Ouch!

Well, it seems it is that time of year again. The time when (for the last 6 years running) my wisdom teeth make a paltry, angst-ridden attempt to surface and jaw-clenching agony ensues (I mean honestly, when I can't bring myself to eat or talk, you know it's a big deal!). I spent half the night at work nosing around in the kitchen with one of the kitchen hands (Jo) and the dishwasher (Bo) looking for relief. By the way, I kid you not about their names. Only Bo is his Chinese name and he goes by Eric - but still!! Anyway, together we went through the following list: - a frozen fava bean (tasted disgusting, and I accidentally started talking to a customer while the ungainly lump was wedged in my jaw, so I had to do an abrupt turn-and-spit that I hope like crazy wasn't caught on the video cameras) - a frozen coffee spoon (you'd think I wasn't Canadian - I got it stuck to my tongue. Twice) - frozen orange & pear pieces (actually a very nice dinner and even nicer as Jo was sneaking them out of the kitchen supplies for me illicitly - hehehe) - cloves (meh, mediocre results) - salt, applied straight (caused such pain I was attempting to dig my fingers into the stainless steel countertops and my eyes rolled back into the nether regions of my head) - Eric allegedly had a wonderful idea, but unfortunately, his translation skills did not enable him to share it with us. We will dub this "the chinese cure" and it will remain enigmatic, but still an integral part of the list of attempts. I also burnt my hand on a hot pan that was by the dish pit and my thumb on a hot plate that the bloody chef neglected to warn me about. Learned how to make frothy hot chocolate on the espresso machine, had a bread fight with the chef & the ass't chef versus the waitresses, and told my boss I was going to be away for a month because I had to go do some hands on learning about breast, vaginas & placentas (well, he asked! and I have the time off now!). So that's pretty much a tally of my adventures in the pain department today (with a smattering of work silliness thrown in for brevity & distraction).

The (totally irrelevant) picture is of Lake Taupo - NZ's "Great Lake". Ha! These people have obviously never seen Ontario. . . .