A day of firsts

One of the major perks of reading my blog, besides of course me being able to track the location of readers which is really cool (shoutout to Mia who is upping my Spain followership), is that you get to help me cross things off the list and that seems to always be an adventure.  Take my great friend since 10th grade, JCoop, who texted me on his own volition offering to give blood with me.  That was awesome especially because plans to do it earlier that week had fallen through and Josh (JCoop, JE(pd), etc) and I decided that Thursday would work best for us.


Jcoop being the responsible young man he is (Rosh Edah at Ramah Nyack status type responsibility that has nothing to do with the fact that is mom is the director.  No really, it doesn't he's just that awesome!) looks up where we can give blood and in NYC on Thursday and who would have guessed that Thursday seems to be the official holiday for blood banks in Manhattan?  Don't believe us?  Check out the NY Blood Center Donation Location website in which there is one single place listed in Manhattan open on Thursdays.  Check it out even if you do believe me so you can schedule your next appointment....


Josh and I meet up after my morning class and headed on over to the Blood Center on the East side.  He explained to me the process as I am clearly starting to freak out...but anything for the blog, right?  Right.  To make me more excited he tells me that at the end they give you cool color bandages to wear and we decide that he wants purple and I want green.  We arrive, I fill out a bunch of questions, the lady tells me that my "boo has given before so he's gonna head in and I have to wait a while," adding some comic relief to the already bizarre questions like have I had sex in some foreign countries during specific years I wasn't even born yet with men who may have served in the army.  Finally after agreeing that my not-so-new-nose ring was pierced with a clean needle I head in near Josh and lay down.  Anxious.  Nervous.  And wishing someone would hold my hand.


The whole process begins and I'm fine.  I'm actually great, kind of just chill, thinking what a mitzvah (good deed) I'm doing and how I could be saving a life.  I think it's really cool that my blood is so easily pumping into the bag and I wonder if I was living in The Vampire Diaries or Buffy if Damon, Stefan, or Angel would want to steal my blood... that is if they were drinking human blood this episode or not. It also occurs to me that I don't know my blood type and just as I'm pondering the possible combinations of letters I start to feel faint.  Fast.  And then I'm sweating profusely and calling out that I don't feel so well.  The woman comes over and says I had just finished giving blood which was good because I was very persistent that I needed to fill an entire pint, and she put ice packs all around me and gave me paper towels to help cool and calm me down.  It was quite a humorous sight- I asked Josh to take a picture but he didn't.  Also amid all the chaos of the almost fainting we didn't get to choose our colors and neither of us got purple nor green.  We both got blue instead.

Josh and I at the NY Blood Center with our blue bandages! 

Josh and I recovered with apple juice, grabbed some lunch to go, and said our goodbyes for the summer.  This should have been the end of the blog post, but of course finding the only blood center in Manhattan open on Thursdays, almost fainting, and not getting our color bandages of choice is just not adventurous enough for the blog.  On the 2 subway home alone I started feeling not so great…to the point that I was not positive that I was going to make it out of the subway at 92^nd street.  Luckily I made it out, stumbled outside, and sat down on a bench right outside the station.  I was really lucky and saw a friend who was entering the subway who stayed with me for a few minutes while I ate some yogurt, and ended up taking a cab the rest of the way home.  I know, lame for a New Yorker, but for a girl who almost fainted on the subway I thought it was acceptable. 

So thus ended my first near-fainting experience and adventure for the sake of the blog.  Many many thanks to Josh for insisting that we go together, and to Tyler and Nat for making sure I was feeling well later that evening!  On the bright side, I accomplished two firsts- giving blood and almost fainting!  I highly recommend the former and to eat lots in the morning to prevent the latter.  

This past week I missed the Pride parade in Tel Aviv and moved out of NYC the day before the one here.  So I've gotta think of something new that I can accomplish by September... let me know if you have any suggestions!