Reality and Dental Bills

"Mom, my friend Frieda and i were talking today, and we were wondering, how much of you can you replace and still be you?"

Bigger Girl can always be counted upon to come up with discussions like that.

"I mean, if you've had body parts replaced, and if they can eventually grow your own cells in a petri dish and replace parts of you, including brain tissue, how much of you has to be original, or does any of you have to be?  Are you still you?"

Does this mean, i asked, that you are about to go through an existential crisis?

"Yes!  I am changing and becoming a new person and the only thing I know for certain is that by the end of it I will need new shoes!" she said as we both laughed.

By the way, i asked, how are you getting to the oral surgeon on Monday?

"Jodie and Vera are taking me.  Jodie because she can drive, and Vera because she will keep Jodie from posting videos of me waking up from anesthesia on the internet."

Good choices, i noted.  How much is the co-pay?

"$1,300 is what the insurance won't cover," she said with a groan.  "It pays for the ones that are impacted, but the two that aren't impacted but only rotting because they are too far back for me to brush aren't covered."

Lucky us, i said.  Get me the check book.

Today is:

Advent of Inanna -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (date approximate; equivalent to Ishtar, Assur, Astarte, Isis, and others; a female warrior and fertility goddess)

Berchtoldstag -- Alsace; Liechtenstein; Switzerland (a celebration of the goddess Perchta, or Bertha, guardian of animals and member of the Wild Hunt) related observance
     St. Berchtolds' Day -- Liechtenstein Bank Holiday; Switzerland Regional Holiday (because of the close association of his name with Perchta,  Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen's founding of Bern, Switzerland, is commemorated today; while not an official saint of any church, his day has become a big festival for children)

Blacks and Whites Carnival -- Colombia (through the 7th; manic and messy tradition, includes people painting themselves black one day, white the next, with a Grand Parade at some point during the week)

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Day -- The Andrews Sisters recorded the song this day in 1941 (yes, before the US entered the war; it was for the movie "Buck Private" with Abbot and Costello)

Carnival Day/Last Lap -- Saint Kitts and Nevis

Dainichi-do Bugaku -- Kazuno, Japan (11 traditional bugaku dances at the shrine; dates back as far as 718)

Dakar Rally -- Buenos Aires, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile (the legendary event of off-road rallies; through the 16th)

Earth at Perihelion -- 22:49 UTC; 05:49 CST (closest point to the Sun)

Festival of Sleep Day -- begins this evening; celebrate by sleeping in tomorrow because it is assumed we could all use some extra z's after the holidays

Genshi-sai (First Beginning Ceremony) -- Imperial Palace and various shrines, Japan (a dance and musical art performed to round out the New Year's celebration)

Happy Mew Year for Cats Day -- because felines must have a day to celebrate the New Year, and they cannot share; sponsored on behalf of felines everywhere by Wellcat Holidays

Jour des Aieux -- Haiti (Founder's Day, sometimes translated Ancestry Day)

Kaapse Klopse -- Cape Town, South Africa (Minstrel Carnival; through January and most of February, but the main parade is today)

Kakizome -- Japan ("first writing", a day to do the first calligraphy written at the beginning of the New Year; often a resolution or poetry asking for a good year)

National Cream Puff Day

National Motivation and Inspiration Day -- US

National Science Fiction Day -- Asimov's birth anniversary

Ninth Day of Christmas

Nyilo -- Bhutan (Winter Solstice)

Perchtenlauf -- Bad Gastein, Austria (A festival with scary masks and music to frighten away winter.)

Positive Postcard Day -- some people now say you should fight the post-holiday let-down by sending someone an uplifting postcard; the original project said to have positive postcards to yourself, with instructions here 

Run It Up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes It Day -- try something new today, in the spirit of the new year

Second Day of New Year -- also a holiday in many countries

"Someday We'll Laugh About This" Week begins -- to remind us to keep our perspective; sponsored by The Humor Project

St. Adelard's Day (Patron of gardeners; against fever, typhoid)

St. Basil's Day/Basil the Great -- Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches (yes, the Eastern Churches celebrated him yesterday; Patron of hospital administrators, reformers; Cappadocia; Russia)

St. Macarius' Day (Patron of of confectioners, cooks, pastry chefs)

Takai Commision Holiday -- Niue


Anniversaries Today:

Georgia becomes the 4th US State, 1788


Birthdays Today:

Kate Bosworth, 1983
Taye Diggs, 1972
Christy Turlington, 1969
Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1968
Tia Carrere, 1967
Gabrielle Carteris, 1961
Alan Beckwith, 1952
Wendy Phillips, 1952
Christopher Durang, 1949
Dennis Hastert, 1942
Jim Bakker, 1939
Roger Miller, 1936
Isaac Asimov, 1920
Sally Rand, 1904
Barry Goldwater, 1902
Martha Carey Thomas, 1857
James Wolfe, 1727


Today in History:

The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire, 366
Emperor Joseph II orders Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names, 1235
Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day), 1492
The first American revolutionary flag is displayed, 1776
The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded, 1881
"The Liberator", and abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston, 1831
The British reestablish rule in the Falklands, 1833
The first US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania, 1842
Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust, 1882
Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer, 1890
A record 19'2" alligator is shot in Louisiana by E. A. McIlhenny, 1890
Pres. T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola Miss, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black, 1903
The American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World forms, 1905
The Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa, 1908
Lithuania gains independence, 1919
The US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls, 1929
Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R., 1959
Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth, 2004
Mauritius bans the use of plastic bags, 2013