Possibly Riddled

I gave blood today, for the first time since college.

And perhaps I will again wait fifteen years before I do it again.

The blood drive at my school . . . I always avoid the thing. I don't want to answer the questions, don't want to give my address, don't want to feel exposed.

But one of my best friends is in charge of it now. So I thought, what the hell? And showed up early for my "appointment". Answered all the questions. They had a problem with me going to Europe in the last three years, by the way. Amazing that these vampires can find any available donors. Perhaps that is why they are at a high school, with people who aren't old enough to have lives yet . . . or immature enough to lie if they do.

And there is this strange reverence about the bloodletting. "You SAVED three lives today . . . " Well, no. I did nothing of the sort. True, there is my O negative goodness, "the universal donor". But I certainly did not cleanse any sin by having a pint drained out of me. But the kids see it as all saving. And a wicked cool excuse not to go to class.

The people running and procuring the blood did not seem to notice that I could not spend all day on the little cot that was provided for me. There was a lot of chatting and for ten minutes, when I thought I was draining, the person had just stuck me so hard with a marker that I thought she had injected me with a needle. Once I finally did get a needle stuck in my arm, things weren't "screwed on right" and my blood ended up on the floor. Nice.

And for something that the kids saw as next to Godliness, the staff was cranky and unfazed. I almost didn't make it to class and had to take my cookie on the run. And then felt like shit for the rest of the day.

So much for selflessness. And can't wait to get that "you're a universal donor so come anytime" card. Either that or the "Oh my God, you are riddled with hepatitis" card. Either way, done for a while.