miss_yt

Twenty-seven years ago, the University of Michigan and its rival, Ohio State University, initiated what is now a traditional annual event called the Blood Battle. Each year during October the Red Cross holds a blood drive at both institutions. Students come in to volunteer and, of course, donate blood. The institution that has donated the most blood by the end of the Battle wins. So far, we are tied thirteen for thirteen with OSU. Now, our football records are a different story...

Anyway, I took part in the Blood Battle myself this year. I like to donate blood when I can. Because I am AB-, and only a relative handful of people share my blood type, my whole blood is not in great demand - although there had better be some available when someone needs it, I always say, so I might as well provide. AB plasma, however, can be used by anyone. So even if my red blood cells don't end up helping somebody, my plasma probably will.

The donation did not exactly go smoothly. I had an appointment, but the Red Cross people were running way behind, so I didn't actually get to donate until about an hour after I was supposed to. After they collected my blood, I went to sit at the table where they give all the donors drinks and snacks to get their fluids and blood sugar back up. I was chatting with one of the student volunteers when I started to feel really dizzy and nauseous. I said so. All the volunteers within earshot freaked out and urged me to lay my head on the table. They got one of the real Red Cross people - one of the ones who actually takes blood, I mean - and she, along with a couple of the student volunteers, shuffled me over to an empty recovery cot, where they put cold towels on my head and neck and had me breathe into a paper bag for a couple of minutes.

I was more bemused than scared by the whole thing, although I did feel like crap for a while. I asked my attending Red Cross volunteer what had happened: I think she thought I meant I didn't remember what had happened, although I actually just wanted to know the actual physical event that had made me bad and freaked everyone out. She said it was just my body's way of telling me that it didn't like losing a pint of blood. I bet there's a specific medical term for it, and tomorrow I am going to call Mom the Anesthesiologist and ask her. One of the student volunteers later told me that a number of things can cause a reaction like I had, such as a lack of food or sleep. I think my problem was that I didn't drink enough water beforehand.

When I was able to stand up and move around again, I went and got dinner and drank lots of water, which made me feel better. Now I'm feeling kind of tired, weak, and I felt out of breath just going up and down the stairs to my apartment. That's not a surprise: I'm not oxygenating the way I usually do.

In other news, desdenova and I have hashed out plans for my trip to Chicago come Thanksgiving weekend. My mother reminded me that she has cousins living in Chicago, and is going to call them to see if I can visit. This might throw my schedule a bit wonky but I can't really say no if they want to see me. Maybe they will invite me for Thanksgiving dinner - which would be nice, because otherwise I'm not going to have it this year.

Remember what I said a few days ago about my TV being broken? Well, the estimate from the repair shop was $360 dollars, minus the initial fee of $25 that I paid. The television itself cost a little more than $400. I checked out some prices for small flat-screen TVs from Best Buy and decided that it would probably be more cost-effective to get one of those new than to get my old one fixed.

I called the manufacturer to register a complaint. A $400-dollar TV should not blow out a bunch of its components after less than a year. I am going to get a new TV of a different brand.

I admit that I had a hand in creating this problem for myself, because I bought the TV from a guy on Craigslist (it was new, BTW) and not an authorized seller, which means I got no warranty. Let that be a lesson to you, kids. Always make sure you get the warranty.

Oh, and the water system in my apartment building is broken. The landlord says it will be fixed this afternoon. Until then, I can't flush the toilet or get anything from the faucet. Joy.

Obama's won the Presidency. I feel relieved: I thought this was going to be a repeat of 2004. I don't expect the man to live up to all his campaign promises, even if he's as earnest as he appears to be, because you'd have to break the laws of physics to make that happen. I do expect that he will bring some perspective and common sense to the Executive Branch. Congratulations, Mr. Obama. When you're in office, please remember who you work for.

That said, I hope no one on my f-list is going to go around taunting Republicans. It's a crass and unsympathetic thing to do. No matter who's gotten elected or what happens from here on in, we're all in it together, so let's act like it.

"We" includes the stupid undergrads on my block, including my next-door neighbor who is playing his guitar and singing (very badly). I'm in too much of a good mood to call the cops on anyone tonight.

Some of the costumes at the School of Information Science's Halloween party are good indicators of who's pissed off the librarians this year. Last year someone came in a costume made of vacuum tubes (the Internet, as imagined by Ted Stevens). This year we had a McCain, a Joe the Plumber and two Sarah Palins.

