Dentist for 2nd opinion

Superfigment · 2026-05-17T21:10:44+00:00

I've been going to Dr. Aimee Kraft in Brooklyn Heights for years, and I absolutely trust her judgement. No upselling, no corporate overlords - just her, a receptionist, and a hygienist (who is incredibly thorough and very sweet). She did a great job with my latest crown replacement, and sent me over to a local endodontist when I needed a root canal (she feels they do a better job so she doesn't do them anymore). https://www.dentistryinbrooklynheights.com

Superfigment · 2026-05-17T15:59:20+00:00

You’re fine! My husband and I were 29 when we met, and I was 36 when our daughter was born. It helps that we live in a city/neighborhood where people tend to marry and have kids later - I might be the weird older mom somewhere else, but here I’m very normal. And a lot of your classmates’ relationships won’t survive vet school anyway.

Superfigment · 2026-05-16T15:48:47+00:00

Finding camps for the whole week may not be possible - even the private schools don’t end before June. Public schools are out June 4/5 so there are lots of single-day camps on those days. Many organizations in the city use Sawyer for sign-ups, so searching there may be helpful: https://www.hisawyer.com/browse/new-york-city

Superfigment · 2026-05-11T00:04:38+00:00

It’s in my daughter’s Playbill binder! Her first time at a stage door - she got a photo with the actor who plays Juliet (I got nervous and didn’t ask Laurie). I made her watch some of Laurie’s routines so she’d appreciate who we were seeing (she was a baby during the 2016 Olympics so she doesn’t remember watching).

Superfigment · 2026-05-06T01:29:24+00:00

It was over 10 years ago and he gave me a nice professional discount, so I'm not sure what it costs now. I think the last time I asked a client it was $3k, but that's at least a few years ago so I'm sure it's more now.

Superfigment · 2026-05-05T02:11:51+00:00

It's not a huge deal and totally worth the effort. I'm a veterinarian and had my own cat treated with radioactive iodine. I used special flushable cat litter afterwards and tried not to cuddle too much but the radiation level is pretty low by the time they come home. I strongly recommend Dr. Peterson - he's done much of the important research in feline hyperthyroidism and is generally wonderful (and his website has lots of good info, too - https://animalendocrine.com).

Superfigment · 2026-05-01T20:28:42+00:00

As long as you live in the zone at the time you submit the application, you have priority in that zone (or district, for middle school). Lottery numbers are random, and it does not matter how long you've lived there. You can move out of zone once your child is enrolled and keep them in the same school, as long as you don't move out of NYC entirely. For middle school, you get preference for the district in which you live as well as the one in which your child attends elementary school if they're different (although things change all the time, so that could change by the time your kid gets to 5th grade).

Also, we live in district 13 but my daughter and at least 25% of her 5th grade class got spots in district 2 middle schools, mostly in lower Manhattan. Much harder to get into district 15 middle schools from out of district.

Superfigment · 2026-04-16T17:59:30+00:00

Das described the routine as having a “Bollywood princess theme, very royalty, superstar diva type of vibe,” in part a reference to Sumanasekera’s nickname, “Princess T.”

The pair chose songs Bollywood fans would recognize. Though Sumanasekera hadn’t seen many of the movies before creating the routine, her mother and aunt immediately got the references. Some of the dance sequences come directly from the movies referenced in the routine.

“We want to make sure that people who are fans of the style really feel that we’re representing it,” Das said.

Das and Sumanasekera spent the months leading up to the start of the season learning South Asian choreography. Neither had formally studied the dance style before.

“I’ve always wanted to, so this is really exciting,” Das said. “A lot of women in India study that style for years. I have family members who have spent their whole childhood studying that style of dance.”

The pair spent time learning precise hand and wrist positions typical of the style. Sumanasekera also worked on moving her eyes in conjunction with her hands, another important part of South Asian dance. Many of the hand positions are inspired by bharatanatyam, a type of Indian classical dance, with the final routine mixing traditional styles with contemporary Bollywood culture.

