iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 22/01/2026

So our Butterfly-in-Chief over at the Butterflies & Aliens Library is starting up something new for 2026! Libraries are about more than just books! #libraries #music #heavymetal www.butterfliesandaliens.com/stacks/and-n...

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 26/11/2025

I don’t know who needs to know this, but this is how Lowly the Worm drives his Apple Car… Mug available at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social !!! #YEG #Bookstore #RichardScarry

Close up picture of a hand holding a red mug shaped like an apple, including a red lid with a green stem and leaf, but it’s no regular apple… nay, it’s a Richard Scarry Apple Car with two wheels protruding off the bottom of the Apple, two silver headlights above the wheels, and a large orange-coloured window in which can be seen Lowly the Worm in his signature green hat, red bow tie, blue shirt, green pants, and, most critically, the other end of his worm self wearing a red shoe while wrapped around a stick shift or control stick of some kind.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 19/11/2025

C’est la Collation des grades d’automne à l’Université de l’Alberta ! It’s Fall Convocation at the University of Alberta! Félicitations à notre classe finissante du Campus Saint-Jean ! And congratulations to the grads and now fellow alums of the School of Library and Information Studies!

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 28/10/2025

In honour of hanging out at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social this Halloween week, and also tonight and tomorrow night’s #StarWars concerts with the @edmontonsymphony.bsky.social, a little something from our window display… #YEG #Books #Halloween #ShopIndie #ShopLocal

Picture of a bookseller in glasses and a burgundy top holding up a copy of “I Find Your Lack of Candy Disturbing: Halloween Greetings from a Galaxy Far, Far Away…” by Jeffrey Brown in front of his face while standing in front of the staff choices shelves and the rest of the main floor of Audreys Books in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 27/10/2025

I did a thing! If you're at all interested in #OpenEducationalResources #OpenPedagogy and/or #OpenEducationalPractices you're invited to check "Open Pedagogy from Creation to Dissemination: Student Engagement in Open Textbook Publication": doi.org/10.31274/joe...

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 12/10/2025

Spending the day at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social — we’re open noon to 5 Sundays! — and figured I’d share another #BottomShelfie of our sometimes overlooked selections. Today it’s from one of our “Unusual” shelves! Come by or drop us a line if anything is of interest! #YEG #Bookstores #ShopIndie

Image is of the bottom two shelves of a shelving unit made out of dark wood, one labelled “Words, Grammar & The Writing Life,” with a bookseller in glasses peering in sideways from the left side of the photo because they were lying on the carpetted floor while taking the picture. Visible book covers include “The Language-Lovers Lexipedia,” “The Mother Tongue,” “Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian,” “enough is enuf: our failed attempts to make English eezier to spell,” “What Language Is (and What it Isn’t and What it Could Be),” “Book Indexing: A Step-by-Step Guide,” “Semicolon,” “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” by Salman Rushdie, and “Promote Your Book Workbook.”

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 08/10/2025

Spending today and tomorrow at Alberta’s Stronger Together Library Conference and what a critical time for this work. Just listened to our first keynote from @caulfieldtim.bsky.social and I am heartened. #CheckYourCitations #ScienceUpFirst #ScienceMatters

Picture of my ID badge for the Stronger Together Library Conference! Proud to be representing Campus Saint-Jean here!

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 07/10/2025

Never a bad day to be at the bookstore but today, right now, seems especially important. I’m at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social today until around 9 pm to celebrate the launch of Tom Wharton’s new book “Wolf, Moon, Dog” and do my part to keep sharing and spreading ideas and stories… #YEG #books

Picture of the front cover of “Wolf, Moon, Dog” by Thomas Wharton, displayed on top of a pile of copies of the book. The cover features the title in blue all-caps lettering along the top of the cover, above a painting of a white dog with round black markings around their eyes looking in from the left side of the cover in front of a countryside landscape, and the author’s name in white all caps lettering along the bottom.

