It’s been a fun birthday. A little strange knowing that my parents aren’t going to call, assholes or not, but I had a fun day and got lots of nice birthday wishes on my Facebook wall. I’m a little surprised Nane forgot, but she did leave a message saying she was sorry about Julien. He was the only rat she ever liked cuz she thought he was so cute, LOL. Nothing from Maliheh so far today either. Gee, what a surprise, huh? It pretty much tells me who my real friends are.

Back when we used to chat regularly she said she hated people bugging her if they hadn’t heard from her in months. I remember wondering at the time if she knew she planned on doing just that and taking off for months at a time. Just a feeling I had. Yet she would always insist that just because I didn’t hear from her for a while didn’t mean she wasn’t still my friend. Despite what she’d say, I’d always feel like the quiet spells were deliberate. Like she was teasing me by having me wait on her and hoping I’d be wondering if she’d dumped me or something. Then she would email me and promise not to stay away so long the next time even though she sometimes would. Well, I’m sorry but while her words said one thing her actions said otherwise, and actions speak louder than words, don’t they? If my gut is telling me she’s either playing games or her heart simply isn’t in our “friendship,” can I really be that off? She may not be a social butterfly anymore than I am or into chatting for hours every single day and all that, but I just don’t feel like she’s much of a friend anymore. I just thought that if she didn’t want to be friends anymore, she’d at least have the decency to say why.

What I’m not sure about is how much of it was just an act on her part. I would think that at least a little part of her started off being somewhat into the friendship, but I still think she befriended me under false pretenses, for the most part, to keep her name out of my book.

She’d have some excuse or reason why I didn’t hear from her for so long that seemed believable, then she’d make me feel special when we talked and like she was really into our friendship, promising to write more often and all that, but then we’d go right back to the long stretches of silence.

Game’s over, hun. I’m not 25 anymore. That means I have more self-respect and less tolerance. I’m not interested in anyone who isn’t interested in me. I don’t have any hard feelings, though, and I’m glad for the time we had, but I’m not about to try to make someone be my friend who obviously doesn’t want my friendship. It’s a matter of respecting myself. If I’m not good enough for you, you’re not good enough for me. There are too many other people out there who actually want to keep in touch with me more than just a few times a year. I just can’t get into the idea of caring about those that don’t care about me. She never even gave a shit when my mother died, and I know she opened my emails.

Got up nearly two hours before I originally planned, so I wasn’t tired or anything. Cementing in the new bridge took no time at all and I’m already used to it. It almost felt kind of full in that area, but after an hour or so it was like I had my old tooth back again! It looks exactly like a real tooth! She said it will last 15-20 years or longer and I can eat anything as usual. There was no 24-hour waiting period or anything.

From what Tom read, we were wrong in how they’re made. We thought she was drilling little holes in the sides of the surrounding teeth to hook the bridge too, but she was actually grinding the teeth down like they do with actresses who get their teeth capped. No wonder the drilling took so damn long the last time and I was like, come on, lady! How long can it take to drill a couple of tiny holes? No wonder she never mentioned doing something about the little black dot of decay on the side of one tooth. She knew she was going to grind it away. Anyway, the bridge is “capped” over the teeth at the sides. I was amazed that it only took seconds to cement it in and then to cure it. I never knew they could just put a fake tooth in place of one that was lost!

As promised, I gave her a printed copy of my win list and she was pretty wowed by it.

I don’t have to start the last of the work (cleaning and a few fillings) till next year. We had to pay $500 of the $2100 the bridge cost because we maxed out the benefits for the year. So far I’ve had about 4K in much-needed and much overdue dental work, but we’ve paid less than a grand so far in total. It is SO nice to be able to eat and drink without pain. No more hot and cold foods/drinks stinging like hell! The relief and gratitude I feel toward ending 8 years of dental misery are beyond belief! Once they’re cleaned and whitened, I’ll take pics. I’m just so, so grateful to Tom and his great benefits and to the wonderful lady who ended my pain. That in itself is a WONDERFUL birthday present. I can eat crunchy foods now too, with no pain! Oh, I’m practically in tears of joy! Life is so good and I’m so happy. For the longest time after a workout, I’d want an ice-cold drink, but would have to drink room-temperature beverages because it simply hurt too much. But old habits take time to die. It’s going to take some getting used to the idea of being able to eat on the right side again. Yes, yes, it really is safe to do that now! It won’t hurt. Even rice was a no-no for a while because the pieces would get lodged within the cavities. Just so, so grateful that the potentially dangerous – even fatal – busted up ugly, greenish-black stub of a tooth is gone forever!

