Monday, July 5, 2010

A leak, a party, things created, and some guilt

I went to give blood today in the early afternoon since I was off work. It was busy, apparently a lot of people had the same idea. The actual donation was fine, but while I was eating my cookies and having some orange drink in the canteen area, the guy next to me suddenly got up - clutching at his arm. He said something about having a problem and headed by into the donation area - leaving a trail of blood. I told a couple of staff people about it and they gloved up and got the area cleaned up. I headed on my way, thinking that it was the first time I'd seen someone have trouble like that. He was a little older, must not have "sealed" up quickly enough.

I went to a party on Saturday evening. A couple of friends were hosting and I had a nice time - which surprised me a bit since I'm not really an outgoing party person. But, I had some paper with me and a little origami magic will do wonders. I made a little person and a horse for a little girl that was there - she was amazed and managed to keep the figure intact longer than most 2 year-olds would have been able to do. I stayed pretty late, but started to get eaten alive by the bugs. No calimine or hydrocortizon to be found at home, but a little rubbing alcohol got rid of the itch.

I've been busy crafting things this weekend. Found a design for a brocade - a sort of spherical flower that takes 6 pieces of paper to build and can make some nice earrings. Provided the paper is small enough. 1 inch squares seemed to do the trick and while it wasn't hard work, it was very detail oriented. I made two sets - and some soap - as gifts to someone who "has everything".

A couple weeks ago I did something that has been nagging at me. It was after work and I had just left the building heading for the pool since I didn't get to swim at lunchtime. I had my phone out, getting ready to make a call and tell a friend that plans had changed. Just before I started to dial, I saw a guy exit the building in front of me, head toward the street, then do a sudden 180 and head back. He saw I had my phone out asked if he could borrow it. I told him "sorry" and that I "had to make this call". I kept walking and dialed - and made my call. It was only a few minutes later that I realized what was going on. The guy came out of the building expecting a ride to be waiting for him and wanted to use my phone to call and make sure he wasn't stranded. Or so it seemed, based on the moments I'd seen his behavior.

Was my call critical? No, it could have waited. Was I worried he might steal my phone and run off? Not likely, when motivated I can move pretty fast and I know the campus very well. Would he have wasted my minutes? No, I've got a pile and have never come close to using them all in a month. Do I have a good reason for not helping?

Not really. Pretty much just selfish. Which I really try not to do. I guess I was just tired of things standing in the way of what I was doing. I had spent all day just trying to move forward and I saw this as not a chance to help someone, but an impediment to the rest of my day.

He wasn't there by the time I went back that way - I guess his ride showed up.

So, it's been bothering me a bit. I feel like I made a bad decision. Not evil, but just not what I should have done.

Since then, I've been trying to be a little nicer to people where I can. Doesn't really make up for it, but I guess it's all I can do.

In other news... looking forward to a short work week. And I think it's time for me to get off this computer and go enjoy the sunshine a bit.

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