My List of Upcoming Live Music in San Francisco

I have a Google Doc that I try to update about once a month, listing out all the upcoming shows that my friends and I might be interested in. I guess I should share it here – you can find it at this link.

As an aside, I was super excited when the Castro Theater was turned into a music venue, seeing Waxahatchee there was our first live music experience after the pandemic hit. However, they now seem to be pricing it like an actual theater – I tried to get tickets to see CMAT next April, but the regular floor tickets were $87! You can get shitty upper balcony seats for $50. I thought that was a one-off, given that CMAT puts on a pretty elaborate live show, but I just saw that The New Pornographers are playing there, with Will Sheff opening, in May, and those are $58 for floor tickets (with the loge seats going for more than $100)! I’m all for musicians getting paid, but that $58 includes $15 in Ticketmaster fees (eyeroll).

Dumping Spotify for Tidal, Finally

As a music lover, Spotify was a godsend when it first started. Most of my listening is to newly-released music, which I constantly cycle onto and off of my Current Rotation playlist, and I love having access to so much more music than I would if I were limited to buying albums or even downloading music off of Napster and Limewire as we did back in the day (I still buy albums on Bandcamp, but not everything I listen to).

But Spotify has become more and more reprehensible. Lately, there has been the problem of their running ads for ICE and giving millions of dollars to Joe Rogan. But what finally put me over the edge was this excellent post by Los Campesinos! in which they break down their album revenues from all sources. Going over the list, I saw that Tidal paid out almost triple what Spotify did. Still not enough, I know. But so much more – presumably because Tidal is not wasting money on podcasts and audiobooks and everything that Spotify has added in the past few years.

I checked the pricing and, while we paid $20/month for our family Spotify plan, the Tidal family plan was only $3 more per month. When I set up my trial account, they had a tool that seamlessly transferred all of my (extensive) Spotify playlists over to Tidal. I don’t use the library feature on Spotify, but it would have transferred that too. The big test was making sure Tidal worked with our extensive home Sonos system, and it did, no problems. The Tidal interface and app were very intuitive and similar to Spotify. My only issue was that some of the very obscure bands I tried to find were missing, but I can find those tracks on Bandcamp – and they are few and far between.

So I made the permanent switch! It felt good to finally let go of the guilt of funneling money to Spotify. If you’re considering making the switch, I hope this post helps encourage you! If you do it, here’s my profile if you want to friend me.

Why I Finally Gave Up on the Valencia Bike Lanes

I know I’m in the minority, but I liked the center-running bike lanes on Valencia, and I was always worried the parking protected bike lanes weren’t going to work because of the significant amount of bike traffic during the morning commute. Unfortunately, I have turned out to be right.

The main issue with the parking-protected bike lanes is that they’re too narrow. During the morning commute (8 to 9, approximately), there are a lot of bikes going north on Valencia, and they’re a mix of “regular” bikes, the clunky rental e-bikes, and regular e-bikes. All three of those move at markedly different speeds, and when we’re all trying to get to work, we can’t just all choose to move at the slowest speed in the group. That means bikes have to pass each other quite a bit.

Most sections of the lanes are too narrow to pass safely, and even when passing in the wider sections, there is a significant contingent of men on road bikes who get aggressive when passed. That means the only opportunity to pass is at intersections, where to do so you basically have to swerve out into car traffic coming from multiple directions.

To make things worse, when everyone is stopped at the light, rather than just letting the e-bikes wait in front so they can get out of the way, some non e-bike riders will insist on getting out in front of the e-bikes, forcing everyone to execute the difficult passing maneuvers again. I found myself going as fast as I possibly could just to stay ahead of the people I had already passed, which makes it more dangerous if some clueless pedestrian wanders into the bike lane on their way from the sidewalk to their car without looking, which happens at least once a day and is another problem with the parking-protected bike lanes.

With the center-running lane, the north and south directions were side-by-side, so you could clearly see if it was safe to pass by briefly moving into the opposite-direction bike lane. As an added bonus, there were almost never pedestrians blithely wandering into the bike lane without looking.

This is all less of a problem during the evening commute, when people tend to leave work at different times, so the lanes are not as crowded. So my new route is to add about 8 minutes to my commute and take Cesar Chavez to Folsom in the morning, then return home on Valencia in the evening.

All-Time Best Birds

Not in order, but the Crested Caracara is obviously number one.

