While doing a crossword puzzle one day, the clue given was “A space between the teeth.” Having worked as a dental technician for more than a dozen years, of course I immediately thought of diastema. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the word it wanted was only three letters. Apparently, diastema wasn’t going to fit.

(For all of you reading this who think I’m a complete idiot, I do know the word is gap. So, I’m not a complete idiot. And for anyone wondering what a dental technician is, it is one employed in the fabrication of dental prostheticis – they make dentures, crowns and bridges, and other dental/oral appliances.)

The puzzle got me to thinking. Thinking back to when I first started working in a dental laboratory. I was fifteen years old and could see no reason for using the technical terms. Just fancy words. The common words were sufficient and much easier to understand. It seemed much simpler to say “between the teeth” than “interproximal area.” And, upper and lower appeared to make more sense than maxillary and mandibular.

But somewhere along the way, I gave in, adapting to the technical terms. Or, maybe I just learned the proper terms are more descriptive and concise, which in the long run make them easier to understand. For example, when referring to the sides of a denture, lingual and labial are clearer, at least to a technician, than the everyday terms of inside and outside (does the “inside” indicate the palatal area or the tissue side).

But, now that I’m a truck driver, an extensive dental science vocabulary serves no purpose.

So, now I wonder why did I need to learn all the technical jargon? It appears to have been a massive waste of time and effort. Sure, I know a lot of strange words, but I can’t use them unless I want to sound like an idiot. (See paragraph two above). People return blank stares if I say things like distal, mesial, buccal, or frenum, and apparently, eyetooth is far more popular than cuspid. In retrospect, I may have been right at age 15. Just fancy words.

The problem is however, it is difficult or next to impossible to unlearn something. Even after being out of the field for over 16 years, I can’t switch back. Something in my head forces me to use the correct technical terminology. On the bright side however, if I ever need to know the clinical term for dry mouth, I’m all set. Doubtful, I know.

I did find a use for some of the terminology recently. No, it wasn’t a crossword puzzle for dental technicians, and it wasn’t a game show where I could win millions of dollars – it was a blog. You’re reading it. Thanks.

Oh, and for whatever it’s worth, the proper term for dry mouth is - xerostomia.

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter has over 500 songs and 9 books. Over My Dead Body, and The Journey, his latest books, are available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. For more information, visit www.bruceaborders.com. See Bruce’s Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/bruceaborders or view his Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders

22 degrees and raining. Raining hard. Conditions not at all conducive to driving. The winter weather storm warning said driving tonight would be extremely hazardous or impossible.

And where am I? Behind the wheel, of course. Since the notice didn’t mention an offer to pay my bills, I went to work. I am now cruising down the freeway at an astonishing 20 mph! At that rate, my normal run of 700 miles will take 35 hours. I think the Department of Transportation, which limits driver’s operation of a commercial vehicle to 12 hours, might frown on that.

So, I made an executive decision. Instead of my usual two trips, tonight, I’ll be making just one. The shortest of the two. That will cut my miles to around 300. I realize that’s still 15 hours at my present speed but, according to the CB chatter, parts of the road ahead are better. I should be able to get back within the 12-hour timeframe. If not, I’ll stop and wait. After 10 hours off, I can drive again. Of course, in that time the roads may become impassable. With as much snow and ice as we already have, any additional accumulation could mean an even longer wait. And the longer I wait, the worse it could become. A guy can’t win.

So, maybe I should just wait for warmer weather. How long could it take? July isn’t that far away is it?

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter has over 500 songs and 9 books. Over My Dead Body, and The Journey, his latest books, are available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. For more information, visit www.bruceaborders.com. See Bruce’s Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/bruceaborders or view his Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders

The older I get, the more people I see who look, sound, or act like someone I know. Or, to be more accurate, someone I used to know. Of course, this leads to me studying them intently – as opposed to staring, which I’ve heard is impolite – trying to figure out exactly what it is that reminds me of the other person, or sometimes, who the other person even is.

I’m not sure if this phenomenon is because I know, or have known, a lot of people or a result of my own overactive imagination. Both perhaps.

You can probably see the problems this creates, when complete strangers notice my sudden interest in them. They look back at me like I’m a stalker, or Jack The Ripper. Talk about impolite! Yet, even amid their glaring stares, I can’t seem to let it go. Not until I know who, what, when, how, and why. A little OCD? Maybe.

