OH DEAR

I should be super relaxed right now with no responsibilities to speak of. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

I am going in for dental surgery tomorrow. I’m having what’s called a “gum re-sectioning”. Usually, when I have medical procedures done to me, I’m quite enthusiastic about finding more info about it on the Internet so that I’m more informed about what will be done to me.

The way the periodontist explained it to me, however, was enough to stop me from gathering more info. Basically what is happening with one of my teeth is that I have formed a periodontal pocket around it. It’s essentially a deep open cavity in between the tooth and the gum. Paraphrasing, this is what he’s going to do to me… “Erwin, I’m going to peel back the gum, clean out the pocket and the root of the tooth, and then re-seal the gum tightly around the tooth again…”

One should immediately take notice of the phrase “peel back the gum”. There are very few parts of the body that you can “peel back” without considerable pain and discomfort. Gums just don’t “peel back”. I take it he’s going to use a scalpel of some sort to make an incision, to form two flaps out of the gum area, and that’s what he’s going to “peel back”. Gums bleed like a sonuvabitch, so I can’t imagine this being pretty to watch. “Cleaning out the pocket and root” is another dandy of the phrase. I bet he isn’t going to exactly be using a soft cloth to do this. I’m guessing “cleaning” and “scraping” could be used interchangably here.

Of course after he does all this, he’s going to stitch the “flaps” back together to make that “seal” he was talking about.

Here’s what I know is going to happen. The whole thing will take only an hour from when I sit down to when I leave. Considering the prep work and the stitching me up, I guess that’s alright. I think root canals take just as long, if not longer. I’m also not going under for the procedure. I think it’s kinda dumb for people to go unconscious for these type of things. When you do, you’re subjecting your body to a double-whammy. Not only does it have to deal with whatever is going on with your mouth, you also have to deal with whatever gas, chemical, and/or drug that made you go under.

When I had my wisdom teeth out, I only had a local. As soon as he said I was done, I hopped out of the chair and was gone. My sister on the other hand, decided to go under and had to wait in the recovering room for almost an hour. When she woke up, she was quite groggy still.

Well, if this thing wasn’t a whole barrel of laughs in the first place, I picked a super day for it. Tomorrow night (the night of the 29th) is when SJC is having our year-end party. We’re having events starting from 5pm on. Dinner is going to extra special since we’re having cheesburgers for the first time that I’ve seen. Of course, I’ll be sitting there drinking my craptacular meal replacement shake as everyone else eats their homemade burgers. At 9pm there’s going to be a multimedia presentation showing pictures and videos from the year past. After that, there’s going to be a bar, music, and dancing.

My parents wanted me to go home to their place after the procedure, but I said I’d be an idiot to miss the party. So come hell or high water, excruciating pain or Tylenol-3 induced euphoria, I’ll be there.

My long term worry is that I can’t eat solid foods for quite a while. These meal replacement shakes are supposed to be well, “meal replacements”, but I wonder if they’re going to filling. I’m hypoglycemic, so I’m very susceptible to low blood sugar. I wonder if I’ll be eating soft candy a lot.

So there you have it. I’m in for some big time fun for the next several days. You know, several days after I found out I needed this procedure, Brendan Shanahan did a number of Brendan Morrison’s mouth. He lost like three teeth, had a tooth pierce his cheek, suffered gum damage, and was given a whole lotta hurtin’. At the time, I thought, hey, my little procedure doesn’t seem so bad. Now I’m thinking, what the hell? The club probably paid for his dental work, he makes more money than I ever will, and he’s got a great wife (Trenouth met her once apparently). Yeah sure, in terms of just dental procedures I’m gettin the better deal, but what about the big picture? Ha ha ha…

Man, I’m going to have the best lunch ever tomorrow before my appointment!

THE GOLDEN TIME

I wrote my last final exam of the year on Saturday. It will not go down as the best exam I have ever written. I think I passed, but we’ll have to wait and see. If I do pass, I bet it will be by the skin of my teeth.

