I have been recently looking into planning a trip to Italy and perhaps some of its neighboring countries. With the train systems and the cheap inter-continental flights, Europe can seem like a “small” place, that is easily manuervable. But when I really started to examine it, I realized again how massive it is. How, you cant easily get to Germany via a train thru Switzerland, because of something called the alps.
Picture by John Minton
I was chatting with my friend John and looking at some of his pictures from his trips to Europe. John loves the outdoors and sci-fi/fantasy. So he showed pictures of valleys, and waterfalls, and talked of Tolkien. When he was showing me pictuers of the valley and glaciers near Grindelwald, Gimmelwald and Muerren, I realized, again, that the world is full of beauty. There are popular places in the world to travel to, often because of its beauty. But there are also little towns, little cities, little nooks and crannies that we often don’t think about, that are undisputed beauties. How did God create such a magnificent world. And to also imagine the beauty that we don’t often get to see–underwater–the world amazes me daily.
People travel to parts of the world to see its history, to see its architecture, to see its art–to see the genius of God, the genius of artists, and the inexplicaable feats of building massive strcutres with non-modern equipment. I am often blown away by the overall size of churches, and castles and other buildings across europe, that were built in the 1600’s, without the use of modern equipment such as cranes. Furthermore, this makes me contemplate, what sort of feats of architecture do we erect today? Are we building anything for the pure beauty of it? What will our generation be remembered for? Also, sure there are parts of the east coast that holds “history”, but what will “remain” for future tourists on the west coast? What do we have in america where people travel to “see”, and not just be? What “genius” are we presenting and will be remembered for?
Westminster Abbey
I also find it contemplative, if there is a reason it is a “small” world. I think everyone at one point or another, has been travelling in a remote part of the earth, and have ran into someone they knew. John was describing walking thru that valley, and having one of the best days of his life, and running into the Lees , a couple who he knew. When I was in Europe in 1997 with other students from my college, this happened to me twice during my 6 week jaunt. The first occassion, I was travelling in Florence, walking down the street, and I recognized the sister of a friend of mine. And then an even more random experience, was Andrew and I had just come out of Westminster Abbey in England, and im staring at the ground, looking at the cobblestones as we walk up the road. When then im just staring at someones shoes, and there is silence. I did one of those movie slow pans up, and then surprisingly exclaimed, “Sean Foster!” We had ran into one of our classmates that was not on the trip with us.
I am sure we all have stories like this. It always seems to happen, and the line always used is “its a small world.” Is there a divine reason for this? Perhaps, its a way of God reminding us that we are never alone, and never outside our community? Is there some profound reason that this happens so often? Perhaps it is just that we are more concious and aware when travelling, that we notice these little things more clearly?
Which reminds me (yes, this snide really fits the category of “rambling”) of the freedom of travelling. I had an experience in Europe in 97 that I will never forget, and never be able to duplicate. It was such a free time — not in the money sense, but in the freedom to think, freedom to live. Every day was set in the moment, and my mind and eyes were seeing awe and thought inspiring places. I felt so alive. I was in community and was free to challenge myself and others. It makes me wish I was young again with the freedom from responsibility, where I could just travel around the world, seeing and doing remarkable things, being inspired to interconciousness–yes, I just made up that word, but I think you know exactly what I mean.
My knee has bothered me for about 2 years now. It started by just feeling “unstable” when I would warm up for sport. It eventually got worse. Finally after one game one night, my knee got really swollen and stiff. So I saw a doctor and stopped playing sport. The doctor at one time told me that I shouldn’t even go for walks, that that was too much impact and stress. I went from playing sport 5-6 days a week, to zero exercise.Eventually I was able to start biking, but that wasn’t the same. After 9 months off and 12 weeks of physical therapy, it still wasn’t better. So we decided on surgery.
I had knee surgery on December 30th. It was an odd experience. I was really worried about having an IV stuck in me. I made sure to look away when that was happening, and keep my eyes off of it at all times. The nurse led me down the hall to the operating room, which was freezing cold, and I laid on the table. I had barely been on the table and I felt this very weird sensation…like my body was lifting from the table, and that my brain was shaking and about to burst. I mentioned aloud “I feel funny” and the doctor from the back of the room said “you’re supposed to feel that way.” The very next second–so it seemed–I was waking up with a nurse moving my hair off my face. I didn’t have the strength to fully open my eyes, so a little at a time I would open one and gage my surroundings. Eventually I was able to overcome the might of my anaesthesia eyelids.
