Oral Topography

Talk about a horrible day . . .

 

About a month ago, I discovered a big gap between a couple of molars. I thought one of my old fillings had broken, creating the gap. I let it go because it was just a nuisance at the time.

A couple days ago, it really started to hurt, and the pain expanded through the whole right side of my jaw and up to my ear. It got to be so bad that I left work early and drove over to the Immediadent clinic at Castleton Mall. This was the bad news:

I had a cavity eating its way under an old filling. The sudden gap was most likely caused by a chunk of my tooth falling out and the filling shifting a little into the space left by the cavity. The pain started when the cavity ate its way down to the nerves in the tooth.

I had two options:

• A root canal, which would cost nearly $2,000 and involve a minimum of two visits to the dentist.
  
• I could have it pulled for $288.
  

I mulled it over for a while. It was a tough decision. I hope I made the right one. I had it pulled.

I got to see the tooth after it was pulled. (I wanted to keep it, but apparently the law doesn't allow it.) Teeth are apparently like trees: there's more below the gums than there is above. It seemed like it was huge!

I guess, in the grand scheme of things, I've done well. I went 33 years without requiring any stithces — at least that I can remember. Still . . .

 

Talk about a horrible day . . .

Heather B and Bad Prom Night Memories

[Written on July 10, but posted late.]

I wasn't always the well-adjusted, polite, thoughtful megalomaniac that you know and love today.

Wednesday night, after rehearsal, I stopped in at Starbuck's for a cuppa and ran into Heather B, who was working there part-time. I went to high school with Heather B, and very nearly went to the senior prom with her. In fact, I asked her to go, even though I really didn't want to at the time. But time was running out, and in my teenage mind, getting to the senior prom was a very important thing to do. And there it was, the week before prom, and I didn't have a date.

I found out that Heather didn't have a date yet and asked her. I found out soon after that Stephanie, the German foreign exchange student, didn't have a date either. So I snuffed Heather and asked Stephanie. Now, I don't remember the order in which things happened, but Heather actually said yes to my offer, which means I basically dumped her, leaving her dateless the week before the prom, to take Stephanie.

I felt bad about it at the time, but, if it's possible, I feel worse about it now. It was a really idiotic, selfish, small-minded thing to do. But I think I paid for it. Stephanie was carrying a torch for one of the Schatts twins — maybe even the one who was, at the time, dating my future ex-wife. She (Stephanie) had no interest in me (well, I had no real interest in her, either). I was little more than a way for her to get to the prom without going stag. (Do women go stag? Or do they go doe?)

On top of that, I went with a group that included my own ex-girlfriend, for whom I had mixed feelings. I was definitely the odd man out in this group.

So, Heather B, if by some stretch of the imagination you stumble across this blog post, I apologize for how I treated you during this whole senior prom process. I was a real dick. If it's any consolation, I had a horrible, expensive time, and I'm sure I would have had a better time with you.

Moldy Peaches

I finally saw the movie Juno this weekend. I liked it so much that I watched it again.

"Anyone Else but You" by the Moldy Peaches is my new favorite song. It's the song that Ellen Page and Michael Cera ended the movie with, and I think it captures well what love ought to feel like.

But maybe I'm just a touch too romantic. And maybe I've watched too many movies with happy endings.