Sedation dentistry still sucks

Yesterday I skipped work and went to the dentist. It had been awhile since I visited a dentist and I admit that I was terrified. I tried to ride recklessly through every puddle of broken glass on the side of the road, but to my dismay, I arrived safe and sound. They were waiting for me and as I entered the front door, the mailman was taking their outgoing mail. I hoped like hell he would simply toss me in his bag like a rogue letter addressed "return to sender". I walked back to the back and the nurse was very nice. She asked if I was on any medication or whether I had taken an allergy pill that day. I said "no, but I took a 24 hour pill last night, maybe we should post-pone." It turns out that wasn't a problem.

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Because it had been so long since my last visit, my mouth was a wreck. I brush every day. I think about dental floss daily. I had 8 cavities. A couple of those were actually old cavities that had bad fillings. Nonetheless, my face feels like a had a fist-fight. The cool thing is that they knocked me out. No, literally I was sedated. I remember vaguely the lovely feeling of sedation traveling up my arm to all the right places, and then I remember clumsily attempting to load my bicycle into the trunk of Tiffani's car, flopping into the front seat and trying to talk. We went to Jamba Juice, cause Tiff said she thought it would hit my spot, but really I think she was craving some comedy. When she handed it to me, not only could I barely hold onto it, but I couldn't get my lips to grasp the straw. You try sucking on anything after both sides of your mouth are shot full of numbing agents. Very confused I flopped down on the couch and slept for what seemed like minutes. The pain in my face is what woke me up. I called the dentist to see if I was aloud to take anything for the pain(thinking advil) and they wrote me a prescription for Vicodin. Tiff brought it to me and I took some, the pain went away and I slept most of the rest of the day. I woke up at some point, had some conversations, played a video game I think and then went to bed. It's all a daze.

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Today I managed to wake up in time to go to work, went worked very little on account of having to return some trees to Sauvie Island and went to school. The face still hurts, but I'm dealing alright thanks to my advil substitute.

Half a sunburn

I haven't written a song in months. This is perhaps longer than I've ever gone without something new. I guess I don't have much to say. The thought of playing guitar is not very appealing to me. Some snippets of lines have been gathering in notebooks and sketchbooks, but without an impetus to create I'm finding myself resigned to waiting this dry spell out. I half hope that I'll feel like playing guitar soon. I've even been tossing around the idea of selling a guitar to buy a kayak.

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The weather here in Portland is amazing lately. I have half a sunburnt arm. We went kayaking yesterday and I ran out of sunblock after applying it to most of my body. It's pretty burnt and the fact that it's such a small part of my body makes it all the more apparent.

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My mom is undergoing the procedure that she has been waiting for. It seems like she's been waiting for so long, but I guess it's only been about 4 months. If all goes well, she'll be healthy and happy in Boise in less than 100 days. That would mean that Leisa gets to go home too. That would make her so happy.

Sunny summer sunshine

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Kayaking!

Leisa swam through her first rapid today. We were on the Sandy River at Oxbow Park. It was small and fast. She kept her head when she flipped over. She counted to 15 before she pulled her spray skirt. The T rescue didn't arrive in time and she had some trouble pulling her spray skirt. Once she got out of the boat, she managed to hold on to her boat and paddle. After she managed to get her boat out of the river and collect herself, she had to hike back up to the eddy where the rest of the group was waiting. She was feeling pretty shook up, but she finished out the day. 

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The weather was fantastic! We got to the river by 9:30 and the sun was shining. I was practicing my high brace and probably 3 minutes after getting into the water I was sitting upside down, slapping the bottom of my boat, waiting for a T rescue. It came, I righted my boat and tried to warm up in the sun. The water was probably 35 degrees. . . Funny thing about kayaking is that when you watch people do it, people that know what they're doing, it looks fluid and effortless, but when you're on the river and paddling it's one way then the other then flipped. The effortless part seems to be the flipping and emptying your boat after it fills with spring run off.

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I had the opportunity to roll my boat in the current. I was trying to surf in a hole and managed to flip. I noticed that I wasn't really moving downstream and all the current seemed to be keeping me in place. Rather than wait for the T rescue, I tried to hip snap. First time didn't catch but I opened my eyes and got in position so that the second time I could try a sweep roll. It worked and I righted myself. It felt good to know that I have something in my toolbox for a situation like that. Overall, I'm feeling pretty jazzed about being on the water. I know that I need to spend some serious hours just paddling, but that seems like a positive experience for the near future.

Noseplugs!

We're headed to the sandy river as part of our kayaking seminar. It's important to practice wearing noseplugs. I've only ever used mine out of the water.
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Seattle is nice so long as you're not in a car.

We had a fun show on Friday night at Chez Rios. 3 bands, 60 people 850 square feet. Okay, maybe it was a bit larger space, but it felt pretty well attended. We played a sloppy energetic set. I drummed harder than I have in a long time. Tuesday, Leisa and I are starting a whitewater kayaking seminar. I'm really excited. two pool classes and then a river trip, two weeks in a row!

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Saturday, Tiff and I dropped Gus off at a friends house and drove to Seattle to visit my Mom. She was feeling pretty down about the possibility of her transplant being delayed yet again. Then early Saturday morning, Mom was admitted to the hospital with some serious stomach pain and dehydration. We arrived safe and sound, despite some really crappy traffic to find Mom and the sisters, boyfriend and a family friend all crammed into a small hospital room. Spirits were a little low, but it was good to be surrounded by family. There was a little concern about the fact that Mom was scheduled to be alone for a few days. That isn't really ok, given her state. Tara and I juggled our schedules and figured out that I can stay until Tuesday and then she can come up and take over until Thursday. Last night after Mom was released from the hospital we went to the grocery store. She isn't supposed to eat anything processed or with skins, or under-ripe, or dairy, or wheat. . . the list goes on. I made her a chicken stock and some carrot ginger soup. I think we're well stocked with safe food for a couple of days. At least we'll have some overlap, so that Tara doesn't have to scramble to present something good to eat as soon as she arrives. Right now we're sitting at the clinic. Mom is completing her insurance paperwork with a Tolstoyan glimmer in her eye, and I'm wondering how she carried that much wood up the hill.

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Not sure what the plan is for the rest of the day. We're here at the clinic for another 3 hours. I'll be completing some homework, she'll work on the insurance paperwork and then who knows. Maybe we can find an all male revue for her. That might be fun, for her.

Fw: IMG00039.jpg good morning