I spent my half-day off work at the dentist's office on Friday. To make matters worse , I was there to get a filling. To make matters even more worse, I was in excruciating pain.

Yes folks, Matthew here was told he had his first cavity. My dentist, Dr. Chan, said that she has been "monitoring" that tooth (the top right innermost molar) for several checkups and that she is confident that I would need a filling.

You had no idea how I felt after receiving the news. It was like I had a dental criminal record. It was like I was broken in, and germ burglars have finally got its way in. My doctor dared to tease me if I have been lying.

There's this stupid Cantonese saying that your teeth will fall out if you are telling lies.

I wanted to tell Dr. Chan that my teeth aren't falling out, they're just decaying dammit. I held my comments back, since she is in fact going to do some dental surgery on me, and I will give her the benefit of the doubt that she's seems CBC.

So it as time for the filling and she inspected the tooth again-- just to be sure that my poor tooth requires a filling. She used that dental metal hook and poked the molar.

"Yep, cavity", she said.

Please. Stop. Rubbing it in.

She gave me a small anaesthetic on my gums close to the "dirty" molar and one on the roof of my mouth. The injection to the gums was completely painless, but the one to the roof was painful. I asked her why, and she says that it has to do with the fact that there was more tissue to give on the gums, rather than the roof of your mouth.

I waited a couple minutes for the chemicals to get working, and then it was time. She took this small little driller that resembled some of my dad's Craftsman garage tools.

So creepy.

She told me that I might experience pain during the surgery, but nothing unbearable. I personally was confident that it would be a breeze, after going through two years of braces, and having my four wisdom teeth removed without any pain (mind you, I had anaesthetic and laughing gas).

At first it was alright, and I just hear serious drilling noises. But further into the surgery, she really applied pressure into the molar, and I was really starting to develop a bit of pain, then more, and then more.

Then I realized, what exactly is unbearable? Doesn't that really vary from person to person? So I sucked it up like the "tough" man that I am, but I continued to express myself with my eyes. I had them wide open and my eyebrows as raised as much as it can go.

She did not get my hint and did not say anything.

There was more drilling. Finally, she said it was done, and later realized that she needed to drill some more. You guys just won't understand how sharp and isolated the pain was. It was nothing I have ever experienced. The sounds of drilling certainly didn't help.

Tzzzzzz. Tzzzzzz. Tzzzzzz.

It was then all over. She applied the filling stuff, and her assistant used this orange gun to heated it up the filling paste to harden it.

I got up from the chair, and realized that my thighs and back was completely damp from my nervous sweat.

After the surgery, I decided I would have some fun with my mouth while the anaesthetic was still doing its thing. It's so weird to have one side of my mouth fine, while the other is completely asleep. It feels like its swollen, when in reality it's not.

I decided to be stupid later and tested to see how far I can bite the inside of my cheek and not feel anything. Obviously, I didn't go all out and bit myself-- but I will tell you that I felt virtually nothing. I swear, maybe Dr. Chan didn't use precision when poking me with the needle. Argh.

Note: I did not have the luxury to "play" with my inner cheeks after removing my wisdom teeth, since I was completely drowsy and totally sick after the surgery.

For the remainder of the day, I sporadically recalled the pain and the disturbing drilling that took place that afternoon.

I'm completely fine now, so need not worry.

Dental Caries - [wikipedia.org]

Planning nerd alert!

Can you recognize which municipality (old or new) these street signs originate? Some are easy for obvious reasons. Answers are below.

Click for a larger view

Matthew Blackett of Spacing recently wrote about the form and function of Toronto's new street signs, and it's time for me to contribute my few cents on them.

I'm sure many of you have already become very accustomed to seeing our new street signs which have been slowly installed in streets across the city in the past years.

Allow me to define a few terms before I begin: 'Signal-level' street signs are the new blue background street signs affixed adjacent to traffic signals (Sign #15), while 'pedestrian-level' street signs are the smaller blue or white background street signs (Signs #2 and #8).

Let's begin with the signal-level street signs. I really do like these signs. I think that the font is clear, legible yet stylish-- I later learned that the font is called ClearviewHwy. I do appreciate how the signs are in upper- and lower-case and that the the street type is displayed in superscript and consistently abbreviated.

York Region and Mississauga have implemented a similar signal-level signs program, however they definitely did not execute it as well as Toronto. In the case of York Region, an all-caps Arial Narrow type font was used (disgusting!). Also, there are no consistency in the the street type format-- some are spelt out, some are abbreviated, some our superscripted, some are not. It's so frustrating having to see one of those signs. Argh!

Mississauga is not any better when it comes to the large street signs. Although it maintains a uppercase/lowercase format, the text is stretched/compressed so as to fit the entire width of the sign-- this makes it extremely hard to read, especially when you may have a two street signs one on top of each other indicating the different names on either sides of the street.

