August update

Crown #1, oh what fun!

It's been almost a month since my last post and much has happened in that time.  I'll start with where I currently am dental-wise.  After having my wisdom teeth extracted I developed "dry socket" the following week followed by a nasty infection in one of the areas left by the tooth.  In terms of pure pain, this was probably one of the most difficult experiences in all of my life.  I won't go into too much detail here but they had to clean the infected area which included part of the exposed bone left by the extraction.  Even with four separate shots of anesthetic it was still the most intense pain I've ever felt.  After that healed for a couple of weeks I went back to start work on the two crowns that I need so that I can continue my diving.  The first went pretty well except that the first temporary crown popped off and ended up getting chewed up.  I had that replaced when I went in for the second.  Now the second crown, which is on the tooth all the way in the back next to one of the wisdom teeth I had extracted, didn't get as well.  The dentist, try as he might, was not able to get the tooth numb.  I had four separate shots and still could feel cold and sensation in the tooth.  He tried another procedure where he drilled directly into the tooth, jammed the needle into the hole and shot anesthetic directly into the tooth.  Then he pulled it out, drilled a little more, and did it again.  This was not nearly as pleasant as it sounds.  Unfortunately, this still did not completely numb the area and we were forced to give up this time and try again later.  It seems that this particular area is hyper-sensitive right now due to my recent surgery there.  More fun to look forward to later this month.


This month also saw the passing of my grandfather, Douglas Price Hardy.  I'll write more about him later once I've had some time to think about it clearly.  It's still a bit raw for me.  He was an amazing man who led a pretty amazing life.


Onto diving.  While my dental problems have me sidelined for a bit I've had time to think about where I'd like to go with my diving.  I do want to pursue some of the more esoteric aspects of the sport soon, but am going to focus immediately on some practical applications like collecting, spearfishing, and photography.  These alone are enough to keep me quite busy for some time and will allow me to gain a lot more experience underwater which will be invaluable when I move into other, more difficult areas.  This also allows me to fulfill some "out of the water" activities while directly contributing to my diving experience.  Two birds, one stone.  Now if I could just find a way to replace my income with this, I'd have it made, right?


Last, photography.  This month also saw my first non-family photo shoot.  I offered to do engagement photos, pro-bono, for one of my staff a while back and they decided to cash that in now.  I haven't had very much photographic experience working with people, but had recently taken a class on studio work and this was an opportunity to practice that in the real world.  I really enjoyed the shoot and the challenge.  I think that the end result turned out very well and they were happy with it too.  I am not sure if I will ever do this (people photography) professionally but I am certain that I will continue my pro-bono work as it offers so much knowledge and experience; and I get a chance to do something for people that has meaning for them.  If you have a need for photographs contact me and lets work something out.  I probably will not be able to do it for free long-term, but for now it helps me as much as anyone else and I do enjoy the work and helping folks out.


I'll wrap it up here and try to get to more frequent, more singularly focused post going forward.  Until next time...