Eating Eve

I have only told approximately three people in my life about this upcoming event, but since it will all go down tomorrow, no use hiding it anymore.

After 8 AM tomorrow, I will not be able to eat the following foods for at least one year:

Popcorn (I KNOW)

Soda

Candy

Chips

Whole apples, pears, carrots, etc.

Toffee

Cookies

Ice cream

Anything sweet

Anything crunchy

Anything delicious

I am getting braces tomorrow. For the third time in my life.

I am very conflicted about this. Obviously, this is my own decision and one I am lucky to have the option to make (hooray for good dental insurance!), and I think it really will be a good thing for me in the end, but I am still not psyched about enduring braces yet again. Not only can I not eat some of my most favoritest foods (she types after polishing off her last bag of popcorn and last Izze soda), but as anyone who has had braces can attest, they hurt. Poking wire, sore spots inside the mouth, not to mention the all-day headaches after tightening sessions. Fun.

On the other hand, my teeth have moved considerably since I last had braces, and will likely continue to worsen. When I have pictures taken, it looks like I have a gap between my two front teeth because of the angles they sit at. At which they sit. Whatever. I am definitely self-conscious about my teeth, even if: a) they are WAY better than what they would have been if my parents hadn't given me braces twice before; and b) they really are not super terrible.

And now everyone knows my secret. Please think of me fondly as you chomp away on your popcorn and wash it down with root beer. (And yes, I'm pretty sure I can eat these things occasionally, but I KNOW popcorn will be a PITA to try to clean out of braces).

Foiled

Normally, this time of biennium, I would be glued to the TV at all possible hours, soaking in as much Olympic-ness as possible. This year, however, we do not have cable TV, since we literally never ever watch it. Normally not a problem, since we have the new-fangled version of rabbit ears, which I call the "bat ears," since they look very much like the Batman symbol. Through this fancy-Dan HD antenna, we can get, in beautiful, crystal clear high-def, any number of home shopping channels, Spanish-language stations, PBS, and even the broadcast networks! BROADCAST. As in, gov't lets them have the air waves so they can BROADCAST to people with antennae! (Yes, this is leading somewhere. Rather pointedly.)

Being a long-time Olympo-phile, I checked out which station bought the rights this year. NBC. Done. Let's check and make sure we get that station (why shouldn't we?). Aaaaaand the surprising answer iiiiiiiisssss......? No. Of course not. Neither of the NBC channels Yahoo TV says we should get are picked up in any form by our antenna. Sweet.

Well, this is twenty-ten, right? We are out of the dark ages of the aughts, and YouTube has been around for YEARS by now, so surely we can stream some form of at least the opening ceremonies and some of the main events, right?

Not so much. Apparently, you need to be a subscriber to cable to be able to access "Premium" content online, like anything more than a 5 minute clip of the hours-long opening ceremony. That was shown for free on the "free" broadcast network. Somehow, I feel like getting cable to watch the stuff online that we can't see on TV defeats the purpose.

Yeah, I know they have to make money, but I am still bitter. However, this did teach me an important lesson. The Oscars are NOT on NBC and I WILL be watching those.

In the meantime, you can find us parked in front of the TV at our former neighbor's house, since they still get the free cable from the university we used to take for granted, and they are also eternally patient and generous.

(Post-script: I love the Olympics so much that when I went to tag this post, I already HAD a tag for the Olympics!)