In any case, that’s all behind me now. As I left the exam, I felt a feeling that I haven’t had for many years. I felt that unexplainable sense of relief. I wouldn’t have to study or read another textbook for another four months. The end of Christmas exams don’t offer the same relief. Sure it’s good to be done, but you’re immediately immersed into holiday madness. With spring exams, you’re just released into freedom, no presents to buy and no relatives to see.

As the feeling of relief subsides, some students enter into what I call “golden time”. It’s the time when you don’t have any more school responsibilities but your summer/work responsibilities haven’t started yet. For some grad students, this doesn’t apply since their research forces them to work year-round. The golden time is the best though for those who have it. After studying your ass off for months, you don’t have to do anything anymore. You can sleep in, watch TV and movies, go shopping, drink, go out, meet with old friends, and spend lots of $$$ that you really shouldn’t.

How long do I have this spring? I really can’t say since I don’t have a job yet. I really need to find a job in the next two weeks. If my search goes beyond that, I’m going to be really worried. Most of the summer hiring here at UBC goes on in the next 14 days.

In the meantime, I’m going to have as much fun as I can in the next little while. Actually, I have one little thing to do this week that won’t be so fun, but that’s the topic for another post.

FEAR

It’s coming down to the last few hours of studying for my last final exam of the year. My assessment at this point is grim.

It’s clear that I won’t get an “A” in this course, but the question that does remain is, just how badly will I do? I must pass the final to pass the course and right now, I can’t say that’s a guarantee. In previous years, this course had a final exam that had an average mark of 46%.

I know I’m going to get my ass kicked tomorrow, but I’m hoping to scratch and claw for enough marks to get me over 50%. To be honest, I don’t know a single person who said they got a great mark in this class.

Time to enter the final phase!

YEAH, I’M GOING CRAZY

I just took a pee. The toilet in my bathroom is right near the door. As I was doing my business, I thought to myself, “Hey, I wonder if I can completely stick my head out the door frame (without moving my feet) and still be hitting the bowl?”

The answer is yes.

UNMOTIVATED… AGAIN

I have a killer exam on Saturday. Yes, Saturday… as in the day after the first game against the Wild. The timing is perfect.

In the meantime, I’ve again developed some serious motivation problems. I wrote an exam this morning and planned on taking the morning and a little bit of the afternoon off. Yeah, try like the entire whole day! I now have basically two whole days to study for my hardest exam.

Old Erwin wouldn’t have let this happen. Old Erwin woulda holed up in his room and focussed like sonuvabitch for days in advance. Old Erwin then would have been prepared like no other student in that class and be the “King of All Geeks”.

Of course, we’re dealing with New Erwin now, who’s a lot less stressed, strangely still wants a good mark but doesn’t put in all the crazy hours anymore, and is easily distracted by TV, video games, women he has no chance with, the Internet, and shiny objects.

You know, just writing this has made me motivated (for now). I’m gonna end this post here and get going! Old Erwin in the house!

STUNNED AGAIN

I’m kinda speechless right now, but it’s been a crazy night for all different type of hockey reasons.

What I do know is that I’m gonna get my ass kicked by my final exam tomorrow. Oh no!

I’VE GOT A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS

I don’t have good feelings about tomorrow night’s game. They say anything can happen in game sevens and this is exactly why I’m worried. Sure, the Canucks played well enough to win the last two games, but I don’t think that counts for much now. It’s highly unlikely the Blues are going to give up and go away easily. They’re gonna come out hard and I only hope Vancouver can match their intensity. Again, it’s only a feeling I have, but it’s not good.

It’s obvious the first goal will be huge in this game. If Vancouver gets the first goal, I’ll be 0.0001% less nervous for the rest of the game. I can only cringe at how the fans and the Canucks will react if the Blues get the first goal.

I’m nervous already!

