#except this mentality extends to everything. the results and the look of things are priority and with no patience or consideration to others
Plea From A Perennial
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Jaded - Bloodbound Fanfiction (Kamilah Sayeed)
Summary: When Kamilah thought she'd felt everything there was to feel, an unexpected encounter will change her mind.
Word Count: 2089
Genre: Fluffy
Rating: T
Tag List: @begging-for-kamilah, @lulu-the-cat, @ilovekamilahsayeed, @zoe6111, @kennaxval
Notes:
- English is my second language, forgive me for any mistakes
- To balance with Without You's angst, I decided to finish and post this cute fic that has been on my drafts for a while. I hope you like it.
- This fic is a prequel/follow up to my other fic, Parenthood.
When Kamilah woke up in the morning she noticed something unusual. Her bed felt larger, more spaceful than usual. Of course, the left side was empty. She checked the clock, she wasn’t late. Amy was the one to wake up earlier that day. Kamilah took a quick shower before meeting her in the dining room. She was sitting at the table, having a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper.
“Good morning to you too,” Kamilah spoke, trying to make her aware of her presence.
“Good morning, Kamilah,” Amy replied, without taking her eyes off of the newspaper.
Kamilah went to the kitchen, expecting to find a plate waiting for her, but there was nothing. She let out a deep sigh. Well, she didn’t have to eat after all. She prepared herself a cup of coffee and joined Amy at the table. The girl intentionally placed the newspaper where she could read. Multiple red circles in the ads session indicated she was seeking for an apartment and a new job. Kamilah tried to remain calm. Arguing is exactly what Amy wanted and she wouldn’t give her the taste of victory. But when the girl circled a divorce lawyer, she couldn’t hold herself anymore.
“This is a joke, right?”
“Does it sound like it?”
“Amy, you can’t be serious. Only because it didn’t go as planned, it doesn’t mean…”
“Excuse me?!” Amy raised her voice, interrupting her. “It didn’t go as planned because someone missed the final and most important interview.”
How many times Kamilah would have to apologize? It wasn’t her fault the conference took longer than usual, what caused her to miss the flight back home. She still attempted to take a private jet, but she couldn’t find a single one available in that moment.
“We can try again in the future,” she tried again after minutes in silence.
“In the future?” Amy shook her head and let out a sarcastic laugh.
“I’m not prepared, okay?”
And she truly wasn’t. Having children was never in Kamilah’s plans, not even as a mortal. She always had other goals, other priorities first. Then, she was Turned, and being a mother became an impossible reality. But she never cared, it wasn’t like she’d know how to raise a child. She could barely look after her protégés or younger vampires.
“Kamilah, you ruined my dream! If you aren’t prepared to start a family, I am. And I’m doing this without you.”
Amy got up in an impulse and in seconds she left through the door, slamming it shut. Kamilah rolled her eyes in frustration.
At Ahmanet Financial things were impressively boring, giving her plenty of time to think about her marriage and how she was failing as wife. When they got married, everything she wanted was to spoil Amy. Give her the best lifestyle as possible and take her to meet all her favorite places around the world. But after a while, Amy got bored and had other goals in mind. Goals that didn’t match Kamilah’s.
“Ms. Sayeed?” Her assistant brought her back to reality.
“Please, tell me I have a full-schedule after lunch.”
“Actually, you’re supposed to meet Mrs. Chamberlain, from the Once Upon A Time Organization, for lunch.”
“What?! Cancel it, right now.”
“I can’t, you need to be there in… five minutes. She must be waiting for you already.”
Inside her car, Kamilah cursed herself mentally. When did she agree with that lunch in first place? She was probably too distracted behind a pile of papers when she made that foolish decision. She didn’t mind having a partnership with charity organizations, but it didn’t mean she wanted to get that involved with their projects. Especially because she got a lot of involvement already, when she took millions from her personal bank account and donated for two orphans to have a complex heart surgery.
“Once Upon A Time Organization - Life can be a fairytale,” she read at the building’s facade. “Except for mine.”
Lunch was unbelievably pleasant, despite the circumstances. It went faster than Kamilah initially predicted. When she checked her watch, it was almost time to return to Ahmanet Financial again. She had started saying goodbye when Mrs. Chamberlain dropped the question.
“Are you ready to meet them?”
“Excuse me?“ Meet who?!”
“The twins you saved.”
“I-I didn’t save them… “
“Ms. Sayeed, of course you did. Without this surgery, they wouldn’t be able to live a normal life. They’d probably die before reaching the age of three.”
“Okay,” Kamilah hesitantly agreed.
After the woman told her the children were only two months old, she relaxed. They were probably sleeping. It was what babies mostly did at that age, right? That and… crying. When they arrived at the nursery, one of them was crying the lungs out.
“Stop, please,” Kamilah thought. “My ultra-sensitive hearing can’t deal with any more of that.”
Was life punishing her for not joining Amy’s motherhood plans? While the nurse took the crying infant away, Mrs. Chamberlain drove her to a crib, where the other twin slept peacefully. Not getting too close, Kamilah extended her eyes to study the little sleeping mortal.
“That’s the girl…”
She couldn’t hear what else the woman was telling her, she was too absorbed in her thoughts. That little girl reminded her of Amy somehow. Perhaps the manner she was sleeping, spreading herself and occupying most of the space of the crib. Exactly like Amy did, most of the nights.
“She sleeps like a rock,” Mrs. Chamberlain joked. “The world could be ending outside and she still wouldn’t wake up. But when she does… she’s a little hurricane.”
“Sounds like my wife,” Kamilah smiled, without even noticing.
Now, she was finally ready to leave for good, but before she did, the nurse came back with the crying twin. She couldn’t make him stop for some reason, giving Mrs. Chamberlain a desperate look.
“He’s the opposite of his sister, he won’t ever stop crying. His sleeping schedule is consisted in only a couple of naps during the day.”
“Ah,” Kamilah commented, without much interest.
Her head was starting to hurt, she was thinking of an excuse to get out of there. Pretending her cellp was ringing was a good idea. Before she could act, Mrs. Chamberlain asked the nurse to hand her the child and she had no time to protest.
“This is Ms. Sayeed, she saved your life. Why don’t you give her a smile?”
