March 8, 2018

Up and early at 7:30am. I have a dentist appointment at 10 and cannot wait! I usually do not get this excited for the dentist but I have been looking forward to this consultation for a while.

On my way to the dentist I realized that the car was low on gas. Since I left early, always aim to be 15 minutes ahead, I had plenty of time to stop at a gas station. I pull into Exxon. It was pretty crowded with cars and snow which forced me to maneuver around the lot until I fit at a pump. As I sat there and waited for an attendant I took out my wallet. The attendant walks over, looks at me, walks around my car to pick something up and then leaves completely. At this point I am confused. I wait a bit longer, another car pulls up and he starts to pump their gas. Hmm. Now I am more confused. Here’s why:

1. I was sitting there first. (cannot pump my own gas, NJ)
2. He walked right past me. (we made eye contact)
3. The new car was right across from me.

Now pressed for time I left without getting gas.

I got to the dentist around 9:50 and filled out the new patient forms. The dentist office is new. So new that renovations have not been completed. The staff is friendly and took good care of me but I could not gauge their experience level. I did get lucky, I think, because the doctor on duty came from another office and wore her experience on her sleeve with pride. That made me feel very comfortable. I was there for two hours. My teeth were cleaned, I had six baby cavities filled, and my top two wisdom teeth pulled. FINALLY, some relief!

After the dentist I headed over to my grandmother’s house to shovel the sidewalk and stairs. I probably should not have since I just had two teeth pulled but I was still numb with my jaw was locked on pieces of gauze.

I got home around 1pm and it was a journey. More like an obstacle course. Yesterday’s storm left everything in a mess. Trees fell over, street poles were in homes, light poles laid a cross roads, and power lines dangling. I was either headed towards a blocked off street or going back the way I came. When I did find a decent street, it soon turned in to a bad choice. As I was driving, I had my focus on the deep holes and half parked cars. At the last second I noticed a thin, I think phone line, cable hanging. I immediately hit the brakes hoping the person behind me was paying attention. Thankfully he was. Since I drive a coupe it is low by default. I figured I could just go under it. I was right except for one small detail, I forgot about the spoiler. The cable and my spoiler met for a game of tug-a-war, ultimately leading to the cable being pulled down. Oops.

When I got home, I ate and then took a nap. The numbing was wearing off and my head started to pound. I woke up at 3:30pm to get ready for work wishing I did not have to. Got to the new location at 5, took some Tylenol, froze for three hours and back home for a nice hot shower. I had some chicken broth soup with rice and went straight to bed. If there is one thing I cannot deal with, it is the feeling of my head acting as a drum.

P.S.

Throughout my trip I was able to finish my audiobook by Maxwell. It is an amazing book. Step 11 was embedded into my brain, “If at first you do succeed, try something harder.“