when there aren't as many patients i think i subconsciously spend more time explaining and chatting with the ones who do come. and then in the end that prolly takes more energy than actual dental work.
so drained today.

M is a cute old lady and she calls me 'doctorita'... jajaja. when we do dentures we have to ask patients to pronounce different words and make sure they can say different letters that require teeth and tongue, like F, S, X, TH. so normally in english we have people count to 10. then say words like 'mexico' and 'mississippi' and 'texas'. puerto ricans don't always pronounce any X or S so it's a little interesting going through phonics. M is peruvian and it was really funny when i asked her to say 'texas', then 'mexico'... and then right away she exclaims, "peru!"
so then i play along... diga lima! diga cuzco! diga machu pichu! and that's all i could remember.
then she and her son talked for about 10 minutes about why i should visit peru. and what the spaniards did to the incas. kinda a little bitterness in her heart because she speaks quechua. meaning that she's native. i think. gotta look up the cultural info.

S came back and her cell phone ring is really vulgar. she's got 'tude for sure. calvin likes it because he likes it when people are open and direct. versus A who didn't say much and she seemed a little nervous.

F came in and all the front desk were wary of him that he might try and be slick with us in getting what he wants. turns out his dad is a pastor working in the inner city ministry where hmcc used partner with, way back in the day. anyway, he totally seems like a punk. even though he is smart. but it's almost like he's living in his dad's shadow of major spiritual influence in the area but then somewhat resistant to follow that path. so even if he knows what God could potentially do through his life, he's choosing to dwell in the vices of the community, yet at an arms length.

which i suppose, is a universal human thing to do when having been taught all one's life to live for Christ... wavering between complete surrender and wanting to live for self.

anyway. even though we were all a little weirded out by him, F was definitely entertaining. E was in the waiting room with her son. she wears her hair dyed bleach blond with hot pink highlights and styles it in a beehive. it's lady gaga-esque in terms of flamboyancy and flair. F started singing cyndi lauper songs after seeing her hair. yoli came in and talked about how her new bracelet was making her arm itchy. F overheard her and tried to make a joke that it prolly was from the bees from E's hair.

we are all fallen and broken and depraved.

one thing that was sweet was that he proposed because he liked my sense of humour. very unique reason! compared to the usual reasons other hoodlums give for proposing.

one thing that freaked us out was that F wanted to film the procedure and brought a mini recorder to do so. this video had better not show up on youtube. and it had better not go viral. there's a part where i lost hold of the cotton and he unnecessarily gagged like a drama queen.

the redeeming factor in this visit was that i was compelled to search for F's dad's ministry online and then read his testimony.

other than that. i read tim keller's 'prodigal god' today. good quick read!