Synchronicity

I'm currently reading a memoir by Andy Summers (né Somers) called 'One train later'. The meaning of this title didn't seem to mean anything at first, but it's just occurred to me what it is referring to: when The Police was in the formation stage, Summers took the underground train to central London where he was to meet with Sting. His intention was to discuss the firing of the original guitarist, Henri Padovani. As he got off the train, so coincidentally did Steward Copeland; Summers wonders had he taken one train later, would Padovani still be in the group with Summers excluded? The book is somewhat short on dates, especially in the early part of Summers' life.

The title of this blog (and as it happens, also one of The Police's albums) comes from the fact that just as I started reading about the formation of The Police (about half way through the book), on the radio I heard "Every step you take". One can't make this stuff up.

And if I'm writing about music, I am pleased to say that videos from my musical group's performance¹ from last week have now hit YouTube. Here's a link to the playlist, and should one wish to see a complete performance of 'my' song (although it's missing the slow introduction), it can be found here. So far ten songs have been uploaded with another six promised for tomorrow. The songs have been uploaded in a random order, not matching the order in which we played them. 

I changed strings on the Stagg guitar today; it's been eleven months since they were last changed², which is certainly long enough. The strings still look clean and play well, but enough is enough. With the old strings removed, I cleaned and applied polish to the neck. Putting the new strings on went smoothly at first, although I discovered after a few hours that I had inadvertently tuned them about three semitones too high. Five strings were then tuned correctly, but the top E string refused to tune; it kept on slipping and eventually slipped out completely. With no other option, I removed that string and took another E string from a separate set of strings. So far, I've added this string but have not yet chopped off the excess; I'm leaving the string to settle, and tomorrow I'll tune it then remove the excess.

Internal links
[1] 1982
[2] 1826

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This day in blog history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
101	16/08/2007	Holiday	Holiday
752	16/08/2014	Archeology (my computer music evolution)	MIDI
971	16/08/2016	Second version of intermediate thesis submitted	DBA
1331	16/08/2020	New CPAP machine	CPAP
1658	16/08/2023	More Matthew Halsall	Matthew Halsall

Yet another excision

After my previous excision¹ of a growth last December, the surgeon recommended that I see my dermatologist again in six months. So about a month ago, I presented myself for the usual treatment with liquid nitrogen: several spots of actinic keratosis on my right arm and hand, along with one on the nose. The treatment on the arm and hand is quite bearable, but the treatment on the nose hurt! After a week or so the scabs formed from the treatment fell off, but I've been very careful and have been spreading body cream on my arms and hands after every swim.

The dermatologist also examined the site of a previous excision²; she remarked last November that this should be checked at my next visit. In July, she decided that it was time for a biopsy, so today I presented myself at the clinic in Bet Shemesh to have yet another excision. This growth was not a BCC but rather a subcutaneous sebaceous cyst, a fact that I had forgotten today, but noted at the time.

As usual, the procedure was straight-forward, although this time there were no stitches put in so there's nothing to remove. I have a huge bandage on the left side of my neck that you don't really want to see. I can shower tomorrow, but will have to wait a week or so before I can go swimming again.

Internal links
[1] 1879
[2] 1299

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This day in blog history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
616	12/08/2013	Puzzle	Puzzles
750	12/08/2014	Robin Williams, RIP	Films, Obituary
1655	12/08/2023	Eli, continued	ERP, Obituary
1656	12/08/2023	Walk exactly 3,967 steps in a day	Walking
1801	12/08/2024	Genesis of a new song	Song writing