Jade's Babblings

I once named a book of poetry "in my head" when I was in high school. Today B is out sick so J and I are here at work alone. It's been pretty slow. I was telling her how much "myspace" sucks, but that they've added this feature about rating your teachers from college. That's always a bit of a fun. J is not as into the internet stuff as I am so she was asking me about blogs and stuff like that. I sent her to these places , my favorite blogs . Discussing blogs and online communities with people at work always brings up that question - should I really be doing this? It's true that I don't say anything severely detrimental on here. I don't attack the company I work for, or even my co-workers.... The customers - maybe a little bit. But they deserve it, trust me. It's not the same now as it was when I was in high school. The stakes are higher, the pressure's on. But I always come back to the fact that not many people read this to begin wit...

I don't celebrate Christmas, being a Jehovah's Witness and not believing that A. Jehovah wants us to celebrate birthdays/holidays/etc. and 2. that Jesus was even born at this time of year to begin with. But I did give in and buy stuff for John and his parents since I knew I would get stuff from them and it seems silly to wait a week and then say "okay, here's your non xmas gift." They all know my stance on it, they all know my beliefs, so lets just move on. For John (the dad, not my John) I got him "150 most beautiful songs" sheet music, which he loved and immediately started trying to play on the piano. I got stud amethyst earrings for Valerie, which I think she really liked because she tried to get John to stop playing the piano at least three times so that he would look at them. For my John I got him a fleece Army blanket (very comfy), A Christmas Carol on DVD starring Patrick Stewart (which he also got for me so we gave a copy to Sarah and Paul), a H...

My pets are just too cute to resist I guess. Kirsty bought Pixel some very nice gifts this holiday season. lol. She even painted a cute little crate to put them in with little puppy paw prints all over it. Pixel got some milkbone dog bones, some smaller treats, a couple of nyla bones to chew on AND a treat dispenser that she hasn't quite mastered yet. Could be because I put her food in it to see if she'd eat it. I think she's more interested in treats so we'll try those next. Amelie had much fun helping Pixel to "unwrap" everything. She took special interest in the ribbon. And at one point I had to take a green bow away from Pixel. I got a great picture of her trying to wrestle it away from me. There's the wrestling picture. Here after follows the rest of the (very cute, imo) pictures I took. I also took a video, but I'm trying to upload it to my host and it's not working so I'll post that later. Here's Pixel looking at her new treats and t...

I've been disfellowshipped since. . . .last September I think. Of 2004. Sad, isn't it? I can't believe how fast this has flown by so far. With my back surgery I haven't been to meetings in about two months. That blows. The Elders are definitely going to pay attention to how often I show up to meetings. I could go back in January and get married in October , but if I'm not going to all the meetings for a while they are never going to reinstate me. So I just typed out a letter to the book study conductor (elder) at my new Hall. I explained I had recently had surgery and that I hadn't been to work for a while at first either and that I hope to be back to meetings regularly in January . I'll mail that off tomorrow. I hope it helps. It might make it easier to go back to meetings knowing that they know why I was out. I miss going to meetings. I really do. When I was little I used to wish that I could miss meetings for a while, but now I realize how much it sucks ...

That's what a customer once said to me when I was training on my new job here a few months ago. There were lots more nuttier things. One person said we were as helpful as poking sharp sticks in his eyes. I think I provide great customer service . I really do. I've never been more confident in my job abilities than I am at this point. But man!! Other people have really got some work to do. The downfall of customer service... I've been waiting on a Fed Ex package for four days now. It finally arrived last night. It had been in Massachusetts, 15 minutes from me, since Thursday night. Friday, Saturday AND Sunday it went out for delivery and never got here. They said they weren't running Mondays. What delivery service doesn't run on Mondays during the holiday season??? so I finally got my package last night. Thank goodness it wasn't TOO late. A couple weeks ago I called Capital One to cancel my payment protection plan. I had finally paid the stupid thing off and I ...

I spent the entire weekend painting. It was grand. Kirsty called me Friday night (John and I went to the mall to look at wedding rings, more later) while I was on my way home from the mall. She wanted to know if I was busy the next day. Of course I wasn't. Silly her... she thought I had a life. I've noticed lately that when I sleep in too late on the weekends I feel like my entire day is wasted and I just feel crappier than I did when I went to bed. So I didn't mind getting up early to meet Kirsty. I got up at 8:00 and took a shower and then I got to lounge around on my big comfy bed and read Harry Potter (Yes, I've given in to the dark side). Then I took Pixel (dressed up in her winter finery) and met Kirsty at A.C. Moore to pick up some art supplies. She's addicted to that place and now I am too. Then we went back to her house and painted for a while. Pixel hung out and chewed up an eraser and tried to chew up a wooden airplane. We stopped her, though. She was f...

