Poverty + Beer + Gambling = Americorps

I thought for a long time that the reason that Americorps volunteers got paid so little was so they could experience what it means to be poor. Most members are privileged enough to take "time off" from competitive adult life and earning a good wage to "do good." Or something like that. And ALL americorps members qualify for food stamps. (Except for kids with trust funds, which is funny and I do actually know someone who didn't do americorps because she wouldn't qualify for food stamps because of a trust fund.) It seems like a logical conclusion to me that the US government would want one aspect of americorps to be the experience of poverty. (Ok. Ok. I know this is impossible because I do have nice, straight teeth and patagonia gear and am educated....)

A friend pointed out that the government isn't trying create a real-life poverty experience for us but wants us to serve our county and also make a sacrifice. Does service = sacrifice? I am not sure. I don't really feel like I am sacrificing anything but that is probably because I have a $10,000 credit card limit.

Anyway. Back to the story. There is no recycling in Lake Co. Cans, newspapers, white office paper, and corrugated cardboard ONLY. No pizza boxes. Until about April I didn't even know where the recycling center was. I have been putting all my recycling since October in my garage. Recently, after having a small party I decided I should return my bottles. I also noticed that some friends had a ton of bottles and offered to redeem those as well. They had a ton. Free money. Thank you Tom McCall.

My past history with bottle returning is short. I have only lived in states that redeem bottles. I remember doing it as a kid and we would split the money and buy candy. There wasn't really much beer or soda in our house growing up so we would get like $3 every 6 months. And onetime I returned bottles with Mindy Williams, whose father loves Heinnekin, in high school and got like $20. And I think one time senior year in college I returned bottles for about $20. But mostly I've just left them on the streets and let bums return them or donate them to the Vinalhaven seniors. And I felt good about it. Donations. And I think one time I returned bottles last summer and it was miserable. And easy to forget.

Anyway. Returning bottles is a really good bad idea. In Lakeview, they have those machines where you cram bottles in and it spits out a ticket and then you go inside and they give you the money. So yesterday I did this after work with two carloads of bottles. I was wearing my Americorps shirt. Being prideful of my county and service and being a steward of the environment. Perfect. What else does a girl need? I felt really good for like 7 minutes. On the machines there are clocks so I was very aware of time passing and not passing. And then I spilt an old, dank, stale beer on my forearm and shirt. And then I was like WTF. Why am I here. What am I doing. And I hope no one sees me. I mean if someone I work with thinks I drank this much beer it is totally embarrassing. And I am spending the time returning these bottles. Am I that hard up. I guess.

Ok fast forward an hour and 14 minutes. I am done. I am hot. I am dirty. I am pissed. And I am poor. Total amount $40.45. I then spend $16 on beer and $4 on two lottery tickets. Kept $20 in my pocket. I was still pissed even with the money and beer. The work was mis and embarrassing and dirty. And I only spent the money on the scratch-off tickets because I am poor and liked the idea of possibly winning $1 million.

And then I scratched the tickets.

And I won $20. Sick. Its amazing to win scratch tickets. I then had 30 beers, $40.45, and a sense of accomplishment. I was also still dirty and ended up sharing 15 beers with the folks who gave me the cans and celebrating by watching Flaming Lips rock videos and loving Oregon. Also, with a 4% increase in my June monthly income I think I will go to dinner and rent a movie. Yes.

At this point I don't know whether to thank or be angry at my Americorps experience about this recent rollercoaster of emotions. If I wasn't pretending to be poor/sacrificing for this county I wouldn't have returned the bottles. I am pretty excited to move to a college town this fall so I can return to business as usual and put my empties on the street for bums. And feel good about it. And not get dirty and pissed.