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Jun. 28th, 2002
The Remains of the Weekend
Jun. 28th, 2002 04:42 pm
Hey there, all...
I'm feeling quite a bit better now, thanks to all of my friends (family). You all rock, supremely. I'm so lucky to have you all. :)
Wednesday was...interesting. After work I went to the plasma center to give life-saving plasma (or something) so I could actually have enough money to go to AC (they pay you!). I swear, if I didn't need the money so badly, that would have been my last time at that place.
I've had problems with these guys (Community Bio-Resources, now BioLife), but nothing *too* serious. Usually, they deal with unusually long waits for the process to go through, spasming veins, dehydration (my fault, for not drinking enough water), or lack of interesting things to read. But this...this takes the cake.
My 'sticker' was a very nice lady; I hadn't seen her around before so she must have been new (even though I hadn't been around myself for a month or so), but that was OK. She definitely looked like she knew what she was doing.
Read well, 'looked'. We went through the procedure, sterilization of the area, blood pressure reading, verification of identity, yadda yadda yadda, and we were all ready to stick the needle in and take out the blood. Well, she stuck the needle in very slowly...and when she did BLOOD WENT EVERYWHERE. Blood just spurted and spurted from the opening, getting all over the floor, the chair, my clothes, my Walkman...even Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes (I was reading a Sports Illustrated issue about the Winter Olympics). At first, I was very surprised...then I just started laughing, because, you know...it was funny. Really.
...
Shut up.
Anyway, they spend the next 30 minutes cleaning up all the blood I spewed everywhere...there had to have been at least 1/4 pint or so, possibly more. Who knew you could dump so much blood in such a short time??
Instead of sending me home and giving me money, they just asked if I wanted to continue with the other arm. Because I *really* needed the money, I said yes. So, they stuck me in the other arm, which almost spurted too, and the collection processed commenced.
Then, it went on...and on...and on....
I was there for about an hour longer than I should have been. What did they blame it on? Dehydration. I find this interesting because I made sure to drink plenty of water that day and the day before. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I spurted blood like a garden sprinkler for a good two minutes.
After I *finally* finished giving the plasma, I went up to get my money. I saw a $10 PR bonus stuck to my folder, and my mood lightened. I could really use that to actually get laundry done this week. Alas, my hopes were dashed when the cashier just gave me a $20 (normal donation payment), apologized for my 'experience', and left.
Fuckers.
Anyway, I'm hoping they'll give me the $10 bonus next time I go to donate. I know how uncomfortable that whole experience sounded, but the $100 I'll get from donating before AC means the difference between eating and not eating. After the next four donations, I think I'll be done with that place for a while...hopefully, I'll be able to budget better and not be so strapped for cash.
The Shaman Circle went pretty well, maybe because of my...impaired state. :) We went out to these fields behind Hethe's house after watching Blue Velvet (which is supremely messed up, you know) and I just kind of tranced out...it was so beautiful out there. Hethe suggested that we each keep our 'feelers' open and look for a present that the land wanted us to have. I felt a pull towards a certain spot almost immediately, and when I went out there to the spot, I found a clump of dead grass. Picking that up and searching a bit more, I found a rock, roughly the size and shape of a potato. These were my gifts? I went back to join the others when something dawned on me:
Even the plain things have meaning.
It was a nice statement to think about. I think I could do a lot of growing with this...
Thursday, I went and read at Faybles. I read what I like to call my "Traveller's Cycle" (Road Trip, Weaver Ward and A Memorable Gift), as well as Venus Falls, A Broken Cycle Complete and Roots. Everyone seemed to like them, though the audience was (as Kevin so accurately predicted) middle-aged white people. Still, a lot of what was read was *absolutely* incredible, and my stuff felt pretty insignificant next to what was being said. It was a very good experience; there was one fellow in particular I was just floored by. He had this Indian chanting instrument called a shrutibox, that looked and sounded like a sawed-off accordion. It looked ridiculous, but the sound combined with the flow of words...man, that's poetry.
Lots of writing planned for this weekend; I want to get all the stuff I've been meaning to get done, well, done, so I can finally get the ball rolling on writing again. I have a few people who I'd really like to have stuff for before AC.
