The wedding has left me pooped! So tired. It was a beautiful day out at Thomas Fogarty Winery and Vineyard in Woodside, California.

I came home and checked the scores for the two exams I recently took. One is out as an advisory score, and the other I am still waiting on. Advisory score on test one is passing, so I am very happy. While it is an advisory score, chances of it changing much is low. It’s not necessarily the highest score… In fact, it is far from it, but all that matters is that it is passing. I can now justify rewarding myself with everything I’ve purchased in the past week!

Tomorrow, my cousin is getting married. We’re the same age, just six months apart. She’s the one on the left in this photo. I’m the one on the right.

Relatives keep asking about who will be next. It most certainly will not be me.

I am currently in a lot of pain. I visited the orthodontist this morning, and they put in additional bands on my four molars, the ones in the way back. For the 9 months or so [I've not been particularly good at keeping track, but I caught a glimpse of my chart this morning], I’ve only had bands on the second set of molars. So now those other molars are covered, and a new wire’s been placed. I’m just a whole lot of soreness…

After getting my teeth cleaned some time next month, I’ll get some more x-rays taken to see how the bone underneath it all is doing. Once all the gaps are closed, I’ll have to make an appointment to see the oral surgeon. I’m, of course, noticing all the changes. The front teeth are no longer overlapping, and the gaps that were teeth pulled out are definitely closing. After the consultation, they’re going to work on widening the upper jaw. That does not sound fun at all.

We’re aiming for a surgery date some time in later spring or early summer. Upon healing up from surgery, another six months of braces and retainers for the rest of my life. It’s really all coming together. What a weird feeling. I remember always “looking into” this, doing my research. I joined mailing lists, read blogs. Still, nothing really prepares you for this.

I can’t wait. I feel like I should be taking more photos to document the teeth and jaw, but I think it’d also be very gross… I look the same on the surface for right now. I was flipping through old images of myself pre-braces, and it was hard to find a good one showing the bottom teeth. I noticed that I tend not to smile as much, or my bottom teeth aren’t really showing when I smile. So anyway, here’s SORT of a before and after shot.

If one looks closely enough, you’ll see the front bottom teeth overlapping each other in all sorts of directions. And with the braces, they all now stand alone. They hurt like crazy though since they’re the ones being pulled loose and moved around.

I want to start doing this, but I’m actually very camera shy. I am self-conscious, and I don’t know how I feel about hearing my own voice… So maybe not. I may give it a shot if I find something to talk about… And even I don’t have anything to talk about. I won’t be like that girl who just stares at the camera, bats her big eyes, and waves. I’m not that cute. Haha.

Would anyone watch though? Hmm… I dunno.

“The apocalypse won’t be all that bad,” Bible scholar Parker Creaston told the Weekly World News. There’ll be a “brief period of mild to moderate disorder,” after which will come an extended period of “worldwide peace and harmony.” Similarly, Libra, your fear of impending chaos in your personal sphere will turn out to be overblown. Yes, you may suffer temporary shortages and inconveniences, as well as what we might call a metaphorical “traffic jam.” But you can forget about mountains of fire, seas of blood, and hordes of locusts from the bottomless pit. They will definitely not be showing up.

This week’s horoscope from Rob Brezny definitely can be related to my situation at work. Last week, a large number of individuals were laid off. I was not one of them. [Depending on how one looks at it, it could be either good or bad for me.] Probably part of the normal business cycle, and we’re currently along the trough. I have my other hunches on exactly why certain individuals were let go, and really – it’s just too bad. What I fear is that since there are fewer people doing the work and the same amount of work, the rest of us who remain will be overworked. I think that at first, this will happen as people rush to fill their staffing needs at jobs where suddenly the entire team is missing… Ouch! I can live with temporary shortages and inconveniences. Fire, blood, and locusts? No thanks.

It is funny how the partners are surprised that the news spread so quickly. They made their decisions last Thursday, and we already knew then. They were expecting us not to know until maybe early this week. We’re all working together. We have our contacts. We’re neither stupid nor slow. They’re having a “town hall” this afternoon. I wonder what they’ll talk about because I won’t be able to attend.

Try as I may, I have not contacted or been contacted recently by anyone else on that dating website I signed up for. I’m just not that way. One at a time please! I think it’s probably also because I’m so busy with everything else – work, studying, lazying around the house. On the flip side, most in my circle of friends are signed up for the website now. I live vicariusly through their stories about awful first messages and awesome first dates. Good times. I love seeing them all so happy/giddy over this.

I’ve already decided on the theme for my birthday party this year. Actually, I wasn’t even going to have a party, but what the hey. It’s just another excuse to gather the friends at a bar. Here’s a clue as to what the theme is this year:

So I was sitting here with the Amazon shopping cart loaded up, ready to press the “Buy Now” button, but then it sorta sunk in that it was a lot of money, and I looked all over the web to see if I could get my friends to stop me.

Thankfully, Victor spoke some sense into me. He told me to wait until after the Back to School sales. Generally, Apple will make announcements for the new models after they get all the old inventory out, so patience may pay off. If after seeing the new models, I can settle for an older model, WOO! It should be cheaper. If I want one of the newer toys, it would probably cost around how much I would’ve paid for it had it not been upgraded… Supposedly. I’m counting on not wanting a new toy, so I can get a nice deal! If I’m being so patient and not buying it right this moment, it better pay off.

Is it September yet?

On my way back from taking a frozen yogurt break with some friends, I thought to myself:

What can I do to change the world?

What can I change about myself in order to change the world?

For several blocks, I repeated the questions in my head.

I am still waiting for the answer.

*sigh*

Relationships are based on communication, trust and honesty. Secrets are okay. Friends are often forgiving of a little dishonesty, a little white lie here and there. But when it becomes a habit, it’s overkill. Pretty soon, all one can look at the other with is disbelief and disgust.

Honestly, it isn’t cool at all. It’s like the little boy who calls sheep. One too many times.

On the flip side, we’d like to believe that we are all grown up and that we can handle whatever the truth may be. We tell ourselves over and over again that we’re ready to accept the facts.

But we’re not.

It’s not so fun on the sidelines.

The 19th-century American philosopher Henry David Thoreau accomplished a lot. Among his voluminous body of work was Civil Disobedience, a book that inspired Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. In the two-million-word journal he kept for over two decades, he wrote about nature with a precision and care that prefigured modern-day environmentalism. But Thoreau also knew how to relax, and he was free of anxiety about living up to other people’s standards of success. One passage in his journal reads, “For many years I was a self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms and did my duty faithfully, though I never received payment for it.” He’s your role model for the rest of 2008, Libra. May he inspire you to give yourself the slack you need and compete with no one but yourself as you become more of the unique work of art you were born to be.

Thanks, Mr. Brezny. At least there is one person out there who thinks I’m a unique work of art. Hah! I am both slightly amused and entertained.

Sidenote: Tonight, I’m supposed to go to The Saddle Rack for a friend’s birthday party. It’s this cowboy/Western-themed bar with a mechanical bull, barbershop shot chair, etc… Seriously? I’m a little afraid, but a little bit intrigued. It’s her birthday, so I guess I will check it out and report back.