You Know Its Finals When a Dental Exam is a Great Time.

I took a day off from studying today. Okay, so i took a portion of the day off, with some guilt I must admit, and I went to the dentist. I wanted to avoid going to the dentist right before finals because I didn't want to cause myself more pain. However, the tooth finally won.

This all started with the LSATs. I was studying and cracked my tooth on some trail mix -- two years ago -- and finally dealt with it now because the pain was actually worse than sitting in the library for 12 hours. You know it had to be really bad when I gave up precious finals study time for something that had to do with the rest of my life.

And you know that this is all screwed up when you realize, while sitting in the dental chair, and the dentist is installing a new crown, that this is a spa treatment compared to the rest of my life.

Let me set it up for you. My dentist is located in Santa Monica, about ten blocks from the beach -- which is that piece of land I have not seen since way before law school started. Taking a drive out to Santa Monica is a long road trip these days. School is the only reason I use my car at all these days -- god forbid I should go to the gym or visit friends -- so a trip to Santa Monica practically requires a passport.

The dental office is practically a spa already -- it has amazing walls of glass with views of the Santa Monica mountains. You just lay back in the chair and see all of Los Angeles set up beneath you, while some man drills away at your teeth. I knew it was bad when I started to fall asleep when he removed my cavity and installed the new crown. Usually I am on the ceiling at that point bargaining with god -- and instead -- one week before my first final -- I am finding it relaxing. So relaxing that I fall asleep with a drill in my mouth.

My standards have obviously fallen off the charts. Maybe during next finals week I should get an extraction?