With Kelly, I have absolutely found when I'm looking for.

One more, for your entertainment.

Kelly

I read online that some of the sound checks from Kelly Clarksons recent tour had been posted on you tube. . .some are covers (and often better than the original) and others are some new Kelly songs.

Makes you remember that there was a time, not long ago, when American Idol actually produced artists. . .

Good News Sunday Night

I missed Good News Friday. . .I was hardly in the mood for it. Long week. Don't ask.

But here are things that make me happy as I head into the new week:

1) 2.5 day work week followed by 4.5 day break. I'll p

lay those numbers.

2) Apples-to-Apples game night. Thanks to Lisa, it is on my Christmas list.

3) I channeled my inner Clark Griswald this weekend. My exterior illumination is bigger and better than ever!

4) I went house hunting this weekend. Still not ready to buy, but it's great to look.

5) Only four days until the start of my favorite time of year.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

Quote It

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have.

- Abraham Lincoln

Thoughts From The Universe

Wow!! Your closest 10,000 angels, Ryan, have been writing up a storm on

your WALL lately...

"Nice job on the baby steps toward your Health!!! You should have asked

for two!" (<-- Very fitting, I thought)

"Glad you're finally visualizing! Thoughts become things!"

"Remember me? We took flying lessons together!"

Poke -

The Universe

Thoughtful Words

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong, because someday in your life, you will have been all of these. --Unknown

The Giving Tree

My favorite story - childhood or otherwise. It will make you feel whole.

Words In My Head

I hear you wonderin' out loud

Are you ever gonna make it

Will you ever work it out?

Will you ever take a chance?

Just believe you can

Hell yeah you will

Gonna be okay

You might get lost

But then you’ll find a way

Don’t go alone

Can’t be afraid

Hell yeah this life is here

And it’s made for livin'

And loves a gift that’s made for GIVING

Give it all away and have it still

And hell yeah you will

--Neil Diamond

Upstate Autumn

Gourds

The Misfit Pumpkins

Cider Mill Pumpkins

Endwell Country Road

With special thanks to my friend and fellow Binghamton Alum, Tiffany for the photos.

Good News Friday

Todays "Good News" is that November starts on Sunday.

The following Good Things are going to happen in November. . .

1) An extra hour of sleep is gained on Saturday night. Daylight Savings time starts Sunday, November 1 @ 2:00am Eastern time. So set your clocks back one hour when you go to bed Saturday and when you wake up feeling that much more rested, say a quiet "thanks" to Benjamin Franklin. After all, it was his idea.

2) Saturday, October 31 marks the four month mark of my residency program. One-third completed. That should be enough right there. . .but wait, there's more!

3) I have a four day weekend coming up starting November 7. A meeting and an appointment back home facilitate this. Lisa will be up from NYC and we have promised to eat cheese and apples and play board games to celebrate Fall.

4) On November 14 I am taking a roadtrip to the outlets. I love bargains.

5) THANKSGIVING! Food, family, warm fires, probable snow (because it IS Binghamton), assembling the Christmas Light display (think Clark Griswald) and more.

So be proud of yourself. You made it through October - with it's weird weather, wannabe "holiday" (better luck next year, Halloween!) and complete lack of purpose.

Welcome, November.

RIP Farmville

I have decided tonight to delete my Farmville application on The Book.

I'm hanging up my overalls. I'm putting my cattle out to pasture. I'm selling off the supplies. I hope that my land is accepted back into nature. I would hate to see my plot of land be used by Corporate America to build the next WalMart Supercenter. Still, I can't take the committment, albeit a virtual one. The crops are demanding, the animals are far too fertile and those damn fruit trees always need harvesting. By the way, do real farms even have Elephants? And if they do, are said Elephants producing circus peanuts? I was always confused by that.

Goodbye Farmville. I'll miss your serenity. I'll miss your 4-hour turnover of Strawberries. They were superb, albeit virtual.

