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Tough Times.

It's probably not surprising I feel largely devoid of comedy right now, what with all the difficult things going on within my family, but today has been a tough day when it comes to my mental health.

One of depression's nastiest traits is its relentlessness, and its tendency to make you forget how far you've come when you're in a trough. It's evil like that. So it was for me today, and I would have kept this to myself instead of mentioning it here if I had the energy to filter it. But it took up too much of my day for me to feel able to do that. I'm not usually one for exhibiting the common symptom of lethargy, but I found it hard to lift my head today.

I did get a brief hiatus when listening to my old band Big Day Out's 'Seven Heavenly Lemony Lemons from a Seven-Eleven in Devon' CD from 2002 for the first time in years. The recordings are by no means perfect, but I still enjoyed it, and it still made me laugh in the right places; we were definitely at our best when we were being gently eccentric, so the last few songs of 'Bedbugs', 'Pop Nonsense', 'Orange Tree' and the pretty - if slightly more mainstream - 'Moment or Two' were a winning way to finish the EP off.

Outside of that, my day was difficult, but I won't dwell on it too long now as sleep would probably be the most beneficial move to give me the potential to wake up with a clearer more level-headed head; wish me luck.

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