The braces are off, only to be replaced by other hardware – a horrible retainer, which I’m supposed to wear 24/7 for 6 months – that gives me a serious speech impediment.  How embarrassing.  I’m told that I’ll get used to it, and the lisp will go away in a few days.  But I do have beautiful straight teeth now.  This time around I vow to wear this retainer religiously, since not wearing my stupid retainer was what led to getting braces for a second round.

I also got a brand new haircut to go with my new teeth.  I got close to a foot of my hair chopped off, along with some pretty short bangs.  It looks like the haircut I had when I was 21.  The cut is great, but I don’t like it.  I loved my long hair, and I almost cried when I saw all my hair on the floor.  It wasn’t something that I wanted to do, but I went shorter than I normally would.  I have visions of getting my hair butchered by some Bulgarian hairdresser, so I want to put off getting a haircut in country for as long as possible. 

So now I’m a lisping, (still) metal-mouthed neurotic mess with too short hair.  What a pretty picture.