  • Crested Caracara
  • Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (but really, all cockatoos)
  • Kea
  • Secretary Bird
  • Common Raven
  • Cockatiel
  • Northern Royal Albatross
  • Fairy Penguin
  • Emperor Penguin
  • Southern Cassowary
  • Tufted Puffin
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Great Horned Owl
  • Superb Fairy-wren
  • Rainbow Lorikeet
  • Cooper’s Hawk
  • Osprey
  • Double-Crested Cormorant
  • Magnificent Frigatebird
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Resplendent Quetzal
  • Snowy Plover
  • Brown Pelican

My Favorite Albums of 2025

These are not in order, although The Beths is probably number one. I thought the Geese album was fine, but I prefer their prior album. I also think the Wednesday album is fine, not one of my favorite albums of this year.

  • The Beths, “Straight Line was a Lie”
  • Sports Team, “Boys These Days”
  • Greg Freeman, “Burnover”
  • CMAT, “Euro-Country”
  • Annie di Russo, “Super Pedestrian”
  • Taylor Swift, “Life of a Showgirl”
  • Panic Shack, “Panic Shack”
  • Neko Case, “Neon Grey Midnight Green”
  • Lily Allen, “West End Girl”

Chime Holiday Party at One Sansome

Comet is 2 years old today! They grow up so fast, sometimes it’s hard to believe. She still has that crazy puppy energy, though. We’re eagerly awaiting the day when she turns into the stereotypical couch potato greyhound… but when that happens I know I’ll miss this phase.

My Skincare Routine in my 50s

I had occasion to type all this out for a friend, so I thought I’d share it here. It seems a bit deranged, but it’s not that time-consuming, and I think my skin looks pretty good for a 51-year-old who grew up in Redondo Beach and used to go to the beach every day in the summer and intentionally get tan. The only professional service I’ve ever gotten done is two sessions of Sciton BBL (laser) to remove freckling and age spots about 5 years ago.

Wake up:

  • Wipe with a Neutrogena Rapid Clear salicyclic acid pad
  • Use my Omnilux Men red light mask for 10 minutes, I don’t know how much this really does, but I’d be sitting there reading my emails anyway
  • Sunscreen if running outside

After workout:

  • Wash with Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser in the shower
  • 4% hydroquinone (pulsed, 6 months on, 6 months off) from AllDayChemist
  • Cerave AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion SPF 30
  • Sunscreen (either Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun or Haru Haru Wonder Black Rice Moisture Airyfit Daily Sunscreen, both Korean formulas from YesStyle – don’t bother with American-ized formulas you can buy here!)

Reapply sunscreen if I go out for a walk at lunchtime!

Arriving home at the end of the day:

  • Remove eye makeup with cold cream
  • Oil cleanse with Biossance Squalane + Antioxidant Cleansing Oil
  • Wash with Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser
  • Combination 0.1% tretinoin and 15% Azelaic acid formulation from Dermatica
  • 0.03% bimatoprost (generic Latisse) from AllDayChemist
  • Cetaphil Redness Relieving Night Moisturizer
  • La Roche Posay Cicaplast Gel B5 Skin Protectant around eyes

Before bed:

  • Laneige Water Sleeping Mask
  • Burt’s Bees Calming Night Cream, OR, if it has been windy and my skin is unusually dry or irritated, Aestura Atobarrier365 Cream
  • Vaseline on eyelids and lashes
  • I use a silk pillowcase, but I don’t know that it actually does anything

Ranunculus Sweater by Midori Hirose

This started with a co-worker chatting to me about her discovery that the Ranunculus is far and away the most popular pattern on Ravelry, and she wasn’t sure why. We did some research and learned that it’s very modifiable, and because popularity breeds popularity, there were tons of knit-along videos available to help knitters through the tricky parts. I could tell that this was probably a little bit above my skill level, but thought it would be fun to attempt with the help of all those videos.

It’s obviously way too big, even at the smallest size (1), but I did some math and figured out that if I used DK yarn with size 6 and 8 needles, I could get the right size. Unfortunately, I forgot to switch from 6 to 8 after I finished the yoke (facepalm), so it’s a bit smaller than I intended, but I still think it looks nice.

My other big mistake was not accounting for the fact that smaller needles meant that I would need more yarn, so I ran out of grey before I got to the end. My yarn shop no longer had that color, so I switched to black for the remainder of the body, then undid the ends of the sleeves and added black to the ends. I actually think it turned out really well! I might do this again, on purpose, for another project.

