Well after two and a half months on sick leave its time for me to return to work tomorrow - eek. I havent missed the place at all.
I have been busy the past few weeks creating new photo albums. In July I received an email from the company Photosite where I have had my photo albums for many many years - announcing they were shutting down and they were moving all my photos (yes all 2000 of them !) to Snapfish. Now I am sure Snapfish suits some peoples needs - but it definitely doesnt suit mine. For a start it requires all visitors to actually register in order to view my photos. It also only allows visitors access to the single album I have invited them to view. How stupid !
Anyway after much pfaffing around and 30 day trials here there and everywhere with the many companies that provide album services, I finally found one that will suit my needs perfectly. Its called Phanfare. Not only do they have lovely albums with slideshows and no advertising - they also let you personalise the slideshows with a soundtrack and they also let you upload your video clips into your photo albums. What a fabulous idea !!!
So its been time consuming initially - to go thru all my cds and dig out the photos again and load them all up. But they are all now ready for viewing HERE . Some you will have seen before but many albums now have the addition of some video clips so I hope you will revisit them.
I have also started a clean up of Bajaclub pages. I had quite a few that had been built over the years solely to show off photos. So I have moved the photos over to the Phanfare albums and deleted the pages here in Bajaclub. Its been like a big spring clean ! So far the pages that have been deleted are the Skydive & Millennium Party & Theme Party ones and their photos are currently uploading and should be viewable in the Phanfare albums in the next few days.
So what else have I done during my time away from work ?? Well it has been one seriously wet winter so I have been housebound for most of it ! So I have been busy only creating My Space pages for John Waters (two - a music one and a fan space) and also one for Uncanny X-Men. Check them out !!
What else ?? Well a lot more cooking than is normal for me ! Mostly rissotto's and soups. Still the lovely mush that has become my diet! Housework - yes shock horror ! I was going to start a new decluttering project - last done in early 2003 - but that proved to be out of my current mental range ! The long process of transferring old videos to dvd is underway and will continue now that non ratings season means there is absolutely nothing on TV at night!.
Anyway - enjoy the new Photo & Video Albums and let me know what you think of them.
Well two weeks back at work. Nothing has changed there - well except for the location of my desk, the sex of my team leader, and the nature of my work !
The arrogant arsehole who was my boss for the first half of the year (except for my spell in a project team), was seconded to another section in the department and if wishes on the first nightly star really do come true - then hopefully he stays there because no one misses him.
So for the time being I have a new team leader - and so far she seems really quite normal ! At least she is fun and has a personality and people skills.
My actual job has totally done a 100% change. But they say its only temporary and a new project will commence in the first week of October and we can go back to normal.
So - after just two weeks at work - I am off to Sydney for another few days of 5 star luxury and just 4 Priscilla shows !! Not just any four - the final four Sydney performances. It is about to make the move to Melbourne.
Hmmm some weeks have passed. Mostly just plodding between home and work - counting down to last weekend which was spent as 5 days of luxury in Star City Sydney and seeing the Priscilla musical a total of 4 times in 3 days and catching up with friends - new and old.
Friday was a warm windy day so I walked around Darling Harbour, which was seriously uncrowded due to the APEC rabbit proof fence cutting off much of the tourist walkng space. I have never in my life seen so many cops ! I spent several hours wandering the Chinese Gardens of Friendship and taking heaps of photos. Then I wandered to Paddys Markets and bought lots of cheap things that I didnt really need ! On the way back to hotel I went via my favourite fudge shop to stock up on a few months supply.
The fabulous musical was closing and getting ready to move the cast and the big lavender bus down to Melbourne for a season there.
We had front row seats on Friday night - and Shane and I got pulled up on stage for a dance during Country Boy - which was a terrifying thrill indeed. The main changes to the cast since I was last over there were Trevor being replaced by Damien after breaking his ankle, and Gen Lemon has moved on to Billy Elliott and has been replaced by Ms Jackie Weaver.
On Saturday it was lunch with new pal Rachael followed by 5th row seats, where I leapt over Shanes legs to get taken up on stage for another dance !!!! At least this time I got the steps right. I also said a quick hello to Jackie as I left the stage !
A quick change of clothes and then it was time for Shane and I to meet Keith and Mim for dinner. Everywhere was full up so we ended up in a cafe where I had lemon merengue pie ! Then off to the show again - this time for a very different view - 3rd row of the balcony (the bit that goes around the side of the theatre). In some respects I think watching the show from up there removes a lot of the mystery that you can escape into from the front row.
You could see a lot of what was going on in side stage, and back stage and the most hilarious scenes in the Broken Hill pub scene and Adams ping pong ball walk were unable to be seen at all. But one bonus was being practically eye level with the swinging divas - usually you get neck strain looking up at them !!!
We had some drinks in the bar afterwards and were joined by front row queen Alison for a while. Said hello to several members of the cast and enjoyed some colourful cocktails.
On Sunday I strolled Pyrmont wharf with a pal and lazed around until it was time to get ready for the 5pm show - the very final Priscilla show in Sydney. Thanks to Alison we had marvellous prime seats in the middle of the front row and it was an unforgettable show. The cast pulled out all the stops in front of a crowd of VIPs, friends and family, and many repeat audience members. The final applause went for forever and a mass of streamers, glitter bombs and ping pong balls enveloped us. Celeb spottings/meetings included John Waters, Carlotta, Peter Cousins, and Ray Meagher (Alf from Home & Away) - who I thanked for being such a great Bob when I visited in June.
The next day it was checking out time, then lemon merengue in the cafe - next to Ray Martin and a table of network execs doing a hard sell on him ! Also ran into members of the Priscilla cast who were obviously still in last nights clothes !
So - home again. Back to work - where once again I returned to discover my job had changed. Shit I was only gone four days!
