It's a crazy world we live in

So today was the day that I was to go to campus and possibly be a guine-- err, patient for the dental boards since my lovely dentist James had pimped me out to his dentist, K. (Seriously. He brought her over and tried to sweet talk me. . . after showing off my x-rays and qualifications.)

So what happens is that you go and the student pays you to be their patient (also, all procedures done are free for the patient but mine would be covered by my school dental program, anyway). I was a backup for K so she might not have needed me but showing up earned me $50 -- and there was more if she actually used me. I arrive on time and enter the massively busy waiting room which is full of patients, dental students taking exams, and dental students organizing the situation (there are two different exam dates, one in Feb and one in March). There was pizza, and Pepsi. It was nice to have food. K arrived and gave me my card, told me her primary patient was being checked out so I just needed to wait it out until she found out if she needed me or not. About an hour later she returned to tell me that her patient was suitable and that she was actually already working on him so I wasn't needed. However, I had two options. I could take my money from her and leave, or she could tell the woman organizing the patient situation that I was available to be used. This would lead to me making more money. As she put it "just name your price and I'll go tell _____." I giggled at the absurdity. The earlier conversation about James pimping me out seemed so relevant -- though now I could set my own price. "Yeah," she responded, "we're kinda selling you."

I decided to leave 'cause I needed to study for my quiz later this week (which is why I'm in the computer lab looking for yarn stores and updating my blog). It's all just absurd. For the record, I wasn't motivated my the free money -- they didn't actually tell me about that in the beginning, James was pimping me out apparently for free (or at least I wasn't getting a cut). I thought it would be a cool experience and I'm willing to help out a student, after all we're all occasionally at the mercy of someone else and it's good to help others. The money was merely a bonus.

Anyway, I really *should* try to get some studying done and perhaps eat. We've got a board meeting at 6 tonight a bar so I could either eat now or wait and get food there. Or get a small snack now. The question, of course, becomes where do I want to go for an hour and a half to two hours and study. Perhaps a coffee shop? I'm not really familiar with such things in the area, but maybe I'll get lucky.