7/13/05

I don’t really have time to write, but I’m making some. I ran into an old friend while picking up a pizza for dinner last night. He worked at the restaurant in high school and afterwards, so I was able to keep up with him when I happened to run into him there. He started working there less frequently as time went on and had other jobs at the same time, so I haven’t seen him much in the last few years. Up until last night I hadn’t noticed much aging since high school/college. Last night he looked noticeably older. It’s nothing serious and everyone ages differently, but when I looked at him I began to see someone I guess as being closer to thirty or over thirty. There’s nothig wrong with that, but I just happened to notice the change. We are roughly the same age, so I didn’t expect to see that until I saw it in myself. Maybe I’m just blind to it in my own features, but we’ll see.

Anyway, despite appearances, he hasn’t grown up. He’s working three jobs now, and drinking heavily [on weekends.] Maybe that’s what he wants. I don’t know, but I expected more. One of my other friends from the same group of friends at least moved up to an asst. management position for a bigger restaurant. I expect that kind of progression. If he was taking more than a five minute break from his work [for a beer] and I wasn’t holding a pizza, I would have asked more questions. I’m really curious about his plans for the future. It seems like at the rate he is going to work for the rest of his life. I, on the other hand, want to retire as early as possible. I’m not seeking that goal as ambitiously as I could, but it’s still a goal. I want to do more than work for the rest of my life, but maybe he doesn’t care so much about that. I’m not trying to be critical of him, but I’m just concerned/curious.

I successfully donated blood today. My blood pressure wasn’t too high this time and I ate enough beforehand to avoid blacking out again. Now I can go get pierced on Friday and wait a year to donate again. Below is a pic of what I’m going to get. I’m hoping to have pictures taken while I’m getting it done to document my first piercing, but we’ll see.

*edit*

I can’t find a picture of the “Got blood?” t-shirt the red cross gave me. I got to enter to win a pair of Red Sox tickets too. However, I am not following their instructions to keep that damn bandage on for five hours. I’m not allergic to the adhezive, but it’s annoying and unnecessary. Two hours is more than enough.

Also, that coworker I complained about in my last entry says he’s not donating blood through the Red Cross anymore. They turned him away three times, so he’s had it with them. I guess he tried in the rush after 9/11/01 and is fed up with them now. That seems pretty ridiculous. I wouldn’t blame the organization just because I chose to go during the busiest time with the rest of the masses. I thought the Red Cross made it pretty clear that they were overwhelmed. While I don’t fault people for being generous in a time of need, that was way more than could have been used at the time. It’s a shame people aren’t normally that generous and willing without a crisis. Honestly, I don’t donate as often as I should mostly due to inconvenience. It sounds horrible to say, “sorry, you can’t have my blood if I have to step too far from my daily routine,” but it’s true. I’ve wanted to do more, but most of the blood drives in my area near home are at bad times. I really like it when they have one in the building I work in. Now it’s high-risk behavior like tattoos and piercings that make it less frequent too. I’ll still shoot for once a year at least.