Shopping for Japanese Selvedge Denim in Osaka

I pride myself on being a light packer, and if you ever see me dragging a roller bag behind me, I’m on the way to hell because I’m dead. My husband and I both travel with hiking backpacks, and for a 2-week trip, there’s not really any free space to bring back souvenirs. I also hate shopping, and don’t want to spend time on it while on vacation! That being said, well-made clothing basics are something Adam and I always appreciate, especially if it’s hard or expensive to find them in the U.S.

For that reason, we went shopping for Japanese selvedge denim in Osaka. How is Japanese denim different? For some reason, Japan is VERY INTO JEANS. They became popular as a symbol of modernity after WWII, and there is a group of Japanese designers who have built their business on making jeans the “old” way, with the kind of quality materials most clothing makers no longer use. You can buy jeans from these designers in the U.S., but it will cost you at least $400-$600 a pair. Adam got a pair at Studio d’Artisan, and I got one at Momotaro, each for less than $200 (about what I typically pay for much lower-quality American jeans), thanks to the weak yen and tax-free shopping.

The factors that make these jeans awesome:

  • They’re intended to last decades, and the weaving method means they can be repaired (without a patch) if they get a hole.
  • They’re woven on old-style shuttle looms, a method that creates a stronger, sturdier fabric that has mostly been abandoned in favor of mass-production projectile loom machines. Slower weaving also puts less stress on the yarn, resulting in a softer feel.
  • They’re made with much higher-quality cotton than most jeans. Momotaro uses hand-harvested Zimbabwean cotton, which creates a fabric that’s supple but also very sturdy.
  • They’re made from 100% cotton, whereas most modern jeans incorporate some percentage of synthetic fibers.
  • They usually feature a dark indigo dye that is intended to fade naturally with a pattern that’s unique to your body.
  • They’re finished with french seams rather than a serged edge, which makes the seams more resilient and creates a more finished look.

If you’re in Osaka, it’s worth visiting the stores of the “Osaka Five” (Evisu, Studio d’Artisan, Momotaro, Denime, and Warehouse & Co.) and making room in your luggage for a pair!

Praise for Wanderlog, the Trip-Planning Tool I've Always Wanted (not an ad!)

Now that we’re back from Japan, I have to do a shout-out for a trip planning tool that I used for the first time on this trip: Wanderlog. There’s a free version and a paid version, and I used the free version. Paying gets you some additional features, notably one that orders your day’s itinerary in a way that makes sense from the locations.

As background, I really enjoy detailed trip-planning, and always give myself at least 4-5 months' lead time so I can really spend time learning about the place and designing an itinerary. I could never find one tool that does it all, and I typically use a combination of (1) multiple saved Google Maps, including one for restaurants, one for sightseeing stops, etc.; (2) Google Docs that combine notes, recommendations from other people, and research information; (3) a singular Google Doc with a day-by-day itinerary and page references to (4) travel books from Lonely Planet, Moon, or Rough Guide. It’s always kind of a pain to navigate and track things.

Enter Wanderlog. This is an app that has entries for almost all places a person might want to visit as a tourist, as well as almost every restaurant, train station, hotel, etc. It allows you to create separate “lists” for each of these things, and then combine the items into an itinerary. It will then estimate your walking/transit/driving time between each place. Here is a screenshot:

If you click onto any of the items, it will reveal more detailed information, including address, opening hours, and, often, how much time people typically spend in the place. If the display photo isn’t the right one to jog your memory of what the place is, you can change it. You can also add manual information like cost and notes.

Finally, there is also a maps view that allows you to combine layers of lists, and one, some, or all of the item’s on a particular day’s itinerary. For example, this view combines my restaurant list (red) with my itinerary for a particular day (orange), so I can see which restaurants might be convenient as a lunch stop.

There is both an iPhone app and a desktop web page, and they sync together, so you can work off of both. As I noted, the paid version includes a relatively slick feature that will order your itinerary stops in a way that makes sense based on their location, although my experiments with that (you get a 7-day paid trial when you sign up) were mixed, and I had to double-check everything. That being said, I’m super impressed with this app. It’s presumably less useful for those planning non-traditional trips to see friends and family, or to visit other destinations that wouldn’t be on a public list, but for the average tourist, I found it to be excellent.

Japan! Photos and My Tips for First-Time Travellers

We’re back! We were awake for about 22 hours for the trip home, I slept 11 hours last night! I’ve uploaded my best photos to a Flickr album here, although I’m still working on the captions.