Another pile of Thomas Wharton’s “Wolf, Moon, Dog” on the front desk of Audreys Books.

A whole shelf of “Wolf, Moon, Dog” by Thomas Wharton on the new fiction shelf at Audreys Books.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 28/09/2025

Latest pre-order is in! I’ve got my copy of « Physics for Cats » by @tomgauld.bsky.social ! And we’ve got three more in store at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social ! I’m hanging around until close at 5 today (it’s Sunday September 28!) so come on by and say hi! #YEG #Books #Science #ShopLocal #ShopIndie

Picture shows an excited bookseller in glasses and a burgundy top peering over the top edge of a copy of « Physics for Cats » by Tom Gauld, featuring a purple cover with a black spine and cartoon of an abstract 3D shape with several black cats walking along its edges. Book and bookseller are in front of a dark wood shelf full of books under a sign that reads « Unusual ».

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 07/09/2025

Been a while since I shared a #BottomShelfie from @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social but I’m at the store today until close at 5 if you’d like to come take a closer look at these lovelies! #YEG #Bookstores #Books #SciFi #ShopLocal #ShopIndie

Photo of a bookseller with glasses peeking in from the top of the frame while crouched in front of the bottom shelf at the end of the science fiction section at Audreys Books. Visible covers include Andy Weir’s Hail Mary, Martha Wells’ Murderbot books in paperback, hardcover, and omnibus editions, and John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 19/08/2025

Back at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social today (Tues Aug 19!) and here until 9 for the launch of “The End of the World As We Know It” featuring a story by @premeemohamed.com ! Also! My latest special order is in! “AB@C” by Rob Meyerson and illustrated by Dan Misdea! Book launch at 7! #YEG #Bookstore

Picture of the cover of “The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand” edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, introduction by Stephen King, and a story by Edmonton’s own Premee Mohamed. The cover is black with red all-caps lettering for the main title, tan for the subtitle, and also features the head of a crow looking up from the bottom right corner. A stack of additional copies is visible below.

Pictured is a bookseller standing in front of a dark wood shelf full of books, holding up in front of his face a copy of “AB@C and other gramograms” written by Rob Meyerson and illustrated by Dan Misdea. The book is a hardcover about 7” square with the title in black lettering against an illustration of a blue sky above water on which there’s a bee rowing a boat. The picture is the key to the gramogram… AB@C is “a bee at sea”…

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 29/07/2025

More photos to come plus a longer write up, but my latest #alteredbook project is now on display at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social ! Titled “The Möbius Book, Stripped” the project is based on “The Möbius Book” by @catherinelacey.bsky.social #books #art #YEG #local #indie

Pictured is the open central stairwell at Audreys Books in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, framed in dark mahogany wood, with bookshelves full of books visible in the background upstairs, on the landing, and on the lower level visible past the landing. Flowing from the corner of the opening on the main level is a scroll of paper that goes up to the ceiling then loops down several times before flowing back up over the ledge of the opening.

Pictured is the opposite side of the stairwell opening in the first photo, showing a reddish orange vintage typewriter on a stand out of which is flowing a scroll of paper. A later section of the scroll can be seen flowing back over the edge of the opening beside the typewriter. There is also a smaller Möbius strip, made up of the front and back matter of the book, sitting on a shelf below the typewriter.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 24/07/2025

As we approach the one year anniversary of our being "blessed" with our resident #DemonPotatoes by @laurcunn.bsky.social at the 2024 #WhenWordsCollide Festival, it seemed the right time for this... ( you can find the full story at www.butterfliesandaliens.com/stacks/somet... ... )

Photo is a #DemonPotatoes version of the "How it started... How it's going" meme, with an inset photo on the left half of the image under the heading "How it started" showing two fresh new baby potatoes, one round and one pear-shaped, with faces drawn on them with marker consisting of two dots for eyes and a squiggly line for a mouth, and an inset photo on the right hand side under the heading "How it's going" showing the same two potatoes looking much more wrinkled and shriveled, with the skin on the pear-shaped baby potatoe also having turned much darker. Along the bottom, text reads:
#DemonPotatoes
https://www.butterfliesandaliens.com/stacks/something-awoke-in-the-garden

