Going Dental
Life right now is an interesting mix of "Hey, I could do that later!" and "Hey! I could do that Right Now if I wanted."
Yesterday was kind of a "Right Now" instant, as on Thursday afternoon I realized that I'd canceled a dental appointment while I was in Oakland, and I might as well do that Right Now, as my work's dental insurance is going to just last me until the end of April. So I called and asked if I could schedule something and they said, "How about 8am tomorrow?" I said, "Sure." Then I remembered that Jet might need a checkup, too, so I asked, "When did Jet last have his teeth checked?" "August, so he's due." "Do you have another slot?" "Uhm... it might not be so good for him, as it's at noon..." "Sure. We'll take that one, too." The great good thing about part-time kindergarten is being able to still schedule appointments for him whenever we choose.
So, yesterday morning I was up at 7 and out the door by 7:30. I got there far too early, so I went to the Mickey C's next door and bought bagels. A baker's dozen. Yum-my.
Then I went in and knitted until they called my name (or, rather, the hygenist actually made it in), and he called me "Granny" when he saw me knitting, but all in good humor. I think the hygenist is the reason I go to Perfect Teeth on 287 and Ken Pratt. He's got the Touch. Hard enough to get all the crap out, but he never slips and gouges or nicks my gums, lips, or the inside of my mouth. The same cannot be said of the dentist himself, as my still sore mouth will testify from the recementing of my bridge; however, simple cleanings constitute 90% of what we get done there. So it's good to have a guy with a great touch doing the bulk of the work.
The fact that he caught on when my gums bled like mad when I had a too-old Sonicare setup was a plus, too. He knows when I've been naught or nice to my teeth, and it's good to know that he's really honest about when my gums are doing well or not.
I got off Scot free, and they also adjusted my toothguard again as when I'm grinding I'm still getting splitting headaches eventhough the thing seats and doesn't bother me when I'm less stressed. It worked real well last night, so I'm happier.
I drove home. I drove through the neighborhood and saw this huge crowed of kids by the pool. I thought to myself, "Why are they there this late?" before I saw the bus coming past me. They were the usual crowd just waiting for the bus! Meep! It was only 8:45! The time I usually begin my day. That was kinda funny.
I went home. I went up into the office and practiced Chinese calligraphy until it was 11 am. Wow it's nice to be able to just do that. Alison Stilwell Cameron wrote and painted a book called Chinese Painting Techniques, which starts at a level of detail I've never been able to get from a human being before. She even has a whole section of calligraphy examples as the starting point to Chinese painting, which makes a great deal of sense. The best part is that each character has the stroke order, pinyin pronunciation and a straight phonetic pronunciation as well as the strict definition of the character by itself. The last is the least useful, but as least it's a place to start.
Then she goes, stroke by stroke, into the Three Friends, i.e. bamboo, pine trees, and cherry/plum blossoms, and it's really detailed not only on the technique, but why it's done that way and there's examples of how it looks like when you've botched it as well as what it looks like when you've done well. I love that. I practiced the ubiquitous "hook stroke" a good hundred times before I finally figured out that my brush was partially to blame, and then I went through all my unglued brushes to figure out which ones could still keep a point and which ones were 'broken' so far as the point was concerned.
It was cool. It's also time consuming, but I had until 11.
At 11, we got on our bikes (with coats and mittens) and rode back to the dentist's office in just 20 minutes. We got there early, and Jet was cold from the wind and the lack of sunshine, so we stopped, once again, at the bagel shop and he had a hot chocolate there. He did great during the cleaning, was entirely patient with the fluoride treatment, and happily picked a parachute guy for his prize. He also picked a toothbrush and we loaded everything into Dad's pockets and rode for Noodles and Company. The other night, Jet had noticed that we hadn't gone there in a while, so we went. And after the eight mile bike ride I was hungry. So I ate Parmesan crusted chicken with the pesto pasta and vegetables. It was good. Jet ate his usual buttered noodles with parm and "seasonings" and he declared it good as well, and finished the whole bowl of them.
We went home while John rode off for Home Depot. On the way home, a fierce headwind surprised the heck out of me. Jet helped valiantly, and I could feel it when his little legs pushed hard at the pedals. We got home, okay, and he played for a bit before heading out to Tanner and Macy's and finding folks to play with. The evening was the kids coming over and playing for most of the late afternoon and evening. Jet only ate dinner after Tanner had to go home for dinner. I snarfed a from-frozen lamb shank and some Yukon gold mashed potatoes (with chives. Yum). John was off having beers with Bob and Jet had decided he'd rather stay home. So we did.
I think the hardest thing in the world was getting back on the bike to take Tanner and Macy home on their bikes. All my biking muscles went, "Ow! NOT again!" Hee.
But with just a little ride they smoothed out again, and I felt better.
I certainly slept well. I've lost another two pounds not really doing anything other than what I've wanted to do, so that makes six since I stopped working. I want to get to ten or so, but I may well just do it without doing anything special. Amazing what a lack of stress will do.
John's building out our deck. Yeah. He's taking the tools, pulling up the stuff that's in the way, and then building a wooden deck on top of our concrete one, which melds pretty well with the wood deck that houses the hot tub. Things happen a lot faster around this house now that we're not working. Yeesh.
