"What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been" - Robert Hunter, Grateful Dead

[SinkFullOfDinner]

LisaK, good luck with your start! Glad to hear the posts were a little helpful and you could relate to some of them, even after only one week. Definitely don't put much weight on anything that I thought would happen, because I usually find out later that I'm lousy at seeing curveballs coming. I think my worst predictions so far have been:

- I thought last spring that the general target for wrapping up was around the end of the year. I might still be correct, but wrong year.
- In December, I thought that getting progress x-rays meant that we were close to the end and they just needed to know what to tweak. ooof!
- I thought the regular brackets that I had on my side (posteriors?) would be as visible and bracket-y as it would get. I wasn't even close on that one.
- Of course, my June 2016 double Pinocchio post when I thought I might have only a couple more months of elastics, which might be correct if "a couple" meant something like 12-15 back then. Followed by saying that hopefully all of the then-recent progress meant that I was in the home stretch. Just slap me. I obviously have no clue what's around any corner when it comes to this process.

I think the only thing I nailed was in Nov when I reported, "I'm an idiot."

I hope you're better at predictions.

[LisaK]

Oh youre fine! I dont know what the future holds for me. I hope its not extended longer then the 18months they say Ill have them on for. Im pretty miserable with them on. My teeth still hurt, but not as bad. Im able to start eating some solid foods now. I love my Waterpik. I might just use it more then one should, but it makes my gums and teeth feel so much better just a for a little..lol.. Im still not used to them rubbing on the inside of my mouth. Today is a sore today and have my braces covered in lovely wax. I sure am a sight to see right now. Ill continue to follow your journey. I enjoyed reading it.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

Elastics have returned, as I was told to expect, but as I'm looking at the packs of these annoying little pests, I have a question. If orthodontics gets their undies in a bunch about wire thickness being off by a thousanth of an inch, why does there seem to be some monkey labeling the elastics as light, medium, heavy? I've had 1/4" 2.4oz "Medium" which were a piece of cake, and 3/16" 3.x? oz "Medium" which were smaller and tighter, but ok I'll buy the "Medium" part still, and now 3/16" 4.5oz in which one bag calls them "Medium" and the second bag calls them "Heavy Plus." Huh?

I can tell you that if those first ones are Mediums, there is no way the current ones are even remotely Medium. The company that owned up to them being Heavy Plus gets a big, gold star for truth in advertising, while the other guys get a big pinocchio.

I also need to remember to get enough sleep. Not for all of the normal reasons, but because it really hurt to yawn when we started back with the stretchy stuff. I'm not surprised. When you start to, it feels like the elastics want to start dabbling in the extraction business. It won't last long, but those yawns definitely wake you up.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

It's great when you can finally forget, until you repeatedly forget to remember. Got it?

It's nice that I don't even notice or think about the elastics any more. It only takes a couple days, and they're forgotten (except whenever you try to open up more than the width of a finger!).

But I also hate that I forget about having elastics. I can't begin to count the number of times I've been in a conversation and thought beforehand "remember remember to pop out your elastics for this one," but when the time comes, I see their eyes look down and it occurs to me "oh no, they're still there! I forgot! Again!!" Those are just the ultimate dork-feeling moments for me. You really can't win either way. Either elastics annoy you, or they embarrass you. They're kind of like your kids.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

I guess the elastics are doing their job pulling things down and back, but while they close up gaps behind the canine, anything that's in front of that gets left behind. So no surprise, over the last couple of weeks three gaps have started to open up toward the front. Keep in mind, you can't have more than five gaps from canine to canine, so I'm really nailing it by hitting most of my chances (#overachiever)! I'm especially a fan of the one right smack between the big boys in front (lovely), even though the one next to it is a bit bigger and seeking it's own attention. It's great when you can floss with your fingernail. It's all just so...awesome.

[erin5550]

You are a hoot! I'm sorry you're getting gappy again but your humor and positive attitude about the whole thing is amazing.