I was on crutches, but able to limp around that day. I started theraphy the very next day. Within a day or two I was able to walk. I saw the doctor a week later. Apparently surgery only lasted 30 minutes. It would take me that long just to shave my knee–which is striking by the way. He said that it was good they did the surgery, cause it wouldn’t have healed on its own with time or therapy. The cartilage behind the kneecap was shredded and they needed to smooth it out, as well as do some meniscus repair. I had cartilage chunks floating through my knee joints. He said I may need a similar scope in 10-15 years, but by that time–the way science is going–they will be selling cartilege at Costco.
I am still doing therapy now 4 weeks later, and I hope to be able to sport it up again within the next 3 months. Woohoo.
I feel like im becoming a hypochondriac. I’ve always been in tune with my body, and can tell when something just isnt right…maybe its cause ive spent 2 years and the last 9 months specifically knowing that something was messed up in my knee, and trying to get the attention it needed.
This past Sunday, I was riding in the car, and my arm was on the arm-rest. I bent my arm and felt a tingle sensation in my hand. Thinking it was odd, i stretched my arm out and did it again and the same thing happened. Later that night, I was scratching my elbow, and felt it again. Since then, I have spent 4 days with my hand numb. After doing internet research I found that it is called Ulnar Nerve Entrapment, or cubital tunnel syndrome. It is when the ulnar nerve that runs from my spine/neck down my arm, to my hand, is compressed. It is interesting to read about. I am not sure about the solutions, and I’m worried about potential nerve damage. In the meantime, its aggravating, annoying and painful.
The ulnar nerve gives sensation to the little finger and to half of the ring finger on both the palm and back side of the hand. The ulnar nerve runs behind the elbow on the inside of the arm. The upper arm bone (humerus) has a groove on the back where the nerve lies. Here the nerve can be felt as the ” funny bone. ” The ulna is the forearm bone that makes the point of the elbow when it is bent.
Lisa wrote, er, posted an interesting video on the psychology of happiness and the human brain. Its a long video, but its worth a watch and its worth a discussion.
It was the morning of November 9th, and I woke up feeling really down. The depression came on as I was feeling really unworthy in life and love, specifically in relationships with people and relationships with God. I was keenly aware of not being on anyones lists of ideal outcomes, and it had me in down state.
So I got up and went to church and had one of those moments, where its obvious that part of a sermon is directly relating to me. It was a little dissappointing that my favorite regular pastor wasn’t preaching, however Doug2 was preaching on 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12. He kept talking about us being worthy. That we are worthwhile. At the moment, I was still too wrapped up in my own thoughts and emotions and going-ons to fully wrap myself in the message God was directing at me. However, I did take mental note that this was one of those moments — when God had something direct for me to hear — and in that I felt at least a bit happier.
11With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.
I spent my 3rd straight thanksgiving in Las Vegas last week. I don’t know if I will do it again next year, but you never know. Although I had great fun, I missed spending time with loved ones. But you definetly cannot beat the deals in Vegas at Thanksgiving.
The trip began with a Coldplay concert in Anaheim at the pond (honda center). For a month or two leading up to this week, I watched ticket sales and craigslist listings. A week before the show, ticket master was sold out, creating less leverage for me.
I have found in this dwindling economy, that entertainment and concert tickets are not an easy sell. A lot of people are choosing to spend their extra cash in other areas of needs. I experienced this first hand back in July. I was stuck with an extra Coldplay ticket (coincidentally) for a concert in vegas (coincidentally). I tried to sell it for weeks. Eventually I had to lower the price below face value. Even then, I had people bailing out on me and not being interested. Finally, with about 20 minutes before the concert to spare, I was able to cut my losses and sell it for less then face value. I used to be a big proponent of buying extra concert tickets for the mere purpose of trying to sell them. I would stand in line at a Ticket Master outlet and usually be one of the first 5 in line. I would pounce on as many “best available” seats I could get my hands on, knowing that that U2 concert would sell out in less then 15 minutes. At that point the demand would be high. But since those days, concert ticket supply has definetly outgrown the consumer demand.
