Moods

It's incredible how circumstantial we are as people.

Like right now, for instance. I just finished talking to someone who "wasn't in the mood" to do something.

I'm in the mood to be confrontational, but I'm also in the mood to be really easily wounded and weepy (hmmm.... ya).

I think I need to challenge myself this week not to allow my mood to be used as an excuse or crutch, and to not allow it to take control over my conversations with others. My hope is that I maintain a consistent, smiling heart, which can be nurtured by reflecting on all the blessings I have in my life. Not to be a moody

Anyway, that's all. Just an observation.

Fresh Blood

I'm having trouble with the book report. The first issue was finding a book along the YLCF themes (ie. not math). The next issue is reading it. I think I"m on chapter 2, and the month is half done! I'll do a report on it once I'm finished, though, even if that's not in March.

On Monday, I was walking next to the Student Union Building when I saw a blood donor truck being unpacked. It's something I've always wanted to do, so during an hour break I had in my day, I rushed over and got in line (in hindsight, give yourself more than an hour; there were three people in line, and it took me a full hour ten minutes).

The first thing they did was ask me if this was my first time. I said yes, and the nurse said, "Ah, fresh blood." That made me laugh, which probably quelled the butterflies and jitters I had for about 0.7 seconds. I also got to wear a sticker that said "1st time donor" so that other nurses would know to explain things to me as they happened, which was nice. I got my basic name and address information taken there, then sent to fill out a medical form concerning my health.

The first fourteen questions I got to fill out myself. They were amusing. One was something along the lines of "Did you live in France for more than six months between the years of _ and _." Lots about where I've lived and the blood transfusions I've gotten.

The next group of questions, a nurse had to read to me and bubble in herself. I had read them over before hand and they seemed to be geared towards discovering if you have HIV ("Have you recieved a blood transfusion in Africa since 1977"), and from the questions, I knew that I was going to answer all of them no. So she started reading and I started shaking my head and she sped up. Let me tell you, that lady was the fastest, most accurate reader I have heard. Granted, she probably had the questions memorized, but she didn't even pause before questions, and she was simultaneously bubbling answers. It was incredible. She also took my blood pressure, which is always ridiculously low (I am my mothers child) but I was so nervous that it was actually on the low end of normal! So that was exciting. Then she handed me four bags, each a liter. My eyes bugged. I know the average woman only has 5 liters of blood. They were going to drain me dry. But she explained they were going to only fill up one bag, and then after it was tested, they would separate it out into the other bags.

Then I headed over to a lawn-chair-style-bed in the middle of the gym, surrounded by other beds with other students. Just as they got the cuff around my arm for pressure, the guy I was facing started to black out. There was a little flurry of nurses with cold rags and juice boxes around him, and his feet were propped up and head lowered, hence the lawn-chair. He was fine and my nurse was back in five minutes, but it was a rather interesting thing to see seconds before I was supposed to get stabbed.

Once I was hooked up, it was fine. I had a little squishy ball I was supposed to squeeze occasionally, and my arm fell asleep, but besides that, it was relatively painless. I passed the time watching the nurses test the blood on the table at the far side of the gym and chatting with the nurses. They were all very friendly and funny, and extremely grateful. They kept saying thank you, and I thought that was very nice of them, but really, it's something that somebody needs to do. As the motto of Canadian Blood Services says, "It's in you to give."

I wrote this so that anyone who is considering giving would know all that's involved and feel comfortable going in to the procedure. I didn't feel exhausted at all afterwards, and it was nice to know that I helped someone who might not otherwise get that help if everybody felt it was someone else's job. So yes, I would do it again.

Photo taken by Abhishek Jacob, http://www.flickr.com/photos/abhishek_jacob/3331425437/ .

Get Ready

Not sure what I'm going to write about yet, but hopefully it will be good!

This Week

I don't usually like to post in this format, but it seems so much happened and there's not much to say about each, so here it goes.

