Saving a Life by Giving Blood

This is a late posting, I'm sorry, but I got busy and forgot to post this up. Enjoy!

I forgot to mentioned that I gave blood on Feb. 18, 2010. I gave blood at 9:30 AM, the first donor. Wohoo! :) I was excited about that but I was kind of scared that I may faint like the last time I gave blood, which was not my first time giving. I went to the Red Cross on 30th-ish and something to give blood. I thought I ate well before I left my house to give blood and stayed after at Red Cross to eat after giving blood, but apparently I was not.

I had night class, Human Geography, that day, so I went to the UNO Bookstore to get my book for the class. Suddenly during the process of buying my book and writing a check to purchase it, I started to feel faint. Although at the time, I did not know what was going on. I thought it was the light or something else. I had never fainted so I didn't recognize the symptoms so readily. As I exited the store, I had only walked a few feet from the store when the book in my hand just slipped out of my grasp. What the heck? I thought. I didn't understand why I couldn't hold on tight to the book; my motor skills began to weaken, even my walk. It was at this point, I think, that I realized that I was not feeling well and that I could be experiencing symptoms of faint or something from giving blood. I wasn't scared yet. I only thought of how could I help myself to feel better. I remember from the Red Cross handout that I should drink fluids, like water, and rest and raise my legs up, if I felt faint, which I did a little. I could tell, because my vision was darkening. It was not the light messing with me, but my own vision. Everything around me seemed so quiet, which it was, but it seemed quieter to me than usual, and everything seemed slow and out my reach.

I finally made it to the couch. I laid down on it, the couch closest to the vending machine. I raised my legs on the couch's arm to rest and supposedly to make me feel better, which I did a little. I'm not sure how long I laid on the couch, but probably for a few minutes, and then I got up to get money for the vending machine so that I could buy a 20 oz. water bottle, Aquafina, to drink. When I got my money out, $1.25, I slowly got up from the couch and stood up as well as I could to put the money in the machine. First, I put in the quarter, and then I tried to put in the dollar . . . .

I woke up on the floor. I felt disoriented and could not understand what I was doing on the floor. But I soon realized that I had fainted when my memory came back to me when I looked at my surroundings and the vending machine. I slowly got up and found the dollar laying beside me. Good it is still there. I guess I wasn't out too long. I can't believe this just happened. I need water. Quickly. I need to hurry! I thought. I picked up the dollar as I leaned across the machine to stand up straight. I put the dollar in, but the machine spit the dollar right back out. What the hell? Why won't you go in? I need water now! I thought myself. I became angrier and using more energy to stand up, to make the dollar free of wrinkles, and to make the machine accept my dollar. But it was all failing and I could not understand why my dollar would not go in. All I remember was trying to make the machine eat my dollar, and then . . . .

I woke up on the floor again. Why does this keep happening to me? Why is nothing going right for me today? Why must I suffer? I realized this time when I woke up I felt wetness under me, and it was not from sweating from the warm summer heat from outside. It was me. I was wet, because I wet my pants. Ah! What the hell? This day just keeps getting worst. I guess people who do faint do experience that like in the Sister in the Traveling Pants. I got up with as much energy I could muster up. For some reason I gave up on the machine and my forgotten dollar, which I can't remember if the machine ate it or not, and remembered there were drinking fountains near the bookstore, so I decided to go there to get water into me as soon as possible. I moved as quickly as I could but it was so hard. My body felt heavy and lethargic and my motor skills were not at top-notch. On my way there, I felt something pulling at me, maybe my body's energy, leaking out of me.

I heard someone's voice, a female. I couldn't understand what she was saying, it was all too faint for me and mumbled in my mind. Seconds to a minute, my eyes and ears became focused and I could see and hear her. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did you hurt your head?" she said. I answered, "Yeah, I . . . don't know." I felt my head, but it didn't seem to really hurt bad or anything, at least at the time I felt no pain. "My head doesn't hurt much, I think," I said. "Did you faint?" she asked. "Ye-ah, I did. I gave . . . blood to-today," I answered. She helped me up to a sitting up position and legs against my chest, where I laid my head on my knees. She went to get me something to drink, because I told her something about my dollar in the machine. She got me a bottle of Pepsi to drink. I drink it as well as I can, slowly. Yes, I finally get some liquid in my body. I was so happy that someone finally found me and helped me in my situation. She told me she would go to find help for me.