I posted most of them to Instagram as I went, here they are:

The fact that Adam speaks some Japanese made a huge difference in terms of how friendly people were and what we were able to do! But as a first-time traveller to Japan, here’s what I learned from this trip and would tell other first-timers:

  • Outside the big cities, many places are cash only. Many places that take credit cards require a plastic card (not phone pay).
  • Wear comfortable shoes that you can walk 20K-30K steps a day in. This is our typical travel style, but I think even people who don’t typically walk a lot will walk a lot in Japan. Make sure they can slip on and off easily for no-shoes areas. I wore APL TechLoom Travelers, and I later saw a Skechers knockoff on sale for $50 so I bought those too, and BOY could you tell the difference at about 15K steps in a day. The APLs were comfortable even on hiking/long walk days.
  • It rained more than we expected. Bring a good umbrella and waterproof shoe covers if you’re going during a somewhat rainy season!
  • Get a Suica card and add it to your Apple Wallet (NOT the Suica app). Go to Apple Wallet —> + —> add transit card —> Japan —> Suica. Then download the Suica app (NOT the Suica mobile app). Add some money to the Suica card before you get there, so you’re ready to take the train from the airport. Then you’ll be set up to tap your phone to pay for all local transit systems throughout Japan.
  • Once you have the Suica Card, get the SmartEx app for Shinkansen tickets (it requires a Suica number).
  • In Kyoto, expect many popular sites to be crowded. Don’t go to Arayashima bamboo forest, which is PACKED, look up the locations of other bamboo forests that are just as nice. There isn’t really anything special about Arayashima.
  • Japan has almost no animal welfare laws. The number of animal cafes have expanded, and no matter how well a cafe promises to treat their animals, there is no universe in which a wild animal, such as an owl, hedgehog, or otter being handled by strangers all day is a humane environment for that animal. Resist the temptation to patronize them.
  • Related: Be prepared to see pet stores selling puppies and kittens. I didn’t expect this and it was jarring and upsetting.
  • Carry a small container of hand soap, or sheets of paper soap, as many public bathrooms don’t have soap.
  • In Nara, raise both empty hands in the air to show the deer you are out of crackers. Otherwise they may bite you! They understand the “hands up” gesture very well.
  • Stairs and escalators have specific rules about where to walk and stand, and it’s not consistent. Look for signs.
  • No walking and eating. If you buy food at a street food stall, you’re expected to stand next to the stall and eat it.
  • If it’s your first time in Tokyo, stay in Shibuya or Shinjuku where you’ll be near all the major rail lines, which you’ll take everywhere.
  • If you’re not from a city, don’t be intimidated about taking transit everywhere. Google Maps has good directions, and things are color-coded and signed well in English.
  • As in Europe, many double-occupancy hotel rooms only have a “full” size bed (NOT enough room for 2 people!). I like to use Booking.com to sort for hotels where the bed is either a Queen or King.
  • Carry a plastic bag for garbage, as trash cans are few and far between and you may need to carry it for a long time.
  • Bring a coin purse or something to keep coins in, you’ll end up with a lot.
  • At food establishments, each person is expected to order an item, and they can be very persnickety about insisting on the rule. For example, Adam and I went to a mostly-empty dessert pancake shop on a weekday afternoon, and wanted to share a very large pancake set with ice cream. We were required to order a drink (I got coffee) so we would each be ordering one item. We also encountered a “1 drink minimum” rule at a nicer restaurant where we spent about $50 pp.
  • Don’t let reports that Japan is overtouristed stop you. Some of the most popular spots in Kyoto were packed at midday, but that was the only place we encountered uncomfortable crowding. It’s a beautiful and interesting country that’s worth visiting. With the weak yen, it’s also surprisingly cheap if you are used to living in San Francisco!

Link: What Made Blogging Different?

What Made Blogging Different? by Elizabeth Spiers

This piece really resonated for me. I started a website for a niche interest in the early 90s, which became surprisingly popular, mostly because so few people (and definitely few women in their early 20s) were making websites. About a decade later, I started a Blogspot blog (again about a niche interest, again becoming surprisingly popular, mostly due to the dearth of blogs on this subject), but by then the online masses had already started to curdle, and I learned that if you’re a woman online, you better keep it pseudonymous for your own safety and sanity. This piece brought all that back. I miss the blogging days, too. Hence this blog, I guess.

Testing Amazon’s New Grocery Delivery Service

About a month ago, I ordered something on Amazon that was a food item (maybe pecans?) and, on the way to checkout, I was asked whether I wanted to add things like 33-cent avocados (!!!!!), milk, or bananas to the order. I was a little confused, because I had been aware of the “Amazon Fresh” service (in partnership with Whole Foods, which they now own), but that was a separate service from Prime, with a separate annual fee.

