Another axis

OK, time to see if there’s any validity to one of my assumptions about blogging: that if I tell the internet I’m going to do something, I’ll be more likely to do it. Today’s task is to find something new to do with my spare time. I have a City CarShare reservation for 5:30, so there’s a finite window for completing this task.

I’ve moved across the street to the coffeehouse, in the hope that being away from the TV will make me productive. They just played “Here Comes the Hotstepper.” Good omen? You decide.

One point of finding a new activity is to get me out and about more. I need both more human interaction and greater variety in my life. (This is a long running trend but I’m not in the mood for a navel gazing post.) So, some sort of volunteer opportunity is the first obvious candidate. But where to volunteer? To Google it is. Google leads me to VolunteerMatch, which appears to be a pretty comprehensive volunteer opportunity database. Over 1200 hits within 20 mi of my zip code, so there ought to be something for me.

What are my constraints? It seems that one should choose a volunteer opportunity that is suited to one’s skills and interests. Yet one of the points of my trying to find something new to do is to develop new skills and interests, to expand my repertoire as a human being. But if I’m volunteering I need to be doing something where I am genuinely making a difference.

Areas in which I might be able to make a difference:
1. Tutoring. I can handle most school-type stuff pretty well, at least when it comes to the early grades. A lot of people are afraid of math, and I’m not, so maybe I’d be useful there. Downside: I don’t know that I’m particularly good with kids. Possible resolution: Shoot for the older grades. Should probably stay away from excessively “mentorship” oriented stuff as I’m unsure how good of a life coach I’d make.
2. Computer stuff. I’m a pretty good troubleshooter/coder. I don’t know much web design though, which is what a lot of places probably want.
3. Lifting heavy stuff. Obviously saying this outs me as a terribly privileged brat, but I’ve found that with all the time I spend at a desk, periodic mindless physical labor can actually be kind of satisfying.

Opportunities, classified:
1a. SAT tutoring in the Mission. I could be useful there. Con: Starts at 4 p.m.
1b. More general tutoring at this place.
2a. An org wants an IT monkey. This could be very cool.
3a. There is of course Habitat. I did a spring break Habitat trip in college, and had a great time.
3b. Sorting food at this place.
3c. Meals on Wheels. But would I need wheels?

To be continued. 2a sounds most appropriate so far, given this part of their self-description:

[Our organization] provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. 

There could actually be some stimulating things to work on there, if they’d let me at them. Might be some competition for the position, too.

Addendum: Sounds like local food banks may be in need of extra help these days.