LAX

Before I head off to LAX en route to Boston (I can't believe school is starting so soon!), I thought I'd share a photo that my sister took of me at my final visit to our dentist's this summer.

Good times at the dentist's



Eric

SAT Question of the Day

Backtracking to the post that I just posted a few hours ago, I want to expand on the whole analogy idea having just walked in on my sister studying for ... the SATs!

Those were definitely the days: Reading, Writing, and Math.

Today it's: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Global Health and Health Policy.

So after doing some analogy-thinking, I realized that Toothbrush and Tooth isn't that spectacular of a word-combination. It's actually surprisingly non-intuitive and linguistically awkward (in my opinion) to sync two words where the second word is contained within the first word.

For instance:

A) Bedsheets and Bed
B) Microsoft and Micro
C) Christmas and Christ
D) Breadcrumbs and Bread
E) Toothbrush and Tooth

Q: Which pair belongs in your mouth?

EXACTLY. The SATs were teeming with questions like this. Now go write an essay on "A wise man once said that 1 + 1 = 2" and be sure to take a clear stance, four paragraphs please! What is the answer that they're looking for?! Which one(s) am I supposed to bubble in?

Prince-Kap Review Answer: Like in any multiple choice question, the answer is right before your eyes. (oh really, Prince-Kap Review? I never knew multiple choice questions could be so intuitive!)

Also, keep in mind that because there are 5 answers, if you randomly guess, that's 1/5 or a 20% chance that you'll get this question right. (I'm studying this section because my verbal score needs improvement, not my quantitative reasoning!)

Let's go through the answers for those of you who don't know the answer. (...)

A) Bedsheets and Bed - does this belong in one's mouth? Not normally. So we can be safe to cross this out, for now. Actually, if the other answers don't make sense, keep this on your radar. Iffy mark.

B) Microsoft and Micro - do you see these things chilling in your roommate's mouth? (Wait, is 'Micro' even an object?)

C) Christmas and Christ - I was told that the SAT never talks about religion or faith. At all. So SKIP!

D) Breadcrumbs and Bread - hmmm, I think this is a reasonable answer, let's put a golden star next to it and come back later in case there are no other good answers.

E) Toothbrush and Tooth - hmmmmmmm, now THIS is also a reasonable answer.

Final answer: now that you've reduced your pool of 5 answers to 2 answers, you now have a 1/2 or 50-50 chance of guessing the correct answer. Congratulations!

(Dilemma! Don't leave me hanging, Prince-Kap Review! I paid all this money for a 50-50 chance?)

Well, because my name begins with an E (but more importantly I haven't bubbled in any E's since the first math section) I guess I'll pick E) Toothbrush and Tooth



Eric

Classic Beauty

Like boy and girl, cookies and milk, Facebook and Twitter, Harvard and Yale, Eric and cool, Eric and awesome, (I'm rather thankful that analogies were removed from the SATs a couple of years before I took them) I present to you ...

Toothbrush and Tooth (+ Eric)

Enjoying once in a lifetime opportunity

Eric

Today at the Dentist's ... with my sister!

It's definitely been a few months since I last shadowed and worked at my current dentist's practice, so coming back today, but this time as a patient (!!), was definitely a bit ... interesting? (If you know me in person, I have a tendency to abuse the word 'interesting' whenever I can't think of some adequate, appropriate, or acceptable adjective). Regardless, here I was today with my younger sister for our bi-annual check-up/cleaning.

After experiencing multiple yet similar "Ohhh how have you been?" moments with the secretary and hygienists, it was my turn to go in and see The Man.

Our conversation went something like this:

[Eric walks into the doctor's office. The doctor turns around, expectantly of course.]
"Why hello, Eric!"
"Hey Dr. Liu!"
"I was looking forward to your coming back. How was your summer back in Cambridge?"
"Tremendously busy yet exciting --"
"OMG what happened to your teeth?!"

Actually, that last part didn't quite happen.

Rather boringly, my teeth didn't change much from six months prior. There were still thirty-two of them, and they were still arranged in that interesting symmetrical U shape. I still had a slight overbite (the majority of Americans do). No new holes; no needed fillings. No life-threatening - er orally threatening - conditions, nasty infections, bloody gums, rotting teeth ...

Anyways, after my routine and regularly normal cleaning came my sister's turn. For some reason she always has (relatively) more drastic experiences at the dentist's than I do. And by drastic I mean that she had an apparent SCS.

This time her regular cleaning check-up quickly decayed into a small cavity situation (SCS, as I like to call it). Nothing too serious.

My sister pleasantly getting her cavity filled

By the end of the hour my sister and I left Dr. Liu's not only with free samples of Colgate toothpaste, but also with two sets of fresh minty teeth and - most significantly - one new composite filling.

*For future reference I will NEVER post photos of the patients who come in when I am shadowing/working at the dentist's, unless they 1) allow me to and 2) approve of their (hopefully) flattering photos. (Thanks, sister who I love so much!)


Eric

How to whiten your teeth on Photoshop!

FINE so I know some people think it's immoral to (drastically) alter photos of how we look and all. But while I agree that it's evidently not a fantastic idea to nurture adolescent development with heavy doses of celebrity/athletic/presidential photos taken with perfect lighting, perfect angles, perfect poses, a $2000 camera lens, and who knows how much re-touching or (in some cases) complete head replacement on top a different body, just a little bit of artificial Adobe teeth whitening can't hurt anyone, can it??

Well if you don't buy it, just think of photo-shopping your teeth as the equivalent of having already whitened them before you took the photo. Or you can think about changing the color of your teeth as the equivalent of changing your hair color by dyeing it, or of changing your skin tone by getting a tan (fake or real) - same concept, agreed? WOW. Let's all just praise technology and mankind for a second.

Regardless, here is a quick and easy tutorial of how to get that platonic ideal - those perfect pearly whites - via Photoshop.

1) Bring up your selected photo and zoom in close to the mouth/smile area.

2) On the left-hand tool bar about half-way from the top you'll find an icon that resembles a lollipop (the DODGE tool) or a hand (the BURN tool).

3) Right click on this icon and select the DODGE tool.

4) Now at the top of the screen it shows you the specificity with which you can use the DODGE tool, which essentially lightens any color, including the color of your teeth (hopefully this color isn't too yellow).

- You can select the brush size corresponding to the size of your teeth
- You can select Highlights, Midtones, or Shadows under range to choose the depth of the whitening.
- You can select exposure from 0 to 100% to pick how drastic you want to whiten/lighten your teeth.

5) Left click on the portions of the photo (presumably your teeth) that you want to make whiter and brighter.

6) Upload your smile-perfect photo on Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, eHarmony, Match.com, or whatever website your friends/potential dates will see you and can comment on.

Warning: DO NOT OVERDO IT, or else it will look like you put something obnoxiously white and bright in your mouth (unless this is the hot porcelain look you're aiming for..). also keep in mind that if and when your hot date finally meets you in person as Chez Expensif and strangely focuses at your mouth the whole time, it's probably because they're trying to digest exactly why your teeth look so black in person.

So here is a before, after, and extreme that I just did on a friend just to show you:

Before (top), After (middle), Extreme (bottom)

Eric