The Ascent

Grab hold,

And take this hand that

Reaches out to you.

Look up

Into my eyes;

My spirit

Cries out to you;

Friendship is my thought.

Let us climb

The jagged cliffs of life

And fight the ascent of

Opposition together.

If I can lift you today,

You will look back

And grab the hands of a thousand more.

That is the way

The Great Spirit would have it!

-Howard Rainer, American Indian Poet

Good News Friday

Painless Dentistry. . . Happy Friday.

Did you get told?

Turn Around Bright Eyes

Good News. It's Friday.

Today is the National Day of Service. I think this is a great way to take a sad date in US History and turn it around to something positive.

I love volunteer work. I think it stems back to my inability to avoid a charity case.

Here are some great options that I am/have been involved in:

Get your build on! Habitat for Humanity

Get your wish on! Make A Wish Foundation

Get your sport on! Special Olympics

Also, yesterday I learned what a "flash mob" is. A large group of people coming together to perform a certain action in unison. I really want to be a part of something like this someday. I should clarify that I've always known what it is, I just never knew what it was called. I think Lisa was the first person to show me the first video, but it's definitely worth watching again. You're gonna smile. The second is set to Michael Jackson's Beat It. In the rain. In the street. Another smile.

Preemptive Good News Friday

It's (gonna be) FRIDAY (by the time you read this).

Here are some things to be happy about.

1) MUSIC. It speaks to me. I ache to be better at playing it, singing it - whatever. I am a true frustrated musician. I hear it in my head but I was not blessed with the ability to put it into the world. Alright, fine. I have other talents. I do a great anterior veneer case. I give a painless injection of Novocaine. I do nice root canals. Those are all as good as music, right?

This guy has got it. (Aside - "Disabling embedding upon request." NOT Good News)

2) Cool nights. Great for sleeping. It's getting near Labor Day which is the official end of summer. Sad - but it means we're entering my favorite time of year. I call it, That Time Between Summer and Fall. The days are warm and breezy. The sky is always blue. And most importantly, the nights are cool. So open your window and get some rest.

3) Magazines. I like to get my news from the Internet, but I like to get my magazines in the mail. From J. Crew to Men's Health. Newsweek to Entertainment Weekly. Nothing is better than coming home from a long day of work and finding a magazine in your mailbox. Pick one up, find a comfortable place to sit, and take not of the fact that as you're reading your lap isn't getting uncomfortably warm.

4) Friends. The people and the sitcom. I know, Lisa, it's "The One With Too Much Laughtrack." But let me have this one. It is completely unrealistic to real life (A HUGE Manhattan apartment without actually having a real job? Nah) but that's what I like. Then there are friends - the real people. Always good to get a phone call and reconnect. Even better to hear that they think the real world stinks just as much as you do. Solidarity.

5) Home. Rod Serling (Bingo native. . . w00t w00t!) summed it up just right:

"Everyone has a hometown. Binghamton's mine. In the strangely brittle, terribly sensitive makeup of a human being, there is a need for a place to hang a hat, or kind of geographical womb to crawl back into, or maybe just a place that's familiar because that's where you grew up. When I dig back through my memory cells, I get one particularly distinctive feeling and that's one of warmth, comfort and well-being. For whatever else I may have had, or lost, or will find, I've still got a hometown. This, nobody's gonna take away from me." - Rod Serling

Happy Friday.

A Beautiful Crazy

Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear. Crazy. But he created life using paint.

Beethoven had syphillis Yeah, you don't get that by going to church. But he made some great symphonies.

Michael Jackson. I can't help but feel something every time I hear one of his songs. Believe in something when I watch one of his videos. You can't help but think about him every now and then - mainstream media won't let you not. I believe it's necessary to separate the man from the art.

The whole world is crazy. In the end, it's all beautiful.

God is Great. Beer is Good. People are Crazy.

Just For Laughs

Help or Hindrance?