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 15/07/2025

The latest video from my choir, Òran, just got posted and I wanted to share, with a huge shout out to composer Jake Runestad for this amazing setting of "Paper Boats" — youtu.be/8dqgachuHwU?... #Choir #Arts #YEG #KororaChoirs

youtu.be

Òran - Paper Boats by Jake Runestad

YouTube video by Korora Choirs

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 13/07/2025

Okay, also can’t not share a selfie with my furry buddy whenever we’re both hanging out at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social lol #MoreThanJustBooks #YEG #ShopLocal #ShopIndie #Toys but also #Books audreys.ca

Picture of a human bookseller (bottom) peeking up from below the frame of the photos while a Yeti with white fur (actually a Yeti puppet but don’t tell them!) hugs the bookseller’s bespectacled head from behind.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 13/07/2025

Extra excited to be at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social for my shift today, for an extra special reason that I can’t fully share yet but there’s a hint in the picture! If you happen to be in #YEG today, I’m in store until close at 5 and I can maybe share a bit more of the tea… #ShopIndie #Bookstores

Picture of a bookseller in glasses and a burgundy top peeking up from behind two copies of “The Möbius Book” by Catherine Lacey he is holding in front of his face, while standing in front of a dark wood bookshelf with additional copies of the book behind him. The book features a blue cover with white printing of the title, author name, and a line drawing of a möbius strip, as well as a barcode at the bottom left corner of the cover.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 08/07/2025

Got issues? Yeah, so do we… I’m hanging around @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social until close at 6 today, so come by & say hi, maybe check out our section formerly-known-as-current-events for some perspective on… stuff… That and/or go grab some awesome picture books! #YEG #Books #ShopLocal #ShopIndie

Picture shows a wide shot of the main floor of Audreys Books in Edmonton, with several rows of dark wood shelves filled with books, with a dark-haired bookseller wearing glasses peeking up from below the frame of the picture. The closest shelf behind the bookseller has two signs mounted above it, both of which that read “ISSUES” while the shelves below contain a variety of current event titles such as “The Internet Con” by Cory Doctorow, “Youth Care Chronicles: Reflections on Growing Up in the Child Welfare System”, and “War” by Bob Woodward.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 06/07/2025

Hanging out at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social until close at 5 today so if you’re in downtown #YEG come by and say hi! And in person or online, check out our AI* Summer Reads lists! *Actually Interesting #Books #Bookstore #ShopIndie #ShopLocal #ShopCanadian

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 29/06/2025

Oh no. New at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social & one is coming home with me lol - deets in the alt text! Also today, the launch of “The Feast” by poet Alycia Two Bears at 2 pm! It’s a beautiful day for a browse so come say hi! I’m hanging around the store until close at 5! #YEG #Books #ShopIndie

Picture of a bookseller wearing glasses and a burgundy top peering over the top of a copy of “The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries” by Massimo Listri and published by Taschen, one of four bargain copies in store!

Display of six copies of “The Feast” by Alycia Two Bears, a trade paperback with a purple toned cover featuring a silhouette of a woman. The subtitle for the book is “Two Spirit: Stories, Sex, and the Ceremony Behind it All, and other Poems”

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 24/06/2025

Haven’t done one of these in a while (maybe never on this platform?) but today I’m sharing a #BottomShelfie from the #Science section at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social I’m here until close around 9 pm tonight so come by and say hi! #YEG #Bookstore #Books

