So yesterday, I had to get up at 7:30 in the morning to be somewhere at 9:00. (I guess since I got Friday off, I had to get up as if it was a school day on Saturday. xD) Me and my mother, who I shall call Moomoo (since that's what I call her in real life... seriously! xD), were volunteering at this book sale thing from 9:00 until 1:30 (although we stayed for like... an hour and a half afterwards... because we were looking at books ourselves. xD). It's a fundraiser for the Symphony - actually, it's for the one that we went to go see LAST Saturday. Basically what happens is that people bring a shitload of secondhand books, records, and CDs, which volunteers then sort and sell. We take up this gigantic space in the mall. I've been going since about Grade Four, but this is my first year volunteering. I'm doing it again next Saturday, only we'll be working the "relief shift" - we take over people's jobs so they can have breaks.
Ever since the first year I volunteered, I've always headed straight for the "Handicrafts" section. It's actually pretty funny, because there are all these old ladies clustered around these quilting magazines, and then this punk (and extremely gorgeous, I might add) teenager struts over and starts leafing through the books with a purpose, and a mad gleam in her eye. I look for the sewing books - the ones with patterns and instructions and PRETTY PICTURES OMG on how to make stuffed animals/dolls. Pretty much nobody knows that I like this stuff, but I LOVE making stuffed animals. I have boxes absolutely full of fabric, odd socks, old tights, and sewing supplies stacked up in my room. Honestly, if I decided one day to get rid of it all, half of the stuff lying around in my room would be gone. IT WOULD BE SO CLEAN!!! I even have an entire bookshelf devoted to books I've picked up over the years, almost exclusively from the Symphony book sale, on making these stuffed beastlings.
One of the most fun things about volunteering was seeing the different people looking at books. There were old ladies with fanny packs (which was seriously the first time I have EVER seen anyone wear a fanny pack, not including Freakishly Smart Person's very attractive costume for One Acts), families, little ADORABLE children, and an unsettling number of old ladies picking up VERY steamy-looking romance novels. -_o There was this one guy who bought 3 boxes of books, one at a time, because he's the owner of a second-hand book store. It's actually a rather clever way to stock up for cheap, when you think about it. Also, I saw someone I KNOW picking up books after my shift was done... or rather, he saw me. DUN DUN DUUUUN
So there I was, flipping through the boxes of books under the Handicraft table, when I hear... A VOICE. It said...
"Hey!" OH THE DRAMA! XD So I looked up and who do I see but Singing Actor And SGU Fan! He was holding a few books, and I smiled and said, "Nice shirt!" (We were actually wearing the same one - the t-shirt we got from the musical in the fall. XD) We had a short chat and he showed me the books he had - all rather old-looking, you know the type... plain covers, look leather-bound-ish, gilt print, no pictures. They actually contained several essays that we'd read in English a little while ago, plus a couple pieces written by Hobbes and Locke, two dudes that we were learning about in history a few months ago. If you're buying books that contain things that you've read (or read ABOUT) in school, you know you're doing it right! (Oh, and he offered to buy 1984 off of me if I had it - I didn't - so if any of you are looking to get rid of a copy you own you should give it to him.) I'm actually surprised that he wasn't loading up on cookbooks, as he's a rather big fan of cooking. Oh, and he had a few books on philosophy, including one by Marcus Aurelius. (He was a Roman emperor, once upon a time. xD) OTL Oh sweetie, you're such a nerd... I wonder if he often visits the book sale?
IN BRIEF: Volunteering allows you to see old ladies wearing fanny packs and buying steamy romance novels, and run into people you know in real life, so you should do it.
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