Here's something scary to watch. Hollywood makes movies that tell us Robots are evil. Union workers cry foul at the use of robotics to assemble cars and pack boxes. Still, I'm not convinced artificial intelligence is going to take over the world, but this does make the hairs on my arm stand up a little. . .

Accomplish My Day

As I (try to ) ease in to my new role as Dental Resident I'm working hard to focus on small accomplishments from each day. The chaos and frustration comes not from my lack of ability but from a lack of familiarity. A new setting with new people and new rules makes me a little crazy. So, here are five things that I'm proud to have accomplished today. . .

1) I completed a complicated extraction of #31 and #32. For those of you (Lisa) who don't know what that means, #32 is a wisdom tooth - the one on the bottom right. Tooth #31 sits directly in front of it. The bone was dense, the roots were long and I extracted them without incident.

2) I figured out how to send out all of my labwork requests. I'm having trouble letting go of control now that I don't have to do the labwork myself. So today, I figured out a couple of different cases for the lab. I designed a lower RPD (that's removable partial denture, Lisa) and properly selected the tooth mold and shade for a complete upper denture (using a technique I've never tried before).

3) I finally cooked myself a real dinner. For the first time since I've lived in Syracuse. It was great and I instantly felt better about my surroundings. Mmm, home cooking.

And on a different note...I really love this song by Sam Sparro. It's called Black and Gold. It's got a great sound and makes me happy. I'm not hip on all the new music out there but this one is new to me. Click for a great live version. . .

Here I am!

Dear Bloggers (Lisa),

Sorry to have been gone so long. I was living in a cave here in Syracuse and was having trouble with my internet. . .as in, I didn't have any. But here I am! Back to the world of the living -- and by world of the living I mean FACEBOOK! So here is a fun link to start off what I pledge will be more blogging -- I'm committing to three days a week. Enjoy (lisa).

Your neighborhood dentist,

Ryan DDS

Because all of us are friends with somebody's mom or dad. . .

http://myparentsjoinedfacebook.com/

Thoughtful Words

"What you think of me is none of my business."

--via Lisa B who found it somewhere on the internet ;)

Good News Friday

This week, Good News Friday is all about me.  ME!

1) Last night I won the Worlds Most Awesome Dentist of the Year Magnificence Award of Great Excellence or, the Humanitarian Award.  I also go the Public Health and Community Dentistry Award.  It was a great night to hang out with friends and colleagues.

2) Tonight is my graduation dinner with the entire family here in Buffalo.  Looking forward to it.

3) Tomorrow is GRADUATION.  You don't need to call me Dr. Comfort. . .Dr. Ryan is just fine.

Here's a little something that isn't about me to even things out. . .another great video of some awesome wildlife.  

Happy Good News Friday. . .

Do you ever find yourself wishing your life away?  I've recently come into some free time (thanks, graduation!) and don't have any idea what to do with myself.  At 10:30 this morning I went to graduation rehearsal and tonight at 5:00 I have a Happy Hour.  That leaves a little over 6 hours of time I need to fill. . . .

Here are some examples of my thoughts over the last four years:

"If I had some free time I could read that book."  -Ryan, 2nd year, elbow deep in projects to   complete with no time to complete them

"Why is there always something good on TV when I have things to do?" - Ryan, third year,  final exams week

"I wish that I could go to the mall today." - Ryan, fourth year, studying for the National Boards

So here I sit, about two more hours to kill and I don't have a book handy, there isn't anything good on television and I've already been to the mall.  I think that as a whole, we (we, as in the larger society) have been trained to run the hamster wheel all day long.  Get up, go to work/school, complete tasks/study, come home, rinse and repeat.  The idea of taking a vacation is just as stressful as your daily routine because you know that when you get back you'll have a full inbox and a stack of To-do's on top of your desk that seems daunting.  

I'm about to hop off my old hamster wheel, the one that runs like a well-oiled machine.  It doesn't squeak and I hardly need to push to get it to turn.  Off of the old wheel and onto the new - it's bigger, it's heavier and it comes with a lot more responsibility.  

