I’ve been quiet for a few days. I’ve been going to work and generally living daily life. But a few things of note should be mentioned:
- Me & Alicia – not happening. Probably mostly my fault, too. Mackenzie is helping me through the post-mortem. While this isn’t good news by any means, I’m not as upset about it as I thought I would be. In any case, I still think Alicia is an awesome person and TRON WAS FREAKING AWESOME!
- I have yet another root canal scheduled. After this one I will have no living nerve tissue in any of my four first molars. (#3 had root canal therapy and a retreat and then was extracted due to a recurring infection and anatomical complications. #14 had successful root canal therapy and is still fine. #30 had successful root canal therapy and is still fine.) #19 began to become sensitive and the dentist did post & core and crown prep on it last Thursday. But it’s gotten more painful since then so the dentist suggested I schedule a root canal appointment. It’s 3 weeks from now but ibuprofen works fine for the pain so I should be okay until then.
- I’m still working on the freelance Degree Scheduler for the Grand Lodge.
- I’ve joined a local furry group. Part of a sort of network of furries around the southern tip of Lake Michigan.
- I’m going to the Midwinter Gaming Con here in Milwaukee this weekend. E-mail or call me if you want to get a group together.
- I’ve decided that I really like the idea of Sean doing my fursona art. Even if I could afford Amber Williams’ very high rates (and wait the two year backlog she has), it wouldn’t be as personal and special as having a good friend draw the character. So thanks, Sean.
- I still haven’t found where they hide all the geeky girls, besides in other guys’ beds. 🙂
- And last night I managed to get a quote in xkcdb, said by me to PaulAgostinelli:
[18:54:32] PaulAgostinelli: I just had the mental image of cyberpunk breast implants with touch-sensing spike traps.
Other than that, it’s just been business as usual. Once school starts, I hope to attend weekly Shadowrun sessions again. I have Chrissymas prezzies for Mackenzie. And I still need people to help me drink the bottle of Gewürztraminer.
amoco
baleon
Phillip
Chadwick
London Burt
MHook
ottomadenedamotto
Christa
Matt
VisualHierarchy
Andrew D.
Around Teh Table 
#1 by Magnificent Minimalist on January 12, 2011 - 6:44 PM
I just had root canals done on two teeth, both unsuccessful with more work due later this week, so I *feel* you. I think the best place to find geeky girls is at cons, but that takes the art of, like, conversation or something.
#2 by Joshua on January 12, 2011 - 7:06 PM
As I found out yesterday, I’m not so good at conversing. But I’m learning quickly from my mistakes and my friends are helping.
#3 by Chadwick on January 12, 2011 - 6:44 PM
1: Well, sorry to hear that. But at least you did get out and have a good time. And practice can only help with the next time, particularly if you sort out what went wrong.
2: That sounds exciting. The usual comparison would be “about as much fun as a root canal,” but I think it’s a bit too spot-on here.
4: Would that be LAFF?
5: You planning to go multiple days, or just the once?
6: It helps that Sean’s pretty awesome.
7: Yeah, it’s a tricky thing. But if I find a nest of them, I’ll totally flag you down.
8: Everything’s better with spike traps. Everything.
9: I keep forgetting that Gewurztraminer. We should figure out a food pairing for it.
#4 by Joshua on January 12, 2011 - 6:51 PM
1: That’s the plan. I’m learning a lot and fast.
2: I actually like root canals. They hurt less than regular fillings or crowns. Once the nerve’s gone, there’s nothing there to feel the pain anymore.
4: Yes.
5: Haven’t decided yet. Depends on what other folks are doing and when I end up having free time. I’m supposed to meet with Sean for the second sketch approval and first payment on the fursona art pack and I deacon at church on Saturday afternoon.
6: He really is.
7: Lol. Thanks.
8: The context was that there were a bunch of convos going on in the channel and I managed to get two of them crossed and ended up with spike-mined breast implants. The use I came up with was either for personal protection against perverts or for pimps and hookers who want to protect their inventory until the john’s paid for them.
9: I’m good for just about anything. It does tend toward the sweet side so sour meats like pork I would think might go well. But you’re the wine guy. 🙂
#5 by Chadwick on January 12, 2011 - 7:33 PM
I imagine it would fit quite nicely with a wide variety of sour German and German-like foods. Problem for me is, I’m not a big fan of that stuff. Maybe turkey? Turkey has paired well with Gewurztraminers for me in the past.
#6 by Joshua on January 12, 2011 - 8:32 PM
Turkey sounds promising. Got any recipe ideas?
#7 by Joshua on January 12, 2011 - 6:55 PM
And for #6: I like the idea of giving Amber enough time to draw the comic and not having to worry about yet another fursona commission, in between the cons she visits, her comic, and her family.
