i've been a consistant blood donor since about '01. i feel it's my duty, kinda. not for some self righteous reason or anything, but because i'm one of like ten people in the world that can pass that test! have you ever done this thing?
- do you have any STDs?
- have you spent more than a month in europe?
- have you been in the military?
- have you seen the movie Outbreak?
- have you been tattooed/pierced in the last 12 months?
- do you know a guy named "trey"?
- have you ever voted democrat?
but there are some killer benefits to donating. other than the free schwag they always give you (who DOESN'T want a mock rolling stones t-shirt berating shirt reading pedestrians to donate?) there is the sense of accomplishment and necessity in society (is there anybody out there that would not be glad to know they saved someone's life?), but let's think shallow here- you can go out that night and get drunk waaaaaaaaay easier! think you're a lightweight now? wait till you lose 1/8th of your blood content!
i first gave blood in high school. the legal age for donating in texas was 16 then i think, so i did it in my junior year. get a free t-shirt AND skip afternoon football practice? throw in an 8 oz. orange juice and you got yourself a pint, mister! but back then it was such a pain in the ass. they only took whole blood then. if you've never donated, you can give whole blood, or double red, which is way better! with double red, they just extract the red blood cells and return the plasma to your system so you don't wear out as bad AND you technically give twice the blood! and, for me at least, you get this cool sensation about halfway through that feels like your lips have gone cold. feel free to interpret that as me liking the feeling of death's icy hand. ya freak! but with whole blood, you're worn out, man. this is the donation that you always hear of people fainting afterwards. but you do get to see your blood in a big plastic bag, which is always tempting to me to take off with and use as the most horrific water balloon some unlucky chump has ever experienced!
anyway, i took a couple years off of donating when i went to college because i got some tattoos (big no-no in the donating world), and did my fair share of drinking (and your share, and gandhi's share... well he wasn't going to drink it!!). but i didn't have unprotected sex; didn't visit the deeper parts of africa; didn't watch And The Band Played On; didn't come within five meters of a menstruating woman. etc, etc, etc. so whenever i decided to go back, my blood would still be pure. well, that wasn't the intended reason, but it was a nice benefit of not having near enough fun in college:)
then i found out about a hereditary disease my dad has called hemochromotosis. this basically means he produces too much iron, which leads to many complications in life, but most obviously is feeling bogged down. i mean, you're filled with IRON, duh. it's pretty much the exact opposite of anemia, but still sucks. the catch with hemo... is that the u.s. doesn't let you donate this blood, BUT you need to be letted about every 4-8 weeks to lead a normal life. that's right, kiddos, there are still diseases that are treated with blood letting. the dark ages got something right:P. so ultimately that is the real reason why i decided to start giving. my dad had to donate about a pint of blood every few weeks to... no one. his blood, in the eyes of american red cross, is trash. so to counter balance his inability to give, i give. that is, unless i get hemochromotosis. but, luckily it's hereditary, thank God!
wait, what does hereditary mean? ohhhhhh, snap.:)
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