6.28.2007

Pain Is an Unavoidable Side Effect

The Far Side was one of the great comics that ended gracefully - the artist chose to stop doing the strip before it got stale and lame (Calvin and Hobbes was, obviously, the other great comic that did the same thing.) I went to the dentist yesterday to have some preventative fillings done and it was totally the tennis-ball-in-your-mouth-just-because scenario. At one point they actually brought in the front desk lady to hold crap so the dentist and her assistant could have both hands free to shove more probes, hoses, pointy-sharp things, and scrapey-hurty things in my mouth.

But the real event yesterday was my first French tutoring session. Holy crap, you guys. It felt like my brain was in a rock tumbler. I was so confused that I couldn't remember English after about 30 minutes. Still, it was really useful: it confirmed that I'm pitifully underequipped to conduct research in France, but it gave me hope that I'll be less so by the time I actually have to do it. There was an episode of Carnivale Becky and I watched recently (more on that amazing show in an imminent blog post) in which the creepy preacher character started writing a book whose first chapter was entitled "Pain Is an Unavoidable Side Effect." That's how I feel about language study.

Today, the lovely and talented E joins the cosmopolitan A (and us) for the best BBQ you ever been BB2. I predict a riot.

5 comments:

Rachel said...

love the Far Side. :) Embrace the pain! And embrace the embarrassment, it's part and parcel of the experience. Viel Glueck!

clumsygirl said...

Those dentists keep trying to convince me to get my wisdom teeth out. I don't understand why. They don't hurt. My teeth aren't crooked. They're not above the gumline, so they're not getting cavities. I think they just want my (non-existant) monies. Jerks. I'm voting no.

kungfuramone said...

Hmmmmmmmmm....

Can you get away with that? I mean, won't oral surgeons sneak in to your room if you refuse and just yank 'em? And leave you a bill?

The word "oral" always sounds a little dirty. Like language departments in universities having a course called "oral skills."

Adam said...

One of my most vivid memories of my orthodontic work was the first day they put in my braces. There was a fish tank with some kind of sucker fish latched onto the inside and I thought that they were going to make me look like that with the way they had my lips pulled back.

Oh, and you don’t know pain until you have had spacers.

Good times.

kungfuramone said...

Yeah....but the dentist has the ability to prescribe vicodin. That almost makes it worth it.