Sunday, July 22, 2007

Harry Potter & The Blood Donor

This is an excerpt from the latest Harry Potter book, for those who have not laid their hands on it:

'Harry Potter rose, even though he was in great pain from the blast that Voldemort inflicted upon him. Voldemort gave a cruel laugh. 'You should know better, Potter boy, than fight me. For I am immortal! I've hidden my souls into seven Horcruxes!' Harry replied in contempt, 'And I have destroyed all but one! The one in your body is the last one!' With that, he directed his wand at Voldemort and blasted the Dark Lord, wounding him. As Voldemort lay dying, Harry said, 'Because your blood runs in my vein, it's too bad I am not a blood donor, right?'

*Mrs Rowling performed Cruciatus charm on me and I lay bleeding, with my newly-acquired book in my lap*

Ok, I get it. I'm not supposed to tell the story here. The excerpt above certainly wasn't from 'Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows', the much anticipated book in the world. That was me, telling you to buy the book yourself rather than depending on me to tell you the ending to the Harry Potter saga. I did not pay RM99 just to give free commentary of how the main character of the story died.
*frown to self. I sound like one of the Death Eaters, particularly that mean Bellatrix with her sneering face telling, 'Go buy your own book!'*

All I can narrate to you friends here, are the events that took place on the jubilant day I got my Harry Potter book, a hamper and held a baby in my hand. Ahem.

21st July 2007

Story #1: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows... my... precioussssss....

Unlike all Harry Potter fans all over the world who spent their night camping outside bookstores, wanting to be the first person to receive the latest installment of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows on this day, I had had a good sleep on my comfortable bed and then woke up late because it was Saturday, the day to catch up on sleep. The email sent by MPH, asking to collect my book at Midvalley stated the time from 9am to 3pm. They also mentioned that I will get a limited edition mug and a paper bag if I picked up during that window of time. Instead, as usual, we only made our way to Midvalley by bike at 2.45pm. Then we had to turn back and went by car instead because the weather looked as if Dementors are coming to get their books too.

When we arrived at Midvalley, there wasn't a long queue to buy the Harry Potter book. Hmm... Strange, strange. I know we Malaysians don't pay too much interest in books, but hello, this is Harry Potter ok? Maybe Mrs Rowlings and her team ought to save all the trouble they had to go through to make sure the books are safe by keeping them in Malaysia instead, because Malaysians don't make pirated copy of books. Or maybe Malaysians already bought the pirated copy of Harry Potter book, which explains the lack of queue. Walioweh, if that is true I must be the last person to know what happened to Harry Potter!
*scurry over to an Aunty and ask, 'Aunty, have you read the ending of Harry Potter book?' Aunty scorns at me, 'We read that already! Same as Hong Kong time!'*

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

We went to Customer Service Centre, and after signing my name on a form, and waiting impatiently for the CSA to look for my pre-order book, she handed to me a paper bag with the precious book inside.
Finally, I am a proud owner of Harry Potter final book! *shoot Patronus Charm all over the place, and all Dementors flee from the bookstore without their books*

Story #2: Bloody work

After getting my book, we went to have lunch at the Food Court, and even then I was impatient to at least, read a page of the book. So suami terchenta had to go buy lunch while I dived, eyes first, into the hard-cover book. After having our lunch, we found ourselves, Imperius-style, wandering into Higher Education Fair at the Exhibition Centre and we asked about getting Masters at IIUM. At that time, I spotted the National Blood Donor Unit recruiting some blood donors at the opposite hall.

Prologue: I've always wanted to donate blood ever since I was a student. However, fear of pain turned me away from doing so. Not only that, I heard a number of stories which made me shudder and it has nothing to do with Voldemort, mind you. I read news about people getting HIV because they donate blood or an inexperienced aide sticking the needle directly in the donor's main blood vessel, and causing non-stop bleeding. I do not want to die of AIDS neither of non-stop bleeding, God forbid. What about Suami Terchenta? Who will cook meatball spaghetti for him after this???

However, in the drunken mood of having Harry Potter book, I found myself extraordinary brave as I approached the counter and a friendly girl who asked me whether I wanted to donate blood. I said, yes but not without having my few doubts vanquished. There was a couple of guys writing down their particulars as I stood and asked questions:

Question #1: Will it hurt?

Answer #1: A little bit, like ant-bite. Ok, I can stand ant-bite, no worries.

Question #2: Are the nurses trained and have they been doing this for a long time?

Answer #2: Yes, they are fully-trained and they are not new staff. Cool, I can evade the non-stop bleeding situation.

Question #3: How long would it take?

Answer #3: Around 7-8 minutes.

Question #4 (final): Will I get HIV?

At this stage, the guys who were almost finished writing their particulars froze, pen in mid-air. I can practically read their minds, 'If I got HIV, who will marry me???'

Answer #4: We don't re-use needles, if that is what you are worried about. Sigh with relief. Let the pain begin...

The conclusion? The filling form part is not painful. The blood test is just a sharp stab that lasts a second. The jab is like any other jab and contrary to popular belief, I don't feel a thing when my blood flowed out of my body into the bag. I settled back, reading Harry Potter and squeezing the thing they gave to make the blood flow quicker. Within less than 5 minutes, the bag was full. A nurse ran to me and immediately cut off the IV tube after stopping the blood flow. Then she removed the needle, gave me a cotton pad to stop the bleeding and asked me to rest for a while before I went to get a drink.

All was well and I even got a hamper full of junk food! I definitely will donate blood after this! It doesn't hurt and I've conquered my fear of pain :)

Story #3: Hanis Nabila

My friend, Ubie, had just delivered a baby girl on Friday, 20th July at Ampang Puteri. I wrote about her wedding last year. Talk about a good combination number, 20.07.2007. Plus, her baby was born on her husband's birthday. My good friend, Bib and I together with Suami Terchenta went to see her.

The baby has a lot of hairs. She weighs 2.9kg. Like all newborns, she has wrinkled face and crying expression. And she's gorgeous. All I can say is, congratulations Ubie and hubby! :)

On our way back home:

Me: Have you started longing for Little Carneyz or Little Junaidix ?

Suami Terchenta: A little bit.

Me: Same here.

Suami Terchenta: Maybe next year?

Thank you Suami Terchenta, for understanding me. That is why I love you so.