Giving Blood

TO THE RED CROSS
(AND ALMOST TO JACK NICHOLSON, VAMPIRE)

This past Friday I went to donate blood at the Red Cross at the Veterans Hospital in Westwood. Just as the tech was getting ready to insert the needle, it occurred to me I should take a few shots of the procedure. Come to think, it's odd that I never thought of doing it before -- me, the compulsive photo-diarist -- even though I'd donated blood several times since I started the blog; but anyway here are the pictures. For some reason the old lady in the chair across from me thought what I was doing was hilarious and kept chuckling.


Prepping the site with iodine



The nice phlebotomist lady with the smile on her gown



The part I still hate



I pretend to squeeze the rubber ball for appearance's sake, but what I really do is replay in my head some of the exciting swordfight scenes from the yet-to-be-made movie of my life; that always gets the blood pumping way faster. Just kidding.



Bag o' blood, warm and delicious (BTW, I love this picture -- a full bag of ominously dark blood, flanked by a limp hand clutching a red ball on the one side and a hemostat pinching a pristine white lab gown on the other -- I'm not sure what it means, but it sure is evocative)



My friend Evelyn is a fan of vampires. A long time ago, she made me promise that if ever I was bitten by a vampire and turned into one myself, she should be the very first person I would turn in my turn (hah, "turn in my turn").

Some time after that, I dreamt that Jack Nicholson was a vampire and that he was dating my mother. He was also a bad guy (I mean in the sense of being a lowlife thug in addition to being a bloodsucking demon); so I told him I was not happy to have a guy like him hanging around my mom, and boy, he did not like hearing that from some skinny-ass punk kid. Which had me scared that he might come after me and suck my blood. But then, I remembered that I'd promised Ev that I would turn her into a vampire, and thought maybe I should let him.

What a great friend I am, remembering promises even in dreams.