Craigslist was over saturated with tickets being offered for sale. Most of them in the prices of $250-$500 PER ticket. There was no way I was going to spend that much on a ticket. Unless it was an amazing ticket, I don’t think I would spend that much on one U2 ticket even. Most tickets that were being offered at only $50 more then face value, were all the last row practically. I decided that it would be best to wait it out. As the time of the concert grew closer, my leverage would grow greater. I definetly had to cultivate the emotion that if I didn’t end up getting a tikcet and going to the show, no big deal. I also had to convince my friend Joey this, as he was going on this trip too. It is a tough thing to reach contentment on, because part of you is pulling so hard to go to the show, and would be dissappointed if it didnt happen. But you also have to have a belief in your negotiating skills that it will all work out.
The concert was on Tuesday, November 25th. As it got closer to the weekend before, I finally started to notice ticket prices on craigslist come down to closer to face value, if not slightly over. Face value was approximately $97. If you add in service charges it was about $116 or so. When coming up with the plan to attempt to attend this concert, I was budgeting that the concert would cost me about $100. On Saturday, I scoured the listings and emailed many many many different sellers. Eventually I found someone to sell me a pair of tickets for $180. They were decent seats for the price, in the upper deck, and for metaphor sake, at approximately the 50 yard line of the arena. We agreed to the price. But then, how were we gonna make the swap? Not only did he live in LA, but he lived in Lawndale–way out of the way of all my orange county family and friends (I thought, maybe one of them could make the swap for me). When I was looking at google maps to see where exactly Lawndale was located, I noticed that one of the surrounding towns was Torrance. And then I remembered that I worked with someone that used to live in Torrance…blah blah blah. I sent them a text message, and lo and behold (interesting cliche saying), they were home visiting family that weekend and could make the swap for me. I was so excited that it was working out so well. After many text messages and emails later, the details were finalized and the meeting was arranged. But then…
An hour later, I received a text message from the seller saying “Sorry Andy, I have someone coming over right now to buy the tickets, and is paying me full price. First come first serve.” I was so frustrated. I had been on the computer for hours, and had been really excited that I had found a decent deal for decent seats and that the plan was coming together. I decided to make a craigslist post and email a couple others, and then just blow off steam by going to the gym.
Later that night,I received a text message from the man in Lawndale. He said that his other person fell thru, and that he would hold the tickets for me at the previously agreed rate. Even if I had to not attend the concert, I was not going to buy from him. In buying tickets from strangers online, there has to be at least a little bit of trust.
A few hours later, I received an email in response to my post–asking for tickets for either face value or less. The lady said that she had paid $250 for her tickets but was willing to sell them for $200. I countered with an offer of $175 for the pair. She accepted. I was excited again. These seats were better seats then the previous ones, and of course $5 less. But now, how were we to make the swap? She lived in the Valley and was too busy with school or work to meet my friends closer to the O.C (don’t call it that). I of course was in San Diego. Fortunately her tickets were the emailable kind, but that also left her exposed to the risk of receiving the money. I said that I would photograph a check or overnight money etc…Joey has paypal so I offerred that method. She said she thought her dad had paypal and that she would check in the morning.
Sunday morning and I receive an email at 7:00 am. “My dad is being a f***ing a**hole and won’t let me use his paypal account.” Great. To make the long story short (too late), she created her own pay pal account and by 7pm, the transaction was completed and we received the tickets with 48 hours to spare. By the way, our tickets were section 413, row H, seats 9 and 10.
We left after work on Tuesday and arrived in Anaheim at around 5:30pm. We grabbed parked about a block from the arena, and walked to a nearby restaraunt called the Lazy Dog Cafe. Joey ate this great looking, but heavily loaded grilled cheese sandwich . I think he is still complaining about how un-gouda that was. After eating and killing time, we mad our way back to our car where Joey was insistant on having a pregaming it. So we enjoyed a wonderful Newcastle, cold from his ice cooler, in a great buisness building parking lot. Good times.
