A "Ho Hum" Kind of Day

Not much happened today, although it is now officially one week since my surgery. I am healing pretty well, and my pain level has sufficiently decreased. I felt a little panicky about falling behind on my homework, and I spend most of the day working on that. I have managed to complete about three quarters of my homework by the end of the day. I am so proud of myself, that I treat myself to some t.v. A guilty pleasure of mine is "America's Next Top Model" and the new cycle has just begun. This season, there is a contestant names Isis, who is physically a man, and is in the process of becoming a woman. I applaud Isis for taking the risk and entering the contest. Isis is actually very pretty and a very good model.

I will now stop flaunting my liberalism, and move on to one of my new favorite shows "Flight of the Conchords." It is a show about two New Zealand musicians trying to survive in New York City. They are quite funny, and their music is hilariously fantastic. And I know their significant others will give me dirty looks for this, but Bret and Jermaine are very attractive, in a goofily sexy kind of way. They are a bit too old for me however.

I forgot to mention that I have been turning the expansion device that is bridged across my mouth and attached to my teeth. I have attached a picture of what it looks like, but it is not the exact one in my mouth. It has been difficult getting the turning device hooked on to the device, and we had to use a pin once, but it is painless. I have had two of these previously, and my parents would have to bribe me with pumpkin ice cream to get me to turn the device. I do not remember the process being quite so painless. I will turn the device for about two week, and the expander will be removed, and a less invasive device will be placed to hold the expansion while my palate re-fuses. Oh yeah, it will also give me a gap tooth, but my oral surgeon has assured me it will not be that big due to the expansion I have already had. By the way, I discovered that the name of the surgery I had is "SARPE" (Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion). SARPE...I love that!

Post "Depart"um Depression

The inevitable day has come, and my grandma leaves today. I hold out some hope that my mother will be late picking my brother up from his early release day, but my mom decides to break character and arrive on time. It takes all my willpower to get in the car, as I know that I will soon be forced to say a difficult goodbye.
The ride to the airport is far too short, and before I know it, we've arrived at the Southwest terminal. My grandma gets out of the car, and I have half a mind to grab her arm and force her to stay. Instead, I throw my arms around her and give her a tight hug. I tell her I will call her on her birthday, as I fight back a violent stream of tears about to let loose. Soon, all the bags have been unpacked and all the goodbyes have been said. My grandma is on her way back to Arizona, and I am on my way to depression.
I am relieved of my sadness for a little while when Laurie Lieber, pilates teacher extraordinaire comes and visits me. She has brought me some lovely sunflowers and these cheer me up as well. We have a nice chat about my recovery and politics and how difficult it is to find my house. We live a block away from the Piedmont border so our address is constantly listed as Piedmont. I am happy to have a visitor and a distraction from my gloomy mood.
I make the mistake of watching "The Life Before Her Eyes." It is a very well done and well acted film, but the subject matter (a mentally ill student engaging in a murderous rampage, a mother watching her young daughter transform into a future delinquent and then catches her husband cheating) only puts me in a worse mood, and I am not sure I even completely understand the movie. I decide I will give this movie another try, or possibly read the book when I am in a better mood.
My father has decided to watch the Republican Convention for reasons I cannot fathom (his excuse? "We need to know our enemy") and I decide to tune in as well. What I hear makes me want to run to the toilet and vomit. Rudy Giuliani is just spewing verbal diarrhea and does not know what he is saying. Then Sarah Palin takes the mike, and let me tell you, she is not getting my vote for mother of the year anytime soon. If a) I had a four month old son with down's syndrome and b) a 17 year old daughter who was five months pregnant, I would not accept the vice presidential nomination. I would even have resigned my post as governor so that my children would not be subject to such scrutiny, and more importantly, I could focus on them and care for them since they are in obvious need of help. When she speaks, Palin speaks with great power and magnetism, but also with an incredible, high falutin arrogance. This is not a woman I would want leading me, and I find my homework much more appealing than watching her speak.
I need a rest after watching the Moron Convention, and I now know why songwriters talk of sleeping in a "cold and lonely bed."

Grandma's Last Day

Today I wake up in a sad mood. I realize that tomorrow my grandma who has been taking such good care of me is leaving for her home in Arizona. She had lived with us for about sixteen years up until this May, and that has been hard on me. I am very close to my grandma, and it has been hard not having her around. I am making salmon for dinner in her honor, as her 75th birthday is in six days, and she has a tradition of eating salmon on her birthday. I am in such a sad state, and my mouth is killing me, so my mom decides to drag me to Trader Joe's to go shopping for dinner while my grandma gets her hair done. While at Trader Joe's, my mom buys some internal arnica, which helps with the swelling and pain. My mom decides that we should go out to lunch. We pick a Vietnamese restauraunt called Xyclo. The food is tasty, and I decide to go back when I have regained feeling in my upper mouth and my menu options are a bit broader. When I get home, I can't bring myself to do much. I do some web surfing, and before I know it, dinnertime had arrived. I am glad to have something productive to do. The recipe for company salmon that Laura has sent me is a hit, and I feel glad to be able to give back to my grandma, even though it does not measure up to all she has given me. I dread tomorrow night when my bed will be strangely cold and empty.

She Can Chew!

I woke up this morning to the smell of Trader Joe's pecan cinnamon buns. The smell was overpowering, and I was feeling adventurous. Despite my mother's doubt that I could eat it, I grabbed a sticky bun off the platter, put it on to my plate, ripped off a hunk of the warm bready pastry and popped it in my mouth. Then to my amazement, I discovered that I was able to chew! I gently ground the bread with my teeth and swallowed. I was able to finish the entire bun.
I looked at the date a realized that it was September 1st which meant Gossip Girl was on tonight. I immediately tried to distract myself by adding music to my Ipod, and watching movies. I was also grateful that my friend Jordan in Arizona called. We were able to gush together about how excited we were for the new season to begin, and I had not talked to her since the night before my surgery. Then, as I was putting the final sentence on my Government homework I checked the clock. 7:59...one more minute!

I cleared my family out of the family room, minus my sister who is also an avid fan of the show, and planted myself on the couch. I changed the channel to The CW and was soon immersed in the world of the rich, young and tan Upper East Siders, now vacationing in the Hamptons. Speaking of tan, Penn Badgley's makeup artist has either applied too much fake tanning solution, or has not taken the time to rub the solution in. Poor Penn is absolutely orange and this is exaggerated by his crisp white suite. I am quickly distracted by the fact that Penn's character Dan has gotten back together with Serena, played by Blake Lively. Dan and Serena broke up last season, much to my upset. Penn and Blake make a cute onscreen (and offscreen????) couple. Throw in an english lord fighting with the villain you love to hate, Chuck Bassfor the affection of Blair( Blair's best line of the night? "Damn that motherchucker...I hate that Chuck Basstard!) and the boyishly handsome Nate's affair with an older, married woman that Serena is pretending to date him to cover it up? Oh yeah, its gonna be a fantastic season!



You Know I Loved It!
xoxo- Arielle