I've always enjoyed volunteering, and it was only through this requirement that I began to do so. My first volunteering position was at the local community library. I would either collect books from the book drops and organize them, load up the shelf full of books on hold, or help sign people up for computers. I loved the library. It was relatively quiet, calm, and people were polite. The work was meaningful. Kids get so excited when you sign them up for a computer, and minority groups with poor English are so grateful when you direct them to the book they were looking for. The experience taught me that there was more to life than monetary returns on investment and work. There was something satisfying with simply knowing that you accomplished something during your time. Eventually, I would multi-task and do a number of tasks together at the same time to be more efficient, such as organize books on a cart while doing computer sign-ins. All this, because I wanted to feel like I managed to accomplish even more in my day.

Years later, after many more volunteer experiences including fundraisers, soccer games, city-wide children's events, and the city's youth advisory council; I still enjoy volunteering. But apart from a little thanks, and the personal feeling of satisfaction... I never expected much else to come from them.

Two weeks ago, I returned to my office desk after doing some analysis on samples in the laboratory to find a letter resting neatly on my keyboard. I opened it to find an invitation to an awards ceremony. It didn't look like anything too big, and my coworker had one too so I didn't think too much of it.

On Wednesday, I grabbed a quick dinner after work and headed off to this "ceremony." I was bored, and wanted to socialize a bit. It was dark outside by now, and a drive out into the countryside wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but I guess I should've thought about that earlier. The roads rose, dipped, and wound around the landscape of the Niagara escarpment; carved out ages ago by receding glaciers. I arrived at a beautiful building, hidden among trees and sitting on a small hill that was down in a valley. This was where I instructed kids on water quality testing in September. I had never actually seen the building though, as it was up on a hill and I was down at the bottom of the small valley.

It was a simple but elegant ceremony. Full of well dressed people donning name tags, as well as sandwiches, cheese and fruit platters, chocolates, punch, and an open bar. I can honestly say, I was the only person who was from a minority group present. Not that it was a problem.

From the night, I got a little "achievement award", a big hug from the event organizer who told me I was the most energetic of the bunch (I had to be to keep grade 2-5s entertained!), and met a geologist as well as the event photographer who chatted with me a while. Oh, those sandwiches? They were pretty awesome, so I left the night with one of them too. Unfortunately I couldn't take advantage of the open bar, as curving roads, alcohol, and my pathetic tolerance for it would've been a bad mix.


I guess, what hit me the most from that night were the other recipients of awards. Apart from two boy scouts, everyone was well into their careers and some even looked like they were at the end of theirs. Regardless of their background or age, they were all happy. The look of pure joy and satisfaction on their face was priceless.

And so maybe that is what the key to happiness is. To give what you can, to what you care about, without considering the need for any return on investment. The most worthwhile and valuable things in this world are free; such as your passionate aid, time, and that warm fuzzy feeling you get after wards.

I've decided that when I have a chance, I'll see if the Credit Valley Conservation Authority back home needs help. I'd love to take care of the river near my house... considering I've spent countless hours of my childhood just sitting on the banks of it when I wanted to be alone. I could help with water quality analysis and checking the salmon spawn every year. Yeah... that sounds like fun.

Are you supposed to keep in touch with your ex's after you break up? I don't push the girls away after we're done, but we fall apart on our own; it's our way of going our separate ways and minimizing the pain. For the most part, I haven't spoken to any of my ex's in at least a year. And all of a sudden, I've spoken to all of them this week.

My first, who attends McMaster... she was surprised that I showed up at her school for the break dance competition and messaged me. I'm supposed to call her when I get to the school tomorrow evening for a games/poker night event. My second, well... she asked if I could take her away somewhere. I knew that her life was a mess, so I agreed and drove her to Waterloo from Toronto so that she could spend some time with her best friend, and also see my school for the first time. She loved it there. We had an amazingly stimulating conversation... the ones I could've always counted on her to provide. We, became friends for the first time; and I finally realized that she should've been that all along, and regretted jumping into a relationship with her back in the day. The third... okay, well I was pissed at her and sent her one of those messages that you know you'd regret if you didn't read it over and cooled down before clicking that "send" button. But we're clear now, and I'm going to keep staying out of her life since it brings back memories of a dark period of her life whenever I'm around.

It's sad, cause it was number three that I wanted the most back in my life.