Thursday, April 27, 2000

27 April 2000

Well, I just got back from the dentist. (Yes, for you early-morning checkers; that's why I'm late.) The good news was the hygienist saying, "Whatever you're doing at home, keep it up!" The bad news is that, even though I don't have any cavities, I still have to go back for two fillings. One of my older fillings is getting, well, old, and needs to be replaced; and one of my newer fillings apparently has a crack and has to be repaired.

Because the filling with the crack is less than five years old and was put in by this same office, they're not going to charge me for the repair. But, naturally enough, the two fillings are on opposite quadrants of my mouth (upper right and lower left) and so I'll be spending an evening with most of my face numb. Joy. Oh, well. At least, since these aren't new cavities, they won't be using the drill as much.

The cracked filling must have just happened in the last day or so - maybe even in the past few hours - because I haven't felt anything wrong with the area. But now the tooth is throbbing, and I can feel the crack with my tongue (and of course, I can't stop playing with it). How long until they fix it?


You know what the great thing about the Internet is? The people. Seriously. After yesterday's worry about navigating the Metro, I got home and found an e-mail waiting for me from a reader I didn't even know I had, who used to live in D.C. and offering to help me out. How great is that? (I'll get around to answering that mail soon. Really. I mean it.)


Last night I finished the book I've been reading, Spider Robinson's Callahan Chronicles, which is actually a collection of three books, each of which is actually a collection of related short stories. In the first section, the stories are all only loosely related to one another, but by the end, each story builds on the last so that - while each story stands alone - there is a definite plot thread tying them all together.

I was, to say the least, rather impressed. If you like science fiction stories at all, I recommend this book. Especially if you like puns.

And as an added bonus, there was a riddle game in the third section that gave me a great idea for what to do the next time I decide to use puzzles in my AD&D game.


Word of the Day: antithetical - being in direct and unequivical opposition

I oppose any number of things, but it's hard for me to do so unequivically. I've always been a mediator, and I've always prided myself on the fact that I try very hard to see all possible sides of an issue. So even in my most strongly-held opinions, I can usually see why the other side feels the way they do.

But after several moments of wracking my brain, I've come up with several things to which I am antithetically opposed:

- Rape. I can better sympathize with murder than violation. I'm sure a psychoanalyst would have a field day with that.

- My company's status reports. As far as I can tell, they serve no actual purpose. (I'm not against all status reports - I can see where, properly used, they might be useful. But the way my company has them set up, they indicate neither how hard I have been working, nor how long it will be to the end of the project, nor whether the project is on schedule. They're completely useless.) Luckily for me, my manager also thinks they're completely useless, and hasn't insisted that I fill them out or turn them in.


- Brussels sprouts. I'm a fairly picky eater, but I usually at least understand, in a sort of abstract way, how other people might enjoy the foods I dislike. Usually I dislike something for a specific reason, and can admit that if it wasn't for that one thing, the food might even been wonderful. But I just don't get brussels sprouts. They fail in texture, scent, flavor, and appearance. If there were actually an evil race of beings out there - truly, hopelessly evil - I think brussels sprouts would probably be their favorite vegetable.

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