Third Molar Extraction

During my adolescent years, the third molars in my lower jaw came out crooked. Because of food getting stuck in the space between the second molar and the third, I used to suffer regular bouts of Pericoronitis which was annoying. After years of annoyance and advice from dentists to take them out, I finally decided to do so, late last year.

I had actually considered doing it a few times before, but always chickened out. This time, I decided to go ahead with it. I did this at my regular Dental clinic, Smile Seasons.

Impacted Third Molar of the Lower Jaw
Impacted Third Molar of the Lower Jaw

The Process

The first step is to X-Ray the mouth. After that, they were able to tell me that the upper molar can come out via regular extraction, but the lower one would require surgical extraction. I decided to get the left side done first.

After copious amounts of anaesthetic, they wiggled out the upper molar in five minutes. It was a bit scary but painless; I thought my jaw would snap from the pressure. The feeling of the tooth cracking away from the jaw was horrible.

The lower third molar didn’t go so easy. They had to break it apart and it came out in pieces. The root was quite sensitive and they had to keep giving me anaesthesia. It took a long time for it to come all out, while my lips were being stretched like a rubber band. I was relieved when she said it’s done and started applying the stitches. I was already stressed about repeating this for the right side in a few months.

The Aftermath

Recovery Phase 1- First 24 hours

I left the dental clinic with a bunch of painkillers and antibiotics and the left half of my mouth drooling. I was foolish enough to think I won’t need the painkillers, and I was in for a rude shock soon. Once the anaesthesia wore off, there were so many pains, I had to count

  1. Stabbing pain in the empty sockets – 8/10
  2. Burning pain in the gums of adjacent teeth – 8/10
  3. On and off cramps in the jaw muscles (Couldn’t open the mouth properly) – 6/10
  4. Pain in the neck – 6/10
  5. Dull pain and swelling in the lips – 5/10
  6. Dull pain in the front teeth – 4/10

Ibuprofen : 3
Paracetamol : 1
Diet : None

Thankfully, after taking the painkillers, most of the pain turned dull. Remembering the doctor’s instructions, I was careful not to spit the continuous bleeding out, but rather swallow it (And also because I am not from Uttar Pradesh). Tried having an ice cream, but couldn’t finish it.

By evening, I was tired of the ever-present taste of blood in my mouth and could not wait to go to sleep. I didn’t brush my teeth.

Sleep was not very peaceful. Kept waking up and had bad dreams.

Woke up next morning with my mouth feeling like a morgue, full of congealed blood. I also realised that my lymph nodes were swollen (Looked like a ping pong ball protruding from my neck) and I couldn’t swallow without pain. Also, the trauma activated a painful cold sore on my lip.

Recovery Phase 2- Days 2 to 7

ItemDay 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7
Neck/Throat Pain5/102/101/101/10
Tooth pain5/104/103/102/102/101/10
Lip Pain5/103/101/101/10
Jaw Movement10%10%15%20%25%40%
Ibuprofen22211
Paracetamol11
DietLiquidSemi SolidSemi SolidSolidSolidSolid

Overall, there was quit a lot of improvement in the first couple of days, after which it kind of plateaued out.

On Day 2, in the afternoon, I developed a low grade fever which went away with Paracetamol. Swallowing was painful but the tooth was more or less OK. I started brushing my teeth on the other side.

On Day 3, woke up feeling a bit better. Lymph nodes were less painful, although still had swelling. Had more or less a normal day, except for the diet.

On Day 4, Tried eating normally, but the jaw just won’t open. The food kept falling off the spoon. Went out for lunch, but got discouraged and ate in for dinner.

On Days 5-6, I started exercising my jaw, pushing it gently to open more. By evening of Day 6, I was quite demotivated by the lack of improvement

Day 7, was the first day in a week when I woke up feeling anything close to normal. My spirits immediately lifted.

Recovery Phase 3- Week 2 onwards

On Day 8, I started running again and went to the dentist to get the stitches taken out. I was relieved to hear that I don’t have a dry socket. After the stitches went, I felt a release of pressure from my gums and over the next few hours, the remaining pain went away.

Over the next few days, the jaw became more and more loose, and I went back to regular food.

