Thursday, August 16, 2007

More On The "Big Day" Or...Irrational Fears

Okay... I've put the trading behind me. I mean, I made so many trades that it's hard to remember each one specifically.

I remember more the mood of the moment... like, "The market is going to zero, why aren't I short?" And then later, "The market is going unched... this stock looks overbought but, I'll buy more!"

Let's start at the beginning.

I woke at 4:45 to go surfing. I picked up my friend at 5:10 and drove the 25 minutes to the break. When we got there, the sky was gray, it was misty and cold and the surf was sloppy. There was an old guy in the parking lot waxing his long board. I've seen him at least 10 times before. I said "Good morning!" to him and he didn't even bother to look up. We decided not to get in the water.

To be honest, I'm developing an irrational fear of sharks. If conditions aren't perfect, I don't go in. My friend just thinks I'm picky about the surf, but really, I'm afraid of sharks. Now that I've gone and admitted that to the blogosphere, I'm bound to be eaten by a Great White soon. The story is too perfect. Perhaps I should just delete that line... no. It's too late. It's fated to happen.

"Obscure Blogger With Irrational Fear Of Sharks Eaten By Great White." Sigh...

Anyway...

So we went and got breakfast. Egg sandwiches and coffee and then we headed back to his place to eat them out on the porch. His wife and children were just waking up. I asked his 3 year old daughter if I could have one of her ears since she has two. She said no.

We ate our sandwiches and I said that I would have to put off my vacation for next week. The market had finally been giving me opportunity and I had to take advantage. He said, "Yeah, when it's quiet again, you can just fly somewhere."

Little did my friend know that I have an irrational fear of flying. However, this I shared with him. I told them that I never flew when I was younger. The first time I ever flew anywhere was just a few years ago and that was to Japan. I didn't realize that I didn't like to fly until we were halfway across Canada.

They had that map up that showed where you were in relation to where you were going. A little dotted line showed the route the plane was taking. For some reason, I was looking at that map and seeing that we were going to fly over the Bering Sea I immediately developed an irrational fear of the Bering Sea. I told my wife, "I think the plane is going to go down into the Bering Sea... it's going to be cold." She told me I was nuts and that I should listen to some music, drink some water, and apply some chapstick.

Long story short, we made it over the Bering Sea. However, on the return trip home when we were directly over the Bering Sea, I had a panic attack. This is all true. Anyway, so I don't like to fly.

Wow. I'm tired. I had other plans for this post, I promise. Need to sleep though.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Congrats on your day. Very impressive. I personally got killed in emerging markets and international growth names. Oh well, I've had to shift to longer term trades since the new semester has started. I don't think the administration would approve of trading at work! I hope you are able to rest tonight - big days tend to screw my sleep patterns up - and good luck tomorrow.

Bluedog said...

Dino, check out: http://www.sharkshield.com/Content/Home/. A buddy of mine in South Africa uses it to keep the Whites, Bulls, and Tigers at bay. As far as I know, you don't have many sharks to worry about over there. Just ankle biters. You should surf with the Whites over here on the Pacific! :)

Broker A said...

Good work, you deserve it.

Just so you know, upon reading your post, I felt an urge to help you.

I had my weatherman swing over to your local beach (I have gps tracking on you) and kill all of the sharks in your area. True story.

I'm eating one right now.

Enjoy the surf.

Ugly said...

congratulations on the nice day

Dinosaur Trader said...

Bluedog,

That's what freaked me out. A fisherman friend of mine told me that there is a huge Great White breeding territory only 25 miles away... anyway, I realize it's irrational. That product does look interesting though...

-DT

Dinosaur Trader said...

Thanks for the congrats, guys.

--Sorry to hear you got smoked dg. Trading days like yesterday always mess with my sleep. It's hard to wind down...

--And hey, Ugly, (alan) thanks for setting up Wallstreak. Great community there.

--Fly, it worked! Today I surfed with no fear knowing that you killed all the local sharks... heck, who needs shark radar, Bludog?

-DT