A shiver went down Kamilah’s spine and she panicked. She wasn’t good with children that would only make that kid even more… The baby boy looked into her eyes and instantly opened a toothless grin. Then, he rested his head on Kamilah’s chest. Having him so close to her body, she could feel it, through his heartbeats and accelerated breathing. He was scared and anxious. Looking at his little arms and hands, she noticed a lot of needle markings and scars. Suggesting he had spent too much time at hospital, being submitted to a routine of exams and medication.
“He stopped,” the nurse said in disbelief.
Kamilah looked at her and frowned.
“He’s afraid of you.”
“Me? But…”
“Having a nurse around only reminds him of his long stay at hospitals, under constant exams and medication. Obviously.”
“H-How do you know that, Ms. Sayeed?” Mrs. Chamberlain asked in surprise.
“The markings on his arms and hands.”
“That’s true. After both of their parents dying in a car accident, the doctors were able to successfully save he and his sister from the mother’s womb. But as soon as they found out about their heart condition, they spent most of the time in hospitals.”
Kamilah looked down at the tiny little mortal in her arms again. He finally looked calm and relaxed. She carefully caressed his soft brown hair.
“Is he okay now? After the surgery, I mean.”
“They’re still having monthly check-ups, but everything suggests they’ve been completely cured.”
“Good,” Kamilah smiled.
“They can finally go for adoption now. We already have some candidates.”
“Together, right?”
“Unfortunately, no. He’ll probably end up in a different house from his sister. A different country, maybe.”
“No,” Kamilah protested. “You can’t do that. You can’t separate them.”
“Ms. Sayeed, so far, none of our candidates has showed interest in adopting them both, together. There’s nothing we can do.”
“I… uh…” Kamilah looked at the baby again and remembered his sister. She thought about the pain she endured for not having her twin brother around. They shared a bond no one could understand, it was like their souls were linked to each other. “I’m adopting them.”
———————————-
It was late night, Kamilah rolled on the bed again. She couldn’t understand how Amy was able to sleep in those circumstances. As soon as she turned to the opposite side and attempted to close her eyes once more, she felt a hand touching her.
“Mama? I can’t sleep.”
She opened her eyes and Lysimachus was standing in front of her with a frightened look.
“Neither can I.”
Grabbing his little hand, she took him to the living room, where she knew he wouldn’t disturb Amy, or his twin sister. Sitting on the couch, she asked him what was going on, though she already knew.
“What’s scaring you?”
“Amaya said that if I’m sick, I’m gonna have to take a lot of shots and medicine.”
“But… you’re not sick.”
In truth, she wasn’t completely sure yet. For the rest of their lives, the twins were supposed to have annual check-ups to make sure their heart condition hadn’t return. And everytime, until she had the results, Kamilah wouldn’t stop worrying. Amy was always sure they were fine, considering they showed no behavior that suggested otherwise. But it wasn’t proof enough to convince Kamilah.
“Promise?”
“Sure, my love,” Kamilah nodded in response.
Although he was named after his uncle, Lysimachus wasn’t the bravest of the boys. Aside from his hospital trauma, he was always easily scared by anything. From monsters under his bed to elevators. Differently from his sister, Amaya, who was the bravest and most fearless girl Kamilah had ever seen… With the exception of Amy, of course.
Lysimachus rested his head on her lap and she felt he wasn’t completely calm yet. But she knew one thing that could help him to relax. It always worked like magic, since he was a baby. She turned on the TV.
“Let’s see if there’s anything interesting on…” without him noticing, she went to the recorded programs, finding a list of documentaries and shows about Egypt. That kid was fascinated to everything related to her origins. He’d proudly tell his kindergarten friends he was Egyptian descendant. Illusion she never planned to destroy by telling him the truth, that he was purely American, from a small town in Maine. “Hey, it seems to be our lucky day.”
The boy looked to the screen expectantly as a show about Egypt started playing. Kamilah had watched it herself a few days earlier, saving it for a special occasion to show her son.
“Wow, I haven’t seen this one yet,” a grin finally appeared on his face.
“I haven’t too,” she lied.
After a couple of minutes, the boy was already asleep. Kamilah paused it, as she knew he’d like to see the rest when he woke up in the morning.
“I thought I’d felt all there was to feel… until I saw you for the first time,” she thought as her hand stroked his hair. After adopting them, an entirely new world of feelings was still being explored by Kamilah. She had no idea how much she could care about someone, or how she’d hate traveling for work and be away from her family, or even the emotion she felt everytime she listened them calling her ‘mama’.
It was eight in the morning when her phone started ringing. The call she had been expecting the whole week.
“Ms. Sayeed, we have the results. Your children are completely fine.”
After hearing those words at the other side of the line, she could finally get some sleep too.
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Operation Knight Song (RFSS2018)
Heya @invaderpig I’m your Secret Santa for 2018. I want to extend my deepest apologies for posting this so late. The Holidays got hectic as hell for me back in December along with other priorities coupled with post-Holiday slump. I managed to finish this ficlet though. I had a blast working on this one. I’ve never done Doug x Frey in any fan RF4 work so I hope I captured their dynamic finely.
Wishing you a late Happy Holidays and a Happy new Year! Once more, I would like to thank @runefactorysecretsanta for hosting this event. This is my third time in a row participating and I love how it brings the RF community together.
Title: Operation Knight Song
Genre(s): Slice of life, romance, fluff, comedy, some drama
Pairings / ships: Doug x Frey and Margaret / Meg x Forte
Rating: T (13 and up) - mild profanity, some innuendos / suggestive jokes but nothing extreme.
Summary: During the Night of Holies in Selphia, Doug and Frey help Forte confess to the love of her life in a group outing.
Word count: 3813 words.
It was the snowy and star-lit evening of Winter the 24th in the independent town of Selphia. More specifically, it was the eve which preceded Christmas day: the Night of Holies.
Usually, it was tradition for the natives of Norad and by extension Selphia to celebrate the evening in peaceful solace and tranquility. In addition, it was known as a night perfect for romantic rendezvous and evening dates. It was all the more true for the Night of Holies this particular year.
Within the grand halls of Selphia Castle, the princess and her first man hurriedly prepared for what the former codenamed as “Operation Knight Song”.
“Doug, we’re going to be late. C’mon you’re taking too long! They might have arrived at the plaza already…���
“Hold on, dear. Ngh, this jacket’s too huge! I have no idea what size Volkanon picked out but it’s taking me longer than usual to…”
“Ok, less complaining, more moving or we’re gonna be late. We don’t want to keep them waiting, right?”
