a prayer for the truly desperate

I thought I knew what was worse than needing to give plasma to be sure I can buy Christmas presents without exceeding my budget (I must stay within it until March, or there will be very serious problems), but when I actually went to give the plasma, I found out there is something even worse.  There are several time-wasting and tedious processes in place to prevent people much more desperate than I from trying to give more plasma than is healthy.  Every time I ran into one, I would think, "Seriously?!"  They have to have these elaborate safeguards in place because so many people try to do this?  Oh, man  . . .  Saying a prayer for the truly desperate enough to hurt themselves tonight.

For the fictional love of fictional country

I've been watching Burn Notice now that the show is complete.  (Thank you, public library.)  I've been burning through it, actually.  (Groan.)  After season 3, I found myself wondering what makes me like it so much.  At first, I thought maybe it was because it's about a person who wants to set the record straight with the government he served.  (I know how that feels.)  Thing is, I always like this kind of show: different identities every week (Pretender), dangerous ops and deception (La Femme Nikita in the 90s), witty banter, conspiracies (Nowhere Man), touchy but frequently humorous family relationships (Psych), etc.  I liked these things before my injury working for the government ever happened.  Going into the final season, I'm wondering if what I'm looking for is someone who loves his country so much even after having his life and everyone he loves crushed in its dispassionately turning gears that he will still actively put himself at risk of death and worse to make the world a safer place.  Even if it's all fictional, maybe I want to see someone betrayed much worse by the government he loved still able to actively love it the way he used to.  I want to see the possibility even if it is fiction.