Good weekend, to you all!
I'm feeling quite a bit better now, thanks to all of my friends (family). You all rock, supremely. I'm so lucky to have you all. :)
Wednesday was...interesting. After work I went to the plasma center to give life-saving plasma (or something) so I could actually have enough money to go to AC (they pay you!). I swear, if I didn't need the money so badly, that would have been my last time at that place.
I've had problems with these guys (Community Bio-Resources, now BioLife), but nothing *too* serious. Usually, they deal with unusually long waits for the process to go through, spasming veins, dehydration (my fault, for not drinking enough water), or lack of interesting things to read. But this...this takes the cake.
My 'sticker' was a very nice lady; I hadn't seen her around before so she must have been new (even though I hadn't been around myself for a month or so), but that was OK. She definitely looked like she knew what she was doing.
Read well, 'looked'. We went through the procedure, sterilization of the area, blood pressure reading, verification of identity, yadda yadda yadda, and we were all ready to stick the needle in and take out the blood. Well, she stuck the needle in very slowly...and when she did BLOOD WENT EVERYWHERE. Blood just spurted and spurted from the opening, getting all over the floor, the chair, my clothes, my Walkman...even Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes (I was reading a Sports Illustrated issue about the Winter Olympics). At first, I was very surprised...then I just started laughing, because, you know...it was funny. Really.
...
Shut up.
Anyway, they spend the next 30 minutes cleaning up all the blood I spewed everywhere...there had to have been at least 1/4 pint or so, possibly more. Who knew you could dump so much blood in such a short time??
Instead of sending me home and giving me money, they just asked if I wanted to continue with the other arm. Because I *really* needed the money, I said yes. So, they stuck me in the other arm, which almost spurted too, and the collection processed commenced.
Then, it went on...and on...and on....
I was there for about an hour longer than I should have been. What did they blame it on? Dehydration. I find this interesting because I made sure to drink plenty of water that day and the day before. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I spurted blood like a garden sprinkler for a good two minutes.
After I *finally* finished giving the plasma, I went up to get my money. I saw a $10 PR bonus stuck to my folder, and my mood lightened. I could really use that to actually get laundry done this week. Alas, my hopes were dashed when the cashier just gave me a $20 (normal donation payment), apologized for my 'experience', and left.
Fuckers.
Anyway, I'm hoping they'll give me the $10 bonus next time I go to donate. I know how uncomfortable that whole experience sounded, but the $100 I'll get from donating before AC means the difference between eating and not eating. After the next four donations, I think I'll be done with that place for a while...hopefully, I'll be able to budget better and not be so strapped for cash.
The Shaman Circle went pretty well, maybe because of my...impaired state. :) We went out to these fields behind Hethe's house after watching Blue Velvet (which is supremely messed up, you know) and I just kind of tranced out...it was so beautiful out there. Hethe suggested that we each keep our 'feelers' open and look for a present that the land wanted us to have. I felt a pull towards a certain spot almost immediately, and when I went out there to the spot, I found a clump of dead grass. Picking that up and searching a bit more, I found a rock, roughly the size and shape of a potato. These were my gifts? I went back to join the others when something dawned on me:
Even the plain things have meaning.
It was a nice statement to think about. I think I could do a lot of growing with this...
Thursday, I went and read at Faybles. I read what I like to call my "Traveller's Cycle" (Road Trip, Weaver Ward and A Memorable Gift), as well as Venus Falls, A Broken Cycle Complete and Roots. Everyone seemed to like them, though the audience was (as Kevin so accurately predicted) middle-aged white people. Still, a lot of what was read was *absolutely* incredible, and my stuff felt pretty insignificant next to what was being said. It was a very good experience; there was one fellow in particular I was just floored by. He had this Indian chanting instrument called a shrutibox, that looked and sounded like a sawed-off accordion. It looked ridiculous, but the sound combined with the flow of words...man, that's poetry.
Lots of writing planned for this weekend; I want to get all the stuff I've been meaning to get done, well, done, so I can finally get the ball rolling on writing again. I have a few people who I'd really like to have stuff for before AC.
Good weekend, to you all!