October 6th, 2007

13 days, plus thanks!

Soon, the mystery will be solved as to whether I am a poor enunciator because of jaw deformity/orthodontia/surgical recovery, or simply sloppiness. Even if the latter, I imagine I can solve it somehow, possibly with a book or else elecution lessons in the manner of Anne Shirley and also my mother when, as a child, she developed a Brooklyn accent (due to growing up in Brooklyn) and her midwestern mother wouldn’t stand for it. My point is, once the braces are off, I’ll be able to get to work on this issue.

I am thankful for this possibility, and many other things, like how it is now Thanksgiving weekend and within the hour I am headed to the tiny town from whence I sprang. This evening I shall visit the house of my friend Mary, a house for which she and her husband have been hoping, pining, scrimping and saving for five years now. I have a vague idea what it looks like, but whatever it is, I know it’s a dream house, and I am thankful I get to see it tonight!

And lots of other things. More soon!

All the yellow roses on her wedding cake
RR

October 4th, 2007

15 days!

P. invited me to make caramel apples with her and I. for Hallowe’en and while if this were another year, I likely could’ve—and would’ve—found some way to get around the orthodontia to participate, I am *much* more excited to be planning to eat my caramel apple off a *stick*, the way it was intended. And now, because I am bored, a list of other foods that come on sticks:

–lollipops
–popsicles, fudgesicles, creamsicles, the whole sicle -family
–pogos ( I think there is another, non-branded name for those cornbread coated hotdogs on sticks, but I forget it—anyone?
–souvlaki/kebabs (is there a difference? If so, is the difference that souvlaki is just meat, but kebabs have a bunch of things in a festive pattern?
–those big chunks of pineapple you can get in Chinese markets on sticks
–caramel and candy apples, the whole apples-covered-in-goo family
–toasted marshmallows
–sometimes chocolate-covered marshmallows in fun shapes, especially around Hallowe’en
–I think the corn-on-the-cob you get at street fests comes with little stick-like handles

That’s all I can think of – anybody else?

Down on the corner / out in the street
RR

October 3rd, 2007

16 Days

AMT reminded me last night of one of the most excellent perks of the potential post-brace world: gum! Remember three years ago, before I found out my jaw was doomed, when I used to be a pack-a-day girl? And even after my orthodontist banned me, but before I got the braces, whenever someone offered around a pack after dinner, I’d guiltily take a piece and savour it with glee? (sidebar: offering gum around after dinner is *so* our generation, isn’t it? catch anyone over 35 doing that!) Remember when I used to try every new variety of gum that came on the market? Well, probably you don’t, but I did… My last big hit was Extra Bubblemint, back in good old 2004, but I hear the gum industry has grown by leaps and bounds without me. At lunch, I was expounding upon my plans, and someone told me there is *chocolate gum* now. They said it’s horrid, and it does sound so, but I will soon try some and know for myself. Hypothesis and experimentation, baby–that’s what it is all about!

If I can. I suppose there is a small possibility that my orthodontist is going to tell me that my jaw is still too fragile for frivolous chewing. But I figure even if he does, I can still have the occasional piece, just as long as I don’t overtax myself. Right?

Gum gum gum gum gum.

Your aspirations for shreds

October 2nd, 2007

Countdown!

For those not keeping track (yes, I know, that’s everybody but me) there are only seventeen days left until the great Becky Brace-off 2007! This experience is ten to fifteen years later than everyone else had it (it could be worse: I could’ve had them on that whole time!) but I’m still really really really excited. Hence this countdown, wherein I shall enumerate all the very good things I am looking forward to doing braceless. This is something of a list of complaints about things I can’t do now, I suppose, but with a rose-coloured angle. I think. Well, anyways, so far I’m planning on:

Eating an apple while jauntily walking down the street
Smiling broadly without feeling one iota of self-consciousness
Kissing someone without feeling the tips of the brackets dig into my lips
Eating corn on the cob
Flossing my teeth late at night when I’m groggy and unable to concentrate very hard
Crunching a hard candy
Posing for my grad pictures

More to come, I’m sure.

I hate the ending myself / but it started with an all right scene
RR

May 31st, 2007

On Sleep

In my final semester at McGill, I somehow managed to nearly completely invert my circadian rhythm, and in the process discovered the horrid but fascinating world of Canadian network late-night programming: reruns, test patterns, infomercials, and soft-core pornography (listed in order of entertainment value). Such was the misery of that period that, since then, I have been a model of regular sleep. I could doze through the apocolypse, I am convinced, as long as it took place between 10:30 pm and 6:30 am. Between those times, I can and will attempt to be social, but you may notice me becoming increasingly bug-eyed and incoherent. I have trouble forming complete sentences on less than 8 hours sleep. It’s not pretty.

Somehow, this rigid but acceptable pattern has been thrown for a loop with the coming of spring. There just seems to be too much light–like a six-year-old, I wake up at five with my brain screaming, “It’s day! I hear birds and joggers! Let’s get on with it, we’re missing stuff!!” My body answers, like a grouchy adult, that it does not wish to get up and jog or do anything, because the long and gorgeous evenings are prompting me to stay up long past my bedtime every night. Even if I’m only writing (I’m usually writing), I like to watch the protracted sunset out the window. It seems to go on for hours.

The above two paragraphs are really only to say that I am very tired, and am a poor candidate for polar expeditions. But it sure is lovely in the world, these days. Even when exhausted.

Put your weight against the door / Kick-drum on the basement floor
RR

May 9th, 2007

Ugh

I woke around 3am having somehow escaped from my pillows and rolled facedown onto the mattress. Not a huge problem for most people, I guess, but I am still not fully healed from the jaw surgery I had in January, and putting the full weight of my skull on my jaw hurts like a mofo. I staggered to get the super-strength painkillers I’m supposed to not need anymore, and collapsed back into bed, supine. However, when the alarm went off three hours later, I was prone once more! Why? Are there magnets in my face that are attracted to the mattress springs? Am I having burrowing dreams that I don’t remember?

I feel as though I’ve been punched in the face, and I just took the last of my carry-along painkillers. Argh. Only 10 more hours until I go home.

I just want to tell you what I know / and catch you when the current lets you go
RR