Restless

At this point, I am utterly restless.

But firstly, with regard to the zucchini sneaking I mentioned in my last post, it didn't happen. We simply didn't have enough to go around. Plus, a full-page article on the front page of the local newspaper's Food section robbed us of the stealth aspect. Oh, well. Next year, right after we watch the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, we can try again.

Good; now that's out of the way.

My brother and both of my parents are at band camp for the GHS Marching Band overnight, leaving me alone in the house doing laundry, packing for college and my band camp, and wondering why the tax bill from the school district sitting next to me wasn't opened sooner (good thing it's not past due!). Sure, I could've been doing all of these things during the daytime, but that's not how I operate, you silly goose! I often catch a "second wind" around 01:00 or so, and I've been using that energy to actually be productive (and to blog just a tiny bit as well).

And I've gotten quite a lot done. Mind you, I have a heck of a lot more to go, but at least I'm getting there.

I mentioned earlier that I'm leaving for Pittsburgh second thing Thursday morning. I say "second thing" because of the follow-up appointment for my wisdom teeth in Erie at 08:00 on Thursday. The plan is that I'll be all ready by late Wednesday afternoon to pack up the van, then I'll head out to Alumni Night at the GHSMB band camp for the evening. First thing in the morning, we head out to Erie, I "open wide," and then we jump on the Interstate, getting to Pitt by noon, ready to move into my new place of residence. It's "Big Move #3" because #1 was moving to Pitt last year, and #2 was coming back home. Although I guess if you count the family moving to my current residence back in 1992, it would be #4. Nah.

Meanwhile, the freshmen will be at their mini-camp learning the ins and outs of Pitt Band. If my move-in goes quickly, I may stop by for the last few hours to help. Then it's a traditional "meet-'n-greet" dinner for the trumpets, where I'll get to meet all 15 freshmen, and try to learn their names as fast as possible. That's right: fifteen newbies. So as long as nothing happens, we'll have a grand total of 40 in our horn line, up significantly from 31 last year. I'm excited!

In fact, I'm restless.

One thing that hasn't been contributing to my restlessness, though, is my mouth. It seems that as far as the pain from my surgery has gone, someone finally flipped a switch Monday morning. I took a dose of ibuprofen before bed Sunday night and didn't have to take another until 21:00 Monday. I'm actually able to eat pretty much anything again, and even sneeze without hurting myself! You don't know how it feels knowing you aren't allowed to sneeze even though you need to until you've experienced it. It's hard. You need the relief, but those things are so fast everything could pop right out. So you half sneeze, half stifle, but you still feel weird afterwards.

Does anyone else share my pain? Probably not.

The point is that my recovery has gone splendidly. Another kid at my church, however, who went to a different surgeon the day after me, isn't doing so well. Apparently his bottom teeth were so difficult that they took 90 minutes to remove, and they gave up on the upper teeth until later. Nevertheless, oozing and bleeding and lots of pain are still in his life. I'm blessed that they're not in mine.

Now, I don't know if his complications had more to do with the actual teeth or the competency of the oral surgeon, but I feel that I need to give a shout-out (and pitifully minimal free advertising) to him who helped make sure that I wouldn't have to go through anything like that: Thank you, Dr. Alonge!

I think that's just about it. I also think my last load of laundry is done. I've got quite the day or two ahead of me; Pittsburgh is just 56 hours away.

And I'm so restless I just can't wait.

Random tangent: Happy 17th birthday to Alec, my friend from Music Camp. I don't know if he ever reads this, but whatever; it's the thought that counts.