CHILDREN OF THE POPCORN

There's nothing in the news worth mentioning, other than Howard Dean's apparent attempt to imitate the sound of Rush Limbaugh realizing that he just ran out of OxyContin, and that's already been covered. What I want to talk about is my current obsession with a small piece of popcorn that's been stuck in my mouth for two days now.

You may know how this works. You eat a bunch of popcorn, and the little hard outer parts of the kernels, not the fluffy white stuff that popped, but the remnants of the kernal shell, break loose while you are chewing and find their way into all corners of your mouth. Normally, you can wash them down with some kind of frosty beverage, but often this fails, and they become lodged in your back teeth. A toothpick usually suffices to extricate the little bastards, but sometimes you have to resort to floss or an irrigater. Well, I've employed the toothpick, rooted around with the irrigater, and even tried an electric flosser thingy I bought. No dice. From what I can sense, there is one minute piece of kernel shell stuck not in my teeth, but somewhere further back, possibly on the roof of my throat. It may even be lodged in my eustachian tube, which is the canal connecting the throat to the inner ear and sinus cavity. I've provided a handy diagram for your edification:



Needless to say, this is driving me completely insane. As far as I can tell, there is no way I can reach inside there and root around without risking permanent damage to my ears and sinuses. I've seen circus geek types run chains up their noses, and out their mouths, but unfortunately, the window of opportunity for me to become a circus geek has long since passed. I'm now wondering what the half-life of a popcorn kernel is inside the human body. Is it days? Weeks? Years? Gulp (ow...damn!). Also, can I sue Orville Redenbacher posthumously? I hate that guy. How about his little geeky grandson, Gary? Here's another handy diagram of what I'd like to do to Orville if he were still alive:



Meanwhile, I'll just suffer in silence, and remind myself to be strong. Hey, maybe if I let out a guttural scream...