Jan 10
Well, it was that time of the decade again, time for my 5 year dental checkup. When I was a child my parents were very strict about our dentist visits. Every 6 months we would get poked, prodded, and chastised for not flossing. To this day, though, I have had very little dental problems.
The fact of the matter is, I should have gotten braces when I was a kid. I should have had my bottom teeth realigned somehow. My parents asked the dentist when I was 14 about it but he said that I should wait until I was 18 to see how puberty shook out. Well, puberty didn’t solve anything.
Fast forward to 2001. I managed to crack my own tooth with my upper jaw. Because my teeth are off kilter the top teeth crunch down on the wrong spot on my bottom teeth. In 2001 I went to the dentist for the first time in 5 years to correct the problem.
Fast forward to September 2006. Because my jaw is still misaligned I managed to chip/crack the same tooth that had the problem in 2001. My jaw began to ache and became sensitive to cold weather.
Fast forward to today, after yet-another-5-year-sabbatical I went back to the dentist today. The hygienist was a little put off by the fact that I hadn’t been to see any dentist in 5 years but after a few minutes she said to her own surprise, “Wow, everything looks good. It’s like you were here 6 months ago.” I chalk that up to my toothbrush.
The dentist was a very large Russian man. He was quite intimidating but also quite nice. He was able to confirm that I had cracked my own tooth yet again. He told me that my filling will need to be replaced and that he felt it was a very “basic” filling (a.k.a. I had a shotty job done last time). I was a little perturbed by his statement because I had gone to a large corporate dentist office last time. I assumed because it was part of my actual insurer’s medical clinics that they would do the best job. According to this dentist, that was not the case. And the lousy job probably contributed to the repeat problem.
So, back I go next week to finish up the job. I hope this time they will heed my warning about Novocaine (I need lots of it).
Dec 20
Whoa! Where did December go? Between the wedding, Vegas, Christmas, computers, and the dentist I haven’t had time to think. So let me recap what’s been going on in my life.
Wedding
Although there are a ton of outstanding issues everything seems to be falling into place. The big thing I have left to do is write my vows. I keep promising Courtney I’ll do it. One of these nights I actually will. For the second time our honeymoon got a little derailed. Not as bad and before though. We were flying on Sun Country until they decided to close up shop. Now we have to take a flight back at 11:40pm Sunday night which is less than ideal.
Las Vegas
Las Vegas was everything I thought it was going to be. And I’m never going back again. Well, at least not for many, many years. The trip was best summed up by Grant at 12:30am Friday night when we were trying to find a bite to eat. We had been there for 16 hours and Grant declared to everyone in a very low, shaky voice, “I am a delicate flower.” We peaked high and quick and from there on out it was all down hill. Vegas has too many lights and too much noise. It’s a sensory overload. I can say honestly if I never see Carrot Top again I’ll be a happy man.
Christmas
Christmas has really snuck up on me this year. We finished our shopping early ‘cept for Courtney’s dad. Though Courtney’s brother said he had it all taken care of. All we had to do was kick in some dough. But I haven’t heard from him lately so if you’re out there, Chad, I think you know my email address. I went to the jewelers (again!) to see if I could find Courtney anything interesting for Christmas. We promised not to go all out like we traditionally do. Neither one of us have much money to be throwing around. So I wanted something cheap. Well, I couldn’t bare to have my darling wearing anything cheap so I picked her up a nice pearl necklace and earrings. You know, for the wedding and all. I couldn’t keep a secret so I gave them to her that same night. Now I wish I hadn’t cuz I won’t be able to top that with a cheesy Christmas present.
Computers
The week before Vegas my computer decided it was going to give up. It basically stopped functioning all together. The hard drives started spouting loud profanities at me so I decided to finally put it in its final resting place and build a new one. I wasn’t able to go all out like I had hoped but for $450 bucks I was able to build a pretty decent machine. 512 megs ram, AMD Athlon 1700+, a new motherboard and case have turned me back into the hardcore computer elitest that I love to be. Feel free to envy me.
Dentist
You may be asking why this was such a big deal, right? I haven’t been to the dentist in 5 years. Of all things my parents made me do, the dentist is what I feared most. This topped off with a tooth ache that was starting to throb had me scared shitless for two months. That’s how long I had to wait for an appointment. I ( and by “I” I mean Courtney) made the appointment back in October. I mustered up enough courage to go this morning and after all was said and done, the Doc told me I have great teeth…..except for the gaping crack in my back tooth. So it wasn’t so bad I guess. It could have been worse. They did say the crack was probably from me gritting my teeth. So no more caffiene or stress for Jason! Yeah, right.