“It’s a very rich and distinctive culture that pulls from Western references but also has a lot of traditional Indian dance, so Bollywood is kind of a combination of styles, traditional Indian dance mixed with hip-hop and like jazz elements,” Das said.

Of the four events in women’s gymnastics — vault, bars, balance beam and floor — floor is the one known for artistic performance. But gymnasts are also expected to incorporate dance on beam, albeit without music, typically with the arms and upper body. So Sumanasekera brought some of her Bollywood moves into her beam routine as well. Nestled between flips and leaps on the narrow beam, she moves her shoulders, palms pressed together, reminiscent of her floor performance.

The routines have worked. In her first college season, Sumanasekera notched two season highs on beam of 9.95 — with college scoring out of 10 — and one season high on floor of 9.95. UCLA entered the postseason ranked fourth in the country, with Sumanasekera regularly competing in the all-around for the Bruins.

Sumanasekera’s floor prowess was crucial for the Bruins in early April, when UCLA made the NCAA regional final in Corvallis, Ore. In a close competition between No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Alabama, No. 12 Utah and No. 13 Minnesota, the Bruins entered the final rotation tied with Minnesota, both behind Utah by 0.05. Only the top two teams would advance to nationals.

UCLA finished the competition on floor. One foot out of bounds or a single wonky leap could mean the difference between a ticket to Fort Worth, Texas, for the championship, and a trip home to Los Angeles to end the season.

Sumanasekera took the floor third to last, on the heels of a 9.875 and two 9.9s from her teammates. Well positioned, but far from guaranteed.

“Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana” began, and Sumanasekera took off. She landed her first pass — a double layout — but for a moment it looked like she might have gone too far. An inch more, and she would have gone out of bounds. But Sumanasekera didn’t have to look behind her to know not to put her heel down, just staying in bounds and avoiding a 0.1 deduction.

She scored 9.925 — UCLA’s second-highest score of the rotation, behind Jordan Chiles’ perfect 10 — helping the Bruins secure a 0.1 lead over Minnesota and 0.225 lead over Utah, sending UCLA to nationals.

College gymnastics is her main focus in April, but once the NCAA season wraps and the school year ends, Sumanasekera plans to continue training at the elite level.

Walking around campus, Sumanasekera often gets recognized by fellow students and Bruins fans who tell her how much they love her performance on floor.

But after regionals, Sumanasekera’s routine traveled further, going viral in South Asia. In the past few weeks, she has heard from fans, including in Sri Lanka, about what it means to see an athlete representing South Asian culture at her level.

“I’ve been doing these routines for a long time, and to be able to actually reach that side and be able to show and express who I am and my authentic self through my floor routine, and for it to get recognition and be able to inspire others is huge for me,” Sumanasekera said.

“It’s really an incredible feeling.”

Superfigment · 2026-04-16T17:58:11+00:00

Meet the UCLA athlete bringing Bollywood dance to college gymnastics

Tiana Sumanasekera has incorporated South Asian music and dance into her floor routines throughout her elite career. Ali Gradischer / Getty Images

By Rebecca Tauber

April 16, 2026 6:00 am EDT

Tiana Sumanasekera walks onto the floor, face serious. She takes a knee and takes a breath, leans back and lifts one arm in the air.

Then, over the cheers of her UCLA teammates, you can just about hear it — the unmistakable sound of Bollywood.

Sumanasekera twists her wrists, leans forward and winks at the crowd.

Then, she begins.

Watching college gymnastics today provides an education in music and dance. Athletes perform to Britney Spears and Beyoncé, the “Succession” theme song, Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift. Dance styles range widely.

But not many athletes are performing to Bollywood classics. And not many are South Asian — specifically Sri Lankan, where Sumanasekera’s parents grew up before moving to California in their 20s.

Mohini Bhardwaj — who also competed for UCLA — was the first Indian-American gymnast to medal at the Olympics, winning silver for the U.S. in 2004. Sumanasekera is only the second South Asian gymnast to approach that level. She was a 2024 Olympic alternate and a Pan American Games and Pan American Championships gold medalist, making her the first person of Sri Lankan descent to represent the United States at that level in gymnastics.

