Drilling and Trekking

George and I enjoyed a nice weekend. In-between watching the new “Star Trek” movie, seeing a decent interpretation of the musical “The Music Man” live on stage, celebrating Mother’s Day with George’s mom and him meeting up with his study buddies, we were able to squeeze in some down time to just relax and enjoy the moment.



Good thing too because I needed strong nerves and save up all of my energy and strength for another visit to the dentist’s office yesterday. What a way to start a week.



Without getting into too much detail, but my two upper incisors needed to be come out and be prepped for a bridge. Yesterday was the first stage. I had a root canal done years ago but in the meantime the area decayed to a point where the teeth couldn’t be saved anymore.



My two options were either implants or a bridge. I opted for the latter since I’m not a millionaire, not a big fan of oral or any kind of surgery and wanted to get this ordeal done and over with as quickly as possible.




Even though I decided to go with a bridge, getting it over with quickly was easier said than done. Whatever was left from the previous root canal treatment had to be removed first. And that proofed to be quiet the unexpected challenge for my dentist. Let’s just say that I spent half of Monday in that dentist’s chair while my dentist was desperately trying to drill and yank out whatever it was that needed to come out. She got quite the workout and I have a slight idea what torture must feel like.




I was numbed enough to not feeling a thing but it’s still the whole notion of knowing that a person is messing around inside my mouth. I always wondered what makes someone decide to become a dentist in the first place? What is the appeal? They must see something fascinating in looking at other people’s rotting teeth, dealing with drooling saliva and bad breath.




Um...can you say “Ewww?”




But somebody has got to do it. And I’m glad there are some brave souls out there willing to deal with that.




After nearly four hours of first making imprints of my existing teeth, poking lots of localized anesthesia injections into my gums and the roof of my mouth and then trying to rip out pieces of my skull, I finally got my temporary teeth in place. It feels weird. I’m not allowed to eat solid foods and bite into anything obvious like an apple or corn-on-the-cob. Not even a cheeseburger. For the next two weeks.




Oh joy!




Well, I wanted to loose some weight anyway. I guess that’s one way to do it. Get some teeth work done. And I’ll be back to see the dentist on June 1st for more biting fun.






I’m not a Trekkie, Trekker or whatever those trekksters call themselves nowadays, but I do like “Star Trek.” And after watching the newest incarnation of the franchise last Friday evening I love “Star Trek.” What a ride. To be honest, I didn’t think they could pull it off. I seriously thought I’d be disappointed, especially after all the hype.




But this “Star Trek” is amazing. Giving the likable characters and familiar settings a whole new look and twist without loosing much of the original idea behind the whole Star Trek saga was quite an achievement. The filmmakers managed to literally introduce the beginnings of Star Trek to a whole new generation of movie goers without offending true die-hard fans. My only gripe though was the soundtrack. I didn’t care much for the score. I missed the more empathetic music by Jerry Goldsmith or even Alexander Courage. Even though Courage’s iconic theme from the original 1960’s TV series was partly used during the roll of the end credits, it felt forced and cheesy.




I’m glad that this new “Star Trek” movie is successful and gives the seemingly tired franchise a much needed jolt. And it sounds like there will be more Trek movies on the horizon too. I can’t wait.





Speaking of tired franchise. Am I the only one who liked the last movie, “Star Trek: Nemesis” with the Next Generation crew? I like to say that it was even one of the best of all the Trek movies. I watched it again not too long ago and I still loved it. Maybe it wasn’t popular because it was a very dark Trek. Too many hidden political agendas and messages of the time (2002) in the plot?




My favorite Star Trek movies are “The Wrath of Khan,” “The Voyage Home,” “First Contact,” “Nemesis” and now this new “Star Trek.” Which ones do you like?




Wow! This makes it my first blog poll. I wonder if anyone out there in the space-time continuum will actually participate to solve these terrestrial mysteries?