9.22.2005

Feeling icky.

So I'm starting to come down with something. It's not quite to the point of Kleenex-with-Menthol sick, or passing-out-when-calling-my-boss sick or even the case of suffering-from-both -heatstroke-and-chill-at-the-SAME-TIME-and-passing-out-in-the-bathroom sick.

I called my boss after throwing up this morning, saying I wouldn't be in. Unfortunately, it's inventory (yes, the second one in two weeks), and things need to be ready for the count on Saturday.

So I slept a bit more and came in late. It was the job of the day to completely dismantle the downstairs stockroom. I almost passed out a few times. I was as weak as a kitten and couldn't do much other than the occasional lifting job and reading out stock numbers.

Obviously, I didn't think I was able to make choir tonight due to not having much of a voice.

So I hope to be resting in the next little while...

* * *

If you been to the House of Style in the past little while, you'll have noticed that we've had a LOT of foliage in our yard.

There's a lot of weeds, but also a lot of beautiful stuff, even if they ARE weeds.

Our landlord has asked that we get the yard trimmed, but our resident yardkeeper's been incommunicado for a while, and with my "September of Busy-ness," I haven't been able to do anything about it either.

Our landlord sent out someone to do it for us (for a fee, of course), but when I came home from work tonight, there was NOTHING left. No beauty. All there is is a bit of grass.

Which makes it good for our landlord, but not as fun for me.

9.19.2005

Hugs and potential one night stands.

So I was getting some food today at work, hitting the KGM food court.

After getting my Arby's, I'm heading back to the store. Three steps away, a fifteen-year-old guy comes up, says, "I've got to give you a hug," and embraces me.

With a very confused expression on my face, and a little scared, I hug him back with the arm that isn't holding the food.

Everything was (mostly) explained when he said, "I just had to do that when I realized that you're in Apocalypse Kow."

So, that's somewhat cool. I now declare this year "Hug a Kow Member" Year. However, I'm now only accepting hugs from cute women ages 18-30.

Canton will now be accepting the hugs from the teenaged male demographic.

* * *

So, I'm wondering if I might have passed up something in Banff.

On Saturday, after the day of singing, some of us were going to hit the bar across the way from the conference centre hotel. I arrived too early, found no one there, and left the pub on the way back to find friends at the hotel.

Outside, there was a cute girl smoking on the steps.

She said "Hi" to me in an interested tone.

I smiled at her, said "Hi" back, and kept walking. And kept walking further from an interested cute girl.

Granted, I rarely (never) make it a habit to hook up with people I just meet at a bar. (This might be a reason I'm still single.) It's just never appealed to me.

But, yeah, I was kicking myself as soon as I walked out of sight.

* * *

Just so you know, I have upgraded my blog to filter out the spam comments. So there's the tiring "type in a word so Jago knows you're not a robot" part of commenting now. Still, it's less of a hassle for ME this way.

9.18.2005

Well, that was fun.

So I just got back from Banff.

I was there for the weekend due to Oran's annual retreat. We hired a clinician from Newfoundland to go over with what needed to be done for us to sound better.

Man, Oran's one great choral group, singing- and people-wise. Susan Quinn, our clinician, was raving over how little she had to do with us. The music we're doing is challenging, but nothing that I can't handle after enough practices. There's one piece that has a score that has to be seen to be believed. (There's no bars. It's all based on intervals. It's also sixteen parts.)

Even though we spent a LOT of time in the hall singing (about twelve hours of singing altogether), it was one rushed weekend. The time flew by, since there was singing to be done, and usually a lot of meals to eat and alcoholic beverages to be drunk. I kept on thinking to myself, "That was three hours of singing? Wow. That was a two hour break? Okay."

The people in the choir are a fun bunch, too. Over the course of a weekend, there's a lot of time to interact with others, and not just the hotelmates (especially since the only time we were actually in the hotel room was to shower and sleep). Some crazy connections in Oran. Some, I know from Mixed Chorus (and not just the ones I knew about). There's a sister of one of my MC friends. One girl went to Prairie Bible College and sang with my high school friend Shauna. Then there's Jaimie, who I DID go to school with, her awesome husband, and her sister, who I'm not really familiar with, but that could be because when I last saw Jaimie, Crystal would have been... eight? Maybe?

I also got a lot of exercise in Banff to counteract all the eating I did there. Some of us would walk the ten minute route to get to these restaurants, and a lot of stairs were involved. On Saturday alone, I probably did about an hour and a half of walking.

In all, it was a very fun, if hectic, time, and I'm really glad I joined Oran this year. It's going to be awesome!

* * *

So, I found out last week that I'm permanently (or as permanent as the Company gets) KGM's assistant manager.

I'm sorry that this throws a wrench into Mark's plans for a Vancouver vacation next week. And he knows if there was anything I could do about going back for the week, I'd do it.

