Week 4: Being a +1 at Amplified Ale Works

Week 4: January 22-28, 2023

It happened. This resolution finally did not feel easy this week! I felt the panic setting in around Thursday night because I didn't have a plan. I didn't know what my "something new" was going to be. It is only week FOUR. I can't give up now. I had to come up with something.

Then Mel texted me. Was I free Saturday? Did I want to come to a philanthropy event held by the new company she works for? Free food, acts of service, and a good chance to get outside. And it would be something new. Obviously, yes, I would like to come.

Thankfully, the stress I felt, however self-imposed it may have been, was short-lived. Being Mel's plus-one at Host Healthcare's East Village Clean Up was great. Bonus points for Mel for also doing something new! This was her first in-person event with her new coworkers. Everybody had only met her through Zoom, and they definitely had never met me. Through Zoom or otherwise.

The event itself started at 10am, at Vacay Coffee Club in Downtown. It was a big space with decent coffee. It had the appeal of most trendy coffee shops now, leaning into the "converted warehouse" vibe.

The first thing I noticed and the first photo I took of the coffee shop was off-brand, natural Pringles-like cans.

Didn't try them but definitely would like to do a blind taste test of official Pringles vs. these natural bad boys.

There was a small space with some merchandise from small businesses. It had San Diego's usual trendy offerings of bougie beach towels, cutesy mugs, scrunchies, and candles.

Most of the patrons at Vacay Coffee Club were from Host Healthcare. About an hour was spent waiting for everyone to show up, get coffee and get their "hello's" and "oh my god it is so nice to finally meet you in person's" out of the way. During the introductions, I was chatting with one of the organizers and surprisingly, she asked if I wanted to be a team lead. I had no clue what it entailed but I agreed and asked if that was even allowed if I didn't work at Host. It was allowed. Encouraged, even! Sure, why not?

Thankfully, I actually dodged the team lead responsibilities when we got split into teams after a safety briefing from the City. More well-known and vocal, REAL employees of the company ended up raising their hands faster than I could when the group was voluntold to pick team leads. It was probably for the best. I didn't know most people's names and unless they were one of the few folks I chatted with while getting coffee, they definitely did not know mine.

The cleanup itself lasted an hour and was pretty uneventful. We all got gloves, brooms, and dustpans. Each group had one section to cover. Ours was the red section on the map.

It was a park between the famous San Diego "ketchup and mustard" apartment buildings. I used to have a friend who lived in mustard (Pinnacle on the Park). Its a really nice place, but the charm of being downtown is slightly muted by the stench of the dog park.

The team lead (ours was Tierra, a cheetah-clad woman who sang Encanto songs as we picked up trash) was knighted and given one of those grabby picker-upper claw things. There were a lot of cigarette butts and bottle caps embedded in the dirt around the park. I think things would have gone a lot faster if we had all been given a grabby claw, but I guess brooms were fine. We got a ton of trash cleared in the park, avoiding the dog poop (and maybe human poop) as best we could.

Mel with two of our many trash bags feat. Ketchup and Mustard.

After the cleanup, we got to mingle some more at a brewery nearby called Amplified Ale Works. It was another trendy, cute warehouse-y space. One drink ticket and buffet-style food was provided.

Raffles were drawn and Mel won a gift card to a plant store! We didn't stay long after the raffle since our parking meter was overdue by 30 minutes and I think we were both low on our corporate social batteries.

It was a relief that I narrowly missed the scramble to pick a new place to go. It was nice of Mel to invite me, and nice of me to agree to go. Not many people spend their Saturday mornings picking up questionable trash in Downtown San Diego, but it was actually nice. It was a nice day and an act of service for the community. And for this blog and resolution. And the for the free food.

Hopefully I'll have a better plan in the future. I hated that feeling of potentially letting myself (and the eight eyes that happen to read this) down.

See you next week.