The market never waits as we were down 76 points today. A late comeback cut the loss in half. Volume was light and the advance/declines were over 2 to 1 negative. I may still get the OEX puts next week but it's a tough call now that we've dropped. There's also the possibility that we get an option expiration week run up in the averages. Todays action implies higher prices near term. I'll ponder things over the weekend. Gold was down $7 and the XAU lost 3 points. ABX lost 1/3, while GG and NEM were off over 3/4. Volume was light. Gold has been moving sideways and has held up rather good so far here. But we haven't had a real market decline either. The dollar was a bit higher today. I'd like to get long some ABX calls at some point. The question is when? The chart looks promising on a weekly basis for a breakout. And if and when it starts to move, I think it will be substantial. It's a waiting game for now. Mentally I'm doing OK, slept well enough. One week left on the August option cycle. It's risky for me here. The short term trades with not much time left usually burn me. However there will be opportunity. It's a matter of if I'm up to the challenge. More to think about over the weekend. For now it's Friday afternoon in the summer and time for a break.