[at-l] What'd I miss?

[nealb at midlandstech.edu (William Neal)]

> I j'st can't stand the thought of anyone looking at me.  I scare
> myself sometimes. ;-)

That's actually very sad.  I wish there were a twelve step program for
people addicted to clothing.  

WILLIAM THE TURTLE:
I ain't addicted to clothing.  I just know my body.  And if I were gay
(apologies to our gay members) I'd turn me straight the first time I saw me.
Of course that may come from having been chubby and pizza face during my
teen years.  I'll never be small bodied, but I am smaller, comparatively
speaking, than I use to be.  Still...  Don't show me a mirror.  Heck, I had
my photo done for the church directory and I looked at it once and stuffed
it back in the envelope.

*******************

> And don't just limit it to a "what do you say to a naked lady?"
> situation.  Take it to any embarrassing situation or awkward
> situation.  Like the time I stumbled across some "herbal" farmers
> or the shiner I met.

Well, I fail to see why any such situation should be embarrassing or
awkward.  

WILLIAM THE TURTLE
I should explain that stumbling across those herbal farmers was more a
safety issue.  The herbs they grow is more of the kind of herbs you smoke.
Sometimes stumbling across people can be awkward for a variety of reasons
that have nothing to do with embarrassment.  Luckily these were old 60s
Hippies who grew it for recreational purposes.  No selling.  And none of the
modern super-hybrids.  Just laid back 60s MJ.  But there are people out
there who you have to be careful of.  Some because they are breaking the
law, and some because they are of a SET mind.

For instance, I walked with no shirt, my boots, and swim trunks plus my pack
during some real hot days.  Worked great 'til I meet a very fundamentalist
youth group.  It was one of those small denominations where women wear
dresses down to their ankles, long hair, and full slips most of the year.
And the group was WELL chaperoned.  

I got PREACHED AT until I could politely get away.  Yes, I could have put
them down.  But I try and be polite.  And most of the young people, and some
of the adults, seemed copasetic about it.  Some actually seemed interested
in the way I was dressed and why.  So I just moved on when I could.  But if
I had "attacked" things might have been different. 

The most curious thing was that I remember talking to some people in the
area later when I went into a town.  Told them what happened.  They offered
that the group might have belonged to a church that regularly went into the
backwoods and baptized new members and re-baptized old members.  And they
did it the traditional way -- sans clothes.

William, The Turtle