I was watching Ruroni Kenshin the other day.  End-of-the-season stuff. 
The ultimate showdown between the good guys & bad guys.  Well, I
started watching, and at the *PERFECT* moment; the
you’ve-been-watching-this-show-for-the-whole-season-for-just-this-moment;
the moment where the score between the good guys & bad guys are
settled, or atleast, they battle each other to a standstill and continue their struggle in the next season; the power went out.

So last weekend, I’m working on a mini-article to submit to http://www.sega-16.com I decide to take a break from writing, & watch some TV.

Lo and behold, there was Jackie Chan, talking to a Victorian era English man & lady on a ship.  The man turned out to be Phileas Fogg.  The hero of Jules Verne’s “Around the world in 80 days.”  I assumed the blonde caucasian woman to be Aouda, the exotic Indian princess.

“Figures…”  I thought to myself.  After all, whenever I think of “Around the world in 80 days”, the image of a Victorian era English man standing next to a grinning Jackie Chan and a blonde caucasian exotic Indian princess naturally comes to mind.

The captain of the ship overheard the trio, came over and introduced himself.  He stated how he was honored to meet Phileas Fogg, and how he’ had heard so much about Phileas Fogg, and how he had bet a lot of money on Phileas Fogg.  Then the captain then proceeded to entertain Jackie Chan, Phileas Fogg and  the exotic Indian princess, with his own daring tale of a shark attack.  Though the shark had managed to take a bite or two, out of the captain, he managed to survive.  And being the good sport that he is, the captain opened his shirt to show the trio (though not the audience) the extent of his damage.

It was smooth sailing, until the gang neared the end of their voyage.  The steam ship ran out of fuel, and Mr. Fogg, being the genius that he is, was inspired by seagulls & decided to try something he had learned from the Wright bros.  He opted to build a flying vessel.  Just like in the book.

Unfortunately, given the fact that they were in the middle of the ocean, they needed to cannibalize the ship for parts.  Naturally, the captain hesitated.  And then, Phileas Fogg told the hesitant captain something along the lines of “help me win this race and I swear to you, I’ll give you enough money to buy a brand new ship.  I’ll even pay for the finest surgeon in England to surgically rebuild your nipples.”  The captain sighed, looked at Fogg and said “It’s a tough choice, but ya’ got me by my nipples.”  A little light bulb turned on inside my head.  So *THAT’S* what the shark bit off.

Jackie Chan, Wright Brothers, Nipples.  Just like Jules Verne wrote all those years ago.

Anywho, the captain turned around and ordered his men to start dismantling the ship.

Over the next ten minutes, Phileas Fog, Aouda, and Jackie Chan flew & crashed a glider; the Queen of England showed up; the bad guys went to jail.  And all through the ordeal, a part of me kept expecting Owen Wilson to show up on a horse.  But then again, maybe it’s just me.

Literally.  Last Thursday was my first appointment with the dentist for a root -canal.

Whenever I mention a root canal, the general reaction seems to involve cringing, inevitably followed by painful “ooooooooooohh”-s and “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah”-s.

I enjoyed it.  And not in a masochistic way either, mind you.

One of those little philosophies I follow is that, perception often defines the situation you’re in.  And perceiving yourself to be in control of a situation is often the difference between whether an experience.

I mean, I made the appointment, I showed up at the dentists office, I am paying the dentist money to drill a hole into my teeth.  It’s not like someone has taken me hostage and is torturing me in order to derive some perverted form of pleasure.

Besides, my mouth will be anesthetized, so it’s not like I’ll actually feel anything.  From past experiences involving permanent fillings, I know that the part of my mouth he stuck the syringe in will probably be the most painful reminder of the whole ordeal, and even that doesn’t hurt as much.  So what should I be so scared of??

Anyway, I managed to show up early. About 45 minutes early, and made good use of my time by working on a friend’s birthday card.

My time came, I went into the chamber.  There was a young woman who was studying dentistry, along with my dentist & his assistant.  (And… um… yeah, I’m a bit surprised at my use of “young woman”…)  Anyways, I got up on the table.

Immediately, my regrets begun.  Once the drilling began, I could “feel” the drill, drilling away at my teeth.  Or, atleast, the vibrations from the drill.  No pain mind you.  But by this point, I seriously felt like kicking myself not bringing my camera along.  I mean seriously, how many opportunities does a guy get to take pictures of his own root canal??

It’s kind of funny, but I think the student was more freaked out than me.  She was a lot more unsettled than I was.  Somehow, I think she was expecting me to be a more “traditional” patient who would cringe and “ooooooooooohh” and “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah” in a painful & non-erotic way.  Instead, I was complaining about not bringing a camera.  And asking the dentist if he could spot any large chunks of my teeth & nerve.

