it's beginning to smell like summer. i was in t.o. this past weekend, and i always get around the downtown core via the red rocket. you know, in the past, i used to love taking the ttc. it was such a people-watching peep show...you could always see who the trendy people were, look at all the different types of shoes people wore, how they did their hair, and wonder where they were going. Once you got to bay and king, all the financial hotties would climb into the subway car. people with suitcases board at union. the uber-fashionistas slinking on and off at osgoode and at bay (the yorkville stop, fyi). but now...i don't like the subway as much. okay, here's why. i've never really known what "butt" smelled like (you know, when people off-handedly remark "man, that smells like butt") and i've always thought it a kind of funny comment, but these days the subway doesn't smell too fresh, and the only adjective i can think of to describe it is..."butt". phew. if there was ever a need for a more effective ventilation system...

had a weekend with my girlfriends in the city. it was rolo's birthday, and grassy-ass came back from korea, so the day had a celebratory theme to it. and celebration should always be coupled with friendly alcoholic beverages! like zinfandel! and raspberry beer from the bier markt!! (which is also where, incidentally, i saw my first bachelor party where the bachelor was forced to wear a mini-skirt with skating tights, a sailor's hat, an "i'm the bachelor" shirt, complete with a blow-up doll at his side to finish off the outfit).

i'm really enjoying my summer job at the clinic - not only are my hours strictly 9 to 5 (which is a far cry from my past research jobs, where i would be at the mercy of bacterial replication times), i get to see a wide variety of procedures. like pulpotomies. and a lot of operative procedures. and dpr's. and prosthodontic stuff. i even saw Dr. Moreno doing an endodontic procedure, which was the highlight of last week, cause i've never seen one done on a real patient. and i've never seen an apex locator being used, or an obturagun being used. and digital radiography is cool. actually, i've never even seen real bleeding pulp (pulp in fixed, extracted teeth is white). all i have to saw is...wow - Dr. Moreno doesn't even have to look at the tooth. he just sort of looks up, and seems to feel (with only his fingertips) the canal out. he fits gutta percha cones with the bat of an eyelash, whereas for us (or me), the whole process of fitting and taking radiographs and obturating takes up the better part of an afternoon... ;p

the other really neat thing about being here this summer is being able to meet patients. you look at the teeth, you look at the person, and the story in between is just fascinating. the qp's that we work with are incredibly kind - all of them. they're really patient when we're just fumbling around with the suction (hey - it's rather difficult to be an assistant!) or spraying water in the patient's faces. the patients too, are very forgiving about that...actually, it's rather funny - i feel like such an inept assistant. we've all worked so hard to get our crown preps to specification, we've memorized scores and scores of oral cyst details, but put us in an assistant position and all of a sudden we're floundering around in the shallow water! help! help!

anyway. that's it for now. nite.