I havent had a chance to bitch about much lately b/c...well...there simply isnt enough drama going on right now! Unfortunate. Maybe I'll get serious and stop goofing off with BS barking and cussing at people and do a real article for once....then get back to bullying people....
At any rate, a real article.
This one is mostly for us [southern accent]Amarkins *ptoo*[/southern accent] as you guys across the pond havent got blokes in charge with any business sense to come up with motivating ways to get people to volunteer their time.
Anyway, if you're like me you're underpaid, have a family, bills, possibly a mortgage, car payment, and generally better ways to spend your money than to dump wads and wads of cash down for a set of $10 apeice plastic terminators or a $60 dollar tank. If you're not like me you might be a college kid with limited means right now to dump on models.
I might have a solution for you.
It came to me during the time leading up to the NOVA tournament. I discovered that I was going to be woefully low on spending money and money for gas/room once I got there. My paychecks have been really spoken for lately and havent done much to support my hobby alone much less a tournament weekend where one can easily blow thru $500 + dollars.
What was I going to do?
Well, my GF works at the local plasma center. She's been telling me for months that I should go in to the center and donate plasma as its just extra money...and its like free money b/c you're just sitting there for an hour reading a book or whatever. I was hearing her but was rather avoiding it b/c the idea of giving up bodily fluids on a regular basis anywhere but at a toilet skeeves me out. I don't really much like needles (who the fuck does????) and the last time I gave blood for a physical I inexplicably almost passed out. (fucking whimp)
Well, the tournament weekend was actually in danger so I decided that desperate times call for desperate measures so I rolled up my sleeve and headed into the plasma center. I vowed that I was at least going to get in an initial 5 visits b/c the center had a deal that your first 5 visits netted you $50 per visit. After that my rates were going to go down...to a level I didnt find appealing at all. No matter. $250 bucks is just what I needed to save my weekend at NOVA.
So, I headed in. The first day was a bit of an ordeal. I went in early (8am) and didnt finish up that day until around 3pm. It only takes an hour to donate a full helping of plasma and the rest of the days was taken up by physicals and an interveiw to make sure I wasnt any sort of a high risk patient. (they need good plasma...not plasma from drug addicts or other high risk doners that might be diseased for whatever reason)
Yes, the donating skeeved me out...and I didnt listen to my GF (again, Who the fuck does????) and did not hydrate myself properly afterwords. While running errands afterwords I had a bit of a reaction and almost passed out due to the procedure while standing in line at a bank....I had momentarily blacked out and everything.
I went on undeterred however. From then on I listened to my GF and made sure that I was hydrating myself heavily and eating b4 going in to donate. I still had $200 to earn. Donating twice a week. At about an hour and a half max of my time every visit I was able to come up with the money quite easily....my trip to Nova was saved and I went and had a great time.
Now, however, since my initial 5 visits were spent, my rates for donating have gone down. Now, I receive a mere $25 for the first visit, and assuming I make it a second time within the week I will make $40 dollars on that visit. $65 a week possible income for going in. I had not considered the experience that pleasant so I wasnt thinking that I would go back....
....but Dark Eldar models are so fucking beautiful....
Since the Nova I've been bouncing ideas around in my head about which direction I want to take with my Dark Kin. I've got three different army lists that I play on Vassal right now and I'd like to be able to take whatever I like on tabletop. I had a raider dominated force and since the Venom is relatively new I hadnt purchased any as of yet....but I've got these lists that are begging to be built.
I thought about it a bit and decided..."You know, I can pick up 2 Venoms after two visits to the plasma center." It's a $30 model before any of the discounts that most of us FLGS frequenters typically enjoy. Easily able to get in two boxes. In fact...I had an entire army now that I thought of it that would be availiable for play after a few short weeks doing this....
....so I headed back to the center....
Since I decided to do this, using plasma to leverage models into my army, I've been able to add 10 Scourges and 4 Venoms into my army. That's $170 worth of models.....and the beautiful part? Its a guilt free expenditure. The fact of the matter is, that I wouldn't donate for any other reason right now other than spending money. It's not exactly a "fun" thing to do...but the ends justifies the means in my mind. Also, my better half has said herself that she cannot complain that i'm "wasting" up to $270 a month (6 visits a month nets you an extra $10 locally) on toy soldiers! Thats sort of a significant amount if you think about it. I'm able to spend that much on toys every month and not have any arguement at all about how that money should've gone to bills/savings/groceries/whatever. It's beautiful.
It appears that I've also gotten better at donating! Lemme illustrate the visit for you. It sounds bad...inserting a needle and [Skeksis of the Dark Crystal accent]Draining your living essence[/Skeksis of the Dark Crystal accent]. It's honestly not that bad at all now that I've gotten used to it. Assuming you get a good 'stick'...there is no pain whatsoever aside from inserting the needle in your arm. If you feel pain, the needle simply needs to be adjusted by an attending nurse...which they are happy to do for your comfort. Failing that, when the machine returns your red blood cells to you, sometimes the return needs to be slowed down. Again, an attending nurse can help you with this. Other than these two things, there is no pain whatsoever. Again THERE IS NO PAIN INVOLVED! You simply sit in a lazyboy and play Texas hold 'em on your Iphone for the hour it takes to donate. I've also gotten used to the procedure in that I no longer get tired afterwords. I simply make sure I stay hydrated and I will typically go eat afterwords...and go on with the rest of my day willy nilly. Often going and picking up my models and gluing them together b4 I ever remove the bandage from donating.
It's truly easy.
I'm sharing this with you, the community, because times right now are indeed difficult. Often we cannot find the money to dedicate toward our hobby. This is a very simple way to get a little extra cash to do something you love. Also, honestly, you have the moral high ground of knowing that you're saving someones life by doing this little act.
It's a win/win situation. I give life giving plasma to those that need it/I'm supplied with beautiful Dark Eldar models for my army. Everyone wins.
Anyway, next time you need a little extra cash for that new BLOOD ANGEL army. Think about giving some plasma. You'll be well on your way to adding 4 Lascannon/PLASMA GUN Razorbacks to your list that will cost you no more than a few hours of your time.
See you at the centre.
