Another month another blog post. I keep slacking off with these for some reason. I can't say I'm particularly busy, but I guess I just get distracted easily. Graduate school has been going well thus far. I've continued to "socialize" with my cohort through our group chat and other smaller video meetings. It's nice interacting with new people, even though socializing isn't necessarily something I enjoy doing very often. We've all decided that once this pandemic is over we're all going to meet in person and throw a party and let loose. We had our first exam last week and it was extremely stressful. Some of the questions were honestly nonsense and should not have been counted, but I ended with an 86%. It isn't the best score in the world, but it also could have been much worse. In one of my other classes I have ~99% overall average which is nice to see. In general, I think I'm doing pretty well considering I'm a full time graduate student while working 3-4 jobs. However, this specific degree path isn't what I'm ultimately interested in. I'm currently studying applied behavioral analysis, which deals mostly with children with intellectual disabilities. I'm doing the program because ultimately a Master's Degree is a Master's Degree, and it gets me closer to my end goal of a PhD. While I'm not super passionate about the things I'm studying, I am working towards a higher goal which is keeping me motivated.
In my personal world, a few things have happened. I'll start off with some oral surgery I had done last week. Normally I wouldn't be so dramatic as to call it surgery, but it was intense. I needed three wisdom teeth removed and I figured it would be a straightforward process. When I got my first wisdom tooth out it took me maybe a couple days to fully recover and I was back to normal. I wasn't anticipating what this round had in store for me. They discovered that both of my bottom wisdom teeth were sitting on nerves. One of my bottom wisdom teeth was growing horizontally so there was no question that one needed to be removed. However, the other was so deep that it would require a CT scan to pinpoint where the nerve begins, and there was a decent likelihood I could end up with permanent nerve damage. I decided to keep that one in and remove only the other two. Over the next few days I was on a steady intake of oxycodone and a couple other things to keep the swelling and potential infections at bay. The right side of my face was about twice the size of my left, and had a lot of bruising from them using hammers/chisels. I also had stitches not just in my gums, but up the inside of my cheek from it having been sideways. I'm almost exactly a week post-op and I'm improving, but man do I miss normal food. I still can't open my mouth too wide and I can feel the sutures still in my cheek (although they are starting to dissolve, thank God). I also have a decent amount of bruising left and some more minor swelling inside my mouth, but I'm getting better day by day.
In other personal news, a new player has entered the game. I tried finding mentions of him in past posts but I can't seem to locate him anywhere in here. I know I must have written about him, but I'll do a brief recap. His name is Mike, and we met at my college's Catholic Club. Neither of us are particularly religious, but we had a friend in common who happened to attend the club. He and I hit it off immediately and started to hang out constantly. We would hang out at his house and smoke way too much weed and listen to music and do nothing together. We'd sit there in silence with the music playing just drinking our coffees and eating hash browns (our classic snack of choice). We would most often discuss the album art of the song we were listening to. I have a particular memory of the cover from The Rolling Stones album Let It Bleed. After a few seemingly long months, we ended up drifting apart and I was sad about it, but messaged him maybe a year or so later while high on anesthesia from getting my first wisdom tooth taken out. We talked a little more and hung out a couple times, but he ghosted me again. A couple weeks ago he sent me a message and things have been moving forward ever since. He explained some personal things that were happening a couple years ago and why he disappeared on me. I'm hopeful, but still a little cautious that he'll pull the same routine again. However, we have the same banter and energy we used to have, and this time both of us are single (Seth is still in the picture, but he and I both consider ourselves single if we meet someone new). We met up a few days before my surgery and we ate fast food in his car and caught up and poked fun at each other like we always used to do. We agreed to hang out again soon and made tentative plans to see each other after my face healed up from the surgery. I'm not completely healed, but I could still stand to see him for a while. We talk every couple of days and it continues to be banter-y and mildly flirty, but we will see where it leads. As of right now it's been a couple days and I'm waiting for him to text me first. I normally don't play those childish games of not texting first, but given the fact that he's ghosted me a couple times now I want to make sure he isn't pulling the same thing all over again. As for right now, I have hope that we can continue our friendship and maybe pick up where we left off. We were both attracted to each other and even discussed dating seriously, but nothing ever came of it. I'll definitely keep all of my hardcore fans out there updated if it develops into anything worth while.
I think that's pretty much it for now. I'll drop some music below, and I promise to try a little harder to update more often. Although my life is far from being a thrill ride, I do still want to keep the blog as updated as possible. Sometimes I think to myself that I could very well use this a decade down line to look back at the memories and all the fun (and not so fun) experiences I've had over the years. Crazy how time flies. Anyway, put on those headphones and enjoy the music. Music is always better when you just focus and listen. Maybe you need to really hear one of these songs.