I STILL STAND BY MY PREDICTION

Despite what happened in St. Louis tonight, I still think the Blues will win in six. 🙂

I watched the game with two other guys and we all mentioned how the Canucks better not have a mental lapse in the third period, like they did in the last game. Sure enough, they stopped pressing and/or let the Blues dial-up their play. The end result was a game which was way more exciting than it needed to be.

To say I’m nervous for game seven is an understatement. Each game is a new game and anything can happen, good or bad. The real kicker is that I have an exam on Wednesday at 8:30am. It will be very unlikely much studying will be done past 7:30pm on Tuesday night. Final exams started on the same day the playoffs started. Coincidence? Or an evil agreement between the NHL and UBC?

CSI : SJC

A few days ago, some cold-hearted thief stole the pen which was affixed to my door. SJC doors are pretty plain when you move in. Unlike undergrad residences there are no message boards on your door. When I moved in, I put one on my door as a throw-back to my younger days.

I also bought a water-soluble overhead pen from the UBC Bookstore. Using some string and tape, I hung the pen next to the board.

And there the pen hung on my door for months. Then, one day, I woke up and opened my door to find… an empty loop of string, waving in the wind… some mofo had stole my pen. Who steals an overhead projector pen?

I thought at first maybe someone in the College had stolen it for their door. I took a quick tour of the place and discovered most people don’t have boards and those who do, have different pens than mine. It’s a possibility someone visiting the College might have taken the pen as well.

Stealing isn’t something new here at College. There’s a bold food thief at work too. There are fridges in the common kitchens here where you can store your food if you don’t have one in your room. Since the beginning of the year, some brazen soul has been stealing food almost weekly. It got outrageous a few weeks ago when someone baked a cake for her friend’s birthday. She placed the clearly marked cake the in fridge and a few hours later, someone had taken a chunk of the cake. Fuckers.

There’s been lots of discussion about how to punish the thief if and when they are found. Removal of genitalia has been mentioned.

Back to my situation, here’s what my pen looks like:

If you see it, please tell me where it is!

THE CANUCKS ARE DONE

I would like to revise my previous prediction of Blues in six and make it Blues in five.

I just don’t think the Canucks have enough time and space to turn it around for this series. It’s clear that they haven’t figured out how to play against the Blues. They played well for the first period, but an unlucky bounce and a lapse in defensive coverage saw them go down by one by the time the third started.

In that critical third period, I again didn’t see the desperation and intensity that I thought they needed. To his credit, it seemed Linden understood what was needed. He nearly tied it with a great shot from the blue line and he went to the net hard a few times. Unfortunately, his play didn’t seem to rub off on any of his teammates.

When the Canucks desperately needed a goal, they found a way to surrender two. Afterwards, they said all the right things about coming back and playing better, but their words seemed hollow. The series may be technically 3-1, but the Canucks have already mentally lost the series.

It will not be an easy off-season for the Canucks this summer. It will seem long and there will be many questions to be asked. It was believed that the series against the Red Wings taught the Canucks what a team needed to be playoff performers. Evidently, there were no lessons learned.

Many will say that the first game was when the Canucks basically lost the series. I have a different view however. In my mind, the Canucks lost the first round of playoffs when they failed to win in Phoenix with just a handful of games remaining in the regular season. In that game, the Canucks were in full control with a 3-1 lead against the Coyotes. Maddingly, the Canucks played uninspiring hockey for the rest of the game and let the Coyotes tie it up. If that wasn’t bad enough, in overtime, Bertuzzi had a clear breakaway in which he shot the puck wide.

Had the Canucks won that game, either in regulation or in overtime, they would have won their division and would have faced the Wild instead. No disrespect to the Wild, but the Canucks would be in much better shape against Minnesota.

Instead, the loss of focus in Phoenix signalled a beginning to a downward spiral which will mercifully end in Vancouver on Friday night. How will the fans react? Will they boo or will they cheer? What changes will be made over the summer? Who will be the scapegoat for the terrible end to the season?

It will be a long and unrestful summer for the Canucks and their long-suffering fans.