I've been in a veritable nest of doctors lately, one hopes they'll know what they're doing (and indeed recommend something that might help). Are we falling apart? Are we not? The self wants to know. The self is curious. The self is more than willing to go to these appointments and take these tests, but at his age he has a bit of experience and distrust for tests, scans and wonder meds that often as not don't work or work with side effects. Good old side effects.

The self has health insurance, at least for now, something the self has not had at various needful times in his life when tests and time on the table were required and he was taken in hand as a ward of the state. Of course the things they removed at the time proved to not do the trick, but self has learned this is not unusual. The self is not complaining, you understand.

This time, later in his life, he seems to have lucked out at least on the insurance part. Most people just have to keel over dead in the street with a smile on their face (and a high cholesterol ice cream cone in their hand) without a clue it's coming as their doctors, none of which they've visited, through much poking and testing, have not given them a head's up as to what's coming up on the horizon. But, of course, I digress.

Slept in a little later than usual this morning after reading into the later hours last night. I have half a dozen half read books on the Kindle in various stages of completion, for some reason I picked up on one and didn't stop. That's an old habit I'd like to have again, reading being one of the more pleasant things you can learn to do in this life. I thank my parents for that. Even during my days of no money there were still libraries around, no need for Kindles and the buying of books when you're broke. Photography requires cameras and computers, none of which, I can assure you, come cheap. Something you may have noticed yourself. So to breakfast a little later this morning, a decent breakfast reading the news, back now before nine. Time to get ready for this doctor and remember to bring the MRI.

I did put together a section of Pistahan photographs for artandlife yesterday, discovering I had one page or “section” already half started, so I used photographs from yesterday's festival to finish the existing one before creating a new section with a Pistahan heading and title. Takes time to do, most of yesterday afternoon, but it does keep me amused. That with the guitar practice and the reading pretty much wrapped up the weekend. Exciting, I have to say, letting it all hang out, ginning into the wind. Well, the time went quickly, we can only stretch this “exciting” crap so far before even we feel the need to crap out. There's plenty of excitement in Oakland, but most of it is not of a kind I like.

Later. A prescription for an antibiotic to be taken for three months, if I was hearing right, unless the side effects are too unpleasant. I've had antibiotics in the past, two or three times in the course of the life, without problems, but I've never taken them for three months. Trashes anything nasty in the nasal passages, but it also trashes the good stuff in the gut. So maybe they'll help.

He went up into the nose and looked at whatever is up in there with a long wire looking thing that had a light at its tip and, I assume, a way to see what it was poking at. A pain deadening spray in each nostril before starting, so what sounds pretty awful wasn't really. Feels good actually, that spray, the head seemed unusually clear heading downtown on the bus to pick up that prescription.

I'd noticed in passing yesterday they'd added a final touch to the Oscar Grant mural, so I walked by to take a picture. Otherwise, home now as it approaches three, I think I'll pick up this guitar with the head as clear as it is and practice while it lasts. Not a lot of impetus to play the guitar when your head is fuzzy, not that practice needs to be all that wonderful every time, but take advantage when you can. I guess. Hup! Hup!

There really is some kind of hup! hup! in this talking about your guitar practice. Are you fighting it?

I'm sometimes suspicious. I know myself pretty well after all these years and this guitar thing doesn't quite make sense. But so far, so good, even with all the hup! hup! hups!