BEDA #28: volunteering!

Hello pooky and nicolas!

I'm listening to Small Town Moon right now. 

and chloe just showed this to me. YET ANOTHER FANDOM that I may/may not be sucked into. I don't really like them lah, it's just that a lot of tumblr is really into them. I mean I get where the appeal comes from, they're quite hot to be honest. But I don't... it's not worth my mindspace to get really into.

I don't know what to talk about today. I realise that BEDA is winding down soon! I honestly think past years were more interesting than this year. I like being able to look back at them, though, because it's a small snapshot of what I was like and what I was into for that year. I used to have interesting topics because BEDA was a soapbox for me, but I think I've run out of things to soapbox. (it's a verb now. Because I made it so.)

I'm volunteering again! #happy

haha I don't know if it actually makes me happy or if I think it makes me happy, when I'm looking back at things. I like it most when I get lots of things to do, and it gets busy. It's strange, because when I have too many things to handle in my personal life when I'm not working, I get stressed and grumpy. But when I'm volunteering, and have a lot of things to handle at once, it's awesome. Probably because the implications of my actions don't really affect me, but the organisation that I'm working for. 

After working (the receptionist gig) for a bit I realise that I don't get the same satisfaction as volunteering. Maybe with volunteering it's because you're not being paid, so you have the feeling that you're doing something "good", and you get enjoyment out of that. Or maybe it was the job, because the receptionist gig was just a lot of data entry and filing. 

I like volunteering because I like the satisfaction of being in charge, and being responsible for things. Depending on the organization, I mostly feel proud about being a part of that organization, and being a part of something big. I like helping people too, and the satisfaction that comes from helping people. It's like a drug. I mostly don't get angry about volunteering, or feel that it's a waste of time. Like, I almost never get mad at the organization for using "free labour". haha maybe I haven't done it with enough organizations yet. But the ones which I've had the fortune to be at, I've met paid employees being very passionate about the job that they are doing, and being really stretched in terms of manpower. It just feels nice to be able to help out and lighten their load a bit. 

A friend who has been doing this for a while longer than me now-- think years-- is pretty jaded about doing work for free. He says you don't learn as much as you used to, and doesn't see the appeal in it anymore. I'll probably get to that stage. Until then, I'll just keep doing stuff that makes me happy. Doesn't hurt that I can get references and it looks good on my CV as well. ;D