We forgot to ask if I could use a Waterpik instead of having to floss. Tom read they have some for those with bridges. He’s going to call and ask tomorrow and give them the new cell number.

It’s my birthday yet here I am going on and on about my teeth, LOL. Well, not even God is going to stop me from keeping up on them and taking care of them regularly from now on. He’ll have to go find a new whipping boy cuz even my ear has been better. :)

Kim is one crazy, brazen fuck that simply does NOT get it. She’s asking both Andy and I “questions” and I can’t believe she hasn’t read the message I left on MD saying: This is your final warning from me, Jodi S, demanding that you leave me alone. I don’t want to hear from you on any site in any manner or for any reason. Not as Kim, not as “Janet,” not as “Millie,” not as “Cady,” not as anyone. Neither do my friends.

If you continue to contact me online, I will ignore you but the police won’t. They will be monitoring and documenting any and all contact I may receive from you. If you do not stop with the unwanted contact, you WILL eventually be charged and prosecuted. Ask yourself this, Kim - is that what you want?

Nothing’s going to scare this sick bitch off. Nothing. I’m sick of her trying to insert herself into mine and Andy’s lives. Next thing you know she’ll be contacting me on other sites and coming at me from bogus accounts. Or will she? So far she seems to only do things in anonymity. But I know the birthday wishes and questions about if I ever feel worthless or give good advice came from her. She asked Andy the advice question too, along with one about his imaginary tour.

After the dentist, Tom took me to a Chinese restaurant here in Auburn we’d never been to before. I opted for takeout so I could feast off my goodies for the rest of the day and night and so I got shrimp fried rice, cheese-filled crab puffs, and barbecued spareribs. Tom’s not big on Chinese, but he did enjoy some ribs. I was never into chow mein or eggrolls, but I love almost anything else that isn’t spicy. The food was excellent. There were HUGE pieces of shrimp in the rice, which I’m glad to say doesn’t include many carrots, and the rib meat was so tender, too. The rats love nibbling on the bones and munching on fortune cookies. They even enclosed a teabag. It was well worth the $20 or so it all cost.

Even the propane turned out to be a good deal today because it’s pretty cheap for this time of year. About $200 for 100 gallons instead of close to $300. This is due to it being warmer and gas being cheaper. You know you’re in a warmer climate when you see little flies and gnats in December! We left the money order under the tank’s cap and they refilled us while we were out. We could tell they were here when we pulled back in cuz of the tire tracks left in the mud. So that’s one less thing I have to worry about disturbing my sleep (it’s going to be so nice not having to struggle to get to sleep or get up at a set time for a while). I said to Tom, “You know propane is cheaper cuz we’re doing well. If we were broke it’d be freezing out and cost us much more.” Life does seem to work that way. You get breaks when you least need them, though we still appreciate them anyway.

Tom got another $50 Target GC and insists on spoiling me with the now $100 worth of Target cards he got for bonuses at work. We decided to bump the shopping spree up to real early this weekend when the stores will be less crowded.

Also, I’m not going to keep sharing blog entries on FB cuz it’s such a pain. I was quite touched by the feedback someone left saying my writing was very “mature” and “interesting” and that I should publish it in the form of a book as well as a journal, LOL. They also asked for ways to get their writing like mine. Again, this is very flattering, but I have had NO formal training whatsoever. There are tips and pointers available online, but I’ve never taken any writing classes. Not yet anyway. I learned most of what I know through the examples set by other authors. Still wish I could improve, though.

Still can’t get an email through to Andy. It appears his email provider has blocked mine. I could get one through from MO, but I really don’t like their email setup, so we’re going to stick to FB. If that gets to be a pain he’ll just have to go to my blog.

Gotta get to the mail place soon to pick up our mail. Not much else going on other than moving the rats to one of the bigger cages. They love the extra space!