Friday morning, bright and ugly, we bundled up our things and drove the long, cheerless drive to Plano Texas (just a bit North of Dallas). It only took about 3 and a half hours, which is less than I expected.
Once there I took a few workshops, which were awesome.
Saturday I performed my bare-hand form and my sabre form marginally... I was spectacularly mediocre! In my experience category the score range is 7.5 to 8.5, and I scored 8.03 in both events, taking the silver and bronze respectively.
So I came in 2nd and 3rd out of about five competitors in each of these.
I deserved the uninspired score for the bare-hand form -- I wasn't all that great. I get nervous when being judged and that's really bad for an art that must be performed while relaxed and calm.
I thought I did well in the sabre, though, and my fellow students thought so too -- so I don't understand the weak score there. Another competitor got the same score and was not nearly as good (I thought) as I thought I was... I think. So that made me mad.
The next day, Sunday, I was spectactularly not good in push hands. No medals there.
All in all, I loved meeting other students and sharing ideas and information. I loved the workshops. And I really didn't like competing.
So of course now I want to work hard and kick ass next year... while trying to do well in any and all Austin competitions between now and then. Apparently, my competitive reflex was triggered.
I'm hoping it dies down soon enough. I don't need the grief.
Coming back home Sunday evening I had a little bit of time to relax and unwind in preparation for the periodontist on Monday.
A handful of Halcyon in the morning and I'm more than ready to dissolve into the torture chair. A nice swish of something that made my mouth dry up (thank the goddes) and a few nearly painless shots later and the dentist got to work.
This guy was good. He was quick, efficient, and did clean work. No swelling, essentially no pain, and he followed up that same evening to make sure everything was good.
Considering what he did, the "no pain, no swelling" is a big deal.
First, he separated the gum from my left eyetooth, where it had been receding for the last couple of decades. Then he made a cut in the roof of my mouth and went in under the skin to extract a sliver of gum. This he shoved up under the gum by the tooth. He then sutured everything closed and in place and went on to step two.
For this, he cut the gums away where I lost a tooth last year and then drilled a nice hole in the bone. Into this, he screwed a titanium socket. A quick temporary cap and a few stitches later and I'm done.
Of course, I'm still tired and feeling a bit unwell from all the abuse and chemicals, but my face is in amazingly good shape.
Dr. Stevan Flores. Tell your friends.
http://www.periohealthaustin.com/
Posted by Edwin at July 26, 2005 02:33 PM