Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 05:02:43 -0500 From: Sandi & Scott Spaeth <vespass-AT-toast.net> Subject: so I gave some blood today... ...to the American Red Cross, and before I can make this selfless donation, I have to fill out a form with all sorts of questions on it, some of which I found massively irritating. First, they asked my race, which with the possibility of a donor having sickle cell anemia, kind of makes sense, but fuck them, I've never been to the Caucasus mountains, I doubt any of my ancestors have either, so I'm not going to call myself a Caucasian - I circled O for other, only to have the attendant scratch that out and circle C for me (why was I filling the damn form out anyway?). From there I had to answer questions, some of which made sense, some of which didn't. They ask if (as a man) I've ever had sex (even once) with another man since 1977, which apparently is an instant disqualifier. They also ask if I've ever had sex with someone for money or drugs, which disqualifies you also, but they don't seem to care whether or not I've led a massively promiscuous life outside a few narrowly defined parameters. I could be a walking disease incubator, but as long as I'm straight and I'm getting/giving it for free, I'm alright. Not a single question about practising safe sex/abstinence/monotony I mean monogamy. The form seemed straight out of "the gay plague" era fear of AIDS. Then the question that made me laugh was whether or not I've lived in the British Isles for more than six cumulative months since 1980, which I haven't, but fuck them, I didn't tell them that while I did live there for three months in 1990, I probably ate a year's worth of beef for the average punter. Just call me Mad Cow Scott. then to top it all off, I did this at work, and I work in an automobile factory doing what has to fall under the catagory of fairly heavy labor, so after I give blood and spend my ten minutes in their lounge with my free lemonade and pretzels, they send me back out to the line with the warning that I shouldn't do any strenuous labor for the next five hours. So I explain to them, that not only is it near the beginning of my 10 hour shift, but that my job consists primarily of strenuous labor (figuring I can scam an extra hour or so off the line this way), they send me back anyway, but with the new warning that if I'm going to pass out on the line, that I should tell someone first. bastards. cheers, MC Scott --------------------------------------------------------- "I never let schooling interfere with my education." -Mark Twain Piston Ported Vespas: http://www.piston-ported.homepage.com words http://www.geocities.com/vespass/words.html ST Louis Secular Homeschooler's Co-Op http://www.stlsecularhomeschool.org ----------------------------------------------------------
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