eugene ts wong's Journal: Volunteering: More Opportunities; Experiences; The Lady

***More Volunteering Opportunities***
***Retarded Experiences***
***The Lady***

***More Volunteering Opportunities***

Did I mention that I wanted to volunteer with more organizations? The idea is that I want to volunteer in different types of situations in order to ensure that I make some measurable benefits for the me & the world. In other words, if 1 opportunity doesn't work out, then another might bear some fruit.

** Teaching High School Math To Adult Students

It's pretty much just what the subtitle says. These people don't have learning disabilities. It's just that they are returning to school for whatever reasons. I like grade 11 math. I did well @ it. I should most likely succeed in some way.

** Big Brothers

I'll be some kind of mentor, if they'll accept me. I'll be paired up with a kid who has no father. We could literally do almost anything. We could do homework, just have fun and/or talk about the issues of life. It's literally up to us.

Honestly, 1 of the things that caught my attention was the offering of free tickets to movies & shows. As I browsed their web site, I noticed that the big brothers [that would be me] would get together with the big sisters. Don't get me wrong. The little brothers & sisters would be there too, but still.

** Nonprofit Organization That Provides Capacity

This group provides services to other charities & nonprofits, such as accounting, marketing, web site design & whatever, so that those groups can run on a more efficient budget.

I joined because I wanted to learn about marketing. I think that the biggest challenge would be dealing with the other volunteers. We were discussing the web site. 1 of the guys who has a masters degree [I think in business & marketing] mentioned that it would be real easy to whip up a web site [ie: Flash, Dreamweaver, Front Page]. I honestly tried to keep quiet. I really did, but I couldn't. I basically explained to them as best as I could the benefits of good HTML & how we shouldn't try to go with something big & flashy. I tried to mention screen readers, braille, cell phones, hand helds, lap tops, etc. I especially tried to emphasize how outdated IE is. I don't think that the other volunteers grasped what I said. That fellow said after the meeting, "So, you're a luddite with browsers, eh? :^)". Yeah, he was smiling, & probably didn't mean anything by it. I'm sure that we'll get along just fine. However, I can't emphasize how annoying it is to hear that. I believe that it takes craftsmanship to skillfully create a web page; you need to interpret the text so that you could use the correct HTML elements. On top of that, I'm using a modern browser [Opera 7.60 Beta], while he's probably using IE. I didn't get offended, though. On top of that, a lady says something about just trying to meet the needs of 85-90% of the market & not worrying about the rest. How sad. Don't get me wrong. I believe in being pragmatic. It's just that we don't even have actual content yet, so let's not give up on the 10-15% so quickly.

1 of the bosses emailed me saying that she agreed with some/all of what I said. So, it should be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm there to learn, & not to actually achieve anything. I don't want to declare an HTML jihad. So it should be really interesting.

***Retarded Experiences***

Remember those people that I taught typing to? Well, from now on, I'm going to call them the retarded people. I don't mean it in a condescending way. "Retarded" is just "slower", not "stupid". I can't remember all the recent stylish politically correct terms.

So, I went in again on Tuesday, & sat down with the instructor to see if any new ideas came up during the week, to bounce off my new ideas & to hash out a game plan for the lesson. We also met after class to review, to evaluate any techniques that we tried, & plan for the week. In short, it all went well. We're still on the same page & more so. We had intended to try out some cooking thing, but we decided against that because we couldn't trust them to keep their hands clean; food safety & all; you know how it is.

The lesson was very challenging. We basically did some theatre sports & presented our ideas of hands on work.

Unfortunately, we never got to do some typing because most of the computers were being used. That's okay, because I think that they have bigger problems. 1 of them seems to have significant attitude problems; not interested in participating. Some of them have serious private conflicts that they are dealing with right now.

1 of the challenges of theatre sports was trying to get them to come up with something new.

To really nail the lesson home, I tried to make it easier by having them fill in the blank on the white board: "I like working with you because ________". Even that was a challenge because I'd get responses like, "But we don't work with you!", or some such thing. After we made it through that game, I decided to try again, but with a simpler sentence: "I like ________". After the 1st person finished her sentence, I made a new rule: "From now on, you can't talk about 'music' or 'Christian'. For example, you can't say 'rock music'".

"But why? Christian music makes us think about God. Rock music doesn't. They are different."

While the teacher was saying his explanation, I thought up mine. I think he said something about tolerance. I think that it was a pretty reasonable response too. My explanation was that they were both music & that they weren't different enough for the exercise.

So, after the 2nd person, I made a new rule, saying that we couldn't use such 'n such anymore.

After the 3rd, I made another rule.

After the fourth, I asked if they could guess what my next rule would be. They pretty much got it. I then asked what my new rules were going to be after the next 1. That stumped them, but they kind of got it after I explained it. I think that they won't grasp it until they see more examples, which means more fill-in-the-short-sentences.

I guess that my point in all of this is to illustrate that it is a lot like programming in that you have to break it down to the problem areas, & get very specific. It's debugging in every sense of the word.

Another thing that we did was get them to log in & write when they had to leave. This would give them some routine, & avoid wasting class time discussing when everybody had to leave. It also gives them practise printing & spelling. I'm honestly surprised @ how challenging the task was for them.

It is definitely frustrating. I want to usher in utopia now. Yet, the people that I'm supposed to be helping seem to be the very 1s standing in my way. :^) :^/

***The Lady***

Well, there isn't much to say here, other than the fact that the lady wasn't supposed to be @ work, because she's supposed to take a day off of work after a long weekend or something. We saw each other, & said our greetings. She looked fine. He appeared even shorter than before.

I asked her what she did on the weekend. She said that she couldn't tell me. My face must have betrayed my surprise & frustration, because she giggled & poked my belly.

Ah, what a cutie pie.

Big Brothers

[Red Warrior]

Not to discourage you, as they are a great organization, but something to think about.
It may not be true to say the kid does not HAVE a father. It may be that the father is not in the home. If said father is still involved in (or trying to be involved in) the kid's life, issues may develop. I don't mean violence-type issues. I mean issues-type issues. The father may well resent the big brother. The father may feel rejected and close himself off from the kid to avoid being hurt. The kid may feel torn, feelin

That's awesome advice.

[eugene ts wong]

Because of your suggestion, I'll be extra careful. Thanks. I appreciate it a lot.

Big Brothers / Big Sisters

[bofh31337]

When I decided I needed to give back more to the community that had given me so much, one of the first places I turned to was Big Brothers Big Sisters. I was 20 years old and was more than a little apprehensive about being a role model to someone else. I was a big fan of football, art, music, and spending time with people in general. I was very driven and motivated. In the end, my need to give back won out. I was paired with a 10 year old boy whose dad has passed away two years earlier. His name was Kevi

That's an awesome story.

[eugene ts wong]

Once he's legal, you could take him bar hopping so that he can pick up chicks. ;^)

It's good to know that it doesn't take a lot to have a good time. I was thinking of taking him to restore old street cars if he is a railroad fan. I guess that it just depends on what his interests are. I don't mind doing computer stuff with him, but I usually prefer to steer people away from that. I think that it is more important to have a stronger social life, which isn't easy in a world of computers.

Re:That's an awesome story.

[bofh31337]

We've been to teenage clubs before. A good friend of mine owns on such place, so I've taken him and his friends. I just chat with them for a bit, and then mostly talk to my friend. Sometimes leaving them to their own devices is important. I have, however, taught him everything I know about getting a girl in bed. He's a great guy. I hope your experience can be even a fraction as rewarding as mine has been.

I'm going to help him buy an old classic junker car and work with him to restore it. With any luck he'