Well my lunar calendar birthday is on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year. Every year this time, I would go pray at the Guan Yin temple back in Jinjang. I did that this year, but something a little bit more. I went to donate blood at the National Blood Bank along Jalan Tun Razak. Although it was 2 days later, I learnt to know that it’s the intention that counts
Entering into the compound of the National Blood Bank, there was a row of parking lots on the left designated for blood donors. Wow it’s full! And I thought there were a lot of donors. But a quick glance at the reception area after parking my car shows that “somebody else” is parking at the designated area, not donors.

Now being the regular donor that I am, there was this form that I quickly filled up as I could already memorize each of the questions and the option available. Questions like “Did you have at least 5 hours of sleep yesterday night?”, “Did you have at least a light meal before coming to donate blood?” and “Are you having sexual activities included in the above mentioned categories of individuals?”, etc etc. Took this photo which details the processes donated blood will go through before being put to use, and how it is being put to use.

So I waited for 15 minutes for the medical officer to take my blood pressure stats (which is exceptionally healthy of course!) and off I am going to the blood donation ward.

Here are 2 boring voiceless videos of how it was being done

Now that was the first part. The initial injection was an anaesthetic shot and then the needle was used to puncture my vein to draw blood into the blood bag. For those of you who have not donated before, do not be intimidated by the size of that needle. Trust me, it was just a stinging sensation. Nothing more than that. So for those who have held off the determination to donate for the first time, just go ahead and do it!

However you need to fulfill the following criterias before registering yourself as blood donors. Take note of the pen-written one on top. Don’t think it would help also if a foreigner had stayed in Malaysia for more than a year if he/she is a contageous disease carrier. Makes me wonder if there are any other reason for setting such a rule.

10 years ago when I first started donating blood, influenced by my dad, they don’t do injections and puncturing the vein by hand. There was this gun-like device used to puncture the donor’s vein with a needle and then connect the tube and the bag to the needle to draw blood. They stopped using this after my first donation so forgive me if my description is not clear enough.

See the 3 separate test tubes? Well those are blood samples collected for the testing of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and other blood transfusion trasmitted diseases.

Then the blood bag is situated on a machine which shakes it evenly and throughout the whole blood donation process. This machine measures and keeps track of the mass of the donated blood and also the rate of blood drawn into the bag. Once a the 450ml bag is full, the machine will sound an alarm notifying the medical personnel to process the donor.

Now this second part is where the nurse clips the tube and pulls the needle out of my vein. Then I would have to apply pressure to the puncture point until it doesn’t bleed anymore.

So a full blood bag looks like this.

It’s not really a lot but once back home you will feel the effect of loosing blood. Easily tired, good appetite, sleepy, etc. But a good night’s sleep after a good meal will really bring you up to speed again if you are really healthy.

Of course, it didn’t affect me much. If not I wouldn’t have donated for the 20th time and plan to donate as long as I can

Then after donating, there is a cafeteria where donors are served these. A cup of hot milo or coffee of your choice, a packet of nasi lemak, an orange (Chinese New Year I guess) and some iron and vitamin B complex pills for your consumption.

Although the nasi lemak does not resemble the taste and attraction of any of the delicacies I have tasted, it is good enough for someone who has just donated half a litre of blood.

However, gulping down the cup of hot milo felt exceptionally nice as it felt I am really absorbing the warmth of the beverage. I always like this feel everytime after donating blood. According to my dad, around 20-30 years ago, donors were given a big bottle of Guinness Stout instead! Haha well I am not that old to know whether he’s shitting me or not but I think it makes sense. Guinness Stout is actually one of the most nutritious alcoholic beverage that I know of.

These are the iron and vitamin B complex vitamin supplements given to donors.

I seldom eat them though as I get the feeling that after consuming it, I will have super good appetite and will always tend to over eat and bloat myself.

I feel lucky, for being able to “share” my health with other individuals. From young, I have been taught that in Buddhism teachings, there are 2 types of charitable wealth, monetary wealth and physical health. Donating blood, just like donating organs, is donating your health to other incapable individuals, which brings even better karma to the donor than donating monetary wealth. As we all know, not anybody, can “donate” their health.

For instance my mum, almost 20 years ago she tried donating blood as well, 350cc of blood. However after that she fell sick for more than 3 months. Since then she could only be charitable with her monetary wealth.

So if you are a healthy individual, sign up now to be an even more charitable person that you are now. Don’t just stop at the fear of being pricked by needles or fear of pain or any other types of phobia at all. You may save a life with every bag of blood donated. Every bag of it counts.

Chinese New Year is near.

I’ve got 2 houses to clean (ok my parents took care of most of it), a car to fix/clean, tons of groceries to buy, loads of work to catch up with, scores of movies to watch, hordes of acquaintances to meet, loads of money to handle, few years of health to repair, and what more? A hand full of wedding dinners to attend after Chinese New Year.

Hmm… but from what I listed above, I really can’t see why couldn’t I have enough time to rest and do things I like at the same time… Time management problem I guess.

So I should stop here to catch up with a few episodes of the different TV series that I’m following up on. Wish you all a prosper Chinese New Year for those who are celebrating, and happy holidays for those who are not.

曾经有人告诉我，“追逐爱情就像是狗儿在追自己的尾巴，狗儿越是追着它跑越是追不到，可是当狗儿不再追着它时，它就跟着狗儿走。”听到的时候，真的还蛮觉得有道理的，给了我无比信心。

可是今天的我，没有办法完全赞同这个说法。狗儿生出来就未必有尾巴（完全没爱情运可言），或是尾巴让人砍了（被人截了爱情）等等的说法，都不可能成全“当狗儿不再追着它时，它就跟着狗儿走”。

我开始相信，我是只没有尾巴的狗，一直在追逐着不存在的东西，还以为自己是有尾巴的。如果尾巴存在的话，为什么连影子也看不到、个边也摸不着？我又试着“不再追着它”，可是每次回头都不见有什么跟着来啊！是谁这么无聊作出这么一句来安慰（欺骗）灰心的人呢？

我看着我凝视的焦点，一直尝试着甩开眼光，可是就是不知道为什么别的东西都是朦朦胧胧的，只有我凝视的焦点是清楚的。一直在对焦着，考虑到距离、酒精作用、周围的吵杂声、灯光、烟雾。没有尾巴的狗儿只能远远望着、注视着美。

我想真的是醉了，竟然将自己比作狗儿了。