2026.05.17
A Trip to the Hospital
I caught a cold back in late April, and the cough just hasn't fully gone away. On Saturday, Xena offered to drive me to the hospital. I wanted to put it off, so I said no. But on Sunday, it was raining and she brought it up again. I finally agreed.
We went in the afternoon to get a chest X-ray. While we were waiting for the results, Xena suggested we go to the dental department to check my lower right second molar.
Two years ago, I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled. I found out later that they had damaged my lower second molars. Last year, I had to get a root canal and a crown on the left side at a local dental clinic. At the time, the dentist told me the right side only had a small hole and just needed a filling.
But this time at the hospital, the dentist took a look and said I might need a root canal and a crown for the right one, too. He told me to get a CT scan to be sure. I was a bit worried about the radiation, so I didn't want to do it. I just walked out of the dental room.
We went back to get my X-ray results. The doctor said it wasn't too serious—just bronchitis—and gave me some medicine.
On the drive home, we stopped by the clinic that did my crown last year. The dentist there said the exact same thing: they couldn't be sure without a CT scan. I really didn't want to, but I took the scan anyway. The result was exactly what the hospital said. I definitely need another root canal and crown.
I booked an appointment for the treatment next Friday afternoon.
Freelance Updates
There is no new work this week. The book cover project is still going back and forth in revisions. The music animation is paused because I'm waiting for the illustration source files.
But there is a bit of good news. The client for the Chinese character workbook—the one who disappeared after I sent the trial draft early this month—finally replied. The contract is signed.
I quoted my price way too low, though. I just really wanted to keep the client, so I gave a cheap price. Oh well. As long as I make enough to cover the mortgage this month, I'll count it as a win.
Building PaperByMe
I registered two new domains this week: paperbyme.com and bookbyme.com.
A while ago, I bought a few domains starting with "printable." My original plan was to build a brand for downloading student worksheets. But AI tech was moving so fast, I hesitated and never really spent time developing the actual products.
Registering these two new domains is my way to bring everything together. paperbyme.com will hold all the content—worksheets, calendars, and planners. This will keep my focus in one place.
I want to make it a clean, well-designed site with steady traffic. Its main job will be to funnel visitors to bookbyme.com, which is where the paid business will happen.
I spent most of my free time this week building paperbyme.com.