The Business of Pulling Teeth and Other News From My Day

Today was an interesting day, one which in the grand scheme of things probably wasn't all that atypical.
Hey There Mr. Leprechaun Man
I went to my 8am Theology class. It's an interesting class, with an interesting teacher. It's kind of funny that I call my teacher a "little leprechaun". I mean the guy is great he's intelligent, compassionate, thoughtful, and insightful. I have nothing against him, it's only that I find him very entertaining. At 8am this guy is hopping around, skipping around, and he has not been afraid to at one point climb up on a table. He's small and very enthusiastic, hence the nickname.
My Aching Gums and Teeth
I didn't go to my 9am or 11am classes, due to a dental appointment.
I had a dental appointment scheduled for 10:00 or 10:40 I didn't really know what time, just the day. Anyways what mattered is that I showed up, and they saw me. I had a consult with the orthodontist because I have what are known as "impacted teeth". One thing that my sister and I seem to have inherited from our paternal side of the family are some messed up teeth.
The orthodontist strongly urged me to consider braces, and to begin the process sooner rather than later. If not for my "flaky" medical insurance, and the prospect of having to place a serious dent in my pockets, I would have begun handling the situation today. I think my dental office knows how "flaky" insurance companies can be. A sign which hangs in the lobby in front of the billing agent's window reads, "insurance companies are "goofy"...we'll give it our best shot...." the note went on to say if the bill and the estimates differed, they'd refund or bill you. My conversations with the dental assistant revealed that my carrier may be "flakier" than others. She warned me that my mom and I may have to end up footing a large portion of the bill.
We had an interesting conversation during which I told her about my being a student at Loyola studying Communications, she let me know that my orthodontists brother also majored in Communication.
Dental Assistant: So what do want to do with that[a Communication's degree]?
Me: I want to be on TV.
Dental Assistant: Oh that's wonderful.
[She looks down at my file]
Dental Assistant: You have a great name.
[I smile{big shout out to my momma she had an inkling to give me a cool name Christopher Ezekiel Nelson, jazzy isn't it?}]
And a great personality,
and a great laugh.
All you need now
Me: Is to get my teeth fixed?
[Laughter]
It turns out the Dental Assistant is the orthodontists mom. That's how she knew what his brother majored in. She was really cool, maybe she can get her son to discount his fee a lot, a whole lot.
Working on our News Show
When I got back to campus I was supposed to meet up with one of my group members about our group presentation. In my sociology class, each member of the class had to be part of a group which discussed articles we had to read for our sociology class. My group which I agreed to help lead and organize had to review and discuss articles dealing with American college life. We read articles which talked about how flying the coop allows students to come away with a newfound identity, how some college students and young adults turn to the web for dating, how "pluralistic ignorance"- the assumption that everyone has the same views about certain issues; when in actuality they don't, how that contributes to people "hooking up", and how generational changes affect how different generations view each other. Since the member didn't show up, I helped my co-anchor and photographer to shoot man on the street interviews for our bi-monthly news and discussion show. Yeah, I'll stick to my in studio work.
Presentation
Our presentation, thank God it's over. It's official I hate group work. I know, I know collaboration is part of life. Maybe someone can say that when I'm getting paid to work with people. In the meantime the fact that people can't seem to remember that they're young adults, who have responsibilities to others, and not just to themselves. When people can grow up, do right, and be right. Then, and only then does the possibility exist for me to like group work.
Chill Time
I got a call from an old friend, which was good, because it allowed up to catch up with one another. People do move away, go away to college, and seem to become "brand new." It's a shame when people forget who they are. When this happens I just tune in to Mya's "Things Come and Go" from hear "Fear of Flying" album. That was my jam of the week last week.
The Station
Last week the station hosted it's XULA Party: A Benefit Concert for Xavier University of Louisiana. The concert I think was more of a success than we had expected due to the fact that a lot of area colleges went on break beginning Friday, ticket sales on our campus were sluggish, and the concert was the day after St. Patrick's Day. I didn't realize that college students had been given yet another excuse to consume alcohol. Under normal circumstances, many a college student, guzzle alcohol as if it's water. Hardheadz, a Baltimore area hip hop band gave a decent performance the band was hot, but I couldn't really understand the lyrics. Since that's typical for me, I didn't mind. The band Fools and Horses, not my cup of tea. And I came to realize why so many students of color spoke out against the rapper Afroman performing. His lyrics, his image, his whole persona is somewhat questionable. His lyrics were downright vulgar. One memorable phrase had him saying something about performing a sex act on a woman and it tasting like shrimp fried rice. That's about as tasteful as I can put it. My two hours tonight were spent trying to get back in the groove of newsgathering.
On Tap
I am so tired, I think I will go to sleep, and then wake up in the A.M. to write my package, I'm doing a V.O./SOT or a package about the concert. We'll have in studio guests to comment on the concert controversy, and to talk about diversity at Loyola in general.
I also have advising to pick my classes for next semester.
And I begin work again tomorrow, hopefully the kids are still on vacation, if only in their heads.

That's all for now.