“Wait dear, I’m finished!!”
In a frenzied but enthusiastic rush, Princess Frey’s husband: Doug, descended from the 2nd floor of their living area with a pair of black pants, brown snowboots and a crimson colored jacket. Despite his previous complaints, it turns out the jacket was just about the right size as shown through his satisfied grin.
“Well, how do I look?” the red-head dwarf asked between gasping breaths.
“You look fantastic!” Frey chirped with a smiled as she clapped her hands together. “What do you think of mine now? Dolce and Clorica helped pick this out for me the other day. We had it custom tailored and ordered from Norad’s capital.”
Doug took another look at his wife’s snow-friendly attire which consisted of a beautiful black coat accompanied by an emerald coloured Wooly fur snow cap with both pieces complimented by an illustrious snow white scarf. For the evening, Frey had also undid her twin-tails, letting her long and beautiful emerald hair down.
“Stunning, I dunno what else to say.” Doug widened his eyes while his lips formed what could easily be described as a dreamy yet flustered smile.
“Hoooooh? Flirting this early on in the Night of Holies?” Frey snickered as she motion towards her husband, clinging onto his arm playfully. “I guess you are desperate for a spot within Santa’s Naughty List.”
“Gahhh, cut it out!” Doug yelped, his objections contradicting his now reddened cheeks. “N-not that I mind but not this early either, h-haha…”
“This blockhead,” Frey whimsically thought, “Wonder how we’re gonna have kids at this rate?”
Doug spoke, “So uh, what about Ventuswill?”
“She’s fast asleep.” she informed her husband, “I had Clorica and Vishnal prepare her a cup of hot milk and a serving of pancakes. Venti wanted to go to bed early so she wouldn’t wake up late and miss the Christmas festivities.”
“Alright! Now that’s all settled…Let’s head out then, shall we?” Doug smiled coolly, extending his hand out.
Frey giggled slightly as she took her husband by the hand. “Of course. As the high princess of Selphia, Operation Knight Song will not fail!”
For the sake of some yuletide context in this given Night of Holies and by extension “Operation Knight Song”, it is commonly well known in Selphia that there were two individuals who helped push the princess together with the hotheaded dwarf shopkeep of the general store. The honour went to none other than Margaret or by her nickname: Meg, the gentle elf musician of Porcoline’s Kitchen and Forte, the dashing and valiant head knight of the town.
Meg acted as a wingwoman of sorts to her close friend Frey and it was Forte who was always there to convince Doug to get his act together when it mattered the most. They’ve both remained strong family friends to Selphia’s royal couple ever since.
Of course, there is much more to this story and Frey herself knew it very well. Throughout this all Meg and Forte remained close friends. Relegating the overall feeling to “friendship” was a massive underestimation, so to speak. In reality…
“Forte, Meg! We’re here!” Frey excitingly called out as she and her husband approached the two figures waiting outside on the snowy centre of Selphia plaza.
“Good evening you two!” Margaret waved her hand and approached the couple, giving Frey an affectionate hug afterwards. “Ohmigosh, you both look so adorable!”
“Awwwww, thank you!” Frey squeed in delight. “You’re looking stylish too Meg. Same goes to you, Forte!”
“N-no, I’m not in need for any compliment whatsoever…” the blonde and tall knight mumbled. “I just put on a new cape that Kiel bought me. If anything, Meg looks so much better.”
Margaret wore her usual outfit but this time adorned with an azure mantle cloak, a kind of fashion that was common in the Nation of Elves as well as a checkered scarf which Forte had given her as a birthday present earlier in the year.
Forte had her usual armour equipped with additional protection from the winter evening including the aforementioned new cape which her younger brother had given her as a present. Outing or not, a knight had to remain prepared for anything. Whether it would be against monsters, immediate threats…or confessing to the love of her life.
“Great, then we’re all gearing to go.” Frey raised her fist into the air. “Onward to the observatory!”
“Hey, be careful or you’re going to trip!” Doug called out as his energetic spouse went on ahead. “Honestly, some things never change…”
“You seem rather excited yourself.” Forte commented with a half-smile on her face. “Not as enthusiastic as Frey but still.”
“Yeah, yeah yeah…So, you’re ready for this?” the dwarf gazed at the knight whose cheeks became flushed with pink not soon after. “I mean, you can do it any other time of the year but if you want to leave a lasting impression, it’s now or never.”
“Um, I know that!” Forte answered with a determined voice.
“What do you know exactly, Forte?” Meg curiously tapped her on the shoulders, resulting in a brief but alarmed shriek.
“M-MEG?! UHHH NOTHING!! WE WERE TALKING ABOUT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Just about how we should enjoy the Night of Holies b-because it only comes once a year. Yeah, it’s like that.”
“Well, best we get a move on. The snow might stop at any moment and I want to bask in this blissful scenery as much as possible. I saw Frey rush past your house already.” Meg stated while pointing to the western-most exit of the plaza.
“R-right…” Forte nodded as she followed Margaret down the steps leading to the town’s western residential district.
Doug was left alone in his thoughts for the time being. “Man, I know Frey wants to thank them for everything they’ve done for both of us but…this is something out of a romcom novel that Granny Blossom keeps inside her old shelves.”
Frey’s eccentrically named plan, “Operation Knight Song” had one and only one singular goal: successfully get Forte to ask Meg out. This wasn’t anything platonic or familial either.
Another piece of information that was common to most of the town’s inner circle was that Forte being madly in love for Selphia’s star musician, Margaret.
As a knight, romance or intimacy was not within her scope of immediate prioritization. Those never crossed her mind as much as it did for the other girls in town especially during their seasonal sleep over gatherings.
Yet Margaret came into Forte’s life and ever since then her existence alone did just about everything to question the knight’s supposed heterosexuality.
There are numerous reasons as to how the elven musician had stolen the knight’s heart but even then she couldn’t list all of them properly without breaking down into an awkward, stuttering and anxious mess. Meg was resourceful, hardworking, beautiful, compassionate, charismatic, somewhat of a dorky odd-ball, both shared some latent fear of phantoms (Pico was the prime exception) and Forte’s mental list could go on and on.
Forte was content simply just remaining close friends with the musician but as the months and years went by it became clear that she couldn’t deny her own feelings any further.
