Almost Homeless and How to Give Blood When You Got Nothing Else

I am waiting for my 3 day eviction notice. I had a job that also paid for my rent. I have since lost my job and as a result of the agreement, my place to live as well. Luckily, Key West has a homeless shelter that I have been to before. The hardest part about staying there is dealing with the other unfortunates that apparently used to be somebody. Attitudes and assholes who take what is given to them for granted. I am waiting for my food stamps to kick in and am so ever grateful for the surrounding churches who have given me food to keep my stomach from growling so I can sleep at night. The hardest thing for me is my nicotine addiction and I like to have a beer, here, there and everywhere but they don't hand those luxuries out at the churches. Thank the lord, I still have my health and my music, without those 2 things, I REALLY have NOTHING!

I was at the library yesterday and saw a sign that needed blood donors. They don't pay you but you do get a T-shirt. I didn't need the T-shirt but I heard they have orange juice and cookies and figured at this current point in my life, I can't help myself right now, why not help somebody else. You can never have too much good karma.

NOW, this was a BIG step for me. Not to help others,I love helping my fellow human being in need. I actually get a great feeling that you can't get anywhere else by doing that, it's a beautiful thing.
No, my problem was, I am deathly afraid of needles. I remember as a kid, my mother was a registered nurse, I would play in the woods and come home with poison oak and my mother insisted on giving me a shot in the ass to clear it up, in which I would cry and raise a fuss but she would sit on the bathroom toilet seat and have me lie across her lap, pants down and ass up and stick that needle in my bum. She was very quick with the needle but it felt like somebody BIG kicked me in the ass as hard as they could.

So anyway, I gathered up my courage to walk up to the bus in the parking lot, filled out the paperwork and I was approved, good to go. I lie down on the gurney, I mean, the blood donor bed thing a ma jiggy thing. It was FREEZING on that bus, I was shaking and one of the blood suckers, huh, takers asked if I was cold or scared and I replied, a little of both. So they gave me a blanket and told me to think about fluffy puppies and bunny rabbits. No, they didn't say that, I just made that up but they did give me a blanket.

As the phlebotomist was pumping up my veins, he asked if I had anything to drink today. I said, no, I haven't had a drink in 3 days, thinking he was talking about alcohol but in fact, when he came back with some Gatorade, he thought I was dehydrated. He knew that just by looking at my veins. Wow. He also gave me a couple bags of chips before he stuck the needle in. I didn't think I looked that homeless.
He did a hell of a job, he got my vein first try, my mom always said I had great veins. I can remember going into surgery and nurses trying to get an IV started and it would take them 3 or 4 painful attempts, this guy was good.

I had heard horror stories about people passing out after giving blood and that added to my anxiety especially since I hadn't eaten much before getting on the blood mobile. But after 15 minutes I was done and felt fine standing up, getting a Coke, chocolate chip cookies and my free T-shirt. The blood taker operator told me to eat a big meal later that night and I had plans to go to this community church called Vineyard in Big Pine where they serve dinner before the service. So I put on my brand new cool shirt and headed over to the church. As I am walking in I hear, "Nice shirt!" and I turn around and it's the girl who signs you up to get your blood taken and said, "I give blood and now you're following me?"

So it was a good day, I hope for 2 things out of that experience, 1) I hope I am Type O blood which is apparently in short supply. 2) I hope my blood can save a life one day. That would be worth all the pain in society.

Thank you and good night, day, afternoon, whenever the hell you are reading this!
I'm tired of typing.......Until we meet again, Happy Trails..I NEED A BEER AND A CIGARETTE!!!