Rock 'N Roll Up Your Sleeve Blood Drive | Venus' Passing

There are very few things in this world that I can honestly say I HATE.
Of those few things [probably a list of like, 6 things total, if that?], I'm pretty sure needles are like 2-4 of those. I had an experience as a 5th grader with a nurse tech who should never have been left unsupervised, as she tried for nearly 40 unfruitful minutes to poke her way into a vein in one of my arms before spending another half hour on my other arm - to no avail. I was a whopping 10ish years old at the time, but it still makes me wince at the thought of a needle in my arm.

Seriously.

i survived! :)

I said that to let you all know that these blood drive things are always a mental challenge for me. I attribute my final ceding to this process, as always, to my college RA Becky, who planted the 'blood drive seed' in my brain; she all but mandated these things for her floor whenever we were eligible to participate. Before UC, I'd only been able to partake in one blood drive, mostly because I was bordering on the weight requirement but more importantly sat far below the regulated iron level. I've got stability certainly on that first factor now, but the latter is also under control, so I am more than willing to donate when I can.

That time came around again tonight at the Towerview blood drive [many thanks to Cathy, as always for her hand in facilitating this event with us and the American Red Cross. I feel it especially imperative that I get myself to these things now that I've been reminded I have a rare blood type, too. O pos., friends.

Oh, and tonight was also the much-hyped passing of Venus between our earth and the sun. This is one of the phenomenons that goes under-appreciated, I feel, since it's not going to happen again for a really long time [i.e., not again this century].

venus, yenno, just passing through

^ Yeah, I know it just looks like a little spec, but that's a planet crossing over. Look it up if you don't believe me. The last picture that I found was from 2004. Pretty cool, I think :) 

Joe heads back to Atlanta tomorrow for work, and I'm due to be back up early, too. I'm crossing my fingers for no residual bruises from the needle sticks. Ciao! 

xo | cmd