It started out with simpler things such as her regular compliments towards Meg becoming more frequent in nature. It was followed with other small instances such as their hands brushing against each other by accident on several occasions or noticing the aromatic scent of her hair on a more regular basis. Afterwards, it all escalated to much greater physical contact such as sitting awkwardly as Meg fell asleep next to her on the bench during one late afternoon after work.
It reached an apex when the musician casually kiss the knight on the cheek during her birthday. All Frey and Doug could recall was that Forte was reduced to a stuttering, flustered mess that same day.
A few weeks later, the knight confided with the royal couple that she could no longer deny the feelings she’s harboured for Meg and declared her resolved intention to confess.
Needless to say, Frey 100% supported the proposition alongside her husband, even if the latter wasn’t too enthusiastic about lowkey stalking their Night of Holies date in the guise of a group outing.
Doug sighed and hurried to catch up with the rest of the group. Even if he wanted to, it was too late to turn back now.
Within the top floor of the windmill observatory’s interior, Doug had finally caught up as his wife handed out the hot beverages and snacks she had prepared for them all prior to leaving.
“I brought along some hot cocoa and choco cookies.” Frey pulled out four heated thermos containers and a plate of chocolate chip-cookies from her picnic basket. “I have a few bottles of Prelude to Love in here too that I brewed up during these past few days if you’d like some later tonight Meg.”
“That would be lovely, thanks!” Meg cheerfully replied.
“Doug and I are gonna go head down now.” Frey announced suddenly, “Oops, you see…uhhh…turns out I forgot a few extra cloaks and blankets, incase for when it gets colder tonight…Y-yeah.”
“Wait, we just got up here!” Doug stuttered in an alarmed fashion. “Also, I brought us some blankets and cloaks in my bag…AGH.”
Frey interrupted her husband’s objections by playfully pinching him on his bottom. He played along as a result. “Uhhh, I mean yeah. I totally forgot them. H-haha, oops.”
“We’ll be right back in a jiffy, ok? I left the hot drinks and cookies near the benches next to the outer entry. Help yourselves!” Frey playfully declared as she and Doug descended down the stairs.
Forte sighed. She knew very well that the entire thing was a copout ruse to make sure she and Meg were alone. She appreciated the sentiment but wished as well that the couple didn’t have to sacrifice a part of their romantic evening to help her confess the feelings she’s held for so long towards the beautiful elven musician who stood nearby.
“Ahem. Ummm, mind if we step outside? I want to take a good look at view right now.” Forte somewhat nervously proposed.
“Hmm? Sure thing. The snowy evening view probably goes great with the hot cocoa.”
“So easily. What about your fear of heights, Meg?”
Meg giggled lightly and responded, “Why would I be worried about that? Especially when I have you by my side?”
Forte couldn’t help but melt internally and smile at the sentiment. She extended her arm out towards Meg, offering her hand. “Well then, shall we?”
“Wowwww!!” Meg gasped in delight. As they walked into the exterior viewing balcony of the observatory, the sight of a tranquil snowy evening glittered with the night sky’s stars awaited them both. “I’ve been to this observatory countless of times but the view’s always amazing…”
“And to think you were afraid of coming here, let alone of setting foot into the observatory’s top floor because of your fear of heights…” Forte teased slightly and continued. “…I’m glad you’re enjoying the view these days.”
“Uh huh…” Meg nodded enthusiastically while she opened up her drink. Taking a light sip, she sighed happily. “Ahhh, this is heaven. I’m not big of a chocolate lover as much as Dolce but this alongside he winter evening is pure utter bliss…”
“Indeed,” Forte agreed, taking small sips of her hot cocoa while her gaze was transfixed between both the view and at Meg herself. “This reminds me of my childhood…Our parents always used to make us hot cocoa on winter evenings. My mother was practically a master at the craft and it was one of the many things that warmed our father up after his snowy evening patrols…”
“Forte…”
“They’re both gone now. However, what isn’t are the memories they left behind for Kiel and I. For that reason…I want to keep living on, protecting those I hold dear and…well, continue to make even happier memories with the people I care for.” Forte uttered the last part out with a faint blush.
“Awwwww, that’s so sweet…” Margaret softly said, hugging the knight from the side. The surprise was almost enough to let her drop the hot cocoa she had been handling finely.
“EEEEEK!! M-meg…please.” Forte staggered, “I could have spilled something hot on either of us… be more careful…”
“Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” she laughed gingerly, breaking the hug. “I really am happy though…to be here. Happy to be with you all…that’s all.”
“Hmmm? Is something the matter?”
“Well, just that…When I first came to Selphia, truth to be told: I was afraid. Porcoline had recently taken me under his wing at the time…I knew nobody in town. I wasn’t sure if I could open my heart up so easily. Especially somewhere so far away from home…Then I met you, Lumie, Venti, Dylas, Arthur, Frey and everyone…I fell in love with this town soon afterwards. It’s far from my birthplace but…Selphia’s my home. I wouldn’t have it any other way and…I’m just so thankful to be here with you all.”
“Meg…”
Meg sighed trying to shake away what was a bittersweet smile on her lips just moments ago, “…Sorry, I got over sentimental again. Winter evenings like this remind me of my homeland a bit, I couldn’t help it. Anyways, why don’t I play us a song?”
Now was the time, Forte realized.
“Uhhh Meg…look…I…there’s something I need to…uh, well…”
“Huh? You want me to play a Christmas song? Ok, I’ll think…Silent Night or Jingle Bells…I want to see how it works on my harp…”
“No, that’s not it, I wanted to say that…um…”
“Wait, neither of those songs? Well, I’ll just play us Joy to the World and…”
Forte bit her lip in frustration. Her thoughts raced insanely as her heartbeat rose sharply. “Forte, it’s now or never.”
“I got it! I’ll go play us Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, that was a classic my old teacher taught me…”
“Meg, please listen to me: I love you.”
“...Huh?”
As the knight uttered those very words from her lips, it’s almost as if time itself had stopped in its tracks that winter-clad evening. Meg’s expression went from that of her usually cheerful eccentric one to that of pure speechlessness.
“I don’t mean as a friend or as a sister. Meg…look, I love you as a woman. Romantically. You’re caring, knowledgable, talented, compassionate, empowering, warm and just pleasant to be around everyday. My chest has been racing as of lately just being next to you…I don’t know what else to say…”
“Forte…is this true?” Meg blinked while a tint of red began slowly surfacing from her own cheeks.