I decided to try it out to see what happened— and who could resist 33-cent avocados? I added other items to get to the $25 minimum. I was offered a choice of 2 delivery windows: 5p-9p that evening, or 4a-8a the next morning. The items were exactly what I ordered and showed up on time.

I learned later that Amazon is testing this service, included for Prime members, in select cities (San Francisco being one of them). The goal is to compete with companies like Instacart and Wal-Mart, which apparently also offers grocery delivery.

I never use Instacart because it ends up being more trouble than just going to the store. Even if I add substitutions for every item and detailed instructions when I make my list, the shopper ends up texting incessantly during the trip (while I’m in meetings, which is always), half the time things on my list are unavailable, and some of the subsitutions are wrong. Amazon didn’t contact me at all during shopping, and presumably, they know exactly what is in stock when you order it.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I’ve used it a few times. I know Amazon is evil, but life is challenging, and this is a very useful tool in a pinch. I actually enjoy going to the grocery store, and there are both a Safeway and a Whole Foods within walking distance of my house. But work has been crazy lately, and this has been particularly useful for when we’ve run out of something midweek. I’m interested in seeing where it goes.

San Francisco Marathon - City Half (2025)

I ran the “City Half” of the San Francisco Marathon this weekend, which is the second half of the full marathon course. You can also opt to do the first half, which goes over the Golden Gate Bridge and back, but that’s the course I’ve done multiple times as part of the Golden Gate Half, which happens in November. The City Half has the advantage of a luxurious 8:30am start time (the first half starts at 7:00am, and the full marathon starts at 6:30am). I woke up before my alarm, which was nice, because the worst part of running a race is always having to get up at a ridiculous hour.

The course started at Ocean Beach, looped around Golden Gate Park, went southeast through Dogpatch, and ended at the Ferry Building. It was a very fun course, with only a few not-too-steep hills. It was very foggy, but not too cold, at the starting line.

A benefit of going through the city was that a lot more spectators than usual were out, given that it went through neighborhoods where people lived. My favorite was a guy playing a tuba in the middle of Guerrero, and someone with the sign “YOU’RE RUNNING BETTER THAN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT!” Running across it also really helps you appreciate how small San Francisco is.

Going down JFK Drive in Golden Gate Bridge also allowed me to see the now-finished sea serpent sculpture that’s near the Prayerbook Cross waterfall. It looked super cool!

I placed 19th in the women 50-54 category, but I’m always just trying to match or beat my previous time. The only bummer about the race was that it wasn’t particularly well-organized – there was only one sugar gel station that I saw (luckily I brought my own), and the gear pickup at the end was a disaster. We waited almost an hour to get our stuff! Anyway, it was still a great experience, and I have another finisher medal for my shelf.

"Too Much" on Netflix is the Best Show I've Seen in a While

This show is such a gem, and I want it to get the attention it deserves! It’s written by Lena Dunham and her husband as a semi-autobiographical story about their relationship. It stars Meg Stalter from “Hacks,” who is hilarious, although it’s not a straight-up comedy – there are plenty of dramatic and poignant scenes. It made me cry multiple times.

I feel like the show got some negative reviews from people who don’t like Lena Dunham and used the opportunity to work out their own issues about her, or people who were expecting it to be more of a comedy, but I think this New Yorker review was pretty accurate.

Part of why I loved it is that it’s ultimately a show that very effectively communicates how we all have a lot of baggage from our childhoods, past relationships, etc., and often what we think of as those special “you know it when you meet THE ONE” romantic feelings are the result of being drawn to partners who help us heal that damage, even if we’re not necessarily conscious of it.

I also like the way it portrayed flawed characters who are capable of change – both Jessica and Felix are very flawed, as are most of the people in their orbits – but the show doesn’t condescend to any of them, and doesn’t “punish” them for their issues. Instead, it portrays them all as deserving of love and friendship (honestly, even Zev). The show also illustrates the way that people we think of as “villains” in our own personal stories may have a very different perspective. I thought the Wendy character arc was particularly satisfying and surprising.

Finally, it was wonderful to watch a female character who is not a size 2, but has a positive self-image and is not insecure about her weight. She’s also ambitious and very good at her job, which again, is unusual for shows with young women at the center.

