Yeah i haven't written in awhile. Lots of stuff has been going on and I'm not really in the mood to go in detail.

Today was the first day I've ever donated blood. It's not that I never WANTED to give blood...but in the past either I had something that required brainpower (like exams), i was way under the weight limit, or I had gotten a piercing. So today I scoped it out and figured taht I could fudge my weight enough in order to meet the requirements.

First they make you read this big huge schpiel about HIV, making sure you didn't have man-on-man sex, that you didn't travel to Random Country X...since I scoped it all out online I pretty much whipped through that. The volunteer lady was trying to get the attention of the nurses who were sitting around yakking. I was like "you need to holler!" but she told me they get mad at her for that...I'm like "you're a volunteer, you can yell all you want".

This is a side note: there's a type of person and job that basically means you do the crappy stuff but you're not exactly the type who'll fare well beyond a government job. I love slacking off or whatever, but I'm all about impressions. And government-type jobs offer such a guarantee, people don't mind taking hour long smokes breaks and all that. I'm not saying all government workers are slackers...my dad is a government employee and he works his ass off...but i can also say that ALOT of people i went to high school with who were slackers somehow ended up in the government. Put it this way: your perception of job stability is drastically different when you have a government-type job. It's not like every little project is what's going to make or break the organization and cause everyone to be laid off. I've done government work, i've done private sector work, and there's a HUGE difference in attitude. If today's blood drive had been run by an organization that had stocks, competitors, etc...there's no WAY those chicks would have been sitting around while a "customer" was waiting.That's the beauty of job stability...people will ALWAYS need blood.

So finally one chick came over and brought me beyind a screen where music was blaring so no one would hear us chat. She pricked my finger (which i knew was gonna hurt like a mofo 'cause they use the same tools that diabetics use, and i've used mine before when scoping out how much pain it was for me to take blood regularly from my cat). That was to check my iron levels. Then she put this paper stick thing in my mouth...it was a disposable thermometer. Took my blood pressure...then she left me alone to fill out some info on the laptop.

The questions pretty much consisted, once again, about man-on-man sex, diseases in South America, and whether I've ever had Hepatitis. Once that's done, they brought me over to a bed that looked like it came straight out of M*A*S*H. They scoped out my veins...which is pretty easily, since my veins look like a bodybuilder's on steroids...they bulge out of my arms.

So I'm chatting with the two nurse ladies about my cell phone (I thought it was going to take like an hour so i wanted entertainment) because they thought it was cute, and i'm asking them all these questions about who's most likely to faint, cry, blah blah...i asked if i could see the bag after its done...they asked me to turn away to not see the needle and I"m like "blah blah needles dont' bug me"...

Ohhh there's a REASON they don't show you the needle. I don't even know how that thing pierced my skin. It was crazy ass huge. My initial reaction was "dayyyyam...that is a big ass needle"...but the other nurse yelled "look over here! Think happy martinis" and did this cute little dance.

Then I sat there for a few minutes squeezing a ball, being bored out of my mind, my arm started to hurt, and i got super cold. Shortly after they disconnected the bag (they let me feel it...it's all warrrrm), they somehow managed to hook up one of those plastic thingies they normally use to draw blood and then take some more samples in a tube. After that I drank some water, juice, had some cookies...

I got to stand up and cheer when I found out taht I had the record so far that day for the fastest blood-pint-filling...6 minutes! And that's from rounding up! Woo hoo! One dude was there for like 20 minutes, wtf.

When I left, I was all "thank you ladies, I'll make sure to recommend you to all my friends"...uhhh not that the blood bank works that way. Overall, a pretty good experience...the literature part is a pain and having to sit around bored (and FREEZING) is a pain, but the actual blood withdrawal was a snap. The nurses were fabulous, and that volunteer was nice to let me quiz her about life in retirement (the secret: pay off your house and your car and retirement will be a breeze).

The nurses told me that high school kids are most prone to donating (way to go kids!), and chicks more than guys. But lots of high school chicks are anemic, so they faint more. And when one girl faints it becomes mass hysteria 'cause girls get all "omg my best friend! ohhhh myyy gawwwdd!".

I'm pretty surprised, I knew the stats were pretty low for donation...but i didn't know if was 2% out of people who are ELLIGIBLE! wtf! So subtract people who travel, weigh too little, and enjoy man-on-man boning, only 2% of the leftover people donate?! WTF people I didn't even meet the requirements and I still stepped up to the plate! I'm nto saying if you know you've got HIV to donate, but geezus...

Anyway, that's my story for today. I'm done chugging water and I'm sneaking in a diet pepsi 'cause i gotta have at least ONE (which is better than my normal 6-8...and yesterday I drank tea at work...its getting better people).

In quickie tv news:
1. Lost has picked up its pace and gotten SUPER good.
2. Heroes better get back on track, lately I've been pretty bored. Someone needs to shoot both Jessica/Nicky and Micah.
3. Desperate Housewives: slowly catching up, forgot how good that show is.
4. Notes from the Underbelly: my new favorite show. LOVE IT.


This weekend's home improvement project: replacing the faucets. Let's see how much can be accomplished with the least amount of water damage.