Darkoshi

This is the end of 2 nice relaxing (sort of) weeks of vacation. At least I was able to sleep as long as I wanted nearly every morning, in spite of going to bed very late. I got various things done. Some things finished, some things further along.

I didn't manage to make an orthodontic appointment yet; still need to get together a list of potential ones to call. It's too bad that this tooth problem manifested a few weeks after our yearly benefits enrollment period at work. Not knowing that I'd need it, I chose a dental plan without adult orthodontic coverage. But it's not a big deal. Even the plans that cover it, only cover a certain amount anyway. But now, not having one of those plans makes choosing an orthodontist more complicated. Should I sign up for a discount program, and see who in my area is in such a program? Or should I use one of the orthodontists in my dental insurance's network (though I don't see what the point of that is, as I'm not covered)? Or try to find overlap between the two? And so on.

I had been feeling optimistic about getting braces, but reading several pages which indicated that dentists now recommend that retainers be worn ***for the rest of your life*** to prevent teeth from shifting back got me feeling down about it. Which is why I let the matter drop for now. I went through all that trouble last year or the year before, getting myself a doctor, and it didn't even really do any good with the problem I have with my hands. Well... It did relieve my worries about having degenerative arthritis. So it did do some good, even though I still have no explanation for what is wrong. But my hands got significantly better on their own.

At the moment, I don't think it's possible that my teeth will get better on their own, but who knows? I discovered something today, about eating when one's upper and lower molars don't touch. Eating individual pieces of raw spinach (or other raw greens) is not a good idea, as it's nearly impossible to chew them up, and without chewing them, they tend to stick in one's throat. But when they are in a sandwich, I can chew them up ok, because there's an extra layer of bread and stuff filling up the space between the lower and upper teeth.

Anyway, I got home too late tonight (considering I need to be up early for work), after spending most of my vacation at Qiao's place. I went to turn on the heat, and discovered that the thermostat's batteries needed to be changed, and of course the old settings were lost, so I had to reset them. One setting always gives me trouble (getting it into "Hold" mode instead of "Vacation" mode). I had thought I might be able to make it to bed by 1am. But now, I hadn't even unpacked my car, I just wanted to turn on the heat, and this garbedly gook dangnabit thing won't work!!! I lost my temper and yelled obscenities.

Not a good way to end a nice relaxing (sort of) vacation. But it's ok; I'm calm again now. I checked the notes on my computer from last time, which thankfully say how to put it into Hold mode, and got it working. I still have my pretty Christmas tree here, and I haven't turned off the pretty lights on the porch yet either. Though I'll probably take them (not the tree) down later this week.

Ok. There's a good chance I can make it to bed by 2:15am now, if I apply myself to it.

The 9 hour fast wasn't that bad. I started to get very hungry about half-way through, but had plenty of work to distract me. My stomach didn't even grumble during our staff meeting. After the health screening, I ate my "lunch". Soon after, I became VERY sleepy/tired. I could have curled up on the floor and fallen asleep right there. Instead, I wrapped up my work and went home. Now I've got a slight headache, but am about to go to bed.

I didn't get a good amount of sleep last night, so I can't entirely blame the sudden sleepiness on the fasting. But it was unusual for the sleepiness to hit me like a ton of bricks after eating, when I had been ok up until then. So maybe it was related to digesting a bunch of carbohydrates on an empty stomach.