The Breaking of the Third Friendship Circle
My second batch of fillings is now done; this time they used a laser called "the bug zapper" to blow away the parts of my teeth that they didn't like. Given the smell of burning that accompanied it, I think I prefer the drill. The left side and newer fillings seem to have healed more rapidly, but the deeper ones on the right are still really sensitive and too much enthusiastic chewing can lead to low-level but lasting dental ache. I really, really hope that it gets better over time.
As strange as it seems--hell, summer feels like it's barely begun!--Oxford has transitioned into the yearly move in-move out mode. And that means that, once again, my circle of friends is going to be gutted by departures. Two of them--the entirety of the Dungeons and Dragons mini-game that I have been playing of late--are leaving, and once again it's the instigators that are going, the people who issue invitations and plan get-togethers. I am no good, horrible, very bad at stuff like that, to say nothing of having a place that is very ill-suited for it. I should be used to this by now; this is the third or fourth social circle that has been broken by the removal of a key link. But the period just afterwards, when it feels like I'm all isolated and adrift, is never fun.
This weekend, for instance, was Dan's goodbye party, the final game of our D&D campaign where we tried to wrap everything up, Tom's farewell soiree, and scattered instances of helping people find boxes and move furniture. Tom is out at the end of this weekend, Dan next weekend. I really have a lot of my plate that should be filling my after-work hours, but still...
There won't be a sense of normalcy for quite a while. Or, at least, not a sense of normalcy that feels like a real life and not the muddlings of a recluse.
As strange as it seems--hell, summer feels like it's barely begun!--Oxford has transitioned into the yearly move in-move out mode. And that means that, once again, my circle of friends is going to be gutted by departures. Two of them--the entirety of the Dungeons and Dragons mini-game that I have been playing of late--are leaving, and once again it's the instigators that are going, the people who issue invitations and plan get-togethers. I am no good, horrible, very bad at stuff like that, to say nothing of having a place that is very ill-suited for it. I should be used to this by now; this is the third or fourth social circle that has been broken by the removal of a key link. But the period just afterwards, when it feels like I'm all isolated and adrift, is never fun.
This weekend, for instance, was Dan's goodbye party, the final game of our D&D campaign where we tried to wrap everything up, Tom's farewell soiree, and scattered instances of helping people find boxes and move furniture. Tom is out at the end of this weekend, Dan next weekend. I really have a lot of my plate that should be filling my after-work hours, but still...
There won't be a sense of normalcy for quite a while. Or, at least, not a sense of normalcy that feels like a real life and not the muddlings of a recluse.