By the end of week 2, everything was 95% back to normal.

By the end of week 3, everything was 99% back to normal and I considered my recovery more or less complete.

Repeat, Right side

Last month, I repeated the procedure on the teeth on the right side. Luckily, it went much better than the left

  1. There was very little neck/throat/jaw pain
  2. The pain in the teeth/gums was much less

Unfortunately, I had to get the twitches taken out in India and the dentist was brutal; tugged on the stitches and gums till I had tears in my eyes.

Tip : During recovery, stay away from things that can make you sneeze. Restarts bleeding and increases the pain a lot.

For anyone considering this procedure, don’t watch the video below, or you may end up changing your mind (Like I did last year).

My TV Shows of 2024

I thought I would do a yearly version of this article. Below are the TV shows I started watching in 2024, TV shows I stopped watching in 2024 and TV shows I tried to watch but couldn’t. Also, TV shows I continued to watch this year.

Shows I tried but couldn’t get into

  1. Futurama (Hulu) <– Lame
  2. Frasier (Paramount+) <– Lame
  3. Modern Family (Disney+Hotstar) <–Liked initially, but got bored and abandoned after a few seasons

TV Shows I started watching

  1. Severance (Apple TV+) <–The best show I saw in recent years
  2. Avatar the Last Airbender (Netflix) <–Above average
  3. 3 Body Problem (Netflix) <–Excellent
  4. Fallout (Amazon Prime) <–Excellent
  5. Constellation (Apple TV+) <–Average
  6. Dark Matter (Apple TV+) <–Above average
  7. Shrinking (Apple TV+) <–Excellent

Shows I continued to watch

  1. True Detective (HBO) <–Excellent
  2. For all Mankind (Apple TV+) <–Average
  3. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV+) <–Average
  4. Fargo (FX) <–Above average
  5. Young Sheldon (CBS) <–Excellent
  6. Curb your enthusiasm (HBO) <–Average
  7. Aspirants (Amazon Prime) <–Above average
  8. Silo (Apple TV+) <–Excellent
  9. The Boys (Amazon Prime) <–Excellent
  10. Mirzapur (Amazon Prime) <–Above average

TV Shows I re-watched

  1. Michael Palin’s New Europe (BBC)
  2. Brazil with Michael Palin (BBC)

TV Shows I stopped watching

  1. Tulsa King (Paramount+)

Overall, I feel I discovered many great TV shows this year. 2 shows (Severance & Shrinking) that I tried, but couldn’t get into last year, turned out to be some of the best ever.

Overall, I feel Apple TV+ is coming out with a lot of great content suitable to my tastes.

PS: I use trakt to track my TV show viewings.

Saucony Triumph 22

Recently, my trusty Hoka Clifton 9 running shoes crossed 600kms & I replaced them with a Saucony Triumph 22.

Saucony Triumph 22
Saucony Triumph 22

The various Hokas performed quite well over the years and I had no intention to go with another brand. However, the below factors compelled me to

  1. There were no Clifton 10s, still
  2. The existing Clifton 9 (more than a year old model) was still full price
  3. The available Clifton 9 liveries were very drab and dull

I was keen on trying more responsive shoes, so I went with the Saucony Triumph 22, which were on sale. I ordered them from Rev Runner and they arrived within 2 days.

First Impressions

My first impressions, after using them for 10 days, are below, but first, some before-after comparison by numbers.

Last 4.8k with Hoka Clifton 9 StatisticsFirst 4.8k with Triumph 22 Statistics
Hoka last run vs Saucony first run stats
Last 4.8k with Hoka Clifton 9 SplitsFirst 4.8k with Triumph 22 Splits
Hoka last run vs Saucony first splits

As you can see, apart from my pace being slightly slower with the Saucony, there’s not much difference between the 2 runs.

For the first few days, the Saucony did feel softer, but as they got broken-in, they firmed up and became more responsive. I also noticed a bit more supination for the first few runs, but it resolved itself once I got used to them.

Hoka Clifton 9 (inside) with Saucony Triumph 22 (outside)
Hoka Clifton 9 (inside) with Saucony Triumph 22 (outside)

Overall, I think both shoes are quite similar in terms of weight, comfort, responsiveness.

