Serial Volunteers

At first glance at my Google calendar, I didn't have much hope for the orientation of Heal the Bay to be very interesting. I wasn't terribly jazzed about attending it after a whole day at work, but I was more or less committed to attending it. Jane and I were joking that the attendees will mostly consist of high school students and overly optimistic do-gooders. The crowd did not disappoint our expectations, as we were dead-on.

The leader of the orientation asked what our motivation was and why we were interested in Heal the Bay. Most people gave such generic answers like "I wanted to volunteer." I was very proud of Jane when she responded in her usual cheery manner: "because I like aquariums!" Since she raised the bar on an original answer, I had to one-up it. So I said, "I'm here to see if I can get my company involved." Not humorous, but it sure caught the attention of the organizers. I wanted to turn around to the vegan do-gooders and tell them "take that bitches!" I'm sure they were not amused that a corporate whore was basking in the limelight.

The meeting turned out to be more amusing and educational than I thought. The volunteer coordinator was a little bit too honest at times, saying that the volunteers didn't really need to know that much, and that a "warm body" was all that was needed for some functions. The vegan uber-volunteer showed off his knowledge about local Santa Monica businesses using corn-based plates and plastic utensils. Then there were the overly attentive volunteers who madly took notes on everything the coordinator said. And of course, the high school students who were there for a class project seemed to be more interested in getting a signature from the coordinator than actually listening to the presentation.

I was half-expecting to see pictures of dead fishes or a post-mortem photo of a bird with its stomach's contents laid out (bottle caps, lighters, balloons, etc.). Or maybe even a video of a dying dolphin, hell why not an algae bloom? But the video was optimistic and surprisingly cheerful.

They do their beach clean-ups once a month on the third Saturday. Perhaps Jane and I will participate in these clean-ups one of these days. Preferably when I'm not hung over and ready to keel over. If anybody else is interested, you're more than welcome to join.

Bailey Canyon Wilderness Park

After the torrential downpour from last weekend, the sunny weather made a triumphant return to Southern California this weekend. Except I spent much of it indoors yesterday recovering from a night out in West Hollywood on Friday night. Bright light is never a friend of hung-over souls. To make up for the lost time to spend outdoors, I went hiking with Kathy to Sierra Madre.

The views were pretty decent and there is a small waterfall near the Bailey Canyon trail. I highly recommend going after a good rainfall, as the waterfall is reduced to a trickle otherwise. The trail is also busy, so there is a chance that you might get stuck behind a hiking group, which is modern-day-speak for "dating service." Even though I didn't appreciate the group we were caught behind, I appreciated the group of 3 half-naked men that were descending the trail as we were heading up. For that reason alone, this hike trail was worth it.

If decent-looking men is all it takes to encourage my workouts, I should be able to achieve much of my fitness goals. Why do you think I go to the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center for swimming? The facility is decent, but it is made even better when the water polo team comes out. It is a feast for the eyes, and I'm here to tell you that I gorge at every opportunity.

Damn Hipsters

Silverlake and Los Feliz is typically crawling with hipsters, and I have a general disdain for them because of their self-righteousness and their claim to superiority through utter laziness. Which is why I found the following video particularly amusing. The part about these idiots fumbling with the ATM to check the status of their parents' check got the most chuckle. I personally realized that I could never be a hipster because those jeans are awfully uncomfortable, not to mention that hipsters are enamored with their fixed-gear bikes and I could never ride a fixie.

Hipster Olympics

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A Belated End of Year Recap, Part 1

Dear Reader(s),

I'm humbly apologetic about my laziness to feed you with some Granola goodness. I know I have disappointed my nonexistent readers, and I will try to make amends. In contrary to the lack of new posts on this blog, the time since the past post has been very eventful.

Back in mid-December, I attended my first holiday party at the new company. As opposed to the dowdy place that I formerly called home-away-from-home, this company is a bit more of a lush. This is a bad thing for someone like myself, giving me many opportunities to create embarrassing photo opportunities. Little did I realize in my drunken haze that the flashes I kept on seeing throughout the night was a camera aimed at me and my peeps.

The party was at Union Station, and yes, it is that one with trains and all. To go with the art deco architecture, the company came up with the Speakeasy theme, which called for a dress code that harks back to 1920's. Except nobody on my team dressed up, and neither did I. Laziness aside, our group still had plenty of things to talk about at the office the next business day. For one thing, if there was any question about some of our sexual identities, it was made pretty clear when me and the mo's started dancing together. We made the group proud, as we were the first on the dance floor and the last to leave.

Even though there are many risks of office parties going awry, there were no mortifying incidents to report of. Just lots of things we are sheepishly embarrassed about, with the photos to prove it.