I have been to the theatre before.

I donated blood today and now I feel every inch the civic-minded member of the community.

I often go to the blood donation center, fill out the paperwork, answer all the questions, get bp, temp and pulse taken, and only then do they do the stick for the blood-iron test. Then I get rejected for low iron and go home, having wasted my time and theirs.

This time I got smart. "Before you do anything else," says I to the nurse, "Please check my blood iron level. I am often rejected for low iron and I don't want to waste your time if I'm low today."

And wonder of wonders, she actually did as I asked.

And this time, of course, I was ironed up. So I gave.

"My veins are juicy, but quite wiggly," I said to the next nurse, "I won't watch as you stick it in, since I have a tendency to tense up and that moves the vein." She got the needle in first try.

After it was all over and I was sipping my water (no juice on display) and eating a cookie, I recognized the slight sensation of looking at everything through a camera's view finder was the familiar symptom of light-headedness. I informed the recovery nurse and he had me lie down again, put ice packs on my neck and chest, and whipped out a bottle of juice from the secret stash.

I wish that I could have gone to donate platelets instead (AB+, universal platelet donor), but they require you make an appointment for that and I've never been able to make my iron levels match my appointment time.

I've often thought that they should set up a blood donation center at the court-house for the jury pool. As long as you're there doing your civic duty, you might as well do your civic duty.