Hey @splt7190.
I had no issues with the original filament which came with the kickstarter bake.- it was white i guess.
Your heatsink cooler was on while printing, right?- If off,- this could cause a filament jam at the extruder wheel.
Probably your retract settings could be a bit too high or maybe to fast, grinding the filament and get it out of shape.
Have a look at this adapter for your future prints, it makes it ways better (there is also a version on thingiverse, print it at least with petg or abs) :
X-Axis not parallel:
Yes it isn´t, but you calibrated your bed, so the Z-axis will raise every time to the correct Z-offset.
Hope this helps!