The Ouch Is Pretty Much Gone

I followed the dentist's instructions about soft foods, cold foods, hot foods, etc. I'm really all over it. I took some painkiller on Monday night, and I've been using ibuprofen ever since. Pain does not appear to be a problem. I've been brushing my teeth gingerly, but I can tell that in a day or two, it will be back to business as usual, and yesterday I chewed steak! I'm greatly relieved and hope that I don't run into any complications. My mouth is still getting used to it, and my tongue is playing with the new black hole. I hope the novelty wears off soon.

Ouch!

Friday night after the previously mentioned class one of my upper molars began to disintegrate. The upside is that I can eat soft foods like ice cream and tapioca pudding. I had some seafood salad on Friday evening that had grated carrots in it. Now, I have a thing about carrots anyway, but grated carrots getting stuck in a cracked tooth, it didn't improve my opinion of carrots one bit.

Missing, but not forgotten

Saturday, I had two poached eggs in milk over toast. Not bad except that the only toast I had was cinnamon toast. It made the eggs taste very weird, and the hot sauce probably didn't help it either. Dinner was crab chowder (no uncomfortable bits of carrot) and a milkshake. Ice cream for dessert.

Sunday I was back to the eggs, but I had them on cornbread. And that's all I ate over the weekend. No barbeques. No beer. No nothing. Happily, I didn't have much of an appetite. I called my dentist on Sunday. He didn't want an emergency patient, but did allow as much that I should see him at my earliest opportunity today.

I showed up in his office at 8:15 a.m. He pulled about a third of the tootth that had cracked off, but was still connected to the gum. He called his fave oral surgeon, but the guy was out of the office for the day. He called another, and set up an appointment for 2 p.m.

So 2 p.m. rolls around. New oral surgeon, new insurance forms to fill out. At 2:07, the nurse takes me back and takes my blood pressure. The doctor walks in at 2:15 to give me some anesthetic. He begins the procedure at 2:23. It lasts seventeen minutes, but a very long seventeen minutes. He apologizes for the pain, but his voice is affectless, like he says this to every patient, every day.

But the guy is really hot. I mean he has biceps and a chest. This guy works out! When he cradles my head in his arms so he can wrench my tooth, my head is in the living vise of a body builder. I'm thinking, if I'm going to have an awful experience, at least I'm having it with him! Sometimes, it really pays to be a homo.

I'm out of his office at 2:47 p.m. looking like a chipmunk for all of the packing he put in the hole in my jaw (this is turning out gayer than I expected...). At 3:17, I head for Baskin and Robbins for some ice cream. I've earned it.

Touchy-Feely

I was in a class to teach better interpersonal skills when you're basically being stressed out - how to keep communication open when the conversation has contention. The class was a pretty arduous two-day course. After the first day, I thought it was interesting in the Chinese sense. After the second day, I thought it had real value, but we covered so much material, that it should have been a three-day class.

Upfront: these kinds of personal development classes give me the willies. But the company expects you to enroll and attend. And the company pays for them. That's what autonomy is all about. I don't like PD courses at all. I feel very uncomfortable, kind of like running my fingernails across a chalkboard, then pulling out my fingernails, that kind of uncomfortable. But I wanted to give this course by best try. I'm glad I did. It was very worthwhile. Of course, had it actually been a three-day course, I might not have made it through the third day.

So this morning, I had a conversation in contention with Ron. I tried to model and practice some of the behaviors explained in the course. It was a humbling experience. It is so difficult for me to listen to others. It is so difficult for me to insist that others listen to me. It is hard to be honest. It is hard to talk to the heart of the person you love. I know why we've been together for so long - he's respectful, he's open, he's honest. I can't imagine my life without him.

The conversation was about a part of our lives that was deeply dissatisfying to me, but I just couldn't bring it up. This had been eating at me for years. So today we talked. He opens my mind and my heart. We don't have difficult conversations very often. I don't know why I'm afraid of them. I'm very happy we talked.

