off days yesterday and today. some sitting. some sleeping. some shopping. (guided by voices - earthquake glue)

i also had an experience that i've never had before. i first donated blood back in 1998, and i became a fairly regular donor by 2000, and a completely regular donor by last fall. i've pretty steadily stayed on the every-two-months schedule.

well, yesterday, for the first time, i felt some serious discomfort. there's always a bit of that discomfort - - the tightness in the vein. but yesterday (the first time my left arm was used - - don't know why i let them do that), i felt tightness-plus. i started squirming and wiggling after about five minutes. the nurse said "are you okay?" and i said "sort of" and she said "i'm not convinced" and i explained my general squeamishness. as a result, they tilted back my chair and placed a big ice bag on my chest. it was wild.

don't know why it happened. perhaps it was my left arm. but they said that i donated a full pint, so at least they didn't have to throw it out.

i hung out in the chair for about 10 more minutes - eyes closed and ice on chest - and then went to the recovery area and had four of those pink wafer-like sandwich cookies and about 11 glasses of mountain dew. i was ready for the world by noon, 1:15 after entering the place.

in other news, i think earthquake glue is destined to reside in the realm of most gbv releases. it's not alien lanes or bee thousand or not in my airforce, but it also outshines do the collapse and kid marine and devil between my toes. it'll probably wind up somewhere in that precarious 8th-best to 16th-best range (including solo albums and side projects that i've heard, etc.). it's too early, but i don't know how much replay it'll get.

fun fact: the intro to track two, "my son, my secretary, my country" features a 45-second horn intro - - - as performed by a middle school marching band.

and finally, piazza's back, johan santana's hot, nick johnson's back, and aramis is heating up, and i sort of think that willie's destroyers are about to make their run. currently the eighth seed, five is well in reach. (the goal is sixth, to avoid the top two teams until the second round.)