However many things make a post part the whatever

[flemmings]

1. Root canal over. Anesthetic wore off hours ago. I seem not to be in cringing terrible pain. In fact the tooth hurts less than before, which has (ahem) not usually been my experience of dental surgery. Going by the endodontist's muttered remarks-- 'What's *that* doing there? *Two* posts?? Well, we can go round, I suppose'-- getting to the root through the crown was like working one's way to the burial chamber of the great pyramid of Cheops, which was protected by misleading walls, false passageways, and corridors blocked by jagnormous stones. Made me feel quite adventurous.

2. Doug Miller books at the end of the street is having a one year anniversary sale. (One year at their present location. They've been in in business 26.) I don't *need* more books, and the place is narrow and the shelves blocked by piles of yet-more-books, and I was wearing my new lens that means I can't read anything without glasses. But luck was either for or against me, and I copped two unsuspected GK Chestertons for a couple of twoonies. Have read The Paradoxes of Mr Pond, which is Chesterton being far too clever for his own good.

It's not exactly that the Suck Fairy has suddenly visited Chesterton because there always was that oogey side to him. But I'm beginning to wonder if the Suck Fairy was why I could happily read and love The Man Who Was Thursday when I was twelve and not be able to get into it at all forty-five years later. Have always wanted to reread The Napoleon of Notting Hill and now, maybe I shouldn't?

3. Speaking of Doug Miller Books, this is why I must live in a city. Three good used bookstores within walking distance (four if you count the overpriced Willow Books); five or six libraries within reasonable bicycling distance; and a fairly good independent bookstore, though I liked Book City much better when it was on two floors.

4. Speaking of the Suck Fairy, I got a thick volume of Terry and the Pirates from the library, intending to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear (1934-1935 in that volume) when the Orient was Mysterious and don't you forget it. Made it through thirty coloured Sunday episodes of same, feeling an overwhelming oppression of spirits, and now I can't any more. I just can't. Not even to observe the myth of the Mysterious Orient in its native habitat. Evidently if I want to see mysterious romantic ahistorical China and not be a) embarrassed and b) bored rigid, I must confine myself to HK films and what mainland historical dramas I can find. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, here I come. (If mainland historical *movies* would just stop harrowing my soul with the wrongs of women, I might watch them too. But they won't.)

Comments

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

Re: root canal - if it was done properly, you shouldn't have any pain from the tooth ever again. That does not stop one's jaw from aching something fierce from being wedged open so long, nor other teeth from complaining about being bumped in the process, but there you go. The worst of it is the beforehand.

Sez he in the voice of experience. :p

[incandescens]

Very glad to hear the root canal went smoothly. I have a crown replacement on Thursday, and will try to take this as a good omen.

At least Chesterton's better than Dornford Yates. I will confess to reading a swathe of him while I was in my teens. (They were in the library. I was short of things to read. You know how these things go.) These days, I cannot read them without twitching. John Buchan at least has less... less ooginess.

(And why do I read John Buchan? Partly because he's one of the authors in the bookshelf outside the downstairs bathroom in my parents' house, and sometimes one just has to grab a book before sitting down for two minutes, and let's just say that I have read bits of The Three Hostages too many times. And others, too.)

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I've had any number of root canals which never hurt at the time. Never did understand what the OMG root canal the agony!! moans were all about. But it's the crowned teeth that hurt most from sinus pressure and the vagaries of spring and fall allergies. This one has been inflamed about three times from my tendency to bite hard on it when grinding my teeth, requiring heavy-duty anti-inflammatories and bite-adjustment by the dentist, and now has started an abscess in the bone. ...if it was done properly may be the caveat-- it's old enough to vote, and back then obviously they couldn't see the remaining root that's apparently the source of the trouble.

These days too they have jaw blocks that take all the strain off keeping the jaw open, and nice ergonomic pillows for the back of one's neck. So no pain there either.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

A lacuna in my reading: I've never even heard of Dornford Yates. Nor do I feel a burning need to fill it, given what you and wikipedia have to say on the subject.

John Buchan belongs to my adolescence, and I'm not tempted to disturb my 13-year-old impressions of him by a rereading.

Good luck with the crown replacement. Though I feel crowns should last forever, given what they cost. And then there are crowns like mine today, evidently cemented so solidly in place that they won't come off and so the dentist drills through them.

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

My dentist was rather annoyed at people fear-mongering about root canals. I think it's that people go in in agony from leaving the infection too long, and then blame the pain on the fix rather than the cause.

My crowned tooth felt weird after. I still don't think I'm used to it. :(

You get neck pillow? I am envious. I tried the jaw block once - it made things worse for me. Couldn't open my jaw hardly at all for the entire day after. Woe.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Your dentist is probably on to something there.

When you see a specialist who charges through the nose, you get all the luxuries. Though the rolled-up hand towel my usual dentist offers works quite as well, frankly. This jaw block was different from others-- can't say how, but I didn't have the usual reaction to it, which is what you describe. Both are necessary, though, for cracked-vertebra-weakened neck muscles, which make keeping my mouth open for long periods almost impossible.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Yeah for the root canal being done! I had one years ago and still haven't forgiven that dentist for not letting me watch.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Get well soon.

My husband's getting his root canal in two weeks. He's remarkably chipper about it. *I* was the one who burst into tears (at the sight of the projected bill).

[incandescens]

It's amazing what you can run into when you're at boarding school and you start prying through the "house libraries" - ie, stacks of books in the boarding houses which were a combination of stuff that had actually been donated, and stuff that had accumulated due to having been left around the place and dumped in there.

(I can get quite desperate when running short of things to read.)

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

Dentists aren't cheap are they? *sigh* ... still glad to know it went ok. I am amused at the allegory to the Great Pyramid and it all being a great adventure.

[tammylee.livejournal.com]

*hugs*
I'm glad your tooth is feeling better!

My teeth get all excited when one of their brethren get worked on and hurt for days afterwards.

[paleaswater.livejournal.com]

It's true, I wonder why no one ever makes a historical comedy in China... There are a couple really hilarious tv series, but can't think of any movie off the top of my head.