She returned with help. A security guard and another person, maybe another security guard, I'm not sure. I only remembered the young security man helping me into the wheel chair and rolling me to the nurses' office.

**Well, it doesn't really end right there, but I will stop there. If you want to know what happened to me or what else happened let me know and I'll continue with my story. I'll let you know one thing, though, it doesn't get any better for me after I am saved.**

So on Feb. 18th, I did not faint. I made it through the entire process very well. I made sure of it. The night before, I made sure to eat a full meal, and then the day of, I ate a full breakfast meal, and I drank a lot of fluids - water, milk, and juice. I was prepared this time. Giving blood was not going to beat me down, but me. I was going to beat it, which I did. I made sure to stay and eat a few snacks and drink some juice before I left to go to my next class. The whole day went well and smoothly. I was so proud of myself. I was able to help save a life in the future with my blood without shaming myself.

Today's Thoughts

Yay! Final Fantasy XIII finally came out yesterday. I haven't bought it, yet, but I want to. I'm debating whether I should buy it for PS3 or for XBbox 360. From what I'm seeing from the game's reviews, people are saying the graphics look way better on PS3 than on XBox 360, so are they right or not? I want to believe them, but there aren't enough evidence to prove what they say compared to the other reviewers. I watched some videos that are recorded from the XBox 360 and it the graphics look fine to me. So I don't know what those people are saying. Maybe it's their T.V. rather than their XBox 360. You know what I mean? My brother's T.V. has really good quality and displays games' graphics very well like Blu Ray, so maybe it will be okay if I buy the game for XBox 360.


Eclipse's movie teaser trailer comes out today. Yay!!! I can't wait to watch it. I heard it from Twilighters.org, which is one of the best places to find the latest news on the Twilight Saga. I'll try to post up the teaser later today, but it will be after 5 PM or so. That's when the teaser comes out.
If you want to know more about the teaser trailer, read the article below from gossipcop.com:
First Eclipse "Teaser" - 10 seconds.

Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Yay! The movie is finally out today, 02.12.10, and I am going to watch it tonight. I hope you all will go watch it too. If you don't know what the movie is about--based off from the book series--then watch this trailer. Maybe this trailer will convince you to watch the movie, or not. But I hope, indeed, that it will convince you to watch it. The storyline is really good, I've read the book. I also do hope the movie will be as great as the movie.

Well, here is the latest, I think, trailer for you to watch and enjoy:

Check out the Iron Man 2 trailer!

Let me know your thoughts on Iron Man 2!

My Busy Day

Today has been a kind of busy day for me. It may not seem so busy to you, but if you know me, then you will realize that this day was indeed busy for me. :D

I wake up at around 8 AM - Take a shower and all that good stuff
Drop off Natalie, my younger sister who also goes to UNO with me, at school. It is now 9 AM.

I am driving down Dodge street heading west, and I cannot decide if I should go to Westroads or Oakview Mall to get my FREE GGP Mall gift card. Along the way, I finally decide that I'll go to Oakview Mall, because it is further away and I still have about 50 minutes or so until the mall pass out the gift cards at 10 AM.

