5 Question Friday!

1. Do you sing karaoke? If so, what is your go to song?
Actually, I've never done karaoke. I did own a karaoke machine once, though. And this one time, on my 21st birthday, after I'd had a few drinks, I REAAAAALLY wanted to go do karaoke. Unfortunately, the karaoke place wasn't open that night. I did, however, take music lessons in junior high and performed at the mall and my school's beauty revue. And I sang at church.

2. What is your favorite coffee drink?
A Red and White Chocolate Mousse from Latte Books, which sadly closed down years ago. It was coffee with white chocolate and raspberry with whipped cream and chocolate on top. When I'm in the mood for one I just ask for a coffee with raspberry and white chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Mmm....

3. If you could choose your own name, what would it be?
You know, I actually think I would keep the name I have, even though I used to hate it. No one spells it right, and half the people I meet can't pronounce it right. (Seriously, how hard is it to say Anna and just stick a J on the front?) I can't imagine myself with any other name. My mom told me recently that she had wanted to name her daughter Christina and call her Christy, and she made the mistake of telling one of my great aunts who subsequently named her daughter Christi. Also, I was supposed to be a boy (apparently they didn't have sonograms back in '87) and my name was going to be Clinton Gerald...which is now my (half)brother's name. Mom just doesn't have good luck with names.

4. Were you ever bullied?
Not really, but I can remember a couple of times I was "picked on."

5. How often do you eat fast food?
Um...can I plead the fifth? Let's just say I eat it more often than I should. I'm trying to do better, though.

Thankful Thursday

Saw this on Mrs. Briggs's blog and decided that I've been focusing too much on all the negative stuff in my life. Today I'm focusing on nothing but the things I'm thankful for!

First of all (and it's the first thing on my mind because I just got off the phone from setting up an interview), I'm thankful for Marianne Todd at Mississippi Weddings Magazine for giving me my shot, trusting me with so many stories and being an AMAZING boss! I can't wait to see this woman's vision in print.

On that note, I'm thankful that I've gotten almost all of my interviews for the story I'm working on. Five (possibly even six) out of seven ain't bad!

I'm thankful that tomorrow is PAYDAY!

I'm thankful that my friend B got a new job!

I'm thankful for my lovely friends and family (namely, Mom, my wonderful boyfriend, my amazing BFF and my lovely coworkers) for keeping me sane!

I'm thankful that, come May, I will have two new babies to spoil! My friend Lana's little boy, and my cousin Joey's little girl!

I'm thankful for my sweet big puppy, Buddy, and my evil little ginger cat, Tibbot!

I'm thankful that I get to go to Southaven with S and M tomorrow to eat yummy TGIFriday's and visit Target!

And finally, I'm thankful that the sun is starting to come out of hiding and that spring is almost here! I can't wait to get out of these layers and put on a skirt and a cute pair of sandals!

(Unfortunately, I don't know how to work that MckLinky thing, so if anyone could enlighten me, I'd be ever so thankful!)

The Only Constant is Change

Lots of things seem to be changing in my life in such a short period of time. I'm having a little trouble processing all these new developments, and quite frankly, they're making me uneasy.

First of all, the job thing again. Just this week, one of my good friends, B, was let go because she was having some family issues that made her late sometimes. It doesn't really seem like it's been going on that long, and she did her very best to get to the office as quickly as possible. If she was 30 minutes late to work, she would make it up by only taking a 30 minute lunch, so it isn't like they were losing her effort.

There are a few of us--myself included--who have been habitual missers. In my case, it was because of sickness and migraines--which, thankfully, have gotten under control thanks to some handy little pills my doctor gave me--and I haven't missed a day in almost two months. (The last time was at the beginning of January, and it was because of a death in the family.) Others also miss because of sickness or personal issues. However, I can't help wonder why they didn't choose to eliminate any of us instead of B. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's because she had been with the company longer than any of us, and she probably made more than we do.

Let's back up to one week ago. My sister called and woke me up from a perfectly good nap to tell me that our brother had proposed to his girlfriend. Now, this would normally be a happy development. However, our entire family loathes his little girlfriend. To borrow a phrase from our older kinfolks, she's too big for her britches. She steps into a place where she has no right to be, as in telling his mother (my dad's wife) off because of my brother's curfew. Also, to quote Kanye West, "I ain't sayin' she's a gold-digger, but she ain't messin' with no broke..."

