I've been in the grip of a particularly bad bout of depression

[xiphias]

It's been bad for several weeks, if not longer, and it got incredibly bad over the weekend. And this morning -- well, when I'm depressed, I often just sit in front of the computer instead of doing useful things, but today, it was a genuine challenge to even get over here to sit in front of the computer.

And then I got an email, from Julian Murphy, who was one of my students:

hi ian, julian here!
i would like you to know that my soccer team beat our division so we went to
the cup and won it against the hardest teams we ever faced!

i miss you!

I'm still really depressed, but that email's given me enough of a boost that I think I'll be able to get a couple things done today, anyway. Thanks, Jules. I love that kid. Okay, I love all the kids.