A random spew of thoughts, videos, photos, quotes, and whatever the heck else I end up putting up here.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Two weeks ago I got a call from my doctor, who I’d gone to see the day before because I’d been feeling worn out and was losing weight, and wasn’t sure why.
He was brief: “Amit, you’ve got Acute Leukemia. You need to enter treatment right away.”
I was terrified. I packed a backpack full of clothes, went to the hospital as he’d instructed, and had transfusions through the night to allow me to take a flight home at 7am the next day. I Googled acute leukemia as I lay in my hospital bed, learning that if it hadn’t been caught, I’d have died within weeks.
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I have a couple more months of chemo to go, then the next step is a bone marrow transplant. As Jay and Tony describe below, minorities are severely underrepresented in the bone marrow pool, and I need help.
A few ways to help:
- If you’re South Asian, get a free test by mail. You rub your cheeks with a cotton swab and mail it back. It’s easy.
- If you’re in NYC, you can go to this event my friends are putting on.
- If you know any South Asians (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, or Sri Lanka), please point ‘em to the links above.
*NEW* Organize a donor drive near you (the most helpful thing you could possibly do!) email 100kcheeks@gmail.com. They’ll send you kits, flyers, tell you what to say, and make the whole process easy cheesy.
My friend Amit Gupta founded my favorite photography site Photojojo. A few weeks ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Amit is one of the nicest, most genuine, most creative people you could ever meet. Prior to founding the awesome Photojojo, he also co-founded Jelly in 2006 in NYC, a coworking community, that’s now spread to 60 cities across the world and helped spark the coworking revolution. It looks like Amit will need a bone marrow transplant quite soon. We can help him with that.
Unlike blood transfusions, finding a genetic match for bone marrow that his body will accept is no easy task. The national bone marrow registry has 9.5 million records on file, yet the chances of someone from South Asian descent of finding a match are only 1 in 20,000.
This is where we come in. We’re going to destroy those odds.
How? By finding and registering as many people of South Asian descent as we possibly can.
Tests are easy– a simple swab of the cheek. If you’re a match, the donation involves an outpatient procedure. It’s not fun, but it’s not dangerous either. And doing it could save a life.
We are encouraging anyone of South Asian descent to take a test to see if you’re a match.
You can get a free test by mail, or, if you’re in New York, you can join us Friday, October 14th for a special party to rally support.
We’ll have test kits on hand at the party, as well as music, booze, and maybe even a photo booth. It will, for the first time, combine a House 2.0-style party with a New Work City-style party, and if you’ve ever been to either, you know they are always something special.
Please spread the word and please do everything you can to help Amit beat leukemia. He’s a superstar.
Much thanks to Tony and pals for organizing this event, and EVERYONE who’s been tweeting and reblogging.
Please help get the word out any way you can. My life quite literally depends on it.
Procrastination Bites
So here I am, at 4 in the morning, writing on Tumblr instead of doing my huge accounting project that is due at 11 am on Tuesday.
Tuesday started out great. I woke up at 7:06 am, went to my 8:00 am class and got back to my room. When I got back to my room is when I started to have some issues. I had a headache so I decided to take a nap before my 11:00 am class. So I took off my contacts and dozed off rather quickly. I woke up about an hour into my nap (10:00 am-ish) and I had a major headache. I decided I needed to keep napping and miss my 11:00 am class and that I would wake up before my 2pm class. Boy was I wrong.
I woke up at around 12, starving, with a major migraine. I could barely get up out of my bed to go to the fridge and grab a yogurt to eat, it was awful. So I ate a yogurt and some mini pizza bagels I had in the freezer, took one of my migraine meds, and went back to sleep.
I then woke up again at 1. Mind you, every time I have woken up was due to the fact I had to pee because my roommate and I love to leave our room at 60 degrees and coldness makes me have to pee, although I love coldness because I MUST sleep under a blanket and I don’t like to wake up all sweaty, so I like it cold.
When I woke up at 1 my headache-turned-migraine was still as strong as ever so I texted a friend in my class to let the teacher know I wasn’t going to be there, and went back to sleep. That medicine must have finally kicked in because I was out like a light until 5pm. I realized I had to go to a mandatory meeting at 7, texted my friend to remind her, and got up to go to dinner. I feel like people on my floor judged me when they saw me walking into the bathroom at 5:00 pm with my PJs on.