I’m not completely irrational - yet. So far, I’ve managed to keep my wife and other family members straight. Although, my children do tend to remind me of a younger version of their parents at times. That can be good or bad.

So, if you see me lost in thought, looking right at you as if I don’t know who you are, pay me no mind. I’m not stalking you, and unless I’ve just caught you breaking into my house or something, I have no designs on bringing about your early demise. It may be that you look strangely familiar. And I might simply be trying to decide whether you remind me of someone or if I actually know you.

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter has over 500 songs and 9 books. Over My Dead Body, and The Journey, his latest books, are available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. For more information, visit www.bruceaborders.com. See Bruce’s Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/bruceaborders or view his Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders

Seven years old and I couldn’t swim. Pitiful, I know. My dad must have felt the same way because one hot summer day, a Saturday as I recall, he took me and my brother down to the river. It was time I learned to swim, he said.

I don’t know if he could tell it or not but, I was sort of scared. I wasn’t afraid of water in general, just that particular water. I’d heard all kinds of stories about the river with its raging and churning white water rapids and the deep, powerful undercurrents. The fact that these stories pre-dated the building of the dam, not more than a mile from our swimming hole, was lost on me. Sure, the river looked calm enough but all those horrible stories of people jumping or falling in and then being swept away in the current, never to be seen again were still in my head.

Then, my desire to swim overcame my fear and I waded out into the water. I was ready. My dad held a finger through my belt loop, so I could practice without sinking – or so he claimed. After a few minutes of kicking and splashing, I actually started moving forward. And then – my belt loop broke! At that point, it was literally, sink or swim. Usually, faced with such a situation, most people swim. Not me, I sank.

Of course, my dad fished me out of the water, even before I had time to cough or splutter. But, that was the end of my swimming lesson that day. And I refused to go back to that river.

Later, I did learn to swim but not before a few more episodes of sinking. My brother rescued me – probably against his better judgment considering how annoying I could be.

I’m not quite sure why swimming was such an important thing to learn though; it’s been several years now since I’ve gone. Still, knowing how to swim and not going is much better than going and not knowing how. Not being able to swim is kind of a sinking feeling!

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter has over 500 songs and 9 books. Over My Dead Body, and The Journey, his latest books, are available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. For more information, visit www.bruceaborders.com. See Bruce’s Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/bruceaborders or view his Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I’m a rather impatient individual. Waiting, while at times necessary, is usually because something, or someone, is not working as efficiently as they should be. That’s when waiting drives me insane. I like to have things progress in a steady and productive manner. Waiting isn’t productive in the least. So, waiting has become one of my pet peeves.

When it comes to computers, I have a love/hate relationship with the digital wonders. The affectionate side is obviously because they allow me to do things I otherwise would be unable to do, or at least make those tasks easier to accomplish. But as for saving time, which they are purported to do – well, that’s where the aggravation aspect comes into the picture.

I’m sure most people can relate. We wait on computers for a substantial portion of our lives. We wait for programs to download. Then we wait for the programs to install, configure, authorize, and validate, etc. And then we wait for the program to open, to load, and to start. When that’s done, the program attempts to read a file, and of course it may need to do a virus scan so, again we wait. And this is just the beginning. We wait on uploads, downloads, to optimize files, to convert files, and compress files, and save files. We wait for connections, transfers and we wait on searches. Sometimes we don’t even know why we’re waiting, we’re just waiting. I think most of my waking hours these days are occupied with a single activity – waiting. And that’s what makes me frustrated.

I’m sure programmers, way back at the start of the computer age, knew that all this waiting would be a problem. So, they invented an abundance of terms for it, some technical and others not so technical, to distract us. After all, computers are presented as these magnificent marvels that can compute and perform thousands of calculations quickly and accurately. Computers were supposed to save us so much time. They don’t. I often hear the clock ticking as I’m waiting on yet another program function to complete.

I know I should learn to just be more patient – and I will someday. Right now, I don’t have the time. I guess you could say I’m waiting.

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter has over 500 songs and 9 books. Over My Dead Body, his latest ebook, is available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®. For more information, visit http://www.bruceaborders.com or http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders