I went to the dentist.
There's a noise they make when they see something on the X-rays, usually while standing behind your chair. It is a bad noise. It's about halfway between a click of the tongue and an "Mmmm," with a bit of wince thrown in.
It is the noise that is shortly followed by the phrase "root canal."
So I'm boned. I need about $1500 to get this sucker fixed--$800 for the canal and build, and then they'd like to cap it so it doesn't break, although in theory, I can hold off on that last for awhile. No insurance coverage to speak of--my bargain basement artist's dental plan won't even spring for fillings for another few months, and if I try to wait the fourteen months until they'll handle root canals, the offending tooth will be so rotted out that I could carve a smily face in it with my tongue. Alternately, I could have it pulled--it's a back molar, and I'd miss it, but at least I wouldn't have any cosmetic ramifications beyond my teeth shifting a bit and it would not bankrupt me nearly so perilously--but I'd really like to cling to my teeth as long as humanly possible.
So I'll be auctioning off a commission fairly soon here, and once again--if anyone's been thinking of buying art, now would be a good time! Also, I'll probably be running some fairly frequent auctions of random stuff. (I'm thinking of a Christmas card design auction, but I can't print cards, so it'd be a "Here's the file, use your own service bureau," and I'm not sure if that'll interest people or not--if anyone has any experience with this, let me know!) And we'll see how it goes, I guess. There is a slim possibility that my dentist will be willing to barter some for art--let's hope he likes cute fuzzy animals or tapir babes or something.
What a day.
