i'll never complain about acne again.

this is noventhree, and i'm watching a documentary about him on the learning channel called, with television's usual degree of tact, subtlety and pavlova-esque grace, FACE EATING TUMOR (hyphen left out by the network, and yes, it is killing me to not insert it myself). noventhree suffers from a disease known as gigantiform cementoma, which causes the middle layer of his teeth to grow uncontrollably. the lumps are bone, not soft tissue, and in this picture make up more or less his entire face. he's five years old there. you can read about his case and his surgery here, and this show will be airing on TLC several times over the next few days. it'll knee you right in the emotional groin.

every once in a while i like to slap myself around with something like this, just to make sure i'm looking at my life through appropriately colored lenses. "touching the void" kept me from complaining about anything for a while, because no matter how bad a time i was having, i sure as hell wasn't dragging my shattered leg down a frozen mountain with no food and no water for the fourth straight day. today i spent an embarrassing amount of time poking at two overly ripe pimples on my sweaty, premenstrual chin, but that's all done with now. let my entire face erupt into pustules and hemorrhagic lesions, i'll sing a little song about it and curtsy my thanks.

it's never any less amazing to me, what human beings will find a way to suck it up and suffer through. one of the best days of noventhree's young life was the one on which all of his basic facial features, like his nose and mouth, were recognizable. there is nothing, not one thing, wrong with my life.