Wisdom teeth are half gone and Renita is going camping
On Monday, I had my wisdom teeth taken out. Well, only the bottom two. The tooth on my left side grew at a 45 degree angle. A lot of food would get stuck between that tooth and the one next to it. So I had to get that one out. And the upper two weren't fully grown out yet. Anyway, so I was pretty nervous about having this wisdom teeth "extraction". It never really hit me that I would need to get my wisdom teeth out. I haven't had any teeth taken out since I was really tiny. I always thought I would get my wisdom teeth out when I turned 30 or something.
So Monday morning rolled around. The dentist's office was really fancy. There were actually two dentists. They were specialists so I think they were doctors too. I had to fill out a patient information form before my "extraction". Basically, the questions were to see what kind of health condition I was in and whether or not I would be able to have anesthetic. I kept wondering if I would be able to have a general anesthetic. I was scared that I would have a secret medical problem and that I would die in the dentist's chair.
Well the nurse took me inside a small room with a dentist's chair. The room was really intimidating actually. There were a bunch of equipment and I could just hear the drilling in my ears. The nurse put a cuff around me (presumably for blood pressure) and she kept saying that it was going to feel real tight. I kept waiting for that but it never happened. And then a man walks in, wearing a black shirt and black pants. He was asking me how many teeth I needed to take out, and I kept wondering why he was asking me those questions. Turns out he was the specialist. He DID NOT looked like one, or well he wasn't dressed like one that's for sure. He started asking me whether or not I wanted a general (to fall asleep) or local (in the mouth) anesthetic. I didn't know I had a choice at all.
"Would you like me to put a lot of drugs in your mouth while you listen to me drill and try to pull out your teeth or would you rather fall asleep and have everything over with when you wake up?"
Obviously, I said I would fall asleep, with the way he phrased the options. He started talking to me about school. I felt a needle prick in my arm. I didn't know that it was the anesthetic but before I knew it, I was OUT. I don't think I dreamt at all, but it's kind of cool how the anesthetic just makes you fall asleep. I was perfectly fine and then next thing I know, I was up and the extraction process was over. The nurse was tidying up and the specialist guy was gone. The nurse took me to another room to lie down. I made sure I was steady on my feet, not like someone I know who walked all over to the place to get to that room because he couldn't keep his balance. I laid there for awhile, with the gauze in my mouth. My mouth was kind of numb. The general anesthetic was just wearing off, so felt kind of tired. Surprisingly, I didn't feel any pain in my mouth, and I still don't. So my mom came in to see how I was, the nurse gave her some instructions. Basically, I can't really eat for the next week or so. Only soft foods. And I have to wash my mouth with salty water after every meal.
After the extraction, I went home and had a nap. Kevin came over to chill with me after and brought me ice cream (chocolate and vanilla) because he's Super Kev! =)
Well, it's been 4 days since the extraction. Half of my wisdom is gone. I'm being really fragile with my mouth. I can talk, but still have to be really gentle. And tomorrow I'm going camping for the long weekend. Wow, I'll have nothing to eat at camp. Oh well. =( It'll be nice to get away!
Happy Canada Day!!!!!! 
Talking over Starbucks Frapps
Today, I went on my first ever university fieldtrip to the Hare Krishna temple in South Burnaby. It was a really good experience. I'll blog more about it later. Anyway, I'm really glad that Kevin came with me. It made the experience less intimdating than if I went by myself without knowing anyone. So really really thank you =)
Afterwards, we went for Starbucks Frappucinos. Yummm, haven't had some since last summer. Blackberry Green Tea...mmm it was kind of sweet but maybe because I just had a vegeterian feast. Altered my tastebuds? Anyway, I discovered that talking over Starbucks Frapps and sitting in the cozy environment of a coffee shop with jazz music playing in the background can really help people have great, meaningful and deep conversations. A lot is still running in my mind. I've learnt a lot. I still think I'm struggling a lot with what we said but I'm just really really thankful to have had the conversation. I don't feel like blogging about what we talked about, I just want to blog what I feel now after our talk. I just have an urge to type something to just say how satisfying it can be sometimes to talk about issues like these.
So we don't have a solution, but it's okay. We may never get one. But I'm so thankful that we can talk about it and that we can open up like that. Thanks for teaching me many things. Thanks for listening to me. Really really thanks =) Starbucks Frapps... let's do this again sometime.
Summer Session Starts
And so I have something to do for the summer! My summer course began yesterday and I'm actually looking forward to this class. Other than the fact that I'm still very very stressed from the fact that I have no jobs and I have a gazillion things to do at church, I'm still happy that there is some routine in my life with this new course. I'm taking Religious Studies 100 two nights a week, 3 hours each night.
Yesterday was really interesting because I got to see who the teacher was, what her lecturing style was like, and the content of religious studies. Studying in a religious studies course will be interesting because a lot of people I know have taken it, and also because I have always wondered about the different types of religion. When I tried to take this course in the beginning of the year, it conflicted with some of my required courses so I'm very glad that this summer one worked out. Hopefully it'll answer the questions I have about the different religions. Judging from the course outline, this class seems pretty easy too, so I'm quite excited. The teacher seems to be a pretty good lecturer (ie -no boring classes) because time totally flew by yesterday. I don't have to take this course, but I'm excited to be learning about the material taught in this course. This will be interesting considering my own religious background and also because religious studies is a complex subject. It comes from a variety of disciplines such as sociology, psychology, and history so I want to see if I can use what I've learned this year in those courses to what I'll be learning in the summer. I think it'll be a great way to wrap up first year. I'm glad I successfully survived my first 3 hour lecture and my first ever summer class, considering I've never taken summer school ever before in my life. Tomorrow I'll be going back to class again for the second time. We'll be learning about Hinduism. Hopefully it'll be fun again and I won't be tired, but maybe motivated. I'm going to start job hunting right now and maybe I'll end up having a fun summer after all. Stay positive!!!! =)
have a great day!!
Entering the World of Real Blogs?
So apparently I was told many times before that Xanga isn't a real blog. Anyway, sure, I don't agree or disagree. I just joined it because my friends had their stuff on Xanga. (www.xanga.com/soul_tattoo) Well now, I decided that I don't really like to use the HTML stuff to write each post because I always spend forever making my "blog entry" look pretty, so that's why I entered the world of Blogger, or "real blogs". I also entered because now I don't have to worry about fixing backgrounds and appearances because according to some unnamed source, it is more important about what you write than how your site looks like. So, on this note, I DID NOT get sucked in by anyone. It was my own decision.
I think I would like to use this blog to write down my thoughts perhaps? Or sharpen up my writing skills for future papers, journalistic aspriations, or law school. So I should probably try to write using proper English, grammar, and punctuation. I never updated my Xanga "blog" before but now that it seems more simplified (to me at least) I think I will. So here goes to the first blogger entry of my life. =)
Have a nice day. 