Bad Dreams

Ever since I have been on Escitalopram, my dreams have been quite vivid. Most of them resemble action-packed Hollywood movies, but some of them are really unpleasant. I have noticed a recurring pattern of vivid bad dreams, documented below:

Unable to graduate

person holding white scroll
Photo by Gül Işık on Pexels.com

I have covered this one in a dedicated article before and the pattern is simple.

  1. I am working in some company
  2. I have still not graduated (Failed some exams many times)
  3. I have x number of months to graduate before I lose my job and my career ends

I think the root of this bad dream is the fact that I graduated under such improbable circumstances.

Living in Squalor

file of junks in the room
Photo by Francesco Paggiaro on Pexels.com

This is a more recent theme of bad dreams. The pattern is

  1. I am back in Nagpur
  2. I am living with roommates
  3. The house we are living in filthy (toilet juice leaking into the bedroom)
  4. I have to share a room (and in worse versions, bed) with someone else

I think people who have grown up living in the first world will never have bad dreams with this theme. For me, personally, I think this stems from the summer I lived at T-Point hostel in Nagpur when the toilet exploded and spread shit everywhere. The worst part is, everyone continued with their life as usual for months before the shit was cleaned from the floor.

Another part may be because I value privacy a lot and have always dreaded not hving my own personal space. But I always lucked out by having great/understanding roommates who let me have my own room.

Legs not working

close up of stylish sneakers on city street
Photo by Terrance Barksdale on Pexels.com

This is another common theme for me. It goes something like

  1. I have to get somewhere soon
  2. My legs have turned into jelly and cannot support my weight anymore and I cannot walk

I can’t figure out where this one comes from. The interwebs suggests this means I am dissatisfied about where I am in life and not being able to reach where I really want to be. Which is strange, because (I think) I am quite satisfied with how my life has been going.

Overnight journey on Indian Railways

people in a train carriage
Photo by Rayhan Ahmed on Pexels.com

he theme of this one goes like:

  1. I have to travel overnight on a train in India
  2. The window is leaking water
  3. The train is filthy
  4. People walking around (blackened) bare-feet
  5. In worst versions, my berth is near the toilet and I can smell piss and shit all day and night

I know where this one comes from. Travelling on Indian trains overnight have been some of the worst moments of my life. I can never sleep. A few times, I even travelled on shared seats. Can you imagine how disgusting that can be?

Indian railways is also one of the most corrupt organisations in India and at one time, it meant that to get a confirmed seat, you had to pay a bribe.

Thankfully, I have not made such a trip in over 15 years.

Being sick as a child

little boy checking body temperature
Photo by Vika Glitter on Pexels.com

I know most people have awesome memories of their childhoods, mine are mostly of me being sick (Having cold, mostly). Am not even exaggerating, I used to be sick all the time. But my most common sick dream is

  1. I am at a hotel with my parents
  2. There’s some 80s or 90s Hindi movie on the TV
  3. My mother is trying to put me to sleep, but my nose is blocked and I feel awful

There are a few other variations, all of them involve me not being able to sleep because I have a cold and my nose is blocked.

Thankfully, I was able to fix myself for good, during adulthood.

Amazing Thailand Marathon 2024

As December came back around, it was time for another (my second) Amazing Thailand Marathon 2024. Last year’s was my first marathon, so I wanted to do it again this year.

Getting There

Getting there was the worst part. I made the mistake of taking a Grab and due to extensive road closures, got dropped off 5km away from the start line. With the clock ticking, I started running towards the venue. On the way, I came across a shuttle bus which was ferrying people who had abandoned the 42k/21k and hopped on it. However, soon, its way was blocked by runners and I spent 20 mins in it while it was sitting stationary while 2 women fainted.

Eventually, I got back off and ran the rest of the way to the starting line & reached just on time.

The race

This race was special, because Eliud Kipchoge was running with us (yes, in the 10k).

They put me in Block D at the back (1h45m finish) and it was agonising trying to outrun the slow pokes and move ahead. The first 2 splits were spent trying to find openings to overtake them. After that it was much easier to run freely.

