Still recovering from gum work. So eating a lot of Weetabix and Soup. I am so looking forward to a bacon butty or a big plate of chicken and chips when my mouth heals. Lightly toasted bread, buttered hot, very crispy streaky bacon, thinly sliced tomatoes, a big mug of piping hot tea…
Bliss city 🙂
There is an ongoing programme to redevelop the docks area of Belfast. A plan has just been submitted to redevelop the Titanic Area where the infamous Titanic was built. I’ve always wanted a house by the sea. But I also like city living. Getting an apartment in the Titanic area with a view over Belfast Lough and Belfast City might be nice. I’ll have to keep and eye on this new development.
I recently (2005 to 2006) had some orthodontic work done to straighten my upper Social Six teeth. The social six are the visible incisors and canines in the upper jaw. I got the straightening done via lingual orthodontics where the braces are placed on the back of the teeth and can’t be seen. This worked perfectly and the teeth are now okay. I did have to get my normal dentist to remove some discoloured enamel and do some reconstruction. That was all done.
In the last year I’ve noticed some gum line recession on my upper teeth. This can happen after orthodontics. My dentist remarked about it at my last check-up and referred me to a periodontist. He recommended a gingival gum graft. In this small sections of tissue are removed from the roof of the mouth and palette and are sewn into the gingival tissue to reconstruct the gum tissue. I had it done this morning. It took about 2 hours. Ouch! It’s as gruesome as it sounds. They cut your gums and then harvest tissue from your palette and sew it into the gums. A tad sore 🙂 Much swelling and some blood! On antibiotics and pain killers.
it’ll be worth it as it’ll mean the teeth are protected from root infection. No pain no gain as they say. I was meant to be going to London on Wednesday for a work related session at BETT in relation to the new job I’m starting in a few weeks. I’ll have to see how I feel tomorrow but I can’t see that I’ll be okay to go. Not a pretty sight when somebody smiles at you and the teeth are all bloody.
BTW: If you are in Ireland and want contact details for an excellent orthodontist who treats adults with lingual (invisible) braces drop me an email or post a comment.
Each year The Edge asks prominent thinkers a simple question. This years question was What are you Optimistic about? Why? The responses are up.
I’ll have to have a think and decide what I’m optimistic about. I’ll post it in the comments.
Update: I’ve posted my optimistic predictions for 2007 in the comments.
There is an excellent version of John Lennon’s Imagine performed by Queen and Paul Rodgers at their Hyde Park gig. Why is this entry filed in the Music and the Atheism categories? Roger Taylor’s reaction to the no religion too… line. Apparently in the USA that line is often changed to read as one religion or even taken out altogether.
Roger has form on dislike of religion. His song called The Key (which could be one of my Desert Island Discs) contains the lyric:
Well you can search the whole wide planet
Down to viruses and germs
A sensible religion
Is just a contradiction in terms
…to be able to do this:
God that’s good. I love the look to camera at the end 🙂 Here is the original song from Queen II.
I’m at the very early stages of learning chords and stuff on piano. IF I ever get to the stage where I can play Nevermore like this guy I’ll be as happy as a big happy thing!
Queen made a lot of videos. I still like the one for Somebody to Love the most I think. It’s simply the 4 of them in a studio, inter-cut with concert footage. So the most important thing, i.e. the music itself, doesn’t have to compete with over ambitious visuals or story. You can watch a 30 second clip at the iTMS or buy the video in its 5 minute splendour there as well.
Click picture for larger view
Chris Pirillo has an answer. Or 3…
Yeah!. New artist. New Music. Mika is going to be huge. Dodgy Holiday is very good. The performance of the song Grace Kelly on Later with Jools Holland is very good as well. Available as a QuickTime file at the Mika MySpace Music site.
He has a very broad vocal range. The control is better than most and he uses it really well. Inevitably there is comparison to Freddie Mercury and Marc Bolan et al. Sounds a bit like Scissor Sisters and The Darkness from a vocal perspective (but better). He doesn’t need the comparisons to other vocalists. He can stand alone as a very good singer and musician. Looking forward to the album.
[Thanks to Brian May’s Soapbox for the pointer]
I wrote previously that I was testing MacJounal as a replacement for ecto as a blog tool and SOHO Notes as a personal journal app. Whilst MacJounal has some nice touches, and does have a nice Mac interface, I’ve reverted to ecto and SOHO Notes for the two tasks respectively. I really missed being able to drag a picture into a blog entry window in ecto and have a thumbnail automatically created that linked to a full size version when uploaded to my Soapbox. I also like the ability to specify a target when creating links. On the SOHO Notes front I like the way it automatically enters the current date as the title of a note when you create one in the in built Journal folder. Hardly Earth shattering I know but the small touches are nice.