Wednesday. It started well anyway. I got up early after getting to bed early, had breakfast over the papers and left early enough to arrive at the dentist's office twenty minutes before the appointment, remembering he'd been able to take me in Monday morning early when I arrived. Early, early. He was running twenty minutes late and it caused me to be a couple of minutes late for my guitar lesson.

It's only a thirty minute guitar lesson and what we covered we covered well, no complaints, but for an arrive on time freak that's not the way to start your day. An annual cardiologist's checkup scheduled for one this afternoon in Palo Alto, that will be easy to make (unless there's an accident tying up traffic).

So the follow-up appointment is scheduled at the dentist's for next Tuesday at eight-thirty, no more of this Wednesday guitar lesson morning stuff. Except I notice I have a haircut scheduled for 10:00 on that day as well. Which I will move to a later hour. I've learned my lesson. For the week. I'll have forgotten it all in a week.

Anyway, more chord practice is in order, more strumming, more scales. I'm feeling better about it, finding it's easier to sit down (while the radio is on or the TV is running in the background) and practice for the required hour. I'd like to do two and will work toward doing two hours (hup! hup!) and maybe that's good and maybe that's not good, who knows anymore, but I can see progress, see myself doing things easily that were quite difficult not that long ago.

I mentioned I'm not much of a blues freak. White boy British blues of the Clapton, Stones variety, yes, and I do have a number of blues lp's I've bought and played over the years, but listening to the blues channel on XM radio, most of it leaves me a little cold. All of which is an intro to the fact I received the Crossroads 2010 DVD yesterday from Amazon.

I'd seen the movie in a one time showing at a local theater when it was broadcast and, for all my stated antipathy for the blues, I found I enjoyed it. Bought CD's by Johnny Lang, Derek Trucks and a couple of others after seeing the movie. Anyway, the movie arrived on DVD yesterday and I went through it last night. Not all was wonderful, but a lot of it I liked a lot. I liked a lot a lot.

Later. A drive down to Palo Alto for the annual heart sonogram stress test, arriving at twelve-forty, into the testing room at one, finishing the test at one-forty, a wait then for the doctor to show for another hour. What the hell, not as bad as the hour and a half my neurologist kept me waiting last month, but I guess these things just come with the territory. Once a year. Some of them take the extra unexpected hour. That's the way the thing works. Relax. My bucko.

And I have. Back now at four after a reasonable drive thinking I'll treat myself to a bit of sake and sushi down at the bottom of the hill and chill. I deserve it. Take a pill and chill. Take a pill for a thrill. Sake is better than toe-bac-ee. Waiting an hour in a small room seems to have effected the mind. My mind. What's left of my mind. Think about it. You'd have sake too.

Your doctor was an hour late. So what? Do you really care all that much?

No, no. We're cool. We've done the three tasks on today's exhausting list, two doctors and a guitar teacher, I don't see anything coming up for at least another week. Oh, a blood test on Friday. No big deal. No more than ten minutes or so waiting for the people to check you in. I do appreciate that. This coming week. A clear week. For all of the stuff I avoid doing, I do get my head around filling in my time. We appreciate it. Retired and all. We do. Feel like a hippie again, only with the rent paid this time.

Later again. A walk down to the ATM for cash, not so much for sushi and sake, but for tomorrow's breakfast. Get it done before it gets dark. Don't want to be walking around the area when it's dark, although I'm not sure my trepidation is warranted, what with all the people about. A nice dinner ending in two servings of green tea cheesecake. Their servings are small. Two of them would make people upset at, say, a Denny's, so no apologies here. Enough sake to make the evening mellow, but not so much as to believe I'll feel any payback tonight or, more importantly tomorrow. Honest. I know the difference.

We'll see how the guitar practice goes. A lesson this morning doesn't count as practice. Said the old man on the mountain.

I don't think the old man on the mountain said anything like that.

Still, one has to pay attention, even when one has made it up.