Last week I:

• Had a snow day Wednesday! We got a bit of a surprise dump on Tuesday night, and so Dal and King's were closed. I'm glad, because I had a midterm Wednesday morning, and I would have been sooooo stressed about arriving late because all the traffic was backed up. Unfortunately, I was ready for it and it was a little frustrating to put it off till Friday, but it turned out ok. The snow day helped enable me to get all of the following finished!
• Took four midterms. Some were intense, some were fun, all turned out relatively well.
• Started working out! I went for a two mile jog on Tuesday (while it was still gorgeous), which I don't think I have ever done. I also started a push-up and crunches program, to get me to a level I want to be. The goal is to be able to do 100 pushups and 200 crunches in a row, and to have jogged 30 miles before April 12. I'm contemplating the squats program too, or something for my legs, but jogging may be enough. We'll see.
• Bought new tennis shoes (unrelated, but relevant to the previous point) because my old ones, which I've had about 30 months, have a nice hole in the toe. I actually bought the same ones, Nike Pegasus+, because I really like them, and I've noticed the updated version has an extra thick layer over the toe, so it seems that was an issue. Those shoes have been through lots, including a vat of barbecue sauce, and they've held up. Anyhow, that was my spending spree this week... :-/
• Went to a young homeschoolers science fair with the A's. Lauren and Sarah entered projects on buoyancy, and did a really nice job of their experiment. The atmosphere was non-competitive, and we had a great time. I actually learned a bit from some of the projects, which was cool!
• Knitted a Bible case from start to finish. My ESV was getting beat up in my backpack, so it now has a little lime green sweater. I really like the way it turned out. :)
• Listened to 1 Peter sermons by Mark Driscoll on authority. Here: authority. Here: ungodly authority. Here: wives. Here: husbands. Pretty good. A lot of people don't his style, but the last one was the edgiest I've heard him, at least at the end, and... ya. I think it had truth and was necessary to hear, but not sure about the method of delivery- from the pulpit. Mr. Dave pointed out that when your authority gets public criticism from those higher up, it's harder for those lower down to respect them... definitely see two sides. I really respect what he has to say though. Good message.
• Finished a web design project. We had to make a webpage for a school club. Check it out!

All in all, it was a good week. And now it's reading week!!! So exciting! Though I have a lot of things I need to do, including get caught up on everything I put off because of midterms last week. I also want to finish the Old Testament and get into Matthew this week, which is definitely do-able. I'm at Habakkuk now, so that's 31 pages in my NIV or 21 pages in my ESV (just different print sizes). All the rest are short books. I'm going to keep up the workouts, and Wednesday is Andrew's birthday- the big "oh-four" ;) I also want to finish Contact by Carl Sagan, if possible. It's pretty good so far, but I've been putting it on the back burner, and it's getting burned from sitting there so long.

Love Sucks

...at least according to a shirt I saw on the bus. It was bright red, hard to miss, and the message was encircled in a candy heart. The young man wearing it was definitely making a statement, but I had to think about if he was just under the weather from a lonely Valentine's Day, or if he didn't understand what love is.

What's really ironic about this whole scenario is as he walked on the bus, I was listening to Sanctus Real's song, Don't Give Up. It's about the cultural norm of casual love that doesn't last. Unfortunately, today more married people have been or will be divorced than not. I had to laugh at my iPod for shuffling this way, but I really paid attention to the lyrics, and something stood out.

Your restless heart won't win, 'cause you take, but you don't give.

And you'll keep movin' on till you learn what love is.

Bam.

I'm learning more and more that the key to every single relationship is giving. It's putting another before yourself, giving of your time, attention, talents, money, and otherwise- it's different for the needs of each relationship, be it friend, sibling, parent, or spouse. But one thing is consistant- giving. After all, that's what God did for us. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:7-10 ESV).

Sure love is hard, but it's a sad world that rejects even the idea of it.