when i was 22, i dated an older guy. i am giong to be 100% honest here...he was 13 years older than me. i was 22, he was 35. i was still in college, and young, and carefree, and my chest was pert, and i could live on 3 hours of sleep. he was...old. and liked 80's music. and drove an old car that smelled funny. and wore tapered leg jeans (when i first met him).

i always used to tease him about being old. jokes about alzheimers and hip-fractures, and osteoarthritis, and the like were in my daily repetoire. he was good about it. mostly because i am so delicious...and it never really seemed to hurt his feelings but moreso just made him laugh. it was fun.

we went to six flags together once. we took his then-13 year old neice and one of her buddies with us. that was interesting. because i was somewhere in between the two. in fact, i was closer to their age bracket. and he was out of the loop...or so i thought.
at one point, when we were arguiing about music or somesuch, the friend of the neice said to me and the boyfriend "whatever....that's because ya'll are OLD NEWS" because we didn't like the same kind of music that they like.

i didn't take the old man joke as well as he did. mostly because this was the first time in my entire life that i was the butt of the old-person joke, and it didn't feel good. it made me feel....wrinkly. besides, HE was old news! not me! i was merely 22! he was old enough to be my father, too (which would be really really sad....but whatever...you CAN procreate at 13, i think.) why were these girls teaming up on me? why was i not the uncle's cool girlfriend? why was i just the fuddy duddy? this is an OUTRAGE!!!!!!!

and from that day forward, i have had a complex about being "old news". it's an idea that creeps up on me almost daily when i am in my car. because i still don't like the music that some of the 13 year olds are listening to.
my favorite station used to be the edge. it was alternative rock. it was the radio station people were allowed to cuss on.....but one day somewhere in between 22 and 26 that changed, i started tuning into mix. the music of the 80s 90s and today...

and most recently, i have found myself really depreciating agewise when i listen to the likes of the Lite rock station and the ::gasp:: oldies. (in my defense, i do NOT call music from my childhood oldies, thank you very much)

but when i would rather listen to the fuddy duddy stations instead of the cool pop stations like all the hipsters, it gets me thinking...have i become the old fart that doesn't evolve with the styles and the tastes of today but instead stays stuck forever in my favorite time-period?

have i become the older boyfriend?!

but then something lovely happened. The alternative rock station started magically playing good music again. and even though it is the exact same tune that i can hear on the oldies station or the lite rock station....the station that is broadcasting my favorite music is the edgy young station.

and all of a sudden, i am back in the loop.

i am missing something.

when i get to heaven, i will need to have a few words with God. i imagine most people have a laundry list of things they want to go over with the big boss, so this isn't so much a new concept, but...i feel like voicing my opinions loudly on a grand scale about one certain topic that has been weighing on my mind:

wisdom teeth.

why?
WHAT FOR?
is there some greater purpose in God's will for wisdom teeth other than what we know about them?
is there something that we humans are missing?

a few months ago, some nicely dressed cute guy waltzed into my office and caught me on a good day. he was selling teeth whitening packages. after flirting for a few minutes, he convinced me and mom to buy them. it was a good deal, so why not. the kicker was i had to go to a certain dentist to get the whitening. so what?

my appt with this new dentist was on monday. everything was normal. the office smelled of fluoride and fear...i took xrays, had my teeth cleaned, checked for cavities and was told that it was high time that i get my wisdom teeth removed.

which, i knew. i mean....it's obvious that something has gone terribly awry when your gorgeous teeth have erupted little teethlings in the back of your mouth that are black. BLACK. i know. gross.

as i was checking out and making an appt to pick up the teeth whitening trays for next week, i was asked if i wanted to have my wisdom teeth extracted that afternoon. wow. so fast. and we just met....of course i wanted it done. better now that never...or worse, better now than to wait until my teeth COMPLETELY rot.

when given a quote for the cost of extraction from the receptionist of $863.00 i started laughing. i have insurance that is supposed to cover this sort of thing and my cost would STILL be more than a new sofa? um....i'll take the new sofa.

i strictly remember chickening out about 4 years ago from getting my teeth removed when i didn't have insurance and my cost was going to be 700 dollars. so how...in four years....did the cost quadruplify? it was time for research, ya'll. and those of you who know me well know how much i loooooove to research nonsensical things.

i called a previous dentist, gave them my insurance info and asked for a quote. 500 bucks. which was a heck of a deal compared to the other, so i took it. made the appt for tuesday.

i actually did really well on the day of "surgery" i had the dentist hook me up to the elephant nose thing, and i giggled away hugging my knees as they did the surgery. it was all pretty scientific, too. (especially when i got home and started drilling on my old teeth to see what a cavity smells like when you cut a tooth in half...)

the fun part? the cost ended up only being $180 dollars. apparantly, the OTHER dentist decided to tell my insurance that my two bottom teeth would have to be carved out even though they were fully "erupted" (that's dentist-speak) because their extraction was coded as a more invasive procedure, my insurance would only cover 50%. At the GOOD dentist, they coded my procedure correctly and the insurance covered 80%. PLUS they are about 50% cheaper in the first place. PLUS PLUS this dentist has a contract with my insurance agency which gave me an even BETTER dicsount. weeeeeeeee.

i saved almost 700 bucks by driving to mesquite instead of using a fancy pants plano DDS. Smart move on me!

So...i went out and bought a new sofa. :)