No, wait. That's exactly what I'm saying. She's a gold-digger. And to top it off, she made my brother quit his job because he wasn't spending enough time with her. How these two things fit together, I don't know.

Now let's fast forward to yesterday. My sister texts me with the wonderful news that Little Miss Gold-Digger is pregnant. She's a senior in high school. My brother is 20 and has nothing but a college diploma. These kids were building a shack out of scrap metal to live in because they're "sick of everyone." And now they are going to bring a child into their deluded world?

What's more, now my family and I are going to have to tolerate her if we want any hope of ever being involved in this child's life. Let's just say I hoped finding out I was going to be an aunt would be a much happier occasion. But, you get what you get and you deal with it. And life goes on.

Job Insecurity

I don't enjoy my day job. That's no secret. In fact, there have been days when I literally woke up sick because I knew where I'd be spending the next 8 hours. There have been days when I was seriously ill (i.e., throwing up every twenty minutes due to a migraine) that I thought I might get fired for going home. There have been days where I was yelled at for absolutely no reason. There have been many, many days where I've been made to feel like a worthless employee, even though I work my tail off and try my very best not to make mistakes. However, there has never been a day that I thought I might lose my job over budget cuts.

Until today, that is.

Today our supervisor announced that, due to production cuts, the company had eliminated (read: fired) one of our IT guys and our entire sales force. She had been assured--and, in return, was assuring us--that our department would not be affected because we are basically what makes the cogs turn. In fact, we are so important that they are bringing people down from our other offices to do some training workshops with us. We shouldn't worry about our jobs at all.

Right.

My job basically consists of entering bad checks into the system so the collections department can call and harass people for the money they owe from these bounced checks. We're in a recession, so there have been plenty of bounced checks...until lately. Why? Tax season. Folks are getting their income tax refunds and subsequently have more money, hence they bounce fewer checks. There are 10 people in my department, which is perfect for times when the check flow is heavy. Right now, however, we don't have enough work to go around, and we end up doing random tasks like folding letters and stuffing them into envelopes (which, surprisingly, is less fun that data entry). All of us know our department is needed, but we know that they might not need that many people in the department.

One of my lovely coworkers asked, if we were to lose our jobs, would we be given advanced notice so we could find new ones. She's the only one working in her household (her husband is in law school) and her paycheck barely covers her rent. Other women I work with are supporting kids. I have a car payment and rent. We don't get paid much, but we need that paycheck. The woman in charge of hiring (who is always present when we get big announcements or get in trouble) told her that the people who lost their jobs got severance.

My coworker: "I know they did, but would we?"

Hiring woman: "You don't need to worry about it, because it's not going to affect this department."

Just give us a straight answer, would you?

And it seems that just when things get bad at my day job, my side job takes off. I got two more story assignments from the wedding magazine I write for, both due by the end of the month. It's nice to know that I have at least one blessing amid all the chaos.

My Life in Pictures

In addition to a blog, I've also created a daily photo blog on Tumblr. It's an undertaking inspired by similar projects by friends and other sites I've seen. My goal is to take a picture of something interesting every day. If I can't find something or create something to photograph, I'm sure Tibbs will be happy to oblige as my subject.

If you're interested, check it out:
http://jannarenae.tumblr.com/

Once More, With Feeling

Lately I have been feeling an overwhelming urge to write. I thought about starting a journal, but I never have much success with journals, as no one other than myself expects me to keep up with them. My solution, after reading some really good postings by blogger friends of mine, is to start a new blog. I tried it last year, but only ended up posting one entry. However, I really want this one to succeed. I think school had me so burnt out of writing that I fell out of love with it. Now I'm feeling the urge again, and it's a really good feeling.

What exactly am I going to blog about? I have no clue. I may talk about what's going on in my life. I may talk about a book I just read or a movie I saw. I may rant about things that are going on in the world. Who knows? Let's just say I plan to write about things that matter to me, if not necessarily anyone else. That's why I chose the title "Miss Misc."