Just what is so wise about Wisdom Teeth? As my pain gets worse and worse, I'm finding the name to be pretty insulting. My bottom-right 3rd molar is as misguided as it gets. Not only is it crowding my other teeth and ruining all the progress made by three years of braces (and other terrible hardware), it is causing severe migraines that ibuprofen laced with codeine cannot help. Instead of waiting until next week for extraction, I'm mighty tempted to remove the tooth with pliers and like Matt, chase away the grief with Whiskey... or Scotch.

Last night as I huddled underneath my covers, I was given some brief respite so I could sleep. Before, I knew only the pain of tooth and temple and my own desperate wishes for it all to stop. After a moment or two of glorious relief, I was aware other things. Voices... a replay of a conversation with co-workers, my own musings on miscellaneous topics and the resurface of a song that was stuck in my head earlier. The return of normal brain activity it seemed, but all I could think before plunging gladly into sleep was "Wow, that's a lot of line noise."