Yesterday was kind of a "Right Now" instant, as on Thursday afternoon I realized that I'd canceled a dental appointment while I was in Oakland, and I might as well do that Right Now, as my work's dental insurance is going to just last me until the end of April. So I called and asked if I could schedule something and they said, "How about 8am tomorrow?" I said, "Sure." Then I remembered that Jet might need a checkup, too, so I asked, "When did Jet last have his teeth checked?" "August, so he's due." "Do you have another slot?" "Uhm... it might not be so good for him, as it's at noon..." "Sure. We'll take that one, too." The great good thing about part-time kindergarten is being able to still schedule appointments for him whenever we choose.
So, yesterday morning I was up at 7 and out the door by 7:30. I got there far too early, so I went to the Mickey C's next door and bought bagels. A baker's dozen. Yum-my.
Then I went in and knitted until they called my name (or, rather, the hygenist actually made it in), and he called me "Granny" when he saw me knitting, but all in good humor. I think the hygenist is the reason I go to Perfect Teeth on 287 and Ken Pratt. He's got the Touch. Hard enough to get all the crap out, but he never slips and gouges or nicks my gums, lips, or the inside of my mouth. The same cannot be said of the dentist himself, as my still sore mouth will testify from the recementing of my bridge; however, simple cleanings constitute 90% of what we get done there. So it's good to have a guy with a great touch doing the bulk of the work.
The fact that he caught on when my gums bled like mad when I had a too-old Sonicare setup was a plus, too. He knows when I've been naught or nice to my teeth, and it's good to know that he's really honest about when my gums are doing well or not.
I got off Scot free, and they also adjusted my toothguard again as when I'm grinding I'm still getting splitting headaches eventhough the thing seats and doesn't bother me when I'm less stressed. It worked real well last night, so I'm happier.
I drove home. I drove through the neighborhood and saw this huge crowed of kids by the pool. I thought to myself, "Why are they there this late?" before I saw the bus coming past me. They were the usual crowd just waiting for the bus! Meep! It was only 8:45! The time I usually begin my day. That was kinda funny.
I went home. I went up into the office and practiced Chinese calligraphy until it was 11 am. Wow it's nice to be able to just do that. Alison Stilwell Cameron wrote and painted a book called Chinese Painting Techniques, which starts at a level of detail I've never been able to get from a human being before. She even has a whole section of calligraphy examples as the starting point to Chinese painting, which makes a great deal of sense. The best part is that each character has the stroke order, pinyin pronunciation and a straight phonetic pronunciation as well as the strict definition of the character by itself. The last is the least useful, but as least it's a place to start.
Then she goes, stroke by stroke, into the Three Friends, i.e. bamboo, pine trees, and cherry/plum blossoms, and it's really detailed not only on the technique, but why it's done that way and there's examples of how it looks like when you've botched it as well as what it looks like when you've done well. I love that. I practiced the ubiquitous "hook stroke" a good hundred times before I finally figured out that my brush was partially to blame, and then I went through all my unglued brushes to figure out which ones could still keep a point and which ones were 'broken' so far as the point was concerned.
It was cool. It's also time consuming, but I had until 11.
At 11, we got on our bikes (with coats and mittens) and rode back to the dentist's office in just 20 minutes. We got there early, and Jet was cold from the wind and the lack of sunshine, so we stopped, once again, at the bagel shop and he had a hot chocolate there. He did great during the cleaning, was entirely patient with the fluoride treatment, and happily picked a parachute guy for his prize. He also picked a toothbrush and we loaded everything into Dad's pockets and rode for Noodles and Company. The other night, Jet had noticed that we hadn't gone there in a while, so we went. And after the eight mile bike ride I was hungry. So I ate Parmesan crusted chicken with the pesto pasta and vegetables. It was good. Jet ate his usual buttered noodles with parm and "seasonings" and he declared it good as well, and finished the whole bowl of them.
We went home while John rode off for Home Depot. On the way home, a fierce headwind surprised the heck out of me. Jet helped valiantly, and I could feel it when his little legs pushed hard at the pedals. We got home, okay, and he played for a bit before heading out to Tanner and Macy's and finding folks to play with. The evening was the kids coming over and playing for most of the late afternoon and evening. Jet only ate dinner after Tanner had to go home for dinner. I snarfed a from-frozen lamb shank and some Yukon gold mashed potatoes (with chives. Yum). John was off having beers with Bob and Jet had decided he'd rather stay home. So we did.
I think the hardest thing in the world was getting back on the bike to take Tanner and Macy home on their bikes. All my biking muscles went, "Ow! NOT again!" Hee.
But with just a little ride they smoothed out again, and I felt better.
I certainly slept well. I've lost another two pounds not really doing anything other than what I've wanted to do, so that makes six since I stopped working. I want to get to ten or so, but I may well just do it without doing anything special. Amazing what a lack of stress will do.
John's building out our deck. Yeah. He's taking the tools, pulling up the stuff that's in the way, and then building a wooden deck on top of our concrete one, which melds pretty well with the wood deck that houses the hot tub. Things happen a lot faster around this house now that we're not working. Yeesh.