The jaw pain and swelling continue, invulnerable to the soothing efforts of frozen peas, corn, and even soy beans. It's quite amazing what an effect a small thing like the swelling of your jaw can have on your whole appearance. I really look like a different person. I kind of look like an old guy now, one of those jowly old guys who hem and haw a lot. I'm OK with the hemming, but I really don't know anything about hawing, so I guess I still have a ways to go.

I had this weird memory of the tooth-pulling, wherein the dental hygienist, assistant person was having this conversation with the doctor:

Dentist (or oral surgeon) to me: "You're going to be numb here, hopefully. Ha ha. [Dentists pretty much universally have this talent for actually laughing like the way you write laughing: "Ha ha." I think it's their way of subtly telling you that they don't really care if you think it's funny or not, because they make more money than you do, and deserve every cent of it for having to go rooting around in your gaping maw, which has to pretty disgusting. I think they also start talking to you more to see how spaced out you're getting from all the novocaine]

Hygienist: "Wow, wouldn't that suck if you were numb like that forever?"

Dentist to Hygienist: "Well, some people are like that. If they break their jaw or something."

Hygienist: "Wow!"

That conversation just struck me as a little weird. Were they trying to let me know that I should be grateful for these hours of pain and swelling that I am now suffering through, with the help of my friend Mr. Codeine? Maybe they were trying to warn me, now that it was too late, that there was indeed a chance I would never feel a thing with my jaw again. It is true that this is the same hygienist who was telling me how she used to get all kinds of free drugs from the last dentsist she worked at, and launched into a rather lengthy comparison of the relative merits of Vicadin vs. Codeine for recreational use.

Movies viewed so far:

cheezy rentals:
Rush Hour 2 - Kind of funny. The whole "You wacky Asian!", "You wacky black person!" thing is wearing a little thin though.
The Breed - Movie about vampires in some knock-off 1984 future that had the budget of about twelve dollars. Kind of like watching cut-scenes from a kind of crappy video game with a budget of twelve dollars. The only movie I've seen in a while that actually has "level bosses".
Mission To Mars - Excruciatingly boring. I like Tim Robbins, but after it took his character ten minutes to finally die in an extended "floating off into the coldness of space" scene, I'm not so sure.

From the Kafkaesque video library:
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - A classic of course.
High Fidelity - I love this movie. Don't ask why. I just do.

on the slab for today:
Panic
Robin and Marian
Caddyshack
Following

Only 5 codeines remaining? How will I survive?