Age

So the more I get out and about in NYC, the more I am meeting people of a variety of ages.
I started high with those Korean cougars in L.A. but things have gone progressively uphill/downhill (depending on your outlook).

Am now meeting 22 year old women and even 21 year old guys. WTF?

I don't think of age as an issue, and that comes from the fact that I would hang around people in the same age vicinity as me. I still think the same way. However, for some of these young'uns, there is some surprise and the "why aren't you settled?" question has indeed come up. I'm tempted to reply, "because life doesn't always work out you the way you think it does at the ripe old age of 21."

Trying to remember back to when I was that age, I would think the same way as them. However, that was Sydney where no-one goes out beyond 26 and this is NYC where older people party just as hard, so I do feel I'm not that much of an outcast!

I did hear once a friend of a friend lied about their age when they first met a girl (I think he's around my age) but he told the truth later and now they are all good as a couple. There's a part of me that thinks, surely putting a lie out there that early is not conducive to a good relationship?

Thank goodness for the Asian gene :) Most people think that I look younger than I am. So maybe the key is to avoid the topic altogether!

Red Cross

I recently volunteered for the Red Cross. What surprised me was how strict they were in terms of making sure that the volunteers were proper, committed people. I'm subject to a background check as well as an interview. In essence, it's like applying for a new job! It's probably a good thing, it weeds out the people who thought "why not?" and sign up for it. And truth be told, a part of me is in that category. It's easy to volunteer for stuff, but it's harder to stay in it for a long period of time. Red Cross does emphasise the "we want you to be doing a job that you want" instead of the "throwing bodies at it" approach that many other agencies take.

So I did do some browsing and I'm thinking that the Disaster Response Reserves sounds interesting. I'd like to be able to use some of this project management skill (or lack thereof) to help out in disaster situations. And surely if I can work calmly in a disaster situation, everything else in my normal line of work will be a piece of cake!

I went to the orientation the other day, to get a history on the organisation and all that jazz. A few random facts:
- Red Cross symbol is the second most recognizable symbol globally, number one being Coca Cola
- Red Cross responds to about 8 "incidents/disasters" per day. Obviously a disaster is anything where bad stuff happens, right down to a family.
- Red Cross have about 4,000 volunteers in the Greater New York region, and they are aiming for 10,000. That's bigger than my company!

It will be interesting to see how this goes. My previous concepts of charity were more slanted towards teaching a person to fish, as opposed to giving the fish away. With disaster relief, it's really all about giving stuff away to make sure people get through the initial "survival" phase. Will see if it's fulfilling or not. Either way, any charity is better than none.