I am Johnny Yen

Finally kept my appointment yesterday to donate platelets at the Red Cross center in Glen Bernie yesterday, which turned out to be a lot like the prcoes sof donating plasma, except for the very uncomfortable difference of having both arms immobilized with needles and tubes. The siphoning ran about an hour and a half, with the platelets, suspended in plasma, centrifuged out, and the red blood cells returned through the other arm. Not particularly cozy, but I was treated to a private screening of Syriana, which I understood on first viewing not one bit.

But the challenge of enduring discomfort for the greater bodily good of strangers has piqued my interest, so I looked into donating marrow. Sadly, those with a history of cancer are encluded from consideration, no matter how willing the applicant is to have needles jammed into his hip bone. Not sure why this is, and I've written away to marrow.org for an explanation.

Little, Big

So this Monday, I'll be interviewing for a stint with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Assuming I don't trip some kind of BBBS profiling alert ("tell me more about your temporary fascination with the Cranes, Mr. Bockhorst"), I'll be paired up with a local 8-12-year-old, with whom I'll be palling around at least twice a month. I'm led to believe that they try to match similar interests, which means I'll probably get something along the lines of an emo baseball & superhero enthusiast. We'll see how it goes - somehow, I feel like I'll still relate to the tween set all too well.

Remote Incensing

Blogger has apparently progressed since I've last used it to the point where I can post via Blackberry e-mail. So this is a test. Only a test.

Is This Thing On?

Getting my writing-ass back in order, and accordingly rebooting my sadly-neglected blog. Seeing as I've still got quite a bit to do tonight (the chosen site for accomplishing which is Spirits Tavern), this entry will just be a quick notice-serving. But as Clarissa Pinkola Estes noted, we've gotta get this written crap out somehow.