“Yes, it’s all true. I was scared prior to this…We’re both girls and I have no idea how your culture does it…hell, I’m not even sure how my parents would react if they could see this but I don’t care! As a knight of Ventuswill and all of Selphia, I’m not going to hold my feelings back in front of the woman I love, damn it!”
Once more, Forte was met with a silent and blank response from the musician. Fearing it amounted to nothing but a potential awkward rejection, she steeled herself for what was next. She walked into this knowing that heartbreak might be a viable outcome but she would rather have professed her feelings than hold her silence forever.
“I’m sorry…who was I kidding. Just pretend I said nothing, please…Regardless, I want us to remain friends and…”
“You idiot…” Meg gritted her teeth, glaring with tears in her eyes.
Forte wasn’t given much room to react as Meg tightly embraced her as if it would be their last.
“M-meg…?!”
“Honestly…you blockhead…” she sniffled, keeping her arms wrapped around the knight tightly. “Took you long enough…! I’m so happy…I’m so glad you feel the same way…”
“Feel the same way…y-you…you mean…?”
“Yes…but…I’m afraid too. Not because we’re both girls. I don’t care about that at all…it’s because I’m an elf. You’re human.”
“What if you are an elf? I care nothing about that. I know there are places in Norad that ostracize your people but I’m not…”
“It’s not that!” Meg cried out as she continued to cling onto Forte. She blinked through her tears and continued, “It’s much more complicated. You know that elves live longer than humans do. What if you go before me…? You’re a knight…You’ve already pledged your life to the sword. Your line of work makes it so that you’re ready for death at any given moment. If you die before me and I have to live out the remainder of my existence in this world without you…I…”
“Meg…” Forte whispered, “You’re not wrong. I’ve devoted my life to the path of the sword. The sword is nothing more than an extension to my real devotion: those who I care for. You included most of all. You’re right…maybe I could fall in battle or I might succumb to illness, who knows what the future has in store but…I’d rather face those dangers while protecting and loving you…”
“Forte…”
“I know we have to go slow of course…I-if you say yes, that is!” Forte stammered but regained her verbal composure right after. “Going moderately is the key but my feelings for you are genuine…Meg…I want to be your knight and dedicate my sword to you. B-by that…I want to be your girlfriend. W-well…?”
It wasn’t too long after that the musician’s anxious tears were immediately replaced with tearful giggles as she broke her embrace. “Honestly, do all knights have to confess like this? I don’t even want to know what the marriage proposal would be like…!”
“H-hey, I was being serious…”
“I know, Forte. I know very well…Therefore, my answer is: I accept!” Meg spoke out the last part with a cheerful grin as she wiped the last of her tears away.
“Huh?! Meg, are you sure about this?”
“More sure than I’ve ever been in my entire life. Not going to lie: I’m still anxious…I have no idea what awaits us but…with my brave and dashing girlfriend by my side, I have nothing to fear.”
“Meg…ugh…I…” Forte attempted to choke back a sob as tears welled up her own eyes. She stepped forward and gave her beloved a firm embrace. She sobbed softly between sniffles and hiccups, “Ngh…I’m so happy…I was afraid that…ugh…Meg…I love you! I love you so much!”
Reciprocating the embrace, Meg giggled softly as she comforted the sobbing knight. “You big dork…I love you too…don’t panic. Even if I said no, I wasn’t going to leave you behind either…You’re precious to me no matter what…”
“Sorry…I shouldn’t have lost my composure like that. It was unknightly of me, so to speak.” Forte calmed down as Meg wiped her tears away.
“I dunno, I have absolutely no problems seeing this side of you either.” Meg playfully teased.
“Hey!! Ugh…you’ve always been unpredictable at times, you know that?”
“Maybe. Maybe not…I wanna do something else unpredictable, of course.”
Forte swallowed a lump as her heart raced once more. “Well, what would that be?”
Kiss.
Eyes still widened, Forte stared blankly as Meg’s lips parted from hers in a quick but blissful instant. “Merry Christmas Forte. I love you.”
“Ah.” Forte said aloud and continued. “Ah. Ah. Ahhhhh.”
Thud.
“Oh my gosh, Forte!!” Meg cried out in horror as she witnessed her newly confessed girlfriend dropping to her knees. She immediately knelt down herself cradled the flustered knight around her arms. “Are you okay?! Do you have a fever?! Are you tired?!”
Meg was all the more puzzled as she witnessed Forte’s unconscious but dreamy eyed and flustered expression. It was as if she had gone to heaven and ascended into a higher plane of goddesshood.
“Honestly…I need to get us both inside ASAP. Can’t have my girlfriend fainting outside here.”
Unbeknownst to either of them, the royal couple stood quietly in wait within the observatory’s interior in a floor below.
“Fufufufu…looks like Operation Knight Song was a grand success.” Frey sheepishly giggled. “Mission accomplished!”
“Uhhhhh…We did absolutely nothing besides eavesdrop.” Doug informed in a deadpan tone.
“C’mon, dear. We promised to be backup for Forte incase she froze up but looks like she didn’t need our help. That’s my Forte, haha…”
“Well, I’m happy for them both. That much I’ll say. I think we need to go up there before Forte freaks out any further.” Doug proposed but his intentions were interrupted by the mischievous princess holding up a mistletoe over both their heads.
“Oh hell no. Dear, please. Not now…w-wait until home at least!!” the fiery red-head dwarf took a step back, panicking.
“Awwwww, don’t be like that.” Frey licked her lips. “It’s almost midnight. Besides, I want to give Forte and Meg some time to themselves while I have my own little fun…”
Doug swallowed hard, laughing nervously. He had no intention of denying his playful wife’s advances but he braced himself for what came next. This of course consisted of Frey pouncing on her husband and showering him with cuddles and a flurry of kisses over his face and neck.
Overall, it was just another snowy, heated, chaotic but romantic Night of Holies in Selphia.
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Fictober18, Day 15: “I thought you’d forgotten.”
OCs: Shannon, Noah, and Orlando
Project: Untitled paranormal romance for Fictober18, now tagged #spookyromancenovel on my blog
Potential Triggers: minor recurrence of suicidal ideation, sort of
Word Count: 3,335 (!!!)
