operation give blood = success!

I really have no idea what is going on with my body at this point. I have not changed my diet; I have not changed my sleeping patterns; I have not changed anything. And yet, today my hemocrit was 13.5, whereas the past two times I've tried to give blood it was hovering around 12.0.

...It might in some way be related to my menstrual cycle? That's about the only thing left it could be, since the only other option seems to be "a wizard did it!" and throwing up my hands in frustration at the vagaries of the universe.

But anyway, I caught a bus up to Cornell, successfully navigated my way through Anabel Taylor Hall (which desperately needs to signpost its bathrooms more clearly), and acquired an absurdly oversized free t-shirt in the process. (I will probably not be keeping the shirt. It's a bit too tacky to wear in public, and the fabric is too scratchy for a good pajama shirt. *sigh* But I'll wash it once, just in case.)

And now I think I will take a tiny naplet (15 minutes or so) before getting on with some evening errands and then either some writing or editing, depending on my level of spoons in general and analytic brainpower in particular.

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In unrelated news, some of my financial aid has come through and it looks like I'm getting a Pell grant of ~$1,500, which is nice. I also have some loan options, but I'd like to do this as much out-of-pocket as possible to avoid annoyances later down the line. The student loan payment tax deduction is not that nice, after all!

help Liz buy a shirt

I am crowdsourcing a Christmas present, because I am a deeply indecisive person.

So my friend Susan asked for a Captain America t-shirt, and I have found three potential candidates:

1. generic shield variation

2. comic panels variation

3. fancy patterns variation

I am leaning a little toward the fancy patterns variation, because it's both cool and pretty. Unfortunately that one only comes in two colors -- black or navy blue -- and I think the image pops best on the black background. The thing is, the last shirt I gave Susan was also black, and I'd like to switch that up a little, which is why I've picked baby blue as the color for the other two options. So does cool pattern outweigh pretty color, or vice versa? And if pretty color wins, do I go with the slightly larger shield with random comic panels, or the smaller plain shield?

It's a hard choice!

Anyway, thoughts?