RL Anger

[Alamias]

I hate getting sick.

I especially hate getting sick right after having to deal with rodents in the house since my stupid brain jumps to worst case scenario like Hantavirus or something equally as unlikely when in reality it is just likely a cold.

[Rinel]

@Alamias
Unless you're running one heck of a fever, it's very unlikely you have hantavirus. Even if you are running one heck of a fever, it's still unlikely you have hantavirus.

[Alamias]

@Rinel Yes, I'm aware. I even said as such...lol.

[Testament]

So. I hate dentists. I think most people aren't fond of them. But I've had this tooth for far longer than I'd like to admit that's had problems. Most times, it hasn't been an issue, and because I hate dentists, I didn't get it taken care of like the responsible adult I should've been.

Now, it's bothering me. By bothering I mean annoying discomfort to mild pain because it's slightly inflected and probably a little abcessed by the xray that was taken on it. The dentist I went to didn't want to extract it because of its shape. So I have to go to an oral surgeon. So all that mental hype and prep I had to give myself this morning, as well as taken off work, was for nothing. So now I get to deal with the pain until Wednesday.

[Auspice]

@Testament

Ugggggh. I am so sorry. I know your pain.

I've cancelled a good half dozen dentist appointments in the past year because of a Problem Tooth that flares up with pain and mild infection because I am downright terrified of the dentist (I had to have a tooth removed a handful of years ago and due to anemia, it ended up a dry socket.....). All I can suggest is to try to find someone to go with you as support. I don't really have anyone and every appointment I make, I end up canceling because the anxiety gets to me, but I can tell you: letting it get too bad is not a good idea.

I'm really hoping, once I have insurance again, to get myself to a dentist to get my current tooth issue resolved. So I'm talking from a sort of hypocritical standpoint here... but also the standpoint of I feel your pain. Literally. It sucks to have days of only being able to chew on one side of your mouth.

I will say this tho: dentists who can 'block' that side of your face = win. It's what I need since I'm immune to Novocaine. It super helps.

[Testament]

I'm not immune to novacaine, I've had it done when I needed two of my wisdom teeth removed. Just a combination of being poor, being an idiot through my 20s, and not having been to a dentist...far more years than I want to say outloud, I feel that anxiety. Thankfully, I've had a number of co workers who have gone through the same thing.

On the other hand, I could get a root canal + cap and save the tooth. But it'd be $3k. That's before my insurance, but that price is almost nauseating. I'm going to check my dental plan tomorrow at work just see how much that would be covered.

The benefit to going to an oral surgeon is the fact that my health insurance covers that opposed to my dental and my health insurance is pretty damn good. So that's kind of the benefit to it? I guess?

[surreality]

FWIW: If you have never been to an oral surgeon vs. a dentist for an extraction, typically, the oral surgeon is going to do it faster, less painfully, and much less expensively.

It seems counterintuitive, but with hell teeth and going through this more than once, I have found this to be consistently true, and insurance covers neither for me.

Dentist: $450
OS: $180

YEAH. Big difference.

(That said, our dentist is nnngh on overcharging for all the things, but still.)

[Shaggy]

I had all of my teeth removed 6 years ago. I hadn't seen a dentist since my early 20s and had spent most of my adult life poor and without insurance. I had never had my wisdom teeth removed and they became impacted, infected and broken. Smoking and acidic drinks did the rest and by the time I was in my early 30s, I was ashamed to smile.

I say all this for a weird reassurance: losing your teeth isn't the worst thing in the world. I suffered constant, tortuous pain for years, deadening myself with too much ibuprofen and the occasional abuse of narcotics of various sorts. I would have flare-ups and attacks that would last for days when my gums would become infected.

I will note that I always brushed my teeth, always, religiously, but...life caught up with me.

I have dentures but I barely ever wear them. My wife says she likes me better this way. I can't eat a few things - I miss cashews the most, I think. But my gums have toughened and all that god damn pain is finally gone and, while I still have a wide variety of other problems, I have that one off my plate and it was just such a damn relief.

I just wanted to write about this because I never do. It's like one of those secrets that only people who REALLY know me know at all, because I hid it for so long and was so very ashamed.

[surreality]

@Shaggy Empathy hug sent. There are more than a few people here in a similar position. I have to have a full extraction some time soon for implant hell, and when I mentioned this, a lot of folks came forward to describe similar things. So it isn't just you, or me, or them. It's a thing.

Someone who knew about this tried to throw it in my face recently to cause as much emotional harm as possible, but ultimately, all they did was prove how ugly they are inside, which far surpasses me inside or out, even with 'broken ass teeth'. Your wife deserves all the hugs, and is clearly made of awesome.

[Auspice]

Americans have a really obsessive thing with having 'perfect' teeth, sometimes even over healthy teeth. We (as in culturally) view straight even teeth as being more acceptable than crooked, healthy teeth.

It's weird.

So it becomes shameful to admit 'Oh I had that tooth that was causing me literal pain and suffering removed.'

Sometimes a tooth is just a problem. It might be wisdom teeth. It might be genetics. Sometimes it is dentist avoidance. Sometimes it's monetary. Sometimes it's our own damn fault. For me it's a combo of all the above.

But yeah, we Americans have a cultural hang up to get over for sure.

[Arkandel]

Salesforce pushed an updated that gave everyone view all and modify all permissions, then they disabled all permissions for all profiles with the exception of system admin.

This is not good, guys. Not good.

[Auspice]

@Arkandel said in RL Anger:

Salesforce pushed an updated that gave everyone view all and modify all permissions, then they disabled all permissions for all profiles with the exception of system admin.

This is not good, guys. Not good.

lolololololol

Super glad I'm not at my old job rn

ETA: my old job being IT for a major financial firm and I having had a better grasp of Salesforce than anyone I worked with. Our boss had pretty much nil. I do feel bad for the company's Salesforce admin because she was really sweet but I'm just kind of laughing my ass off right now because the asshole who fired me is probably shitting bricks at all the fires he can't put out.

[Aria]

Re: Tooth troubles.

I do not recommend this unless you are really, really, REALLY hurting for cash because it's a super pain in the ass that will take up large amounts of time, but.

If you live near a university with a solid dental program, consider going there. At one point during the height of the recession, when @insomniac7809 and I had one income and no insurance of any kind, I had the sort of tooth pain that I was afraid meant I was going to need a root canal. I went to UPenn's dental school as they have a low cost clinic with additional support for those in financial need. Getting X-rays, a cleaning, and an exam in the specialty clinic took me FIVE HOURS. It also cost me $29, and that includes the sealant they put on the ouchy tooth. (Turns out I have a receding gumline on one side and it exposes the nerve to potential stabbing pain if I eat something really hot.)

If I'd needed a root canal and hadn't qualified for the financial assistance, my bill would've been $800-$1200 depending on the complexity, compared to the average cost of $2500-$3000.

And no, they don't just let inexperienced grad students loose on your teeth. The reason the appointments take so long is because the students do even basic work under intense supervision and then their instructors come in at each step inspecting, correcting, and improving anything they're doing to ensure it's been treated properly.

It means clearing your day and having an excruciating amount of patience, but it's better than basically bankrupting yourself or going untreated.

ETA: @surreality -- I'm sure you're totally on top of this shit and have someone you're comfortable with, but I also know you were panicking about the cost of what you needed and don't live all that far from me. If you want me to pull the info for you, LMK. I'm pretty sure you said something about blocking all PMs, or I'd just send you the link.

[surreality]

@Aria We tried one of the teaching dentistry places -- the one at the local hospital which is supposedly best in the state. It's a huge part of why we're in this mess. I had fillings fall out the same day they put them in and have permanent nerve damage to my lower face from one appointment. They did a spectacularly horrible job. Don't ever, ever, ever go to the one at the hospital in Wilmington if you can help it. Ever.

[Aria]

@surreality said in RL Anger:

@Aria We tried one of the teaching dentistry places -- the one at the local hospital which is supposedly best in the state. It's a huge part of why we're in this mess. I had fillings fall out the same day they put them in and have permanent nerve damage to my lower face from one appointment. They did a spectacularly horrible job. Don't ever, ever, ever go to the one at the hospital in Wilmington if you can help it. Ever.

Jesus Christ. That is good to know. I had the complete opposite experience at UPenn, where if anything, the student was even overly cautious and pointed out an unrelated not-dental thing on my X-rays they suggested I see a doctor about. (They caught a part of my sinuses on the image and the soft tissue was really swollen. He was afraid that what I thought was allergies might be a sinus infection.)

[surreality]

@Aria Yeah, I wish I had known about the place you're describing at the time.

To give you an idea of the level of fuckup that was common: "Oh, we forgot to take a mold for your crown before we drilled this tooth off, that's OK, though, we can just carve out the tooth above it to fit later!" Yes, let's get rid of huge chunks of the bottom and core of a healthy tooth because of this oversight, that'll be fiiiiiiiiine.

(The whole front of that tooth shattered off last month because of this. Clearly, this is fiiiiiiiiiine.)

