Either I`m a bad teacher, or students of web school don`t care to speak to a teacher who looks Japanese, because once again, I have a lot of free-time in my hands. It seems I have my 5 students who see me every week here, and no-one else. Oh well, at least I get time to write in my diary.

The Tooth Hurts (only title I could think of since the same song is playing in the background now)

So today, I`m not feeling so good, but much better than I`d been in the last week. A week ago, I started to feel a little pain in my mouth, but being that I do brush my teeth meticulously (to try erase the scars from years of smoking), I figured it was just a minor ulcer. Fast forward 2 days, and a fever had crept in, and eating had become a lot more difficult. By Saturday, my fever was in full swing, and I could no longer eat. The right side of my mouth had swollen so much that I couldn`t bite without pain, and it was at this time that I noticed the giant ulcer at the back of my mouth.

I`ve had many ulcers in my life, and a slightly enlarged one wasn`t about to bring me down to miss work, so I went to work anyway. I made it through the day, but by night, my teeth started to ache too. It was only my top teeth that hurt, and then after a sleepless night, Sunday came with my bottom teeth hurting.

I managed to keep myself sane, waiting for Monday to see a dentist to see what the hell was wrong. Monday came, and after getting lost (and getting over the fact that a day of no work means no money), I found the dentist who I was told spoke English. Well he couldn`t, but with drawings, a dictionary, and with help with my almost non-existent Japanese, I eventually understood that #1 my wisdom teeth were growing again; #2 the top right wisdom tooth had a huge cavity and filled with blackened plaque (I guess my toothbrush couldn`t reach it); and #3 the ulcer was freakin huge and was getting worse because it kept getting bitten.

So step one was to treat the ulcer, and step two... to remove the black tooth.

After an utterly nauseating time wherein the doctor seemed to have an aerobic work-out, thrashing my face around to take out the stubbornly hard to get to tooth, 2 of 3 problems were somewhat fixed. I did wish he used more anesthetics though. I think it was only after that somewhat scarring ordeal did I feel my mouth become numb. And I wish he did something to stop the bleeding other than using what looked like cheap toilet paper. Even today, I`m still spitting quite a bit of blood - which probably explains why I constantly feel nauseous and light headed. But hey, even without insurance, it was a hell of a lot cheaper here than in Melbourne, as the whole treatment only cost me about 13000yen (~$150AU I think). More pain but less money. Yeah, I`ll take that.

Tomorrow, another tooth will get taken out, but I`m somewhat nervous about this one since it`s impacted, and it`s on a 90 degree angle, and oh, the dentist also said that it would be quite difficult.

Poker King

So for the most part of the last week, I`d been at home. Sure, I only missed one day of work, but with no going-out, and no sleeping, I had a hell of a lot of time to kill. And so, with my trusty Xbox360, I set out to play nothing but... Poker! Texas Hold`em to be exact.

With the extra amount of time I had to play it, I`ve become quite good at it! Having had no great knowledge of Poker, I didn`t know how to bluff, when to call/raise/fold, and especially what beat what. Now, I understand all the rules, and also, while I still play a relatively safe game, I`ve become quite good at reading people. In fact, in the 4 classes of tournaments online (free - up to $2000 prize, 4k - up to $16000 prize, 50k, 500k),  I`ve won enough to play in the 50k class. And while I haven`t tried to play there yet, should I lose, I have enough money play again at least once more. Best of all, my girlfriend loves watching me play - although she does get angry and calls me a loser when I want to give up after a loss. She even curses me when I make a big risk and lose. Bitch. But I still love her.

Anyway, this is all with fake money, but still, the fake tournament money isn`t that easy to come by.

What Am I?

Speaking to my mum while she was here, she casually mentioned that her grandfather was Japanese, but most of her background is Spanish. Somewhere in my lineage, apparently there`s quite a bit of Chinese, but of course, there should be a lot of Filipino blood there too - being that my parents and grandparents were born in the Philippines (me too). But of course, I don`t look Filipino, and I grew up in Australia. So, being that most of any new students ask me if I`m at least 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 Australian, it`s become tiresome to say everything, so I`ve now succumb to simply nodding and saying yes. And it seems to win me some extra brownie points. And hey, to them, it makes me more like Keanu Reaves which has led to some tempting invites.

So that`s all for today. Everyone please learn to play poker, so when I go back, it`s something we can all do together!

Later.