The big 100.

I kept debating with myself over what to do for my big 100 th post. A contest? Neh, don't have anything to give away that all of my readers would want.
So what to talk about? Well... as my birthday comes up, I keep thinking about the changes I've lived through for the last 10 years.

And while, I'm very open about my life (most of it) I haven't ever given a lot of background info about myself.
10 years ago, I was finishing up my ill-fated first year of college. I was about to turn 19. My parents were in the midst of moving to another state and trying to sell their house.

It was quite an adventure in making my own decisions, and being an "adult." I didn't really do a very good job...
I did however get a part time job working at Toys R Us. Way fun! I was working in the video game/action figure section, which amusingly enough they offered to find me something else because of course girls don't like video games and action figures. Sillies.
At home I was playing Ultima Online, Hexen 2, and all sorts of fun things on Heat.net.
I rocked at my job selling Playstations, gamecubes, and WWF Action figures. Didn't really like one of my bosses though... I quit working at Toys R Us to become a Hallmark Employee.

Time passed on, and my 3rd semester of college didn't go any better than the first year, so they kindly asked me not to return. I picked up a 2nd part time job at the t-shirt cart in the mall. Perfect timing, I scored on all the Phantom Menace t-shirts and posters I wanted.

My grandmother's house was supposed to be home, but more often than not I just stayed with friends. I was having a lot of fun. Sometimes too much, but hey I'm still here right? :)

Eventually, I went to work at Babbages, which later became Gamestop. Talk about fun. I was hired for being cute :) While working there I also got a job at J Crew. I was finally able to move out on my own with a friend of mine.
This is where Kitty joins the picture, around September 1999. The girl I moved in with saw a bunch of orange tabbies in a crate outside a convenience store off Airport Road. She drove me out there, and I peered in. I looked at several of them, and picked them up.
The 2nd cat I picked up climbed up my boob and sat on my shoulder. I knew he was mine. (Unfortunately, he still tries this.) I could never settle on just one name that summed up his personality. I was afraid it would confuse him, so I just called him Kitty.

This is also where I met Mr. Lewis, when I got the job at J Crew (and kept working at Babbages too).

Mikey's job at J Crew was to keep an eye on phone volumes, and ensure there was enough but not too much coverage. If the phones were super slow, he'd send up a message in case anyone wanted to leave early.
Because my schedule often included working Friday night 8pm-2am, then Saturday 6 am
-2 pm for my mandatory weekend 8 hour shift, and THEN working at Babbages until closing, you can see how he became my bestest friend for letting us Friday nighters leave at 10:30.

After working essentially 2 retail jobs through Christmas, I knew I had to find something else. I went to a job fair and applied for some insurance company working on something called an "Annuity." Had no idea what it was, but didn't really care. And I got it!
A few weeks later I was sitting in my cubicle, and who did I see? Mikey had followed me! From that day on we emailed eachother all day every day, mostly making up silly movie titles by replacing a word with "gnome."

He moved to Richmond about 3 years ago, and I think it is definitely where his path was meant to go, even if it was full of brambles and bees.


In my orientation class there was a dude about my age... yeah, we ended up dating, and then got married in March of 2002. Not too much to say about that other than its obviously over, and I seriously believe if we had just moved in together I wouldn't have fought so hard to try to make it work. I did have a lot of fun playing Dark age of Camelot in the short period we could afford cable internet.

I am very grateful to my friendship with Mikey and the rest of the wrecking crew during this time, though I often felt bad that I was forcing my friends to entertain me all the time just because I couldn't stand to be in my own home. We had a blast!!!

The rest is history as we say, I've now been with that company for 8 years, and I"m the only person who knows what I do about half the time. I have no written procedures. Mwahaha. Now I am the master! (Jedi Master as Thomas calls me).

I was single for the first time in about 8 years September of 2005, and took full advantage of it. I took up knitting (which is why mom got me This book when she saw it). I spent a lot more time with Kitty, who poor guy had been all but ignored because the house was such a mess :( I am so sorry Kitty.

I moved in with a friend from work, and got a 2nd cat named Diddles. He was so cute and spunky, and only had a half of a tail!
Kitty became big brother right away. They were very close.
Photobucket


Then, I started friending people on myspace. It started out as a funny game Mikey and I were playing, to see who could get the most friends. We would find people close to us with similar interests, and when I visited every few weeks we'd see who added more people. Whoever won would buy dinner. Really, I think he knew he'd always have more being in a bigger city, and just wanted a way to get me to let him buy me dinner, to help me afford to visit. He went through a rough patch there, and I was glad to be able to help him get around, at least on the weekends.


Then, I started chatting with this guy called Beyond. I friended him because his myspace profile was full of comic book references, and he loved Queens of the Stone age, and was in a band.
Also? He was very cute :)



Mikey also started chatting with a girl he met on myspace ;) So... don't knock it, you just never know where you might find love.

Sadly, not long before I moved in with Sam, Diddles got out :( We never saw him again. I like to think that his adorable tail and cute personality warmed his way into a family who chose to ignore the signs we posted.


Sam and I have now been together for over 2 years, and I couldn't be happier. I've never laughed so much, or felt so comfortable and happy. I love you babe!!!!
I'm also happy in my job, as I said earlier I feel very needed because I'm the only person who knows how to do a lot of the things that I do each day... I have a lot of knowledge that isn't stored anywhere. I also feel like I can really help people, both fellow employees and our customers. I ensure that we are compliant with the laws and regulations of our products, but are fair to our customers.

I'm really enjoying my continued existance online, which also began about 10 years ago. Between Twitter, Ravelry, Pownce, Comic Book Resources, and a slew of other message boards, podcast sites etc, I've met some truly generous and wonderful people.

So... that's pretty much it...
Sorry its so long winded, but hey it was 10 years of my life. Hoping the next 10 are as much fun, but less dramatic ;)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Woot!!! Yeah for you entering the best years of your life to come ahead. Work it girl!!

Anonymous said...

I worked at Babbage's too.. :D lulz

JJ said...

Jadie,

Got here through Thomas. Are you a FARK fan? I heart caturday...

Every day is Caturday!

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing... I a ma firm beleiver that everything we experience leads us to where we are today and thus can't be all that bad, every bad relationship has made us the person the person we are with wants to be with... Cat Stone Selzler