andrew61

Confessions of a Slacker
2008-10-06 00:00:00 (UTC)

Jitters and stuff.

I cancelled my dentist appointment that was scheduled for this Wednesday.

Except for an emergency filling that a Cleveland friend of mine did for me in 2002 after I broke a molar, I haven’t been to a dentist in over thirteen years… and my teeth haven’t been cleaned in all that time. I just know if I go now and get them cleaned, it’s going to be really painful and I’m just not ready to deal with that yet.

About a month ago something really strange happened. After eating an Italian restaurant meal, something didn’t feel quite right in my mouth, and the next morning while still in bed, I definitely sensed something had moved and come loose on the back of my lower front teeth. I got out of bed, stumbled to the bathroom, and massaged that area of my teeth with my toothbrush.

To my horror, a big hard piece of something came out, the size of a pebble. It was a yellowish-white color with brown stains, and the underside was totally black. I was convinced I’d just lost part of a tooth.

But now I’m pretty sure it was just a giant piece of tartar that broke loose.

I thought I had a “hole” in my tooth back there, but now it feels normal. I guess I just wasn’t used to the gap between my teeth that had been filled up with gunk for so long.

And there’s been absolutely no pain, no sensitivity, nothing feeling amiss in that spot.

So now that I’m convinced nothing disastrous happened, I’m putting off the dentist visit until later… for better or worse. I’m just too chicken to go right now.

~~~~~~~~~

I’ve been jittery lately about all the financial mess, too. Heck, I’m living on savings and investments and I can’t have that stuff vanishing into thin air.

I’m mostly out of the stock market, have been for some time… except for some company stock in my old 401(k) that I’m not allowed to unload… so the market meltdown has affected me only minimally. But now I’m concerned about my fixed-income investments… my money in the bank as well as a money-market mutual fund I have. I’m not at all convinced any of that is safe anymore, and it has me worried.

I was watching the market meltdown on CNBC this afternoon, when I finally decided enough’s enough. “Que sera, sera,” I said to myself, shutting the TV off and heading out to enjoy the beautiful 70-degree weather and dine al fresco at one of my favorite Thai restaurants.

The birds in the trees were singing up a storm! They must’ve been enjoying the beautiful weather, too.




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