today i went with twiddle thumbs to donate blood at the red cross in san jose. the santa cruz one is apparently too small to do their own blood drives. it's been a long time since i've donated blood, or even tried because the last few times, there always seems to be something wrong with me. for example, my body temperature was .1 degree higher than what they allow, i pierced my ears myself, my red blood cells were low in iron, etc. always something small and silly. so i just stopped trying. if you donate enough, you get a "i've donated 1 gallon" pin. then you replace the number on it to say "i've donated 2 gallons", etc. i think that's really cool. to get that pin is my goal. i'm not even halfway to a pin i think. i really haven't donated that much...

not only was it good for me to go, but i was there for moral support for twiddle thumbs, who has never donated before and is scared to death of needles. she does not know her blood type and i have been trying to get her to donate blood to find out her blood type for the longest time. she has had some blood work done by her doctor and her doctor will not tell her what her blood type is. i think that's bullshit! you're a paying patient, why won't the doctor tell you your own blood type? what if you have something a bit rare and need to know in case of an emergency? fuckers! so i told twiddle thumbs the way to find out, and for free, is to just donate blood.

i was nervous that she, i, or both would not pass the pre-screening. that again i would have something wrong with me. we both passed. then i was nervous that twiddle thumbs would back out. the nurse started taking my blood first. once twiddle thumbs saw the blood, she freaked out and started crying. i thought she was going to completely chicken out and leave. no, she didn't. she pulled herself together and after a few minutes, she was donating too. that was really cool and i'm glad and proud she was able to overcome her fear. once i saw the needle go in my arm, i realized it was much bigger than i had remembered! and i actually felt it sting a bit--i never really feel needles! that's when i was afraid that if twiddle thumbs saw the needle she would back out. she was smarter than that, she didn't look at the needle at all--i think she got to know the ceiling very well.

at the juice & cookies area, there really wasn't much we could have. we had some water and raisins. to give a little more sugar jolt, we had some sips of juice. i felt fine, energetic even. whenever i donate i get a high. i feel great and want to run around and do everything they say one should not do! twiddle thumbs felt a little dizzy so that's why we rested much longer than i ever do.

while we were over the hill, we went to a body piercing studio to find some retainers for me. i thought the santa cruz shops are too small to carry them so instead of driving around and wasting my time at home, i should go to bigger studios in san jose. i searched the net and found body exotic. the place didn't seem that big but they did have retainers. i bought one for my lip and my tongue piercings. i want to hide my lip piercing for my visit with the japanese consulate and i want to hide my tongue piercing for job interviews. i could take out my tongue piercing for up to 1 day without it closing because i've had it for so many years but i'm afraid for my lip one.

after all that, we were hungry so we looked in the phone book and chose a place by the name: vegetarian house. it's almost a vegan house. it's like 85% vegan. most dishes are vegan, if not then they are vegan optional. only a couple dishes were vegetarian only. we each had some sort of pasta and flan for desert. it was pretty good. then we got some fried rice to go for later. man, that fried rice was good! i really do love fried rice. the vegetarian house was centered around some sort of chinese lady spiritual person. i'm finding these sort of restaurants strange but hey, it's a place where i can eat. when i visit japan and korea next month, i think i'm going to get to know the temples very well.