Watch out for the internets...

That's all. More is coming, I promise.

It's the 25th of December!

Check out great gifts available in the world in the links below:

The book for that tough-to-buy-for-teenager on your list.

The sling that saves you the time of explaining the story 50 times.

The gift of opinions is always free. Some shouldn't be given....

Practice what you preach > a lost art?

Inventor's gift to 1 billion poor people - wow, I hope this guy makes it.

Lost and found, just in time for Christmas.

Someone help me get a new hobby...

Like I have extra time on my hands right? Well, I do, I guess, because I have found myself playing online Scrabble fairly regularly the past couple weeks. I play quick 3 minute games against people from all over. It's pretty silly I suppose, but my wit is pretty sharp these days. Watch out, you might get cut.

The online Scrabble culture is at least mildly interesting. Most people say good luck and good game in the chat window, but a few talk trash, which is maybe one of the lamest things I've experienced all year. To all you people who talk trash during Connect 4, Chutes 'N Ladders, Bejeweled, and Badminton, you should probably reevaluate some stuff in your life.


Anyway, here are some important words that those who play Scrabble have to know:

QAT - noun - the leaves of the shrub Cath edulis which are chewed like tobacco or used to make tea; has the effect of a euphoric stimulant.

XU - noun (plural) - an aluminum coin and monetary unit of Vietnam, the 100th part of a dong (hmm).

DJIN - noun (slang) - Islam for a genie in Arabian folklore.

KREWE - noun - a private social club that sponsors balls, parades, etc., as part of the Mardi Gras festivities.

you are competent - Dr. Razoky

In order to graduate from dental school, I must demonstrate some level of proficiency at thirty (or so) different types of procedures. The way this is done is I find a case that would be good for a denture or something, tell my faculty, and then I do the whole thing and they grade me on it fairly tough. So, I don't wanna choose cases that are too complicated, because I can't really ask questions during this 'competency' procedure.

Last week I competed my bridge competency which is one of the more difficult ones we do while in school. A bridge is one way to fill a gap when someone is missing a tooth. It works by getting the two teeth adjacent to the missing tooth ready for crowns with an exact amount of parallelism required. Then the whole area is impressed and sent to the lab for casting and processing. The metal work is sent back and tried in the patient's mouth and sent to the lab again for baking porcelain on to match tooth color. So, everything worked out for me and my patient on our bridge this week - thankfully! Not something I wanted to do over.

Once I finish all my competency experiences, the school will recommend me for graduation and then a license if I pass that test next June. Once I have that license, I will have the confidence that my profession authorizes me to work on patients. I'm looking forward to finishing.

I do have a story, in addition to all this dryness. Most of my second year was spent doing dental procedures on a mannequin. Mine's name was Dexter. He didn't ever complain or get his tongue in the way. Life was pretty easy back then. Then all of a sudden, after a year, we could see real patients. I wanted to have some sort of certification-thing that showed the school's approval for my working on the citizens of Mesa (all the way to Black Canyon). This certification was not given.


Undeterred, I went to my simulation clinic director and demanded hard evidence for all my work. The note above is what she presented me. Sigh. It has done its job however. I keep it in my school locker, and on the days early on when I felt like I wasn't gonna ever be fast enough, I would have to see this silly thing proving my relative competence.

In the future, my license will provide me with the same virtual peace of mind. I think that this could relate to the other things we do. Even when a rough day shows up, we need to have something that gives us back our confidence, or at least enough so that we show up for more the next day.

The Story of the Girl Who Dumped Me when We Weren't Even Dating...

This goes back to BYU times where the word 'date' meant so much more than a planned activity. Let's just say, going to campus was like walking through an aisle in the grocery store. Hmm, I better stop that metaphor before I get myself in trouble.

Facebook was still pretty little about the time I was getting out of Provo, but I'm sure it's not hard for people to know 1000 people on campus. It's just that kind of place, especially if you go to school for 5 years like most of them, er, us. And out of those 1000 people, at least one is bound to be a cheerleader - that's just the way the numbers work. And that, my friends, brings us to our story.


It was a time when I had a moderate-sized crush on some girl that I was trying to convince to like me. As far as I know, my efforts were fruitless. All the while, I spent time with many other close friends around town, as I really thrived on getting to know lots of people. To protect the innocent, the cheerleader with whom I was friends was named either Jessica, Paige, Cami, or Sarah. She was fun and we enjoyed the hangout/friendship thing without and strings attached (at least so I thought). I was trying to go on dates with the girl I liked.

Anywho, after her trip to some cheerleading competition where she and her team went to represent BYU's spirit, I called her up, and she asked me to come over. Her voice was in one of those somber tones, like something serious was going on. So, I went over to her apartment. No roommates were there. I wanna say this was in early January, and inexpensive Christmas decorations were still up.

With very closed body language, she says, "So, I think you're really a great guy..." which is the first line people say when you are trying to let someone down easy if they are lacking creativity. I don't think that surprise fully encompassed my reaction, nor does confusion; maybe the in between is surfusion. This sounds more like a physics term I suppose. Be it as it may, I was able to prevent myself from making a funny face; I was not able to say or do anything at all.

"I think you're really fun, and your priorities are in order...."

No way, I really couldn't believe this was happening. I wasn't remotely dating this girl.

"I mean, you have lots of qualities that I respect in a guy..."

But Jessica/Paige/Camii/Sarah, I have a crush on somebody else, remember?

"I just think we should really just see other people."

Me too, I mean.....ya. Like, I should see the girl I like, and you should go out with dudes that ask you out!

"I'm sorry."


All this time, I just sorta looked and nodded. I really couldn't respond. She did a fairly admirable job of breaking up with me, so I just kinda took it. I figured that she had built up the gusto to have this conversation with me, so I wouldn't ruin it. I just kinda engulfed it like you would a bad birthday gift.

After the pseudo-obligatory post break-up side hug, I waved and walked out the door. I don't know if you've seen the movie Orange County, but after the ex-husband (John Lithgow) comes over to Sean's mom's house one night and he tells her he misses her and then goes into the kitchen to get him a drink, and makes that face/head-shake/psh-sound? Well, I did that, and walked back to my apartment in one of those scenes from the movies where the main character is laughing to himself and lots of people passing on the street think he must be nuts. Ya.

I told my roommates that I'd just been dumped, and they were surprised too, as I hadn't been dating anyone. We decided to drown our sorrows in 7-11 hot chocolate and then proceeded to get on with our lives.

So whenever people ask me about how many relationships I've had, I never know whether or not to count the time spent 'together' with the cheerleader I never dated or kissed. I'll leave it off my list, but she probably counts it on hers.


THE REST OF THE STORY goes that she had hooked up with another cheerleader (dude) during the competition trip and didn't want to be dishonest toward me. So, points for loyalty I guess, but negative points for dating another cheerleader. Yikes.

Links you NEED to behold....

I know I haven't showed you kids anything in a while, but rest assured, I'm still finding it...



A Very Lucky Day

That was totally nuts. My 19th birthday was full of Calculus tests and BYU freshman drama :( PS - Drew Carey = lameness encapsulated.

http://mymomisafob.com/ - FOB = fresh off the boat. This is a website where Asian-American kids submit emails their moms send to them. It was shown to me by my Asian roommate of course.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24694190-1242,00.html - New pamphlet from Australia designed to help people get drugs from the street - safely? "If you don't already have a reliable dealer, try to find one and stick with them."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96xRToUdzD0 - I can't believe I just saw this. Only in the South. Taxidermy? Really?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15902.html - This was today's bad news. Even the past 30 years of presidents at least feigned Christian practices. Please bless this is an anomaly.