Today I needed to kill 6 hours. . .starting Saturday, I'll have six weeks to fill before I start turning the new wheel.  Any ideas how to fill my time?

It's week three of Good News/Good Mood Friday.  I believe it has been a great success.  I actually find myself seeking out things during the week to post up here on Fridays, which makes every day a good news day!  Enjoy

1) Arrrr, a good laugh, matey:

Scroll to the bottom of the facebook page you have open in the next window (you know you do).  Click on "English (US)" and switch it to "English (Pirate)."  There is something great about seeing which of your 'blokes has pledged 'is allegiance to flip flops, or something equally absurd.  Try not to smile, just try.

2) Some Good Friends:

Makes me smile every time.  Keep watching for the moment when the one otter reaches out to take hold of his friends hand again.  Try not to "Awww" :)

3) Some Dental Thoughts:

"Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill."  ~Johnny Carson

"Some old women and men grow bitter with age; the more their teeth drop out, the more biting the get." ~George D. Prentice

And a little Shakespeare for ye thespians. . .

"For there was never yet philosopher

That could endure the toothache patiently."

~William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

4) A Good Blog:  

Finally, see what Lisa has to say about things.

Good News/Good Mood Friday

I hate to be so serious on Good News/Good Mood Friday. . .but, did you know that even over-the-counter pills can become dangerous?  No? Neither did Jesse Spano. . .

Wise Words

How far you go in life depends on your being

 tender with the young, 

compassionate with the aged, 

sympathetic with the striving 

and tolerant of the weak and strong, 

because someday in your life, 

you will have been all of these. 

--Unknown

Todays Word is . . . Gratitude.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.

--Meister Eckhart

It seems like people feel too entitled these days, and when you're in a service profession and it's your literally your job to serve them, that sense of entitlement can become bothersome.  Still, it doesn't mean that people can't be grateful.  When I'm at a restaurant I'm perpetually kind to the wait staff - even if they aren't nice to me.  I'm one of the few people I know who say please and thank you all the time.  It's nice to be nice.

As my UB Dental run finishes up I'm starting to complete some patient cases.  This week the following happened:

Monday:  My crazy patient loved - LOVED - his new dentures.  I made the pointy teeth extra pointy per his request and he thought the sweet chrome (his words - not mine) was really, really cool.  When he left he told me that I had made his life better.  Gratitude.

Today:  This morning my patient told me that she had reason to smile again because of her new bridge.  She asked me if she could hug me and told me that because of me she isn't scared to go to the dentist anymore.  Gratitude.  Then, later in the day a patient I've worked on for the last 2 years wished me health, love and happiness.  She hugged me, too.  Gratitude.

These are just a few example of gratitude.  Use them as a starting point for your own moments.  Say please and thank you.  Tell someone they did a good job.  Let someone know if they make a difference in your day.  Even a silent smile can be enough recognition.

Gratitude.

Smile-worthy

Today my patient told me that I made his life.  I made him a set of complete dentures.  I thought they looked great, but I was pretty attached to the project.  Still, his complete joy is really refreshing.

Here's to simple, smile-worthy moments.

Had any lately?

Wise Words

It dawned on my tonight that I only have two weeks of clinic left in dental school.  As one significant part of life ends, it seems that the rest is just about to start.

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.

Yet that will be the beginning." (Louis L'Amour)

Words In My Head

I'm a little anxious right now.  It's a combination of things, really.  I'm getting ready to wrap up my tenure here in Buffalo, NY, and that leaves me feeling unsure.  I'm a creature of habit, I don't do things that are new and different.  I like my routine.  Rinse and repeat.  I'm getting ready to finally be a member of the real world for the first time in 26 years.  Weekly paycheck?  Enjoyable.   Impending adulthood?  Not sure.  So, in an effort to put the butterflies in my stomach to sleep, I bring you this list of my Top 5 most calming and inspiring songs.  Enjoy and feel free to add your own.

