Holiday Forecast: Blah

This started off being a pretty pissed off entry, but I've mellowed quite a bit since I started writing, so now this is more of a even-keeled, yet resigned kind of post. That's good, because I was starting to even get pretty tired of my own bitching ... maybe even more than any of you must be by now, heh heh.

It becomes more and more clear to me as time moves on just how enormous of a financial mistake I made this past summer when I green-lighted the repair of my car's steering system. From that precise point onwards, I have basically been spinning wheels in order to keep up with my financial responsibilities, and feeling that control of my life has slipped out of my hands. Exacerbating this feeling is the remarkable runaway domino effect that seemingly went into motion within weeks of my going into debt: since the middle of August, life has been like an unending display of Murphy's Law in action as just about everything possible that could go wrong has gone wrong.

I think I reached a peak in my level of distress or depression last week with how the second half of this year has unfolded (and keeps unfolding), and since then I've adopted a more jaded, yet minutely positive attitude over the last few days regarding life as we know it on Thanksgiving eve, 2005.

Anyway, the situation here has once again become more complicated financially. Since the Cleveland Free Clinic wasn't taking any new patients until January (?!) and I could not reach the Painesville location after multiple attempts, I finally made an appointment with the dentist I last visited in mid-2000. I actually kinda like this guy and he usually does a fine job of putting me at ease, but this time was not one of those happier occasions as it seems he cannot take care of this particular problem.

Instead, I have been referred to an oral surgeon who will apparently have to remove my last remaining wisdom tooth from my mouth at a rather inflated cost as compared to what it would be if my dentist had just done it on the morning of my visit. Oddly, I can't see the problem as I have obviously had a lower wisdom tooth done before by a regular dentist with no ill effect. My dentist also mentioned a gum infection and an abcess, but the oral surgeon (who seems to be a pretty cool guy, very likable and also quick to ease any apprehensions I had) couldn't find any serious problem in those areas when I asked him about them during my examination.

So far, I'm at $230 spent without anything having actually been done yet. $160 on a set of x-rays to find this out at the dentist's office and then $70 for a five-minute consultation with the oral surgeon (!).

Jesus, I picked the wrong career ...


NP Roger Waters Ça Ira