The weather was cool enough to be comfortable. The route was pretty scenic, passing next to some of the most well-known and beautiful landmarks of old Bangkok.

Scenic route of Amazing Thailand Marathon Bangkok 2024
Scenic route of Amazing Thailand Marathon Bangkok 2024

I was surprised to catch-up to Kipchoge (and the queen), around the 5th split and it was exhilarating passing them. It was nice to see that instead of showing-off and leaving everyone in the dust, he took it slow and let many people pass him. He certainly inspired me and hopefully thousands of others to push harder.

Unlike other 10ks, I did quite well, relatively, in the second half (buoyed by the presence of Kipchoge) and for the first time in my life, finished a 10k below 60 mins.

First sub 1 hour 10k
First sub 1 hour 10k

The Stats

I felt high from the race for the rest of the day (And next day).

A Year (And a bit more) in Comparison

Below, I did a comparison of my last six 10ks over a year.

MonthRunTime (hh:mm:ss)Energy (Kcal)Shoes
Dec ’23Amazing Thailand ’2301:10:33732Hoka Arahi 6
Mar ’24SWU Run together ’2401:01:45744Hoka Clifton 9
May ’24Bangkok Park Run01:03:58725Hoka Clifton 9
Aug ’24Run for Mom01:02:44721Hoka Clifton 9
Oct ’24Garmin Run Asia ’2401:03:02704Hoka Clifton 9
Dec ’24Amazing Thailand ’2400:59:47702Hoka Clifton 9
2023-2024 10k performance comparison

Having done a sub-60 mins 10k once, I want to do it again, many times.

Get rid of bloat and Ads on Line and WhatsApp

Recently I found out how to get rid of Ads on both WhatsApp and Line. The concept is same for both, pretend to be from a country where the service is not popular.

Get Rid of Ads on WhatsApp

Ads on WhatsApp while subtle, are still irritating for me. The ads are mostly in form of “channels” that some losers pay WhatsApp to promote. Since WhatsApp is very popular in India, using an Indian number to register WhatsApp causes several distasteful channels to be recommended.

WhatsApp channel promotions
WhatsApp channel promotions

The solution was simple (at least for me), change your WhatsApp account to use a number from a country where WhatsApp is not popular. Voila, ads gone.

WhatsApp channel promotionsWhatsApp without Channel recommendations
WhatsApp with an Indian number vs Thai number

Caveat: If the other country doesn’t have Meta AI, you won’t be able to use it in WhatsApp anymore.

Bonus: No more spam from Indian vendors and services.

Now, I understand it may not be possible for everyone to have a number from another country and also, the WhatsApp ads are not so intrusive.

Get rid of bloat and Ads on Line

Line is so much worse when it comes to Ads, bloat and intrusiveness. Just look at how bloated the app is, trying hard to be like WeChat and Facebook.

There are Ads on almost every page, even on top of the chat list. On top of that, it comes bundled with unnecessary (for me) social networking features. So I tried the opposite trick with Line.

I deleted my Line account which was using a Thai number and registered again with my country selected as India. Voila! A much cleaner app!

The best part is, you don’t need a phone number of the other country at all. You can simply sign in using your Apple or Google ID and be done.

Caveat: You cannot search for other Line users using their phone number, only using their Line ID.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

I had been using the Apple iPhone 14 Pro for more than 2 years. But I started yearning to upgrade it as soon as iPhone 16 Pro was announced. I did try to convince myself to wait for another year, but last month, I gave up and bought the iPhone 16 Pro.

