Tooth ninja

On my way to becoming a tooth ninja.....

Finally received my fixed protsthetics and restorative I permits from the dental board.

We're going to need a bigger wall!

Dobbs' anniversary

Today was our two year anniversary with Dobbs the dog.  Yesterday we went and got a family portrait taken at a local photo studio.  Happy gotcha day, Dobbs! I'm glad we are giving you a good life. :)

WWF2

So I'm waaaay late to the party; I started playing Words with Friends 2 about six months ago.  Main barrier was that it's kinda fucked they pretty much just stole Scrabble and I'm a purist (was?)

Anyway, here are some screenshots of some doozies I've had on my rack!

Some of these are funny to me because they are dental words, like cuspids, cuspidor, and exudate. Some are funny because of the sexual nature. The last one is funny because the opponent on the screen is my brother, who has been as IV drug user for over a decade.  Maybe my sense of humor is a bit warped. Who knows?

Come play me: susanf1320

Serious inquiries only! 😎

Selfie Sunday

A friend posted this photo.  I am dying!! 🤣

Dental conference

I've been at a dental conference for the past two days. It was awesome!!  On Thursday, I took a photography class. It was hands on, so we were actually taking clinical photos with our cameras and using mirrors, retractors, and contraster. I got a lot of helpful tips.

This afternoon, I took a class with a doc from Long Island. It was outstanding. I have several pages of notes and am so excited to discuss with my doc on Monday.

Here is a pic of our office at the photo booth:

Tooth Bootcamp

I've been going to tooth boot camp to get my black belt. In addition to my hygiene license with anesthesia, I have completed two of the five expanded functions for missouri.  I did fixed prosthetics two weeks ago, and restorative I this past weekend.  It was Springfield.  The drive home was beautiful with all the fall colors.

Cell phone lot selfies

Jason has been festing in Florida for a week.  I've been enjoying my time at home with doggo, but I'm glad Jason is home.

As soon as he left, I wish I had gone, too. But I didn't want to take off work and I couldn't justify the price to go for only two days.  We will both go back in February for my birthday, so I will just keep saving for that.

I drove to the airport earlier to pick up Jason.  I was waiting in the cell phone lot. He texted me when he arrived, and also asked if there was a dog in the car.  I replied, 'Of course!'

Dobbs wants to help, too!

I'm lazy today and trying to work on the couch. Dobbs just wants to help.....or he is starved for attention. Probably the latter! Lol.

Witches night out

I went to a witches night out event with my mom.  It was in their hometown.  All the shops on Main Street were open late and having sales.  There were djs playing music and a lot of shops had special "witch's brew" cocktails.

It was a lot of fun!  And so funny. There were 100s of women dressed like witches, just walking around.  Looking into a window of a restaurant or walking into a bar, seeing a whole room full of witch hats. I have to laugh.

Would def witches night out again. A+.

Kevin

Soooooo, I went to a CE course at a country club out in west county. When I was at the registration desk signing in, the lady behind the desk said to me, "Oh, you must be Kevin!"

I stand up straight, look right at her and say, "My name is Susan, and I am female."

I continued to stand there and look at this women (who was supposed to give me an information packet for the lecture) as she continued to insert her foot farther and farther into her mouth and down her throat.

She never apologized to me. She said something about "all this gender stuff going on" and finally just shut her mouth and gave me the papers.

Now, I was not upset about being mistaken for a male.bit happens to me A LOT. Like several times per year.  I used to get upset about it when I was younger, but now I kinda get off in how mortified the other person is when they realize their mistake.

So, I go into the meeting, and two things happen.

One, I am determined to find the real Kevin. I want to ask to take a photo together. There are only two men at the meeting, so I easily find the real Kevin, but stop short of asking for a photo. He is a 50-something year old dentist with salt/pepper receeding hairline.

Two, I start to process the things this lady said to me about "all this gender stuff going on" and I'm wondering, what exactly does she perceive my situation to be?  Like, does she think I am a trans person, and I'd so does she think I am a trans man or a trans woman? Seriously, WTF?!

Teaching

I am very excited, because I was hired for 1099 work teaching English to Chinese children, and I just had my first class!  An adorable 7 year old girl who was a little shy at first, but opened up and participated in the class.  She was a confident speaker and could read well, too.

The company provides all the teaching materials, and it is total immersion, so I don't need to know Chinese. Each class is 25 minutes long.