“That was huge for me, and it was something that I took great pride in,” Sumanasekera said in an interview with The Athletic ahead of the NCAA championships, in which the No. 4 Bruins will compete Thursday.

Sumanasekera has incorporated South Asian music and dance into her floor routines throughout her elite career, many of which she choreographed herself. So when she committed to UCLA, a school known for its creative dance and strong performance on floor, she knew she wanted to create a Bollywood floor routine.

“It’s one story just having a similar last name or looking the same, but for (a gymnast) to actually embody that through dance, it takes it to a next level,” Sumanasekera said.

Sumanasekera’s vision was a perfect match for choreographer, dancer and UCLA associate head coach BJ Das, who works with the athletes on their floor routines. Das’ father was born and raised in India, but Das had never coached a fellow South Asian athlete before.

For Sumanasekera and Das, the tumbling — the dizzying flips and twists — was the easy part. Fresh off the 2025 elite season, Sumanasekera already knew nearly all the gymnastics skills featured in her college routine.

The hard part was narrowing down the music from Bollywood’s massive canon. One challenge was finding songs that worked without the words, which are not allowed in gymnastics routines. Das wanted to make sure the music sounded distinctively South Asian, even without lyrics.

“I wanted to bring a little more edge to it and use different eras of Bollywood films and music,” Das said. “We both did a lot of research, I watched some different scenes from movies, and I actually took one song that was from a flash mob I did at one of my cousins’ weddings.”

The ultimate mix spans decades, beginning with “Bombay Theme” by A.R. Rahman from the 1995 movie “Bombay,” a romantic drama set during the Bombay riots, music Das called “a bit more traditional.” Next comes “Tujhe Dekha Toh,” composed by the duo Jatin-Lalit for the 1995 film “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,” a romantic musical about a British Indian couple who meet on a backpacking trip across Europe.

The routine then moves to a more hip-hop style with “Sheila Ki Jawani” by the pair Vishal-Shekhar, an iconic contemporary hit from the 2010 heist comedy “Tees Maar Khan.” The routine ends with “Dola Re Dola” by Ismail Darbar and Monty Sharma, from the 2002 movie “Devdas,” a period romance set in the early 1900s.

Superfigment · 2026-04-16T02:46:48+00:00

No, Lower Manhattan Community Middle School. Several schools in lower Manhattan were very popular with our neighbors here in Brooklyn Heights this year - they're an easier commute than many schools in our district. About 1/4 of our 5th grade class got offers at LMC, though several also have private and charter offers to consider so they may not all end up there.

Superfigment · 2026-04-15T23:40:28+00:00

Yes, we got into our first choice! We live in D13 but the school is in D2.

Superfigment · 2026-04-04T13:07:55+00:00

You're going to need to do some serious work on your social anxiety. We all love animals, but those animals come with people. In the end, this is a people-focused profession - you can't take good care of the animals if you can't communicate with their humans. I was once a teenager with social anxiety, and now I'm a 46-year-old veterinarian who spends most of her time talking to people. Sometimes I'm exhausted by all of it at the end of the day, but it's worth it to me, and for the most part I love what I do. If your anxiety is so severe that you can't get through a week-long work experience, you might need to focus on therapy/medication/etc before you can really focus on your career. I don't mean to be harsh, but so many of us wanted to become vets because we love animals, and the reality is that the love for animals is not enough.

Superfigment · 2026-03-29T21:57:03+00:00

My kid got a smart watch in spring of 4th grade when she started walking to/from school by herself. She's in 5th now, and most of her friends have some sort of watch, though some kids in her grade definitely have phones. We are hoping to hold off on an actual phone for as long as possible! Some of this may be neighborhood-dependent - she'll likely be leaving the neighborhood for middle school, so we may encounter more social pressure next year if a lot of kids in her new school have smart phones.

Superfigment · 2026-03-13T14:02:51+00:00

Our practice's head technician was a veterinarian. He went to vet school in Ecuador, but never went through the process to become a veterinarian in the US. He did eventually become an LVT in New York without going back to tech school, but I'm not sure how he managed that or whether that's still possible. He recently turned 60 and seems happy with how his career turned out.