The concert was great. Chris Martin made a joke about how he was at an award show recently, and never felt as old and talent-less as he did when he met the Jonas Brothers. At one point, he tried to hit a high note that was just a tad out of his range, and mid song said laughingly, “F**k” and came back down to a note he
Coldplay sing Violet Hill on a german talk show
could hit. They started with “Violet Hill”and then continued on to put on agreat show, even had some christmas ornament shaped video screens that came down from the ceiling as well as the newest trite thing to do (I blame U2), blasted confetti from the rafters. Right before one encore, they ran off the stage to the very back of the arena right in tight with the fans, and played 3 songs, including a chilling acoustic rendition of the Scientist. They came back to the front and played one more encore, went off stage, and then came back a few minutes later for a 1 song finale of Yellow. Then as the crowd exited the building, they played the escape. We left the building to find ourselves in pouring rain and having to walk a few blocks back to our car.
After a about an hour, we finally made it thru the traffic back to the freeway and on our way to the Victorville where we arrived around midnight and spent the night. Heidi showed us great hospitality, making us coffee and bisquits in the morning that were very delicious. After hanging with Paul and the kids while waking up, we hit the road for vegas around 8:30am.
Ok, I will try to make this less narrative now. Im sure its dragged on about a gazillion paragraphs too long already.
Vegas was a lot of fun. Thanksgiving is usually its slowest time of year, so they often have great deals. We stayed at the Hard Rock. I love both staying and playing at the HR. Not only are the rooms spacious and includes a flat screen tv, but the casino has a small boutique feel. It is not very expansive like other casinos (tho, it may be heading in that direction). The dealers are also a selling point of the casino. It is a really chill atmosphere where the dealers have no problems reaching across and giving you high five, shooting the breeze with you, or just being funny. And of course, the best part of the HR, is they are always playing really good music, from many different genres and eras. We were there for 4+ days, and we maybe heard one song twice. Even when youre losing money, youre enjoying yourself because of the quaint hotel, the chill dealers, and the cool music.
At the Hofbrauhaus holding a liter of original and a liter of dunkels
Food
We ate at The Pink Taco, Hofbrauhaus (twice), ESPN Zone (twice), Le Creperie, Kaizen Sushi and the Mr. Lucky 24/7 diner. All very tasty (though, the espn zone tended to ravage me–could have been all the greasy bar food). If I havent told you this already, anytime you are in vegas the Hofbrahaus is a must. At least it is for me. I go there usually once or twice per trip. It can be on the pricer side, but the good beer, and great sausages (as well as the other food items), and the kick back festive atmosphere is a good cultural experience.
Shows
We went to NY NY a couple times and spent a few hours watching the dueling pianos at the Bar at Times Square. They were a lot of fun. As usual it was a packed house. They are worth checking out if you are ever there. It inspired Joey musically. He misses gigging.
Fountains at the Bellagio from Joey's Camera phone
On Saturday night we saw the comedic hypnotist Anthony Cools. Although he can be more on the crude side, he is really funny. He has a good stage presence. Plus, it can sometimes be fun seeing people doing stupid things.
And of course, the amazing fountain shows at the Bellagio- which i contend are the best show you can get for your money. Even better when you realize its free. Such artistry and musical cooreography. Seeing the fountiains, visiting the hofbrau, and of course gambling (at the HR) are the 3 things I try to do every trip to vegas.
People
We gambled with someone named Richard Funk. That is right, Dick Funk was at our table. I am sure he was teased as a kid.
Another night, we were heading to the paris (an easy place to catch and exit a cab) as to head out to the strip. As we were leaving the HR, we were asked by a young lady if she could share our cab. We didn’t mind so we said yes. She then asked if we wanted any company for the night. That’s right, we were propositioned by a prostitute. We of course denied her. But it did make for some interesting small talk on the cab ride. I think I tried to ask her how many clients she desires over the course of a night, but accidentally asked I think how many clients she likes at once. I got slightly embarrased, which made it a further awkward ride the rest of the way.
