Saturday, April 19, 2003 :::
 


i wandered into my parents' bathroom to shower, seeing that the bathroom i always use was occupied. i saw two unfamiliar bottles on the shower rack, and instinctively reached for them. cool, new shampoo and conditioner. in pretty little bottles too. i read the labels intentively, word by word, careful not to miss anything. the promises were pretty lofty, but they looked and smelled too good not to try. grasping each bottle with each hand, i wondered, whether to use shampoo first or conditioner first, and how long i must leave the conditioner on for maximum effect. finally deciding on shampoo-conditioner-shampoo sequence, i was trying to pour an adequate amount of shampoo onto my hand when i realised ... ... i have no hair.


on a totally unrelated note ...


i went for my first ever blood donation today. i was feeling good about myself until i reached the venue and saw the size of the needle used to extract blood. i wanted to chicken out, but then, i had many friends with me, so no choice, i had to hold on. i hated the blood test, where they used a small blade to make a tiny cut on my finger. although i knew the sharp pain wouldn't last even half a second, but somehow i just dread it. i tried to look cool and nonchalent when i laid on the reclining chair, and smiled at everyone i made eye contact with. the nurse arrived and told me she was going to inject some anesthesia. fine, i thought, until the feeling of my skin being penetrated jolted me out of my elevated self praise. and when the nurse waved the real needle in front of me and proceeded to pierce it through the blob casued by the anesthesia injection, i could almost feel myself blacking out. but i didn't feel a thing. the anesthesia saved me from utter embarrassment.


the rest moved on normally, and i could see my blood bag gradually being bloated with my blood. the nurse then snipped the connecting tube and filled some miniature test tubes with my blood, presumably to do tests on it. and i was finally done, much faster and painless than i thought.


well, my main message is that donating blood really does not hurt or cause intense pain. i've felt far sharper pain squeezing pimples than the pain i felt today totaled up. you may not have much money to give, but money is not and will not ever be a substitute for life. the ironic and strangely beautiful about life, and maybe perhaps love, is that the more you give, the more you actually have, and the world is a better and more humane place because of your selfless giving.



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::: posted by Richard Wan at 8:07 PM