Eating Glass and Breaking Teeth

Today I ate glass and broke a tooth. I would say that most people who eat glass break their teeth afterward. I am one of the lucky few to have this experience in reverse order:

First, my temporary crown broke to tiny little pieces while I was eating a tootsie roll before dinner. It reminded me of one of Melissa's recurrent dreams (by the way I've dreamed of losing my teeth as well, Melissa). It was odd to experience that in real life this time, though much less traumatizing.

After breaking my tooth, when I was at the church, I was offered dinner by the person who fed the missionaries tonight. They were just finishing up when I arrived, and she didn't want to take home leftovers. Before I started shoveling, they told me to watch out for broken glass. (WHAT?! I figured it was some weird inside joke about glass or cooking or something... they COULDN'T have been serious!)

I soon felt a sharp feeling in the roof of my mouth and carefully pulled out a small (1/2 cm x 1 mm x 1 mm) shard of glass. Then I saw the broken glass lid on the counter and decided to evacuate the contents of my mouth into a napkin.

At this point, allow me to celebrate the last day of finals by sharing one last multiple choice question:

What do I do with the remaining pasta?
a. Stop eating it and throw it away
b. Mix some dirt with it and continue eating
c. Keep eating it, but this time more carefully
d. Complain to the cook and demand a raincheck

Being the natural test-taker that I have been this week, I picked C and kept eating. Maybe I was thinking that if I chewed slow enough that the glass wouldn't be there any more. At any rate, I had those hard crunchy sensations again, and decided to erase C and fill in A. (Hey, I didn't get into Optometry school for nothin').

Luckily the preparer of the tasty meal was in the other room with the missionaries. When I saw her later, I thanked her and let her know it tasted great (which it did, aside from the texture).

I am currently imagining a shard of glass, inadvertently swallowed, slicing at my insides during its course over the next several hours. Please keep my bowels in your prayers.

The point of the story is:
THANK GOODNESS FINALS ARE OVER!!!

The Lobbyist

☆ lob·by·ist (noun) - a person, acting for a special interest group, who tries to influence the introduction of or voting on legislation or the decisions of government administrators

Yes folks, I have become a lobbyist. This week took a short trip to Washington, DC and met with members of congress about supporting bills that are pro-optometry. My trip was:

(1) FUN - we stayed at the JW Marriott Hotel with a bunch of students and optometrists from all over the country (about 500 total), and had excellent food, cheese and wine shmoozing parties and other alcohol events (I always got an ice water with lemon). It was so exciting to see historic sites such as the White House, the Washington Monument, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and a bunch of other cool looking buildings that I'm sure have historic significance.

(2) AFFORDABLE - to pay for the trip, the AOA (American Optometric Association) gave me a scholarship of $500. My expenses included $140 in airfare plus $120 for food, taxis, etc while on the trip. I was PAID to go on this trip!

(3) EDUCATIONAL - I had NO idea how important it was to be involved politically in my profession. If it were not for the AOA, optometrists literally wouldn't have any rights. Just 50 years ago or so we weren't even allowed to dilate patients' eyes, and now we're treating medical conditions like glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. It was also very eye-opening to see how our government works. I was very surprised to find out how nice and available our congessmen are. The handful that I met with (from OH) were very sincere, concerned, and honest men. This was very refreshing. I also learned that they could never possibly become experts on every single issue that they vote on, so they need US to be the expert on the issues that matter to us, and to inform them about what issues they need to support and why. Many times we complain about government, yet we sit idly by not allowing our voices to be heard.

While I forgot my camera (oops), we took lots of group pictures, so I'll post some when I get a hold of those... they should be on facebook in a couple of days, but I'll put a few up on the blog when I get them.

Reality Check

If you don't already know, I'm a HUGE Dave Ramsey fan. Take a minute to see how much you'll have for retirement by clicking on the Financial Reality Check gadget I just added to the right column of my blog.

Day 3... finally

So, here's the last day of my travels to Columbus, OH... late, but better late than never, right? Tom and Angie apparently have a LOT of jerky, so this was a nice snack along the way:


I went right through the city of Indianapolis, and found this bridge:


While gassing up in Indianapolis, I wondered what that vacillating noise was... turns out there's a racetrack right in the middle of the city... I wonder if that inspired the gas station's name:


Welcome to OHIO!!



Driving with the windows rolled down:


Hilliard... *sniff... my home of 6 weeks:


Burke and McKay:

Three Firsts

#1 - FIRST SINGLE ROOMATE IN COLUMBUS:

Today I am moving out of Burke and Julia's and in with Curtis Hebdon. Curtis and I were in the same ward (The Colony) at BYU for about a year and a half. It was a surprise to see him my first Sunday at church several weeks ago... turns out he's starting his first year of dental school here at The OSU. He's been selectively searching for a roomate to help subsidize his mortgage payment (his dad bought him a town home here), and it looks like I was a good candidate. So here you are... my first single roomate here in Ohio:

(btw, he was Buddy the Elf for Halloween this year)

#2 - FIRST FULL SELF-HAIRCUT:

My first haircut in Ohio cost me $20. It was nice, they even shampooed my hair and everything. But say I learned to cut my own hair and instead deposited $20 each month into a retirement account (IRA, etc) invested in a good growth stock mutual fund (S&P 500, etc) for the next 40 years (until I was 65). Assuming I earn a conservative 8% return, compounded monthly, I would have SAVED (40 yrs)x(12 months)x($20 per month) = $9,600 in haircuts and EARNED $60,686 in interest for a total of $70,286!!! So take a look at my little money maker and tell me what you think. Is it $70K worth looking like this?:


#3 - FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH EXPERIENCE

Rebekka, a new friend from the ward, invited me to the semi-annual "Choral Evensong" event at a the Trinity Lutheran Seminary. It was really cool. Their ~200 capacity chapel was filled with people, was dimly lit, and had a tall, narrowing wooden ceiling, allowing for great acoustics. I wanted to find a picture of the inside of the chapel, but this was the only picture I could find of the place:


The program started with a 30 minute prelude with piano, oboe, organ, and cello soloists each performing works by Chopin, Bach, and some other old guys. Then we all sang hymns together (standing) with organ and orchestra. This also included a few scriptural readings and response singings (where the minister would sing/chant a line and we would sing/chant a response)

Then the choir and orchestra performed Hayden's Mass in D Minor (Nelson's Mass). I really enjoyed the music, but it was also interesting for me because I knew most of the words from singing random mass songs in children's choir (Kyrie, Gloria, Qui Tollis, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Dona Nobis Pacem). The actual mass portion of the event lasted about an hour and included 4 talented soloists that sang together with the choir, or separately on occasion. The soprano soloist was my favorite.

After the choral presentation of Hayden's mass, the minister said a prayer and we did a few more response singings, then ended with a strong hymn called "Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart!" THAT one was my favorite. It was musically powerful by itself, but when you throw on an organ and full orchestra, wow! Not used to singing hymns like that in church.

The last line of the program stated "The greeting of peace may be shared by all", which apparently means that when the minister invited us to do so, we all turned to our neighbors, shook hands, and said "Peace be with you". I'm not sure I put the emphasis on the right syllable, but tried to do my best, as these were foreign words to me.

Overall, it was a great experience. Really cool. Now I'm looking for a really awesome gospel/black choir church to attend some time. :)

Promise

A couple of weeks ago I took these pics thinking of my wonderful family. So here they are... just as I promised:




Also, here's a video to give you an idea of my "living space". I start in my room and end up in Burke and Julia's room. For the most part it's boring, so don't watch it too many times.

Angry

This is how angry you all should be that I haven't blogged for so long:


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!