Best Laid Planz
Since I’ve been participating in the BlogDumps meme, Top Sites Tuesday … where we get to offer Two Thoughts on Tuesday … I find myself searching for topics as Monday rolls around. Usually, I’m looking for something to incite my Inner Curmudgeon, since he seems to be the most popular of my online personas. Yesterday, driving home from a trip to Trader Joes to pick up Kitty Treats for Mr. P, my son’s Siamese cat, I noticed a sign by the side of the road, advertising the local youth soccer league. Here it is:
Yes, Kids Love Soccer. Not Kidz. I know, I know, all the trendy young texters replace esses with zees. But this sign wasn’t made by trendy young texters, it was made by adults, probably parents. One of my pet peeves … believe me, I have a whole menagerie of them … is adults who mimic childish abuse of the English language in order to be cool. You know, they call grown men, Dude, and say For Sure, a lot. No, they probably wouldn’t say cool … they’d use whatever trendy phrase their 12-year old is using. Anyway, I snapped a picture of the sign and the plan was to let my Inner Curmudgeon come up with a post on adults who act like children while watching the Heat-Pacers game. So much for Best Laid Planz.
Unfortunately, while munching on a frozen fruit pop before dinner, I broke a piece of enamel off a front tooth, so while Muri and my son Aaron had tacos for dinner, I had taco meat, salsa and refried beans in a bowl. If you’ve been coming around here for a while, you know that there are many things I like about being old(er). However, as I’ve found myself pushing into my late sixties, I find myself more and more aware of the small ways in which my body is wearing out. Muscles ache for no reason. Places that have never hurt before decide to hurt. Teeth break (this is the second in six months). At forty, I took injuries in stride but not so much these days. I think I’m falling apart, I told Muri as I showed her the broken tooth and slowly slipped into a funk, in spite of her sympathetic look. And I spent the evening with my laptop languishing on my lap while I watched Star Trek – The Search for Spock on Netflix.
Yes, I was fortunate to get an 8:30 am appointment today with my dentist and by morning I’d buried my funk by convincing myself that he’d be able to fix everything with just a little overlay. Wrong. We’ve been watching these teeth for some time, he told me, placing an x-ray of my front teeth on a computer
screen in front of me. These fillings, he said, pointing to the several fillings on each tooth, are starting to break down. They are probably childhood fillings that you had refilled twenty years ago. Teeth get brittle as you get older (I think he said older not old). You should really have these four top teeth capped. How old are you? Sixty-nine, I said. He shook his head. You should have them done before you’re too old for me to do it safely. Naturally, I asked how much it would cost. It’s expensive, he said, but think of it this way. You’ll never have to worry about those teeth again. They’ll probably out last you. Freakin’ wonderful.
So, I’m home now, writing this post as the numbness wears off my upper lip (he did fill the chip with some miracle epoxy) and feeling old again. And contemplating spending $4,200 on new teeth that will outlast me. When Muri and I retired, we thought our dental billz would be modest, so we’re self-insured. No Dental Planz. Who knew we’d be looking at $4,200 billz? Yes, the glass-half-full Bud knowz I’m lucky to live in a time when such miraclez are possible and to have the resourcez to take care of it. That would be Thought Number One. But the glass-half-empty Bud … also known as my Inner Curmudgeon … says Thought Number Two is that sometimez being old suckz. And using all these zees doesn’t make me feel any younger, it just makes me feel illiterate. I’m inclined to agree with him. So, if you want to cheer me up a bit, please push my button … gently … to make me Number One on Top Sites Tuesday #206. And to heck with the comments … send money.
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Tags: curmudgeonly rants, dentists, feeling older, humor, memes, postaday, Top Sites Tuesday, words
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Older Eyes 
June 4, 2013 at 1:43 pm
It is just down-right scary that you and I are on some sort of telepathic wave length. I, came within a breath of posting about all these signs with misspelled words. Super CutZ was the one that triggered the thought with me.
As for things wearing out…I am feeling a bit like that as of late. With all the rain and dampness my hips are achy and I am not liking it one bit.
Hubby and I carry dental insurance but it is a total waste of money. I have looked at dozens of plans and nearly all cap out at $2500 per person per year and they exempt a whole lot of stuff. I am not sure you aren’t better off to save the cost of the premiums and just apply it to a once-in-a-while expense. If the epoxy fix works and looks ok, I am not sure that I would feel the need for teeth that last longer than I could or would. Still…I am sorry that happened and that it made you feel “oldish”.
From my perspective..reading how you look at things, constantly learning new things, keeping up with technology…you are acing the whole aging thing. Gosh, I wish, I could of figured out how to work some zzz’s into that sentence.
June 4, 2013 at 3:35 pm
I expect a good portion of my body to outlast me. That’s what coffins are for.
June 4, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Yet more evidence that we’ve found ways to live longer, but not necessarily better!
Meanwhile… I HATE intentional misspellings like you pointed out. It’s bad enough when it’s meant to turn a brand into something alliterative in print (Kids’ Kuts, for example) – but there is NO reason for doing it to words that have no need for it (Klassic Kars). And we wonder why kids can’t spell or write.
June 4, 2013 at 7:37 pm
Hi Bud,
Yeah, I do despise the way people spell when they text or write or on signs, they look ridiculous.
As for getting older… it sucks, I agree.
Clicks!
Wolf
June 4, 2013 at 9:14 pm
This must have been an ESP thought for the day thing because two of my Facebook friends also grumped about words being spelled incorrectly and changed around, etc., etc. One in particular had to do with addressing people by saying either “youn’s” or “Youz” -things that drive more than just you -and me -a bit bonkers! And as to dental insurance -back in the day when I worked at a place that actually offered insurance, including dental -surprise, surprise there that was -the insurance paid so little to the dentist that it was hardly worth paying out for the insurance!