As you get older, you find yourself doing things you never thought you’d do. Or, more accurately, doing things you never gave a thought about one way or another. For instance, a while back, I bought a WaterPik. It’s just a lot easier to use that to blast the crud out from between my teeth than it is to floss (especially since I also use these little Christmas tree brushes to brush between teeth – speaking of things I not only never thought about, but never heard of).
Anyhow, I never gave it much thought, but it turns out that, unless you’d like to get very wet, the process of using the thing involves filling the reservoir with warm water (my teeth have become so sensitive that anything varying more than about three degrees above or below body temperature hurts like hell) and a shot of Listerine (speaking of things I never gave a thought about, I never knew where the name for that came from until I saw a movie quite a few years ago about a Scottish surgeon named Joseph Lister who apparently decided that if Carbolic Acid was good enough for sewage, it was good enough for his patients, thereby ushering in the age of modern surgery and the antiseptic method. I assume he became a physician because Dr. Lister sounded a lot less ridiculous than Mr. Lister. But anyways…), and then bending over the sink to let the water drain out of your mouth.
I never really pictured myself bent over in the bathroom with a pulsating tool squirting warm liquid into my mouth. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course – just never thought it would be how I’d start and end my day. Then again, I thought I’d be dead by now, so what do I know?
Not that I hadn’t spend some quality time hunkered down over porcelain in the bathroom back in the day, don’t get me wrong. It just typically involved inspecting the underside of the toilet rim. All-in-all, I have to say I much prefer the WaterPik.
Speaking of teeth, mine hurt. I’m starting to understand why George Washington always looks like such a miserable son-of-a-bitch in all those portraits you see of him. The big problem is my temporary crowns (in particular, the latest one). Any food or liquid of any temperature that gets near that bottom one sets off severe stabbing pain. Good thing these are both on one side, I guess, but I’ve come to find myself eating with my head tilted as far to the left as I can get it, in hopes of preventing anything sneaking over that way. I only hope I can make it another eight days ’til I get the permanent ones glued on. That’ll probably hurt, too.
I need drugs.
Speaking of bad teeth, today is Eric Clapton’s 66thbirthday. Seems like he ought to be older than that, doesn’t it?
So what did you think about that major firefight in Afghanistan? You know, the one that was reported on all the networks yesterday? Oh, you didn’t hear about it? Imagine that.
Mr. FK is ok, thankfully, but many many are not. Carlos is not there – again, thankfully.
If we had a draft do you think stories about Americans in foreign wars would actually make it on American TeeVee? If America had a mandatory draft, do you think we’d be more cautious before blasting our weapons? I, of course, don’t want a draft. I don’t want anything to do with war, frankly. But IF we did have one, I’ve got to believe that Americans would be less tolerant of American military action.
sign,
A disgusted American
I have to point out that we had a draft and it didn’t stop the killing of 57,000 Americans in Viet Nam. As for the American public, which tends to appear in statements like The American public turned against the war. they really mean some polling percentage. The rightwing loons were well represented and our legislatures were no more courageous than the present lot.
I don’t know if the reporting about the war was more forthcoming either. The assumption was we going to win or else the Commies would come to America and force us to …….
The wingnuts are always trying to scare people about some existential threat. Those of us whom they fail to scare are afraid of the wingnuts. This is a very scary country.
I’m always relieved to hear that Mr. FK and Carlos are OK. I love their honesty and courage. And, while they clearly do not agree, I’d love to know they have taken up gardening in OK.
Hang in there, OKat. I know you have enormous courage, too….but at least you garden.
As Republican lawmakers push for expansion of Milwaukee’s 20-year-old voucher program, state test results for the first time show voucher students performing “similar or worse” than other poor Milwaukee students, according to the Department of Public Instruction.
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/article_4f083f0e-59a7-11e0-8d74-001cc4c03286.html
Well, Vietnam was quite different. For one thing, there hadn’t been a Vietnam yet. Also, times were very different between when it started with us just sticking it in a little bit, and when our guys basically decided to not keep getting killed (this, all due respect to the antiwar demonstrators, was the biggest reason the war came to an end). Of course there was the whole “if we’ve lost Cronkite…” moment for Nixon, too.
Vietnam was the first “real time” war – where graphic photos and film of the fighting and blood and death and dying were available almost immediately, and journalists had nearly unfettered access (a lot more Mister FKs there, and a lot fewer Richard Engels).
The military learned a lot from that. Namely, control the media.
I had thought we the people had wised up and learned form Vietnam, but of course we didn’t. It just took the mooslam boogie man and a lot of corporate-driven propaganda and tight “message” control to get everybody on board.
As for the draft, the nice, clean cut boys didn’t get drafted in Vietnam. Just the dirty yo-know-whats and hippies and such. Pretty much the same as the “all volunteer” army of today. If you consider not have any other options in your life but to enlist in the military to be volunteering.
Either way, it keeps the nice white kids out, and we don’t have to deal with looking at the unpleasantness of the bodies coming back (and if we do, we can focus our anger on Fred Phelps and not the people who got them killed).
I think if you started hauling Biff and Buffy off campus and over to Kabul, maybe (maybe) people would give a shit.
Then again, maybe not.
I didn’t hear about the the big firefight, but I did hear about a possible expansion in Libya with weapons and advisors. Speaking of Vietnam…
Yeah, don’t know the answer you guys except that the business of killing people sucks…big time. Communications are apparently being jammed and it’s hard to get a call through so I haven’t heard anything since this am. At least with Vietnam, Americans had to hear every night the number of American dead. We should at least be getting that news, shouldn’t we?
Too bad I can’t get the emoticons on the cell.