Posts by Gerald James73

Larry Wells2 said:So, I'm writing this because I'm planning on trying drugs for the first time. I'm 17 and a junior in high school. Just a heads-up: don't bother trying to talk me out of it, because I'm going to do this regardless of whatever stupid comments you leave. I guess I've just reached a point where I feel like I've done everything else and I want to try something new. To be clear, I haven't even touched weed yet. I have zero interest in smoking that. But all my friends are into speed now, and now this other friend is pushing us to try cocaine. Money isn't the issue. I'm just stuck on what to actually go with, so I wanted to hear about your experiences. What's the best way to get a real high without being a total zombie for 24 hours? I'm thinking about doing something Saturday night so that by maybe 2 or 3 in the morning on Sunday, I'm somewhat functional, though I still want the experience to actually hit.

Go for it. It’s honestly amazing. Humans evolved to the point where we have more advanced brains than any other species on the planet just so we can decide to screw ourselves up. 👍

If you're looking to try something else "new," I'd suggest seeing what it feels like to take a bullet to the head. I'm sure it'll be a real eye-opener.

Kimberly Davis52 said:nah. any guy who’s ever had sex with another man is permanently banned—unless he’s stupid enough or "honest" enough to actually tell them.

Fair point. My bad, I should've double-checked before chiming in:

Around 10% of donors get turned away during screening. They might be deferred temporarily or even permanently. It always boils down to one thing: protecting the donor's health or making sure the blood supply doesn't put the patient at risk.
- You can't donate if it would harm your own health or if your blood could jeopardize the recipient's safety.
- People dealing with acute or chronic illnesses, those on antibiotics or certain other meds, people who aren't feeling up to it, those on strict diets, or anyone with high-risk behaviors are ineligible.
- If someone gets rejected, the staff explains exactly why and answers all their questions.

Permanent Deferrals:
1. Permanent bans apply to anyone who has or currently has serious chronic issues involving the respiratory or digestive systems, heart disease, cardiovascular issues, cancer, liver disease, AIDS, diabetes, or neurological and mental health conditions.
2. High-risk behavior leads to permanent deferral:
- alcohol or drug addiction,
- men who have had sexual contact with other men,
- men or women who have had sex with sex workers,
- people with multiple sexual partners,
- anyone who has used drugs intravenously,
- anyone treated for STIs (like syphilis or gonorrhea),
- people who are HIV-positive,
- the sexual partners of any of the above.

Temporary Deferrals:
Donations are just put on hold for:
- minor acute issues (colds, stomach bugs, low iron, etc.),
- recovery after surgery,
- after receiving transfusions or certain vaccinations,
- mild blood pressure issues,
- women who are menstruating, pregnant, or breastfeeding.

If you're on medication, you absolutely have to tell the doctor during the screening. Meds can be passed through the blood and cause side effects for the patient.
This info comes out during the consultation and physical exam.

Please, just be honest during every medical screening. Talk to the doctor about your concerns; it’s how you protect both yourself and everyone else.

Being a blood donor is a privilege that comes with a huge responsibility toward the patient.

Hannah Evans70 said:Forgive me if I'm being totally clueless here, but how on earth do the people drawing your blood actually know if you're gay? Does this even apply to women, or just guys? (I don't know why, but my mind went straight to men first. I guess I just fell for the stereotype).

If this whole thing just relies on whether or not they decide to be honest about their orientation, then donating blood feels like a massive gamble—especially if their blood is supposedly "bad."😈

Look, it’s not a gamble because they test the blood. Besides, before you donate, you have to fill out that annoying little questionnaire about diseases and general health stuff. It's basically just checking boxes. I've done it maybe twice—once in San Diego and once in Washington, D.C. Just a tiny little slip with Yes/No questions.

It isn't a lottery since they test everything.

If you listen to the official word, anyone can donate blood as long as they’re healthy—though, of course, they still flag certain groups, like gay men, as high-risk.
But from what I understand, plenty of people are eligible, and even those managing serious health issues can often donate under specific circumstances.

Anyway, since this topic is already being brought up, just go out and donate. It doesn't cost you anything. If you have questions, there are professionals there to answer them, or if you're feeling awkward or embarrassed about asking, just ask here. Ignorance is usually the biggest hurdle in pretty much everything we do, so if you're curious about something, just speak up.

No need for me to comment on the post above mine; the author pretty much said everything they needed to say about themselves.

Hmm, sreća? Is it a moment? A state of mind? A spiritual thing? An event, or just a feeling?

The real question is, what even is sreća? Is it that incredible feeling when you’re holding your sweetheart in your arms? Or maybe it’s having a raspy voice and a couple of extra drinks in you after Manchester United crushes Roma 7-0?

Now, that second one? That’s definitely a feeling I’d want to last forever. It has to be intense. That game would be a massive rush of joy, sure, but I don't think it quite reaches the level of sreća.

What actually makes a person happy? Love? Pride? Money? Material stuff? Spiritual fulfillment?
The only thing I can say with any real certainty is that sreća is totally individual. It isn't some universal rule.
I know plenty of people who feel happy (or at least they tell themselves they are) after spending half their Saturday at the local betting parlor. Me? I get a similar feeling for maybe two days after I donate blood—and honestly, I wouldn't trade that feeling for any amount of cash. (Well, maybe there's a price tag out there somewhere, but I haven't figured it out yet).

A person can be happy—and let's not get too technical about it, or put it on a scale of 1 to 10—even if they're broke or dealing with health issues. It really just comes down to what makes them tick.

What a game 🙏 🙏

Incredible saves, solid goalkeeping, pure nail-biter...

Vičan 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏
And then Marković coming through in overtime 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏

It was obvious we were the better side. Sure, we gave up a couple of cheap ones, but who cares? At the end of the day, the best team in the league takes the title.

