Hot and Bothered

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This guy's cute and funny, my favorite combination. (T-shirt available at YouAreSoFamous.com.)

Dental Damn-ed

While the rest of the world talked about their fear (and loathing) of going to the dentist, I've quietly kept it to myself over the years that I actually love it. What wasn't to love? Getting to be the center of attention for a half hour while a man in a white coat and his posse tell me everything "looks great" and how "pretty" my teeth are. (Typical child of the '60s: fillings in my molars -- no sealants back then -- nothing else worth noting.) Truth is, not only do I love coming home with professionally polished teeth, I even like it when the scaling is done rough along the back gums and it bleeds a little. I once mentioned enjoying this to the hygienist, noting, "You probably hear that a lot" to which she -- looking horrified -- replied, "No, I haven't."

Well, all of that changed abruptly yesterday when one of my seemingly normal fillings began to hurt and was deemed in need of a root canal. What was purported to be a fairly routine procedure (not fun, but not the end of the world according to my friends and coworkers) turned into a LIVING NIGHTMARE when halfway through it he found there was "an extra hole -- or canal, I'm not sure which" in the back and when he tried to do what he'd done to the other two small canals in the front it LITERALLY felt like he'd RAMMED an X-Acto into my gums, causing me to SCREAM and nearly FLIP off the chair like a fish out of water. (I honestly didn't know I could be in THAT much pain.) He'd been at it for about an hour and said he'd basically finished the front two canals and decided to call it a day. Now I have to go back next week for him to do a bunch of X-rays so he can try to figure out what to do with the back part.

I'm completely terrified now. And I COMPLETELY get why people don't like to go to the dentist. If any of you are in the business of torturing people and want to try to talk me through this, I wouldn't object. Believe it or not, I don't "blame" my dentist. He wasn't being rough or anything, it's just that teeth and gums are VERY SENSITIVE and there's obviously something very touchy going on in there. I just want to be sure there's a way to address it that isn't a repeat of yesterday.

Heavens to Betsy

You know the gays, always redecorating and redesigning something. That's why Studio 360 asked the design firm Worldstudio to come up with a new design for the Gay Pride flag. Click HERE to see some ideas, plus the winning flag from the listener design challenge.

Bend It Any Way You Like It

Some encouraging NEWS out of India.

64 Candles

A big birthday kiss to my girl, the incomparable Debbie Harry. In the words of the great Benny and Bjorn (with a little help from Agnetha and Frida): Thank you for the music.

It seems on this day in 1980, Deb was celebrating her 35th birthday on top of the charts with "Call Me," which went on to become the biggest-selling single of that year. (Look what was No. 3 and 4!)

Shirts or Skins?

While I could probably write a similar post about the state of the men's game as my morning lament on the women's (oh, I miss the days of Borg and Connors, and Solomon and Dibbs), there's no denying that a Roger Federer vs. Tommy Haas and Andy Murray vs. Andy Roddick Wimbledon semifinal line-up -- in which the players actually hit the ball -- is nothing to sneeze at. I might even be saying that if these boys weren't so nice to look at, too ...