[Twangsnap]

Oopsy, sorry to hear about the gaps. It's that sinking feeling when the dental floss offers no resistance whatsoever.

It's obviously gap-time in bracketworld. Though in other news, two of my black triangles have disappeared since the elastics came off in what my orthodontist would surely describe as "Another Incredible Coincidence".

So as expected, he is less convinced that 10th May is debonding day after the appointment today - I'm not surprised, there is still a fair bit of alignment going on. Oh yes and I'm back in elastics too. I actually kind of missed them holding my jaw in place - there's something reassuring about that tugging feeling don't you think?

Stay strong, don't yawn.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

to you both!

You know, I've used a lot of words in association with elastics, Twang, but I can't say that "reassuring" ever made the list. It's about six letters longer than the ones I typically use with elastics.

Very happy to hear about AIC (very funny) and automagically self-correcting triangles, but sorry to hear about the return of elastics. I usually like encores. That one, not so much.

I guess your ortho did a little expectation management for the 10th. Bummer, for sure, but not much of a surprise with all of the last minute moving parts, I suppose. It sounds like you had reached the same conclusion on your own. My next visit is also the 10th, and it sounds like we might have something in common that day, unfortunately - both walking out with the same brackets we walk in with. On the bright side, you still have a shot at good news, and if not that day, then very, very soon!

[Twangsnap]

Well only 9 days to go for both of us to get no news whatsoever. I have friends arriving on the 11th and would so love to not have braces on my face at that point. Oh well...sigh. Also, I may be starting a new job in the next few weeks and I really don't want to do that with brackets on. I used to work there before and (no offense to anyone!) but it is full of Americans with perfect teeth. I'm sure they will think it's both bizarre and hilarious that I'm in braces now!

Also, in a first, I swallowed an elastic today.

How are your gaps shaping up?

[SinkFullOfDinner]

Right now, I can really relate to visiting friends comments. We have friends visiting this weekend, and I haven't seen either in a couple of years. Just another encounter in the never ending conga line of reconnects that inevitably involve the "hi! it's been so long" smiling (dreaded, but required) greeting, followed by catching their quick glance down at some point in the early moments. Everyone who says "nobody notices" is full of it! The only question is whether they mention it later (rarely) or not. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Gaps? They seem to be like a slacker brother-in-law who drops in to visit "just for a couple days to check out the job scene," but decides he kind of likes your place and will continue to couch surf until you forcibly evict him. They haven't budged, and there's nothing in there to make them change their mind right now. I'm not expecting much change on that until a powerchain comes back to consolidate that space. Hopefully they start doing that at the next visit, but I have no idea if they need to do something else with the space first before they close it up.

Mostly, I just want to know if we'll step up the wire. Same one for two visits now, and I assume we need to get moving onto the last finishing wire pretty soon if that Aug/Sept target is going to hold. It seems like that's still a lot of time to get whatever is remaining done, until I realized that it's only 3-4 mo out. I really don't want to get punked again on the timeline.

btw, your FIRST elastic down the hatch? Ever? Really? That's, like, an automatic right of passage! I have no idea how many of those I've eaten. Half my body weight over time? Maybe a little less? idk. Between them snapping during a snack when you don't take 'em out, or the "oh crap, here comes someone I know" discreet pop-'em-off with your tongue before you have to say hi, or just having the tighter ones fail from talking too much and rubbing them over the middle post too many times...it adds up to a lot. Side note: I had a fun little situation over the weekend that started off well before taking an absolutely foreseeable elastic-caused turn for the worse. I'll relay that one in a separate post when I next check in. In the meantime, you need to pound a whole pack of elastics with an absinthe chaser just to catch up to the rest of us! geez.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

As I mentioned above, I wanted to pass along this very un-smooth handling of what should be a noneventful situation.

