I knew that would inspire shrieks of horror (deservedly) but I was in grad school -- what can I say? I tried, I didn't like, I made a PB&J.

But then I have the whole "but I'm drinking ALONE!" problem.

Oh, I wish you could have come to Pint Sized Plays ! One of the pieces was a series of monologues about drinking alone.

Drunk Swedish Elk Found in Apple Tree.

I wonder if there were any dogs inside it.

Oh Ginger, that is definitely Too Much, and you're more than entitled to whine. Wish I had something to make it better.

This. I really hope you feel better soon and you get a brand new phone with no hassles about it.

smonster, what everyone else said. I'm an introvert and asking my roomie to not use the kitchen to eat would be selfish and ridiculous.

No doubt -- feel better, Ginger.

I've been nodding so hard along with the roomie-kitchen sitch I forgot to type. I'm a huge introvert, and I have really problematic issues with being silently, even casually, observed and *I* think she's being a prat.

It's not incumbent on you to solve her problem, but because of information you didn't have before, I'd urge you to move into the other place. Sucks, after starting to put down roots, but in the long run I feel you'll be happier--those things won't get resolved, and you'll just stew and worry at them and make yourself nuts because it's not the way it's supposed to be and you can't fix it. Get out. of the house. (end ghostie voice) Get out now. Um. Is my opinion, fwiw.

Hey All, checking in from the other side of the SAN DIEGO COUNTY BLACKOUT. t /NewsCaster Voice We survived fine and, other than feeling compelled to eat a disturbing amount of ice cream for dinner to keep it from melting, unscathed. I understand there was gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair from football fans, though. The living room smelled kinda weird from the warring fragrances, too - every candle in the house was a scented candle.

Any OC Buffistas get hit?

I now have a temporary crown on my root canal-ed tooth. I have to say, the actual dental care is quite good, but their people skills leave me snarly. It's a giant dental complex with branches in 5 or 6 parts of town, so I think turnover of patients (and dentists) is high. And based on that, I think they gear their people "skills" (such as they are) toward a "disposable patient," probably-won't-see-them-again attitude. With a little "the patient is dumber than a box of rocks and knows nothing about dentistry or their own body" sprinkled on top.

Because first, when I had the root canal last week, the endodontist was STUNNED that I requested pain meds. The dentist today told me that the endodontist never prescribes them, ever (with the implication of "What exactly did you tell him in order to get drugs?"). Then when I told the dentist today that I still had some soreness from the root canal, she reacted like I had been punching my own face for a week. "You SHOULDN'T be having PAIN after such a LONG PERIOD of time!" she exclaimed.

"Uh...a week?" I asked.

"No!" she said. "You should be sore for A DAY, maybe two if it was a really complicated procedure!"

"Well," I said, "I had pain and cold sensitivity for 8 months prior to the root canal, and I don't consider residual discomfort after only 1 week to be extraordinary."

"You must have a LOW pain tolerance!" she said.

The whole tenor of the conversation was that *I* had done something wrong by...still being sore from my tooth being excavated for 90 minutes. (I figured if I told them that everything I read online -- from actual dental practices -- actually contradicted their YOU MUST BE PAIN FREE IN ONE DAY OR YOU ARE A LIAR stance, they would be pissed and also tell me that dental advice from the Internet is unreliable.)

I think they must have such high volume of patients that they have one standard approach to patient interaction, and that's that.

So, I need to finish up with a permanent crown, and like I said, the actual dental care is perfectly good. Once the crown is done, I'm going to find another dentist, because I really don't enjoy being treated like an idiot drug addict who causes my own pain. And I'm going to let them know that's why I'm leaving.

Medical people are crazy in regard to pain meds.

Wishing you a quick and as pain-free as possible recovery. I've had one root canal (and a bunch of crowns, several of which were more painful than the root canal). Steph, it's possible that the nerves other than the one killed in the procedure have been so sensitized that they're still hurting you.

After years of being mauled by two different dentists - at least the second one was competent, if brutal - I found the bestest dentist evah. Looked like your favorite grandfather and was so, so gentle. Then he retired ... after only 60 years in practice! slacker!

Christ I realize how lucky I am with dentists. They always offer meds, and give that I react badly to most pain meds work hard to find ones that don't make me sick. Why is that not routine with dentists and dental surgeons?