Been A While

It has been quite a while since I've had to perform the duties of a Dental Assistant. I'd say good ten years. That's enough time to erase any knowledge of Dental Assisting skills left in my brain. But today, it all came back, well, sort of.

I got to work this morning at quarter past eight as I always do on the days that I work, and prepared for my eight thirty start. At eight forty five, there was still no sign of my patient. My next two patients had also decided not to keep their appointments today, so I was to twirl my thumbs for three hours. But that was not to be. One of the two assistants had called in sick earlier that morning leaving one single assistant girl to take care of two dentists, one hygienist, reception and all the rest of the million things a Dental Assistant does. That created a problem. And here came I to the rescue!

My boss asked me to assist him. Sure, it's not like I was up to my neck with work or anything. So I put on my gloves, mask and goggles, grabbed the suction and waited. Turns out there are a couple of things that need doing before it's time for the suction! Oh, but that was what I was looking forward to the most: suctioning with the huge hose, my saliva ejector's big brother! Heavy duty, baby. Well, I did some of that, but not enough for my satisfaction. The rest of the assisting was a joke. I hardly remembered what the sequence is for what procedure and mind you things have changed a whole lot in ten years, plus it's in another country where things are different as it is without the passage of time. Needless to say, my boss had to tell me and show me what to do next the whole time, so in a way, he did it all by himself, with me sitting there looking pretty.....and suctioning my heart out, tongues and cheeks included!

It was an experience though, and it made me appreciate the role of the assistant girls so much more, not that I didn't before mind you, I'm not the type of person who forgets where they came from. But it also made me appreciate my own job all the more. Those years of hell, uhrr, I mean Dental Hygiene School, really paid off. Now I work less and earn more. Nope, not fair!

Monday Night

One of my favourite nights since Heroes and Lost are on! But last Monday night, I had a bit of trouble staying awake and focused due to my zombie state (see previous entry) so I really had to come up with some way of keeping my mind on what was going on in the shows.

The solution came to me as I went to switch to the English version. I then kept switching the channel from Deutch to English every few seconds or so, so it sounded something like this: "Peter! What are u was machen Sie hier?" "Was hast du mit have done to my mom?" "Charlie, this time du muss sterben!" Now add slightly different voices to the same character depending on whether they're speaking German or English, and you got yourself a very interesting show. My mind never waivered!

I got one more Monday night of right channel-left channel-who said that-what the hell is going on, and then it's back to normal left channel German show watching! Thank God!

Zombie

Yup, that's me. Since about a week and a day, I've been living in a sort of dazed state of mind. I walk around unaware of my surroundings, I bump into things, I drop things. We're not even going to mention my poor patients. Why am I like that? Because I'm asleep.

Well, my brain is asleep while my body desperately tries to go about its daily routine. That doesn't work. We need our brains, believe it or not. What has happened here is that my brain has actually shut itself down in an attempt to get some rest which has been denied to it due to lack of sleep. Thing is, I don't sleep at night.

I try to, I do, but the most I am able to accomplish is a half-asleep and half-awake state of trance in which I can't be quite sure what is dream and what is reality. This state is being interrupted about 15 times a night by a series of wide awake episodes, lasting good 10 min each, during which I am straining to concentrate and listen to where "that noise" came from. And apparently, that's not good enough for my brain.

So why is this happening to me? Well, it's a combination of three of my Eight Great as I call them. My eight demons: height, water, spiders, germs, closed spaces, flying, being alone, and the dark. With my husband gone off to the army, I am forced to battle three of those demons at the same time and that's at night when I am supposed to be sleeping. It's dark, I'm alone and the spiders are out to get me!

What exactly do you mean by institution?

Where Would You Rather Be?

Switzerland's Alps or Australia's Beaches

Not The Same!

Blogging and Facebook....not the same!

A friend of mine, whose blog I've been faithfully reading, is changing blog sites. But the way he chose to inform us about that was slightly misleading at first. When you just begin reading the entry where he wishes to say he's moving on, you get the feeling that he's actually quitting the blog. Now, I am not the only one who follows his blog, not by a long shot, so a few others were also "tricked" at first into thinking the same thing. My blog friend got a few comments on this entry from his numerous readers saying they enjoy reading his blog and were afraid he's quitting but are glad he's not! [Eben!] Blog Friend's wife also happens to be a very good friend of mine whom I keep informed about through his blog.

All good and fine, except for the comment he left me in reply to my own. He said I can see everything on Facebook! Uhmmm, here's where I tend to strongly disagree! This new craze called Facebook has got everyone talking and up until now, I have refrained from blogging about it since, in my eyes, it is really not worth it! But now I feel it's time I let everyone know how I really feel about this Facebook! It is an excellent way to keep in touch with people, which is the main purpose it was created for in the first place, but in a very, very primitive and limited way! Yes, there are the options of uploading photos and videos and a million other applications designed to help you express who you are and what you are all about but in my humble opinion (well, maybe not so humble at times) a blog can never be compared to Facebook!