So I went to dinner, which wasn’t too bad except for the fact that my felafel was so stale I could barely break it in half. Then, I went back to my room to finish a Castle episode I had started, and at 6:50, went to the mandatory study abroad meeting. After listening to some lady ramble about how I would get mugged and fail my classes if I went abroad, I decided to leave said mandatory meeting a bit early. I then proceeded to meet with other members of Active Minds to get ready to dorm storm. For those of you who don’t know, dorm storming is when you go to the various dormitories around campus and knock on the peoples’ doors. Today we were dorm storming, asking for empty soda cans for an event we have coming up.
So after I was finally done dorm storming, I decided I needed to start my huge accounting project. Before starting the project, I sluggishly went to get coffee from one of the various food venues on campus. The hot chocolate machine was broken so my coffee tasted awful (usually I do half coffee and half hot chocolate). I finally made it back to my room at 9:00pm.
Kenn, my boyfriend, came over to do homework with me in my room because usually when he comes I am very productive. Today, I was not. Instead I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for our 6 month anniversary coming up so I could shadily give him clues as to what to plan for the special day. He failed at taking my clues about wanting to go to Medieval Times (he wanted to go to hibachi) so I just told him.
He left around 11 at which time I decided to watch CSI, an episode dedicated to 9-11, and a documentary made about 9-11.
By the time I finish it is 2 am and time to start my project. So I finally start my project only to be so darn tired by 3:30 am that I decided it’s time to go to sleep. So I pick up my oatmeal and walk to the bathroom to get ready for bed (tonight was a oatmeal mask night) and let me say I was beyond creeped out. Every few years you hear stories about people finding their way into the dormitories on campus so every time I go into the bathroom late at night I think I am going to run into someone. I might also get creeped out because I am half asleep and pretty much imagining sounds and visions all around me.
So I procrastinated. I stayed up until 3:30 am doing homework that I started at 2:00 am only to have to get ready for bed in the community bathroom at 3:45 am and be so tired that my imagination made me think there was someone else in the bathroom watching me. Procrastination Bites.
Everything you need for school or college
Household Items
-Paper Towels
-Trash Bags
-All purpose cleaner
-food storage containers
-dish soap/sponge
-hangers
-Wet wipes
-Tissues
-bowls, plates, cups
-water bottles
-coffee mug
-silverware
Shared Items
-TV
-Microwave
-Fridge
-Rug
-Posters
-Air Freshener
-Vacuum
-Swiffer
-Ottomen
-Comfy Chair
Room Needs
-Febreeze
-Alarm clock
-Trash Can
-Mirror (small/large one)
-Storage(under the bed and drawers depending on what furniture your dorm has)
-Desk Lamp
-Bedside Buddy
-Fan/AC
-Bulletin Board
-White Board (I actually bought a really nice white board with a bulletin board on the bottom at staples)
-Calender
Electronics
-Computer(laptop is easiest)
-Printer and cartridges
-Surge Protectors
-Extension Cords
-Ethernet Cords
-Heaphones
-Ipod
-Camera
Linens
-Sheets (XL twin)
-Comforter (XL twin)
-Pillowcases
-Pillows
-Mattress Pad or Egg Crate Pad (XL twin)
-Blankets
-Laundry Bag
-Hamper
-Lint Brush
-Quarters
Office Supplies
-USB
-Printer Paper
-Lined Paper
-Stapler
-Staples
-Pencils
-Pens
-Pencil Sharpener
-Pencil Case
-Notebooks/binders
-Folders
-Index Cards
-Markers(dry erase, permanent, washable)
-Sticky Notes
-Paper Clips
-Rubberbands
-Scissors
-Highlighters
-Desk Trays
-Ruler
-Stamps
-Envelopes
-Backpack
-Umbrella
Toiletries
-Antacid/Tums
-Cotton-balls or Q-tips
-Vitamins
-Aspirin/Cold Meds/Allergy Meds
-Cough Drops
-AIRBORNE
-Bandaids
-Ointment for cuts
-Shower Tote
-Shampoo & Conditioner
-Hair styling products
-Bath Soap
-Face Wash
-Toothpaste
-Toothbrush
-Floss
-Tweezers
-Nail Clippers
-Hair Dryer
-Razor/Shaving Cream
-Moisturizers
-Makeup
-Lip Balm
-Perfume/Cologne
-Mouthwash
-Deodorant
-Towels(face and bath)
-Towel Rack
Just booked my trip to Disney this year :) Also going to be going back to the wizarding world of harry potter while I am there. SO EXCITED!!!
Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass… It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” - Vivian Greene
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
—Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.
Birthdays
I miss the old days. The days when I was so excited for July 26 to come because that meant celebration. I would spend the whole week before my birthday reminding everyone my birthday was coming up which obviously they already knew.
And now…now it is my 19th birthday and it feels not any different than any other day of the year.