Also, I worked ten days in a row until Friday. This is one of the reasons I was really looking forward to the Banff trip. After so many days of working, and having three 12+ hour days in that time, it's really nice to get a break.

And it gives Dev a chance to show off his "Jago Needs a New Job" shuffle dance.

* * *

Finished reading "Out of Sight" by Elmore Leonard. I haven't seen the movie in a while, so it's a big fuzzy memory. The book's decent, though, even if it ends very abruptly.

On to Christopher Moore's "The lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove." In the first few pages, I laughed my ass off at:

"On the radio, turned low, Reba sang of hard times with the full authority of a cross-eyed redheaded millionaire."

Next week, I'm hosting the book club where we're discussing Neil Gaiman's "American Gods."

9.09.2005

Aftermath

So this morning, I printed out the only two posts that have mentioned CapGirl, and took them to work.

The conversation I had with EFB when he came in:

Me: So, the next time you talk with CapGirl, you can tell her that I shut down my journal. If she looks on the website that's in the store's internet history, all she'll find is a farewell note.

EFB: So you shut it down?

Me: As far as she's concerned? Yes.

EFB: Okay. I'll also tell her you apologize.

Me: No.

EFB: What? Yes. I'll tell her you apologize for what you said about her.

Me: I swear, EFB, there's NOTHING I need to apologize for. If you tell her I apologized, I won't be very happy.

EFB: No, Kyle, it's the best way.

Me: Here's the only times I mention her at all in my journal. (I hand him printouts of the pages in question. He reads them.)

EFB: That's it? That's what she got worked up about?

Me: Yup. Absolutely no fucking apology. I'm serious.

EFB: Okay, then.

* * *

Today was my first Oran practice. I really appreciated having something to take my mind off work, especially after the day I had. (When you feel that an eight-hour shift is about thirteen hours too long? That was my day. I was wandering the mall during my break looking for a store that sold bullets. And guns. To shoot myself with. Or others. I wasn't feeling choosy at this point.)

The group seems like a fun bunch. And we're learning some interesting music. And Scott and Katy seem like competent, respectful conductors.

Met a few new friends today. And reunited with a few old ones I haven't seen in forever. It's pretty funny when I can think of about six different ways I know some of my co-members. (Mixed Chorus, Moose Jaw, working with the accompanist's cousin, Kow, other performances, the a cappella community, etc.)

So I'm looking forward to this year of being back in singing. If it can get my mind off work for a few hours a week? It's a godsend.

9.07.2005

Sort of a new beginning. Also, I'm sorry.

Ever have one of those times where you decided that there's way too much to write and not enough time to give it the attention it needs? And then it just keeps on piling up on you, until you've got a three-week backlog worth of stories?

Yeah. that's me.

But since this issue is VERY important, I'll go into it before I update you onto the other stuff.

* * *

I've been transferred to Kingsway. (I'm going back to nicknames for the most part. Especially for the people who need them. And I'm not going to refer to my company as anything but The Company.) The Eternal Frat Boy, my boss at KGM, really needed a helping hand, so I was yanked away from Mark for a few weeks.

So when EFB came into the store, he and I went to the food court for a chat.

We talked about the shape of the store, the stuff that happened recently, and just about a whole lot of things.

All of a sudden, because we were talking about "The Friday that Almost Made Jago Kill Someone," CapGirl (the manager who was talking behind Mark's back) came up.

EFB: So, you've got a website.

Me: I sure do.

EFB: Why?

Me: I use it to rant.

EFB: Having a website's not good. People have seen it. Like CapGirl.

Me: Good. There's nothing there I wouldn't say to her face.

EFB: No, man. This could be a Human Resources issue. It's character defamation.

Me: It's really not, EFB. Trust me, I took courses on libel and defamation in school. She'd have no case.

EFB: She says you called her a bad mother.

Me: I'm pretty sure I didn't. (I didn't. I might have called her kids spoiled rugrats and fuckers and questioned why she brought a two- and four-year old to an inventory. But I never called her a bad mother.)

EFB: Still, there's the chance she could try to take you down based on your website.

Me: That's a bitchy thing to do.

EFB: As it was, I defended you. I said there's no way you'd do something like that. And then I found the website.

Me: Really, it's not hard to find. Just google "Kyle Jago." It'll be the first thing to pop up.

ERB: Well, could you stop writing on your website?

Me: No. There's no way I'm shutting down my personal page where I can express myself.

ERB: Could you at least move it? So CapGirl can't find it?

Me: That I could do.

So, yeah. I almost got dooced. So I'm making some changes here. Nothing drastic, but I'm not referring to my worksplace with proper names of the company or people. Unless they say it's find.

And, of course, the change of address.

Gotta go, watching some Joe Schmo.