About: BIG CHAPTER, BIG REVELATION, lots of me rambling about magic as world-building-while-I-write. Making that world-building more elegant and integrated is high on my list of priorities when I tackle rewriting this; right now I’m just spewing it out as I think of it.
The obscuring light disappeared instantly, and where we found ourselves couldn't have been any more unlike where we started. Gentle candlelight and subdued wall sconces replaced the sputtering streetlights. Dirty asphalt gave way to plush rugs scattered haphazardly over polished hardwood. The room was warm and close and inviting, scented lightly with incense. Piles of richly colored cushions took the place of more standard furniture.
If the smell had been different, I might have wondered if this was how opium dens used to feel.
Orlando was similarly comfortable-looking, a rounded man with deep brown skin, genially handsome without any sharp edges that might intimidate. A faint grin peeked out from his neatly groomed facial hair. “You found me,” he said.
Noah grunted. “You didn't make it easy.”
“It shouldn't be, yet here you are. Welcome to my sanctuary.”
Something rang false in his tone, but I couldn't tease out what it was. Another test?
He motioned at the cushions nearest to his own, a small mountain where he reclined so deeply he was nearly sprawled on his back, like a stranded turtle.
I settled onto a pillow large enough to make a convincing flotation device. Noah found a much thinner one and placed it beside me, bracing himself as upright as possible, losing none of his formidable height and bulk.
If the sight was meant to cow Orlando, he showed no sign of it in his pose or expression.
“Thank you for agreeing to see us,” I began simply, hoping to forestall any further belligerence from Noah.
It didn't work. “I would feel better if you had agreed to help us.”
In preparation for this meeting, I had already told Noah everything Ursula had told me, as well as every word of my telephone conversation with Orlando. I had warned Noah against telling any lies, even half-truths or clever evasions. But if this banked anger was honest, I had to hope Orlando wouldn't take offense.
“I will listen with an open mind,” he replied, “and tell you whatever I can. But I make no promises beyond that. It may not even be in my power to help you.” He crooked his elbow into a cushion and rested his head on his upturned hand, smiling with a touch of malicious glee. “Of course, you understand that I rarely make any promises at all. They can be surprisingly dangerous.”
Noah stared at him for a long time before speaking. “I don't like this. I feel as though I've walked into another trap, only this time, I brought Shannon with me. Are we in any danger from you here? Physical, mental, or magical? Because if you can't promise that we aren't—and yes, I mean promise—then show us the door, and we'll pretend none of this ever happened.”
Orlando laughed lightly, a clear affectation. “I promise that I pose no threat to you. You will leave in the same condition you arrived.”
A tiny spark of silver light appeared before us, perhaps a foot from the floor. It rose quickly, and when it was above the level of our heads, it burst into a shimmering dome around us, which flared briefly before flickering out of existence.
“A visual element to signify a vow made?” I asked dryly.
Orlando nodded. “You've been doing your reading. I don't always indulge in such theatrics, but they have their uses.”
That seemed to mollify Noah properly. “So what do we do? What do you need to know?”
“Everything, my boy.” Noah shifted uncomfortably at that, but Orlando chose to ignore it, if he noticed. “Start from the curse and tell me what you remember about its magic, and every bit of magic you've encountered since then.” He turned to me. “If I need clarification about your involvement, I'll let you know, but for his story, please be silent otherwise.”
“I understand.” Reading two people at once was taxing, and I didn't necessarily think it was the sort of thing that got easier with more power. If anything, it might be more difficult, with deeper access to their truths.
It was a surprisingly short tale for how long and harrowing the three years of isolation and fear must have felt. But Noah had had little knowledge of magic beyond the purely academic, before the curse, and most of that was only from being close friends with a witch. Magical theory by osmosis. He couldn't explain his magical heart except in the most general terms—at Orlando's request, I detailed what I'd done that night to save Noah.
“You're leaving something out,” he chided gently when I'd finished.
“I am,” I admitted. “I'm not going to tell you where Noah's living heart is. No one but me knows, and no one will. If you had any designs on that knowledge as part of your payment, tell me now and we'll be on our way.”
I had no ground to stand on, really; we were the ones asking him for his knowledge, his assistance. If he wanted anything from us, the desire seemed to come from curiosity; Noah was entirely unique in his experience with the curse, as far as my research had shown. Orlando had confirmed as much on the phone.
But we were a puzzle, at best. Orlando could walk away from this much more easier than Noah and I could. Still, I had to make clear what I was willing to pay, and what was off the table.
“I respect that,” Orlando said quietly. “There's no point in undoing the curse if you can't restore his heart, so you gain nothing by trading it away.” He shifted on the cushions, pointing himself more toward me. “What else can you tell me about your efforts to block the transformation?”
Without my notes to hand, I didn't have precise details memorized, but I gave him a solid outline. We'd tried Healing magic first, of course, both a systemic treatment of small, regular sessions and later, a large burst of it meant to flush the curse from his body before its hold grew deeper. Neither attempt had made any obvious difference.
After that, I'd begun dosing him with potions, reasoning that the magic resistance that was natural to gargoyles was preventing my direct interference. Potions worked internally, differently; they could have worked where my magic failed. But everything I thought safe to try on him produced no results. I had no references, no guidebooks for it; the curse usually completed the transformation of its victim within the first twelve hours, only rarely taking longer. No Healer before had ever had the leisure of methodical experimentation.
By the time I'd run through all my potion expertise, Noah's body had changed enough to reject human food. The next set of experiments had not been to save him in the long term, but to keep him from starving in the short term. That was when we discovered that his cursed flesh craved poisons as well as rotting flesh.
That brought Orlando up short. “Have you considered that his body might be storing those toxins, the way fish become riddled with mercury? Even if you lift the curse, he might die on the spot from those.”
Noah gasped, but I held Orlando's gaze steadily. “Yes, I had. But all I can do is keep moving forward. If the time ever comes that we find a cure, I'll have plenty of antidote potions ready for afterward.”
Orlando nodded shortly. “What else?”
I described the tests I'd developed to gauge the curse's continued progress, and Orlando was intrigued by the blessed needle. “Where did you come by that? They're exceedingly rare.”
“I made it myself, started when I was fifteen. My grandmother blessed it first, before she passed away. Since then I've had seventeen others perform whatever blessing ceremony is sacred to them upon it. Without another needle to compare it to, I have no way to assess its power objectively. But when I made the mistake of pricking his skin with it, that first time, he passed out instantly and didn't wake for five hours.”
