Teeth

I think my teeth get more crooked by the day. Seriously, I don't think I have one straight tooth in my mouth. Every single one seems to be at least slightly askew. No two teeth are perfectly aligned. Such was my lament to the dentist this last visit, but she pointed out at least I had teeth, which was a good observation, being that she's a dentist and all.

My dentist is from France and very good-looking, but that's not why I go to her. She's inexpensive and local. She gave me a good tip, too -- rinse with a fluoride treatment after brushing. I have a couple superficial cavities formed below where the gum line used to be -- my gums having receded with age -- and a steady diet of fluoride should help them fill back in. If not, then she drills. I hope it won't come to that. I kind of like getting my teeth cleaned in a masochistic sort of way, but drilling can be unpleasant even when numbed with Novocain.

Now I'm trying to whiten my teeth. I even bought the stuff they sell at the dentist office. Some years ago, I had the trays made for my teeth, and now all I have to do is fill them up with hydrogen peroxide gel and properly position them. But I've been doing it for a week now with no results. I think I may have gotten gypped, though they don't usually rip you off at the dentist's -- not so blatantly anyway. I'll have to call them up and see what they say. Maybe the stuff went bad. It still foams up though. We'll see.

I always had at least a couple cavities every time I went to the dentist as a kid -- a steady diet of sodas will do that to you -- and our family dentist didn't use Novocain when he drilled. The movie "Marathon Man" brings back those memories every time I see it. Whoever directed that movie knew how to tap into our irrational (or rational) fears of the dentist. Now I've learned to embrace the wonders of Novocain.

Now they have a numbing gel they put on your gum before injecting the Novocain. That in itself is a big step forwards in dentistry. I remember it being watermelon flavored, but I may be mistaken. I suppose it could taste like crap, and I'd still use it.

My dad used to complain about having to wear a bridge, which is a type of semi-false teeth. They hook onto your regular teeth via metal bridgework, hence the name. I remember one evening in the living room. I might've been 10 years old at the time. The whole family was there including my older brother Joe and even maybe some of the neighbors. Somehow my father in attempting to replace his bridge had actually hooked a sharp part of it through his tongue, and he was trying to get someone to help them to no avail. I think there was blood. He finally ended up going up to the bathroom and unhooking himself looking in the mirror. He returned rather angry that no one had helped him, but after that he reveled in telling the story of how he knew how a fish felt when getting hooked.

I remember my dad once complaining how a dentist pulled out his upper eyeteeth. At the time, I didn't know what eyeteeth were, but now... ouch. It's interesting how specialized our teeth are -- they cut, tear and grind depending on their placement and shape. I'm missing one of my grinding teeth, a big molar. It was one of those teeth that had been drilled out so much from cavities that it just broke off one day from pressure. It didn't help that I used to bite down on fireballs.

I have to give my old man credit, though, he instilled a good brushing ethic in all of us kids I think. It took a while to take on me, but it took. But the main thing that saved my teeth was going to the dentist on a regular basis. I think the last few years was the longest I went without going, and that was due to frequent hospital visits. I think I'm back on track now. I'll let you know in six months.

Haircut and a Shave

I got my hair cut and beard trimmed today. I clean up pretty good sometimes. It's funny, though, I have more hair on my face than I do on my head, but the haircut cost more. I guess it evens out in the long run. The barber spent more time on my beard.

Sometimes I wonder if I am narcissistic. Actually, scratch the wondering part. I AM narcissistic. And I hate to admit it, but I'm getting older, AND ITS SHOWING. Dark circles under my eyes and permanent frown lines in my forehand, and I don't frown that much. Oh well, I suppose I can't stay young forever. No, nix that... I CAN stay young forever... I just won't look young forever.

I made it through three songs today until Eva Cassidy's cover of Sting’s Fields of Gold got me a little bit emotional. But that one always does it. Even Sting himself admits being moved to tears by her version, and he wrote the thing. I suppose one's authorship of a song does not preclude one from being moved by it.

The 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk occurs on July 20 of this year. As much as I was into space stuff when I was in elementary school, I completely missed the first man on the moon event thing (I think that's the official name for it). What was I doing back then except for hanging out at Fort Scott Park with my cousin? The Laurel Pop Festival had been on July 11 and 12 of that year. I don't even remember that that well. I've got the days mixed up thinking I saw the Mothers of Invention on Friday instead of Saturday.

