Does the Tooth Fairy Take Wisdom Teeth?

You know how you'd put your baby teeth under your pillow and the tooth fairy would take it and leave you money? Well, I wonder how much she'd leave for wisdom teeth.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

I've been putting off yanking out my wisdom teeth for quite some time now--probably a decade--and have finally scheduled an appointment to get them removed in exactly one week. So I better eat everything I can on Thanksgiving, because I'm only going to be able to eat mush for the rest of the holiday weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to me!

I don't really trust doctors and there's some anxiety here only because I've heard a million horror stories about wisdom teeth extractions. Everything from the IV slipping out and the person regaining consciousness during the procedure to getting the wrong tooth pulled. How any of that is possible, I'm not quite sure. So, I made it very clear to this man all my concerns and hangups.

What sucks is that when I made this appointment I didn't know the office had two oral surgeons, so instead of getting the one my coworker recommended I got his partner. Some of his reviews have been glowing and others were negative. I tried to switch at the office, but they assured me he was just as good (of course), so I decided to give him a chance. He seemed nice, competent and he didn't give me attitude when I got all crazy on him with my questions. Instead of prolonging the inevitable, I just gave in and made the appointment for next Friday.

With all four teeth being pulled I'm sure my face is going to swell up to twice its size. Even better--I decided to skip the anesthesia and go with the novacaine and laughing gas cocktail. I always thought I'd be one of those patients to be put under, but there's something about it that doesn't sit well with me. Plus my insurance won't cover it, so that pretty much helped me make the decision.

So, until this actually happens I anticipate a few anxiety headaches and an increase in my blood pressure. The only thing that's making me feel better about this whole thing is that maybe it will help alleviate all my other ailments like the jaw cracking and headaches. The doctor did notice how loud my jaw was and seemed slighly taken aback by it, which is the normal response from everyone. After this I may need to get fitted for a mouth guard. He said that over time it could get to the point where I can't open my mouth that wide...and cue the dirty jokes.

By the way, did you know that an impacted top tooth could move up into your sinus cavity if a cyst develops around it? Yeah, I didn't, but now I do. So I'm making sure that sucker gets yanked.

Booked & Ready to Go

I'm pretty proud of myself for making vacation plans before airfare skyrocketed. I did the research, put in my vacation time, got it approved fairly quickly and bought my ticket for the bargain basement price of $279. Yes, I'm pretty impressed with myself. Now all I need to do is make plans for when I'm in California, which by the way will be from December 18 to January 4.

The good news is that my family wants to take a trip up north the weekend after Christmas, so I may finally be able to see friends I haven't seen in ages. One of them is pregnant, so I'm hoping to get a glimpse of her baby belly. So exciting! In fact, while I'm home another friend is due to give birth and I hope I'm there when it happens. Last time her little buddle of joy timed it just right and made an appearance the day I was leaving. I actually got to see her hours before I boarded my plane.

I'm also really excited to see the changes my mom made to our house--new exterior paint, new flooring, new toilets! Trust me, the place really needed these updates.

Then of course I can't wait to see all my favorite former coworkers, who of course are now dear friends. I don't think we could have stayed in touch all these years if they were merely people I used to work with once upon a time. Every year I make it a point to try to get together with them for lunch or dinner when I go home for Christmas. It's kind of become some sort of tradition since I left. Thankfully, I don't have to sneak into the old office to see them since they've all been able to escape its clutches.

Disneyland is also on the agenda this year. My sister has an annual pass, so she has kindly offered to pay for my ticket as a Christmas treat. Unfortunately, she's going to do everything in her power to get me on Space Mountain. In case you didn't know, I hate roller coasters. Can't stand them and I don't get the supposed rush that everyone gets from riding them. The feeling I get when my stomach drops and my heart starts racing is probably similar to that of someone suffering from a heart attack. I think it's the most horrible feeling ever! Oddly though, I'm perfectly OK with going on the Matterhorn and Splash Mountain. Yeah, I don't have an explanation.