Sadly, this was not my only experience of the trip with that type. There was a time when I was gambling at a table with Joey, a lady, and 2 sisters. Patti was our dealer (one of my favorite dealers at the HR). Everyone was really nice and there was the typical friendly table conversation (“Good luck with that ace,” “Where are you from,” “What do you do,” “Are you here on business or vacation.”) etc. I think we gambled there for about 20 min or so, and when the 2 sisters left they said they would look for us later that day. Well, we didnt run into them. But the next day, I was shooting the breeze with Patti when she was at an empty war table, and she asked “did you run into them again?” When I said no, she said “good, cause they were ‘working.’ I don’t think they have sex, but they definetly get money.” I could only bust up laughing that we encountered prostitutes twice, and each time by surprise and unsuspectingly.
Gary was another cool dealer that we had while there. He had us busting up everytime we were at his table. And until the final day, he was also very lucky for us. I was winning money everytime with him. Meanwhile he was telling us how he likes to grill his chicken stuffed with marijuana.
Wall of giant T.V's at Espnzone Restraunt at NY NY hotel
Another set of interesting people experiences were when Joey and I went to watch the Lakers game at the ESPNZone Restraunt at the New York, New York hotel. I do not like the Lakers. Therefore, I put money down on their opponent that night, the Dallas Mavericks.
Chilling in the recliner with a beer waiting for my food and for the Mavericks to win me some money
We sat next to some dread-locked dude from Los Angeles. Behind us sat two couples. All were Lakers fans. The restraunt audio was on a college game and they refused to change it till that game was ove. Finally in the 4th quarter their was audio. Anyway, the people behind me kept hitting me in the head while I rooted for the Mavs. The guy next to me was cool with it, since he understood that I couldn’t root for both the Clippers in life, and the Lakers.
Another small people detail, another small world fact. We were playing blackjack and we struck up a conversation with the couple next to us. Joey thought that the guy kinda looked like Jake Peavy -or that he was from Alabama. Well the girl he was with there, flew in from California, and was a teacher at Poway High. Yep, small world.
Ok, i’ll write about one more funny experience with people in vegas. We were taking the cab back to the hotel, I think from New York (though, we later learned to only take them-when possible-from paris). Of course we had a foreign cab driver. We finally are getting back to the HR, when he pulls in the drive way, another cab is kinda hogging his lane going the opposite way, and she decides to honk at him. So he rolls down the window and yells “Up in your ass bitch. You don’t honk at me if youre in my lane.” This was of course with a different accent and had us busting up the rest of the trip.
Gambling
My Lucky Ass Chip
Normally when i go to vegas and gamble, I start in a big hole before finally digging myself back to even. This time it was the opposite, and it was very enlightening and refreshing. I started out the first day, I ended up $700. I was shocked and excited as this doesn’t happen to me in vegas. Of course, I dwindled that down to end at around even for the trip. I have 2 gambling experiences to share here (cause I know that I have already gone on forever).
Roulette
Joey seemed to be busting a lot at black jack tables on the number 22. He said many times that he wanted to try playing roullette and then bet some on 22 since he seemed to keep getting that number. So everytime we would walk by a table, I would ask “do you want to try it now?” He would respond with “maybe later.” So finally, after a long day of drinking, I decided that he just might need a little encouragement. So I sat down at a roulette table to give $20 a try. He also then sat and played. But this story is about me. It was a $10 minimum bet, but you could spread $1 chips all over the board. That quickly went away. I took my next stack of 10$ and put it all on red. I won that back. The next spin I spread $10 all over the board. The ball stopped on 00. One of the few places I couldn’t win. At this point, I am over the roulette experience. I figure I am losing anyway, so I take my remainging $10 in chips, and place em all on my favorite number, 5. Lo and behold, it spins a 5. This pays 35-1. So on one roll, I took in $350! I was flabbergasted. I immediately cashed in and went to bed, up $700.
Craps
I was mostly up and down on craps all weekend. But the last night, as Adam had predicted, would be
Fall themed gardens at the Bellagio
a good craps night. I think we rolled the dice for a couple hours off of $100. At went point on that craps table I was probably up about 3-400$. But like all things that go up, it eventually had to come back down. Joey picked up a ghetto roll by watching some guy who would roll and then snap his fingers. Joey kept hitting 4’s and 5’s so I kept place betting those numbers. Then, the big roller decided to come sit down. Somebody started betting $1000 at a time on the don’t pass and don’t come lines. He would even swear very loudly when we would hit points. It really ruined the mojo of the table. It was more stressful to roll now. ThenI was also rolling out of vengence. I wanted to hit points just to piss him off.
