Give your money to strangers

(photo via progressdaily.com)

Today I gave like 65 cents to some lady on the subway who played what looked like a cross between a bagpipe and a recorder. (It sounded horrible. I like the mariachi guys way better.) It's something I try not to do, because as a hard-working American, I feel like I have the right to determine whether or not people "deserve" the money I've worked so hard for.

My recent unemployment stint has taught me a lot about how much money I really need to get by (answer: not much) and now that I'm working, I suddenly feel like I have all this extra cash laying around. And I want to spend all of it. I realized that I still dress like a college student and I could use a new pair of running shoes and omg I need a $5 latte right now.

So I need to figure out something better to do with my money. My current blog-crush, Jen at Daily Mitzvah, has started a charity piggy bank, which I will be appropriating in short order. I'm also verrry open to other ideas. Can you think of another way for me to do something good with my money?

Resolutions Revisited

So it's the middle of March now, a time when most people can't even remember what they resolved to accomplish in the new year. Me included! Good thing I blogged about it. To quote, uh, myself:

1) Find a way to pay my bills.

2) Drink less pop.

3) Volunteer my time in person.

4) Multitask less.

I think I've got the first one figured out. Not so much the rest of them. That's disappointing. Time to prioritize!

How are you doing with your resolutions?

What did you do for New Year's?

I went on a dinner-and-a-movie date with the bf. We saw Juno, which is good, if a bit simplistic. And no 16 year old talks like that. They're simply not that clever. All my home friends think I'm crazy for not going to Times Square. I don't really understand the allure of being fenced in like herded animals, standing around in the cold. I also don't really get the ball drop. What's that all about anyway?

2007 was a pretty big year for me.
-I officially became the most educated person in my entire extended family by graduating from college. That was kind of exciting. Then I moved away from almost all my friends and fam and now it's kind of boring.

-My bf and I hit the 3 year mark and escaped all the "When are you two gonna get hitched?" questions unscathed. (One time, we went to our local big-box store and we were waiting in the checkout line and I put my arms around him and gave him a big kiss because we do that and everyone always gags and tells us to get a room. Then this guy came up to us and tapped on the bf's shoulder and handed him a business card. He said, "You look so nice together. Give me a call if I can be of service." And his card identified him as a pastor. Creepy! And very sweet! I found it in the bf's stuff while we were packing to move here and got all misty that he kept it. True story.)

-I gave my little sister a great xmas that she bragged to all her little friends about.

I never really make New Year's resolutions because think they're kind of lame. Or maybe I'm kind of lame. I dunno. Here is a half-hearted attempt:

1) Find a way to pay my bills. Whether that's getting a job, opening a brothel, or selling my eggs, I don't really care. The sooner the better.

2) Drink less pop. It's a sick, sugary addiction that I kicked once, only to have it come roaring back. Yuck.

3) Volunteer my time in person. I'm still excited about the RAINN online hotline, although I haven't finished the training yet. But I'd like to, y'know, interact with live people. I used to spend so much time at work and now in my job search in front of a computer. It makes my eyes burn and also makes me forget how to converse with people right in front of me. Which reminds me:

4) Multitask less. Paying a little bit of attention to 800 different things doesn't get any of them done. I can see that when I'm being objective about it, but I have a hard time doing anything about it.

Not a very exhaustive list. Do you have any good resolutions that I can piggy back on?

Be a good employee

Or, how I can maintain some semblance of good humanity in my job search.

Have you ever thought about what you're actually trying to accomplish at work? Besides getting a paycheck, making your boss happy, making your clients/customers happy, etc. I used to work for a company in a particularly soulless industry. Our goals were plain: create situations where our undeserving clients could make even more money than they already have. We helped no one and did no good in the process. It was disgusting.

Besides my more pressing needs, like eating, getting laid, and not getting evicted, I really, really, really don't want to work for the same kind of clients again. I just need to know that my 40 hours (more like 50-60 if I'm honest) are contributing to something that matters to me. It's a little Gen Y, I know, but I can't help it if everyone has spent my whole life telling me that I'm special and that I should do what makes me happy.

Luckily my skillset is easily transferable to the non-profit sector. I'm also lucky to live in NYC, where tons NPs have corporate offices. Everyone says that NPs don't pay very much, but not very much > nothing! Also, I'm willing to sacrifice a few thousand in take-home pay if it means that I'm making a real difference blah blah blah bleeding heart, etc.

For the past 6 months, I've felt tremendously hypocritical. I try to be a good human and think of new ways to do so, but only on my own time. Then I go and spend like 11 hours every day getting paid to do just the opposite. It was getting hard to reconcile the two halves of my life into something I didn't hate. Does that make me naive? Over-idealistic? Probably. But honestly, there are enough people out there who are only concerned with getting paid. I don't need to be one of them.

The Boss Signs Off

So I'm still really want to get a recycling program started in my office building, as we currently don't have one. I asked the accounting department if we're paying for recycling services that we're just not using. We're not, which kind of makes my goal a bit harder. I brought up the issue with my boss, an EVP in my company and the head of our office, and he responded very enthusiastically. Which is great!

Only, we're super busy at work right now, and it looks to continue this way until at least February. That means long hours and very little personal time to accomplish this goal. (Excuses, excuses.)

My next stop will be the building manager, who I chat with every morning while I wait for the elevator. Hopefully he'll be amenable to helping me.

I also need to get a hold of our lease and see who handles the trash disposal and how much it costs. This is a bigger undertaking than I anticipated.

R-E-C-Y-C-L-E

I just had to share this video, even though it's totally bootleg and filmed from a camcorder in front of a TV. I loved Rocko's Modern Life when I was a kid.

So I work in an office building in midtown Manhattan and we don't recycle. I hate it. Think about it: what is the majority of garbage created in an office building? PAPER! Easily recyclable paper! I asked the building manager and he said there is no program in place. So I emailed accounts payable, just to be sure that we're not paying for a program that we're not using.

I often work until 7 or 8 in the evening, so I'm here when the cleaning lady comes and I can verify that all the garbage, even the recyclables goes in the same trash bag. I'm not ok with this.

So I'm going to see if I can start a recycling program for my building. It's 2007! Shouldn't this be mandatory? Updates on my progress to follow.

And now that song is going to be stuck in my head all day.

Charity begins at home

Charity is important. Giving to those in need feels good. But I have some misgivings about charitable giving. Like why the hell are there so damn many charities in the first place? I can't even figure out what issues matter most to me, let alone which organizations I want to give to.

I used to send $20/month to Greenpeace, but I recently stopped because I have no idea what my donations were being used to finance. What does Greenpeace actually do?

So here's a goal: find a charity whose endeavors I believe in and donate as much as I can. The second part is going to be hard because I'm fresh out of college and my living room furniture consists of a chair, but I know that comparatively, I'm way better off than most.