Summer Movie Reviews, cont'd

So I spent four hours in the movies this weekend. Reynaldo and I went to see Superman Returns and The Devil Wears Prada. They are both good summer movies, but they both need editing. For all of you starstruck girls and horny gay men, Superman is super hot when he doesn't have his super t-shirt on. Those two seconds may make you happy that you went to see this film. The plot takes lameness to new heights (literally), but Superman and Lois, and Lois's husband fill the screen very nicely.

The kid is painful to look at. The film could have done a little more with the Billy Mumy moment. You'll know it when you see it. So at last, it seems that Super and Lois had been getting it on, after which Superman became a deadbeat dad for the next five years, only to reappear, and want a place in his son's life. Quite an example for unmarried couples having sex everywhere.

Onto the tiger. Let's face it, Meryl Streep is a great reason to love the Devil. In this movie, the Devil plays Meryl Streep, and does a super, bang-up job. I recommend this film, particularly to fashionistas and gay men everywhere. Stanley Tucci, you are so cute in this film! Where did you get that ring? I get the giggles just thinking about it. Emily Blunt fabulously plays the first assistant. Her performance collides with destiny, but she ends up with the best clothes. Anne Hathaway, I didn't buy it for a moment! Love the heels, but the little painter's cap looked pretty awful. Go see this movie, especially if it's a matinee. Don't take your boyfriend unless he's gay.

What Would Happen if Peace Should Accidentally Break Out?

War has no victory, no honor, no truth. It is a failure of reason, conscience, and respect. It's a failure of our humaneness and our humanity. War is our shame as a species, and death, and tears, and hate, and always more war.

Peace is a dove. War is a thunderbolt. We can't afford anymore thunderbolts.

It's Been a While, But I'm Back

I had a wonderful vacation in California. I think this is the first time I've been in California when I've really felt impressed by it. Yeah, I can understand why people might want to live there. Growing up in Idaho, I think I was innoculated with, "Don't Californicate Idaho!"

After the dust settled on square dancing, I set out with Clark on a road trip from Hollywood to Carmel. Well, we actually started in Anaheim and ended in Woodland outside Sacramento, and his name really isn't Clark, either. He plays the part, very well, though. You get the big idea: PCH, big truck, Big Sur, good times.

Evening on the Beach at Carmel

We stayed a couple of nights in Cambria and a night in Carmel. Sunday morning, I left Sacramento International on the Big Plane heading back to Dulles International. I've been to northern California; I've been to Southern California; I've driven through the middle of California, but never have I experienced such a beauty as Route 1. The Central Coast begs for adjectives that I'm just incapable of expressing. The wind, the fog, the forest ending in grassland, and the hills overhead, the road clinging to the side of the mountains - I had not seen anything quite like it.

I want to go on some more road trips where I have no destination. I can walk a trail or on the beach. I can stop for a view or meal. I don't have to look at my watch. I only have to drink in the moment around me. I'm not sure that the experience would be the same in Death Valley or in North Dakota, but I'd like to take a road trip to find out. The joy, too, was the companionship in the cab of the truck, the telling of stories, the sharing of the moment. I had such a fabulous vacation - I am so gay!

California Twirl, Dude!

Why I Love Gay Square Dance Conventions

Perhaps most obviously, they are gay, duh.... This particular convention has been an absolute hoot. In addition to the square dancers, the hotel is hosting hundreds of Anime Expo convention goers. These people out dress us! It's a very interesting mix. And tomorrow a conservative Christian group arrives. The hotel staff can hardly contain themselves; they are so excited about the mix. So are we. It's really notched up our planning for the Fantasy Ball.

Tonight has two big events - the leather tip and the honky tonk queen contest. I quit going to th HTQC several years ago, because it's impossible to get a good seat, but it is one of the most popular events. Pretty dramatic, most years. I attended the leather tip, and just about killed myself with my stripper boots, which have 3" stiletto heels. I'm not cut out to be a stripper. The anime girls LOVED the boots. One said, "I would die for those boots." That is very high praise. I wore them for a couple of tips, then I had to take them off. They are evil, but classy.

I actually did several hours of Advanced dancing today, too. My leg has been bothering me, but when it comes to dancing, you really have to choose your priorities - health or dancing. Dancing wins every time.