Depression setting in...

It certainly was one of those days for me. Or, more honestly, it's been one of those times... the terrible kinda times.

I wish I could detail how I fell into discombobulation [remarkably, that is actually a word in the English language!]. I just know that I got there...speedily.

As things never go in a straighforward way, I found out that someone at the Bursary here is hell-bent on having me owe the school something. So much so that they refunded a large part of the amount my lender provided for my tuition! [Of course, the refund was in error but who cares!] The guys at the health center have a block on my account - not that I care - and so I have to go see them to get a shot for Mumps, Measles and Rubella. Interestingly, I already had two of the three diseases as a kid (which naturally makes you immune going forward, etcetera).

Studying is going in the most terrible way possible - not at all. I cannot seem to stay awake long enough to complete any substantial portion of my work. When I am awake, I don't have any desire to walk through the rationale for making a bootstrap sale a taxable transaction under section 301 or sale/exchange provisions; or why extraordinary dividends are problematic under section 1059. Apparently, December will catch me napping. There will certainly be hell to pay.

I'll run through recent events in the briefest way I can. Kim and his NKorea are still mad and they want to test a second missile; the State Legislature in Ekiti really removed the Chief Justice in the most blatant rape of the Constitution of Nigeria - and no one is doing anything about it; the Dow is constantly hovering over the 11,900 mark and is expected to crack the 12,000 code; the 300 millionth American was estimated to have been born at 7.26am on Tuesday or Wednesday - I forget which and don't care, really; Vladmir Kramnik is now Unified Chess Champion; yesterday (Wednesday) was the 50th anniversary of the "most beautiful (chess) game ever played" - a magnificent gem from a 13-year old Bobby Fisher that altered the world of combinations...and, that is really all the world has had to offer in a while!

[Deep sigh]

I shall have to reach deeper than I've had to in a long time to get myself out of this slump. Unlike some people who have the pleasure of human support to get through the vagaries of life, I am alone. I have only myself. My tears are mine; my worries are mine; my fears are mine. For people like us, strength can only come from within. Otherwise, one withers...also from within.