See the journal for Stupid Dental Situation Update #2. Things, shall we say, are looking up. Freaking Out Index: 1. Outraged at Unethical Medical Professionals Index: 9.5.

I had one of the laziest weekends of my life this weekend. I did not get into my car for three days straight. I finished up "Horse Heaven" (it was wonderful) while watching an embarrassing amount of MTV's Real World Marathon. That show is horrendous, all the people on it are horrendous, and a little bit of their horrendousness rubs off on you every second you're watching it. I'm 1000 percent more horrendous than I was mere days ago. I was covered in horrendous, but I couldn't turn it off. It's inescapable... I think there's something implanted in the genetic code of everyone of a certain age, or at least everyone of a certain age who got sucked into that Puck-and-Pedro season, that forces us to watch these whiny, shallow, unappreciative, idiotic, shallow, dull, have I mentioned shallow strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped and stop being polite. Or whatever. See what I mean? The MTV lingo just hovers in my consciousness, waiting to bubble up to the surface like swamp muck. Genes, I tell you. Chromosomes. Spores. Something. Thank God I don't get MTV here, is all I have to say.