I had a lot of fun for the first class, I hope I get more bookings.  :)

I'm still working at the dental office full time, I just have my teaching slots open for a few hours on the weekend in the morning.  If I can do even just five hours of teaching a week, that is an extra $500/mo.  My goal is to pay down some debt, save money to have to radiant flooring installed, and save for a trip to Iceland to go on a Game of Thrones tour for Jason's 40th birthday next year.

Here are the pics on my profile:

And since it's 1099 work, all via a Skype-type platform, I am going to write off my internet bill for taxes. :)

Wedding in DC

We were in DC for a family wedding last weekend. It was cold, rainy, quite miserable, but we made it out to the sites on Sunday morning. We were about ten days too early for peak cherry blossoms, but there were some trees with a few buds.

It was Jason's first time in DC, and he was able to see The Mall and The White House.

On Friday, we met up with everyone at Old Nesbitt Grill, then closed out the night (read: drank all the Wild Turkey in DC) at The Bottom Line. It was ridiculous and we were hungover as fuck on Saturday.

Wedding was Saturday night at the Daughters of the American Revolution. It was a beautiful building. There were four volumes of my family's history published in the library.

Funny moment was when my cousin Mike had to break the glass at the end of the ceremony.  His brother Chris, who officiated along with Mel's brother David, forgot to bring something glass. He asked the people at DAR, and they said he could take a lightbulb from one of the lamps in the library.  He didn't realize it was plastic!! So when Mike stepped on it, it just collapsed!

Pet portraits

I have been riding a wave of creativity the past six weeks.  Getting fired has lit a fire in me.  I have been working in an office for three weeks, and so far I am liking it, although I am still full of doubt.  At the end of the day, my happiness is all that matters.  I looked extensively online about obtaining teacher certification.  I know I would enjoy teaching high school math or science.  I actually made an appt with an advisor in Carbondale in the Spring of 2011 and drove down there to get more information about what I would need to do/what classes to take to become a teacher.  This was when I was unsure about pursuing dental school, and I ultimately decided to pass on both.  I'm only ruling out dental school now because I already have pain in my neck from working in dentistry, and I don't want to go into extreme debt and build a practice only to have chronic pain.  Teaching appeals to me for a variety of reasons, one of which is that summer vacation.  What can I say, I'm a dreamer, and I fantasize about spending summer break traveling the world.

Jason and I are going to DC this weekend for my cousin Mike's wedding.  I made a portrait of his and his fiance's dog, Scout, in a similar liking to the one I made of my dog.  I had prints of both dog portraits printed.  Dobbs' is currently hanging in the living room, and Scout's is in a nice frame, which I will take to DC this weekend.

I'm thinking of offering to do more of these for people, but for money.  I also have several ideas for dental/dental hygienist apparel that I want to screen print and sell for money.  I have finalized several designs.  I will start making screens when we come back from DC, then start printing, and (hopefully) selling.

Jason and I found several palates in the alley.  I have ideas that we can make artwork and LP crates out of the palates, and have already made preliminary sketches.

I'm also thinking about making a short film that centers on my personal experience of being back on the job hunt as of recent.  I want it to showcase a hygienist and all the crazy bullshit working conditions and offers she encounters as she is trying to find a job after she is abruptly let go.  I have not put pen to paper, but have started character bios and looked up information about SAG talent and film budgeting.

I am happy now, but I never wasn't happy (at least in regards to my former boss telling me I wasn't without even asking me.  Some people talk the talk but don't walk the walk).

Here is Scout's portrait:

Drag Show

In continuing this streak of doing new things, going on adventures, getting outside my comfort zone,  I participated in a drag show on Saturday night.

It was a fundraiser, put on by a local organization.  Different charity organizations put on drag skits, and the winner won cash money for their organization.

Our Nepal group participated.  We did a Madonna Mash-up.  We had four men from our group dressed up as four different Madonnas.  There was Like a Prayer Madonna, Like a Virgin Madonna, Vogue Madonna, and Material Girl Madonna.  They lip-synced the songs, and then there was eight or so of us women who were back-up dancers.

So, I was up on stage, dancing, in an auditorium, in front of a large crowd of people.  Definitely something I would never have thought I would have done, but I had a lot of fun.  Besides, no one was even watching us, what with our Madonna's out front.

Our group was voted the winner, so we won the prize money to put towards the next mission trip.

Here is a video:

Too tall for Nepal

I had an opportunity to go to Nepal with a group of outstanding healthcare professionals.  We were there for two weeks. The first week was spent treating patients at the Mitrata HQ in Kathmandu, then at a three day clinic in a remote village called Lisankhu. The second week was an optional backpacking adventure to Mardi Himal high camp. It was the most challenging yet regarding experience of my entire life, and I'm already looking forward to going back.


