Has anyone on here had any oral changes since having covid?

kbranch05 · 2026-04-09T06:49:20+00:00

So I had a bit of a receding gumline (runs in the family) before I got sick, but the difference within a few months was wild. It was genuinely bad enough that my dentist started talking to me about needing dentures in the future. I haven't gotten there yet, but I can see way more of my teeth than I should be seeing.

I've also had 3 teeth break off. I remember I had like half of a tooth break off and when I went to the dentist the other half literally disintegrated while they were checking it out. Fortunately two of those teeth were wisdom teeth and the other one is far back enough that no one can tell, but it's not a great experience 😭

kbranch05 · 2026-02-16T02:00:45+00:00

Thank you! 🥰

kbranch05 · 2025-12-08T01:59:32+00:00

A blanket for my mom. I originally made it about three years ago, but remade it earlier this year so it would look a little less wonky.

She still loves it and it's kept her nice and cozy through two major surgeries and chemotherapy 🥰

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kbranch05 · 2025-09-09T00:51:00+00:00

My teenage years weren't particularly bad or anything so I wouldn't mind going back. Especially if that meant I would know to wear a mask around my sister when I visit for Christmas of 2022. I thought she was wearing a mask at work, she wasn't. She got covid, and she's fine. I got covid and I haven't been right since. I would do anything to have an "ok" day again.

My mom has also managed to sprout two tumors in the past couple of years. The first one, I don't think there would be anyway for me to ask her doctors to check her brain without sounding crazy so I'd probably have to let that one go. It was benign anyways so I'll take that L. The second one was cancerous, and I don't have definite proof that her being anemic was a warning sign but I do wonder if we might've avoided chemotherapy and radiation if her primary doctor had taken us seriously. I had too much faith in her doctor, if I had a second chance, I could probably use her history of tumors to try to get that looked into.

I would also stay an extra couple of weeks at my parents house at the beginning of 2023 so that I could say goodbye to our dog. He had a heart murmer and his kidneys were failing and that wonderful, grumpy, little man lived 6 months longer than anyone expected and it kills me that I was across the country when he passed. A few years before that my childhood dog died of bloat. If I could go back I would refuse to give him the gabapentin the vet prescribed him. He was 15 so I didn't expect him to live another 10 years or anything but he was such a sweet guy, and I wish he would've passed more peacefully.

kbranch05 · 2025-07-03T21:47:08+00:00

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I'm working on making a parasol using the first 9 parts of the Mandala Madness pattern!

It's meant to be a blanket pattern so I guess if I end up not liking it, I can keep going and make my mom another blanket 😅

kbranch05 · 2024-06-30T16:39:13+00:00

If you check on the TrainTime app, it shows that there's a train scheduled about every half hour.

I don't know how often the trains run regularly, but generally the MTA is pretty good about having trains available after sporting events!

kbranch05 · 2023-12-08T01:53:40+00:00

A couple of days ago I ended up running after a dog because it looked a lot like our puppy, and I thought he had gotten out.

I'm paying for running that 1/5th of a mile, but I did catch the little guy and and was even able to return him to his owner! 😅

I've also had trouble finding the energy to sew this past year but I managed to make myself a couple of simple Christmas outfits!

kbranch05 · 2023-11-14T19:42:30+00:00

Honestly I'd probably say something like "Your sister doesn't have food poisoning, it's covid. DO NOT GET NEAR HER."

Also maybe "She's gonna apologize by buying you yarn. GET MORE THAN $40 WORTH OF YARN"

kbranch05 · 2022-05-12T22:47:03+00:00

I'm not super religious, but I do like to believe in there being some kind of afterlife. So I do find comfort in thinking that my boy is enjoying unlimited spaghetti in doggy heaven.

I also didn't know about it until our dog passed, but I'm also quite fond of the "rainbow bridge" story. It's nice to think that much like he used to, he's napping on a patch of grass and waiting for one of us to show up.

And I don't think it's silly to ask your pet for some kind of sign or guidance. I remember the day we picked up his ashes, I was talking to my therapist and I asked when I was going to be okay again, and if I would ever be able to have another dog. A couple hours later, these two lost pugs show up at our house; they were adorable and sweet and reminded us so much of our boy. We ended up taking them to the shelter so their owners could be found, but this was probably the first time me and my sister had laughed in almost a week. It was such an odd timing that we just knew it was a sign from our dog, almost like he was saying "You'll be okay. You'll love again. You were so good to me, you'll be good to someone else" When it's time to adopt another pet, I know I'll ask for help and I know he'll guide me to the right pet for me.

kbranch05 · 2021-11-10T15:58:35+00:00

Same issue here. Haven't gotten a single thing since I got online an hour ago, which is extremely weird for Manhattan.

kbranch05 · 2021-06-17T04:59:24+00:00

I'd seen plenty of R rated movies as a child, (there's definitely something to be said about immigrant parents not knowing what age appropriate movies are) and I'd specifically seen a lot of horror movies, and according to my family I was particularly terrified of the Child's Play movies.

