Blooooood!!!

So I donated blood today for the first time. That was definitely an interesting experience. I had signed up to do it at 2:15 but when I got there they said there was a 30-45 minute wait. I filled out an information sheet and signed in and sat down, and I kept noticing people getting sent outside to where the blood drive truck was. At one point I noticed a few girls who had definitely gotten there after me going in, so I walked up to the sign up sheet and saw that the lady had skipped my name, and crossed out names before and after mine. So I was like "Hey, that's my name and I'm here, so..." and she said "OH! I'm so sorry! You'll be the next one in."

When I first went into the truck, I walked back into a tiny closet of a room where a guy took my temperature, blood pressure, and he pricked my finger to take a small amount of blood (and that hurt a lot!). He asked a few questions based on the info sheet I filled out, like about how I went to Europe this past April. Then when he was done with me I sat down on a small bench to wait for a free chair to get my blood taken away. The chairs were super comfy, they looked like permanently reclined squishy chairs set into the walls, with armrests on the outside for the arm that they would take the blood from. The guy taking my blood wasn't as nice as the guy who took the tiny sample, and I kind of wished the other guy (I think his name was Jon) would do the procedure because he felt more comforting. It wasn't too bad in the end, though. The guy asked if I wanted to see the needle and I was like "NO!" so I looked away while he stuck me and it HURT!!! And then it just felt weird after that. The tube that ran from the needle to the bag was resting on my arm and it was warm which was the weirdest sensation ever. It only took about 15 minutes, which was less time than I was expecting. When I was done, they took me over to an area of the bus which had apple juice and various snacks, so I took a few apple juices (hehehe).

I walked home and I was fine, but I laid down to watch a bit of TV just to relax and I felt really not well. I texted Carolyn, the stage manager for the show I'm working on, and told her I didn't think I was going to be able to come into rehearsal because I'd donated blood and wasn't feeling well, and she said it was totally okay. I've spent the rest of the night drinking tons of water, sleeping, eating a bit, and watching Gilmore Girls. My 8 am class tomorrow was canceled earlier in the week so I get to sleep in tomorrow too, which is nice. I'm going to get lunch with Elle around noon because we've both been so busy, we haven't had time to hang out much.