Earlier this week I took a sip of some Sprite Zero and felt a funny tingling in my mouth. Oh no.

I came home from work and started a oral contortionist routine involving a mirror and a flashlight. My mouth, gentle reader, was an absolute disaster. There were stains and spots and things that looked an awful lot like cavities everywhere. And my rarely used toothbrush looked at me, shook its disposable head, and looked away in disgust.

I freaked out.

I called my mom and asked if my old dentist took appointments on Saturdays. Then I brushed my teeth for, oh, ten minutes. And rinsed my mouth with Listerine. And I prayed like George Bailey back at the bridge, begging for a second chance.

On Saturday I drove to the suburbs so my dentist could fit me into the end of his schedule. He took a look, then took an X-ray.

He: You don't have any cavities.

Me: I ... really?

He: The X-ray shows that you have a badly impacted 3rd molar. You may need an oral surgeon to cut it out, and possibly remove the 2nd molar at the same time.

Me: So no cavities at all?

He: Uh...

Me: I'm never going to brush my teeth again.

Just kidding. So he said as long as it wasn't causing any real pain and wasn't infected, I might be able to leave it alone. And then he gave me a ten minute talk on cell biology and vitamins. In Korean.

So I'm going to consider this a lesson learned. I added oral hygiene to my list of New Year's resolutions and promised myself never to look that closely at my teeth ever again.

Andy, the intern on Colorectal, said that he was a big fan of Korean barbeque. He said we should go on a night when neither of us was on call. Sure, I said. And I'll bring some girls so that they can flip the meat, he said. Sure, I said.

So I was sitting at home today, having gotten the day off after Q2 call over NYE and the weekend, when I got a text from Andy that he'll come pick me up around 6. I went downstairs to meet him, and sure enough, he'd brought a girl with him in his car. Then we drove to Caribou Coffee and picked up her roommate. Great, right?

Somewhere along the way, I found out that the girls were actually that - girls. 22 and 23, if I remember correctly. One of them graduated from the same high school as I did, and kept asking if I knew this or that person. I kept saying that I was not likely to know anyone that they knew.

This past week I saw Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and Up in the Air, which might be more than all of 2009 before. They were all good, but George Clooney's isolated frequent flyer hit home more than anything else. He did make it to his sister's wedding, which may be the best I can hope for, since any sort of attempt at human connection seems like a bit much for me.

I did make it through Korean barbeque in one piece, though, so maybe there's hope for me after all. This has to be considered progress from hanging out with youth group kids, right?

Baby steps, 2010. Baby steps.