franklanguage: Having a tooth pulled (tooth)
Today was a doozy…the main thing that happened was I got a molly bolt punched into my jaw—the first of five. I've actually been waiting for several years to get this done, so I'm pretty happy to be starting on it finally. I'm getting it done at the slow-moving NYU College of Dentistry; the tooth I'm currently having replaced is/was a molar, the first tooth I lost to a student's negligence up at Columbia College of Dentistry.

(I actually keep my teeth very clean, and have for at least 20 years; every dentist I've seen since I was living back in Connecticut with my parents has remarked on how clean they are—until they look closer.)

The others appear to have been teeth that had been root-canaled and the actual tooth rotted out under the porcelain crown. This has happened an embarrassing number of times, and is the reason I originally only needed one tooth replaced in this way, but now need these five, plus my lower incisors, which apparently are hanging on by a thread—although I wasn't aware of that and can still bite into things.

My ex had been very gung-ho on the idea of my investigating dental tourism, especially to Mexico. I got cold feet about that one because the last time I flew was in 1979. And the only Español I speak is Las cucarachas entran, pero no pueden salir. I've never traveled alone, and certainly not to a foreign country–last I looked, Mexico was a foreign country. (To anyone who asks, "Can't you travel with a friend?" Uh, nope. No friends–I'm not too happy about that either.)

So this is enough of an adventure for now; the anesthesia is finally wearing off–the dentist today asked me, "Do you want another shot?" and I really didn't, but I fortunately didn't feel anything.

[Note: There apparently has been a rash of selfie-taking in dentist chairs, enough so that at NYU Dental there are signs posted opposite every patient chair stating that there are to be NO SELFIES in the dentist chair. Private dentists will allow it, of course. So I took my selfie—in my icon—before it was A Thing.]
franklanguage: (trucknbus)


About ten days ago I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time, which was awesome; but there were a lot of people walking across the bridge, and for some reason I didn't see that there were park benches at regular intervals on the left [pedestrian] side. (Well, duh!)

About halfway across, I was looking off the the right, and stumbled into one of these benches. Worse, my breastbone connected with the cast-iron arm of it, causing me instant, searing pain. Worst of all, some [20-ish? 30-ish?] kid whose first language was evidently not English grabs me by the wrist and insists on hauling me up. "Stop it! Let go!" I shout and try to resist, to no avail. He's grinning like a maniac, pulling me up, and making the pain worse. I'm walking a dog at the time, as well, which complicates things and makes even less sense for him to do what he did. Even more horrifying: no one else around takes my side, to tell him to back off.

In what universe is it okay to grab a stranger who is injured, conscious, and actively protesting your supposed well-meaning advances? More horrifying, there are several people nearby who do nothing to defend me. Ten days later, my chest still hurts every time I breathe; I didn't go to the ER with this, because I know there's nothing they can do even if I cracked a rib—which I'm pretty sure I did. (They don't tape ribs anymore, because that puts you at risk for pneumonia. I had pneumonia when I was six; no thanks.) But the outrage that still sticks in my mind is that the guy wouldn't leave me alone. It makes me feel gross just thinking about it.



In other news, I saw the premiere of a movie Friday night that examines the problem of spiraling student debt. Ivory Tower is an important documentary, currently at the Angelika Film Center, that at least addresses this problem—although in an interesting slant, it presents Harvard as a veritable paradise.



Cooper Union is one school focused on in the film; in recent years, its 150-plus-year tuition-free status has been undermined by financial mismanagement on the part of the current administration—who now insist they have to charge tuition for the first time in over 150 years. This has culminated in a lawsuit brought by current students and alumni.

I recommend this movie to anyone affected in any way by student debt.
franklanguage: (Default)


I had to have a molar—#31—extracted less than a week ago; the roots had died under a porcelain crown that was put in a few years ago, and no dentist who examined me had told me it was decaying. Now I have a hole in my mouth that I can't ignore and I can't afford an implant—especially not before I get #15 root-canaled.

But the most annoying thing is a vitreous floater in my right eye. There is a doctor in California who specializes in laser removal of them, but…I mean…California. I've never been to California for any reason.

It's like when I was a kid in Connecticut; every few years the gypsy moths got bad, and you'd walk through the woods and these caterpillars would dangle in front of you on their threads. When I'm out walking, that's what I think of, because it's exactly like that; so far it's only one and a few specks.

Next post, I guess I'll have to write something about the Spinners.

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