i dreamed last night that i woke up this morning and decided to just drive down to LA for the last day of the gathering.

i got there in a few hours, and it was being held in this big old ramshackle house. it was literally filled with mamas, inside and out, and i couldn't recognize anyone and no one recognized me, until i walked into a sitting room and spotted three mamas eating some food and talking on a couch, and one of them was [info]ubershti! we recognized each other right away and she jumped off her seat and ran up to me and we hugged and started crying, we were so excited to see each other. suddenly, though, she recoiled from me, with her nose wrinkled up, and i realized that my breath smelled really bad! i was mortified and excused myself to the bathroom where i was going to brush my teeth. she had her nostrils pinched shut and was waving me off.

i got to the bathroom and peered into the mirror and opened my mouth. suddenly i remembered that several months beforehand, when i'd been visiting friends on a remote island, i'd developed tooth pain and a pseudo-dentist had given me a pair of dentures to wear so that chewing wouldn't be too painful (and he told me to go see a real dentist as soon as i got back into the city), and i'd forgotten completely that i'd been wearing them this whole time-months and months--without taking them out and cleaning them. so while this big mama party is going on outside the bathroom door, i very slowly and carefully pop the dentures out of my mouth and discover, to my horror, that the inside of them is literally filled with fuzzy black and blue mold, and that my real teeth are all rotting and falling out and my gums are bleeding and oozing pus everywhere. three of my top front-ish teeth are completely gone, and only big deep dark, smelly holes are left. i quickly rinse out the dentures and i have to pry some of the mold out with my fingers, and i slip them back in, but now they feel uncomfortable and make me talk funny. i go through the rest of the party like this, and i can't find ubershti again, anywhere.