:: Friday, November 15, 2002 ::

By the age of 21, adults typically have 28 teeth, or 32 including wisdom teeth, which are relics of a bygone era when humans ate a lot more grass and seeds. Up until the past couple of months, I was what you would call a typical adult specimen. Since then my tooth count has gone from 32 down to 27 and some fraction. Besides enamel, dentin, and pulp, which are the normal components of teeth, my mouth now contains mercury amalgam, polycarbonate (the same thing my sunglasses and bike fenders are made out of), IRM (which tastes like cloves), various plastic composites, and a 10mm peice of steel dental file. I have collected all of this new componentry over the past three months, durring which I have averaged one dental appointment per week. I am getting to the point where I could be classified a cyborg.

It was starting to rain on my way home from the dentist's office yesterday. It was like riding through a cloud, a suspention of cold droplets, which I have only experienced on an airplane. It is about 7 miles from the dentist to my house. I got home, and while cooking lunch got a phone call from Andrea, who suggested we go to the feild museum. One bowl of spaghetti later, I rode another seven miles back downtown. Over the course of my ride, the rain changed from a cloud to a cloud burst. I didn't start getting wet until I reached downtown. There, the streets were shiny with rain. Comming into a stoplight at the intersection of Washington and Lasalle, surrounded by taillights and tall buildings, I jammed on my front handbreak, didn't compensate for the slick of water over a painted line on the street, didn't slow my fixed rear wheel, and before i knew what was happening, was laying on my back with my bike sliding across the street in front of me. I stood up; traffic had stopped for the all around me for the red light. I stood in front of the cars, feeling like I was about to run with the bulls in Madrid. My elbow was bleeding inside my shirt and and there were some scuff marks on my jeans but I was in one peice. Later on I looked at my helmet and saw a streak of yellow paint on the back from where my head hit the road. Drivers all around me were staring at the crazy biker who had just spilled out like dirty laundry onto the wet street. They were probably thinking that that's what had comming, riding that fast in the rain. Maybe some would have felt sorry for me if we weren't in downtown Chicago. I picked up my wounded steed and started giving it the once over, spinning the wheels to check for wobbles, working everything to see if it still moved. People with leprosy do the same thing to their bodies because they lose physical sensation and have to do visual checks to make sure nothing has started decaying. My handlebars were scuffed up where they hit the road and the pedal on the same side felt a little funny, but otherwise no problems. My wheels were under me before the light turned green.

Today I'm all achy, but that's to be expected. I did some yoga poses to work out my back and I think that helped. At least my back and shoulder are distracting me from my front tooth that needs a root canal.

Wanna see some pictures of Chicago? urban75.com has some decent ones. If anyone has good pictures of downtown at street level, especially on a rainy or snowy day, I would love to see them.

:: Ira 1:52 PM [+] :: [comment/respond]
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