Bloodletting

I gave blood today for the first time in my entire life. What a strange experience that was. When I got out of Peace Corps I was told that I could not give my blood to anyone for 5 years due to the region of Africa I lived in. It was a haven for HIV, (although lord knows I did not sleep with anyone so the risk level was at an all time low) malaria, hepatitis A, B, and C, and pretty much anything else you can think of floating around in The Gambia. I left PC in 1995 so technically I could have started giving blood in 2000. Whoopsy. There is a blood drive through work so I looked at my schedule and had an open spot on Thursday morning to give up a pint of the fluid which keeps me alive. The man who reviewed my paperwork was very difficult to understand and with my inept hearing, made it a rather painful experience to get admitted. After a half hour of attempting to understand one another, the whole Africa experience was difficult for him to grasp and wanted to call The Gambia Thmamitcha so we were sort of stuck there until he busted out an atlas. Once it was established that Thmamitcha was no longer a risk regarding my blood because it had been so long ago, we were onto a whole new set of questions. He asked several times in several different ways if I recently paid anyone to have sex with me or if I had sex with a man who has had sex with another man. Understandable that in this day and age that these questions need to be asked but it was, to say the least, awkward. What if I had sex with some tranny boy hooker while in Thailand last year? How in the hell would I have answered that question? Bottom line is it just felt strange no matter how necessary it was. Eventually all the questions were done and I was cleared to give blood. There were these huge blue chairs that I contemplated stealing as they would be perfect for sitting around in Dolores Park on a lazy Sunday afternoon. After further investigation I thought it wise not to steal them seeing as they are a bit on the bulky side and wouldn't fit so well in the trunk of my Lesbaru. It was time for the needle insertion by Nurse Betty whom I wasn't quite sure if I should trust or not. She looked like last night had been spent closing down a bar in Concord and that she really did not want to be bothered with taking my blood. In went the needle and out came my blood. I do not have a strong stomach. I thought I was going to be fine with this. Apparently I got white as a ghost and looked as though I was going to pass out. Nurse Betty brought me water and sat with me for a bit to make sure I didn't hurl. There I sat for the next 20 minutes while my blood was collected into a little 1 pint bag. Now I feel all light headed and funny. Maybe it's because I am funny looking but it's unclear at this time how that would be related to my bloodletting. After all is said and done I will find out what blood type I have and I did get to drink some juice and have a powerbar. Not sure if I will do this again.

Didn't have a chance to watch the debates. That is what Miss Becky and I will do for F-U-N on Friday night. Aren't we a crazy couple? The spin thus far is that both candidates were rather well behaved and there wasn't anything earth shattering that we haven't heard before from Monkey Bush and the Political Skeletor. One bit read was that Mrs. Cheney was pissed off at Political Skeletor for making statements about her lesbian daughter. Why does this bother her so much? What he said was a perfectly clear fact that everyone knows, the Crusty Old Whitey and Mrs. Cheney have a lesbo daughter. Big shock. Evidently this makes Political Skeletor a bad bad man according to a woman whom is afraid to acknowledge that her daughter likes other daughters. Whatever.

Dinner at Chow was good last night with the Wednesday night crew. Am sad to see my mentor of 6 months move onward but hey, she and her special lady will have a great time. What a special special lady she is! Cheers to moves and cheers to the Wednesday night crew. Kim, you will be greatly missed!