Perhaps a little less wise......

So, yesterday was the day. For about 2 months now, one of my wisdom teeth has been scraping and I do mean SCRAPING against the back of my cheek. It hurt when I talked, smiled, laughed, frowned....really anytime I merely moved my mouth it caused great amounts of pain. It didn't stop me, but it still hurt. Everytime my tooth scraped against my tender flesh, my check got a little more and a lot more painful. Finally, I decided I couldn't take it anymore. Despite the cost, i was going to find a dentist that would pull this thing and I mean NOW. The first place I called sounded a little bit skeezy. they wanted payment up front and it was in a pretty janky neighborhood. The second place I called wasn't open on Thursdays (which is my day off) and the third one I called told me the dentist was on vacation. GRRRRRR!!!! So I called my dad and he told me to wait it out until the first of the year (which was three weeks away) so I wouldn't have to pay my insurance deductible twoice. Good call, Carl...but my effing mouth is KILLING ME!
Truth be told, it was probably more out of fear than frugality that I waited. (Carl's pretty intimidating) As time moved on, I started to form a callus in my cheek which softened the jabs a bit, and before I knew it, it was January 8th!! In a sense, I was licky because my tooth was actually out of the gum, so it didn't require a super painful/expensive surgery. BUT....let me just tell you- when the dentist says "you'll feel a little pinch", what he really meant to say was "I'm going to shove this needle into the roof of your mouth. At first it's going to feel like your mouth is going to explode into your face, shortly followed by a strong feeling that you're going to swallow the roof of your mouth." That shot-it brought tears to my eyes. No one warned me about that thing, but once the medicine had time to absorb, it was all good in the hood-the hood of my mouth, I mean.
I guess I'm a little more accustomed to a rougher style of dentistry. I was expecting the good ol' fashioned prop-your-foot-on-the-side-of-the-chair-one-hand-gripping-the-pliars-and-the-other-braced-on-my-shoulder-pull-with-all-your-might-and-let it rip type of a deal. My dentist said "let me just poke around here and see if you're completely numb. Then I heard some crackling. Then a tug here and wiggle and twist there, and next thing I knew, my tooth was skipping towards my esophogus. Luckily, the dentist used his finger and swept it out of my throat where it safely landed between my bottom lip and my teeth. Cute. But, I was officially ME-less one wisdom tooth. VICTORY IS MINE!
This was yesterday and I have no complicatiosn to report (knock on wood). I have a huge holde where my tooth used to be and a little unpleasant throbbing-but it's nothing I can't handle.
The other good news is that juding by the xrays, I"ll never have to get another wisdom tooth pulled since the other ones are jammed tightly where they are and pose no threat of ever moving. NEATO!

That rawked my caucus!

So, at the rist of being heckled and chastised and being thrown into a huge political debate, I'm going to tell you about my grand caucus experience. This was my first caucusing experience and I must admit, I didn't go because I thought that my vote was going to change the world or really even make a difference, but mainly because I wanted to know what the heck the big deal is with the Iowa caucus. Why is everyone so concerned about it? I still don't have an answer to that question, but I did have a rawkin' good time at the caucus.
My only regret is not leaving earlier to get there. The caucus for our district was held at an elementary school. True to form, this chool had almost NO parking. It was absolute hell trying to weave around people in the ice and snow trying to find a spot to park in. Then, once I DID find a spot (8 blocks away), the building was PACKED with people who didn't know where they were supposed to be (myself included). There were HUNDREDS of people and one little guy with a laptop trying to direct groups of people to where they needed to be. We finally got the the basement library and I still needed to register. Registering was easy....but the lines sucked and it was hot down there.
I found the Hillary section (deal with it) and stood there to wait. I looked around me and noticed that everyone had Hillary buttons and shirts and lapel pins and banners. I was jeal. One lady asked me who I was voting for and I said "Hill Dog" and she gave me a high five. Seriously. She was a little old lady too. Cute stuff.
It was fun to see people all giggly and chatty like they were best friends with complete strangers who just happened to be voting for the same person.
There was a lot of counting and hand raising and a little cheering and bantering, but when all was said and done, Hillary, Obama and Edwards each got 4 votes from our district. It was a draw.
After the voting was over, we stayed for some pictures and such and one lady came up to me and gave me her Hillary button. Yay!