Why was I asking the dentist if he could spot any large chunks of my teeth & nerve you ask?  So I could scan them.  Granted, teeth & nerves aren’t exactly something uncommon.  I mean, I’ve still got 31 teeth, and the nerves that come with them.  But once again, how many chances will I get, or want, to have them pulverized & extracted out of me.

My plans of scanning them & sending the scans to my friends further unsettled the young dentistry student.  And the fact that I had used X-Rays of my teeth as a holiday card unsettled her even more.  The good dentist had to step in and explain to her that I am a “creative” person, and to that extent my thoughts can occasionally get a bit unconventional.

Some more drilling was done.  And there was a little pain.  I almost started freaking out, almost.  But the anesthetic needle hurt worse than what I was feeling; and the unfamiliarity with the type of pain made it “feel” worse than it actually was.

I mean how familiar would, or could I be with root-canal-related pains?

Whether for better or for worse, somewhere along the way; I’d actually managed to grab a little piece of my tooth, with nerves attached to it.  I held on to it throughout the rest of the processes, but I lost it near the end… *sigh*

So the first appointment was over like that.  The hole was filled with temporary fillings.  I went home.  That was that.  It was nowhere near the horrifying experience some people seem to think it is.  Infact, I kind of enjoyed it.

Anyway, tonight is appointment number two.  And I’ve got my camera with me.  Tonight the canal will be widened.  Which sounds kinda’ dirty…  Anyway, hopefully, I’ll be able to take pictures tonight.  Wish me luck…

I now have subscription to Animax India.  A channel that runs Anime, 24
hours a day.  Well, technically 16 hours a day.  The other 8 hours seem
to consist of ads for all the Anime the channel is running 16 hours a
day.

So…
for a channel that runs Anime 16 hours a day (and ads
for the anime it’s running 8 hours a day) why the hell is it so
difficult to watch a show that I actually want to watch??  It’s gotten
to a point where I’ll flip into Animax only to find an ad for
something I want to watch, like Inu Yasha & Ran: The Samurai Girl,
which, according to the time table, is shown when only I’m at work.  
Except they’re not.

What Animax seems to be intent on hiding, is the fact that the
aforementioned cartoons are also rerun in the late hours.  Their
official website does not contain any schedules for Animax India
either.  So, for the time being, trying to watch the shows I want watch are
still guess work at best.

… and god knows why, they decided to rename a few of the shows in
Hindi.  Just rename the shows, mind you, the dialogues are still in
English.  Uresei Yatsura, for example, is now “Alien Musibat”.

Inu Yasha, on the other hand, is still Inu Yasha.

**EDIT**
I’ve found the their site.  http://www.animax-sa.com
Finally, I’ve got a schedule for all the show’s I want to watch.  Whether I can actually watch them because little things like my JOB is another issue.

No.  Really.

January 11 will mark the Islamic holiday of Eid-ul-Adha, or as it’s locally
known, “Korbani”.  (“Qurbani”, if you’re fussing about
the proper spelling.)

The celebration commemorates the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice
his son Ishmael at the command of God.  (At the last moment, God
intervened, and a Ram was sacrificed instead of the son.)  Ideally, it is
a celebration intended to teach, or atleast remind, people about faith  in
god, sacrifices, and making the aforementioned sacrifices.  The religion
of Islam requires that a certain percentage of the total value one’s assets be
donated to the destitute.  If one can afford it.  For the most part, Korbani provides another
reason, or excuse depending on your view, to not come to work & get
together with loved ones.

Unfortunately there’s a pretty thick, yet ignored, line between intent &
execution.

The main “attraction” of the holiday has become the showing off of
the animals, and wallets funding the purchase of the animals, that people
intend to sacrifice.  My cattle cost more than your cattle.  Unfortunately,
this involves people keeping, their cattle where they live.  People
blessed with a front, or back yard keep their cattle there.  Given the dense population of the city, &
the increasing amount of apartment complexes, a lot of parking lots are
converted into make shift stables.

And then, on the day of the celebration, I will be hauled off to the prayers. 
(It seems to have become my own holiday tradition, to be hauled off to the
holiday prayers.)  Short holiday prayers which are preceded and followed
by lengthy speeches which generally focus on why people need to donate more
money to the local Mosque.

People will go home from the prayers & commence the sacrifices.  It’s
an interesting experience to witless the process of a  cow, going from
being a living moo-ing cow to  eventually becoming food on my place. 
The entire process.  The slaughtering, the butchering, the cooking. 
In all their unedited, uncensored, un-dubbed “glory”.  Mind you,
I’ve got no beef with beef; and I have a pretty thorough idea of just how and
where it comes from.  It’s just that… everything feels so…
commercialized.

Anyway… if you celebrate Eid, have a happy & enjoyable Eid.  If you don’t, have a happy & enjoyable
Wednesday.