Issue date: 12/11/08 Section: Showcase

Media Credit: Abby Harvey

Dear Ask Anything,

Recently, during one of my nights out, I fell and knocked some of my teeth loose. Now I have to wear braces ... and I'm 22 years old! What can I do to make my time with braces bearable?

Sincerely,
Brace Face

I feel for you, Brace Face; in more ways than one.

First off, you experienced one of my worst fears; getting a permanent tooth damaged. Behind people who walk around campus with no shoes on and dead animals, getting a permanent tooth damaged is the scariest thing on the planet. Not only could it potentially be the most painful thing imaginable, but it is the only cosmetic operation that is guaranteed to make you look like you are from the South. And that's scary in itself.

Additionally I feel for you because I had braces on two different occasions. Once for a span of four years, and the other for a span of five years. Total that up and you get nine years spent in braces. But no matter how many braces you have, you are sure to never look like you are from the South. And that is always a good thing.

I found that when I had braces, one of the worst parts was having to avoid eating certain things. For me, the hardest part was not eating popcorn and having to settle for puffed corn. But, instead of doing what I did, and crying about it, you are better off finding cuisine and things of expensive taste that you can eat. Instead of lowering the number of things you are allowed to eat, expose yourself to more foods you likely wouldn't try if you could have your choice of any hard food.

But likely, food isn't your biggest concern. It's your appearance. Now, you're 22, so if you really get any trouble for telling people your real age and they think you are younger, take it as a compliment. Or just show them your real driver's license and they should be good to go. It will have all the marks and such on it that a true worn out driver's license would have, so clearly they wouldn't think it was fake. Because let's be real, the easiest way to spy a fake is by judging how shiny it is.

The one thing I found liberating when I had braces was the fact that I could choose what colors were placed on my braces. Hopefully this option was given to you by your orthodontist. If not, then you should seek a different one.

But assuming you can get other colors, start choosing them based upon the colors you plan on wearing for a given month. Obviously different seasons have different colors, so plan accordingly. And coordinate the colors around events in your life. If you have a big sporting event coming up that you will be attending, wear the colors of your favorite team, in your braces as well. If you plan on having a baby boy anytime soon, having baby blue on your braces would be optimally cute.


Dear Ask Anything,

I'm planning on taking Winterim over break to get ahead in my classes. The only problem that I have is that all of my roommates will still be back in their hometowns. I get lonely easy and don't think I'll be able to handle the weeks by myself. What can I do to overcome the loneliness?

Sincerely,
Lonely Lucy

I will start by advising you not to sit around and watch the DVD of "The Dark Knight" trying to memorize it line for line. That plan has already been taken on by someone who is in your similar situation, and doing so would make you a copy cat and not as cool as the person who originally thought of the idea. That person is me by the way.

But despite that seemingly stupendous idea going out the window, there is a plethora of ideas for you to do. Personally, if I weren't planning on watching "The Dark Knight" all day, every day, I would likely recreate scenes of movies that involved post-Apocalyptic plot points. "28 Days Later" and "I Am Legend" come to mind. You can walk the streets of Eau Claire, with relatively no one in sight because they all went home for the break. You can shout "Is there anyone alive out there?!" and not have anyone look at you strange or answer "Yeah?!" It won't be as scary as really being the last person on Earth, but it will give you the similar feeling and freedom to run around without having to worry about cars or people ruining the illusion of being alone.

If being outside isn't your thing though, that option isn't optimal. And although you could then recreate scenes from movies with shut-ins, pretty much any movie about Howard Hughes comes to mind, you likely wouldn't want to do that because you may become as crazy as Howard Hughes. And if you have any volleyballs, you may want to stay away from those too.

With that, I would suggest then you find a season of some show you love, or a video game you have just always wanted to beat, and do that in one day. A marathon, if you will. It will bring you the emotional attachment of having people around you, even though they won't be there. You won't go crazy, and it will actually feel as though your roommates are there because the drama will be there too.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools