The Renaissance Woman

Before my health went all wonky that past couple of years, I was a fairly regular blood donor. Now that I’ve been properly diagnosed and I’m finally on the right treatment path, I’m looking to get back into regular donation. I am also an organ donor (noted on my driver’s license), and I just received my kit via mail to add myself to the bone marrow registry to be listed as an available bone marrow donor.

Anyone who knows me know I rarely do anything out of a sense of duty. I am a selfish person, and highly recommend that lifestyle.

So, why in the world would I be so into being a donor of various types?

To put it plainly, if something awful were to happen to me, I’d want as many people contributing to the pool as possible to increase my chances of survival. By being a donor myself, I am contributing to a system I think is good and helpful. I also am fairly knowledgeable about the processes and can be a fairly informed advocate, which ideally leads to more people who might consider donating who might not have otherwise.

It’s also pretty damn cool to be able to say you saved someone’s life. This is more concrete in bone marrow transplants, as you know what the donation is being used for and you only are called for a specific person – oh, and you’re still alive when donating (unlike the DL indicated organ donation), but you still know you’re helping someone who is still pretty bad off with blood donations as well.

One other reason I donate is that I know MANY people who can’t for various reasons. My husband loathes needles of all kinds, I have a friend with lupus (which bone marrow candidates cannot have), I know many women who struggle with iron deficiency, plenty of people are not organ donors due to religious or post-death wishes. I am a person who is as healthy as needed to donate regularly, has no problems with needles, and generally feels pretty good about the whole process, and plans to be cremated after I die. There’s too many people in the world who can’t donate – I am one who can, so I do. I also encourage others who are healthy and have no qualms with the process to do the same.

I see the whole process as something you invest in, though to the immediate observer it may look like a sacrificial act. But the culture it creates and the cycle it initiates and perpetuates will ultimately come round to benefit you someday if it is needed. It’s almost like insurance. If I can be one more person asking people to consider being a donor, that’s one more chance to increase the numbers, and one more chance to save my life if anything bad happens to me.

For those interested in donating:

• Check the box the next time you renew your license, or go to your local government agency’s webpage to update your organ donor status.
• Register at Be The Match to be on the Bone Marrow registry.
• Check out the Red Cross page for info on how to give blood. If there aren’t any red cross centers in your area, you can also visit www.aabb.org.

Love them. They are the epitome of beauty, grace, and strength.

I love just watching them walk and move.

My father adopted one of the new tigers at the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah as a gift for me last February and I got a chance to see behind the scenes – including where they sleep, what they’re fed.

And I got to go into the “tiger tunnel”. This is a hallways that runs along the smaller “Phase One” tiger area. The walls are glass, so taking pictures is easier.

And then they have this:

This is the steel screen where the tigers, if in the mood, will come up and rub against the screen and sniff your hands. So you feel them breathing on you and feel their fur as the rub,

This is one of my happiest places – as it might be the closest I ever get to being able to pet a tiger. Just looking at the picture makes me all warm and fuzzy happy.

This one, too:

*happy sigh*

Finally, right?

Sorry for the massive delay in part 2, but April was a bitch of a month for me. I had an impacted tooth that was so infected my endodontic dentist said it was one of the worst he’d ever seen – they usually don’t have as long to get that bad as they usually start hurting much earlier. It required oral surgery which I am apparently healing from very well. On the bright side, he now thinks I have the pain tolerance of a superwoman. So, rawr!

Also, we moved into a home. Still renting, but very happy and excited with that, but something that really warrants it’s own post. This topic has been languishing in the back of my mind for a while.

The issue I have had to overcome is the notion of telling people that singing is what I do. It’s very hard to commit to that self-definition because…well… I’m not successful yet – from a business standpoint.

It’s one thing to say, “I’m a <blank>", when someone is paying you to do that. And if I am honest with myself, I don’t think I’ll ever 100% believe I *am* a singer until I get my first paying gig.

I do have an *unpaid* gig – singing at a 4th of July banquet – which is a step in the right direction.

The last thing that I know will help me feel like the title fits is to work at it, which I haven’t been doing this past month, what with the oral surgery and moving and everything. Thankfully, the office in the new home is set up to be more conducive to recording and editing. I have set a goal of recording the two songs I intend to sing at the 4th of July event and posting them on this blog by the time of the event.

But that’s all I really had to say about that. I do have a trip to the zoo and the move to post about soon, as well.

So stay tuned – good things to come.