It’s been a very strange, oddly emotional day, right? Waking up to the news that David Bowie died last night was a gut punch. I can’t say I was a die-hard Bowie fan, but damn if I didn’t love his music throughout my life.
- I remember my first major concert was seeing David Bowie with NIN at the Forum (pre-renovation) with Mila & Sveta sometime around 1995. It was a blast to finally see a concert but also to see someone who had so many amazing songs. Freakin’ David Bowie! “Modern Love”! “Fashion”! “Let’s Dance”! “China Girl”! Quite an experience.
- In the movie Clueless, my love for “Fashion” was re-ignited when it played quite memorably when getting first introduced to the character of Cher. After that, I picked up his greatest hits. One eventful day, Sveta accompanied me to UCLA for a class project I was doing. We listened to “Ziggy Stardust” endless times on that drive to Westwood. It’s a great memory as it was so vivid, and we sang it and sang it over and over again. We didn’t tire of it then, as it was awesome.
- Another college moment was sharing the love of Bowie with one of my best friends from then, Bertha. She was obsessed with David Bowie and would insist we play “Ashes to Ashes” as much as I wanted to play “Fashion.” I didn’t know much more than his 80s stuff, so to finally explore his other material was fun and interesting. “Ashes to Ashes” is definitely the more interesting of the two, but you can’t beat “Fashion” for sheer attitude.
- Kelly Dean was another of my friends, although obviously a bit later once I was in the Air Force, who was a huge fan. I remember vividly dancing our asses off to “Let’s Dance” – tabletops may have been involved.
- There’s just so many pop culture moments that David Bowie is associated with – the relentlessly silly duet with Mick Jagger for “Dancing in the Streets” that Family Guy skewered; “Golden Years” as the theme for one of Stephen King’s TV miniseries; endless commericals; just his mere unseen presence in the movie Almost Famous makes you smile.
- Bowie’s constantly changing persona was oh so compelling; you could relate or you couldn’t, but you couldn’t ignore him. He commanded your attention. He was fascinating.
It really is just strange to know he’s dead; or more likely, has returned to where he came from. I’m listening to his songs and reading the many many tributes and at times I can’t help myself and get emotional. He was wonderfully unique in this world and his loss feels special – there’s no one who will step in and fill that void.
SO!
How about something that made me cry for entirely different reasons? During the week I was off between Christmas and New Year’s, I went to the dentist. I’m now on an every-4 month schedule as I’ve apparently got some bad tartar and gum irritation and the hygienist there is just fucking ruthless. Coming on an accelerated schedule didn’t really make much of a difference, as this last visit, I actually finally couldn’t take it. The pain was so fucking terrible I asked her to stop as I just couldn’t do it anymore. Yeah, not my greatest moment but I just honestly felt like I was being tortured for information: I don’t know where the rebel base is, dammit! She was good at calming me down and getting through the rest of the procedure, and finally we talked about how to make it not so bad.
As for flossing, I honestly have been better about it than I ever was growing up or hell, in my 20s. I never flossed. But I’ve been more cognizant of doing so in my 30s as it has been getting worse. But I’m not an every-day flosser, and she pointed out that makes a difference. You have to do it every day for it to make a difference, plus you have to really get in between your teeth and below the gum line to do it right. She happened to mention Water Pik and I asked what the hell that was, as I’d heard of it obviously but didn’t really know what it did. Turns out it’s high-pressure water shot between your teeth to clean out any tartar build up, much like what floss does. I ended up going out and getting the model above – and I love it. It’s obviously having to buy a goddamn contraption but it is so much easier to use for me than floss. I fucking hate flossing as inevitably it gets torn, you might cut your gum, etc. And so far, I’m sold on WaterPik. I actually bought an additional one that is more of a cordless one and is smaller so I can take it with me when I travel.
Here’s hoping I’m doing something better for my teeth than before! I’d love to keep the crying to a minimum.