2000-12-28 - 986032364

On the internal soundtrack: "So Bad". Paul McCartney. Don't ask me where that came from.

I got a thing in the mail listing volunteer opportunities. I also looked at the web site and I think I've found what I want to do.

There's a place where people can go when they are at the end of their rope -- usually a single mother, an addict, and homeless -- and learn the necessary skills to get a good job and support their families. They learn everything from how to use word processing and spreadsheet programs to how to budget to how to be a good parent.

So I could teach people to use the computer, which I think I can do, and I could spend time helping kids do their homework, and just providing support, in general. I could start with the homework help, I guess, and see where I go from there.

This is hard to explain. It's something I've thought about doing for a long time. I knew I wanted to volunteer, and I knew I wanted to help people make their lives better. I'm a big believer in that quote: "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime" or something like that. I believe it's important to set goals and expect the best of people. (Wasn't the best teacher you ever had also the one who expected the most of you?) I believe that in working to meet these goals, and by succeeding, they gain self-confidence. I think that just handing things to people means they won't appreciate those things anywhere near as much as they would if they worked hard to earn them. This place I'm talking about has a very strict program that demands a lot from its enrollees but it also seems to be extremely supportive.

I'm a little nervous about it since I have trouble understanding people who mumble or have foreign accents (if it's all immigrants, I'm in trouble). But the pictures of the success stories look like natural-born citizens, not immigrants, so I'm hoping I just have to watch out for mumblers.

I feel sort of ridiculous, like I'm being condescending somehow. But if I could actually help, in some small way, to get someone into a position where they can support themselves and their families, that would be really good.

There's a thing I read once in Reader's Digest, when I was in my teens, that I've always liked. It went something like this:

As the old man walked the beach at dawn, he noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the young man, he asked him what he was doing. The reply was that the starfish would die if left in the sun. "But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish," said the old man. "How can your efforts make any difference?"

The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety in the waves. "It makes a difference to this one," he said.

Sniffle. Yes, I'm a sap. We've established that already. Shut up.

Today I went grocery shopping around 2:30, trying to beat the hordes of panicky shoppers depleting the Safeway of milk and toilet paper due to tomorrow evening's predicted snowstorm. No, I was not being panicky -- we needed ham and lettuce since we haven't been home for a week. I had enough milk and TP.

While I was out, I noticed something that disturbed me greatly. I did not feel very cold. Well, a little bit when the wind was blowing, but not enough to put my hood on. When I got home, the weather channel said it was 31 degrees out with a windchill of -1.

You know what that MEANS, don't you? It means it's been SO fucking COLD for SO LONG that I've gotten USED to it. That is WRONG. It's not supposed to be so cold here. Usually we have weather in the 40s. I can't believe it.

On the positive side, this might mean that I could handle a skate if the temperatures ever do jump into the 40s. I'll have to try it, if the ICE ever MELTS.

"LINUS AND LUCY" IS PLAYING ON THE LOCAL FORECAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poindexter just turned it way up for me. This song makes me so happy. I love it. There's a juice commercial that plays it too.

For those who don't know, it's the song Schroeder plays in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" when everyone is dancing around instead of practicing for the Christmas play.

Speaking of my dad, he's a hot sauce freak. I happened upon a gourmet store near the post office that has, literally, fifty different kinds, and picked out the one with the most offensive name I could find: "Ass Blaster".

He was inordinately pleased with it. One dab of the stuff from the end of a toothpick set his throat on fire, which is a good thing in his book. He put ten drops in his oodles of noodles the day after Christmas and pronounced it "not that hot". I think he'll have some fun with it.

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