Me of the Day

Mood: Tired. Morning is not my friend.

Reasons Why I'm Awesome: I won my family's Oscar pool...yay me! (My family does very little together, but somehow the Academy Awards became a tradition equivalent to Christmas....so this is a big deal for us. Yes, we are sad.)

Reasons Why I Suck: I burst into tears no less than three times at work yesterday. Three! For no good reason at all. Clearly, I am incompetent at life.

Best Work Story of the Night: At about 9:30, a huge man who was fairly high (and may or may not have been foaming at the mouth) came into our centre angrily looking for his girlfriend. Our centre is strictly women-only, so this was not okay. Being a 90-lb white girl wearing a Hello Kitty bandaid, I felt I was best suited to handle said situation - by blocking his path and telling him repeatedly that he had to leave. My awesome coworker backed me up by getting out a phone (in case I wasn't intimidating enough), and after a five minute stand-off the scary man retreated. I am clearly amazing...don't mess with me.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do: You should give blood. Seriously. I know you don't like needles, and you may or may not feel dizzy afterwards, but...give blood. If you're poor like me, it's an easy way to feel good about yourself. And they give you cookies and juice, and if you go with friends you can race them to see who bleeds fastest, and then you'll get drunk more easily if you're into that...see? Worlds of good. Also, it's a chance to save three lives with about an hour of your time.

Can't give blood? Join the club...and by club, I mean, 'Bone Marrow Donor Registry.' It involves a form, and a quick blood test to get your DNA on file, and then maybe someday having the chance to donate bone marrow to a child with leukemia (or an adult with leukemia...or other types of cancer...just sign up). You can always say no when that opportunity comes up, but the more people on file, the better the odds of survival for anyone who needs a bone-marrow transplant. (Which could be you, someday...or more likely, me...God is not my friend.) If you really don't want to give blood (or can't for whatever reason), this is a kickass alternative. Ideally, do both.

But Ivy...why won't you come with me to give blood?? Aren't you just a big fat hypocrite?

Well, yes, in a lot of ways, I am a big fat hypocrite. But probably not in this case. I'm not supposed to give blood because I weight less than 110lbs...which means that, when they take a pint of my blood, I am left with few reserves and feel a little queasy. This didn't really discourage me, and I was gung-ho for giving blood anyways...except, I started working with a non-profit. And most of the women we work with have at least one blood-born illness, and lots are intravenous drug users. And one day I was helping one woman who was cleaning out an abcess and generally a mess, and then running around by myself on the floor because my supervisor was hanging out in the staff room for no good reason, and at some point my gloves broke and I took them off, and then I picked up some paper because I'm fairly stupid, and underneath it was a bunch of blood-soaked tissue, which got all over my hands. And into a cut on my thumb. From the lady with the abscess from the intravenous drugs. Crap. Also, I was carrying around a vial of crack at this point in the evening - my job is crazy. This was a few months ago, but I'm still in the year-long testing process for HIV and Hep C. So, I can't give blood, even though I really do want some cookies and juice and the centre is literally ten blocks from my house. So...you should. I will live vicariously.

Bring me back some cookies?