Yes, that's really my city's name.

I was wondering around Haight and Ashbury today -- birthplace of the "Summer of Love". Alas, most of its retail nowadays are sadly similar to that of "San Francisco", the novelty shop (a.k.a. mall blight). But, it's still worth the visit.

Then, on the way back, I was wandering through the surrounding streets, and I passed a Boys and Girls Club, where the Red Cross was holding a blood donation drive. I stopped there on the curb, and thought about it for a moment.

I walked inside, and the construction-paper arrows directed me to the gymnasium. The volunteers were warm and friendly, and only a little surprised when I asked if Canadian citizens could donate. It took them about five minutes to figure out how to clear that in their screening process, but they let me in. Then I told them I'd been to Greenland in the last twelve months. That was another five minutes.

Eventually, I got hooked up to an apheresis machine, which extracted my blood, separated out the red blood cells, and returned the plasma to my system. It took 400mL of undiluted cellular matter from me in this manner. That would weigh about a pound.

Can you see where this is going?

That's right. True, it was a Reverse Shylock -- the blood was lost, and the flesh remained. But the point stands, inarguable and undeniable, that my blood's going to be put to good use in a San Franciscan hospital, into a San Franciscan patient...

Hear me now, you merchants of metaphor, and hear me well: I HAVE LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO. And I've got the cookie and orange juice to prove it.

MOJO OVERDRIVE!

mojo rating: 45/100