Have been entering spring clean fever this weekend. Cleaned out the wardrobe and several clothing drawers. Planning to do a little each weekend - in order to own less crap!
Well - on a weekend that is known best for its football - and the final game of the year - who could expect it to end with the tragic death of one of our very best in the game - the incredible Chris Mainwaring.
RIP Chris - you were a true legend of the sport and a guy with a massive heart and a gorgeous big smile.
I choose to remember this incredible moment - the final siren of the 92 grand final. You were on the bench with a broken ankle but you still jumped higher and ran faster than anyone !
28 October 2007, Sunday
Well almost a month has passed since my last update. Its been a month of football - and considering the season ended in September thats rather unusual. The month started with the death of one of the greatest, Mainy, and then that was totally overshadowed by the ongoing Ben Cousins saga. Honestly it baffles me the way some people are still glorifying the little upstart. If he was robbing their homes to pay for his drugs people would be baying for his blood and calling him what he is - a junkie. But because he is a rich footballer they feel we should have sympathy for his addiction. Sorry but absolutely NO sympathy coming from this quarter.
I guess the month has also been dedicated to my career. I have been busy applying for promotions for the two levels above my current one. The first stage was to answer a series of questions in writing and in 300 words or less per question. That was hard in itself. Then if you make it to the next stage its a 35 minute phone interview answering similar questions. Last week I made it to the second stage with one of the jobs. Havent heard about the other job yet. I had the phone interview on Thursday and it was quite nerveracking. I just kept going blank. And my plastic teeth were drying out in the rooms airconditioning so it was getting hard to speak. I find out next month if I have made it thru to the next stage - which is at an assessment centre where you do a role play and a face to face interview.
Unfortunately I will be back in Bangkok for the final stages of my dental reconstruction so its quite likely I will miss out on that stage (if I was to make it thru). And if timing works in their favour I will also miss the phone interview stage of the other job.
Dammit !
Anyway to cheer myself up I got a new toy. Its a photo and video viewer crossed with MP3 player - holds 15,000 songs, 10,000 photos and 120 hours of video. Scarey!
And I can use it with and without speakers. It will
keep me company on the flight to Bangkok seeing as
how Thai Airways have yet to put in flight entertain-
ment in their bloody planes.
I also spent this month building a website totally
devoted to the dental reconstruction and implants.
I was getting so many queries from people on the net
and in real life so I thought it would aid them in their
Some good news at work. One of the biggest troublemakers, the nasty boss who lodged complaints about me earlier this year because he hated me being more intelligent than him, has resigned ! I cannot be happier ! The office will be a far better place without him.
So - not much else to report. Two more weeks and I will be in Bangkok getting my permenant teeth. Looking more and more forward to biting into my first steak.
So - I am at work yesterday packing up the contents of my desk because my team is relocating while I am away in Bangkok. Planning for a quiet day and leaving early. Suddenly someone rushes thru the building screaming "The emails have come thru for the 5's".
So all of us that have applied for the APS5 jobs go running to the library to access the selection companies website and see if we got thru to this next stage - a 3 hour thing at the assessment centre consisting of
- an interview
- written activity and role play
- online assessments including problem solving and temperament questions
So - yes I am thru to the next stage. Yahoo. BUT - the assessments are next week - and I fly out on Sunday. EEEEEEEEEEK.
So I ring the information number and its an bloody answering machine - so I leave a panicked message requesting a call back.
The rest of the afternoon is calls back and forth between me and the selection company trying to work out what can be done so I am not disadvantaged in the process. At some point I suddenly remember to mention to them that I have also applied for the APS4's and wasnt sure when the next stage for them would be happening.
The girl I was dealing with rang back and said the APS4's interviews were happening next week and I was thru to that stage and did I want to do the interview NOW! So with 3 minutes to prepare myself and find a quiet room I suddenly found myself doing a 45 minute phone interview. And let me remind you - this was with "friday afternoon brain before a holiday" already switched on and totally stressed and flustered about the APS5 thing!!
So. She is now waiting for some Gov't bigwig to get back to her to approve the deferrment of the assessment centre stage for the APS5 job (and the APS4 if I miraculously get thru after such a messy interview!) so it can be done the day after I fly home. She feels it could end up that I doing both assessments in the one day - 6 hours of it ! Jesus ! But this is reliant on this bigwig over east approving the deferral. If the big wig says no - thats me out of the whole selection process for both jobs.
So. So much for the stressfree early day. I was still packing my desk up and stuff at 5.30.
Anyway - I had enough of a migraine and enough vodka and pain medication to ensure a pretty solid nights sleep. Have spent today sorting thru the stuff I need to pack and doing household chores. The amount of electronics we need to travel with these days means even more paraphenalia that needs to accompany those gadgets. What with the multiple USB cords, surge protectors, chargers, etc that one needs to ensure their phone, camera, MP3 player and laptop all remain charged and connected to each other ! Wouldnt it be nice if someone could invent one nice portable object that did all these things OR one USB and AC charger that fit EVERYTHING! But with all this crap - there is a little bit of room in the suitcase for some clothes!
So tonight I am relaxing, finishing off the opened bottle of Goundrey Unwooded Chardonay in the fridge and painting my toenails in preparation for my feets first venture into sandals in many many months !
Oh - I forgot - a new addition to the household last week. My mobile phone took a slow motion swan dive into my Weetbix and milk last week and it was scientifically proven that milk and mobiles just dont go together. The phone died completely about 30 minutes later. So It has been replaced by a Nokia flip 6131. And while in town buying new phones - I also lashed out and bought a new sewing machine - it was time to replace the 40 year old beige Empisal that gives me a hernia when lifting onto the kitchen bench! It broke 3 needles and jammed the motor just taking up a hem the other week so it was time for it to retire. It has been replaced by a seriously light pure white and pink Janomi that just whizzed through all the hems I did last night!!
