Tuesday 26 February 2013

Grandma's bake sale for Jesus? No. Just...no.

Question: How difficult is finding an organization to join that combines socialization and volunteerism?

Answer: Easy-peasy.

Question: How about an organization that's not bible-centric, doesn't revolve around bake sales/penny carnivals and appeals to anyone under 80?

Answer: Yeah. Good luck with that.

I'm at a crossroad right now. I have 2 jobs which both require me to interact with people all day...co-workers, students, sales reps and clients. A big part of my job is to be friendly, chatty and personable, all of which I enjoy doing (most of the time) but by the end of the day, I'm all chatted and friendly-ed out and am quite happy to go home and not interact with humanity (with the exception of my son)...I ignore my cel phone, make sure my IM is on stealth mode and find myself less than inclined to get my ass out the door and socialize with the couple of close friends I have, let alone make an attempt to go out and meet new people. I used to be social. I used to enjoy going out in public, getting involved and actually doing shit in a group. I'm not sure at what point enjoying time alone turned into complete social apathy, but it did and it's far beyond time I actually did something about it.

So last night I decided to quit procrastinating (which in itself is amazing because I'm a procrastination master, who lives by the code "Fuck it. If it doesn't kill me, cause me bodily injury or grevious grief, I'm putting it off until later. Way later") and find some kind of group to join, which would force me to give up this self-inflicted hermitude and get out and meet some new people while assuaging some of the guilt from my present lack of doing anything to help out in my community.

Much easier said than done.

I have a relation who is/was a member of the Masonic Lodge, so I thought I'd check out the female arm of that organization, the Eastern Star. Their website was pretty vague about what they actually do, besides charity work and meetings that sound like a cross between a Wiccan coven ritual, church service and city council meeting, so I called the masonic relative to ask about it. His reply: "That is NOT for you...all the women that belong to Eastern Star have one foot in the grave. It's full of really old women"

Nope. Not happening.

I reconsidered joining my son's school PAC. But just for as long as it took me to remember the 5 years on his elementary school PAC, where I got in way over my head by the 4th year and ended up with 4 committee positions at once including Chairperson which meant I was living and breathing fundraisers, milk programs, government grants and attempts to get more parents to volunteer so 90% of the hard work would stop falling on the same 6 people. After that hellish year I swore I would never go to another PAC meeting again and would not feel guilty about it at all because already I put in my time, plus more. So scratch the school stuff. Besides, that was all work and next-to-zero socializing...maybe if we had made the meetings BYO wine, we would have had more fun. And a better turnout.

I looked for other social-type clubs that do some community service, but I have yet to find one that doesn't involve Jesus, crafting/baking/sewing (none of which I really enjoy, unless the crafting involves tampons, the baking involves cake soaked in liquor and the sewing doesn't involve me at all because I fucking hate sewing) or being a grandma.

Where the hell are the clubs for middle-aged single divorced mothers of teenagers, who enjoy occasional recreational drinking, complaining and making sarcastic fun of pretty much everything, and just enough community service type-shit so we feel all virtuous and not guilty about the wine-fueled rant-and-hysterical laughing sessions?? Besides blogging, that is.

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8 comments:

  1. I think that's exactly why women like you and I ended up over at that other place. And now that we're done, we're looking for something to fill that whole. And you're right, bible-thumping knitting Grandmas isn't any better that gossip-mongering drama queens. Well, if you do find something worthy, let me know! Maybe you should start your own club!

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    1. I was thinking that...we could sit around, drink a bunch of wine, take the empties to the bottle depot, then donate the bottle money to the food bank...or something lol

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  2. Fill that HOLE, not whole. LOL Blurgh.

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  3. This is a tough one. I live in a area where the average age is more than twice my own, so social groups are pretty hard to find. I could go into the city, but it's just a bit too far away.
    Probably why I blog. Gives me something to do when my friends are busy!

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    1. That is exactly why I blog...it's one of my only social outlets at the moment!

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  4. first time visiting your blog; I have to say it is a good thing you didn't want to get involved with Eastern Star; hubby's parents were involved in the whole organization; they do good work, but not a fan of it for a lot of reasons.

    It is hard to find something to do, but it is good you are pursuing wanting to do something. Maybe something with the school system?

    betty

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  5. Welcome and thank you for visiting!

    The Eastern Star thing appealed partly because I was hoping to find out all the masonic secrets lol

    I did the PAC thing and got too burnt out because I did too much I think...my son's principal at the time suggested I run for the school board but that's a little too political for me and I just don't have that kind of time to devote

    I'm gonna keep looking, there has got to be something out there!

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