5) "Both Sides, Now" - Neil Diamond version

Ive looked at life from both sides now

From win and lose and still somehow

Its lifes illusions I recall

I really don't know life at all

4) "Superman" - Five for Fighting

I'm only a man in a silly red sheet

Digging for kryptonite on this one way street

Only a man in a funny red sheet

Looking for special things inside of me

And it's not easy to be me

3) "My Way" - Frank Sinatra

I planed each chartered course;

Each careful step along the byway,

But more, much more than this,

I did it my way.

2) "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate" - Jackson Browne

Sometimes I lie awake at night

And wonder

Where my life will lead me

Waiting to pass under sleep's dark and silent gate

1) "Fix You" - Coldplay

When you try your best but you don't succeed

When you get what you want but not what you need

When you feel so tired but you can't sleep

Lights will guide you home and I will try to fix you

My Murtaugh List

"Life is a dinner and old-age is the dessert." (Ted, How I Met Your Mother)

"I'm too old for this shit!" (Roger Murtaugh, Lethal Weapon -->)   

I am an old man before my time.  I would live happiest in a world of early-bird dinner specials and daily trips to the grocery store that only procure a single item.  In honor of my loving embrace of old-age, I bring you my Murtaugh List.  These are the things I'm too old to do and quite frankly, don't want to do anymore. 

Drinking to the point of throwing up - I might never have been young enough to do this.  Then again, I don't think it's youth that one requires, it's stupidity.  Still, I've spoken to Ralph on the porcelain phone more than once.  I've got to tell ya, I've never had a night that was good enough to merit dry heaving the next morning until you can see the angels.

Staying up past 11pm - I'll do it, I will.  I just won't enjoy it.  My days are busy.  Hell, my life is busy.  I like it that way.  Sleep is probably my favorite thing.  I won't rob myself of the things I love.

Thinking that it's cool to be "that guy" - I tried a little in high school, never tried in college and embraced my inner geek in dental school (not a big reach).  "Those guys" and "those girls" from high school keep showing up on my Facebook telling me how awesome they are, what cool nights they have planned ("Cocktails with my bestest girlies!") and what great accomplishments they've made in life ("That guy" is "so bummed because I got called in to work.  I hate you Gap, Inc.!").  I'm too old to be that guy.  I really am awesome, I really do have cool plans and I actually have accomplished a whole lot.

Facebook/iChat - I think I'm too old for these things, but I refuse to give them up.  When the time comes to give them up, will it be obvious to me?  All signs point to no, as I've recently begun seeing parents of friends arrive on the social networking scene.  God help me if I continue to update my status with things like, "Patients all day then picking up kid #1 from the babysitter while wife takes kid #2 to pediatrician because he/she has an earache.  Uggh!"

So, what's on your list?

How Things Came To Be This Way

How things came to be this way is the theme for the first half of Ishmael, the book that I'm currently reading.  It sets out to make you examine the world as you know it, showing you that the facts of mankind are only myths (because it all depends on who you ask to tell the story).

We all have a way of believing that the world was made for us to use as we see fit.  In reality, our existence on the planet can only be equated to the length a single song on a greatest hits album.  Still, we are powerful and intelligent and we seek to conquer the world.  In the early days of expansion we conquered the West.  We conquered space when we put a man on the moon.  We have even conquered man himself by mapping the genetic code.

We have conquered all these things but yet we can't really explain how things came to be this way.  There is life around us that is regarded as less and yet it continues to thrive.  The civilized and the wild.  It seems to be that the wild has done a better job at conquering.

This afternoon I saw a single goose cautiously navigate a 5 lane road, traffic moving in both directions.  His strength to venture across the sea of asphalt impressed me.  He moved slowly, almost seeming to look before stepping into each successive lane to ensure his safe passage.  He turned back once or twice, but persevered and made it across.  The goose conquered civilization.

