Collected thoughts

I was quite out of touch of the whole world, having spent most of my week out in the jungle having no access to internet and newspaper. Even my starhub reception out there is intermittent at best, so I can't even call out or sms if I want to. Anyway, nothing much changes with or without me - the world revolves on its own in my presence or not.



Some random thoughts:


1. I noticed that I had many pens in my pencil case. I was trying to clear out some non-working pens and was testing out the ink of the pens, so I was scribbling on a rough paper and writing some random stuff. I didn't really think about what to write and was really letting my thoughts flow out without inhibitions. Was pleasantly surprised by what I wrote, so thought that I'll share it here:

"There are only so many things you can do in your life before your flame dies off and leaves a trail of smoke marking your existence. But fear not, and be sad not - it's the journey and the quality that counts, not the quantity and the length of the journey. A mayfly living for a day might have more purpose than someone who lives through 100 yrs of purposeless and driven less existence."

"There are so many things I wish to accomplish in my life but do I have the time to do so? Nay. I can only prioritize and choose the one that gives me the most satisfaction according to my goals and my needs. Who is to say that my wishes and aspirations, though not lofty and almighty, are any less significant than yours?"

I seem to have written about mayfly before. Doing a little search on my blog confirmed my suspicions. There is something interesting about mayfly to me. Somehow their 30 mins to 1 day of life (depending on their exact species) makes me think what the mayfly are thinking about. Is their life fruitful? Is their life too short? Would they wish to have a longer life? Interesting thing to ponder.



2. I was reading the newspaper today and saw that people are complaining about a certain Kelly Ong - a commentator for starcraft battles - and her incomprehensible accent. I listened to it here and found that it was alright. I listened to her comments for 2-3 clips to have a broad view of her accent. It didn't sound fake nor was it too fast, as the comments mentioned. Those who commented on her accent are mainly from the west. Perhaps it's time for them to accommodate to other country's accent instead of always assuming that other people have to follow theirs. The world is bigger than the country you're living in, so grow up please.



3. I realised that I didn't miss the stock market. The market goes up and down and I might have missed the opportunity to get some cheap buys but am I worried about it? No...the opportunity will come again. If it's mine, it'll be so, so that's no point fretting about it. Perhaps not looking at the stock market so often will do wonders to my mental well being and probably nothing much will change in my portfolio, even if I watch it like a hawk. So why do I still insist on watching it so closely? Habit? Obsession? Boredom?



4. My broker asked me if I wanted to do a placement for Hutch's IPO. It's denominated in USD and pays dividend in HKD, around 4-6% (I really can't remember). I am left wondering why such a hot IPO will have placements for me, a retail investor. I don't like it to be denominated in USD and paid in HKD. The fact that I was asked about the placement makes me think twice about it. Am I going to subscribe? IPO is a funny business - if you can subscribe to it easily, it's not going to be a good one; if you can't subscribe enough of it, it's going to be a good one. Screwed if you do and screwed if you don't.



5. A spunky newbie in the market asked my wife if she does Forex trading. The student, a guy, said that his friend is going to teach him how to trade it profitably with just $500. Can it be done? I suppose so, but it's not going to be easy. Let's hope that person don't lose more than the $500 that he intends to put in. Somethings in life, you can only learn from mistakes that you commit on your own even though preferably it's better to learn from other people's mistakes. Let him be aware of the risk and rewards of doing forex trading, and let him be the one who smiles at his profits and grimace at his losses.