Noah shuddered. “I've never felt pain like that, before or since. It felt like every cell in my body was trying to swell and burst at the same time.”
“Now I only drag it over his skin, but it still causes intense pain.”
Orlando looked at me curiously. “Why did you want one in the first place? Had you already decided to be a Healer that young?”
“It's all I've ever wanted to be, from the moment I discovered what the power inside me was. How could I have it, and not use it to help people?”
He said nothing, but I thought perhaps a new respect gleamed in his eyes. “So explain to me again, in as much detail as possible, why you stumbled upon the idea of promise magic binding him. Because I have to say, nothing so far indicates that.”
Noah huddled in on himself as I spoke, laying out the events of the past few days. “Since we spoke last night,” I finished up, “it's occurred to me one way we could be mistaken. All that Healing magic I poured into him at the beginning may have extended the effective life of the magical heart I gave him. It wasn't my intention, but this entire time I've been throwing everything I knew before and everything I've learned since at the curse, and just hoping something stuck—there are bound to be side effects no one could predict.”
“One more question for each of you, then. Noah, do you remember the first promise you made to Shannon? If you do, tell me if you've kept it.”
Noah squirmed slightly, something I hadn't seen him do since we were teenagers. “I think it was something small. When my family moved in next to hers, I wanted her to be my friend, so I promised her I'd give her a candy bar if she sat with me at lunch the next day at school. She did, and I gave it to her, promise kept.”
I couldn't help smiling. “I thought you'd forgotten. You never threw that bribe back in my face.”
Noah laid his hand over mine briefly. “I didn't think we stayed friends this long because I bought you off at six years old with a Snickers bar.”
“Okay,” Orlando broke in. “Shannon, same question.”
“I--” A lump came to my throat. “I don't know if this was really the first one, but I remember promising he was always welcome at my house, after my mother scolded him once for something stupid—I don't remember what. But she was angry, and she made him go home, and Noah thought she'd never let him come back. I swore I'd fix it. And sometimes my mother didn't always like having him around—sorry, Noah, I hate it but we both know it's true, she can be a bitch. But she never tossed him out again.” I swallowed hard. “And it's still true now that I live on my own. He's always welcome.”
Orlando nodded once, then closed his eyes and lay back completely. “I need a few moments to channel my energies, so please, be calm and still. I'm not going to fall asleep.”
We waited. I was burning with curiosity about what Orlando intended, because meditation like that was often a precursor to working a spell, but I kept my restlessness in check. Beside me, Noah breathed deeply with his own eyes closed.
It might have been two minutes or ten before Orlando roused himself. “I was hoping not to have to do this, because it takes a great deal of energy. But as complete a picture as you've both painted for me, something is still missing. Noah, I'd like your permission to read you more deeply, to check for traces of magic hiding in your psyche that you don't even know are there. Because I agree with Shannon—I do think something unexpected is holding you to human life when the curse is doing its best to turn you.” He smiled and shook his head at the same time. “Three years, man. That's just a wonder. There's never been anything like this before.”
Noah cocked his head. “Will it hurt?”
Orlando exploded with laughter, so loud and sudden I flinched from it. “That's what you're worried about? Most people are more concerned with the invasion of their privacy.”
Noah shrugged. “You promised we weren't in danger from you. Which means you can't use whatever you learn from me for any harm, at least, not to us. Just by being here, I'm trusting you with the knowledge of my existence—you could probably sell me to the vampires for sport and make an excellent profit. But you won't. So what do I care if you take a look at my soul?”
I choked up again, tears threatening with more force, but I put on a stern face to hide it. Noah was only concerned about raw survival at this point. It was all he had left. And sweet gods, that knowledge hurt. I liked to tell myself I would do anything to save Noah, but my heart cringed away from the idea of Orlando performing a deep reading on me. Some things should never be shared; some things are too deep and painful.
It was easy to say I would do it if necessary, only slightly less easy to believe. But I wasn't the one being asked, so I would never know if this was a line I couldn't cross.
Noah wanted to know about physical pain, then offered himself up like an open book on a lectern.
“All I have to do,” Orlando was saying, “is touch your skin and look inward. Some people feel me moving through their mind and see what I see; others are completely unaware the whole time. Some fall in between those extremes. We won't know how you will react until we try. Do you still want to proceed?”
“Wait,” I said before Noah could answer. “Orlando, that means there's an element of risk to you. Noah's almost completely resistant to magic now. It may be that you just won't be able to read him—I can barely get anything from his voice, though I know I'm not as powerful as you. But the curse—it might fight back, if you try this.”
“The conflict and confluence between two magical disciplines is always unpredictable at first,” Orlando said placidly, still focused on Noah. “But even the deepest reading is still a mostly passive spell. I think the risk is acceptable.”
“But you haven't even asked for payment, yet.”
That made Orlando smile at me. “Good little Healer, always concerned for others. My requested payment is this; that I be present when you attempt to lift the curse, whenever that may be. I've been around a good long while, yet I've never been this close to history in the making. I want to see it done.” He grinned a bit wider. “And if you should be unsuccessful, I'd like possession of all of your case notes. If you succeed, I imagine you'll want to publish them yourself and reap the benefits, but they will still be immensely valuable even in failure. I have a fondness for original manuscripts, and adding these to my collection would be a feather in my cap like no other.”
Noah leaned in. “Why shouldn't she still publish them even if I turn? Like you said, they'd still be worth something.”
I put my hand on his arm. “Noah, don't. It's okay. I agree.” Orlando had found a deeper truth about me, one I hadn't realized he would see. “Orlando, I promise to keep you informed of my efforts to remove the gargoyle curse from Noah, and to invite you to any attempts we make. If we succeed, I will retain the rights to my work regarding this case; if we fail, I will turn the completed study over to you, to do with as you will.”
“Shannon!” Noah hissed. “You warned me not to make promises, and you do this?”
“It's his payment,” I argued. “I have to.”
“Without trying to negotiate,” he shot back.
“The terms make perfect sense to me.”
Noah huffed once more, but when Orlando reached for him, he subsided, holding out both hands in offering.
Orlando took them and gasped. “That is unsettling.”
Both men closed their eyes and appeared to sink into a trance.
