south east asia..

greetings from dhaka..

i hadn't planned on writing while here at home doing absolutely nothing of substance, but i felt compelled what with the recent goings on in south east asia. i still find myself in shock as the newpapers update the death toll which seems to be exponentially rising as a new day dawns and more bodies are discovered. i can't even begin to tell you how the hairs on my arm rise up whenever i watch the cnn or bbc coverage of the quake/tsunami.

the most ironic part is that my sister and i had every intention of visiting sri lanka, quite possibly around the time of the tsunami, except that once we figured out the cost vs. the sizes of our collective wallets we decided against it. and thank god that we did.

can you even imagine being on holiday (not to mention just living there, going about your day to day life) and relaxing on the beach feeling as though all is right with the world, when all of a sudden, without even a moments notice you're swept away and thrashed around mercilessly by 30 foot waves?? i can't. i just can't even fathom it.

it makes me wonder why we even bother to fight wars. what's the point? in a matter of seconds the entire world could explode and there wouldn't be a damn thing bush or rumsfeld or bin laden or saddam or any human being could do about it. not a damn thing.

there are millions of people in south east asia right now who will not be having a happy new year. but i still hope that those who can, will.

lovin' the ipod..

sometimes i just don't put a lot of thought into certain decisions i make. let's get right to the point, shall we? i had a chipped molar on the bottom left side of my jaw that had already been through the ringer in terms of having had a root canal, etc. well, i was eating a toasted bagel of all things, when it chipped. i went to the dentist the friday before last and she basically said there was no saving the tooth because of all the work i had done on it previously, and that i would need to get it extracted. i wasn't in any pain, however, so there was really no rush, except for the fact that i kept getting food stuck in it, which annoyed me to no end. so i decided, what the hell it can't be that big of a deal, let me just go ahead and get it extracted before i leave for bangladesh so i can just get it over with and enjoy my vacation.

well, it turned to be a bigger deal than i thought.

i went to a referred oral surgeon this past saturday to get the tooth extracted. he took a look at it and said that because of blah blah blah, he would need to drill it to get it out. whatever, i'm numb, drill if you will so long as i don't feel it. well, the procedure took a bit longer than expected and my jaw was sore as hell from having to keep it open for so long, but it was done and the bad tooth was out.

the dentist said i'd be pretty sore and that i should expect some swelling, and he prescribed me tylenol with codeine and a 7 day course of antibiotics.

well, let me just say, thank god for the tylenol with codeine. that shit was a lifesaver!

anyway, after the numbness wore off, i started feeling around the area with my tongue and all of a sudden realized that there were areas of flesh missing from the inside of my cheek! the fucking doctor drilled the flesh off my fucking cheek! and the fucked up part about it is that my cheek was in more pain than the area surrounding my extracted tooth!

so now, i can't laugh, can't smile too hard, the left side of my cheek is slightly swollen, and i can't eat anything harder than fucking pasta. but i have been sneaking a couple of drags of a cigarette even though i'm not supposed to smoke.

i have a follow up with the butcher dentist tomorrow right before i get on the plane, and while i'm not sure if this flesh hacking comes with the territory of tooth extractions, i plan on letting him know that i'm not happy with his surgical skills.

i'm sure i'll be okay, but i just wish i had waited to do this when i got back from vacation because now it'll just make my 20 hour journey all the more uncomfortable.

you think tylenol with codeine works even better when you're 32,000 feet up in the air? i certainly hope so. and i hope it won't be long till my mouth heals so i can enjoy my mama's cooking!

satellite radio rocks...

i've spent the past few days doing my least favorite thing: shopping.. for other people. well, not so much "other people", but my family. it's not that i mind spending money on my family, i just don't enjoy shopping. especially these days when everyone and their mother along with all fifteen of her kids are out and about. shopping cart rage is the new road rage, didntcha know?

but i managed to treat myself pretty nicely in the process. i found a swim shop out in the boonies, and while the sales gal was less than helpful, i managed to find a speedo swimsuit that wasn't granny looking. and it was on sale.

not only that, but as i was driving along I-94 i saw the brunswick home and billiard store. a couple of u-turns later i was inside the store absolutely drooling over a $13,000 pool table. man, that was one sexy looking table let me tell ya. but of course i already have a pool table and nowhere near $13 G's, so instead i came out of the store with a brown leather cover for my table which wasn't cheap, a brush for cleaning the table, and a set of billiard ball coasters. i seriously had to pause to stop myself from going too crazy in there.

oh, and did i mention i bought myself an ipod? yeah. i went ahead and did it. it should be arriving on friday with my name engraved on it for free. it started off with a request from my sister who wanted me to take one back for her when i go home next week. so in the process of shopping for my sister, i found myself thoroughly interested in getting one for myself as well. it just seemed like the right thing to do.

so yeah. i spent way too much money these past couple of days. *sigh*

i'm headed home next week. not sure if i'll have time to write before i leave as there are plenty of errands to run and packing to do along with endless social commitments i've managed to entangle myself into this last week before i leave.

but i'll be sure to write while i'm home on my dad's computer with *ahem* dial up internet service.

happy holidays!