I think things are getting better between me and my co workers. One of them emailed me last night and I emailed them back and we've been much more pleasant to one another today. And I talked to the other one in person this morning. that went well too. I feel a lot better and I feel like a lot of tension has been lifted today. J and I dressed alike. That's sort of amusing. I told her I was going to call her tomorrow (even though it's the weekend) to coordinate our outfits. So. . .I can breathe again. Breathing is good. Peachy Keen now has three egg babies. Hopefully she'll only have one more. The risks get higher with five eggs as opposed to four. And I really don't want to have to handfeed baby birds while I'm at work. But I am excited for her and TK. They are going to have beautiful babies. All those mutations. . . Oooh.

I decided I needed some updated pet pictures in here. I was just showing Chante some lovebird pics today and it made me think I should put them on my blog. Chante's not going to have her own place for like two years but as soon as she does she wants a couple of my lovebirds. Well, their babies anyway. I told her I should fly out there with them (Texas) and visit her. That'd be cool. Two years is a ways off though. So we'll think about it. :) Anyway, here are some pictures of all my kids. This is my cat Amelie. She's in the dog's carrier trying to piss her off. Amelie is the best cat in the entire world. She acts much more like a dog than a cat. She greets you at the door and is very affectionate. She likes to be held like a baby too. She's very spoiled. Amelie used to be a lot more spoiled before the dog came along, but she is still "top dog" and she knows it. This is second in command, Pixel. She turned a year old in October. She was totally zonked ou...

Today we had CS training in another building from 9-12. So the three of us took the shuttle over to it and goofed off the whole way over. It was like old times. Conversation has been at least polite and semi-friendly so that's good. I did just deal with the jerk on the phone, though. He calls up looking for a CDL key and says that when he registered in Plink he got a 30 day key but he wants a permanent. So I told him to send me an email. We are an email ONLY group. The keys are case sensitive in most cases and are sometimes long sets of numbers so we give them out over email, NOT over the phone. So he says (in what I thought was a totally hypothetical just looking to bother me sort of way), "What do you do for government agencies that can't access email?" But then he goes on to say that he'd just have to leave the building to get email and all this stuff. So I asked if he'd have access before the 30 day temp key was up. He sighs and says, "Let me talk to ...

Friday night I was supposed to get together with Kirsty, but her parents showed up early from Maine so she had to cancel. Saturday morning I headed out to Feathers with TK, Button and Justarius all in one carrier (big mistake - Button beat up the two boys and made them sit on the floor while she sat on the perch). They got wing clips and I talked to the owner's husband, John, for a little bit about how my breeding program was going. I didn't tell them that I rehomed Quicksilver and Goldmoon. Not that they'd care. They didn't sell them to me or anything. I just didn't get to it. Then I was sitting around the house and Kirsty called to see if I wanted to run to A.C. Moore with her. So she picked me up at my house and got the tour. She loved Pixel! We even brought her in the car with us and swung into Petsmart where Kirsty bought her the cutest little purple jacket. So Pixel pranced and felt all pretty. Then on to A.C. Moore and we stopped in at Whole Foods to say hi t...

I sold my youngest lovebird baby to this lady a few months ago. I should not have done it. She "forgot" to show up the first day she was supposed to pick him up and the the day she actually showed she was late. I should have said that she was obviously not interested in the bird and that I was finding it another home. But I didn't. So I saw an ad for my bird on Craig's List the other day. She was selling it with his cagemate, saying they were clutchmates. There's a whole lot to this story that probably only good bird breeders (like myself) would understand so I won't bore you all. Suffice to say that thanks to this woman, I am going to have much stricter ways of choosing new homes for my lovebirds. I've come up with a four page survey for prospective owners to fill out and I'm going to do home visits. These birds are terrified of people. When mine left he was a sweet little baby who liked to sit on your shoulder and cuddle. It's very sad. What'...

Really great job application .

Moving on. . . . We met Gil outside of my building yesterday evening. I had cleaned all the bird cages (except Gunther. His is a pain so I'll get to it this weekend) and put Quicksilver and Goldmoon into the new big cage. They seemed to really like it. They tweeted and hopped around and played on all the toys. . . Gil was nice. I think he was Russian or something, had a very strong accent. He asked some really good questions, which put me at ease. He wanted to know what they eat and if they like treats and if they can fly around. He thought their little happy hut was funny and said he saw one on ebay. So that means he was looking for bird stuff for them; nice. I felt a lot better than I thought I would as we drove away. I miss them a little bit, but I really think that they'll be pretty well-off at their new home. He doesn't have any other pets so you know they'll get plenty of attention. It was quieter in the house last night, amazingly enough. Button got loud around 6...

