Tuesday

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I adore the OED

OK, I've gone on before about how much I idolize the OED. Imagine how thrilling I found this entry on Maud's blog...I spent half an hour entering random words. When I was younger it was the derivation, the roots that fascinated me. Now it all about usage. When and where a word first appeared in print, the quotations used to illustrate its meaning. Words just continually captivate me. I've had some very ADD moments where I'll stumble across a word and everything stops while it bounces around my brain.

People Who Smoke Weed Are Morons, yeah I was stoned.

I'm still recovering from my dental debacle, nearly there though (I hope!). Understandably I haven't been available for session over the last few weeks, so I've no session stories to share. I saw the 24 Hours On Craigslist movie. However I am unable to give a proper review, as I was stoned. I thought it was hysterical, but my opinion on anything that evening can not be considered reliable. I haven't smoked weed in close to a decade. But I had a houseguest. A friend from my ancient past; sometimes it just makes sense to walk down memory lane. It's kinda embarrassing. Anyone who knows me would tell you that I don't do any drugs outside of caffeine and nicotine. (Regularly, that is, I do drink on occasion). I was the complete stereotypical moron stoner. I HATE THOSE PEOPLE!!!!!! The only thing I regret is that a friend of mine was looking for some advice and support while I was ridiculously high. I had no comprehension of what she was trying to tell me, nor was I capable in any way shape or form of giving her my typically solid advice. She's hanging out with the boyfriend she was arguing with that evening tonight, so obviously everything worked itself out. But I still feel terrible that I not only couldn't give her the support she needed, I was utterly oblivious to what she wanted or needed from me that night. They say coke is the ADD drug of choice. A self medicating thing. I've never tried it. But I'll tell you, weed exacerbated my ADD like nothing ever has. I was without an attention span.

Thursday

In Bed.

I guess you've all been wondering where the hell I've been. Mostly in bed. Three major things have happened since my last post. I got cable, a new boy and a tooth extracted (with bonus complications!). All of the above conspire to keep me "in bed" more than out and about.

Honestly cable hasn't really thrilled me or incapacitated me as I feared, though I will say I'm grateful for its mindnumbing qualities while I've been trying to numb the right side of my face. The new boy is sweet. Very, very sweet. While I was still in bed on a recent Sunday morning, he went out and bought the makings for chocolate chip pancakes (and made them!). And that's really all I have to say about him for public consumption. The tooth: I've got quite a bit to say about this. Last Thursday evening I had a toothache. By Friday morning I was in agony and went to see a dentist as an emergency case. While I have obtained health insurance for myself, I do not have dental. I'd only heard good things about the NYU dental school clinic. Figuring that an extraction is pretty basic for a dentist and that they wouldn't let the students work on people if they were clueless, adding in the bargain basement price of $90 including follow-up visits...I went in.

The first "student dentist" I saw was terrific. She had been a dentist in Russia and was enrolled toward being certified here. She inspired absolute confidence. However once we determined that an extraction was necessary, she handed me off to the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department. Things went immediately downhill. My new student dentist promptly dissolved my confidence in her abilities by numbing the wrong side of my mouth. I got freaked out and jerked my head away. Her partner took over at that point. While I'd never had any serious dental work done before (I didn't even get my first cavity until I was 18 or 19), I had done some research and THOUGHT I knew what to expect. It was so much more violent than I had expected! The tooth shattered. I felt the bits on my tongue and lips. Finally they called over their professor, he hauled out the drill, and got the roots of my evil tooth out of my head. He then told the wonder twins to irrigate and stitch me up. Five minutes later I was on my way, with a baggie of gauze, a sheet of instructions and no antibiotics or painkillers. But hey, they know what they're doing, right? The pain came and went all weekend, I found the most effective dose of motrin to be about 6 tablets. But I was utterly out of commission. Monday and Tuesday I had some pain, but was successfully controlling it with the super doses of motrin. However Wednesday afternoon, the pain was so intense I couldn't concentrate on anything and finally called the clinic. They told me to come back in. I requested and got the wonderful initial Russian chick. It seems I had developed an infected dry socket that had a large amount of debris. So she and her partner clean out the hole in my jaw pulling out about four pieces of bone that had been floating around, jabbing into my gums and being generally problematic. They also call over their professor to check me out. He proceeds to pull another four or five pieces out, irrigates me and stitches me up himself. I'm now hopped up on mega-sized prescription motrin pills and antibiotics. I've been in bed all day.

Happy New Year

Since my thoughts on New Year's resolutions are in this week's Village Voice, I thought I'd share the most recent pic of my legs: