Wednesday, October 3, 2007

body art & busy days

I've had a busy few days. I've been scrimmaging with the Goshen College volleyball team on the days before they have games (they only have 11 people on the team, so they need one more to play a normal 6 on 6 game), and trying to work out most days when I don't play volleyball. It's been a lot of fun. I'm going to have to take off for a few days, though because of this:
My new tattoo! Since it's on my foot, I need to let it heal for a bit before I throw on socks and shoes and start running around. I might go over to my friend Kevin's house and use his exercise bike, though, since I can do that barefoot.

I got it done last night at Marvel Tattoo in South Bend. Kevin also came and got a tattoo; he got a dragon on his back. We both turned 30 in September, and have been planning the tattoos for about half a year. Larry, the tattoo artist who did both our tattoos, is very good. He finished mine in about 20-25 minutes. I drew the picture, which he cleaned up and changed a little so it would work well as a tattoo. I'm very happy with the results.

Today, then, I donated blood. Yes, it's ok for me to donate blood; I checked. I got my tattoo at a licensed tattoo parlor where they don't reuse ink or needles. They are inspected periodically by the state, and the Red Cross doesn't mind if you get a tattoo at such a place. The regulations do vary by state. New Mexico, for instance, doesn't regulate tattoos at all (and thus the Red Cross wouldn't want you to give blood for 1 year after getting a tattoo there).

I didn't have any problems donating blood, which was good. My iron was fine. The technician even said that I have good veins! I did have to wave my feet and open and close my hands to get the blood flowing, though. But the machine didn't beep at me because the flow was too slow, which happened last time I donated. Apparently good veins don't necessarily mean fast veins.

Tonight we have a meal with our small group, and then I'm going to watch the GC volleyball team since they have a home game. I haven't made it to any of their matches yet, and I'm looking forward to watching them play after scrimmaging with them so often.


Today's random quote:

First weigh the considerations, then take the risks
Helmuth von Moltke (1800 - 1891)

1 comment:

Lindsy said...

Of course New Mexico wouldn�t regulate that... I mean, its not like you can get any nasty diseases from ... oh, wait... If I ever get a tattoo, I shall be very careful. And probably not get it done in NM. We do have more planets than the rest of the world, though... ;)