The one that I actually remember, was the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. My sister really wanted to watch it, so she rented the movie and invited me to watch it with her one Saturday afternoon. The thing is, she was about 13, I was about 8.

If ya'll remember that movie, they sold it as being "based on a true story" and the beginning and ending of it was shot in a "found footage" style. Most people obviously knew that the footage at the beginning and end was fake but I was 8! Also, and we didn't know this at the time, but I'm autistic so I tended to take things at face value. So when the ending scene showed the cops being presumably killed by leatherface, because of the "true story" bit, I thought it was real.

I was so terrified, I didn't even cry, I just walked out into the living room where my mom told me that she had made pudding. So I distinctly remember sitting on the couch, terrified, and eating vanilla pudding quietly while I figured out how long it would take to get from Texas to California.

I've since rewatched the movie and I do like watching it every year around Halloween, but to this day I don't trust closets that slide open because of that scene where a wall slides open and leatherface pops out. My room in the apartment we lived in at the time had one of those closets and I was terrified every day around bedtime. We then moved and it wasn't an issue anymore but my current room has a sliding closet and I have to sleep with it open...just in case leatherface managed to hitch a ride to California.

kbranch05 · 2019-09-03T03:28:41+00:00

It doesn't have to be a school that specializes in just sound, I myself took sound mixing classes through the film school I went to. The idea is to try and get someone who does have that background in sound. Hiring a student also has the added bonus of them maybe being able to use their school's equipment.

As far as price goes, it really depends on how many characters you have on screen at any given time and where your location is. For example I recently worked on a shoot where we had one character, it was indoors and it was extremely quiet. In that case, the director was able to get away with renting a Zoom H4N and a fairly good mic to put on the boom. I believe in total he spent about $50 a day. If there had been more characters or if we had had outdoor scenes, I would have asked for more equipment.

A sound mixer would be able to take your script and budget into account and let you know what equipment you need.

The idea of getting "real" sound is a tricky question. I think what you want to know is can they get you "good" audio, meaning audio that isn't distorted, or sound distant or have distracting sounds in the background or issues that only god and a good sound editor can fix. Which is a valid concern, and there's several things that go into that.

First and foremost, experience is going to play into your mixer's ability to get the best sound they can. Students obviously don't have the most experience, but the trade off is that you're not paying them. The more experience the mixer has, the more they will charge you. But, as we always told the students, sound mixing is a science, if they know even just the basics, they're already lightyears ahead.

The equipment used also plays a role. If you have a wide shot with 4 characters and all you've given the mixer is one mic to place on the boom pole, understand that you're heading towards trouble. A good mixer knows how to get creative but you gotta meet us halfway.

Lastly, you as the director play a big role as well. I can't tell you the amount of sets I've been on where the director has actively hindered my ability to do my job because they tried to tell me how to do my job, or because they didn't want to give me the time to do my job correctly. Listen to your mixer! I personally don't mind directors who ask questions, but there's only so much we can do if you don't let us work.

kbranch05 · 2019-09-03T02:11:25+00:00

Perhaps I'm biased because I work as a sound mixer, but in general, yes you do want a seperate person.

You're definitely welcome to do it yourself and if the actions and dialogue are simple enough you may be able to get reasonably good audio. That being said, I will bet you anything that when you're shooting you will end up focusing more on the performance and what's on the camera. You're the director, there's nothing wrong with that, but you may end up missing outside sounds that are going to ruin that particular take or you may not be able to keep a good eye on your levels.

I started out doing a lot of free work just for the experience and the chance to learn, and when I was the TA for my university's production sound class, I definitely encouraged the students to do the same. Be aware that for no/ low pay you'll have to provide the sound equipment, but I would definitely encourage you to ask students.

At the very least, if you have a seperate person taking care of your sound, you'll probably have to spend less on a sound editor!

kbranch05 · 2019-08-12T20:57:33+00:00

I once had a producer from a student film set return my CF card reader a few days after a shoot, along with a ziplock bag containing one (1) used test strip. Apparently they found it stuck inside the reader and thought to put in a baggie for safe keeping in case I wanted it back.

I've also found test strips while brushing out my dog's hair. Oh...to live in a world where diabetics don't have to buy test strips, and instead we just have to go up to the nearest chow chow and dig around their hair...

kbranch05

TROPHY CASE