filthinthebeauty

For almost a year I’ve known I clench my teeth when I sleep. I would wake up with a sore jaw all of the time and it would pop constantly. I asked my dentist about it and he was completely unhelpful. All he told me to do was stop drinking caffeine after lunch time. I’m a full-time college student so I knew that wasn’t happening. I asked him about getting a mouth guard and he told me that they were expensive and no one ever wears them anyway so he didn’t want to make one for me… Thanks a lot.

Then I started noticing that I clench during the day too. Usually when I’m studying and stressed. It was getting to the point where my jaw was sore constantly and I would be worn out from chewing my food. A couple of weeks ago I went out and bought a night guard (basically like a huge sports mouth piece) from the store for $20. I just had to put it into hot water for a few seconds and it molded perfectly to my teeth.

I wear it every night and it’s definitely helping a lot. If I do clench, it at least takes some of the pressure off of my teeth. My jaw feels much better plus I’ve noticed that during the day it feels natural to keep my teeth separated, like it should, rather than before when I only felt normal if they were touching. I’m glad I finally decided to do something about it myself since my dentist didn’t want to do his job and help me.

About a month ago I heard that my school was sponsoring a trip to Poland to help restore Jewish cemeteries from the Holocaust. It would be 12 days and all we’d have to cover was a $500 donation. The only problem was the trip was supposed to start May 24, and I had no passport.

So I hurried and filled out the application, got my pictures taken, and took it down to the post office to get sent in. It was simple, but I wasn’t very happy when they took my birth certificate, put a big staple through it, and shoved it in the package with the application. I paid the extra $90 to expedite it ($60 for the process itself and $15 for overnight shipping each way).

I received the passport in the mail last week along with my now folded and slightly crumpled birth certificate… the day after I found out the trip had been cancelled due to some issues with the Polish government or something (they were very vague on the details). So now I have a passport and nowhere to go.

Regardless, next summer I’m planning to study abroad in Rome and hopefully the summer after that I’ll be going to Japan, so it will definitely be worth it in the future. I may have to take a random trip to Canada this summer just so I can use it.

I am dying to go to Jrock Revolution in L.A. this May. For some reason my parents don’t think a concert is a valid reason for me to fly across the country alone. I’ll keep working on it, though…