I had a blood taken out today at the clinic. Three whole vials, and IT WAS SO COOL watching warm blood gush out of my veins and roll into the vials, steaming up the inner vial walls.

The nurse did such a good job too. I remember when we had to undergo tests every year in Singapore as part of the scholarship requirements. We'd have to take the day off school and go as a group to some clinic. It was like a twisted scholar outing but oh, such great memories. We dreaded the blood testing bit because the nurses and even doctors could never seem to get it right. We'd be poked, re-poked and then they whine about not being able to find our veins. I remember poor Lavanya who started tearing because she had so many bad experiences with them. So this morning when I set off to the clinic I got cold feet from the thought of having to be poked by the needle several times.

But this time round things were so easy! I went in, the nurse greeted me and sat me down, rolled my sleeve up, strapped something round my arm and positioned my forearm on a pillow. She took the needle, looked at the inside of my elbow, jabbed once and blood just poured out into the vials. It took less than 30 seconds for her to get three vials out. She removed the needle and pressed a cotton swab on the puncture. 'There you go sweetheart, just press hard on this while I label these vials'. After she was finished, she slapped a plaster on and I was good to go.