I did find a home for my Quicksilver and Goldmoon. I am so sad to give them up. The guy from my work is going to take them. I just hope when we meet him tomorrow that he doesn't turn out to be a complete scumbag. Most of the people who work here have to at least look normal and send out some small sense of normalcy so I'm sure he'll be okay (it is a professional environment in a HUGE company after all). I'm going to meet him outside of my building tomorrow at 5:00. And John suggested that I give him our new breeder cage with the birds. It's kind of pointless for us now that TK and Peachy Keen don't have to be seperated anymore. So they'll go into Silver and Gold's cage (which I've never been fond of, but whatever) and Silver and Gold will get a nice shiny (practically new) cage to go to their new home in. The thing is huge. I'm sure they'll love it. Maybe Quicksilver can actually get away from Goldmoon occasionally, poor hen-pecked little ...

I suck. I really do. I just feel like the worst pet owner. But I have tried and tried with these two lovebirds and they are just not friendly or sociable. All six of them being in one room is just TOO much noise and we are being woken up at 2 a.m. every night by birds screaming. It's really beginning to take its toll on John and me. So. . .someone's got to go and it's got to be them. They gave us that one great clutch since they've been with us and we found homes for three of the babies and kept Justarius, our little one foot wonder. But we just can't keep them. Not in the condo we're in now. Maybe someday when we have a soundproof bird room I could have kept them, but not now. I really have tried to work with them. Quicksilver seems like he wants to come out and play, but Goldmoon yells at him. And Gold bites, hard. I just think they'll be better off by themselves somewhere in someone else's house who doesn't care that they never come out to play or...

it's time now to sing out though the story never ends lets celebrate remember a year in the life of friends remember the love. . . . one song glory one song before I go glory one song to leave behind! No day but today. This movie was. . . an experience. John bought out tickets online a few days before opening night. Good thing too. We got there about an hour early and were the first into the theater. John is the only guy I've ever felt comfortable enough to sit in the middle of the theater with. I used to have to be on the end of the row or I'd flip out, but for the past year I sit right in the middle of the row, middle of the theater. I love it! After about fifteen minutes the teenage girls and homosexual teenage guys started piling in (not that there's anything wrong with that, as Jenn would say). I swear, an entire theater group from a high school must have gotten tickets together. They filled up 3/4 of the theater and everyone knew everyone. Someone would walk i...

Yesterday was really a lot of fun. Sarah and Paul got a sitter for Sadie and they showed up at my place around 12:30. We drove all over the place for work clothes for Paul. First we went to BJs. I got a cute little outfit for Dawn's son . It's all sporty. I think they'll like it. They like the Red Sox and the Patriots and this is a little football outfit so.... It's really cute. Only 11 dollars too. On the way there I gave Sarah a bridesmaid guide that I got her as a gift. Kind of cheesy, but I love stuff like that - keeps you organized - so I figured it can't hurt. She seemed to like it, and we laughed at some of the more zany advice. Paul found some pants at BJs and then we headed over to Kohl's. I have never seen a guy shop so long for clothes! lol. But I do think that the term "business casual" can confused some people. That's how I'm supposed to dress for work and it never fails that at least once a week I come into work and feel way too ...

Banky Edwards : Alright, now see this? This is a four-way road, OK? And dead in the center is a crisp, new, hundred dollar bill. Now, at the end of each of these streets are four people, OK? Are you following? Holden McNeil : Yeah. Banky Edwards : Good. Over here, we have a male-affectionate, easy to get along with, non-political agenda lesbian. Down here, we have a man-hating, angry as fuck, agenda of rage, bitter dyke. Over here, we got Santa Claus, and up here the Easter Bunny. Which one is going to get to the hundred dollar bill first? Holden McNeil : The man-hating dyke. Banky Edwards : Good. Why? Holden McNeil : I don't know. Banky Edwards : Because the other three are figments of your fucking imagination! ~Chasing Amy And while we're on the "best. . . .ever" subject, check out this post by L&N line. I love it!

My friend Jessica wrote that on the back of a smiley face sticker that had a bullet hole in its head. I haven't heard from her in ages. She lives in Washington state or Oregon or something. Last I heard (granted, from my ex, Jesse, who probably didn't want me talking to her because she's HIS friend and not mine. . .whatever) is that she's an apostate now and hates Jehovah's Witnesses so I guess it's just as well I don't talk to her. I don't know how I did it but my jaw is absolutely killing me on the left side of my face. Maybe I've been grinding my teeth every night for two weeks. I really have no idea. But it was so bad Tuesday night before we left for Brian's house that I actually took the tylenol/codeine I was given for my surgery. It was giving me a headache all across the top of my head and up the side of my face as well. It's still hurting and it started hurting a couple days before my surgery. I just don't get it. It better not be...

One of my best friends, Dawn, had a baby boy in October. Here is a picture of him. I can't wait to meet him when I am reinstated next year. At times I think "a year. . .that's not so bad." And then events like this happen and I think "Hmm, that justice of the peace wedding next month is looking pretty good." But I never want to regret a serious decision in my life and I know if I rushed this wedding I would really regret it. Anyway, here is the picture. Isn't he adorable?? (And Dawn's not half bad either. ;) )