Monday, January 11, 2010

Don't wait


Today I took them off.

I got it to the point when I started liking them.

It feels weird and different and sad and yet great not to have them.

Braces. Today I took them off. It was time.

:)

Having your braces done when you're thirty must be different to experiencing it as a teenager. I am sure I would not have appreciated the end result as much.

--

Reflecting on having them on and the whole story that led to putting them on made me think about two things: the value of commitment and the value of time.

Braces took the whole 2 years. It's 2 years of different eating habits, 2 years of brushing after every meal, 2 years of sore mouth, 2 years of seeing the doctor every 6 weeks, 2 years of smiling the metal to the world. And yet I've enjoyed having them on since day one...

4 years to decide I needed them had built strong enough commitment. After 4 years of thinking I had figured I'd better had them on for 2 years and be done with it than keep mentally struggling every time I wanted to smile. People who know me know that I smile a lot. It was hard to keep it up. I simply knew that if I had endured 4 years of deliberation I could endure another two of having them on. It worked out pretty good.

I wish I could generate same commitment without double wait time :) Though, it's not exactly a x2. It will soon be much less. Now, after I have them off, I will wear retainers. It's another year of some appliance in your mouth full time followed by a night wear ... forever. Or as long as I am concerned not to give my teeth even a little chance to go back where they were.

The thing is, once you build a foundation - you feel very connected, very afraid to lose it, very sorry to even think to have to start over. I have another one like this. I quit smoking 7 years ago, used to smoke a pack a day and stopped one day. Just like that. The only thing that kept me from smoking again was the fear to have to start quitting over. Literally. I still have that motivation with me.

The question is, why it is so hard to commit to do other things? Spend an hour a day studying or reading or writing or painting or exercising and just keep doing it for 2 years? I bet the foundation built would not be less sorry to lose than that of a better looking smile or not smoking.

I will tell you in 2 years.

Time flies by. 5 or so years ago, when my son was 2, I mentioned to my mom about how I noticed the time went faster. I said something about the time passing by in weeks, not days as it used to. And she said: wait, it will soon be years. I did not give it much thoughts until recently when I felt it's definitely months. It was the braces check up appointments that made me realize. The constant schedule of having one each 6 weeks soon became a routine, a metronome of life.

2 years will pass fast. I am not going to lose it waiting. And neither should you.

Monday, January 04, 2010

Fair Search


How do you think Google scores in search results for "search"?

8th on google.com after metasearch, altavista, dogpile, bing, yahoo, local business results, and a few variations of the above

2d on yahoo.com after Yahoo!

did not make to the first page on bing

--

who did a fair search on "search" ?

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Change


It's this time of the year again when people commit to their New Year resolutions and some teach others how to stick to it. Is there something great in Mondays to put starting a new life off to it? You tell me, but the idea of an extra opportunity to change is thrilling. If nothing else - start of a new year is.

Reflections on the last year and the last decade are all over the place. How could one resist a so prominent feeling of a better, unknown, everything-is-possible, I-could-be-the-one, I-will-change tomorrow? It's oozing from everywhere, it fills you up and boom!! the next thing you know you dream about change.

I. want. things. changed.

Is that right?

I. want. to. change. things.

better...

I. am. changing. things. starting. tomorrow now.

Great. Wish me luck.