2 Girls 1 Dental Cup

I can see a scary future for the time being, if you don't want to listen to me prattle on about Dental Vocabulary you may not want to start a conversation with me any time during the next few weeks because right now I have a one track mind and that one track is playing all dental hits, all the time!

Classes for my Dental Assisting program started Tuesday. I was 30 minutes late to class because of the torrential rainfall that Las Vegas has had recently, again another semester with me impressing the Professor right off the bat, at least this time I didn't also point out that she wasn't wearing matching shoes.

Today I heard a story that I am not sure if it grosses me out completely or makes me completely weirded out that I am not scared off by it. One of the students who is ahead of me and already completing her internship at the dental clinic was talking about assisting when a badly infected and abscessed tooth was extracted. She was describing the putrid smell and how it was her job as the assistant to hydrate and suction out the area, she said afterwards she couldn't get the smell off her tools fast enough. When relating this story to my SMIL, I just expressed the hope that if I am ever in that position that I won't vomit into the patients mouth, no thought of changing majors, just the hope that I never puke in someones mouth.

I guess I found my calling.

Quickie

Overwhelmed a little... tomorrow I finish the kitchen, Thursday is class again. Tonight was my first Dental Assisting class... I showed up late (go me) I got stuck in the rain, not the best way to make a first impression... I would like to clean my carpets by the end of this week before the rat comes back over, then I would also like to get runners to cover the hallway and front walkway... I need a spending spree at Target to make my house feel more grown up (not everything being a hand me down) oh and the Coachella lineup was announced, I want to go to Friday and Saturday as my 30th birthday present to me and Dear Hubby...

I promise to give you guys a real update later this week... until then you get...

Sypien

I went to a vocational high school. My class was the first class to come in as Freshman, previous students did not come to the school until they were Sophomore's. My first period class during my freshman year was a computer class taught by a teacher who had taught at the school since it opened in 1965, I didn't know on that day how influential that teacher would become to me.

When we entered our Junior year we began to study our chosen vocations, we spent 3 to 4 hours a day in our vocational classes. For me this meant spending all of my time haunting the computer animation classroom, drawing, learning, playing and laughing. My teacher was Don Sypien, the same teacher I had known since my first day in the school. I had him as a teacher all four years I was at the school. He was a laid back teacher, he spoke to a goofy bunch of teenagers like we were his friends, giving us his opinions on everything from Disney's style of animation to buying stock in Microsoft. Even more than sharing what he thought was the fact that he listened to us, he took interest in who we were as individuals and encouraged us to follow our passions in life.

I wasn't the most talented student in the class, I was creative but not as knowledgeable about the technical side of computer animation. Sypien always pushed me to compete with the boys and paired me with the most technically skilled student to help me learn. After high school, when I knew I wasn't going to pursue computer animation as a career, I remember him encouraging me to go into health care. He knew I was a people person and enjoyed helping people. I laugh that it took me 10 years to see what he saw then and can only imagine he would approve of my choice to become a Dental Assistant.

Last year he became my Facebook friend, it was wonderful to have contact with him again. I loved seeing his opinions on movies, all the old photos he had from his school days and all the pictures of how he was spending his retirement. His wife Joanne, passed away on November 4th. I sent my condolences and my last contact with him was in December. He passed away on January 4th, 2 months after his beloved wife.

It is always sad to lose someone who was such a strong part of your life. My thoughts go out to his family, who I know he adored, he will be missed.