Regina Spektor Concert Review

via playback's website, the site that I write concert reviews for

Gabcast! Regina Spektor Concert Review #1

Arcade Fire Concert Review

Gabcast! Arcade Fire Concert Review #1

Feist Concert Review

Gabcast! Feist Concert Review #1

Wisdom Teeth

I just don't understand them. Kind of like Briana's post on the hearing mechanism, I am now completely fascinated with them (in a weird way).

In all started when Pete's tooth hurt. Like, really bad. Like, he didn't eat solid food for four (and counting) days and he was given a prescription for codeine. He was finally able to go to the dentist today and Dr. Rothermich told him that he needed his tooth out, asap, as it was pushing his other teeth away and causing him lots and lots of pain.

So, he had surgery today. All this talk about extractions and impacted teeth got me curious, so I did a quick Google search about wisdom teeth.

Some people are born without wisdom teeth. Lucky people, if you ask me. I remember when I was in high school, my dad (who, at the time, was probably 45, 46-ish) had gotten all four of his teeth pulled and mom picked me up from school with dad slumped over in the passenger seat, spit and blood oozing from his mouth (he still WAY hopped up on the laughing gas) and he kept leaning over to mom and saying, "honey, gimme a KITH, gimme a KITH" (supposed to be "kiss") and it was SO SO SO embarrassing.


[image via here]

Anyway. So there are eighteen different languages that have their own terms for wisdom teeth, including Korean ("love teeth", referring to the pain of first love), Turkish ("20-year-tooth"), Arabic ("the tooth of the mind"), and Japanese ("unknown to parents", from the idea that they erupt after their children have moved away). [all of these were taken from wikipedia]

And this is what Pete had, which prompted the emergency surgery this afternoon:

"

Sometimes the wisdom tooth fails to erupt completely through the gum bed and the gum at the back of the wisdom tooth extends over the biting surface, forming a soft tissue flap or lid around the tooth called an operculum. Teeth covered by an operculum can be difficult to clean with a toothbrush. Additional cleaning techniques can include using a needle-less plastic syringe to vigorously wash the tooth with moderately pressured water or to softly wash it with hydrogen peroxide.

However, debris and bacteria can easily accumulate under an operculum, which may cause pericoronitis, a common infection problem in young adults with partial impactions that is often exacerbated by occlusion with opposing 3rd or 2nd molars. Common symptoms include a swelling and redness of the gum around the eruption site, difficulty in opening the mouth, a bad odor or taste in the mouth, and pain in the general area which may also run down the entire lower jaw or possibly the neck. Untreated pericoronitis can progress to a much more severe infection."

Boy oh boy, are our bodies crazy created or what? I need to remind myself that I am SO lucky to be in such good shape [knock on wood].

This weekend

As mentioned per Shannon's blog, I had an icky week full of tests, deadlines, silly ResLife things, and general tired-ness. But this weekend has been great. I took the entire weekend off and spent it at home, where I played a lot with my puppy, baked cupcakes, took long walks, and ENJOYED THE GORGEOUS WEATHER.

I also spent a good deal of time the last couple of days reading a new book (well, I got the day after Christmas, but it was new to me!) called Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It was really, really good. Apparently a movie has been made based on the book and it is coming out in October 2008. Nick is played by Michael Cera and Norah will be played by Kat Dennings, known as the teenage girl from The 40-Year Old Virgin. I'm super excited.

And on one final note, I caught Saturday Night Live last night. Ellen Page (of Juno fame) was hosting and Wilco was the musical guest. I wasn't a huge fan of Wilco until their album last year, Sky Blue Sky, came out. Then I was obsessed.

Anyways. I couldn't find a video of my favorite sketch from last night (surprise, surprise) but here's a little demo:

It is way too cold.

I'm a fan of cold weather, I guess. I like curling up in blankets and warm sweatpants and watching movies or reading books. I like drinking hot cocoa. I like Christmastime and building snowmen and having snowball fights.

But I DO NOT like walking between classes when the wind is blowing so hard that I stumble backwards. I don't like it when the sky is spitting ice at me. And I really don't like the fact that I don't have my computer (this really has nothing to do with the fact that it's cold outside, but it's still icky).

So, in honor of BEGGING HOPING PRAYING WISHING WANTING spring to get itself here, I am posting some of my favorite pictures from this past summer. I guess I had a good summer. I lived in my own apartment with roommates and my boyfriend was gone a lot of the time (I'm a wimp, I'll admit it), but looking at these pictures makes me happy.


Elena, taking a break before we start to work in the creepy old hospital.

The Wissinger's new doggie, Chip!

The sunrise at Hilton Head Island

Mom. She hates this picture but I love it.

Katherine walking at HHI.

Kevin Barnes, of Of Montreal @ Pitchfork 2007. This was such a great show. I got to be in the photopit. Amazings.

Me and Pete in the Bean in Chicago.

Me with a cupcake. Clearly, I'm kind of into them.

The Decemberists, performing with an orchestra, in Chicago.

Us with Colin Meloy, the frontman of the D's!

I just think this picture is funny.

The Polyphonic Spree in St. Louis. Best show EVER.

Cupcakes made for the cupcake party!

Pete and Steve playing in the park.

RAINBOOTS FROM TARGET.COM. Guess which ones are mine?

And there you have it.

Permanent Deletions...?

I feel that this whole news article is somewhat petty.

This whole paragraph made me laugh out loud...seriously.

"Only people who contact Facebook’s customer service department are
informed that they must painstakingly delete, line by line, all of the
profile information, “wall” messages and group memberships they may have
created within Facebook."

Painstakingly? What, this isn't war, this isn't a huge disturbance in the universe...I don't know if it's just me but seriously, WHO CARES? If one is afraid of their "leftover" information floating around the Internet and it may hinder their future chances of getting a job, internship, etc...well, that's their own fault. They should not have put junk up on their personal profile pages that they are afraid of someone else to see.

I totally understand why Facebook keeps archived copies of people's profiles. Teenagers are so wishy-washy, not wanting an account one day, and then a week later regretting the fact that they had deleted it. I'm sure the creators of FB got all sort of complaint emails from hormonal high-school (and probably even college) students complaining that there were no more "tagged" pictures of them or wall posts from their significant others left. They were probably upset that they had to fill out their entire profiles all over again.

It's ridiculous that people are even concerned about this type of thing. If you can't have fun with things like this, then you shouldn't even partake in these activities. I've never been worried about what I've said to someone else via facebook, simply because that is who I am. I always go by the rule of: Would I be ashamed of my grandparents reading/seeing this? No? Then I'm in the clear.

But then, the article continues into the questioning of facebook's executive directors selling demographic/behavioral information to prospective companies. Gross. That's dumb, but that happens with almost ANY site that you entrust your personal data with.

All in all, I can see WHY people are concerned with social networking sites and the fact that their data will still remain after deletion of accounts, but at the same time, one should know that this is a possibility when first signing up for their profile page.