Picture of a bookseller with glasses leaning sideways half in a picture of the bottom level of a wood shelf featuring about twenty books. Face out are « How The World Really Works » by Vaclav Smil and « The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science » by Kate Zernike. Other titles include « The Book of Eels » by Patrik Svenson, « Frostbite » by Nicola Twilley, « Life As No One Knows It » by Sara Imari Walker, « Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins, from Spices to Vices » by Noah Whitenan, and « The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog, and other serious discoveries of silly science » by Carly Anne York.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 10/06/2025

Yes, @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social has books, but we also have Jelly Cats! Found two of the summer collection hanging out in our front window! I feel like if you’re in #YEG you should come by and say hi to us! #ShopIndie #ShopLocal #Books #Bookstores #JellyCats

Picture of a smiling bookseller in glasses and a burgundy top peering out from behind two smiling Jelly Cat stuffies, one of a pina colada-style drink in a coconut with a blue striped straw and a flower coming out the top, the other of a desert island with a large palm tree growing out of it. (Sorry, always so hard to describe Jelly Cat stuffies!)

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 03/06/2025

New release Tuesday! And my pre-order is in! It’s Ben Clanton’s latest Narwhal and Jelly book, “THIS BOOK IS DANGEROUS!” The newest addition to my “books aware of their own bookishness collection! I’m at the store until 6 today if you want to come by and say hi! #YEG #Books #ShopIndie #ShopLocal

Picture is of a bookseller in glasses wearing a burgundy top peering over the top edge of “This Book is Dangerous! A Narwhal and Jelly Picture Book”, the latest from author/illustrator Ben Clanton. The cover shows the title above a picture of a frightened jellyfish against a black background with a row of eight large whitish teeth along both the top and bottom of the page… is Jelly inside a creature’s mouth? Are we looking out from inside the mouth ourselves? (Incidentally, the teeth glow in the dark so one can also simply picture two rows of eight white floating in the dark…)

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 01/06/2025

Beautiful new cover for the new omnibus paperback edition of the “Monk and Robot” series by Becky Chambers! I’ve got both this and the two original hardcover novellas on my staff picks shelf, so if you happen to around downtown #YEG do come by and take a look! #ShopIndie #ShopLocal #Bookstores

Picture of a bookseller in glasses in a beige top holding up a copy of “Monk and Robot” by Becky Chambers (ISBN 9781250386335), a trade paperback omnibus edition that includes “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” and “A Prayer for the Crown-Shy” featuring a light green cover with the title in white handwriting-style lettering and a human hand reaching up from below and a grey robot hand reaching down from above.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 27/05/2025

Bonus post because I came across this absolute beaut of book as object while shelving at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social today… red cover, actual velvet sweater, hologrammy printing for the title, rainbow book block edges, AND Oreos on in the inside covers! Book deets in the alt text! #MyJobIsShelf

Picture of the trade paperback edition of “Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli, being held at a slight angle so that the top and fore edge rainbow printing is visible.

Picture of the trade paperback edition of “Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli, being held open and the front cover flap folded out to reveal inside cover artwork depicting stacks of Oreo cookies against a blue background.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 27/05/2025

Hey! Look who’s back at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social! We’re hanging out at the store until close at 6 pm so if you’re in the neighbourhood do come by and say hi! Special invite to those of you who came to our grown-up book fair this weekend — come check out the bricks & mortar store! #YEG #Books

Picture of a smiling bookseller in glasses wearing a burgundy shirt cheek-to-cheek with a white-furred yeti (shhh they’re actually a puppet but don’t tell them… the yeti, that is, not the bookseller) and both standing in front of a brick pillar and some wooden shelves.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 14/05/2025

Counting down to the Edmonton launch of the new Crave Bakery cookbook, starting at 7 pm (on Tuesday May 13!) at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social ! #Cookies #Crave #YEG #ShopLocal #ShopIndie

Picture of a bookseller in glasses (yours truly) peeking out from behind stacks of Crave cookbooks, dark blue hardcovers with the title “Crave” in gold and a picture of a stack of their cookies.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 11/05/2025