I've never hugged a tree and am as guilty as the next person for accepting my role in the universe.  I know that "progress" won't stop because a few well-intentioned but poorly listened to groups of people want us to adopt a manatee or save a spider or plant a bean sprout.

Still, I couldn't help but smile as the wild goose conquered the ways of the civilized man.

In The House

This morning, this is what the Universe had to say to me.  I enjoyed it.

Warming planet - check.

Species on brink of extinction - check.

Ice caps melting - check.

Economies in chaos - check. 

Ryan Comfort "in the house" - the one and only.

Grab a seat.  We're about to witness the most exciting comeback in history.

Don't Hate, Participate

Today I had an appointment with - arguably - my craziest patient.  To hold this distinction is saying a lot because they're all crazy.  This gentleman, though, has always impressed me as someone who wasn't playing with all the cards in the deck - or maybe just playing with the low numbers.  This afternoon he offered to give me a mixed tape of songs he liked and thought I would enjoy.  I haven't had the capacity to play a mixed tape since I was probably 13.

. . . . .

I've had a rough go of it these last 7 months.  Some really serious health issues forced me to take a good look at my self and my life.  A few trips to the emergency room, a nice long stay at the hospital and the prospect of major organ failure and surgery to remove large parts of my insides will do that to a guy.  Without a doubt it was the darkest and saddest time of my life. Still,  I can't help but look at how I benefited from it, just as well.

When you suddenly realize that you're not invincible you begin to look at the world and the people in it differently.  I hoped and prayed as hard as I knew how for nothing more than my life back.  Health and happiness.  The time-tested mantra.

Now that I am "healthy" (which, to me now, is such a confusing term), I have a deeper appreciation for the silent battles that every person I meet every day quietly fights.  There were times when I would be waiting in a line at a store or bank and pain would grip me.  What was my own desire to get out of where I was and back to a place I felt safe and could take care of my problems was often viewed by those around me as annoyance or a bad attitude about the long line we were waiting in.  They saw me on the outside and I looked fine.  They had no idea what battle I was fighting.

It seems that no one is immune to personal struggle.  Some of ours are bigger than others but each has equal weight to the person who has to carry it.  So today, when my crazy patient told me that he wanted his new teeth to be chrome and look like a vampire.  A few moments before that, as he dropped my mirror, he told me that he didn't need seven years of bad luck - he had already had eighteen.  I caught myself as I got annoyed.

My crazy patient is still a nut, but he has struggles just like I do.  He always asks me how I'm feeling, tells me that I look good and healthy and takes a genuine interest in my life.  Today, towards the end of the appointment, I started to do the same for him.  He likes NASCAR, he makes wax candles and he has a niece who likes when he makes funny faces without his teeth.

He's bringing me my mixed tape at our next appointment.  

My Kind of Town

My friend-about-NYC, Lisa (that's her new nickname - it's long but awesome), got a little bullied by the city she loves this morning.  Read about her misadventures, here.

This morning, north of the Hudson River, I woke up and it was quiet.  The sun was shining through the window and there wasn't a single hint of industry or mass-transit to greet me.  Ah, nature.  

Oh, good morning, Mr. Robin. . . you're a day early, tomorrow is the first day of Spring.  Silly little, pretty avian friend.  No worries, all is well in Endwell.  

Anyone want to go cow tipping?

Stupid Human Ideas

"How many times has this happened?  You're playing 18 holes with your best buddies, drinking sport-"ades", water, beer, etc.  You're coming up to the 3rd hole with no rest room in sight.  There are no trees or bushes around and you just have to go, what are you going to do?

UroClub is the answer!

Capacity: Over half a liter, twice the amount normally urinated.

Length:  Like a standard 7 iron.  (Yeah, that should about do it)

Proof that even idiots need to make money.

Ryan is "not still wrapped up in high school life, but thinks it's way funny that you definitely are."

Dear Lisa, 

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog today.  I'm glad to have a daily role in your web surfing life.

