Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I saw a dermatologist today, after sitting around in a waiting room where someone insisted on having Judge Judy on the television, at a volume that made it impossible for me to concentrate on my book (the Tiptree biography). He looked at the mole, named it as a seborrheic keratosis, and said it's harmless and that there's no need to remove it. I asked about itchiness (which is why I noticed the change, in late December) and he said I could use a bit of over-the-counter cortisone cream.

My feeling, after about three minutes, was that he seemed competent, but I didn't actually like him, so after he had me put my shirt back on (the mole is on my shoulder), I didn't ask him to look my skin over in a thorough, dermatological way (as my old dermatologist did periodically, and as my GP also said would be a good idea). I should probably keep looking for a dermatologist, but it no longer feels urgent.

When I called cattitude with the medical verdict , he said that he didn't think the mole had changed much recently; I remember him as saying it had, but it's possible that I grabbed "it's changed" from what he said without registering how much it had changed. (I can't see it without using a mirror and twisting, so it's not something I've kept close watch on.

Also, I went to the gym this morning, lunched in Chinatown, and stopped for groceries after the dermatology. We now have two kinds of tangerine: New Year's tangerines, of which I got eight from a vendor on Lafayette Street (I'd have gotten more had his stock looked better), and another five-pound crate of Spanish clementines.

Gym numbers:

Cardio, 17 minutes, top heart rate 135

Chest press, 70 pounds 10, 4; 65 pounds, 4
Calf raise, 80 pounds, 11; 70 pounds, 13, 12
Balance ~fly, 50 pounds, 4 sets of 15 (two with each foot forward) Lower weight and more reps seemed good since much of the point here is balance.

Crunches, 3 sets of 30
Back arch, 3 sets of 17 (tried half a dozen of the third set as glute exercises, and my hamstrings hurt from it, so stopped)
Yoga tree, 4 sets of {3 on each leg}

Balance lateral raise, 5 pounds each hand, 2 sets of 15; 2.5 pounds each, walking, 15

Leg press, 250 pounds, 2 sets of 15; 230 pounds, 12. At the beginning, I automatically loaded on 300 pounds, and didn't notice until I tried that weight, found it too much (after one very small rep), and decided to replace the 25-pound plates with ten, then realized that what I had left on that side was 135 pounds, for 270 total. And now I'm wondering whether, the other day when "250" and "230" both seemed too much, whether those were actually what I had on the machine. Probably; I think I remember taking off 35s and putting on 25s in their place, so 45+45+35 on each side equals 250.

Glute machine, 37.5 pounds, 15 each leg
Wrist curls, 35 pounds, 3 sets of 15
Bicep curls, 10 pounds each hand, 20, 20, 8 (right wrist pain at that point, so stopped)

Stretches