Meanwhile, the exam marking finished, then it finished a bit more, then it finished completely - days earlier than it usually would. I'm working through the endless reading that goes on at the end of the process but it has been managed differently this year, so the work is a small fraction of previous years' (243 half scripts to read, as opposed to 900 full scripts. No, I have not got those numbers wrong) and it's all set up on a nice online system for me, instead of me having to open 1800 separate pdfs and fill in 60 separate Word docs. Common sense finally prevailed - at least for this year. The reading and the reports represent the final tasks of the series, bar the mop up, which means I should be finished a full week earlier than usual.
This is just as well, because rumbling in the background of this are the two MSc assignments that I really just need to get on with. Some of that has happened this weekend and I am trying to force myself into the work, on the basis that if I can continue to work hard now, I won't have to take any work on holiday with me. And I could do with the break.
Oh yes, the root canal! Don't read this if you don't like tooth things. Back in November I had an abscess that absorbed two rounds of antibiotics but did not actually go away. It didn't hurt, that was the main thing. Every so often I'd get a weeping pustule on my gum (lovely) but - it didn't hurt. I had a check up booked for April so I waited. That check up got pushed to the end of May. The dentist x-rayed me and said words you really would prefer not to hear from the dentist: 'The human body never ceases to amaze me'. Rather than heal, the infection had spread from the old root canal it had been festering around to the tooth that had actually hurt last November, even though it had been infection free. No, it doesn't make sense. Yes, it necessitated a root canal. The dentist, Bianca, love her, got me in for said root canal last Friday, only after an hour of drilling, terrifying words like 'calcified' and 'sclerotic' and appalling smells, she was not even close to finished. 'My next available appointment is on August 1st,' she said as she patched me up, and I nearly cried. All weekend long I religiously double-dosed ibuprofen and paracetamol every four hours, including through the night, and it had thankfully lessened to a dull ache by Monday morning, sort of like a jaw punch. I stalked my emails, waiting for the appointment. Happily she squeezed me in on Wednesday - happy holidays! - and managed to get it finished. I was braced for another 48 hours of horrible pain but it hasn't materialised.
I have to say that a silver lining to having such terrible teeth is that I don't get so phased by the dentist anymore. I was almost asleep in the chair on Friday. I would prefer to have good teeth, though. I think it would be one of my mythical three wishes - perfect teeth, teleportation, the ability to speak, read and write all known languages fluently. I'd be unstoppable.
What has happened since then? Not much. I've been to the gym twice, woo - I've been missing my Sundays lately. I'd kept up quite a good streak of Sundays until marking season hit. This reminds me that I have a Weird Man At The Gym to write about, the falling off of the weeknotes means he remains in obscurity for now but I will try to come back and write about him some time this week, when I'm avoiding my assignments. He was there today but I successfully ignored him, something that doesn't happen very often.
I went to knitting for the first time in a little while and made a start on a unicorn jumper for the niece. I figured out I might see her in the last week of August so I would like to finish it for then. It would make perfect train knitting for my upcoming rail adventure to Milan and then Bari.
I've been reading a bit of A Brief History of Seven Killings which I bought in May last year when I heard Marlon James speak at Toppings. I know it's going to be all-consuming but I haven't really got into it yet. What I really need is that Thursday Murder Club book I bought for light reading and have now put somewhere safe and can't find. We continue to rewatch The Good Wife which takes very little effort and I continue to be jealous of how many banging red jackets the female cast members have between them. It's not fair, I can't find even one red jacket that isn't really a strong orange.
This week? Getting things DONE. Hopefully.
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