Sunrise, Sunset

It's been a whirlwind couple of weekends! Let me get you up to speed.

The dental work is progressing smoothly. Two Fridays ago I went in just for a cleaning/check-up and was told I was doing great. The site was clean, and the healing was progressing well. It's nice to have a dentist tell me I'm doing well for once. I guess you just have to find someone who understands that gum problems can't always be solved just with floss. This past Friday I went in again to get my stitches out. They actually began coming loose on Wednesday, but I decided not to worry about it. A piece in the back came free as I was rinsing out the area Wednesday night, but nothing else unraveled, so I just left it alone. When Fatema saw it on Friday she wasn't concerned at all. As the swelling of the tissue goes away, the stitches always get loose. It's just a good thing I was already scheduled to get them out on Friday, because what was left wasn't going to last much longer.

The removal of the stitches was actually the worst part of the process so far. They used a topical anesthetic so it wouldn't hurt, but I could still feel them pulling. Dr. Chung used a tiny dental scissor to cut the stitches, and Fatema had a long pair of tweezers to pull them out. I don't like having four hands in my mouth at once, so I'm glad it was over quickly. I remember it taking quite a while to put the stitches in, and I know it was a long piece of thread, but I was still amazed at the length of the thread pieces that were coming out of my mouth. It's very disconcerting. But again, afterward I was told that everything looks great and they're impressed with my progress. Good news. Even better it the fact that I won't go under the knife again until after Thanksgiving, so I should almost be able to eat like a normal person. I've moved up from rinsing my teeth with the plastic syringe to gently cleaning them with q-tips dipped in the prescription mouthwash. By next week I should be back to a toothbrush! It's amazing how small things like this can make me so happy.

What else have I been doing?

The weekend between these periodontal experiences was the New England Archivists (NEA) fall conference here in Boston. There was a good talk on monetary appraisal, and the session on whether we consider physical objects to be archival materials was interesting. The keynote speaker was Richard Cox, a big name in the archives world who has a reputation for offending people. My favorite bit from his talk was his comment that archives students "don't come to learn about technology, the come to fondle old stuff." Touche Mr. Cox. But as far as practicality is concerned, I don't put much stock in what he has to say. Apparently he spoke in a friend's class while he was in town and said that Simmons students are getting too much practical instruction and not enough theoretical. Say what? If we are going to be out in the field actually archiving things, shouldn't we know how to do it? The only reason nearly all the members of NEA are Simmons alums is that we have an edge entering the field with our internship experience. We can always add to our theoretical knowledge as we go, through keeping up with the literature and going to events like this one. At least that's the theory I intend to test.

This weekend was even better. On Saturday Adrienne, Kacie and I braved the rain to go to the International Antiquarian Book Fair. We could only stay for about half an hour, because we had tickets for the matinee performance of Fiddler on the Roof. This is the farewell tour for Chaim Topol, the original Tevye, so we wouldn't have missed it for anything! Topol is 74 now, but he's still incredible. His voice is amazing, and his acting is hilarious! Overall the show was great. I especially loved all the impressive dancing. My dad tells me he was one of the bottle dancers in a production when he was in college, and after seeing what these guys could do, I really wish there was a picture of him doing that back in the day. Actually, the whole show made me very sentimental, even a little homesick. I picked up the soundtrack at the show and have been listening to it ever since. Even without the benefit of my iPod, "Miracle of Miracles," "If I Were a Rich Man" and "Sunrise, Sunset" play in my head nonstop. I've decided I should look for violin sheet music for the show--it would be a great thing to add to my repertoire. Do you think they would ever let a woman play the role of the fiddler? Because I could totally do that part and make it look real. At the start of the show I could tell that he was faking and it was the violin in the pit orchestra that was really playing, but at the very end I think it was him. I could do that.

On Sunday I had the chance to hear Ravi Zacharias preach at Park Street Church, but I didn't go. Instead, I joined David and Josiah at Tremont Temple Baptist to hear our dear old friend Roger Fredrickson preach. He had come out from South Dakota to lead their missions conference, and this was his last day in town. You should have seen his face when we went up to greet him after the service--such surprise, followed swiftly by a glowing smile and a warm hug. Roger is one of the sweetest men I've ever known, and it was great to see him as a reminder of home.

The pressure of the semester is starting to get to me, and going home for Christmas break is sounding better every day. Thank goodness next week has a break too.

-Kim