Date: August 12th, 2010
Well, today didn't work out as I planned.
As y'all may remember from a couple days ago, I've hit a funk. Some part of me knew that this project would have to start feeling like a chore at some point, but I didn't want to believe it. Recently, with the exception of some of the more epic things I've gotten to do, the day to day task of remembering to do something new has gotten a bit cumbersome. I decided, spur of the moment, to take advantage of an opportunity for a day off, so to speak.
On my way back to Ann Arbor, from Lansing, for my dentist appointment, I started thinking about things I could do in Ann Arbor to satisfy my new thing of the day requirement. I was getting a bit stressed because my parents wanted to finish going through my grandmother's things (an already unenviable task) and I didn't know how much time that would leave me with. Sitting in the lobby at the dentist, I had the distinct hope and wish that something easy would fall in my lap so I wouldn't have to worry about this for a day.
Enter tooth decay.
Despite every improving dental habits, I still have enamel that had to have been swiss cheese in another lifetime. Escaping with only a small pit in one tooth is, unquestionably, an upgrade from the last dental diagnosis I got. Even so, that pit needed to get filled while the pain was still minor and the decay was several comfortable stages below zombification.
My dentist agreed and decided we should fill it that day before I left. Supposedly it would be quick. I hesitated. I really needed to get going and though having numbface for a day was great for gags (try getting a slap on Novocaine... great for guerilla theater, but it'll hurt in the morning), I simply didn't have the time. That's when the kismet I was hoping for appeared before me. My dentist explained that it was such a small hole he would probably be able to fill it without numbing my mouth.
This seems like a bad idea.
I sat down in the chair, closed my eyes, tried to be calm; and immediately pictured, in full detail, the amputation scene from Gone with the Wind. Not good. I was trying not to hyperventilate. The light above the chair flickered. Or was that me? I heard a voice tell me to raise my right hand if I started to feel pain. Where the hell did my right hand go? Or, right, ok, there it is. A high pitched whirring sounded from beside my head. Good God, what kind of sick, terrible, stupid decision was thi- oh, we're done?
Turns out, as badass as my dentist is; no dentist in their right mind would let someone opt out of Novocaine if they were going to drill at the root of a tooth. The pit was going to get there eventually, but it was shallower than I realized; meaning that while drilling could've hurt, it probably wouldn't. Still. The fear was real.
Don't worry about it, you'll find something new everyday. Notice how a lot of the stuff you already did presented itself out of nowhere. I guess part of the lesson is that everyday doesn't have to be some earth shattering, life altering experience that leaves you changed forever. Some days in life are just days that pass by with only a few small things that happen. The point is to just take everything together.
ReplyDeleteThat having been said, I will still be thinking of new things for you to do. Have you tried martial arts? What about glass blowing? There's a glass shop in Ann Arbor, I'm sure they'll let you have a go at it. There's juggling, you could join the medieval combat group, do fencing. In fact once school comes around you'll prolly have so many new things to do you won't know what happened.