The harder I tried, the less numbers I started rolling. I eventually decided it was time to go to bed, still up about $150 on that table.
My final gambling tally:
Black Jack @ HR
Up $233
Craps @ HR
Up $137
Ebay Slot @ Planet Hollywood
Down $2
Black Jack @ HR
Up $79
Craps @ HR
Down $100
Roulette @ HR
Up $335
Black Jack @ HR
Up $5
Single Deck Black Jack @ HR
Up $94
Up the River (black jack/poker combo) @ HR
Down $65
Texas Hold em Table Game @ HR
Down $120
Black Jack @ HR
Up $120
Craps @ HR
Down $98
Black Jack @ HR
Down $104
Black Jack @ HR
Up $5.50
NBA Game (Hornets vs Nuggets) @ HR
Up $9.50
Black Jack @ HR
Up $4
Black Jack @ The Palms
Down $50
NBA (Mavericks vs Lakers) @ NYNY
Up $9.10
Black Jack @ HR
Down $100
Black Jack @ HR
Up $25
Black Jack @ HR
Down $60
Black Jack @ HR
Down $98.50
Craps @ HR
Down $134
Black Jack @ HR
Up $7
Black Jack @ HR
Down $100
Black Jack @ HR
Up $156
Black Jack @ HR
Down $100
Black Jack @ HR
Down $100
Craps @ HR
Up $114
TOTAL
Up $51.60
We went to bed about 2:30 that morning, to wake up at 5 am. We hit the road at 6am to avoid traffic. We got back to San Diego around 11 am just in time to watch the Chargers suck. It was a really fun trip. I am glad I went. I hope Joey had fun. I was ready to come home. 4 days in vegas can be really great. But it can also be really long. Also on the way back, we stopped at the Guitar Center. I bought a microphone stand so that I can do two instruments in Rock Band 2. Yes, I am offically a dork.
"I am a dentist, couldn't be prouder! I am a dentist, yell a little louder!!"
I haven’t had much luck with dentists over the last few years. It seems that when I finally find one that I like and trust, that my insurance at work changes. When that occurs, I have to start the process of finding a new dentist. Due to time and energy and priorities, this will often take me upwards of 6 months. I will then finally get an appointment.
My goal is to get on a regular professional cleaning schedule, say once every 6 months. But when you go to a dentist for the first time, they often do not want to do a cleaning the first visit, but merely a consultation. It seems like, much of the rest of the business world, that they just want to make an extra buck, and an extra visit gets them paid extra.
One thing that dentists try to get an extra buck on, is something they like to call a “deep cleaning.” I have had friends of friends of dentists say that a deep cleaning is just a hoax in an attempt to extricate money from the patient. I have had this experience twice.
I went to a dentist once in Rancho Bernardo. This dental experience was a sham from the moment I arrived. I walked in and they wanted to charge me a $5 co-pay. Mind you, it wasn’t a co-pay that my insurance required, but merely the dentist.
I get myself into the chair, of course, for just the inspection and not a cleaning. As the dentist is peering into my gaping mouth, he is breathing on me, and it is despicable smelling breath. After his review of my periodontal offering, I was told that I would need a deep cleaning. The was the last time I visited that dentist. After another 6 month period of trying to find a new dentist, I finally received the cleaning I wanted. That next dentist I went to, told me that my teeth looked great and took care of them.
As things have gone for me, my insurance coverage shortly thereafter changed. I was back on the dentist street, having to fend for myself.
About 6 months ago, I went to a dentist in Carmel Mountain Ranch. I loved the potential of a dentist not too far from my office. I went there, did my typical bleeding, and once again was told that I would require a “deep cleaning,” and it would cost me about $1,200 out of my own pocket. The last time I went to that dentist.
This last week, I finally went to a dentist again. I sat there in the waiting room and my mind was taking notice of everything in the room, everything on the walls. All of the plaques and certificates and cancellation warnings. And then I noticed the piece of paper on the counter top. The words jumped off the page: “DEEP CLEANING.” I was doomed again I thought.