Mardi Himal, aka Fish Tail.  The most sacred peak in the Annapurna Range.  It is forbidden to climb the front peak.  Climbers are only allowed on the back peak.





It was 13.5 hours from Chicago to Abu Dhabi, the longest I've ever been on a plane.  I slept most of the way there.  After a few hours layover, we arrived in Kathmandu.  We arrived at about 9:30pm, so the airport was not the clusterfuck I was expecting.  I could still sense an electricity in the air, and the chaos was very liberating. There were very few stop lights in Kathmandu.  Just a large dirt road, on which literally anyone or anything is allowed....scooters, Mack trucks, bicycles, cows, dogs, pedistrians, cars....anyone!  There are roundabouts everywhere and it just seems to work.


At the airport, prepping to board our flight to Abu Dhabi.  It was supposed to be 16 hours, but the jet stream was in our favor, and we made it in about 13.5 hours.

At out hotel in Kathmandu.  90% of Nepal is Buddhist.  About 9% in Hindi, and the other 1% is Muslim, Christian, or other.

Our hotel in Kathmandu.  I loved the ambience of the courtyard.  Also, that pink azalea is four stories tall!

Electrical lines in Kathmandu.  In the country, there were also power lines, but not like this.  A lot of houses in the country had a solar panel on the roof to charge batteries.  On our hike, the tea houses would have enough juice for a few hours of light in the evening.

 








An entertaining dinner in Kathmandu:

Around Kathmandu:











My view of Kathmandu from the top of Mitrata HQ, where we did a one day clinic.  It was sweltering up there, plus the jet lag.  I was not happy at the end of the day!

Working at Mitrata clinic:

Mark and Diane:




Trish and Yours Truly:








Fiona:





Mary G:






Kathy, MD, and John:









Group shot at end of Mitrata clinic








Our third day in Nepal was an eight hour bus ride on a very rough, dirt road to Lisansku.  We stopped for lunch, and I had my first encounter with a Turkish toilet.  I went in, looked around, and came right back out and asked what I was supposed to do...there was a hole in the ground, that part was obvious.  But then there was a box in the corner, a large bucket of water, and a smaller pitcher of water.  I hit my head on the doorframe.  This was the first time of many that I conked my head in Nepal.


Lisankhu is a remote village.  Our sherpa, Karma, is from there, and that is how our organization came to care for the people in Lisankhu.  Some of our doctors met Karma several years ago when he was hired as a guide for another trip they went on.  They really connected with him, and were able to organize a medical/dental trip to his home village because his family are elders and leaders in the village and can facilitate these types of things coming together.  On the 2017 clinic, between medical and dental, we treated 698 patients over three days

In the country, all the houses had chickens and/or goats.  People grow rice, millet, and vegetables.  There is milk and cheese.  The millet is used to make a homebrew called raksi (roxy).  I did not partake, but some people in our group who did got suuuuuper sick.

This building is the school in Lisansku, and it was the home to our clinic for three days.  There was no electricity.  We had a gas generator:

Registration at Lisanskhu clinic.  Some people walked three days to come see us.  The elders of the village were part of the decision-making process for which patients had care first and such:

Eye glasses station at Lisankhu clinic, Kathy and John:

Dental clinic at Lisansku:



 






 Marvin (Dentist from Honduras, currently living in the States and trying to get into dental school here, and Diane:

 



Trish and Joe:








Yours truly working in dental clinic.  My patients laid down on a wood plank and spit into the blue bags.

Medical team at Lisansku clinic:

Dr. Donna and one of our translators, Pawan, who is from Mitrata, provide for a Lisanskhu man:

Beth and Fiona:










Some local Lisankhu women

More Lisankhu locals:

 

 




 





This is Anil, one of our translators.  He is 30, and had just returned home to Nepal after living in Dubai for five years for work.  A lot of Nepali men in their 20s leave to work in the Middle East.  At the end of our Lisankhu clinic, some of us played soccer against the local kids.  The whole village came out to watch.  Anil played on our team, as did two of the local police officers.  It was really nice to see the police in a positive way like that and interacting with the local community, especially considering the hostile climate with law enforcement in the States.  Anyway, I played soccer, too.  I'm sure it was a sight!  I actually jumped up and touched the ball with my arms at one time and the crowd erupted because their home team got to penalty kick.  It was fascinating to see the locals running around on the dirt and rock pitch with flip flops or barefoot.  Anil played barefoot and score our lone goal.  I had a hard enough time running around with my regular shoes on!  We lost 3-1 but it was still a lot of fun. 












