He would often say to me " I want to talk in the mike and say a goody" as he called it. That is when I knew he had something interesting to say.
" Maybe he thought it seemed like the only time we listened to him was when he talked in the mike! "
A Mind Of His Own
Most of the time, Victor did not like to do what he was told. He could be very stubborn and even though he understood when I asked him to do something, he would not do it unless he felt like it. I think he believed he was the boss and I shouldn't be telling him what to do. I normally didn't scold him, but I remember one time when I was trying to record him, he wouldn't co-operate. I told him he was a bad budgie and that he should go to his cage. Surprisingly he went to it and stayed there for about two hours without making a sound. I was working on the computer when he finally came out and got up on my shoulder again. He said: "Victor's a good boy, he talk in mike now." This showed me that he knew the importance of having his own choice and even though he gave in on this one, he made the choice when he was ready.
He could also be demanding and bossy at times. An example of this was when he was sitting near me one day and chatting away. I went to the kitchen to get a cup of tea. While I was on the way, he said loudly "When I talk something, I want you stay here!"
He also made his own judgements when it came to certain things. A really cute example of this ability happened several months before he died. There was a fly in the house and it flew right through Victor's cage. Victor ducked and reacted very nervously. I got something and knocked it out of the air. Then I looked for it and couldn't find where it landed. After a few minutes Victor was still acting nervously and looking around the room. He said "Where is the bee at?" I told him it wasn't a bee, it was a fly. Finally I found it, picked it up and showed it to him. His response was "It's a bee, does it like me?" I told him it was dead and it wouldn't hurt him. Afterwards I thought well if he wants to call it a bee, I think I'll just let him this time. On the same issue, one other time I remember him telling Betty to go catch a bee sting as a joke.
He was also a very proud and conceited budgie. He liked to talk about himself, what he looked like and how he felt. Victor would often get upset if I criticized his talking abilities, and especially if I said something bad about one of his recordings. He knew that many people were listening to them and he wanted to make sure they were special. He often referred to his work as literature, acting, art and even case files. He talked much about wanting people to know certain things and he enjoyed what he was doing. Just prior to his death he was having an average of ten thousand audio downloads a month. Many of the better parrot sites in the world don't receive that on a yearly basis. This was all accomplished without putting money into advertising, or even web design. If you think my website needs improvement now, you should have seen it when I first started. (eee..what a mess)
Copyright © April, 2001 Ryan Reynolds