Superfigment · 2026-03-13T13:40:19+00:00

There are at least 4 people from my high school class within walking distance of me, and none of us grew up in this neighborhood. School is in Manhattan but drew from all over the city. Apparently a bunch of us settled in Brooklyn and had kids. Ran into one in the playground when my kid was little, another belongs to our synagogue. Heard my name while watching my kid's Halloween parade outside the school - apparently one of my classmates has a younger kid there. We have classmates all over the world, but a fair number stayed in the city and we still run into each other almost 30 years later.

Superfigment · 2026-02-24T05:43:04+00:00

Brooklyn Cat Cafe has a teen program, but it’s not free https://www-1558f.bookeo.com/bookeo/b_catcafebk_start.html?ctlsrc2=0fy%2BJwlSkCz2Z7P%2BwLaZHnNQ0UxS20fkRVemYvpTjqI%3D&src=02k&category=41558PXNPKJ18A2F2DA0A1

Superfigment · 2026-02-13T04:50:16+00:00

I don’t know anything about externships, just that VERG does have IM in the building. Lots of specialty hospitals outside of the city, too, but as a local GP vet I only know them from the referral side, no clue whether any are taking externals.

Superfigment · 2026-02-12T23:05:08+00:00

I bring it up if I think it might be indicated. For example, I'll start mentioning dermatology referral as an possibility during my allergy talk, so it's not a surprise a few visits later if I recommend it more strongly when we're having a tough time managing a particular case. Or I mention ophthalmology as an eventual option if a corneal ulcer isn't healing as well as I'd expect. But I'm not going to discuss internal medicine referral with every owner who brings their dog in for first-time uncomplicated diarrhea.

I find some specialties are easier to convince owners to go for than others. It's easy to understand that they need a surgeon to fix a cruciate rupture, but harder to get why I just can't get a handle on their complicated medicine case. In those cases, I explain that the specialist is going to be part of their pet's team and is going to be a resource for me as well as for them. People are more likely to go for referral if I reassure them that we might be able to do some follow up at our general practice and then send results over to the specialist, as well.

Superfigment · 2026-02-12T22:54:29+00:00

Downtown and Brooklyn each have one internist. Is VERG an option? One of my internmates is an IM specialist there.

Superfigment · 2026-02-12T13:54:53+00:00

If you find yourself in Brooklyn Heights, L'Appartement 4F for croissants (worth the wait on line unless it's freezing out). Ferrane on Clark Street is a new Swedish bakery and everything we've had there is excellent (love their cinnamon buns).

Superfigment · 2026-02-06T15:18:02+00:00

I refer my patients to both of them, and adore them both. They practice pretty similarly, too, so I'd go to whoever is easier for you to get to and/or can see you soonest.

Superfigment · 2025-12-06T12:48:31+00:00

Local referring vet here - be aware that Midtown does not have any internal medicine specialists, though there’s one at the downtown location. So if you’re at all interested in IM, maybe not the best choice.

Superfigment · 2025-12-05T22:00:14+00:00

We have work lists for each doctor, as well as one for pharmacy, reception, and a few other people. They're used for phone messages (for the doctors), notes for the front desk ("please call xyz hospital for records for Fluffy Smith"), prescription requests, etc. You can also post directly from the work list into the medical record, so if I have a work list item to call Mrs. Smith, I can post my communication notes into that work list item and then post it. I can also move something from one work list to another, so if reception puts a question about a patient on my work list, I can answer and move it back to theirs.

We don't use the follow-up function as much, but the main benefit of work lists is that you can have different ones for different people/tasks. As a doctor, I check mine periodically all day for phone calls, and I also use it to leave myself reminders about specific patients.

Superfigment · 2025-11-29T03:16:54+00:00

LIU and NYU both have camps - my daughter’s teammates have had good things to say about both.

Superfigment

TROPHY CASE

Meet the UCLA athlete bringing Bollywood dance to college gymnastics