The newbs of the group, in perfect bell curve formation, on a hike of Lisankhu.  It was on this hike that I slipped off the rice paddy terrace and Bacchu grabbed my backpack and pulled me back up.

 Farewell ceremony at our camp in Lisansku with our translators from Mitrata.

A Buddhist blessing at our camp on our final day in Linsakhu:

Bacchu and our bus driver on the way back to Kathmandu.  Bacchu is sitting on the transmission block, I am sitting on a bench next to him with a propane tank (full of gas) between by legs, and Mayra is next to me with the tools for changing flat tires next to her.

Prop plane was our ride to Pokhara.  It was either a 30 minute ride via plane, or an eight hour bus ride.

 Pokhara is a beautiful tourist spot in the Annapurna Range.  Pokhara was where we started and ended our trek.  I did another four days in the woods without a shower.

Our first stop on the trek, Shangri-La Tea House.  This was a challenging day.  I don't know how much altitude we gained, but it was hot as balls and sunny as fuck.   The view was worth it.  There was no shower, but my room had a western-style toilet (FUcK YeS!)

 

 




At Shangri-La.  Those little trees?--marigolds!  The flowers were huge in Nepal, because at the lower altitudes, the growing season is year-round.

Some shopping at Shangri-La:

 


 

Second day, on the way to Forest Camp.  On the trek, we saw water buffalo, cows, horses, yaks, sheep, goats, chickens and donkeys.

Second day of trek, on our way to Forest Camp:

These are the types of living structures seen along the path to the various tea houses.










Yours truly, Bacchu (who is about 4'8" and saved my life when he pulled me back onto the terrace when I slipped as we were walking along a rice paddy), and my roommate Salia, who is one of the coolest people I have met.  She is a pharmacy student, and this trip was one of her school rotations.  This photo is from the second day of our trek, when we stopped for tea.

Second night, Forest Camp. That is coreopsis next to me.  At home it is a ground cover, in Nepal it was five feet tall with flowers as big as my palm.  There was also marijuana plants behind the chicken coup at Forest Camp.  No shower, a community hole in the ground, but one of the other buildings here did have a western-style toilet (FUcK YeS!)

 Day three: high camp.  Quite miserable.  Cold as fuck.  Altitude sickness.  But a great view.  I almost started crying when I we arrived. out of shear joy at making it.  It was a cold and rainy hike, and I conked my head open on a low tree branch.

The view at high camp was beautiful:

Once we got above the tree line, the terrain became rather Tolkien.

 On our way to scenic overlook at Mardi Himal.  We went up to about 13,000ft.  Most of our group experienced some sort of mild-moderate altitude sickness.  For me, it was waking up several times in the night, gasping for air, and lots of painful gas and bloating.  As soon as we started to descend, the gas went away like some one flipped a switch.  This trek to the overlook was the hardest thing I have done in my life.  I was having flashbacks to some of the most intense swim team training sets from high school and college.

 



 




Yours truly atop the world:

 Yaks atop the world:

This is Low Camp tea house.  I killed two spiders (one tiny, one the size of my palm!!) in my room, right by my head.  I was afraid to sleep on my side facing the wall for the remainder of the night.  My back was so sore, but I would NOT roll over!  Low Camp was still at a high altitude, and it was cold.  I slept in my clothes inside the down sleeping bag.

At low camp.  Our Sherpa, Karma, on the left wearing blue jacket, his main man Bacchu next to him, along with the rest of the guide team.  Sau is on the far right.  He turned 21 two days after this photo as taken.  Karma wanted him to converse in English with all of us as much as possible in order to get better at the language, which would in turn provide more work opportunities for him.  All our guides spoke English very well.

How do you spell relief?  Sidhing!  My first hot shower in days, a western style toilet (FUcK Yes!).  A great view, beautiful gardens, and some asshole French people.  But we had a party with our guides since it was the last night.  It was a lot of fun.

 Going back down from Sidhing to Pokhara.  It was a three hour ride in these Jeeps on very rough terrain, and some of our guides just rode on the roof.

 Back in Pokhara, it was Diwali:

 

 

 If you have the chance to paraglide off a mountain, you should take it!  These guides jump three times per day, seven days per week. My guide for this adventure was Ming.

 

Our group in Pokhara, after a Diwali blessing:

 

Kathmandu during Diwali:

Yours truly and Mayra in a rickshaw.  We raced to the restaurant.  Our driver came in third place.  It was a wild  ride with pedestrians, other rickshaws, scooters, and dogs in the street as well.

My roommate Salia and I at final dinner, in traditional clothing we had made just for us.