Arghhhhh moronic next door neighbour is having a birthday party. Seriously - not only is he too old for that - like dinners in nice restaurants would be more appropriate at his age, but its also yet more proof of the moron he is. He is far too thick to comprehend that small apartment complexes and small apartments - dont equal "great party venue". Let alone appropriate party venue. I hate listening to other peoples crap musical tastes - especially when it means I cant actually hear my own TV or stereo.
But arhhhhhhhhh revenge is sweet. I discovered my stereo has a timer function so he can look forward to being woken up by 3 cds full of Meat Loaf full bore every day while I am away!
Anyway - next update will be from Bangkok, the land of smiles, where I will be getting the finishing touches to my extreme mouth renovation.
Flew into Bangkok at midnight on Sunday night. I had one of those great runs of luck thru the airport. No queue at passport control so I walzted straight thru, got to the bag ramp and as I walked up there came my bag first! Walked thru customs without a queue, straight out to the greetings hall where thousands of tour companies hold signs up for passengers - there was my guy with my sign right there at the front ! He walked me out to a lovely town car that took me straight to my hotel!
Hotel is gorgeous. Centre Point Petchburi 15. Far far nicer than the one I was at last time. This is a suite with a kitchen etc. Massive king size bed that isnt two beds pushed together - so no nasty seam down the middle!
Lovely extra touches in the room, such as a safe big enough for a laptop and extra stuff, an unbrella, a torch, a USB cable for the free broadband. The bathroom has big plunger containers of lovely aromatherapy shampoo, shower gel, and body lotion. There is a 7/11 in the hotel foyer so you can stock up on water, ice cream (there is an entire freezer of hagendass - yummmm), alcohol ($1.60 for a schmirnoff ice !), noodles etc etc.
Locationwise its not out in the boondocks like the last place. This one is right next to all the big shopping malls and markets and there are KFCs and Burger Kings in every direction !
Anyway - by the time I checked in, went to my room, unpacked, showered away the sweat of the plane and airport etc it was 3am so I went to bed !
Monday morning I sussed out the complimentry breakfast buffet. Not very exciting. Lots of asian foods and then baked beans, toasts, pancakes etc. So I had pancakes without syryp because some greedy sod took the entire jug away ! I put strawberry jam on them instead.
Then I caught a taxi out the the prosthetics lab.
While sitting in the waiting room I got chatting to a man from Seattle who realised he knew me from a travel forum and he and his wife were here seeing my dentists because of all the stories I had written on the forum ! Then another lady Liz arrived who was from Sydney and was here solely because of my recommendations - her mouth was similar to mine and so she had the identical work. Apparently there is a couple from Alaska here as well that came because of my reports on the travel forum but I havent run into them yet ! They are staying two hotels away.
My day in the lab was not the best. Of course all the staff greeted me like a long lost friend - hugs galore. And they were tickled pink that I had brought back copies of all the photos I took of them on my last trip.
But they had warned me by email that the procedures were not going to be pleasant. First I had to have my top gums re cut open to access some of the implants.
Honestly - as enormously phobic as I am - when Dr R said "all done" I asked him if he had finished looking at my mouth - and he said "no I have finished giving you 6 injections and cutting your excess gums away" !!!!!!!!!!!!
I swear I felt ZILCH. Not a slightest hint that a needle was in my mouth - not a thing. I didnt even realise he had both hands in my mouth plus a needle and scalpel !
Unbelievable. Liz and I just have no idea what it is that Thais do differently but its clear thai kids dont grow up with phobias about needles and dentists !
Anyway then I had to have the new molds taken. This was the bad bit. First they attach spikes to your implants - then insert a big frame into your mouth that gets filled with a liquid that becomes putty and hardens then they pull it and the spikes out together. Now the bottom jaw was so so - it felt freaky but tolerable - had to keep the frame of putty in your mouth for 7 minutes and that feels like such a long time.
But then it was time for the uppers. That was a whole dif story. The putty hits the gag reflex of the back of your throat and you cant help gagging. Even tho your brain knows you can just breath thru your nose - part of you forgets this and is convinced you cant breathe - its like drowning.
So then the gagging gets worse and worse and because there is nowhere to go and 3 sets of hands are holding this thing in your mouth - well lets just say it turned into a massive panic attack and I was crying and vomiting and having shooting pains across my chest and shoulders.
Dr R was so good - he of course sees every patient do this and he knows its the worst bit. He just calmly kept reminding me to breathe slowly thru my nose while one staff member massages my feet, and another my shoulders.
In the 7 minutes it took for the putty to dry I had 3 separate panic attacks. So scarey. But as Dr R says - 14 minutes in total is not so bad when you get permenant teeth as a result.
Anyway - because I was so tense in the chair etc my shoulders and neck and back have totally siezed up. So today I will go wandering the alley and get a massage. They gave me a rest day today! Tomorrow I return to try out the frame for size. Not sure what the next stages are after that!
And I chose my porcelain colours. Its natural B1 ! Its not hollywood white - more a natural shade. And I also asked if it was possible to have taller bottom teeth and shorter upper teeth - because when I smile I usually only show my top teeth and it would be nice if both could be seen ! So they have taken this into account with measurements and draw them into one of the putty molds !
Weatherwise its no where near as oppressive as last time. You can stand outside for 5 minutes and not be drenched in humid sweat. Its still humid and hot - but milder than June.
Anyway - Dr R assures me yesterday was the worst day for me. The rest of the weeks will just be fittings - no more yucky molds.