I arrive at Oakview Mall at about 9:15ish AM. I look around the mall trying to figure out where they will hand out the giftcards. I look at my e-mail, the print-out sheet needed to redeem my gift card with a legal document license, and it says, "February 12 - 13, 2010, from 10 AM - 9 PM in the Food Court." I finally find the place, it is a table with their logo signs, and it is set up at the edge of the Food Court in front of Sears. Since, I am early I go and sit on the couches behind the GGP table. As I am there waiting forever, I decide to write about something, anything. I have brought along my composition book, where I record details or notes for my use or for my fictional stories, and I write about what I see. I write, "Older people walking around the mall. Their ages are from 30s to 80s. I'm not sure what they are doing, but it seems like a health program that they are doing. Walking, they are working their body and heart. I want to ask them what they are doing this for, but I don't want to interrupt." Those were my thoughts and notes of what I saw while I was waiting.
I finally go to the table and wait in line at 9:53 AM. I am like the tenth or fifteenth person in line. I should have gone in line and wait there first, since I was one of the first people to arrive there. It kind of makes me mad, but I make myself relax. I tell myself, "It's okay, don't worry. You'll still get a gift card. It's not going to run out so soon." I exhale my breath and take another deep breath. I feel better now. I look around myself, and I see different ages waiting in line. I think they are all probably older than me, except for the children who are in line because of their parents. There were mostly old people, like 50s to 70s, in line. I think to myself that I have become an old person. Sometimes I feel like I do things that only older people do and not what young people do, like reading romance books. I hardly ever see any young women around my age look at romance books at the book store. I always see older women. It makes me feel weird. I guess I am sort of an old lady. :( The only other person I know that reads romance books that is around my age is my cousin, Maiya. Other than that, I know no one else. I sometimes feel awkward or embarrassed to admit that I read romance books, but now I don't really care. I READ ROMANCE BOOKS, SO WHAT? WHO CARES? I shouldn't care what people think, I tell myself all the time, as long as I am not doing anything bad and it is beneficial to me, then it is okay. I am not doing anything bad, so I should only care about what I think of myself.
I finally get my gift card at around 10:10 PM. I am so happy! I smile to myself and walk quickly, but smoothly to front entrance of the Food Court to leave the mall.
As I reach my car, get inside, start my car, and sit in it, I tick off my first goal: "Getting my first free gift card." Now my second goal: "Get my second free gift card at Westroads Mall." I am really pumped up and cannot wait.

I arrive at Westroads Mall at about 10:20 PM. I park in Von Maur's parking lot, because the next location to get my gift card says it is in the Von Maur court on the lower level. I am not sure where that is, but I go in and look around the store, and then I walk out of the store. I walk further away from Von Maur making myself towards the center area of the mall. I finally see it! It is set up in front of the Dippin' Dots ice cream shop. I get in line. I see that the line is not very long. Perhaps, the line died out before I arrived. I am not sure, but I am probably right. It takes me about ten minutes to get through the line of about 10 people. I have finished my second goal at about 10:30 PM. I smile big as I turn around and leave the gift card redemption table.
I shop at Forever 21. I look to see if there is anything of interest that I would like to buy with my free $20 total of gift cards. I shop for about 45 minutes, and finally decide on a black sweater-like material jacket/coat. I am not sure what to call it, so that is what I called it. I will later post up a picture of what I bought. It is so CUTE! :D

It is now about 11:15ish AM. I have to be at HuHot Mongolian Grill by 11:30 AM, so I quickly exit the mall and take Dodge street heading East all the way to 72nd to the restaurant.
I arrive at HuHot at 11:25 PM. I feel happy and proud of myself for arriving on time. If you know me, I am usually, most of the time, late to parties, events, etc., so I was happy that I made it on time and that I have 5 minutes to spare. I smugly smile at myself and walk with great pride as I am entering the restaurant. I also wanted to arrive early at the restaurant, because I have work at 1 PM and I do not want to be late for my shift. I am the third of my friends to arrive at the restaurant. I say "hi" to Ed and Aoi. I also see someone else I know, an old classmate of mine from high school, Courtney M. It was nice to see her. I have never met Aoi, so I begin chatting with her about all sorts of things. I am a "curious-being," that is what I like to call myself. I like learning new things of my interest or for academics. We three decide to get our food first because we have to leave the restaurant before 1 PM (either to get to work or class). I ate only two plates of noodles, but I wanted to eat more. I talked to long and I was running out of time and I talked too much rather than eat, so there was only time to eat two plates.
I finish eating and say my good-byes to my friends. Some of us made plans to watch a movie, "Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief," at 10:10 PM. So, I tell them that I will see them later tonight. I leave the restaurant at around 12:50 PM. I wanted to leave earlier but, again, I talked too long when I said my good-byes.