I was getting groceries at Whole Foods, and over by the cheese section there's a woman offering samples of a type of cheese that I love. Count me in! I strolled over and the smiling cheese lady put a nice, gooey smear on a cracker and handed it to me. As I began the routine motion of bringing food to mouth, I paused and it occured to me, "oh sh!t, elastics...this cracker isn't going to fit...too wide."

At this point, my mind starts to race through the Plan B options, and it's like figuring out if there's any possible way to parallel park your car in a small space. You know, you pull up to the first spot and think "can I fit in there? No way." Then the next space, "Maybe if I come in at a hard angle? Nope." I'm thinking cracker geometry now, and I've already passed the first "no way" part. So I move on and think "if I tilt the cracker at an angle, will it fit? Probably not, and if I'm wrong this paper-thin cracker is going to shatter and wind up everywhere." "Can I two-bite it? Nope, too wide for even that."

Meanwhile, the smiling cheese lady has become the confused-look cheese lady, because while my internal clock tells me that I've processed and rejected the first few options in under one second, it's probably been 3-4, which is entering the awkward zone.

I finally came up with a solution that's not available in the parking scenario: shrink the car to fit in the parking spot. Cracker translation: I decide I'll break the cracker and fold it over into a little, narrow cheese sandwich, except of course the delicate cracker breaks into four parts -- held together only by the stickiness of the cheese -- and I wind up constructing the world's tiniest, four-decker hero cheese sandwich. At that point, I couldn't even make eye contact with the confused, formerly-smiling cheese lady.

So, think before accepting free samples. It the case of food, dimensions are more important than taste. If you misjudge, it's really not going to be free anyway. The price is sheer embarrassment. Oh, and the cheese was good, but totally not worth it.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

When I logged in, the prior post still showed up on the main board summary, and I just thought it's title was insanely geeky, and I regretted the choice. I read a few other posts, but I kept thinking back to that stupid title. Only thing to do is bump it down. Sorry, absolutely nothing to see here except a bit of neuroses. Although the thought that people would look at a title and think "that's a really dumb title" is probably the same as thinking that everyone notices your braces and thinks you look silly, except you're the only one that's convinced they're thinking that.

btw, does anyone know what it means when the icon that shows up in front of some posts is jiggling? After all this time, I have no idea and never saw it described in a FAQ.

[Twangsnap]

Oh dear, I'm sorry but that made me laugh out loud properly. Priceless. It's the poor cheese lady I feel sorry for. I'd love to hear her version of that story

[SinkFullOfDinner]

It's the poor cheese lady I feel sorry for. I'd love to hear her version of that story

Here's how I envision her side of the story playing out (note: there may be a wee bit of literary license taken).

"So, this guy came over to try some of the cheese we were promoting. He smiled when I handed him the sample, but I did not notice his braces. At all. But instead of popping the cheese in his mouth, nodding and saying something like 'mmm, really good, thank you' before walking off, he paused for a moment and stared at it. Like, for a few seconds. I wondered if he was trying to figure out if the cracker was gluten-free, which of course it is, silly man. This is Whole Foods! Then, it occurred to me. Maybe there's a bug on the cheese! Or an eyelash. Or something else. Oh no, I gave a customer a sample with a bug! I'm going to get fired! I'm horrified. Is it obvious?

But wait. He's breaking the cracker. Why? Oh my gosh, he's folding it over and over so that no one see's the bug or eyelash or whatever must be on that sample. And now he's eating it! Just so that no one knows that I made a huge mistake, and to make sure that I don't get in trouble or fired! I can't believe he would do that for a complete stranger. This is the nicest guy in the world! I'll bet he tutors orphans on the weekends. Oh my gosh, I just realized that I'm staring at him with my mouth hanging open in astonished appreciation. I must look foolish. But now he's walking away before I can even whisper 'thank you.'"

I think that's exactly how it went.

[BlondeCam]

As a lover of the Dead, I "smile, smile, smile" at your title each time I see it