I was not impressed with the office as they took me back to the chair. Even when I was getting my teeth x-ray’d, they had to slide things out of the way on the floor with their feet. This was not going well. And then the dentist surprised me. He said that my teeth were in good shape, and that despite my troubles in creating the habit of flossing, that my gums were in decent strength as well. And then he said that he would do a cleaning that day. The best part was that I did not hear the words “deep cleaning.”
Now I did the cleaning, and I even filled out the postcard to remind me of a visit 6 months from now. But there are factors that I will still have to consider. The first factor that I haven’t mentioned, is that the cleaning seemed really quick, and not very well done. They did not floss my teeth, there wasn’t a heavy polishing (though, they did do this briefly), and there definetly wasn’t any t.l.c or mouthwash. The second factor that I will have to consider, is that my dental insurance is changing again as of the first of the year. I will more then likely have to start the search all over again.
Since I’m blabbing on about the bad dentists, I must say that the best dentist I have ever had local to the Poway/Rancho Bernardo area, is a dentist that is in the Twin Peaks shopping center–to the right of target. With a busy work schedule, it was nice that that dentist, twice a week, would stay open till 9pm. It was very convenient. I went to that dentist for a couple years while I worked at Tierranet. And then, of course my work insurance changed.
Last night I ate dinner at The Barrel Room, and at one point our discussion turned to the current presidential race. Sue mentioned at one point, that she remembered back in school, a teacher talking about a united America. The teacher said something along the lines of: whomever is in office, whether its a democrat or a republican, he is OUR president and we must stand behind him, and support him. Tom also mentioned along the lines of: If Obama becomes president, I hope we all want to vote for him for a second term.
One of my biggest frustrations with politics, is that people tie themselves so strongly to party lines, rather then actually looking closely at issues. Whether we truly agree with a policy or not, we will fight it to the end if it is a policy of the other party. We have been a country divided for the last few presidencies. There has been a large amount of hatred towards the G.W.Bush terms. Before that, there was a lot of disdain during the Clinton years.
I like the thoughts that were mentioned in that we need to be unified as a country, working towards the greater good of the country. No matter who is in the office, they are still our chief officer. We live in a great country, and part of that greatness comes from standing together-despite our differences. If Obama is president, I hope America’s problems are addressed well enough that we all want him for 4 more years. Same with McCain. Whomever is President, has a big, stressful job, and deserves our support.
I have been thinking a lot lately, with the help of Coldplay, about the concept of “Viva La Vida.” The Horace idea of Carpe Diem has been a popular saying for a long time, and even more famous since the movie The Dead Poet’s Society. I am not a fan of overused and trite sayings, so I never did latch on very well to carpe diem. But I have been latching on to the coldplay thought. And even more, as you can see in the image, the idea of I Viva. I live.
I want to live. I want to live the life. Long Live the Life.
How is that being applied to my life? Nowhere yet. haha. I am still really determining what it means to me. Does it mean to just have no worries and do whatever makes me feel good? Or does it mean to be more focused and determined and goal oriented. I think it applies to both. I think its more of a idea that comes into my head at any moment and encourages me and inspires me.
One area where it has definetly been a theme to me, is to take advantage of each day of life. The older I get, I have been getting sad. It used to be because I was sad on the life I was missing, that I was leaving behind, that i could never get back. But more and more now, I get a little sad at getting older, mainly because that means everyone else is getting older too. I don’t want to lose those that I love. And so in taking advantage of each day, I want to tell someone I love them, I want to tell someone I think they are good at something, i want to encourage someone. And even more, I want to see or just be with someone–spending time with and soaking up memories with loved ones.
How many years do I have left in “youth.” How many years do grandparents have left? The answer for both, sadly, is less then 10. I just recently went to my 10 year college reunion. As I was there, it really felt like old times, and I felt so grateful for my relationships and my experiences. But also, as you could imagine, people would often say “i can’t believe its been 10 years already. It feels like yesterday.” Time moves quickly. I will be losing many loved ones over the next 10 years. To steal a line from a cheesy aerosmith song, another lyric I have been thinking about, “and i don’t wanna miss a thing.” I dont want to miss out on people on life on new adventures, on finding joy in the mundane. I want to live the life. Viva la vida. And even more specifically, VIVA (I live).
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand…