I'm not all that excited about another year ending, especially so quickly, but I am looking forward to this 18-day vacation. Yes, I do have a crapload of vacation days and for that I'm very, very thankful.

Pretty in Pink

I was sitting at my desk this morning when the office guy came by with a package for me. (Minds out of the gutter people!) I figured it was just another product from a PR firm. I don't really get that many compared to the other editors, but then again, I'm relatively new to this position.

Anyway, when I opened it up I found a heart-shaped box wrapped in tissue paper. OK, I thought, this is obviously a promotion for Valentine's Day, which really isn't that far away if you think about it. What freaked me out a little was the fact that the tissue had "X rated" all over it. (Yes, my mind then went to the gutter at that point.) When I shook the box I could hear things moving around, so I figured it could be anything, from chocolate to lingerie or even a sex toy. As I opened the box I was fully prepared to find something completely naughty, but I was pleasantly suprised to find chocolates and three itty-bitty bottles of pink alcohol: X Rated Fusion Liqueur, a sensuous  fusion of ultra premium French vodka and Sicilian blood orange mingling with mango and passion fruits. Sounds delicious!

I brought it home with me, but I have yet to bust it open and drink it. The box included a few drink recipes, so I'll have to try them out. I shared the other bottles with my coworkers, and one of them decided she needed a swig at 11:30 this morning. I busted up laughing as I watched her, which of course made her laugh and almost choke on the drink. She was so happy for the little treat--I don't think I'd ever seen her that excited the whole time I've worked with her.

So what was the verdict? She gave it an enthusiastic two thumbs up. Since it's pink, I'm pretty sure my male readers won't touch it with a 10-foot pole. Well, except maybe JG--he's always up for girly things. :) I kid, I kid--not really.

I think what's keeping me from opening the bottle and downing the contents is that it's just too cute to drink. I will have to do a taste test soon if I'm going to write something up for our site. Although it's a tiny bottle, I'm pretty sure the color of my face is going to match the bottle once I'm done. Cheers to me!

Not in a Party Mood

I knew it was happening today, but I didn't think it was a good enough reason to take the day off and stay home--even though I have a million and one vacation days. So I decided to brave the commute and the sea of pinstripes to get some work done today. I should have reconsidered that plan.

My first indicator that things were not going to go well was at the bus stop. There were people there bundled up in every piece of Yankees clothing they could find, slutty fans who re-purposed their Yankees gear into more revealing outfits, adults who probably called in sick and kids cutting school. It seemed like every bus was more crowded than usual for a Friday at 9 a.m.

When I got into the city, the subway at 42nd wasn't too bad. I could tell there were some people trying to make their way downtown for the parade, but it wasn't insanely crowded. It was a completely different story when our train pulled into the 34th St. station. As the train slowed, all I could see was a see of Yankee fans and I knew they were all getting on my train. The minute the doors opened a huge crowd of them filed in, forcing me to flatten myself like a pancake against the door. I was never so glad to get off at my stop. I practically had to push people aside just to exit. The woman behind me got so annoyed she started to yell "Excuse me!" at the top of her lungs.

I thought I would have a little more breathing room once I stepped out of the train. Nope, I just ran into a huge mass of fans at the Metrocard machines. Once I surfaced on the street, it was basically the same scenario. The only place I could find refuge was in our office. Then, lunch came around. One of our former employees came by to visit so we went to a local BBQ place where, as you'd expect, were a million fans watching the parade on the many TVs in the joint. I felt like I was stuck in a Yankees nightmare. I'm surprised I even survived the day.

I'm not saying the Yankees and their fans don't have a right to celebrate. They played well and in the end they were the best team. Plus, it's about time the most expensive team ever created won a championship. I say party hard--enjoy it!

I just should have stayed home.

