3:41 AM:

Okay, I'm out of time for tonight. But now that we're on the other side of midnight... Happy Birthday, Jette!

I feel sorry for Byung-Hyun Kim. Bad enough to give up a 2-run game-tying home run after two outs in the bottom of the ninth in the World Series, leading to the opposing team winning the game, but to do it two nights in a row... ouch.

With that having been said, I am loving this. And my first reaction to tonight's game-tying home run was hysterical laughter. These Yankees... they're just too much. It's beautiful.

And, to think, for a dark moment in the top of the ninth last night, I was concerned about facing some of my anti-Yankee classmates today. Not a problem now.

10:33 PM:

I've always avoided giving blood.

I'd see signs for blood drives, and I would shudder slightly. A fine and noble thing, I might agree, but one for other people, people who weren't sqeamish, people who weren't afraid of needles, people who... well, people who weren't wimps. Not people like me.

This is not something I've ever felt guilty about. I am a wimp, for better or worse, and I accept that.

But I'm also somebody who believes in settling his debts. As mentioned in this space almost two months ago, I was in a bad car accident a couple of years ago, and lost a lot of blood without the use of needles. And between rounds of stitching me back together again, the wonderful doctors at the wonderful Hartford Hospital pumped a couple of pints of other people's blood into me. And I resolved that, once I got better, I'd donate a couple of pints back.

I've come close a couple of times since. Queens College had a blood drive last year, and I meant to stop by, really I did, but when push came to shove I somehow managed not to be on campus until class started. Then I was going to immediately after September 11th, but not only was my schedule particularly crazy at that point, but the word quickly got out that they had too many donors at that point, and that it would be better to wait until later.

They're having another blood drive here. And while I wish it weren't being billed as a "Blood Battle" against another university, I have gone ahead and done something I didn't do the last couple of times. I have signed up for an appointment. 3 PM this coming Tuesday, a few blocks from my apartment.

I don't know if this will turn out to be something I don't mind, whether this will be something I'll be doing occasionally for the rest of my life. I tend to doubt it. For now, I'm thinking two pints in two visits, debt paid, I can go back to ignoring blood drives with a clear conscience. But, you know, we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm scared stiff, and expect to remain so through Tuesday afternoon.

First and foremost, Happy Birthday, Jen!

...and a belated happy birthday to Acanit, whose journal became the latest addition to my reading list the other day.