The iPhone 16 Pro is delightful to hold without a case
The iPhone 16 Pro is a delight to hold without a case

My views on the iPhone 16 Pro

  1. The battery life is much better than the 14 Pro. The phone, now, easily lasts a full day without a top-up. Although I do top-up during the day most days.
  2. Charging is much faster (Including wireless) and the phone emits less heat while charging.
  3. The cameras are a modest improvement. I don’t see a big difference in picture quality most of the times, but for low-light photos, I do see an improvement. Portrait photos are also faster now, with motion frozen. The 5x zoom is useful, but I, personally haven’t found a use-case for it till now. Disappointed that portrait mode photos are still 12MP.
  4. The phone feels much cooler while using. It didn’t overheat once during initial setup, which was more or less guaranteed on the 14 Pro.
  5. It is such a relief to remove the last lightning port personal device from my life and get rid of all remaining lightning cables.
  6. The display is slightly bigger (Although with similar specs) and the bezels slightly smaller, but I don’t notice any of that because I switched from using my phone with a case/screen guard, to using without it, which made a bigger difference.
  7. I can finally fulfil my desire to use my phone without a case. Overall, the phone is extremely pleasurable to hold naked.
    • The Titanium sides are not glossy like the 14 Pro, almost matte. Looks beautiful and elegant. Doesn’t slip when holding.
    • The edges are not as sharp as on the 14 Pro.
    • There’s a pronounced slope when the phone is resting on its back, because of the huge camera island. And since the island is on one side, not in the centre, it is impossible to use the phone when it is lying on a flat surface, as it flops around.
iPhone 16 Pro slope because of camera bump
iPhone 16 Pro slope because of camera bump
iPhone 16 Pro Titanium White
iPhone 16 Pro Titanium White

Lessons learnt when selling the old Phone

  1. Going to great lengths to keep the phone in pristine condition without a single scratch is not worth it. At the end of the day, it hardly earns any extra money while selling it.
  2. Things like cases, screen guards are all dead weight.
  3. Paying to replace the battery is useless because no one pays extra for battery health.

My List of Mobile Handsets (updated)

I’ll go back in time now and make a list of all the mobile handsets I have owned till date. You may notice that the list is quite long, with it being especially dense in the first few years.

The iPhone X still holds the record of the longest used mobile handset by me (almost 3 years).

YearPhoneComments
2003Reliance LG RD2030 (CDMA)My first phone, my father had to pull many strings to get me this.
2004Nokia 3530My first colour phone. I miss the paragliding game.
2004Samsung C100Had a hidden temperature sensor and a notification LED supporting customisable colours.
2004Samsung X100Slightly better than the above.
2004Nokia 1100My first phone with a torch.
2005Nokia 2112My last CDMA phone.
2005Nokia N-Gage QDDidn’t have stereo audio for music playback.
2005Nokia 3510iPurchased Second hand.
2005O2 Xphone IIOne of the best phones I had.
2005Motorola C350When the above got stolen. I think I got it for ~₹1000, second hand. Shitty.
2006Nokia 6100Second Hand.
2006Nokia E50One of the best phones I had. It was the sleekest Symbian ever. I still use the Text Tone “Flurry” as my wife’s message tone.
2006Sony Ericsson J100iShitty.
2007Nokia N73 MEIt was thick, but had a good (back then) camera.
2007Nokia E51Back to the thinner E Series.
2007LG KS20One of the worst phones I had. It was unrefined and shitty.
2008Nokia E51Went back to E51.
2009Nokia E52Good phone, died on the flight to Palo Alto. I spent an entire weekend in San Francisco and many days in Gurgaon trying to get it repaired, but failed.
2010iPhone 3GGot this as a temporary phone in Palo Alto, later gifted to mother. Used only a week.
2010Nokia E63Mooched this one off my father.
2011Nokia E7-00First phone I ever pre-booked, and got immediately after returning from Turkey. My first AMOLED phone.
2012Nokia Lumia 900Was obsoleted by Microsoft within a few months of launch. Got it from SGBest.
2013Nokia Lumia 720Got it from MGF Metropolitan Mall
2013Nokia Lumia 925The Lumia 720 didn’t feel premium enough, so.
2014Nokia Lumia 920The Lumia 925 didn’t have wireless charging, so.
2014Nokia Lumia 830Slightly bigger screen, but LCD.
2015Microsoft Lumia 950XLLumia Flagship. Also, a big mistake.
2017Apple iPhone 7 PlusFirst legit iPhone.
2018Apple iPhone XGift from a fiend.
2019Apple iPhone XSGot it for dual SIM during travel, gifted iPhone X to wife.
2020Apple iPhone XSwapped Xs with X with wife, as I switched jobs and didn’t need to travel anymore.
2020Apple iPhone 12 ProFirst phone I bought in a long time with money I already had
2022Apple iPhone 14 ProFirst phone I bought with a 120Hz display
2024Apple iPhone 16 ProCurrent Phone
List of Mobile Handsets

As you can see, my mobile handsets have gone through different eras:

2003-2005 : Feature Phone era. I generally bought any handset I liked.
2005-2011 : Symbian Era. I mostly had Symbian phones with some other platforms sprinkled in between.
2012-2015 : Lumia Era. I purely had Windows Phones.
2017-Present : Apple Era.

