Miami, here I come!

Thursday, Jan. 09, 2003
4:13 PM

Thanks to everyone who left advice and words of support in my guestbook (except Bera =P ). I had my surface filling done today and it wasn't nearly as bad as I was afraid it would be. They did drill, but it wasn't too bad. Very little pain, mostly just uncomfortable. The thing that bothered me most was the smell. I've done bone & antler work before, I know that smell of sawing away at skeletal material. It's much worse when it's your own! Bleah. I tried to ignore it as much as possible, but it was kind of gross. But it's all done, I can't even feel the filling and I'm not too traumatized. Yay!

They also took a panoramic x-ray of my head, which was enlightening. I have to take a copy to the oral surgeon next week, for the consultation on my wisdom teeth. One of the impacted teeth (technically all four are impacted, but this one hasn't come up at all) is actually sitting sideways. My dentist said in his opinion I should have them all taken out at once and get it over with. I expect the oral surgeon will probably say the same thing. I'm going to try to schedule it for after my trip to Miami.

Have I mentioned my trip to Miami? I can't remember. Anyway, I'm going to a conference for the Society of American Mosaic Artists at the end of January. I'm so psyched, I'm trying not to think about it because the anticipation is killing me. I'm going to be taking a couple of workshops, one of which will be led by one of my mosaic idols, Sonia King. The other one is going to cover practical stuff like cutting stone with a hammer and hardie! (A hardie is kind of like a chisel blade, tipped with carbide, set in a base. You hold your tessera over the blade part and whack it with the hammer to cut it. This is the traditional method of cutting mosaic tesserae and probably how it was done in period.) There will be panel discussions, group dinner and a beach party. I'm going to have to take a notebook and take notes because I know my brain is going to get full! I'm really excited about meeting other mosaic artists, especially those who are making a living at it. Unfortunately I'm going to miss University, and I had to cancel my class because I won't be back until Feb. 2. (I have not yet figured out how to be in two places at once - if you know, please tell me!) But hey, where would you rather be in January - Miami or Bridgewater, VA? Yeah, that's what I thought. =)

Well, I have a shnitload of hand sewing to do, so I gotta run. Looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend!

Ciao!