Wow, I gave blood today and it was very intense. The donation itself was fine, but then while I was drinking my post-donation juice, the very friendly blood guy started chatting about how important it is to eat ahead of time. He said one donor, who comes in every eight weeks, forgot to eat breakfast one morning and passed out in the chair.

I do not think I am afraid of needles - I have never had a panic attack or anything like that. And having the needle in my arm a few minutes earlier was fine! However, hearing the guy talk about passing out, I started to feel very faint and queasy. He was worried that my lips were turning gray (he laughed at me for that, actually), and he put wet napkins all over my face and neck and made me talk to him to be sure I was alert. I wanted to close my eyes so the room would stop spinning, but he wouldn't let me....Anyway, after about 10 minutes I felt better and they let me go, but I still feel a little out of it and nauseous.

This happened once before, after I got four shots in one sitting. Just like this time, the needle itself wasn't the problem; I only started to feel faint a few minutes afterwards. I feel really bad, because I have no idea why it starts or how to keep it from happening again! The blood people didn't seem to mind though.

There is some good news: I definitely do not have anemia. Blood collectors always seem impressed by my iron levels.

One of the cool things about traveling for 3 days a week is that every weekend feels like a vacation to my house, and just when that gets boring it's time for a working vacation back to where I grew up - coincidentally I'm on a project based about an hour from my hometown. This wandering lifestyle is much easier since there are people I love on both ends of each plane flight.

My name is Brienne Ramer, and I live in the San Francisco area with five friends. We call our house Goatland.

I don't really have a plan for this blog, but I need a personal webpage now that my old account expired. There will probably be occasional updates.