[Ghost]

@Ghost said in RL Anger:

My friend has gotten into investigating for MUFON and he's trying to tap my SO and I as "ghost hunters" with him.

Fuck. My. Life.

Well. It happened.

Last night was <whatever best word means the polar opposite of awesome>.

My SO and I were invited to a dinner with a group of these UFO investigators (including my friend). They wanted to BBQ some food and talk about maybe doing some ghost hunting. They said it was about ghost hunting.

So we thought: "*Fuck it. It'll be a nice BBQ, meet some people, and if it means we head out to some "haunted" (AIRQUOTES) B&B with some people will undoubtedly find ghosts everywhere they look, we still get a nice B&B trip in."

So...we get there to find our friend (who connected us to these people) has cancelled. NOT A BIG DEAL, we'd met some of them before and they were nice. We proceed to dinner, talk about where we are from. You know: Typical dinner party stuff. Until one of them says:

"Perhaps we should go around the table and talk about which skill everyone is adding to the group..."

"...and then later we are going to talk to our remote viewing expert and how we are going to make contact."

make contact.
MAKE CONTACT.

I shit you not. I'm not sure what or where the communication on the dinner party idea changed or went wrong, or if this was karma for that hoodwinked gif, but I then found myself within the lair of a group of believers who thoroughly intended for a group meditation SLASH telepathic communication with aliens BEFORE dessert.

So my SO mentions that we love meditation and subtly tries to suggest maybe that's a bit too much. By subtly I mean she said "Oh!" and...didnt expound.

So while theyre talking about the bond we are going to create, I say: "Hey, guys, I don't think I'm the person you're looking for. I could only negatively impact whatever thing you're trying to build."

PERSON: "Oh trust us. Let's get things started because a remote viewer is waiting for us from another location."

MY S.O., A FEW GLASSES OF WINE IN: Gives Ghost the 'whatever, let's see where this rabbit hole goes' look and trots off to the living room.

Sidebar: Most of these people are older than us and kinda tie their self esteem into this stuff. We didn't feel a shred of not being safe. It was more 'these people draw self esteem from this and don't want to be an asshole to our friend's friends'.

Anyway, this is getting long so I'll wrap it up.

GUESS WHAT, GUYS?! TURNS OUT THERE IS A COLLECTIVE OF PSYCHIC EXTRA TERRESTRIALS OUT THERE WHO HAVE CHOSEN ME (AND ONLY THIS GROUP) AS PART OF A SUPER IMPORTANT DIPLOMATIC KNOWLEDGE SHARE BETWEEN US AND THEIR CULTURE. ME! I'M SPECIAL! I've been chosen for some pretty clutch shit.

Or so say the "remote viewer expert" and the "psychic expert".

Who was surprised to read that we successfully communicated with aliens??? Me? Not one bit. That shit was pre-ordained. They may as well have sent out invitations that read: Let's have a dinner party where I guide you through successfully getting in on this PrP that I'll be railroading.

As we drove home, my SO was in full blown "OMG I'm so sorry i didn't mean to miss your cue, and we gotta have a talk with our friend" mode. She's 100% out. Both her and I have experience with cult behavior (really extreme pagan groups; she was raised Pentecostal), and our friend is a pretty normal guy who probably still thinks this just "ghost hunting", so we need to rush to talk to him.

And then she says: "You don't have to go, but if he decides to go I wanna go to keep an eye on him."

BITCH, THIS IS HOW PEOPLE END UP SISTER WIVES WTF NOW IF YOU GO I GOTTA GO TO KEEP YOU FROM COMING BACK HOME AND SUDDENLY BEING LIKE: "Baby, I'm a star princess, now, 45th wife to the space emperor who wants to consummate our super important diplomatic union through KEVIN (not a real name in this situation), who is his chosen vessel."

Sigh.

Never woulda happened if her and I stayed in to mush. Fucking irony that.

Edit/OneMoreThing: Dessert after psychically establishing first contact with people y'all are simply not special enough to be picked to have contact with(But I am! You jealous fuckers. Haha. #winningAndLosingAtSameTime)...was some decent cake.

[Jaded]

@Ghost

[Ghost]

@Jaded said in RL Anger:

@Ghost

Fucking RIGHT!?!?!?!

On a human level (sadly, I have no intention of returning to assuredly discover that I am 1/4000th Krebulon and have alien DNA) I hope to GOD (or, yanno, Xenu) that this is the weirdest true story you hear this weekend.

[Jaded]

@Ghost
Well definitely is the weirdest story I've heard so far this weekend. The first thing that popped into my head was "Hail Zoltan."

Now for my bit of RL Anger. I hate ADT sales agents and AT&T seems incompetent.