ticklish teeth

i picked up Alain de Botton's THE ART OF TRAVEL and brought it with to the dentist today, good thing. there is a section of 666 in the left mandible quadrant, much to my dismay. the dentist goes in deep to the pocket with metal instrument, scaling, scraping. the sound that fills my head is like a carpenter with a planer. surprisingly there is no discomfort. it is more like finally getting a strong itch scratched. although i am silent and still, i feel like a horse moving its neck along the rail of a fence, trunk of a tree, doorjam of a stall.

later at home i put all the friday the 13th superstitions out of my mind and concentrate on these chapters especially

on anticipation
on curiousity
on possessing beauty

writing numerous passages onto my notebook

this one in particular is de Botton's retelling of a Ruskin quote:

Two men are walking through Clare Market. One of them comes out at the other end not a bit wiser than when he went in, the other notices a bit of parsley over the edge of a butter-woman's basket, and carries away with him images of beauty which in the course of his daily work he incorporates with it for many a day. p.218