Tuesday 13th was spent relaxing in the hotel and getting a back, neck and shoulder massage because everything
was so tensed up from Mondays ordeal in the chair. So I relaxed and caught up on emails and watched a few dvds etc. Also checked Aussie news online because honestly, if you relied upon BBC and CNN on cable here you would only think news occured in India. Apparently the only politics and disasters taking place this week are in India !
Anyway so Wednesday it was back out to Dr R's prosthetics lab. It was time to try on the titanium frame built from the molds made on Monday. It fits across the tops of the implant screws and had "teeth" on it except that they were tiny teeth because the porcelain still has to go over the top of it all.
The bottom frame seem to fit just fine straight away. But the top frame was being obstropolous and they ended up cutting it into 3 pieces. Doing the screws up with the frame on felt like a big fence getting tensioned. You could actually feel the titanium implants getting tightened in your jaw. Quite freaky because it reminds you they are in there!
Every few minutes it was back out for an xray to check the fittings. Its a low dose machine that you stand in and it whizzes around your head and takes a digital 365 degree pic of your jaw only. The pictures come up on their computer instantly. They would check the fit and shape etc and then whiz me back to the chair for more ajustments. Then back to the xray. This took about 6 hours all up. Quite arduous because your mouth is open with several hands in it for the better part of the day. At one point they were so unhappy with the top frame that they said they would have to go upstairs and make a whole new frame and this would take 2 hours. They apologised profusely that they were taking up my time but I simply explained that my time was theirs - I was not in Bangkok to sightsee or shop - I was here to get new teeth no matter what was involved and how long it took.
So one of them jumped on a motor bike and went and got me some snacks, another let me use their computer for a while and then I just read a book and listened to my MP3 player.
Finally my technician appeared from the mysterious "staff only" door that led upstairs. She waved a new frame at me and beckoned me to come and try it on. To her disappointment it was still not right. She had to cut it into two pieces in the end. Its strange how well behaved the lower frame has been. They were able to just put it on in one go and examine it and draw on a digital print out of the xray and a photo what changes were needed. But the top one is causing all kinds of problems.
Meanwhile I was taking pictures of me looking like the character Jaws from the old Roger Moore James Bond films !!!
Finally they announced they were happy to proceed to the next stage. The next day their porcelain technician would bake a draft layer of porcelain onto the frames and they would be ready to try out on Friday.
It was dark when I left the lab and full blown peak hour traffic had commenced. Bangkok traffic all day is like peak hour traffic anywhere else - but Bangkoks peak hour traffic is MENTAL ! It took about an hour and a half to get back to the hotel and by then I was ravenous. Grabbed some Burger King and wolfed it down.
Later that night I was in the bathroom when I noticed one side of my face was considerabley larger than the other ! I looked like the Elephant Man. The gland below my left ear was growing so fast and so big that I could not see my ear, or where my face joined my neck ! Initially I was concerned it was an allergic reaction - what with me being allergic to 90% of food products here ! But I realised it was only affecting one side and there was no swelling inside my throat. The gland itself was agony to touch and hard as a rock. I made a hot compress and went to bed.
I spent Thursday exploring the Sukhumvit area with Liz from Sydney. We went to a cute waffle house for soft food ! And sat their listening to their only background cd - a greatest hits of easy listening Readers Digest 1975 special ! We gossiped long into the night and it was midnight before I returned to my hotel. Liz noticed throughout the day that my face doubled in size each time I ate or drank and she had worked with enough medical practitioners to believe it was a blocked saliva gland getting infected.
Friday it was back to the lab to see the draft version of the porcelains. Dr R checked out my left glad which had reduced somewhat - he looked at the photos I took the previous two days and agreed it was a blocked saliva gland. He gave me a weeks worth of penecillan and a super strength antiseptic to hold in my mouth for 3 minutes after meals.
So - fittings began with the draft porcelains. Once again the bottom frame seemed to fit quite well straight away, needing only some minor adjustments and cosmetic changes with the height and shape of some of the teeth. The top frame was troublesome again. They had decided to make it in two halves after all the hassels of Wednesday ! Fitting the two pieces together was problematic. Again it felt like a fence getting tensioned as the two halves pulled together.
At one stage they asked if I would be ok if they used a drill like grinder on the teeth while they were still in my mouth - as it was faster than unscrewing each one, taking them out, screwing them back in and seeing if it was enough. They fully understood this was still very much a massive part of my original dental phobia. So they agreed to do it for a second and see what my reaction was. One of them massaged my legs to calm and distract me.
It was a strange feeling. For so many years I have had a total lack of trust with dental practitioners because of their disbelief that I was in pain. The severe fear and panic I would feel as they drilled, knowing they would hit the painful bit any second.
Suddenly here I was ready to feel all that again. Instead what I had was the noise - which of course I still associate with eventual pain - but it was like I was removed from it. I couldnt even feel any vibration as they worked on the porcelain teeth. And of course my brain finally realised there would be no pain because the teeth were not real. They had no nerve !
It was quite a realisation after all these years.
So then a few hours was spent on "bite tests". Where coloured plastics and papers were put between the teeth and bite impressions were taken and they would file away and grind down the areas that were connecting too much.
Anyway after a few hours of fittings and xrays it was time to "cosmetically criticize". First from Dr R's technical point of view - particularly he didnt like the shape of the top of the upper teeth. He felt the canines should be longer. He also drew some new shapings on a digital photo where he felt that the teeth could be shaped into the gums more he is after a very natural looking fit. Unlike plastic dentures and bridges which have a false gum to cover up the wonkiness of your own uneven gums - porcelains have just the teeth and therefore need to look like they are coming out of the gum like natural teeth even tho they are merely resting against the gum. Its quite an exact science getting it just right.
From my point of view I felt I had chosen the wrong shade of white. Once I saw it with my skin tone and lip colour it looked far too yellow. So they brought out all the sample shades again and I reselected a new shade of white.
I also felt the two top front teeth needed about a mm off the bottom - just the teeniest bit smaller.
So it was explained to me that the technician would spend saturday rebaking the porcelains with the changes and I could try the final product on on Sunday. Dr R did explain that while its called the final product - its not really final. There is still ample time to make any changes, cosmetic or fitting wise. He then said I could wear them for a few days and eat with them etc before returning for any final changes that might be needed.
So today I had a big sleep in. Didnt get much sleep on previous nights with the whole "swelling face pain". With the penecillan and pain meds I was able to knock myself out !
Today I am meeting a couple from Alaska who contacted me via the internet after my dental experiences here. They are having some work done and one is seeing my implantologist surgeon Dr Pimol this week.
Till the next update! Oh - photos will be loaded to the photo albums in the next few hours.
Well, last night I met up with a lovely couple from Alaska and we had a fabulous Italian meal together and gossiped about dental procedures etc. Terry is having some pretty major surgery on Tuesday - he needs plates inserted above his jaw to attach the implant screws to because he has so little jawbone left. I will catch up with them again a couple of days after his surgery and escort them to the prosthetics lab.
Today I went back to the lab to see the changes made to the porcelain bridges. They are now less yellow and the top front two teeth are shorter. The top side teeth have been reshaped at the top where they meet the gums.
They have sent me away to give them a test run for a few days. Eating meat and crunchy things etc. Seeing what I like or dont like about them. I return on Tuesday to have any necessary changes made.
Liz from Sydney came out to meet me at the lab and share her tale of being bitten on the leg by a teething baby tiger the day before ! We travelled back to my hotel together and went to the hotel restuarant where I dined on an actual pork chop !!!!!! I actually chewed meat properly for the first time in years. And it was accompanied by crispy asparagus and baby corn and carrots. I chewed ! I masticated !(dont misread that!!!!). For desert we had icecream and I let it rest on my teeth! You cannot understand what its like to do that after so many years.
Its also lovely to have the roof of my mouth back. To actually be able to taste your food as you chew it - and not taste a nasty plastic denture.
So for the next 30 hours or so I am going to purposely eat things I have avoided for years - I may even try a crunchy bread roll!
And I am going to repeat the alphabet over and over and retrain my tongue. Its had to adjust to the shape of the denture since June and now there is another whole new shape in there to talk around.
Tomorrow I think I might actually venture across the 10 lanes of traffic to the huge IT store opposite the hotel. Its about 10 storeys so I am sure even I could find a treat to buy !
ciao for now from me with a permenant set of teeth !!
On Monday I ventured over to the giant IT store and wished I hadnt bothered. There were a few genuine stores for Canon and Apple etc but the stuff was dearer than in Australia. The rest of the floors were just tacky market stalls selling fake crap and hawkers offering "naked movies". I noticed the hawkers only approached men with that offer - apparently women dont watch naked movies!
So at that stage - deciding there was utterly nothing I wished to purchase - I realised I would have to exit the store via a 3 storey high non operational escalator. It took me right back to the London underground in 1988 not long after my stair/escalator phobia originated. Such high endless escalators. I searched in vain for a lift - nothing. So I started to make my way slowly down the big deep metal steps. About 10 down I started a big panic attack and just froze and couldnt take another step.
I wondered what on earth I was going to do. From nowhere came a teen schoolboy. He gingerly walked past me and stopped and turned on the step in front of me and said "not ok?". I mimed that my heart was racing and showed him my shakey hands. I was sweating buckets.
He stood by my side and and gripped me tightly and took me slowly down step by step. He turned back to the people behind us and explained the situation.
76 steps later (who was counting ??) we reached the bottom and I fell into a seat. He sat with me until he was sure I was ok before racing up the big up escalator to rejoin his school friends.
It was a few minutes later that I realised I still had to cross the road to get to my hotel. Believe me the thought crossed my mind to get a taxi! Instead I ventured up the "up and over crossing" for pedestrians. Going down on the other side was scarey. There was no banister so I gripped a filthy wall. The steps were deep and shallow. I made my way slowly down them. Sweating and shaking. I walked thru the hotel foyer and up to my room and downed a Schmirnoff Vodka Ice from my fridge. The next day my thigh muscles had totally siezed up from the shaking and stress. Thank gawd I packed the Voltaren Gel !
Well after a couple of days with the porcelain teeth I returned to the lab on Tuesday to have some alterations made. The bite at the front just wasnt quite right - but the bite at the back was perfect. The upper left side had a couple of gaps between the teeth and gums so I was concerned food would get trapped in there. And the colour. Much as I wasnt doing all this for appearances sake I still felt like the colour I chose was too dark. I didnt want to get home after all this time and effort and money and be disatisfied with the colour forever more.
My original teeth were actually quite white (well until they started turning black!) so I really just wanted something as close to their original shade as possible. Still natural - not hollywood blindingly white!
So the technician now has to strip all the porcelain off the titanium frames and rebake a new set. I agreed that he only needed to do the front 6 teeth as no one is going to see the sides !!
I went out to dinner to a German restuarant that night with a fellow dental traveller. With her new denture and my plastic lower teeth - it was mush for both of us!
Today I am venturing to more shops - this time in the alleys behind the hotel - so no road crossings or stairs !
(back from there now - it was just more of the same hideous stuff - fake and bad quality.)
Tomorrow its back to the lab to see if my teeth are ready.
Some observations:
- I have not seen the sun since I arrived. Even when its not cloudy the skyscrapers and pollution obscure the sky. I havent seen a sunrise or sunset at all. Its just "light" - then "darK" just like that.
- I am baffled at how the hundred of thousands of street stalls selling food and clothes for a pittance actually make a living.
- I am baffled that I have yet to see a car accident despite the mass of mental driving where lanes and traffic lights seem not to exist.
- I have a great respect for the traffic police who stand in front of 8 lanes of oncoming traffic and command respect and get it!
- I am baffled why salt tastes like nothing here !
- I am heartily sick to death of the BBC World station. Its just the same headlines over and over every day all week. The only country that apparently exists on the planet is India.
Well another update from hot Bangkok. After several cool days and nights where I didnt even need the hotel air conditioning turned on, the weather changed today to rather hot. I think its to do with a cyclone off Vietnam somewhere.
Yesterday I went back out to the prosthetics lab to collect my teeth again. It was the busiest I have ever seen the lab in all my visits. As well as Terry and Kristen from Alaska, there was another lady from Perth there - along with some Thai's who were there for emergencies. As I didnt have anything else to do I was more than happy to let the emergencies be dealt with first.
I was able to watch Terry have his wax model uppers adjusted while they were in his mouth. They melt the wax and move the fake teeth around and let the wax harden again while his wife and I watched on !!
I also had my first look around upstairs where the wax, plastic and porcelain teeth are made. I was shown all the different areas, including the foundry where my titanium frames were melted and remade etc and I was introduced to the lovely lad who actually did the porcelain part of my teeth.
It was really interesting to see hundreds of molds of peoples teeth and all the different processes involved.
Then it was my turn. They loaded the remodelled porcelains into my mouth. The colour is now just right. Natural but not glowing white. The fit on the upper left is perfect. There is not a single gap anywhere between the teeth and the gums. Its incredible. The bite has been adjusted so that I can now perform the very important task of biting my lips ! I couldnt do that the other day and while its only a little thing - the idea of not being able to do it for the rest of my life seemed important to me.
They feel fabulous. They feel real. They look real. I have a bit of a lisp as my tongue needs to readapt itself from the size and shape of the denture - to the size and shape of the porcelains. Thats just something that takes time.
I then had to have upper and lower pink alginate molds done while wearing the teeth. The pink stuff solidifies a lot faster than the nasty 7 minute one - but its still a difficult gagging moment. They are using these molds to make me some mouthguards. Apparently I need to sleep with them in for a while to protect the teeth while I get use to them at night. Plus activities such as 4 wheel driving, skydiving, roller coasters (anything mega bumpy and jolty) will need protection so as not to shatter them against each other.
So I return to the lab on Saturday to collect the mouthguards and also my own personal screwdriver that fits my implants, for allowing Australian dentists to remove the porcelain bridges twice a year for cleaning.
After a long long day at the lab I caught a taxi back with the Alaskans to their hotel and then we went to a huge german restuarant opposite their hotel. Terry had no teeth so he stuck to goulash while Kristen and I had a roll of beef stuffed with vegetables. Apple tart for desert - yummmmm.
No sleep for me last night. Three chinese families checked in last night around 3am - soooooooo noisy. Shrieking to each other across the corridors all night, running between rooms and sounding each others door bells etc. AT one stage a little boy was standing outside the room next to me alternating between his own doorbell and mine - non stop. I opened my door and grabbed him by the wrist and shook him so hard and then suggested I would throw him down the stairwell if he continued. (I know he understood english because I heard him shrieking in clear english!).
This went non stop till about 9am. When I went down to reception to complain about them I was informed they had been asked to check out immediately! Me thinks there were a few complaints ! Thank gawd - I may get some sleep tonight.
I went for a stroll this afternoon checking out the market stalls. So crowded and tiny walkspaces. I have never suffered claustrophobia but you seriously could here ! I found a cute vanity bag and overnight bag for a friend. Resisted temptation to add to my existing overstocked handbag suggestion. Having a quite night at the hotel tonight. Watching dvds and testing out some of the room service menu so I can really try my teeth out. Still not allowed to have anything overly crunchy as it hasnt been 6 months since the implants were put in my jawbone. After Xmas I can venture into crunchy apple territory !!! But I can chew tender meat apparently so I am keen to try some!
Perth made it onto BBC World news today. the heatwave was worth an actual mention ! Eeek - can it please cool down before I return next week.
So last night I ordered fillet mignon ! It was accompanied by crunchy vegetables. It was divine ! Initially I found that I automatically went to chew on my "good side" - before remembering its all "good side" now ! I purposely tested each and every bit of my mouth !
I returned to the lab today and had the upper screws tightened one final time, then all the screw holes were filled with filling solution. I paid for my mouthguard - its so lovely and soft !, and also my screwdriver and some spare screws, and picked up my old denture and plastic lower bridge for souvineers !
Then it was some final confirmations with the lab staff. Yes I would continue to use the waterpic, yes I would remember to use only a soft toothbrush with a gel toothpaste - not an abrasive paste, yes I would smile !!! Yes I would return to a dentist every 6 months to have the bridges removed and cleaned.
Then it was hugs all round as I got into my taxi and left them for the last time. I will never forget Dr Rajapas's fabulous staff at Spec Lab. Each of them had a special part to play in the construction of my teeth and when I see those teeth in the mirror I will always think of them.
So thats it. My dental journey is all over. I have a mouthful of brand new teeth that will hopefully last me forever. I am no longer in pain. I can eat without fear. Its all done. I fly home on Tuesday.
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24 November 2007, Saturday night.
While online in a travel forum I was talking about taxi's when another poster realised we were in the same hotel. So Lorree rang to say hi and I suggested dinner in the hotel restuarant. While I was waiting for her to meet me at my room I glanced outside and noticed a big full moon rising above the two skyscrapers opposite my balcony. Have added some blurry photos to the phanfare albums.
So we went to the restaurant where I was able to sample the fillet mignon again ! The restuarant doesnt offer alcohol or deserts so we wandered down to the 7-11 for Hagendaas icecream instead and gossiped over icecream.
26 November 2007, Monday (well its really Tuesday morning!) Last night in Bangkok.
Sunday morning I met Lorree in the restaurant for the buffet breakfast then she went off to explore the dreaded shopping mecca of MBK while I had a lazy day on the computer.
In the evening I suddenly had a craving for pizza and garlic bread, and knowing there was a place that resembled a Pizza Hut next to the Burger King I headed for the lift. A few floors down into the lift strolled Lorree ! Good timing. So off we went to the pizza place. I have to say - the pizza's were scrumpcious. The medium pan crust was light and fluffy and cheesey, and the toppings were just right. We overate!
From Lorree's reaction to MBK I realise I was right in not going. It sounds like its absolutely everything I despise about shopping - quadrupled ! We gossiped for a while then it was time for her to pack for the continuation of her journey.
Today I slept in, then got a cab to Asoke Road to visit the Smile Clinic staff. I did a video testimonial and signed their guest book and chatted to the staff about my experience and the comparison with Australian dentists. I spotted Mum and Malcolms photo on a pin up board of happy patients !! I had my photo taken for the board.
Then I wandered down Asoke before bravely crossing no less than 13 or 14 lanes of traffic at a massive intersection, dodging between the hundreds of mopeds and motorbikes who pull up right over the zebra crossing !.
I wandered along till I found Robinsons - a massive department store that Mum had told me about from our last trip. In their shoe department I found some nice summer sandals for work that were roughly $50 less than what I paid for my last pair, so I bought a black pair and a brown pair.
Then I got a cab back to the hotel and rested for a while before getting a cab back to the Sukhumvit area to have dinner with the Alaskans Terry and Kristen. Terry has his new teeth and had shaved his moustache so he was a new man! We went across the road from their hotel to a very well known italian restuarant called Lemoncello. Terry was still on the soft stuff so he had a lasagna while Kristen and I australian sirloin steak ! Yummmmmm. Lemon merangue pie for desert - and it was a perfect one.
I farewelled them around 10.30 and got a taxi back to my hotel. I decided it just wasnt worth sleeping as I am being picked up at 5am to get to the airport and thats pretty well when I usually fall asleep ! So I have packed my suitcase and everything is ready to go and I am just catching up on emails and watching dvds for a few hours!
Merry christmas and bah humbug. Its 40 degrees celcius and I have had a vile gastro bug since Friday evening so I am soooo not in a christmassy mood. Am I ever ?
Anyway I realised my last update was my last night in Bangkok ! How slack of me. I returned to work in time to attend the assessment centre for the promotion I applied for. 3 hours of my life I will never get back. Pyscometric testing just doesnt work with Librans ! We just choose "undecided" for every bloody question !
Anyway I worked for a week then it was off for a trip to Melbourne.
I flew over on Dec 11th. I stayed the night at an airport hotel before meeting Alison from Sydney at the hirecar counter. From there we drove to Mount Macedon and Hanging Rock. A place I have wanted to see for many many years. We first walked to the huge Anzac cross on the mountain, stopping to play with a little echidna. Then we drove to Hanging Rock and had a nice lunch in the cafe before commencing our big walk up the rock. Its definitely one of those places that lives up to its reputation. Its much bigger than I expected, magnificent. So many nooks and crannies to photograph. Alison excelled at re-enacting the infamous disappearance of Miranda !!!
A few sunburned hours later we returned to the car and drove to Echuca - somewhere else I have wanted to see for most of my life. The location of my all time favourite mini series and book All The Rivers Run. We stayed in the historical Steampacket Inn overlooking the Murray River and the historical precinct. We dined in the lovely Oscars restuarant on the old wharf above the river and wandered the historical precinct in the dark. The next morning I achieved a long time dream by cruising the Murray on the Pevensey - the paddlesteamer that starred as the Philadelphia in the mini series. We timed it well - there were only about 10 people on our cruise - the one after that contained an entire school ! After a bit more exploring we headed towards Melbourne, stopping in Bendigo for a lovely lunch.
We arrived in Melbourne around 5pm on Thursday Dec 13. We checked into our big serviced apartment before freshening up and heading out to the Princess Theatre to see Phantom of the Opera. We had lovely central 8th row seats. The first time I saw this was back in the late 90s and it was in Perths Entertainment Centre - a brilliant place for concerts but not the most appropriate venue for a theatre musical. It was a vast cavernous place with no atmosphere.
To experience the show again in a lovely old theatre like the Princess gave the show a more intimate feel for me.Its still not my favourite musical but I love the sheer spectacular of it all - the special effects and the sets.
The next day we headed into the malls for some shopping. Several pairs of trousers and shoes later I was all done ! Back to the apartment to find the Sydney boys, Keith and Shane, had checked in. That night we enjoyed centre front row at Priscilla Queen of the Desert. After 8 shows in Sydney I was dying to see the changes that had been made for the Melbourne audiences. I was worried some favourite bits would be missing but instead every thing was still there but now there was additional scenes and costumes and lines. Characters back stories were broadened out a bit. The ending is now far more like the movie - complete with new costumes that left me laughing in the aisle - Minties !!!!!
Fave bit - I caught the third ping pong ball !!!! I have never caught anything in my life - I always close my eyes and squeal! But the ball just sailed right into my hand and stayed there !I
The only thing missing was the band ! At the stunning Regent theatre they are hidden beneath the stage !
Saturday we all did our own thing before meeting up again to relived Priscilla all over again - from the left side of front row.
Sunday Dec 16 - this time it was off the Her Majestys to see Spamalot - twice in the same day! First from the front row - then from second row. Even the most minor of Monty Python fans could not fail to be impressed with this hilarious production. The matinee starred former Priscilla Diva Chrissy as the Lady of the Lake and she really rocked the place with her powerful voice.
