Bugger.

I went to the dentist.

There’s a noise they make when they see something on the X-rays, usually while standing behind your chair. It is a bad noise. It’s about halfway between a click of the tongue and an “Mmmm,” with a bit of wince thrown in.

It is the noise that is shortly followed by the phrase “root canal.”

So I’m boned. I need about $1500 to get this sucker fixed–$800 for the canal and build, and then they’d like to cap it so it doesn’t break, although in theory, I can hold off on that last for awhile. No insurance coverage to speak of–my bargain basement artist’s dental plan won’t even spring for fillings for another few months, and if I try to wait the fourteen months until they’ll handle root canals, the offending tooth will be so rotted out that I could carve a smily face in it with my tongue. Alternately, I could have it pulled–it’s a back molar, and I’d miss it, but at least I wouldn’t have any cosmetic ramifications beyond my teeth shifting a bit and it would not bankrupt me nearly so perilously–but I’d really like to cling to my teeth as long as humanly possible.

So I’ll be auctioning off a commission fairly soon here, and once again–if anyone’s been thinking of buying art, now would be a good time! Also, I’ll probably be running some fairly frequent auctions of random stuff. (I’m thinking of a Christmas card design auction, but I can’t print cards, so it’d be a “Here’s the file, use your own service bureau,” and I’m not sure if that’ll interest people or not–if anyone has any experience with this, let me know!) And we’ll see how it goes, I guess. There is a slim possibility that my dentist will be willing to barter some for art–let’s hope he likes cute fuzzy animals or tapir babes or something.

What a day.