Guy

With time to spare on my visit to the dentist, I made my way across the street to a shop I'd wanted to check out for some time. I entered the store and saw a familiar face inside.

No, it's not someone I actually know --or even met, before really. He's one of the coffee bar guys on my morning train. A little odd to suddenly run into him. He recognized me too. He's seen me on the train and he's also seen who I usually sit with. In fact, they've talked quite a few times in the station. I often wondered how they could know each other, before the obvious answer came to me: She gets a coffee every morning. At least once a week he serves it to her. They have a chance to talk. Simple.

He came over to talk to me and commented on recognizing me from the train. I told him the same. We talked about a few things and I mentioned (not sure why) that I've seen him talk to the hottie I usually sit with. And he says, "Oh. Oh, you must be that guy!"

And my response was a simple: "What guy?" And then his cell phone rang. He took the call and excused himself. I walked around the shop for a bit and when I turned next, he was waving goodbye as he walked out the door.

Wait. I'm that guy! WHAT guy?!? Am I that guy, who creeps her out? That guy, who longs to talk to her every morning? That guy, who bases the quality of his entire day based on whether or not he see her smile? That guy, who would give anything to learn more about her? That guy, who's been too afraid to ask her name because he doesn't want to come across as creepy? What guy?

What guy!?!

Mouthed

The last thing I needed during a couple stress weeks at work was something else going wrong... like, say, a filling coming out. That happened a week ago, Thursday.

What's worse is I couldn't for the life of me figure out where the filling came out. No matter where I rolled my tongue around, everything felt the same. That was bothersome. I assumed it was a very back molar, because I wouldn't regularly put my tongue on those anyway. When it came to dinner that night, I was very careful with my food. Except for one piece of cold broccoli --which the hit the bad spot. There's where the filling popped out. Owie.

So, somehow with everything else going on, I needed to find time to see my dentist. My dentist made it easy on me, though. They could book me for mid-November to "take a look", but then it would be some time after that before they could do anything for me.

So, more than a little frustrated, I sent out a message on my company messageboard to see if anyone could recommend a good dentist for an emergency. One of my bosses recommended a place. I wasn't sure why he'd CC'd a couple other guys on the email, but a reply from one of them explained it all. "It's supposed to be a secret" (including a link to the dentist's website), he said. I clicked on the link...

Have you ever thought to yourself, while watching those medical shows on TV: "Why is it that every doctor and every nurse is so good looking on these shows, but in reality, there's no one like that!"

I found the dental equivalent.

This office is filled with smokin' hot women. No wonder it's supposed to be a secret!

I went in on Monday this week and have to say, it was easy keeping my mouth open. Getting my jaw off the floor after was a bit more difficult, but I eventually managed to do it. The dental assistant (wow!) sat and talked to me while we waited for the dentist and talked about commuting on the train (she takes the train too, so I made her an honorary Train Hottie). Then the dentist walked in. Ho-lee cow! She probably could've convinced me of anything, I was so distracted the entire time she was there! But then, when it came time to actually check my tooth, she leaned over me, put a couple fingers in my mouth and her other hand on my shoulder and said: "This'll hurt a little."

To which the only response my now-idiot male brain could come up with was "muh-ha."

After my appointment, I made another one (don't judge) to get the filling (and a couple others) re-done in a week.

Afterward, I noticed a shop across the street I'd always wanted to check out. Since I still had time before I said I'd be back at work, I decided to go across and check it out.

When I walked in, I met someone I wasn't really expecting to....

But that's a story for another day.

Dumped

Upon my return from California, I discovered I'd been promoted (is that the trick? Go on vacation?). No, no raise, but it makes me look good later on.

With the promotion came a couple dump trucks filled with work and responsibility. Topping it off was the expectation that work I'd done previously could also be done at the same time. Add to that mix that an extra "fun" thing I got to do in Springtime had quintuplied in size and they wanted me all over it and suddenly I found myself with 14+ weeks of work to between October 15 and 31!

How I got through it all, I just don't know.

It was a lot of work dumped on me (with more to come!), but I'm hoping it reflects in the end in March when careers are finally decided.

Canned

No, not fired.

There's a lot I could say about the week I went to California and a lot more I anticipated I could talk about. Sadly, the truth is the day after we arrived in Orange County, I'd nearly drowned myself drinking water as the heat really got to me.

And with drinking water came Montezuma's Revenge... California-style.

So, 3 days in Disneyland also meant two days where I visited every men's room in the park. And I have to say, I was impressed with how tidy they were (especially compared to the half-dozen or so I visited in Legoland). Yep, lots of days on the can. That's how I was "canned."

I know Disneyland's supposed to be the Happiest Place on Earth((tm)?), but the fact that every bathroom had someone singing in it was a little annoying. "A Whole New World"? Annoying. "Hakuna Matata"? Annoying. "Whistle While You Work"? VERY annoying! "Some Day My Prince Will Come"? More frightening than annoying.

I'm recovered now, but it's been over 2 weeks since I got home. Eesh.