So I went to the doctor yesterday for my physical and the doc said I was in good shape except for my BMI being too high (which I knew) and having too many red blood cells. He told me that I would be an excellent candidate for giving blood and that I would actually probably benefit from doing so. So that's what I did today.

There's two types of donations: one where they just take all of your blood at once, which takes about 10 minutes and is not as useful as the second type of donation. The second type is where they take the red blood cells, the plasma and the platelets out separately and then 3 different people can be helped by your blood. But it takes about 30 minutes or so minutes to get all that out. So I chose the 2nd option. It wasn't like I had anything super important to do today besides that.

The setup is interesting. They have to ask you questions, then check your blood for good amounts of iron. Something I didn't know was there's a ban on gay blood. I didn't know until Thutmose told me last night. Then I saw that one of the questions was whether or not you've had man buttsex ever. It's so dumb.

After you pass, you get to sit in a pretty comfy chair and then they prep your arm and get the needle in there. The discomfort is pretty much only at the beginning. Once it's in there, you can feel it in your arm, but it doesn't really hurt. When it's getting your red blood cells, you have to squeeze a ball every few seconds to keep blood rolling out. Then you can relax while it's draining plasma. And then there's one more cycle of those and you're done when you fill up the bag. They were having a blood drive today, so I also got a cup after that. There's also some kind of points program for frequent donors where you can get free swag, but that doesn't really interest me.

I gave blood not too long ago myself. I remember those questions as well.