Tastes just like a Penny

I have been looking forward to today for weeks. It was blood donor day and I was going to conquer my fears. I woke up a little anxious but I was not scared, maybe it was subconscious. My biggest hurdle would be the iron test but I had been training for the last week by consuming great amounts of beef jerky. My blood sank like something that is completely not buoyant, I had enough iron! So, you say, you're in! You did it! No, I still failed! The heart rate test! Well, of course, I'm an anxious person! That's just me!

I am so disappointed. Passing the iron test was like passing the MCATS and then being offered a position to med school then, when I was so excited from the news they say "oh, just as a formality you need to take this small spelling test". I'm so excited that I can't concentrate and mispell "floride" (see it should be Fluoride") and they revoke my offer of admission. For a spelling test???? You have to be kidding me.

It's Official

That I have no life.
So, i have the biggest crush that i have had in months. Don't get too excited. It is on Chandler Bing. Thats right, from Friends. I have watched season three and half of season four since last week. Who has that kind of time at the end of the semester? Apparently I do. Plus I napped today and went to Zellers. Maybe I'll mix it up tomorrow and actually talk to people outside my house.

But, one exciting thing this week is Thursday. In two days I will be drained of my prescious iron-carrying fluid. I'm not telling this to make myself sound like a good person, it is just a momentous breakthrough for me! First time ever! I have been terrified of needles having never actually had blood taken it was the unknown that scared me. So a few weeks ago I had to have a blood test and I discovered something....it's not that bad! Actually its great, because now i get to complete one of the things on the list of things i want to do in my life. I suppose that's contingent on my having enough iron for them to let me do it. Does anyone know how to increase iron level in the blood artificially in a short period of time? I ate some beef jerky before writing this blog...

Another little push, on the Canadian Blood services website one could sign up for the bone marrow registry. I encourage people to check this out, mull it around for a bit. Being on the list does not at all mean you will ever be asked to do it.

Dag yo

Here I am as a brown person. Its better when I'm the only one in the picture because then you can't see how my newly tanned skin tone is actually the same colour of everyone else's.

Motivational Speaker

Another job I can take off the ever lengthening list of things I dont' want to do when I grow up (along with teacher, taxidermist, tambourine player, road-line painter....). Actually I'm not motivated to do a whole lot lately, hence the lack of blogging. Reading. Thats the one thing I seem to be doing but maybe because at least its not sleeping, one can only sleep so much. Maybe thats what I'll be, a professional reader (i had banked on student-for-life but that involves homework and it isn't on my aforementioned list of things I am motivated to do).
Aside from all that, I finished my last midterm. Meaning, since i have one exam, that I will only be tested in such a manner once more this year (calendar year that is).

Two elements of good news. I saw a little dog today that was wearing a rain coat! Not in a sissy and embarrassing Paris Hilton's-dog kind of way but a really cool little rainproof get-up that looks like he crawled inside a MEC packsack.
The next is that i finally have access to my very own $2000 portable email checker (I used 2000 as a means for expensive, i am not actually saying what I spent, not that I wouldn't). Its from D**L. I block it out since some people treat that like an expletive in the computer savvy world, luckily I am not computer savvy and I like my sleek 14.1 inches of mcafee protected high-tech goodness. Right now I am taking a few hours out of my week to do something essential: reinstall all that music!

It's not easy being brown

The theme over the weekend and into this week has been India. Saturday afternoon the Jaxx, her friend D and myself watched Born into Brothels. I had seen it once before but still fell in love with the children who lived in brothels in India but had so much spirit and life. They understood so much about their surroundings and nothing went unnoticed by them. Hardship had made them very wise.
For anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to watch the film it is a documentary about a woman from Europe who lives in the brothels and teaches the children photography. She then uses their photos to raise money for their education in hopes of getting them out of the brothels.
Saturday night was the C4C late costume bash, which was smashing by the way. Having scrapped the idea of a house costume (we had planned on being Mormons, but that didn't fly) I quickly decided of fulfilling my dream of being Indian (from India, not pocahontas) for at least one night. At VV I uncovered a beautiful cloth (that may have been a real sari) of sheer gold and red and silver trim. My hair was wavy, a special ruby clip held it part way up, an indian charm (ok, earing) dangling just belong my hairline, a red jewel on my forehead, a nose ring (fake), sandals. Basically perfect from head to toe. But wait you say....You are so white! Ah, the finishing touch: some very dark bronzer applied liberally all over my face and neck. What a sad moment when I had to wash that off. Another highlight was being able to throw in an accent here and there and claim racism when things didn't go my way.
By far the most rewarding part of "week India" was finishing "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. I had started the 800 page novel in the summer but had given up somewhere around 300 when things started to get busy and the book got slow. This week I returned to it, determined to finish and it was a great decision. When asked about it I answered "India, in the 1970s." The easiest reply and the one that made me sound the smartest. But really thats not what it was about. It was about people. How lives and choices are intertwined. How there is something to be learned and gained from every person. As the name suggests, there is a very fine balance between complete despair and hope. The book was heartbreaking. I wanted nothing more than to see the characters happy, I would have left the book unfinished if it meant they would stay at that point forever. After 800 pages I wanted more so that somehow everything could be fixed. As a person who doesn't read books twice I finished it this afternoon and then promptly began again. I think it should be read twice, there are so many subtle comments in the first few pages that are easily forgotten but are intricately tied to the last pages.

Brush with a Legend

This Halloween is one worth remembering. I received a telephone call from a friend who had wrapped herself in an oversized, dirty paper bag, donned a crown and was determined to meet a legendary author in the get up. A half hour later we pulled up to a pink-brick house on a child-filled crescent to meet Robert Munsch himself. Probably one of the influential authors in my life! We left with a caramilk, a dairy milk (full-sized, he isn't cheap!) and a picture of the Paper Bag Princess and Bob himself...and his Paris Hilton-type mini dog. It was actually a really awkward moment in my life, maybe in his too, but now I've met him.

Even better than that, his official website has free downloads of him reading all of his books! Instead of doing my Spanish homework I listened to "Purple, Green and Yellow", only one of his best books. I thought about listing my favorites but they all hold a special place in my heart. I would have to say "Good Families Don't" would be near the top though, since its about farts (ie. what good families do not have is flatulence).