When Will the World Stand Still?

Somewhere along the way,life began moving faster than the speed of light.  Built gradually through the ages, the unstoppable machine named progress, a modern day manifest destiny into the brave, unknown future of science has picked up speed in the Information Age.

In today’s day and age, everything moves rapidly and no excuse, much less “the dog ate my Request for Proposal,” stands a chance.  Why didn’t you back it up on a flash drive?  Why didn’t you print out multiple copies?  Why didn’t you finish and hand it in before you went home with it?  The word, “excuse,” will soon be excised from the dictionary.

Food has become “fast food,” lunch hours have transformed into a run to the closest Jimmy Johns. Packages are shipped and received the same day, or even within hours.  Snail mail remains only as a formality.  Moore’s law asserts that technology, essentially, becomes twice as fast every two years. Amazon reports more E-book sales than ink and paper book sales.

Life is moving faster and faster on less and less.  Sleep is no longer a requirement.  In the same way coffee, the speed drug of the last generation has given way to energy drinks riddled with taurine, caffeine, so will energy drinks be superseded by the next wave of the newest wonder fix of the modern world. These latest and greatest energy booster enable us to ramp up productivity while simultaneously destroying capability.

Aches and pains are no longer a reason to worry, but simply one more than a reason to visit the pharmacy.  Pills, the band aids of today allow us to mask what ails us and continue living life unchanged. Sleeplessness is cured by a small blue pill, inability is cured by a small blue pill, depression is cured by a multicolored pill, what was once an excuse to put a book down and play soccer is now cured by an orange pill containing Dextroamphetamine and Amphetamine. There is no longer any reason to slow down, take it easy, or fall victim to inconveniences.

But, eventually, all “good” things must come to an end. Snowballs rolling down hills eventually either collide with trees or come to a rest. Rome eventually fell.  Airplanes must eventually land…  For now.

But is this what we really want?  To continue at the speed of light until there is no possible way to become any stronger, better, or faster?

Usain Bolt set new records of 9.58 seconds and 19.19 seconds for the 100 and 200 meter dashes, respectively. There must be some point of perfection where it is physically impossible to go faster.  But, to be honest, when that point comes, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the Olympic Games began a Bio-Olympics league and allowed artificial blood, artificially augmented limbs, and literal lungs of steel.

What do you think?

The Dentist, AKA Twenty Minutes of Hell

Twice a year I receive a letter in the mail that I fear more than any bill, credit card statement, or even student loan statement.  Okay, maybe not that last one.

That letter, which is actually a post card filled out by me, is a dentist summons, and arrives in January and July of each year, without fail.  Twice yearly, I am forced by insurance and parents, to call and schedule an appointment with my most hated of professional hygiene services.  One year I managed to skip out once, but that didn’t last long.  It’s a shame that all the brushing, flossing, and Listerine in the world can’t save me from the dentist.

Curiously, I actually like the people who work at the dentist’s office, especially the receptionists.  They are funny (one cracked a great joke about my step mother and won a place in my heart), nice, polite, and somehow always remember my name every time I come in, which is something I would never be able to do.  Names float freely in one ear and out the other in, on average, about ten seconds, and sadly, I am not exaggerating that fact.  They even have a large fish tank with some intriguing fish and magazines to read in the waiting lounge.

However, that is all the love I have for this clean, florescent lit, sterile, modern dungeon.

When my name is called, I am entering about twenty minutes to a half hour of dental punishment.  And then there was the time when I had my wisdom teeth removed; I won’t get started on that memory.

The first act of business is updating X-Rays.  A large machine that looks similar to a projector is pointed into my cheek, and an L-shaped piece of material covered in plastic tarp wrap is positioned in my mouth for several X-Rays.  It tastes horrible, is extremely uncomfortable, and if your tongue unintentionally moves it, or the technician doesn’t like the take, the X-Ray is done again.

Once X-Rays are done, my chair is lowered, tilted backwards, and that large, very annoying light is directed to beam directly into my face.  For the past two visits, I have had the same exact room; I know this because this particular room has a poster over one of the florescent light panels of what looks like either a cranberry or current bush covered in snow and with a blue sky in the background.  Sometimes, the technician tries to make small talk, usually centered around how I am doing/liking/studying/etc. at Michigan State University, which would be fine under normal circumstances, but when they are poking around in my mouth, it makes holding conversation pointedly awkward.

During my last visit, the technician was mercifully silent, something I was indeed thankful for.

So, down to the nitty gritty.  First, some type of needle/scalpel/tool is pressed in between the roots of my teeth and my gums, once in the outside and once in the inside, of every. single. one of my 32 teeth.  The higher the number, the worse the shape of your mouth.  I score nothing higher than a 3 and am complimented on the healthiness of my gums.  Thank you, I reply.

With that test out of the way, the technician starts the worst part of the visit: she begins to scrape my teeth with a metal hook, which looks just like this little guy: (It’s relevant and worth mentioning that the google image below was captioned “Tool of Satan.”

Just looking at the image above makes me shudder and sends cold shivers down my spine.

So, with gusto, my technician begins scraping away while I keep my mouth patiently open, wondering how in the world it scratching my teeth with a metal hook could ever be considered a good idea.  Occasionally, the metal torture device pokes my gums, which hurts, and the technician sprays water on my gums, then uses a sucker straw to clear away the water-blood mixture so she can continue on with her grisly work.

After scraping all of my 32 teeth, inside and outside, she sets her terrible tools down on the table and asks me what flavor of polish I would like.  The choices are: bubblegum, raspberry, orange, or mint.  I figured out, a few visits ago, that the correct answer is mint, every time.  There is no polish that “tastes” good.  It all tastes like artificially flavored sand grains, and nothing will change that fact.  Mint is simply the least offending “flavor.”

The polishing part is done with a tool that has an end that spins around and sounds like a slightly less powerful air ratchet.  The polish is applied to the end of this dentist ratchet, and then, just like a mini floor polisher, all of my teeth, once again inside and outside, are polished.  In between refillings, I can’t help but close my mouth and crunch the polish grains between my teeth.  Without fail, my face contorts, conveying to no one in particular, a look of complete disgust.

After all of my teeth are covered in the revolting polish, I am given a “mercy” cup of water to swish around and spit in the bowl that sits next to the dentist chair.  At this moment, I am able to sneak a small smile, because the worst that the dentist has to throw is now over.

After a few minutes, the head dentist arrives and starts to poke around in my mouth.  He usually wears a small headlamp, as if he is going to go Spelunking after his day at the office.  His hand is practiced and deft as he sticks his hook into the crowns of my teeth, then wiggles the tool, presumably to check for the presence of a cavity; I have none.  My little brother, Jonathan (age 10?), on the other hand, has several fillings and several cavities already.

Once he is done with the top set of teeth, he calls out, “top looks good!” and repeats the same phrase when he has finished with the bottom, just replacing the word, “top,” with “bottom.”

After he leaves, the technician offers me a goody bag filled with floss, toothpaste, and a crappy toothbrush all of which I do not, will never, and have never used.  I don’t know why I still accept them, it’s just habit by this point, left over from when I was a kid and loved getting goody bags.

In the last step of my visit, I leave the room and proceed through the corridor to the desk, where I fill out the post card that will arrive at my house in exactly six months time.  With goody bag in hand, I leaving the dentist’s office, I call out “thank you, have a good day,” throw the bag in the back seat, crank Country music, and speed out of the parking lot, happy to not have to return to the torture dungeon for another half year.