apples to oranges

[Impetuousfink at aol_com]

Howdy, all. 
If you'll allow a bit of your time 
for an infrequent listee...

First off, very soon I will be having orthognathic 
surgery on my upper jaw. I'll spare you details, 
but the basic idea is that my upper jaw will be 
detached, moved forward a few millimeters, and 
reattached to my skull with screws and bolts, and 
whatever else the surgeons might have handy, I suppose. 
Not that I find their credentials dubious, but I half
expect to be wheeled into the operating room to find
a ball of twine and silly putty on the table. 
Anywho, I'm digressing. (bear with me; this 
eventually relates to you guys)
 So to help myself mentally
prepare for the surgery, I joined an online support
group for precisely this sort of thing. And really,
the responses have been literally overwhelming. I
find myself sorting through about 50 messages a day
from people who will cheerfully and with enthusiastic
detail describe exactly what it is like to have one's 
"nasal mucosa" exposed to the air. yeesh. 
But what struck me the most about the messages,
was that so so many people, the vast majority of whom
have never met, shared this communal online spirit
of helping and, well, support, that seems to be
increasingly rare nowadays. And I further realized that
 it is much the same spirit that i sense among all you
Listees. Though I don't know if i would call the OTR list
a support group per se (I must be extra cautious with
how I phrase things, considering the unreal scrutiny that
review recieved last week! ;)), I think it definitely
qualifies as a "good thing." 
I'm sure this is not by any means a startling revelation 
for all of you, but it was a pleasant surprise for me
to find correlation between two vastly diffent experiences.

So I hope it's not asking too much when i request that
y'all think of Perry P, the Coastie with the underbite,
for a second when I go in for the orthognathic 
hoedown on Jan 31st.

Thanks, and take care,
Perry.

I glow fiercely from within;
I am the Fractal Lightbulb!
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