I, personally, do not take Facebook seriously. Those who know me and can access my Facebook profile know that I tend to spend a bit more time on it than necessary and God knows I've added a hundred applications to it, but it IS all just for FUN! I reserve my innermost thoughts, feelings and opinions for my blog. I sit quietly and contemplate and write, or try to, creatively while I'm blogging. And I listen to music, talk and/or laugh out loud or have a "chat" conversation over Skype (stupid Skype) with a friend while Facebooking!

So, Blogger Friend, please continue to blog, if that is what you wish of course, no one can make you do anything :) so that I can actually read the details of how you almost sawed off your big toe rather than read your Facebook status update of how you almost sawed off your big toe!

Shhhhhh!!!

Someone finally decided to do something about it! Thanks!

Who do these people think they are? Barging in here on their private jets oblivious to local people's peace and quiet! Of course flights into Zweisimmen and St. Stephan are declining and ones into Saanen are increasing. Who goes to Zweisimmen or St. Stephan? No, they all come here to the hot spot Gstaad!

Why can't they drive up here like everybody else? Oh, cuz it takes 10 times as long and what, you have to barf out the car window along the winding, curvy, narrow roads? Pah! I'd like to sit in my quiet living room on a lazy afternoon curled up on the couch with my book and I don't particularily enjoy hearing you arrive, or depart for that matter! And the baby's sleeping! ;)

The Hand That Holds The Suction

As most of you already know, back in May 2007, I developed a "problem" with my right wrist. I say "problem" since we don't exactly know what is wrong. When I went to see the doctor about it, my family doctor, who is just the best doctor I've ever had in my life so far, was away on holidays unfortunately, so I had to see his college, a female doctor, who is just the worst possible doctor I've ever had the misfortune to meet! And I'm not the only one who thinks that. Her reputation precedes her and not at all in a good way if you know what I mean. But I had no choice!

She looked at me, touched my arm here and there and concluded that my wrist was.....get this "too skinny" and her solution was to.....no, not to rest it, on the contrary, to use it more, as much as I can, and to do exercises with it. Now, the exercise part I kind of understand, but then again, isn't work exercising it and using it? It would make sense to rest it as much as possible when not at work, no? Anyways, she prescribed some sublingual anti-inflamatories for a week and gave me an arm brace to wear. I took the pills which helped a little with the pain and tossed the brace at the bottom of my medicine cabinet. I then submitted myself to daily massages administered by my non-licensed husband using a special balm which was recommended to me by a couple of well-wishers, I took some time off work and rested my hand as much as possible and wore a sports bandage around my wrist at work when I did go back. I also cut one day off my work schedule.

It worked. My wrist got better. But it never healed completely. It still acts up now and again. A simple thing like buttoning up my jeans or holding a wine glass can set it off. I had learned to be careful with it and learned to use my left hand as much as possible. I wasn't too worried, thinking I still had one good hand and that was fine. Well, that hand is now starting to act up as well. It's the hand that holds the suction. Unlike many in my profession, I never got into the habit of leaving the suction hooked onto the patient's cheek. I hold it instead and use it to retract as well as suction. This proves challenging at times especially when patients have strong cheeks and tongues which push against me. And it's taken its toll now.

Now I am worried, ... a bit. I really don't want to end up with both wrists kaput. So I'm taking matters into my own decrapped hands cuz there will be no dropping the baby on its head! Because, hopefully and with God's blessing, the hand that holds the suction today will one day be the hand that rocks the cradle.

The Japanese Are Coming!!!

Well, they've come! Sushi has finally arrived in Gstaad! About time already! We got the above menu in the mail about a couple of weeks ago and you can imagine my excitement! I don't have to take a 2 hour train ride down to the valley to get some of that Japanese goodness any more! Now, it's right under my nose! And since it's in the Grand Hotel, I'm sure it's top quality!

I will be checking it out very soon! I know, I know, shame on me for not going straight away the day I got this in the mail, but you have to realize, it was Christmas time: running around, shopping, decorating the tree and the house, dinners with family. Then New Year's, need I say more! So now that things are finally getting back to their normal rhythm again, it's sushi time Gstaad style!!!

Computer Wars

My baby has been swiftly and unexpectedly taken away from me! I'm talking about my computer: my connection to the world, my portal into my family and friends' lives, my free phone calls, my encyclopedia, my music box and oh so much more!

Up until recently, it all belonged to me and only me. My husband had absolutely no interest in it except for maybe once in a month when he'd sign in to check his emails for 20 seconds. But that all changed a few days ago. My husband came to me asking me to help him download a computer game that all his friends were raving about and playing online. Fine. We downloaded the "Ski Challenge" and that was the end of my sole possession of the rights to the computer!

Now I have to share.....and I don't like it! He plays for hours, every day, trying to beat his friends' times and I must think of ways to get him away from the computer. Hmmm, let's see....Ski Challenge vs Sex! Ski Challenge......Sex? No, of course I'm not going to do that! Come on, Shelly. That'd be too cruel and unfair. My solution: do the puppy eyes and wag my tail around a bit. It works sometimes but not all the time. His solution: we get a second computer. It'll work all the time.

Well, I think we're still ok for now, but I tell ya, we're definitely getting a second one before the kids even learn to say computer!!!