A Return to Order

It's hard to believe in two short months it'll be 2010. I feel like we were just ringing in 2009!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to consistently maintain a blog, and I think I've done OK. Granted, the posts haven't been as frequent lately, but I blame that on the fact that I've been staying home a lot for budgetary reasons. I really can't blog about things I'm doing if I'm not really doing anything, right?

One project I started recently was a writing blog. OK, I know what your're thinking, isn't this a writing blog? Well, yes, sort of. I prefer to see this space as more of a this-is-what-I've-been-up-to blog. It basically exists to let people know I'm alive since I'm not on Facebook or Twitter. I don't really know how many people are reading this, but I'm pretty sure I can confirm that I have four regular readers and maybe one or two who stop by occasionally.

Anyway, I got the idea for this new blog while reading someone else's blog. Basically, she's reading this book on writing called A Writer's Book of Days by Judy Reeves that offers daily writing exercises. These prompts are completely random and are meant to get your brain moving--kind of like mental exercises--so you can get over whatever issues you have with writing and just write. Well, considering I've become a cheapskate lately, purchasing the book wasn't really an option, so I decided to create my own plan.

I searched the Internet for seven different writing prompt sites/generators for each day of the week. It's kind of fun because I never know what I'm going to get. Although, I will admit to occasionally cheating. If it's one of those generators that allows me to hit a button for the next one, then I will if I think the current prompt is completely lame. So far I've been sticking to this plan, with the exception of the time I took off for my Maine vacation.

Some days I'm pretty excited to get home and see what my topic is for the day, and of course, on other days it's the last thing I want to do. On those days I pretty much force myself to get something up on the site even if it's just a short paragraph.

I think the reason why I've hit a huge block with my writing is because I've basically psyched myself out. I need to remember that whatever I write does not need to be perfect, and that the most important thing is to get my thoughts out before they disappear. First drafts are supposed to be imperfect. Sometimes they're not even supposed to make sense--that's what the editing process is for, which is something I forget sometimes since I spend most of my time being an editor.

I didn't really mean to make this whole post about writing, but it is what I've been doing lately. I haven't added this blog to my list at the right mainly because it's one of those things that's raw and full of mistakes and incoherent thoughts, which I suppose isn't too different from this one or the TV blog. 

I've realized that in order for me to get anything done in my own life, I must set deadlines. I'm not good at being self-disciplined or self-motivated, at least not anymore. As I've gotten older I've become more complacent--used to the life I've created for myself. This doesn't exactly translate to happiness or feeling fulfilled. Of course, this falls into my hands. If I want that, I've got to do something about it, right?

So, the only thing I can think of that may work is to create personal deadlines. I've always been able to meet them in my professional life and I seem to respond to them, so why not try them in my personal life? Now, I realize I've created deadlines and life plans in the past, but that's not what I'm talking about. I've tossed aside the idea that I need to get married by a certain age or start having babies at a certain point. Yes, biology plays a factor in that last one, but planning those things isn't realistic. There are so many factors outside of my control that it would seem silly to put a deadline on all of that stuff.

What I need to do is start small (writing five pages a day) and work my way up to the bigger things (moving back to CA). If I can get myself into a regular schedule of deadlines, then maybe, just maybe I can begin to get things accomplished again. My mind has been zigzagging all over the place (which I believe can be blamed partly on my work environment), and I just need to find a way to create some sort of order.

The other day I had another horoscope that seemed right on for the day. Actually it pretty much described every day: Getting through the workday will be a bit of a battle -- not because you're fighting with anyone, though. You just won't want to be there. You'd much prefer to be home, either alone or with the one person on the planet you feel comfortable enough to be completely silent with. It's not that you're tired -- you're just drained. You've been burning the candle at both ends lately. It's okay. Even you need to rest every now and then.

Although that's pretty much how I feel every day, the feeling was particularly strong on that day because I went to bed at 2 a.m. and I woke up to rain. Yes, I would have much preferred being at home.