So, remember how we were talking about how we wouldn't do high school again?  Our reason being that we were beyond high school from the moment we started it.  You said you missed the college days, in fact, me thinks you said you loved them.  I didn't.  My own fault probably, but I got thinking. . .I was beyond college from the first day I got there, too. 

You'll be glad to know that I've finally found my groove.  Dentistry-ing is awesome. (Don't laugh) Turns out dental school was just what I needed.  On the first day I thought I would try to be a "new" Ryan.  I thought it would be good to try to become some of those cool college kids that I had often heard of and occasionally seen.  Well, there were a few of those types in dental school, but it turns out there were also some who were just like me - the "old" Ryan (and I use "old" both figuratively and literally in this situation - you understand).

To use your words, I loved dental school.  I made awesome study guides and created some really cool spreadsheets.  Man, studying is fun!  Sure, the last four years were hell, but I would never trade the experience. 

So, friend-about-NYC, Lisa, I found it.  It wasn't high school and it wasn't college.  Dental school did it for me.  I have felt, for the last four years, that I really belong where I am.  Being a dentist is the first thing I've ever tried that I truly believed I was great at.  

What do you say we take to Facebook and let all those "cool" kids from high school know how awesome we are at this exact moment?  

Your Friend,

Ryan

Do You Have ID?

It all started with a phone conversation with the service guy at the dealership where I took my car.  I called up at the end of the day asking if it was done yet (it was, they just hadn't bothered to call me and let me know. . .but that's another story).  The super-old guy (I assume) on the other end of the phone told me, "Yeah, don't worry about anything buddy, we took care of the problem." After asking how much it would cost and hearing the response, crumbly-aged-guy said, "Is that gonna be okay pal?"  Yeah, it's gonna be fine you old curmudgeon, I'm 26 years old.

Today, I went to the eye doctor and he kindly stepped outside his realm of expertise and told me that when I get out of my teen years those, "few blemishes on [my] forehead will clear up."  Then he told me that I had a lot to look forward to in my twenties.  Thanks doc, I've enjoyed them so far.  I'm 26 years old.

So here's to all of us who are perpetually carded, get asked if our mommy's or daddy's are home when someone calls and can't help that we look consistently 16.  

I'm 26 years old.  And by the way, that's Doctor Buddy, to you.

Go Bearcats!

I love this town.  

Used Book Smell

Today in the mail I received a "new" book I bought on half.com.  Daniel Quinn's Ishmael.  The book promises to make you want to change the world.  Which made me think that sometimes, I wish things would just stay the same.  Alright, most of the time.  What's the obsession with new? Improved? Shiny?  With age comes wisdom, no?  Some things really do get better with age.

I need it to be known:  I don't do change.  I bought my new MacBook and had a 24 hour time period where I stressed that it wasn't exactly like my old one (not to worry, Mac never disappoints and it's better than my old one).  I've had panic attacks when the TV station changes the channels that my stations are on.  

Getting the used but new-to-me book in the mail today was comforting.  The pages are little worn and yellowed, the binding with some wrinkles from use.  I like the smell of it.  It smells like a library.  I don't know where the book came from and who owned it before me or how many people have read it.  I can imagine that it lived a comfortable life on a bookshelf somewhere after a brainy university Literature major read it for a class that I would never have taken myself.  Said student might have then passed it on to a friend.  Friend read it only half-way through thinking it's boring and sold it at a garage sale.  Buyer is an avid ebay-er and likes to resell their purchases online for profit.  I bought it, it's mine now. 

I promise this new (old) book that life with me will be easy.  I'll read the story, but won't read into it.  I won't toss it to the recycle bin when I'm done or sell it at a yard sale.  I'll pass it on to a friend and the story of this copy of Ishmael will continue.

I like the smell of a new car and I like my shiny, new MacBook.  I like old buildings with history.  I like the old mansions on Riverside Drive.  I like novels that have seen some of the world and come back a little yellow and a little worn.