Other interesting costumes included:

Ugly Betty, with a loud Guadalupe poncho
A lolcat
Future Hiro
A Duracell battery
The Fourth Doctor (but with the Tenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver)

See any interesting costumes this Halloween?

So, I finished Fable 2 the other night. A bit near the ending actually had me shouting at the TV (well, the villain on the TV) with a line straight out of the Dresden Files: SPOILER "You killed my dog. Get your affairs in order." SPOILER

The game is pretty awesome. By the end I owned most of the real estate in Albion and I'd had four spouses - not all at once, although granted, I did have two at once.

I think I might get a game guide or something so that I can obsessively collect all the Easter Eggs - the silver keys and the gargoyles and such. I plan to play the next game with a male hero and maybe be a little less well-behaved this time around.Yes, I know, having two spouses at once was not "well-behaved," but you can do a lot worse in Fable, which is one of the cool things about it.

In RL news, I'm eagerly anticipating the School of Information Halloween party on Friday night. This year the party is within walking distance of where I live. However, I'm not looking forward to the antics of the undergrads in my neighborhood come Halloween night. I bet some of them will be TPing things, the bastards.

Some of you may remember my summertime LJ rant about charity muggers. This is in the same vein.

Lately I've seen two kinds of clipboard-carrying people around the U of M campus: the ones who ask you if you're registered to vote in Michigan (I did register with one of them, since I moved apartments) and the ones who ask if you have a minute for the environment.

( Kind of long and ranty and with lists, so behind a cut. )

Here's a creative way to annoy the Republican vice-presidential nominee, while contributing to a good cause. It comes courtesy of someone on the Bryn Mawr Alumnae mailing list.

One can make a donation to Planned Parenthood in honor of Sarah Palin and have the acknowledgment card sent to the McCain campaign headquarters. If you go to the Planned Parenthood home page and bring up the "donate" menu, the first option on it is to make an "Honorary or Memorial Donation." Give a donation to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's name!

If enough of us do it, it may make the news! Let's give it a try!

EDIT: By the way, in the "send acknowledgments to" fields when you make the donation, put in the following address:

McCain for President
1235 S. Clark St, First Floor
Arlington, VA 22202

Today was the first practice session of the semester for the Michigan Kendo Club - and my first since April. For all that I think it went rather well. I got my zekken (and I will have my bogu in a couple of weeks!), I showed off the awesome shinai sleeve back Marjorie made me, and was generally a happy kendo-ka.

(If you didn't recognize all of those words, go look 'em up!)

In less happy news...well, I don't usually talk about politics, because in my experience it generally leads to arguments and frustration. But I'm worried about this whole Sarah Palin business. Not the business with her daughter getting pregnant - the fact that McCain probably picked her to draw in disgruntled former Hillary supporters. No, I'm not kidding. My mother was a fan of Hillary Clinton, although I wasn't. Fortunately she's sensible enough that she'll vote for Obama on election day, but I know a lot of people aren't. She told me that a lot of blue-collar women who liked Hillary are now planning to vote for McCain because he chose a woman as his running mate.

I understand the urge to get a woman in high public office, but seriously, Palin is the wrong woman. She's practically Hillary Clinton's polar opposite, while Obama's positions on many issues are similar to, if not the same as, those that Clinton espoused. Palin is aggressively pro-life, ran as a fiscal conservative and then turned around and increased spending and taxes in her home state, and is, from what I have heard, is even less keen on listening to the views and advice of others than our current President...unless, of course, the people giving the advice are her flunkies. The whole business makes me sick.

By the way, yes, I am registered to vote in Michigan, a swing state that is projected to go Republican this year. You've probably already guessed who I'm voting for. May the best man win.

So after a nine-hour drive and days of unpacking, I am pretty much moved into my new place in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's an efficiency so it's small, and unlike my previous apartment it doesn't have a washer and dryer in the basement, but it suits me - and I don't have to share it with terrible, horrible, no-good very bad roommates. Good riddance to them.

I don't have internet in my apartment (I'm using the campus internet now), but I may be able to make an arrangement with one of my fellow tenants to share their wireless connection for a monthly fee. Meanwhile, I'm working on figuring out my class schedule and working on stocking my fridge with basic necessities and such.

Those of you who missed the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics should go Google a video of it now. Seriously, you should. They're astounding.

Brian Williams described the ceremonies as having "massive scale and minute precision." It made me think of Stonehenge, or the pyramids, to which that description also applies. You wonder how human beings could accomplish such a thing.

The answer: there are lots of them and they're just plain crazy enough to do it.