Perhaps I will post some pictures of York and Mississauga's street signs, when I get my hands on some.

Let's return to Toronto and talk about the pedestrian-level signs. Here I agree with Matthew Blackett's exerpt that the new signs look like "cheap knockoffs [...], which are bereft of any kind of sophistication." In the former City of Toronto, streets were blessed with the older "3D" embossed signs-- and it really reflected this quality old craftsmanship. The new signs inherited similar elements like the peaktop in the middle but I hate the fact that it is completely flat-- thus making them look cheaply made. It's like Toronto bought a fake LV bag and placed it on every corner. If there was no intention to make them "3D" and embossed, then perhaps the City could've just started a completely new design-- I think that I would've accepted it better.

I also find the new pedestrial-level signs uncomfortably large. Nevertheless, I can accept this as being a progressive step towards better accessibility.

But what I find most disappointing is the continuing homogenization of the former municipalities of Metro Toronto. Sure you can say that the suburban parts of Toronto were "homogenized" from their suburban-ness, but it just seems like there are ever-decreasing indications that the former muncipalities of Toronto, like Scarborough, was once its own city. I feel that street signs can provide strong build a sense of community character-- and therefore, if I had any power in decision-making in Toronto, I would incorporate elements related to the former municipalities into the design.

In the meantime, take a picture of your home street signs-- before they disappear over time.

Answers:
1. Kingsview Blvd - City of Etobicoke
2. Cambridge Av - City of Toronto (New Design)
3. Sesame St - City of Scaborough
4. Logan Av & Floyd Av - Borough of East York
5. Nealon Av - Borough of East York (without logo)
6. College St - Former City of Toronto
7. Strawberry Hills Dr - City of Scaborough
8. Torrens Av - Borough of East York
9. Jane St & Finch Av - City of North York
10. Abtibes Dr & Drewry Av - City of Toronto (New Design)
11. Torrens Av - Borough of East York
12. Nassau St & Bellevue Av - Former City of Toronto
13. Mike Myers Dr - City of Scaborough
14. Goldfinch Ct & Finch Av - City of North York
15. Shuter St - City of Toronto (New Design)

PS: Does anyone have a picture of those imfamous yellow lit downtown street signs that were widespread in the early 90's? Those were just awful, but I'd love a picture for memorabilia's sake.

Toronto Street Signs - [spacing.ca]
Search: Toronto Street Signs - [flickr.com]
New Toronto Street Signs, Revisited - [andrewspicer.com]

If my blog title was the answer, then what is the question?

As I continue to fall into my father's footsteps as a couch potato, I have to say that I'm completely addicted to Fox's So You Think You Can Dance.

For the sake of my sanity, the show will now be known as Dance.

Over the past few seasons, there has been this increasing interest for dancing. We saw fairly good runs of Ballroom Bootcamp, Dancing with the Stars, but I cannot say that I caught the previous season of Dance-- probably beacause I was still nuts about Canadian Idol.

Yes, I'm a nerd, shut up.

Yes, it's too bad I missed the first season because this show is so hot. The dancing, the performers-- hot, hot, hot.

Of all the episodes I've seen, Benji is by far my favourite, and to be honest, he totally reminds me of geeky Adam Brody-- you know how I feel about Adam Brody. I could not find footage of his witty performance of Hairspray with Donyelle-- but expect updates in the comments section if I find it. Donyelle happens to be my favourite lady.

Also, I find Ivan [pictured above, with Allison) quite something too, it's sad that I'm developing a liking of barely legal guys. Les calls me a paedophile for taking an interest for him. But in all seriousness-- aside from his cute babyface, I do believe that he's coming out of shell, and will definitely wow us in future performances.

What I don't understand is why Dmitry never gets eliminated. He's only good in his own ballroom element, and is just not as versatile as the other dancers-- and sometimes I feel that he's not giving his 110% like the others. I swear, it's just because he's "hot"-- which I suppose he is, but enough already, he just isn't that good. Musa is way better than him.

Of all the dance styles that I've seen, hip-hop is definitely the most entertaining-- seriously, if I had moves like that, I'm sure I'll be bringing home interesting phone numbers from the club, haha.

Judge Nigel Lythgoe is pretty darn awesome, he always has the something interesting to note about each performance, and I enjoy his eloquence as much as I enjoy the preformances. Mary Murphy seems to play the role of Paula Abdul-- rather more lenient and less critical, while Brian Friedman's pimpy jewel necklace on Wednesday was awfully distracting.

The host, Cat Deeley is always a delight, and I just live to see her talk. Whenever she says "judges," which she says a lot, totally gets me a little excited. Haha.

It looks like I'm going to continue to keep my tubby figure this summer-- as I will have to satisfy my dancing TV craving.

I'm off.

So You Think You Can Dance - [fox.com]

I hate to break this news to all my visitors, but I have to say that we're officially old!