The writing is excellent, and it’s definitely not a “two screen” show – there is a lot of subtlety in the dialogue and reactions that is easy to miss. I watched it through twice, because so much of it is told in flashbacks, and I picked up a lot of nuances the second time around, after I knew what was going to happen.

As a bonus, the soundtrack is incredible, and there are a ton of charming cameos. Richard E. Grant as Jessica’s boss was my personal favorite, as was Andrew Scott (from “Ripley”) as the narcissistic director. It’s just a wonderful show. It’s 10 episodes, ranging from 30 to 50-ish minutes, so not a huge time commitment. Just watch it and then we can talk about it!

The Incomparable Alemany Farmers' Market

I’m always shocked when someone who lives in San Francisco tells me they’ve never been to the Alemany Farmers' Market. It’s the biggest, cheapest, and most fun farmers' market in the city. I haven’t been to one anywhere in the Bay Area that compares.

You can find every fruit and vegetable that’s in season, and discover new varieties you’ve never heard of – the one that was new to me today was the “Snow Leopard Melon.” Vendors are often happy to talk about what they have on offer and give you a free sample.

It takes place every Saturday morning, year-round, and is usually still selling until around 1pm. Late-comers have slimmer pickings, but can often get fantastic discounts as farmers try to unload the remainder of their stock that would otherwise have to be thrown into the trash or trucked back to the farm.

In addition to fruits and vegetables, you can get fresh bread, eggs, mushrooms (the generous bag of “ugly” Lion’s Mane for $20 is a steal!), orchids and other plants, cut flowers, fresh juice, honey, and olive oil. It’s worth a trip, even if you don’t live nearby, although DO NOT drive unless you plan to park several blocks away and walk over. The parking lot and intersection right in front of the market are a disaster if you’re in a car. The 23, 24, 8, 44, and 67 bus routes all stop nearby, and there is plenty of bike parking near the bathroom building.

Success, Finally! Vegan Ice Cream Experiment #5

I finally did it! I successfully made a good vegan ice cream base!

As I’ve been experimenting over the course of this project, a lot of the information I found online and in books seemed to orient around the goal of making a vegan dessert that tasted good – often, a somewhat creamier version of a sorbet. But this was never my goal. I wanted to see if I could make a vegan ice cream that matched my standards for my traditional ice cream recipes: Not just enjoyable to eat, but scoopable right out of the container, with a creamy mouthfeel, and a bit of a “bite” (i.e., doesn’t just melt in your mouth immediately). I blended the following ingredients and heated them to almost-boiling on the stovetop:

  • 340g of Oatly Barista style oat milk (available at Rainbow Grocery)
  • 460g Califia Farms Heavy Whip (available at Rainbow Grocery)
  • 12g soy lecithin (purchased online)
  • 60g NOW brand coconut milk powder (purchased online)
  • 200g sugar
  • 50g corn syrup
  • 50g dehydrated glucose DE42 (purchased online)
  • 25g inulin (purchased online)
  • ¼ tsp. Locust bean gum (purchased online)
  • ⅛ tsp. Guar gum (purchased online)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp. Ube extract (Butterfly brand) (purchased online)

It turned out great! I’m not sure how often I’ll make this, but I’m glad to have the option. It was a fun challenge.

I Got Invisalign and I’m Going to Tell You About It

I had braces when I was a kid, but nearly 40 years later, my teeth have moved enough that they’re causing problems, so I started doing Invisalign to get them back into place (and will eventually have a retainer to KEEP them in place). My course will be short — only about 3 months — but people have asked a lot of questions about them, so I figured I’d share my experience.

  1. You really do need to wear them 20-22 hours a day. You only take them off to eat.

  2. While wearing them, you’re only supposed to drink water. That means no coffee, tea, etc. unless you take them out.

  3. EVERY time you put them back in, you’re supposed to brush and floss your teeth. That means, for example, if you go out to dinner with friends, you’re bringing a toothbrush and floss and ducking into the bathroom after you finish eating, like a weirdo.

  4. If you remove your aligners, say, for a special event, you will still have the 10-12 clear “nubs” that are glued to the outside of your teeth for the duration of the treatment (these are what allow the aligners to grip the teeth and move them).

  5. Lipstick sticks to the aligners much more than to natural teeth. I have gotten into the habit of compulsively running my tongue along the front of my teeth to clean them.

  6. Starting a new tray is uncomfortable. It’s the same feeling you used to get when you’d go to the orthodontist to get your braces tightened. Your teeth just ache all day.

  7. Hopefully you end up with straighter teeth that last longer than they might have if they were misaligned!