Monday. Up again with the alarm (always good when you can say “up again”, given the alternative) and to breakfast and back with a stop at the supermarket for one or two necessities. Odd how hard it is for me to convince myself to drive the short distance on to Safeway from breakfast when I know I need one or two items. But then I find many things are odd these days, do I not? Has it always been thus and I've just not been paying attention all these many years? Probably.

I see they've put together a budget deal of some kind, the only question being are the Democrats in Congress going to go along? Will it pass? I won't say more because it's so depressing to watch. I follow it closely, read many of the various stories and opinions, but no need to rehash them here where I seem to find plenty of other crap to keep my interest.

Maybe switch to a little higher note?

Higher on the wire? It's early and, although I seem to be clear, possibly even a little feisty, I'm still not altogether certain the brain has indeed made a clean morning start and this talk of clarity is but wish fulfillment.

Later. Out the door before ten like clockwork thinking I'll miss the Jack London bus, but that's OK, I'll just see what else is coming, maybe walk on a little farther. The bus was five minutes late, arriving a minute after I got to the stop, so a ride downtown to get off well before the Square (realizing it was the first of the month and I needed a monthly bus ticket), a walk then over to the transit offices for an August sticker, a walk then to the City Center and Rite Aid for a big bottle of fiber pills. We'll not talk about fiber pills, but they are indeed a necessary item.

So that's about it, a walk on an overcast morning, a bus back, an ice cream cone at the local convenience store not for the first time, here now at the apartment with some energy still thinking maybe I'll do something more ambitious. You can laugh. I did.

Later still. Some time on guitar, some time taking a brief nap, a call from the MRI lab saying my neurologist had contacted them to set up a scan, how about tomorrow? Shit. Well, OK, get it done. He's been looking for something that explains some of these symptoms and he's admitted he's now looking far out on the edge where there's not much chance there's a problem, but I have to give him credit for persistence. This is a spinal MRI of some kind looking for the usual suspect. I would hope we don't find the usual suspect.

I'm not sure how many MRI's you can have before you have to worry about the MRI's themselves killing you off. I've had my share in these last few years. Still, at my age, probably not too bad. Not so good when you're younger, all that radiation. But I'll go, we'll go, get it over.

We'll finish out the day on the guitar and listening to the news. Watched the vote in the house on the debt limit. They're putting off the vote in the Senate until tomorrow, which means they're not sure they have the votes to pass and need the additional time to twist arms and promise bennies. I suspect if the Democrats were to hold they'd then negotiate a better deal without too terrible damage, but no one is sure what might happen as they're now playing without a net. I, of course, am depressed over all of it, with or without a net.

Separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls, though, this show down at the OK Corral business. Doesn't do much for the bullshit, unfortunately, but that's always the problem in corrals. It's what you have to expect, though, when you elect all these cows to Congress.