It will be 10 years tomorrow, that the Spice Girls' first single, Wannabe, was released in the United Kingdom. Surely, the Canadian release occurred later that year, but still, it's been ten years folks!

Ten years! My gosh!

I shamelessly admit that I really enjoyed the Spice Girls. Sure I was a closeted elementary school queer, but that didn't get in the way of getting into the Spice Girls groove. I enjoyed watching the continuous reruns of their concert at the famous Wembley Arena on Muchmusic. I also remember going to the puny Scarborough Town Centre Cineplex (now closed) to watch their hilariously ridiculous movie, Spice World, with Mark Kung-- who was also as weird as me when it came to Spice Girls.

Actually, I remember skipping religion class (isn't that ironic?) in high school , so that we can head down to the Yonge/Dundas HMV to get their autograph. Too bad, it was later cancelled.

My favourite Spice was definitely Victoria, Posh Spice. She was then definitely the hottest Spice Girl-- though in retrospect she couldn't sing for beans. As I grew, however, I had an increase liking for Mel C, Sporty Spice. She is indeed a great singer, who would do so well had she came into the spotlight as a solo artist.

Whether you like them or not, these girls have really left a big cultural imprint in the Western world in the mid/late 90's. They definitely revived the pop music scene from the clout of rock and alternative-rock that dominated the airwaves. Many group pop acts followed after their fame-- on the top of my head, I could think of: All Saints, Destiny's Child, Atomic Kitten, Blaque-- not to mention some greater male groups like Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, 98 Degrees, and even B44!

Surely, they're now only good for tabloid gossip, but they should still be applauded for their tremendous impact on youth culture at the time.

It's just so weird to think that almost 10 years ago, I would blast my radio and sing to songs like Wannabe. Now as I recollect my thoughts, Grades 7 and 8 were definitely a very interesting period in my life.

As with any early-teen, I recall going through quite a few bumpy moments, including the whole awkward stage of "changing bodies." Some of you fortunate ones might recall how my legs weren't quite same length, my voice continuously cracked, had to get my first pair of glasses.

Heres'a few other intersting notes of Matt in 1996:

• I still had my nasty braces


• I was actually good at math


• I enjoyed playing double dutch with the girls


• I ate "ball cake" while unsuccessfully catching a football during our famous four-hand touch football games-- it broke my glasses ("Eating ball cake" is a Chinese collequial term describing one who gets hit by the ball in the face)
  
• I hated gym class


• We had a teacher who we suspect was getting it on with the principal


• The French teacher deservedly screamed at me countless times


• My best sport was sprinting-- if that even counts


• I took the big yellow school bus to school each day


• I had longer hair-- similar to this one of Matt Damon-- which funny enough is sort of what I hope to revive (but just less poofy a la Pete Wentz!)

So all in all, Matt was a queer nerd... so I guess not much has changed. Haha.

Spice Girls - [wikipedia.org]

So I lied, I did not publish the second installment of Friday. Sorry la. Hope everyone is enjoying the great Canada Day weekend. It seems like the whole world is out-of-town-- since my suburban world seems quite devoid of traffic.

Enjoy guys.

Martina and Tiff are geeks who inadvertently bought the same dress from Primark. Apparently, it was a crazy power buy-- something in the figure of 10 to 20 pounds. What's interesting is that it seemd like all the Oxford women owned this dress.

This is another great shot of Tiff near Christ Church. I told her to pretend to stare towards the sun so that I can get her in that imfamous fobby photography pose.

Here are the "hardworking" quattro in the lab at Brookes trying to complete our final assignments. Shawn and I compared between the growth management and greenbelt strategies of England vs the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Take note that Liz's eyes are closed!

Here is Henry punting on the River Thames. Let me tell you, punting is not easy. That rod was blasphemously made of some metal compound, whic made it trememoudously heavy to hold.

Here I am, don't I look buff and manly? Tee hee. Henry and Carmen were definitely our best punters in our group. In fact, Henry called Carmen 'Hercules'-- which isn't all that flattering. :P

Here's Tiff at Primark at the Westgate Mall--where the white polka dot dress was purchased. I don't understand why clothing in the UK is so affordable, but everything else is outrageously overpriced.

This is the Brookes bus laying over at our Brookes Harcourt Hill Campus-- isn't she a beauty? Oxford's transit companies do a great job with service marketing-- something TTC should really take a look into.

Here's everyone at the Oxford University Press. This is the home of those famous dictionaries-- or at least so we thought. They unfortuantely don't give tours in that complex.

This shot is for all urban designers. Here's a typical bench on Cornmarket-- Oxford's pedestrian street. Margaret called these the "homeless proof" street furniture-- because their design inhibits anyone from lying prostrate. You can rest only by leaning against it.

That's all from Oxford folks, I still need to publish some pictures from our field trips and time in Spain. That's next.