The Failed Volunteer Awaits Her Fate

Two days passed after my volunteering debacle at the Humane Society. I knew they still needed help that week, and I knew I was only on the standby list, yet a sinking feeling continued to weigh me down—a feeling that I’d been deleted from the volunteer roster.

Then my phone rang—they needed me!—and I was off to the land of abandoned and lost pets.

I assumed I would be helping the staff catch up on the routine work left undone by fundraiser preparations; I assumed I would be folding letters and stuffing envelopes. But, of course, you’ve already guessed what confronted me upon my arrival: the dreaded paper cutter.

“Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.”
—Malcolm Gladwell

This round of paper cutting was for a different fundraiser and this time I wasn’t The Fixer. This time I would be the first volunteer to muck up the job.

I tried to take a positive approach to my assignment. I thought of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, his book about attaining expertise and success. Research shows that it takes about 10,000 hours of doing anything—playing chess, painting, boxing, composing, building, singing, drawing, editing, sculpting—before you can master it. Though I harbored no dreams about becoming a master paper cutter, I had every intention of improving my skill set.

I’ve 10 hours behind me, and I don’t know how many hours ahead…

O, Rapturous Monday! How Glad We Are to See Thee

I left Lull alone these past few days because I figured readers were busily preparing for the Rapture—or its aftermath.

I nosed down into a book. Wanted to cross one off my Current Lineup if it was the last thing I did in this lifetime. And whaddaya know? I finally finished Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures. If you’ve not already read this collection of New Yorker articles, then I highly recommend this book. It will give you new (or reaffirming) insights on first impressions, hiring interviews, advertising slogans, dog bites, medical diagnoses, and ketchup.

I’ve asked before, and I’m going to keep asking: What are YOU reading? A few people I know recently finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlo Ruiz Zafón; another friend is reading Molly Peacock’s The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 (which I can hardly wait to start, though first I need to dig in to an SEO guide for the business site I’m building). Even a nearly illiterate acquaintance listens to books on CD. No one in my orbit is book-averse.

So ’fess up: What’s between the covers you hold?

[Pic of collage by Mary Delany from the British Museum.]