yeah, i'm sick.

i notice that my sinuses were blocked up on monday or tuesday, but i didn't start feeling sick until i got back from groceries on wednesday night, meaning i think that it's actually allergies. i mean, i felt fine when i left, and pretty awful when i got home.

we had a late spring, here. i bet the pollen indicators are off the chart.

there could be one awesome party in detroit tonight.

instead, there's going to be ten completely dead ones.

there's too many dance parties in detroit tonight, and each one is going to be mostly empty, except the one in the venue that nobody can fit into, which is the one people are going to want to go to because it's open late.

the rational thing to do would be to get one of the larger spaces open later, and co-operate in filing out a dense two-room party. but, detroit isn't rational.

i'd no doubt be failing like everybody else, it's just barely warm enough after all, but i picked something up last week and i'm still nursing it in my throat. it's a dry cough and a sore throat. i may have just smoked too much at the painted lady, i don't know. i know i'm sick, i know i haven't slept, i know i haven't eaten, and i know that none of the rock shows are interesting enough to pull me out early.

i will go out solely to dance, sometimes. but, i usually need the early show to get me out of the house, and it's not there, tonight.

so, i'm going to eat and clean myself up a little and see how i feel, but i'm probably actually going to bed early tonight.

we'll see what's going on tomorrow, but i actually think i'm planning something hefty for next week, and it probably makes more sense to stay in this week and get rested up for it.

but, the techno scene in detroit is actually very small. there's three hundred dedicated people, max. if you try and split that across five or six bars, you just get a lot of dead spaces.

it's a prisoner's dilemma, detroit. n-player. figure it out.

my habit, right now, is that i brush after i eat, which is usually once a day. i mean, if i ate more, i'd brush more. but, what's the point of randomly brushing?

for the short term, i'm going to start brushing before i go to sleep. i suppose that the fact that i drink a lot of coffee makes that worthwhile - it means i'll start wiping the coffee off of my teeth before i go to bed.

it turns out that estrogen is thought to be good for your teeth. that's good.

what about smoking? well, it's probably the primary problem, and i've largely reversed it.

and, i need to start actually going to routine cleanings, too.

i'm not young any more, but my teeth are in good shape. it's the gums that i need to be more proactive about.

so, what did the second dentist say?

well, i had the consultation done, first, and then the dentist came in. i think this is key to understanding the different analysis.

she agreed that the issues on my molars were too small to warrant drilling, but she pointed out an area of decay near the gum line that the other one didn't catch and suggested filling it in. in fact, i think it was exposed after the exam, which involved some water spraying (but wasn't what would be called a teeth cleaning).

in the summer of 2005, i fell off my bicycle on the way home from a concert and smashed my face on a metal grate at hog's back bridge. i still have a scar on my chin, and i bashed up a part of my teeth; i actually could have easily fallen in the rapids. this was sealed over in 2013 and i'd actually completely forgotten about it. but, i guess it was softening up and the water opened it back up, because there it is. i didn't realize what she was talking about until i got home and saw it in the mirror.

i decided to give it six months, and the hole is in truth a little but smaller than i remember it. but, i'm well aware that this isn't a choice - if anything, the fact that i chipped the tooth in that spot is just increasing the likelihood of cavity around it. we'll see how that tooth feels.

how about my gums?

i don't floss, because i've been told it's a waste of time. they've done systemic reviews; there is no actual science underlying flossing, it's the perfect example of what is called pseudo-science. ask your dentist to justify what they tell you about flossing by citing peer-reviewed science and become distraught when you realize that they can't because there isn't any. flossing was invented by the toothpaste corporations and is more about advertising than science. however, i might be overbrushing, and that's something i might want to be more cognizant about.

i've got most of my health under very strict control, but i've largely neglected my oral care. i think it's time for that to change, and for me to get my mouth up to code with the rest of my health..