(#24a) S.T.A.G.E with AIDS Project Los Angeles (May 10, 2014) – Part 2 (Nothing To Do)

May 18, 2014

Aurora posing with silent auction materials at APLA stage eventPicking up from yesterday

So, there was nothing to do. I’m not usually a huge believer in “there’s nothing to do,” because there’s always something to do, right?

But sometimes there just isn’t anything that any of the people running the joint can think of at the moment.

I work in TV. So, I’m used to hurry up and wait, but this was going to literally be what we did ’til the end of our shift. So, if there’s no hurry up part, then what am I waiting for?

They did say in the little volunteer talk at the beginning of the night that if we wanted to stay after our shift, we could work the (non-silent) auction. It sounded really fun, but it was hard to justify staying for hours to help with something that really they’re probably already staffed for.

They did mention that last year it was a rush with too few people when it came to volunteering for the auction, apparently because the auction happened right on a shift change… And they said this year they didn’t think they adjusted the shifts.

But why, when you have so many people didn’t you ask for some of us to be a swing between the two shifts, instead of coming into the first one?

So, I went to the little hang out room for staff/volunteers, because originally my plan was to stay until the auction happened. After all, I love helping out with things where there’s a rush or where you’re understaffed and have to work overtime.

But judging by the amount of people they had, plus the people who were coming in 2nd shift (and it seemed that they were pretty much saying the main job of the second shifters was to work the auction), they’d be more than okay.

And as I started to kill my time reading a magazine, I thought about all the stuff I could be doing and all the sleep I could be having and I decided it just wasn’t worth it to stay. So, since they didn’t need me, I left.

I also had the worst time getting home because I kept having to switch sides of the street because first there was a dog not on a leash, then there was a different dog on the other side of the street. And there was this tall long fence along the medium. So crossing the street was a whole ordeal. I went back and forth for 3 rounds before I could finally walk to the bus stop.

It was like some horrible, cruel, exhausting game – and I was way more frustrated and cranky about it than even I would normally be (which is already an insanely high level when it comes to dogs). And that just really drove the point home for me that I needed sleep… ’cause when I don’t get my precious, precious sleep I can get a bit cranky… (At least I can recognize that. So perhaps that’s something.)

So there you have it. The volunteer event that wasn’t really. Wah wah.

I'd love to hear from you! So whaddya say?