#8 by Joshua on January 12, 2011 - 6:59 PM
And with #1, Yesterday I was kinda upset about it but time alone plowing snow helped a lot because it gave me time to think through it rationally which is what I do best. Talking through it with other geeks in #xkcd-love helped a lot too. And the glass of the 2003 La Fee Parisienne I had last night helped, too. Of course I went to bed right after it. It gave me some very odd but really fun dreams. Of course some probably due to my emotional state.
The dream I woke up smiling about involved me finding out I like fingernails (or in this case, claws) digging into my back.
#9 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 7:45 AM
And Mackenzie has offered to help consume the bottle of Gewürztraminer also.
#10 by Joshua on January 12, 2011 - 8:39 PM
Remember how I said I was dealing rather well with this? Yeah. Suddenly not so much.
See – now I suddenly feel like that was my one chance. And I screwed it up. Now I’ll never have another chance. Things like this tend not to happen to me, after all. So… yeah. I’m all depressed now ’cause I can’t foresee any more dates coming my way.
Then again, I didn’t foresee this one.
#11 by Phillip on January 13, 2011 - 12:01 AM
I know from past experiences that it tends to come and go; one minute I’d be fine, but the next minute seemed to not come. That minute was pretty miserable.
There are going to be more chances. As you’ve seen, they can just pop up. Never discount the possibility.
#12 by Phillip on January 12, 2011 - 11:51 PM
1) Sorry about that. The worst that happens is you learn something. Sometimes you make a friend, sometimes an enemy. But as long as you enjoyed yourself, it’s not all a loss.
2) I’m really lucky with my dentist. If I complain about tooth pain, I’m in there that day. Fillings/root canals happen maybe a week later, but if the pain is really bad he has no problem giving me oxycodone or hydrocodone to kill the pain. But yeah, when I had mine I was expecting it to be worse and it was definitely more painless than the filling that he put there a couple weeks earlier, though quite a bit more foul tasting and smelling.
5) I’m actually busy for the most part. Friday I’m going to be at UWM for a bit. Educational matters and all. Saturday I’m going for a suit fitting. Sunday is the Packers game, so I have to watch that and bitch about how the refs don’t call half the stuff they should.
6) I have some of Sean’s stuff sitting in the living room here, and your commissioning him reminds me that my parents want him to do something for them.
7) They’re out there..somewhere. They’re very good at disguising themselves too.
#13 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 7:41 AM
For #1 I really think I’ve made a friend. Certainly no hard feelings on this side. And in retrospect, I can see where she’d get the idea that we’re not a good match. I still think we would be but then again, I’m not very good with these things.
#14 by Phillip on January 13, 2011 - 2:55 PM
I know I personally keep in touch with most of the girls I’ve been on dates with. There were a couple that turned into complete bitches, but for the most part there’s this understanding that neither of us are going to fuck each other over. In all honesty, I like it that way better
#15 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 7:43 AM
For #2 – did I not warn you about abscesses? They smell and taste horrible. But the bleach solution cleans them out well. Thankfully, mine’s not abscessed. The nerve just went wonky and refuses to quit being inflamed.
#16 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 8:00 AM
The thing with abscesses (and not to be disgusting here – I think it’s rather fascinating, personally) is that what you have is a bunch of anaerobic bacteria that are feeding on the putrefying remains of your tooth pulp (including nerve tissue and blood vessels). Anaerobic bacteria tend to produce waste gases that smell terrible. And just like a can of botulin-laden stewed tomatoes bulges from the pressure, the inside of your tooth becomes similarly pressurized with gases, leading to pressure sensitivity and all sorts of other painfulness. As horrible as it sounds, it actually feels better if the infection begins leaking out of the tooth root and into the bone because it relieves the gas pressure. However, this is horrible for your body as now you have a minor bone infection in your jaw and the long-term prognosis of retaining that tooth decreases sharply as more bone tissue is lost.
In case you can’t tell, I’ve had a few tooth abscesses. They’re not at all fun.
#17 by Phillip on January 13, 2011 - 3:09 PM
Mine was pain free from the start, and that really surprised all of the people at the office.
I was trying to figure out why we exactly have nerves in our teeth in the first place. I really can’t think of any evolutionary reasoning behind it. I haven’t noticed a difference between my healthy teeth and the one without the pulp.
#18 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 3:13 PM
Nerves, no. Blood vessels, yes. They supply the tooth with hydration to help with repairing tiny injuries that happen during the normal course of life. That’s a major reason teeth that’ve had root canal therapy need artificial crowns – they can’t recover from minor insults like healthy teeth can.
Nerves are there because they helped the tooth to form properly and erupt. Once that’s finished, the nerve doesn’t serve any further purpose.
#19 by Phillip on January 13, 2011 - 3:03 PM
My guy didn’t use bleach, he used something else. I could tell when he got to the pulp because something leaked out and hit my tongue. But you did warn me, and it’s something that I’ll remember.
