I went in and had impressions taken of my mouth so they can fit my bottom dentures. They stuck a hockey-like teeth guard with this toothpaste flavored gooey white stuff on it in into my mouth and had me clench down for a few minutes. They then pulled out the guard and put it to the side on the countertop by the computer to I guess let it set. It was really quite painless, and I felt a bit of excitement to know we are coming closer to the final result. Will it make my jaw look and feel different? Will I have this stunning new smile? I will be able to see in about a month.

The only thing that made me a little bit nervous was right before we started the impression was when the dentist assistant said to me, “Today I suppose we will be taking out the two top right molars, and then make you a return visit to take care of a cavity you have on one of your remaining teeth.” I was a little taken back because first, I was not aware of any cavity, and second, I thought I told them I wanted to leave my top teeth untouched, for there didn’t seem to be any problem with them. She then rechecked, came back and apologized because she was looking at a different set of somebody else’s x-rays. I guess mistakes happen…

In the meantime I have been trying to find new and exciting things to do in this New Year. I have been feeling that I need to get involved more, and to branch out to start meeting new people.

I happen to have a friend that has been hinting to me to join a D&D group. Said I would probably love it.

I grew up in a time where D & D was viewed as something evil, conjuring the devil and warlocks and witches, influencing people to do devious things and crimes against others. It was also viewed as a major “nerdy” thing. Nerdy things I am cool with, for it is the “nerdy” things I find surprisingly the most fun.

So we went to this little pub where there were about 6 or 7, old and young, people all gathered around these two tables that were pushed together. There was a big table cloth that covered the two tables and a bunch of plastic tubs full of all these miniatures. There were soldiers with big axes, beasts and creatures such as dragons, minotaurs, (half best/half man), bears and winged characters. I was a bit overwhelmed. The DM, or the Dungeon Master, (sounds intimidating) let everybody know it was just going to be a painting miniature party. There were paints and acrylic markers to color them. I was the new player and it was a level 1 group, so perfect for beginners.

Because I was brand new to this I received a brand new pair of 6 colorful dice, all different sizes and shapes. Some of the people pulled out a pouch and opened it, showing me all their different sets of dice they had. They told me that I would get addicted to collecting different dice. I guess there are worse addictions.

Needless to say, there was no game play but I did get introduced to some of the game “rules” and language.

One of the guys there started telling me about how his mom died, his dad was never around, and he is wandering around trying to find purpose in his life. I was a little surprised he was telling me all this personal stuff, until I found out he was telling me the back story of one of his characters named Schnitzelfritz.

Today I am going over to my friend’s house to do what is called a character development. I pick a character I want to be, and go from there. Do I want to be a barbarian, a ranger, a healer, a wizard, a cleric….? Then I am to choose what race, such as a half-ling, an orc, or half-human, among others. Then I get to name my character. Oh boy. So much goes into this.

I am leaning towards a barbarian. This is going to be interesting. I hope it turns out to be a lot of fun. I am off on my quest to find my character.