Getting closer to Paris



An aerial view of an avenue in Paris.

My Paris and London plans are firming up, however, I'm still just waiting for airfare to go down a little. It sucks in a way to live in Michigan because I'm in the mid-west, not the East Coast, and Detroit Metro is not Newark, JFK, or DC, so our prices will be higher. However, I still anticipate the price to go down a couple hundred dollars in the next 24-48 hours. And I'm just waiting to hit the purchase button when it does go down. I know I can save money now by buying a 1-stop ticket, but that's bullshit. There's no valid reason why I cannot fly to London non-stop, barring crucial budget reasons - and if that were the case, I really shouldn't even go. But, things aren't that tight, I just have issues with spending $1501 on a fucking non-stop to London May/June. Yes, I know it's "peak" travel time... but I have been to London, the past four times, in Nov/Dec, I want to enjoy the spring, especially in Paris.
And in getting physically prepared for my trip, I have been walking home on some days after work, the past few weeks. Now that I'm completely done with classes this term, I have given thought to walking to work and back home. This morning, I did my first walk. It was colder than I expected, and it was drizzingly outside, but it was manageable and it was a great morning exercise. It gave me a rush even! But I think one of the high points of my walk was that as I was walking through the empty Whole Foods parking lot, I found a $5 bill. Now you may say, 'that's nice'. And it is, very nice. But $5 isn't a lot of money. So in my continued effort to win the lottery, I used that five bucks to buy two EZ pic powerball for a chance to win $116 million, and I bought one classic lotto 47 for a chance to win $3.6 million. Needless to say, I will be happy with either grand prize.

Now I've been reading articles about lottery winners, and the chances of winning the lottery, and there are a gabillion different scenarios out there in the cosmos that need to line up in the right order for ME to win. Some say it's luck, some say it's all statistics and probabilities. I believe it's a little bit of both, but, with more luck to do with it than anything. However, what are the probabilities of me deciding to walk to work, for the first time today, in crappy weather, and walk directly in the path of that huge parking lot, to find a wet, folded over $5 bill? Now you think about that, because I surely have. My immediate thought was to invest it in some ez picks or some scratch offs. What do I have to lose since it's money that I found in an empty parking lot? So, I think with all things considered, some how, I may get a slight edge in wining something in either games. And that's not including the Wednesday drawing tickets I already purchased as part of my weekly lottery game allowance. So, we'll see. :D

After reading an article yesterday about how all the surviving Boston bombing victims who are hospitalized are expected to live, it was mentioned how much blood was used in saving their lives. There always seems to be a low supply of blood throughout the country, and especially in times of emergencies, it's all the more important to have access to blood. If you have never donated blood before, this is the reason why you need to donate, if you are eligible. I made an appointment to donate blood for this Saturday morning. I have donated many times before, but there was a period of several years when I could not because I was anemic. However, now that that problem is solved, just as my iron levels are "normal", the Red Cross friggin' upped their minimum required hemoglobin level to 12.5 (I was at a 11.1), so the last two times I tried to give, they refused my lame iron deficient ass. My iron level was now not at their new minimum level. I'm hopeful that I can donate this weekend, if not, just fuck it, I tried. I don't understand why they moved the acceptable iron level to a level where my body just can't meet. For a while I was taking vitamins, and I love spinach and iron rich foods. But I don't know if I'm naturally physically able to ever meet their minimum requirements again. I'll let you know if I succeed!