I’ve had that with my nerve before and I was told to wait a week or so. If it still hurts then it may be time for a root canal. Luckily they’ve all calmed down later on, and it’s just like an on/off switch. One day I was popping pills to kill the pain and the next day all was fine.
#20 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 7:32 AM
The Chad – you can do me a huge favor, yes? MIS cut off access to arbitrary high-numbered ports at work, which means I can’t access webmin on dustpuppy from work anymore.
I need you to get on dustpuppy’s webmin interface using this address: https://dustpuppy.lakemasoniccenter.org:10000. It’ll complain that the cert is invalid – that’s fine – it’s self-signed anyway. Log in as root (you have the password). In the lefthand menu there should be an “others” section. Under the others section one of the first options should be “command shell.” Click it.
In the command line, please type the following:
Let me know when finished or if you have any difficulties. Thanks again and I’ll owe you a big one for this.
#21 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 7:40 AM
Call me on the cell if you’ve lost the password. Hint: it’s not the name of a comic book character – that’s the password for the other server.
#22 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 12:16 PM
If you get this after 4:30 PM, don’t bother – I’ll be home by then and can do it meself. 😛
#23 by Chadwick on January 13, 2011 - 4:56 PM
The one day I don’t check the blog obsessively…
#24 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 5:53 PM
LOL. S’okay – I got it working for tomorrow. 🙂
#25 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 4:16 PM
Never mind – I’m taking care of this myself. Thanks anyway.
🙂
#26 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 4:17 PM
The fortune that popped up when I logged in to do this:
#27 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 8:13 AM
Oh and ferret me really wants to save Wildy from her arranged marriage. But (a) ferret me is nowhere near hot enough to impress Wildy and (b) ferret me has no damn money with which to pay off her asshole father to get in with the other 14 ferrets he’s lined up for her. And in the end, it’d end up being an arranged marriage anyway since it’s pretty much high bidder wins with ferrets in Furrae. Ferret girls really get the short end of the stick since males can just do whatever the hell they want – I mean Biggs is still daddy’s favorite because he’s a rebel and a badass – I mean he conquered Twink Territories for crying out loud! When Wildy gets all rebellious, daddy’s displeased. WTF? Double-standard anyone? Man, ferrets are assholes! 🙂
#28 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 8:16 AM
This one dude on #xkcd really likes to play Fluxx while tied up. Apparently nonsexual bondage + games is a fun pastime. And people say I’m weird…
#29 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 12:15 PM
The downside to using darthFerret as a nick in the #xkcd IRC channel is that they have a bot called FlyingFerret that people message to roll dice, look shit up, and make decisions. They often address him as “ferret.” This means that I get highlighted every time someone says something to him.
#30 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 12:40 PM
… at work and I just daydreamed a very well-written yiff story between Mike and this other fur named AquaFox. o.O Half of me is very glad I didn’t write any of it down. Half of me knows it’d be better than 90% of the crap they post in the yiff forums.
Me? Sexually frustrated? Certainly not!
#31 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 12:41 PM
FTR AquaFox is female. Neither Mike nor I are into guys.
#32 by Joshua on January 13, 2011 - 4:25 PM
Poll Time: Should I write it down and submit it to FurAffinity? I’d have to change the name of AquaFox ’cause I highly doubt her owner would give permission, even though it’s fairly tame for a yiff story.
#33 by Joshua on January 14, 2011 - 8:49 AM
So is anyone else going to that Midwinter Game Con this weekend?
#34 by VisualHierarchy on January 18, 2011 - 1:09 PM
One of these days I’d love to go to a game con. Before I leave most definitely. Are there any ones going on in late spring/early summer? I also really want to get in on some Shadowrun next semester.
Oh and Phil, let me know what your parents are interested in as far as a custom artwork, I’d love to make some art for them!
#35 by Joshua on January 18, 2011 - 7:12 PM
Hmm… Chad / Christa / Kriz – any game cons going on around that timeframe? My ass is vibrating and I hope it’s my cell phone…
I’ll ask on the LAFF mailing list. See if they can think of any.
#36 by Phillip on January 19, 2011 - 12:47 AM
That I’ll do. It completely slipped my mind again. I’ll let you know though.
#37 by Joshua on January 18, 2011 - 7:17 PM
OH! And with the help of some #xkcd folk, I figured out yet another thing that drew me to the furry fandom: the affection. In general, furries tend to be rather affectionate people. This fits nicely with me. And snow leopard fursuiters are the most huggable people ever!
#38 by Joshua on January 18, 2011 - 7:21 PM
And I helped an #xkcd person come to terms with her own budding furriness. 🙂 She wondered why she enjoyed pretending to be a tiger. It was kind of neat to see the other side of what I went through just a few months ago.