Prof. Albert Lopez (DAY 2): The Kind of Day that Makes You Say (Dental) Damn!

Wow, what a day. If it were not for this Media Deprivation experiment I'd be absolutely dreading my trip to the dentist on Saturday, but since I was going to be there all day (more on that later) I looked forward to the visit since I wouldn't be tempted to use any mass media for the better part of four hours. A decent trade-off, I thought: one form of torture for another. But I had no idea what was in store for me at the dentist. 

See, I was helping a friend out. My good buddy's brother-in-law needed a particular type of cavity in order to graduate from dental school over at UTHSC, and guess who happened to have that certain type of cavity. Hey, I brush, floss and use Listerine daily but I guess there are some spots you miss from time to time. Anyway, since this was a pro bono dental procedure (I even made a little money out of it, too), I figured what the hell: I'd be helping my friend AND helping myself. 

But this was an exam for my buddy's brother-in-law, the final exam to be exact, and that meant due diligence on his part as far as taking care of my tooth and me constantly lying in a dental chair while he and his professors inspected my mouth every step of the way. Oh, and I had to wear a dental dam for over two hours, too! I know they're a lot more flexible than past dental contraptions built to keep your mouth open, but try wearing one that long and tell me how you feel! 

Remember, since this was an exam at UTHSC, everything was extended as far as procedure time was concerned. I mean, this procedure (called an "amalgam" by the way) would've taken about an hour at an actual dentist's office. But I was there for almost five hours! 

So there I was, along with countless others, getting free dental work done by a dental student trying to graduate. There was no music playing anywhere at UTHSC, no TVs to watch while lying in that uncomfortable chair (the lobby had Fox News on), and no cell phone to check for missed calls or texts (they don't allow any electronic devices on certain floors). Oh, and I had to walk around the dental school looking like this for over 2 hours:

Don't I look like a maniac from one of those Mad Max movies? The Terminator glasses were a nice touch, though--by the way I had to wear them to keep my eyes safe from accidentally getting poked by dental instruments. Trust me, they were necessary. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one who looked like something you'd see in a post-apocalyptic action film. 

So I finished up at the dental school around 4:30 and made the long, QUIET trip back home to get some grading done before the Pacquiao/Hatton fight later that evening... Not to mention continue fighting the urge to get online to surf the 'Net.  

So yeah I was finally going to indulge in some kind of frivolous mass media: I was going to host a fight party at my house with a bunch of friends coming over to maintain that "social setting" loophole. I have to say, it was great to have friends over after such a long, arduous day at the dentist--especially since this was DAY TWO of the Media Deprivation experiment and I was getting very antsy up to that point. 

Too bad the fight wasn't much of a fight. But it's always exciting to see a knockout (Man, did Hatton get his bell rung or what?), and everyone pitched in for the pay per view so it wasn't a total loss on my part. After all, it was nice to finally see some kind of mass media to help soothe my severe withdrawal.

But at the end of the day, with tortuous dental work on one end and prolonged media deprivation on the other, I have to say that a night of partying with friends only exacerbated my weakened, media-deprived state. But I came up with this sweet mantra to help me fall asleep: 

ONE MORE DAY. ONE MORE DAY. ONE MORE DAY. ONE MORE DAY. ONE MORE DAY.