I've been on twitter for a couple weeks now. I follow a few friends and also Brent Spiner (who is very funny), Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi. I figure it's good to keep a balanced viewpoint. Oh yeah, I also follow Obama news.

Up until this last election, I was never very involved in politics, but the fact that a good friend of mine was dreadfully afraid of Obama getting elected prompted me to try to dig up some facts that would support my liberal views. I knew that I favored the social democracies of Europe, in particular that of the Netherlands, mainly for their tolerant views on marijuana use and prostitution. But did I really want that for America? Of course I did.

As distasteful as prostitution is to some Americans, the unwelcome truth is that it's going to exist nevertheless, so why not legalize it and regulate it to minimize the human suffering factor? Legalizing marijuana is more straightforward. It is by far the most recreational of all illicit drugs, and keeping it illegal creates criminals of its users and keeps certain criminal elements involved in its sales. In the infamous Amsterdam (and Holland in general) marijuana is not legal per se, but its sale and use is tolerated in the "coffee houses," and so pot smokers don't have to associate with drug dealers. It's no longer a gateway drug. Who would've thought? I would go one step further and legalize all drugs and just tax and regulate them. We could put the big drug dealers out of business, and maybe all this bloodshed in Mexico would stop.

The good friend who was afraid of Obama is a libertarian, and they have a pretty good philosophy. They pretty much believe in a laissez-faire government (French for "let it alone). But they don't believe in free medicine. So I have to beg to differ. But now I'm watching a PBS special (on DVD courtesy Netflix) entitled "I.O.U.S.A." and it is stressing fiscal responsibility for government (as well as individuals). Robert Rubin, Sec. of treasury under Clinton, said that by the end of the 20th century the United States federal government had reached a crowning achievement in balancing annual budgets and creating revenue surpluses. It was a turning point for both political parties for it was Republicans and Democrats working together. Now they fight again, and our deficit is being increased dramatically by unprecedented government spending (for better or worse -- there are arguments both ways). I like Obama, but is he right? That's the big question. I'm still searching for the answer.

"What Is This Salty Discharge?"

Sometimes I get very emotional to the point that I cry when I listen to sad songs (and happy songs for that matter). And I'm notorious for getting sniffly watching romantic movies. Actually it doesn't have to be romantic but just have poignant moments. But it seems lately that I haven't seen any touching scenes in any media. Until today...

I'm a Netflix member, and I end up ordering movies that by the time I get them I forget what they are about, and today was such the case when Juno arrived. It's about a 16-year-old girl who gets pregnant by one of her high school chums. She's smart, funny, sarcastic, sensitive and clever, and when the waiting room of an abortion clinic gets absolutely on her nerves she decides against terminating the fetus. What ensues is her journey through pregnancy, which turns out to have some rather emotional moments.

When I'm in my wheelchair I have to do weight shifts every half-hour, which entails tilting back until I am like an astronaut getting ready to blast off. While doing so I am supposed to stay in said position for one minute, but I get impatient, so I pause what I'm doing on the computer and put on some music (actually what I do is pull up my blog page and listen to whatever song comes up on the shuffle playlist). Today, Hank Williams’ I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry came on, and that has to be one of the saddest songs ever written, and I got all blubbery on it. Then She and Him performed Dream a Little Dream for Me, and Zooey Deschanel's beautiful voice moved me to tears. So now I am in this heightened emotional state and the least little thing really gets to me.

It's not such a bad thing to be emotional and easily moved to tears, but it can still be a problem if you can't wipe your eyes, and such is the case with me. So I try to stay away from romantic movies and poignant films unless I have a willing partner to wipe my tears. Even with a close friend I get embarrassed, and it's hard for me to ask for the tissue treatment.

I remember the Seinfeld episode where he has a girlfriend who claims he doesn't get angry and he's not in touch with his emotions. At some point he does actually get emotional and he exclaims, "What--what is this salty discharge?" That was funny.

So now I am having all this salty discharge from my eyes. Life could be worse.