Another former Priscilla cast member Ben Lewis totally stole the show along with my heart and ribcage as the side splitting Sir Dennis Galahad. Everything he did - even in the background - cracked me up! He has a real knack for comedy.
This show is the funniest thing you will ever see other than the original Python videos - so do make sure you see it !
The boys checked out at before dawn to fly back to Sydney in time for work. Alison and I checked out around ten then went our separate ways. I made my way to the enormous Melbourne Central where I saw a movie called Death at a Funeral - a little UK black comedy. I then perused the bookstores - joining seriously long xmas queues to stock up on books including Ben Eltons latest missive. In the afternoon I met up with ex Perthite Amanda for a late lunch early dinner in Carlton and grabbed some yummy nibblies at Brunettis. Visited Manda's little apartment and met her chatty kitty cat. The she (Amanda not the cat) drove me to the airport for the flight home.
Arrived around midnight to find Mummy had popped in for a visit. We gossiped for a few hours before sleeping. Next day we did a big grocery trip and she looked at my photos from Bangkok and Melbourne.
The next night (Thursday Dec 20) it was time to squeeze in yet more Python ! Is there such a thing as overload ? haha.
This time it was 3rd row seats at Not The Messiah - an opera oratorio starring Eric Idle, 4 talented opera singers, the WA Symphony Opera, a choir of about 50, some bagpipers and sheep !
This was a night of culture - NOT!!!! It was the entire story of the Life of Brian ! In opera ! It was bloody hilarious! To actually hear Eric himself saying some of his most iconic lines there in front of me was brilliant !
My face ached from laughing all night. I went home humming What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us.
I returned to work for a couple of days - before coming down with this nasty bug on Friday night - and thats pretty much it!
Photos and videos are being uploaded to the albums now - stay tuned !
Isnt it funny that after a week of self reflecting and diary reading and revisiting old photo albums - a MySpace friend sends this little quote that says exactly the right thing.
I dont have regrets, I have to believe every thing I have said and done in the past 39 years was exactly what I wanted to do and say. I cant sit here and wish I said something more or wonder what life would have been like if I had made a different choice at some point in my life.
What started this little ponderment ? I was building a list of all the musicals and plays and concerts I have ever been to and that necessitated the dragging out of the boxes filled with diaries from my past. I started keeping diaries in 1979 ! So there was much reading to be done while the lists were compiled. A big life to be remembered.
I wonder why some things rated a mention back then - while other pretty big life altering moments barely rate a mention - if at all.
I can see thru my teens I definitely wasnt happy. But I seemed to be an expert at the "fake front".
As long as everyone thought I was a happy party girl - then everything must be ok.Must it ?
So - after two days of re-reading my entire life story I was in a bit of a fog. My head was filled with names of people - some I could no longer put a face to, some it felt like I had never known them at all, some I wondered why I no longer knew them, some had been so important to me that I was left wondering if I was equally as important to them. I was reading with hindsight - laughing when I wrote something like "I know this person will be a friend for life". I found myself surprised by those who did in fact turn out to be just that. How was I to know this back then.
During this restrospective group of days I was "facebooked". ie contacted by people from the past via the networking website Facebook. One contact was by someone I never wanted to hear from again in my entire life. Someone who had affected my views on friendships so badly 14 years ago that I was pretty much unable to allow myself to ever fully trust a person ever again. Someone who valued my friendship so lowly that they used me as their alibi without my knowledge and allowed their family to believe I did in fact know what was going on. Part of me wanted to respond to thier message with a full blown stream of venom letting them know exactly what I thought of them. There are really only 3 people I feel so totally venomous about and this person is one of them. But after some advice from a true friend I realised nothing would be gained from that. This person clearly would never understand how they had affected my life - clearly because if they had any actual understanding they would never have had the balls to make contact because they would have known how I would feel. Does that make sense ? So its better to just ignore this persons request for attention and leave them hanging. Let them wonder why.
The other contact was from a relative. Now most of you know how I feel about 99.9% of my relatives ! I spent so many years of my life trying to build bridges across chasms I didnt actually create. I travelled to visit them constantly and tried to have relationships with them. It never worked. Some people just arent meant to be related. Around age 30 I accepted that the saying "blood is thicker than water" is a piece of crap. Its not true. You dont have to feel obliged to be be friends with someone just because they share your bloodline. You cant force a commonality. The relative who has chosen to contact me was a toddler back when all this crap was happening and so I never really got to know them as a person. I met them again about 10 years ago and we connected as adults - without the family history rubbish. 10 years down the track - out of all the relatives - this is one I do want to know. Someone I have often thought of and wondered what they were doing in their life. They seemed different to the rest. They seemed normal ! In a family like ours normality could be somewhat unusual. So lets see how this renewed contact goes.
So after all that - I bravely decided to "facebook" someone from my very distant past. I picked a name randomly from my 1980s diaries and found them and made contact. It felt strange. So instant. Five minutes after my contact - there they were replying. 25 years erased just like that. Its a strange feeling and I dont know if I will make a habit out of it. I live in the past too much as it is - digging up all those people from my diaries - well its a little too much like a school reunion isnt it - and we all know how one of those went down like a lead balloon !
So - is that too much self reflecting to round out another year ? I guess if a diary is for anything - its for self reflecting! Afterall who other than me reads it ? I know I have a few regular readers out there and they are probably scratching their heads now thinking "Karina has officially lost it !".
Maybe its the realisation that the big Four O is coming up. I dont feel that age. I still feel 20. I feel like I want to have my 20s. I dont want to have my 40s !
Ahhhh well - must dig myself out of the past and slap myself into the future. If I forget to say it - HAPPY NEW YEAR!