Mark Smith48 said:I've got bloodwork coming up soon, and honestly, I’m terrified of needles. Almost every time I have to get blood drawn, I start feeling lightheaded or nauseous. I'm looking for some way to cope. I know, I know—half the people out there will tell me to stop being such a chicken and just man up... but hey, this is who I am. :-)
I saw something online suggesting that emla 5 cream works pretty well for numbing the pain.
Is it okay to use that, and where can I actually pick some up?

I have a few friends who deal with needle phobia too—one case just like yours. Personally, I don't really get what it feels like (if anything, I actually don't mind getting blood drawn, but that's a whole other story), and I haven't heard much about creams. If I had to guess, though, I'd say numbing the physical sensation won't actually solve the problem. The pain itself isn't even the main issue; it's the fear.

Sam Murphy said:I’m curious how everyone’s holding up this winter. Personally, I feel totally off—like I’m drunk or something because of the weather. I suffer from weather sensitivity, so this stuff is absolutely killing me.

First off, which winter are we talking about?😬

Look, I’m a total San Diego soul at heart, so when that heavy wind starts blowing, I honestly don't even want to get out of bed. I hate the rain and this gloomy atmosphere. But since moving to NYC for college in the fall... even though I still can't stand this miserable weather, it hasn't been a huge deal. I haven't even needed a jacket lately (not to mention showing up in short sleeves in December😍).

Melissa Rivera5 said:I’m not sure if anyone here knows about this, but I was reading somewhere that there’s this incredibly rare blood type—apparently only a handful of people actually have it. It’s not even A, B, AB, or O, but something like F or H or whatever. Does anyone know anything about that? How is that even possible?

Nah, that's not what I meant. I'm O+, it just says my phenotype is CCee. Look, I get the basic concept of phenotypes versus genotypes, but I honestly have no clue what those specific markers actually represent or what they're used for. Just asking out of pure curiosity.

This has nothing to do with anything sexual, but I'm looking into blood donation stuff. Does anyone happen to know—or have a link explaining—what exactly the CCee phenotype means?

northernviper392 said:and that would be...?

Gastritis and all that other crap—it can help people dealing with ulcers, too.

Pepcid🙏, Advil, Bayer, Voltaren, Tylenol... I don't just go grabbing antibiotics whenever I feel like it.

Jose Miller3 said:I won't even get into the rest of this story, I'll just confirm one thing: direct blood transfers from just anyone haven't been a thing for about 30 years now (unless we're talking wartime), not here in America nor in any other civilized nation. There are at least ten different reasons for that, which I'm sure your father—being a transfusion medicine specialist—could have explained to you in great detail.

Wait, who on earth is even talking about direct transfers here?

Peter Hernandez53 said:after pulling a few all-nighters, your nerve cells start dying off en masse
nerve cells
they estimate you'd be dead after 11 days

So, what’s your record for staying awake?

An excursion, once. I got about 4 hours of sleep over an 8-day stretch. (After that, I crashed for like 50 hours straight.)
I did 4 days straight without any sleep once.
My average is usually around 5 hours, but I get stuck in deep work sometimes and end up pulling 2 or 3 day stretches without sleeping—maybe two or three times a year.

Červar is clueless. Our defense is way too thin, and we’re just stubbornly attacking without any wingers. That’s basically all there is to it.

Up until today’s game, we’ve had Balic playing solo plus one guy showing interest here and there, along with Scholl. Today? Neither of them showed up.
All things considered, the way we've been playing this tournament, even making it to the semifinals feels like we're overachieving.

Huge props to the guys. Our roster might be pretty thin, but we’re still fighting our way into the semifinals. Just saying, having Chuck Noll on the sidelines is a total game-changer—he’s easily the most motivated guy in the building and keeps everyone's energy up.

Aaron Gonzalez6 said:It’s not about the cards we were dealt, it’s the strategy. We just play through the interior—it's all about the big guys in the middle—and if that fails, we dump it to the wings and call it a day. Our defense is positioned way too shallow. That’s it.
I think Lino’s responsible for this too, along with having such a thin bench...

But why is the bench so short? You gotta ask Lino. Why on earth did he send Losert home only to call him right back?
And why hasn't Sprem been playing lately?
If Peri isn't clicking, just bench him and let's try running the offense through the wings.

That’s the issue with this whole season. We've been playing without any wing presence. The only time we actually used the wings was against the Americans, and even then, we only managed to score 12 points from out there.

The French side was just miles ahead of us—offense, defense, and especially in goal.
Chuck totally botched the tactical setup for this whole tournament, running two pivots and leaving the left wing wide open.
Metlicic only saw action in one game, we basically "babied" Mirza, and Vori and Sulic just don't click together offensively. Lackovic only played once, too, and our keepers maybe had two decent outings at most.
Balic didn't play great today (honestly, nobody did), but he’s still the best player on the roster.
The defense needed more teeth; we should've been running an aggressive 5-1 today, but instead, they were playing a 3-2-1 that doesn't suit the French style at all.
Sprem only got a real shot when we played the Mexicans, and he showed what he can do—if he'd played today, he would've gotten absolutely crushed.
The only game where we actually looked organized was that match against Mexico, playing like we did in Athens. We were rotating Sulic and Vori at the pivot, both wings were active, and it worked. In every other game, we lacked any sense of tactics or flow, and today, we didn't even have the right players feeling it.

Terry Rodriguez41 said:Bronze? Please. This is just the warm-up before the whole damn system collapses... I want to be wrong, really, but knowing how people think in this country, I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Honestly, it looks more like a freight train heading straight for us...😁

We might actually stand a chance against Spain tomorrow, but let's be real—we're probably going up against Denmark. We'll likely surrender about 35 points, but the real question is whether we can even score a single basket.