Let’s see what the future brings.

Wanderlust: Day trip to Chaosamran Beach

Continuing my series, this is my latest road trip, to Chaosamran beach in Phetchaburi province.

It had been a few weeks since my last motorcycle trip, so I decided to head out into the highway.

Bangkok to Chaosamran beach and back
Bangkok to Chaosamran beach and back

Total Distance: Approx 320 km

Unlike the more popular beaches near Bangkok, Chaosamran beach is on the eastern coast of Thailand, just short of Cha Am and Hua Hin.

I left on a monday morning, so getting out of Bangkok was painful, with many traffic hot spots. Once out of the metropolitan area, I found the highway quite similar to Pattaya and Ayutthaya. Not very pleasant to ride a motorcycle on.

Having already crossed the running-in period, I opened the throttle a few times and touched 120 kmph at a few spots.

Thankfully, the weather has cooled down by some amount, so the ride was comfortable.

Once in Phetchaburi province, off the main highway, the roads were surrounded by lush green fields and I enjoyed the ride more at a sedate 80 kmph.

Lush fields at Phetchaburi Rural Road
Lush fields at Phetchaburi Rural Road

The beach, itself was almost empty of both tourists and vendors. It was quite peaceful to sit on the sea wall with my legs hanging over the ledge (Reminded me of our Futala lake jaunts).

However, the sun was still quite strong, so my skin started burning soon, so I left for a nice coffee and snacks at this cafe.

Chicken & Mushroom Pie, Espresso Frappuccino Ventī
Chicken & Mushroom Pie, Espresso Frappuccino

Soon, leaving the comfort of the air conditioning, I started my trip back home. I did most of the return trip between 110-120 kmph and reached home under 2 hours.

Thank you for reading!

Apple Watch Series 10

I have been using the Apple Watch Series 7 for almost 3 years without any complaints, nor had a yearning to upgrade. However, the battery health went down gradually over the years. Eventually, at 79% health, I couldn’t even complete a 10k with it playing music while connected to LTE. Fighting back the urge to get the Series 9 or Ultra 2, I decided to wait for the Apple Watch Series 10 and buy that. Strangely in Thailand, it was launched much later, even after India.

Since I experienced a financial windfall, I decided to move up to the Titanium variant.

My views on the watch

  1. Titanium is absolutely gorgeous. As you can see in the photos above, the watch has a golden hue in warm lighting and silver in cool lighting. At some angles, looks jet black, too.
  2. The titanium chassis is much lighter than the Stainless-Steel variant (Which I had the Series 4 in). I found it hardly any heavier than Aluminium variant.
  3. I had planned to use the Milanese Loop only when going out and my old Braided Solo Loop all other times for comfort. However, I found the Milanese loop much more comfortable than I had assumed, so I almost always wear that.
  4. Wrist temperature monitoring is good to have, but I wasn’t yearning for it.
  5. I can see the difference in screen size, but don’t find it revolutionary. I thought it would look comically big on my wrist, but thankfully, doesn’t. The bigger bezels are also hardly noticeable.
  6. I don’t find the watch any faster or any better in any other way.
  7. I don’t see any changes or improvements to exercise tracking (Except the better battery life, of course).
  8. I can’t remember to use the pinch gestures to decline calls etc.
Apple Watch Series 10 on the dawg's wrist
Apple Watch Series 10 on the dawg’s wrist

Overall, I can say that the upgrade from Aluminium to Titanium is a bigger upgrade, compared to technical improvements (From Series 7 to Series 10) which are nice-to-have but not revolutionary.