Craft Thoughts

 I have started to donate plasma. I was motived to try out donating when I learned about one of their current promotions; I can earn $700 from donating twice a week for one month. I had never donated before, and honestly, I really didn’t want too, but the money seemed too good to pass up for such a minimal time investment. The first appointment actually took quite a long time; I had to fill out a really long questionnaire, and the plasma center did several tests to make sure I was healthy enough. Once I finally got into the chair, I was surprised by how big the needle was. I had donated blood before, but the plasma center worker said that the needle they use to extract the plasma is much bigger than any other needles that are used to extract blood, except for the needles that are used for people on dialysis. The needle prick didn’t feel too bad though. The sensation of the blood returning to my body at the end, mixed with cold saline solution, was very strange. 

Growing up in my family, we went skiing together every year. My parents first put me on the slopes when I was only five or six years old, and I loved it. I was never a pro or anything close to that, but I always enjoyed the experience and looked forward to the sensation of zooming down the mountain. Its crazy how time can get away from you. I went skiing today for the first time in about six years.  This time, I got to go with my wife who doesn’t have hardly any experience skiing. The conditions weren’t great; it was a little icy since there hasn’t been recent fresh snow fall. This made it more challenging for my wife to learn. She fell in a lot of different graceful ways that I didn’t know were possible, but by the end of the day, she was tearing up the double black bunny slopes.