I get to UNO at the Fine Arts Building at around 12:56 PM. I pick up my sister, who just finished her art class. I drive us over to the back of the student center, MBSC. I drop myself off and quickly walk to the computer lab, where I work as a student worker. I am three minutes late, but oh well. I hate that when I am in a hurry the time seems to move a lot quicker.

So, it is 1:03 PM, and I am at work. I will be off work at 6:30 PM.
After 6:30 PM, my brother, Whougie, will pick me up as soon as he can when he gets off from work. He says he is very busy, and that he will try his best to get there around that time. I hope he pick me up on time or that he does not take too long of a time to pick me up.
So after he picks me up, we will go home.

At around 9:30 PM, I will leave to go to RAVE movie theater at Westroads Mall to meet my friends and others, who are a part of the movie group. I cannot wait to watch "Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief" movie. I hope it will be as great as the book. The trailers looked good, so the movie better be good.



The movie will start at 10:10 PM, starting with an approximate five minutes preview. The movie will finish in 2 hours.
Me and my large movie group will be done watching the movie at around midnight.
At 1 AM, I may have to pick up my younger sister, Maggie, from her middle school. She gets back in town from a competition in Iowa. I do not really want to, but I will or may still be up. So it is up to me to take care of her and look out for her.
The last thing for my over-extended day, I will go to sleep and dream of something interesting, exciting, and mysterious.

So there, you can see how busy my day has and will be. This kind of day is quite busy for me, since I am a person that does not do much, like working and staying at school or home to do my homework and study. My life is quite boring most of the time and not very busy, but there will be days where it can get busy to hectic to crazy. Those are usually my best days, but they can sometimes be my worst days. It depends on what is going on for it to be a good or bad day.

Avatar: The Last Airbender 2nd movie trailer

The second trailer of "The Last Airbener" is out! It looks really good; I can't wait until it comes out this July 2010. Watch the trailer, and let me know what you think of it.

Thoughts on My Mind

I've been thinking that I'll be posting up only a few more poems or so, whenever I get the chance, because I have so many other things to do. And since I'm not really a poet, I'll just stick to writing my fictional stories. I won't be writing a poem for 365 days. I failed... :( I think it is just too much for me, as of right now.

Some cool things that I can't wait are:
Final Fantasy XIII - March 09, 2010
I want to play it, but I probably won't get the chance since I don't have a PS3.
But the game looks really awesome and cool!
Check out the official website for more information, pictures, and videos!
http://www.finalfantasyxiii.com/#/content/Home/0





I can't wait to read Nora Robert's new novel from her Bride Quartet series. I absolutely the series. The book will be released in May and it is called Savor the Moment.

What else is there to know??? Well...I've been using this acne serum that is absolutely amazing; it really does work wonders. For me at least it does. Oh! Also, for my younger sister. Want to know what this product is? I let you on my secret. It's called IQQU from Michelle Phan, who is the owner that skin care line. You may know her from her YouTube videos online featuring herself with tutorials on how to apply makeup styles, fashion, and skin care. If you want to give the product a try go to this website: http://iqqubeauty.com/int/index.php/ and sign up for an account and purchase the acne serum and any other products that may peak your curiosity. You have my official say that it works and it is not a joke. So go and get your IQQU acne serum today!

I'd like to try out more things, but for some reasons you can only buy 3 things. Weird. Unless, of course, I'm doing something wrong and I'm not accessing the web site correctly, then I don't know.

I was just searching her website and when I typed in her name on Google, I found that she has her own Wikipedia.org page. I was totally surprised. All the things I wanted to know about her was there...well, not everything but enough (the important things).

Well, that will be all for today. I think I've exhausted myself trying to think of something to post and things happening in my life. I'll be back later to post up some more things...hopefully they will be exciting. Until next time! :D