Big Sunday

Last Sunday was Big Sunday , and though neither church mentioned it, I decided to pitch in and help out, partly because I’m always looking for ways to contribute, and partly because the Movie Studio I Work For And Will Never Blog About was a major sponsor, and if I logged in x amount of hours, I get an extra day of vacation. Hey, honesty is good.

Big Sunday is a city-wide volunteering thing, and though I couldn’t do any of the Movie Studio sponsored events (because the only one not in the morning was a gazillion miles away) I did find one working out of a Jewish Temple above Hollywood Boulevard. I was part of an Assembly Line making up different kinds of bags for different organizations. There were Health bags, Writer Bags (for juvies in lock down to express themselves), backpacks with school supplies for senior high and junior high kids, New Mom bags, Housewares bags, all going to different underprivileged people.

I deliberately picked an assembly line, since I figured that would have the least amount of talking to people involved. You basically started at one end of a very long line of tables. You have a bag donated from someplace, you walk down the line, and fill your bag with all sorts of stuff. When it works, it’s supposed to be a very fluid and very easy process. When it works, that is.

Because there were also little kids running around, half of them were escapees from a Brownie troop. The organizers weren’t exactly pleased that they were there, since kids tend to clog up the assembly line because they want to look at each object, or beg Mom for the candy that they’re supposed to put in the bag. But you can’t tell this Brownie troop that their help isn’t wanted, because that would go against their Brownie Principles or something. So you wait behind them as they go ESPECIALLY slowly. I swear, I wasn’t this slow when I was six. I was a little demon on wheels when I was six. I would’ve had seven bags filled by the time one of these little Brownies had one done.

A little six year old kept coming up to me, begging for a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. I don’t know what was funnier – the fact that she wanted it SO BADLY, and the concept of underprivileged kids was not important to her, or the fact that she thought I was in charge. She even brought me back an empty wrapper that she found in the garage as proof that other people MUST be getting the gum instead of her. Too too funny. But I denied her, oh yes I did. She looked like the type of brat that needs to learn the concept of the word “NO” now, as she would most likely grow up to be a major brat. That’s me, trying to make the world safer from Potential Brats like her.

So here are some pictures of the event. Yes, I have a new digital camera, finally. If you haven’t been comparison shopping on digital cameras lately, it is a BEAR, second only to car shopping and apartment hunting in Los Angeles. Seriously, just try to look up the model you’re thinking about on Amazon and scroll down to the reader opinions. Every “yes, buy this camera or you’re an idiot” is followed by “Buy this camera AND you’re an idiot.”

I got a Canon, it’s smaller than a pack of cigarettes (I have no idea why that makes me happy. It’s not like I can fit them in my back pocket, I can barely get my cell phone back there), and it’s got all sorts of funky do-dads that I will never use but I like feeling that I could do a panoramic shot of the dirty dishes in my sink if I wanted to, because I have a photo-stitch feature. Yay!