Today at Plasma

I got in and out of the plasma center relatively quickly today. There is a guy who has been doing it for years who told me some of his "secrets" for giving blood more quickly (he does things I'm not willing to do to my body for a measly check--maybe for a really large check. . .), and he was there today. Well, he was "deferred." When someone is "deferred," it means that they can't give plasma that day. When I finally made it through screening and went to the back, one of the otehr guys who had been in the waiting room with me shouted across the donor floor to ask, "What happened to Sylvester?" He was looking at me, and I realized at that moment that I now belong to the plasma subculture. It's an odd feeling. I don't necessarily want to belong to this subculture, but there I am, with a regular schedule and "colleagues." I am a purveyor of hidden knowledge, and I have been accepted as one of their own. Maybe I should approach it like an anthropologist. Nah.