Look what’s back in stock at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social ! It’s a beautiful day in #YEG for browsing books, I’m just saying I’m hanging around the store until close today (Sunday May 11, that is!) at 5 pm. Come by and say hi! #ShopLocal #ShopIndie #Books #Bookstores

Picture of a smiling bookseller holding up a newly restocked Star Trek Kirk and Spock Magnetic Wardrobe magnetic dress-up set, while standing in front of the @UnemployedPhilosophersGuild display at Audreys Books.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 06/05/2025

Back at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social after a week away on choir tour (a whole other thing I’ll maybe post about once I fully process it lol) & checking out what’s new in the books about books section! I’m here until close at 6 so do come by & say hi! #ShopLocal #ShopIndie #Books #Bookstores #YEG

Picture of me, a bookseller with glasses and a beard, wearing a burgundy top, crouching in front of the “Unusual” shelf in dark wood at Audreys Books in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, featuring the section on Books About Books, Bookstore, and Writer’s Lives.

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Reposted by Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel)

A. T. Greenblatt @atgreenblatt.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Very excited to share that my story "If We Make It Through This Alive" is this week's story in @wilwheaton.net's podcast It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton! I mean, how cool is that? open.spotify.com/episode/2hrw...

open.spotify.com

“If We Make It Through This Alive” by A.T. Greenblatt

It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton · Episode

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 27/04/2025

Day Two of the Edmonton Indie Bookstore Extravaganza! Come on out #YEG and finish filling out your indie bookstore passports! More info at yegindiebookstores.ca #ShopLocal #ShopIndie #Books #Bookstores #Audreys50th

Picture of a bookseller wearing glasses and a white t-shirt with a burgundy vintage Puck graphic and the caption “Good books build character”, holding up an Edmonton Indie Bookstore Extravaganza passport in front of his face, while posing in front of his staff picks shelf.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 25/04/2025

Hey #YEG friendos and choir fans! If you’re looking for something for Saturday evening, April 26, come check out the three adult choirs of the Korora Choirs! Òran, Vacilando, and ChandraTala in concert! #choir #YEGarts #concert #KororaChoirs #arts #music kororachoirs.ca/performances...

kororachoirs.ca

Measure Me, Sky!

Our three adult choirs—Òran, Vacilando, and ChandraTala—present a moving and uplifting musical exploration of personal growth and personal journeys.

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 15/04/2025

Here’s hoping! Sporting peak pandemic throwback fashion for my shift at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social today! Hanging around until close at 6 if you want to come by and say hi! #books #bookstores #shoplocal #shopindie #YEG

Picture of a bookseller in glasses, also wearing a blue surgical mask, standing in front of the ‘Health’ section at Audreys Books and pointing at the ‘Health’ sign… hopefully? Ironically? The photo does not make it clear…

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 08/04/2025

Hey #YEG friendos with 5-9 yr olds (or soon to be 5-9 yr olds) in their circles of influence! Open rehearsals for Tamariki, my choir family's youngest choir, will be Mon May 12, 5:30-6:30 pm, and Wed May 14, 5:45-6:45 pm, at St. Luke's Anglican. More info here : kororachoirs.ca/choirs/tamar...

kororachoirs.ca

About Tamariki

For ages 5-9. Our non-auditioned starter choir. Features several sections rehearsing in smaller groups

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Winston Pei (he/they/il/iel) @blackriders.com · 08/04/2025

Been a bit slow shifting to posting here but figured it was worth sharing a bit of a milestone: Donation 150 with Canadian Blood Services, a double platelets plus extra bag of plasma while they had me all hooked up. Shout out to the #LowBrassBleeders if y’all are on here! #CanadasLifeline

Picture of me sitting in on a brown donation chair, a composite tube running from my left arm to a white cabinet that is the platelet extraction machine, above which is hanging two bags of yellowish fluid, one each of platelets and plasma. I am smiling a bit goofily while holding up a sign that says “150 Donations” in my right hand.

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