blinders in place and fervently believed it would never happen to you and yours.

[AmazonGrace]

Didn't her homeschooling curriculum cover the difference between "we" and "I"? 

I mean, it is quite possible that she wasn't warned, personally, but please don't speak for me. My parents warned me plenty about tons of stuff. I read books about the myriad ways that life can hurt. I knew about fear, I knew about the dangers of smoking. 

Not everyone is the same as you, Raquel.
 

Quote

 

WHAT IF WE HAD BEEN WARNED?

It seems that they forget to tell us, as children, that life hurts.

...

How differently would this life be lived if we were warned of people, places and things?  We learn about them as nouns in school, but why aren't we introduced to their schemes and wily ways too?  Why aren't we warned that life will hurt us, even when we have done nothing to encourage it, to invite the pain, to want to feel the sharp sting of betrayal, of lost love, of anxiety and depression, of self-consciousness, of fear?

 

Please tell me more about the schemes and wily ways of places and things. 

[AmazonGrace]

12 hours ago, Georgiana said:

What sort of punctuation mark indicates "utter ecstasy" and how can I incorporate this into my daily life?

 

I believe it is called the Big O.

13 hours ago, Vex said:

Yes. Yes it does seem sketchy.

I just wanted to share a pome with you guys, from Raquel's "Poetry Nook". I found it pretty hilarious given her lack of skill with punctuation and grammar.

 

 

All sentences end with punctuation

Except the ones in my pomes

I will make an exception for the questions

Because the question mark looks so artsy, don't you think?

 

[AmazonGrace]

I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and bright and I pity, any girl who isn't me tonight

[Lurky]

I guess she never read any Young Adult literature growing up?  My tweens and teens were stacked full of books that were ALL about "shit happens" to one degree or another...

[Terrie]

28 minutes ago, Lurky said:

I guess she never read any Young Adult literature growing up?  My tweens and teens were stacked full of books that were ALL about "shit happens" to one degree or another...

Well, he college essay claims she read constantly as a kid. Honestly, given Raquel's ability to learn from direct experience, I doubt reading would be of any help to her.

[desertvixen]

I can only assume her parents didn't let her read any Lurlene McDaniel, because that would have definitely covered WARNINGS!  And DEATH!

[acheronbeach]

I'm not aware of any YA fiction that could cure a person of intense narcissism.  

Sigh.  She's a prettier than average girl.  Not a stunner, but quite pretty.  I just wish she'd work on the intellect and personality, because her writing has stagnated at about age fourteen, and there doesn't seem to be much else there for her to be proud of - at least not that she's ever mentioned... :/

[formergothardite]

Raquel wrote another "poem". It is her typical drivel where she claims the guy totally didn't break up with her(her past posts make it seem like he brok up with her and then blocked her from his life), she broke up with him. 

[AmazonGrace]

Suppose it might be about a different guy.

[Georgiana]

I feel bad for Raquel sometimes.  How is there no one in her life that will sit her down and be like "Listen, you need to fucking stop it, crazypants."?  I get on my sister for so much less (and she gets on me) because that's not healthy behavior. 

Those aren't fun conversations to have with people, but they're conversations you have with someone because you love them.    If there's no one in Raquel's life that loves her enough to tell her the hard truth and chew her out for her own good, that's....really tragic. 

I think sometimes, deep down, she's actually subconsciously looking for that. 

[xRoo]

Her twitter is veryyyy lusty lately. She can't shut up about hot guys and how sure she is that everyone wants her.

[AmazonGrace]

Sometimes I just want to tweet her back and tell her, sister you're  fine with or without masculine validation 

When I was  a lot younger I had a boyfriend who I thought was the response to my prayers that God sent me, and when it turned out he wasn't it was a bit of a mental struggle to adjust because not only had I lost the boyfriend, I also had to re-evaluate my faith in Signs  and What Is Meant To Be. 

I think after she's been so heavily invested in the belief that God will send her the  One and Only  Perfect Future Husband (tm)  and so far all of the boyfriends God sent her have been a less exalted brand, she's working really hard to convince herself that all the failed relationships were Meant To Be anyway because God wanted her to teach the guy how to love (and then give her the boot) or wanted her to learn to respect her own boundaries and give the guy the boot, and it's all super duper extra special and the memories will be cherished forever.

But sometimes a guy is just a guy and he's interested in you because he finds you hot. And  actually I think that might  be a healthier relationship sometimes than if it's the Gift From God Under Whom You Shall Submit Yourself.)

[Terrie]

On twitter, Raquel is impressed her coworker knows about her blog and knows the URL by heart. That's like being impressed that someone knows pi to two digits.

[Vex]

Yes, Raquel. That's totally why your co-workers are talking about you behind your back.

[AmazonGrace]

Why would anybody send Raquel questions that are better addressed to a therapist?

Supposedly someone asked her how to get rid of trust issues with her boyfriend and her advice is to draw away from the guy and ask him to give her space.

I remember Raquel's url too, that's how smart I am.

[formergothardite]

On 2/17/2017 at 9:45 AM, Terrie said:

On twitter, Raquel is impressed her coworker knows about her blog and knows the URL by heart. That's like being impressed that someone knows pi to two digits.

I can't help but think that they were probably being sarcastic because she has mentioned her blog so often. 

[Pastors Daughter]

On 2/18/2017 at 1:10 PM, AmazonGrace said:

I remember Raquel's url too, that's how smart I am.

Sorry. It only counts in Raquel's world if it's a boy who has mastered this wondrous feat. Other girls, frankly, are only to vaguely appear in the url's comments to admire her hair and pomes.

[Terrie]

Just now, Pastors Daughter said:

Sorry. It only counts in Raquel's world if it's a boy who has mastered this wondrous feat. Other girls, frankly, are only to vaguely appear in the url's comments to admire her hair and pomes.

Don't forget her profound wisdom and life advice. Because who else would you go to for questions about your boyfriend?