I think, therefore I write. (我思,所以我写。)

Cogito ergo scribo

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Ouch!

Biting one's own tongue is a very painful business. By this, i do not mean biting it in the attempt to commit suicide as always shown in those Hong Kong martial series (how anyone could possible commit suicide by biting off his own tongue is really beyond my comprehension). What i meant was accidentally biting it while eating. That was what happened to me at dinner tonight -- I bit my own tongue.

I think this kind of incident happens to me every once in a while. I do not have the actual statistics (who keeps track of such thing anyway), but my estimation is about 3 times per year. Assuming i take 3 meals everyday and with 365 days per year, that would translate into about 0.27% chance of biting my own tongue for every meal that i take. The chance of it happening is considerably low, and yet today was one of those days when the God of chance decided to visit.

How did i actually bite my tongue accidentally? After all, while we are chewing on food, shouldn't the tongue be smart enough to stay out of the way of the teeth? No, wait, i shouldn't make it sound as if the tongue has a brain of its own. It should be our brain telling our tongue where and when to duck. So in a way, the brain is telling the mouth to chew, chew, chew, while at the same time also sending signal to the tongue to keep out of the way. Then when i atually bit my tongue, does it mean that my brain is sending faulty signal to my mouth and tongue? I knew that i was chomping too fast when the incident happened. So does it mean that my mouth is way too fast for my brain? Oh, this is a upsetting thought -- i have a slow mind.

The thing i hate most about biting my own tongue, other than the pain that we have to endure until it subsides, is that the lesion, while healing, will becomes tongue ulcers. For the days that followed, eating will become such a hassle as the brain would have one more job to do -- to instruct the tongue to keep the food away from where the ulcers are. The speed for the ulcers to heal also differs on case-by-case basis. It depends on how serious the tongue was bitten and *touch wood* whether or not the same area would be bitten again when the ulcers have not fully healed. Although i don't have the statistical proof, the chance of biting it again does seem to be quite high since the injured area would be swollen and the teeth are likely to mistakenly perceive it as part of a piece of meat.

So, for a week or two, i would have to chew carefully and avoid heaty food. Hopefully the ulcers would not be too big and can heal quickly. I must also train my brain to be faster in sending signals to my tongue... as for how to train it, emm... i've yet to figure it out!

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Monday, June 13, 2005 @ 2:12 am: My random thoughts on the day i turned 30...