Bounded in a Nutshell

I feel very adult today: I've both cast my vote in an election and gone to a dentist entirely of my own free will.

The voting thing isn't anything new, since I generally make it a point to vote in those elections for which I have the franchise. Initially I had a ballot but no candidates, and then I was away from home for a few weeks, but now there's no excuse. I had a bit of a dilemma in who to vote for, since my sympathies are reasonably evenly split between two parties, but I know it doesn't matter greatly since my home riding's almost certainly going to be carried by the incumbent anyway. (Said incumbent seems like a good guy, all things considered; but oy, the company he keeps...)

I haven't actively been avoiding dentistry and those who practice it, but nor until recently have I been seeking it out. The reasons for my indifference have been almost entirely economic: until about a week and a half ago, I had no dental insurance whatsoever in this country. Now I do. Hence, it doesn't bother me to go and get my teeth checked anymore. Besides, the fact that one of my cuspids had a hole large enough that I could feel it was getting annoying. (Now, of course, there's fake tooth-stuff there, and also a fair amount of pain; I'm sort of hoping that the latter will fade over the next day or two. Teaching class this afternoon should be interesting.)

In other news... well, there is no other news. Carry on.

Yes, I'm still here. I spent the last few weeks wandering around Ontario, often staying in places with little to no internet connectivity, so even had I been inclined to write in this space I was more or less unable to.

Not a whole lot to report about the vacation: it was good, I enjoyed it, I got to see a great many people I care deeply about for greater or lesser expanses of time. Christmas was fairly placid, New Year's a lot of fun. Most of the requisite driving around was without incident, which can only be good.

And now I'm back in the Midwest, where I discover that winter's pretty much gone. How very strange.