Mr. Big Mouth & His Titanic Tongue - Let's Scratch Yesterday from Existence.

Somehow I knew the day was going to be a bust. I had a 10 a.m. dental appointment to replace a filling in #32, a wisdom tooth, and I knew as soon as the first novocaine shot didn't take (I didn't feel numb at all), that the day was going to be interesting.

It might also have been Dr. Conlon's grunting, groaning, and humming. "You've got a an odd one," he said. "I've been putting this off for some time."

In short, a wisdom tooth that probably should have been taken out had been "destroyed, taken a beating, and in its own survival mode."

I think I got nervous when he began pacing, not sure whether he should rip it out or prepare it for a crown. "I think I need to get inside to make a decision. The tooth is holding strong, but I'm not sure. It's 50/50."

He numbed me up even more.

Drilling and hee-hawing for another 30-minutes, I got nervous when his assistant said, "Oh, My God." Actually, it was during a break when she said, "Wow. You are bleeding really bad," that I began to sweat. I was then told that the worry was not the tooth as much as my Herculean tongue which had a mind of its own. It wanted to protect the tooth while I was numb and she didn't have the strength to fight it. Somehow, I wanted up holding instruments to muscle my tongue into place. At one moment, Dr. Conlon called my tongue the MEG (I guessed that was reference to the 2018 shark movie).

I survived. I couldn't feel my right ear, nostril, lips or brain, but the tooth was saved (hello, Bryan genetics). I was sent on my way.

I got home, and had an email from Subaru that my car was past due for service. I've been getting check engine lights so I knew it was time. I called and they couldn't get me in until February, but then a sudden cancellation came in and she said, "Can you get here in 15 minutes?"

I did. Then I sat for two hours, numb with novocaine, until Kaitlyn kindly picked me up. She took metro her mother's where I showered and cleaned up. My beard was loaded with dental gunk.

The Hulk was serviced ($$$$) and I need new tires ($$$$). I was thinking about my mom and dad's furnace and then a leaking pipe and wondered about their 3rd piece of bad news. Well, that would be me, +1. A tooth and car repairs.

I have chalk it up to January, because the time between Christmas and the first class is really the only space I have to be a normal human being and it costs me.

The good news of the day was when Pam reminded me I won a gift card to The Bridge House during a church function when I went to hear Leo sing. I got my car and we all ate. I needed a good meal, because it was the only one I had since my morning banana.

Needless to say, I retired early. I now feel like the Mucinex monsters are moving in and I need to beat them.

This too shall pass.