For the first fifteen minutes, according to my phone, I sat watching anxiously, waiting for a change, for information to shake loose from their minds into words. But I was tired—I would have been asleep at least an hour ago on a normal night, and I was already running short on sleep from the stress of our current predicament. I made myself more comfortable with some extra cushions and did sudoku puzzles on my phone to keep myself awake.
Two hours later, they dropped hands suddenly as Noah made a high, pitiful keening sound. I shot upright, dropping my phone and reaching out for him, instinctively wanting to comfort. But he wasn't crying—he couldn't.
“Be still, Noah,” Orlando said gravely. “This is good news.”
Noah slumped forward, half into my arms. He was cold and stiff and insanely heavy, but I settled him as well as I could and held on. The keening trailed off, giving way to short, tense breaths.
“What is it?” I asked, since Noah was in no shape to. Though judging by his reaction, he already knew.
“He made a promise to himself, one he can only keep if he survives and becomes human again. He did so early on, before he knew he had enough power within him to make the promise binding.” Orlando lowered his voice. “He is caught in a loop of his own recursive willpower; I saw that the two of you had discussed...other options,” he said delicately, “but I don't believe his is a viable one any longer.”
Understanding his meaning took longer than it should have. “You're saying...he can't give up hope? Literally? He can't choose?”
Orlando shook his head. “He must continue to fight the curse until it takes him, or he dies.”
“Unless I can save him.”
“Unless you can save him,” Orlando repeated.
In my arms, Noah heaved and shuddered. “I thought you said this was good news,” he croaked.
“It is. Now you know that the artificial heart will not fail. Now you know that you are not limited to finding the cure in the short lifespan you assumed you had left. Instead you have Shannon's life, however long that may be. As long as she lives, you will too.”
My blood roared in my ears—I couldn't speak until it quieted. “What the hell does that mean?”
Before Orlando could answer, Noah raised his upper body and shook his head, shaking off my hold in the process. What didn't he want Orlando to say? After clearing his throat, Noah said, “It means I protect you, same as before, while you figure this out. That hasn't changed.” He glared at Orlando. “We got what we came for, and you've got your payment, after a fashion. Can we go now?”
I still had questions, but Orlando swept his hand once, imperiously, in a gesture too intricate and practiced to be anything other than a spell. I blinked—or really, I felt compelled to blink—and once I had, we were sitting on the cold, damp asphalt in the alleyway.
Noah hauled me to my feet roughly and sped us home so fast I had no breath to ask questions. I had the feeling that if I tried, he would simply throw me over his shoulder and run back, ignoring me all the way.
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12 Life Lessons to Learn, and Keep, From This Pandemic
A lot has changed in the last several weeks, and it likely won't be going back to being completely normal any time soon. This time at home has taught us a lot, though. I think for many, we are learning life lessons and resetting our priorities.
We need to hang on to these essential life lessons even when we start moving forward and go back to whatever new normal awaits us. Think about it, much of how we lived our lives before this point included a ton of social media, a bunch of keeping up with the Jones', and a sense of financial security and health invincibility because the market was doing well.
We as a society were traveling like crazy and doing all kinds of new things without getting sick (according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), tourist arrivals across the globe was supposed to cross 1.5 billion by this year.
That has all come to a grinding halt. Mother earth has made us a victim of her latest punishment. We as humans need to not only stay safe and sane during this time (and please do, work to relieve stress and practice self-care please), but we also need to take this wakeup call and learn from it. We CANNOT keep going as we were. It's not sustainable.
So, what life lessons am I referring to? I made a list 🙂 Check it out and see if you agree, or if you'd have anything to add.
Life Lessons from this Pandemic
1- Prioritizing Our Relationships With Family and Friends
This is a must, and I don't think we were doing this enough. Now we are forced to, and I'm sure some families are at each other's last nerve. But, I think we should take a minute and appreciate what we are being given: a chance to reconnect and understand each other. An opportunity to work on our interpersonal relationships, let go of past issues, forgive each other, make new memories, and get creative with how we are spending our time together.
Life Lessons: I think this is an essential life lesson to take away. The people closest to you deserve your time and attention, and vice versa. Use this time to reforge these relationships so that you can carry them with you for the rest of ever. No more excuses for not having enough time to do so; we have enough technology at our fingertips to stay connected no matter what. For those who feel they can't reach out to family, remember that not every family is made of blood. So, find your people, your loved ones, and use this time to strengthen the bonds you do have.
2 – The Importance of Health and Wellness
I hope everyone that once took their health for granted, and their access to medications, now realizes how lucky we've been thus far. I also hope everyone says, “ok, time to make health a priority.” Until you are taking care of yourself, you will not be able to fight, not just COVID, but any illness.
Life lesson: Take steps now to redefine your view of fitness and health. I'm not saying you need to become a bodybuilder, but pay attention to your food and activity levels, and work on developing healthy habits and build a healthy lifestyle. Think of food like it's medicine and use it to work for you and keep you fit (versus what a lot of people do with eating fast food and the like and it makes them ill). Pay attention to your activity and movement.
Take care of yourself now so that your body and mind can fight for you later. Take action. #Fuelup.
A motivational quote to further inspire you:
…life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass…
Maya Angelou
3 -Decreasing Pollution Benefits Us and the Planet
Climate change is real (polar ice caps are melting, earth's surface temperatures have increased, sea levels have risen, and the ocean is warmer). This is all due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One of the good things to come from this situation is that it has put a halt on production and factories have shut down. Thus, air pollution levels are at an all-time low, and animals are coming out to play.
Life lesson: I think this is one of the most important lessons ever, the planet doesn't need us; we need it. Let's start respecting the ground we live on and take care of it because by doing so, we will extend our ability to live in it, and we'll make life better for ourselves.
4 – We Really Don't Need to Spend as Much as We Usually do
How many people under normal circumstances would have online shopped and gone to the mall about five times now? I could probably fall into this category. Spending money is a wonderful stress reliever.
Life lesson: How much of our spending is actually necessary? I've saved a lot of money in the last month alone, mainly by not eating out and not buying things I don't need. Funny thing, I don't feel like I'm missing out.
Hopefully, this has shown us that we don't need much to be happy, what we have is good enough, and we need to be thankful for it; the rest is just excess and look how easy it is to cut it out of our lives! Those items you thought you couldn't live without? Guess what, you're living without them now, and you're surviving!
So, let's reconfigure how we treat our hard-earned dollars and go forward spending wisely and showing more respect for our money.
5 -We Need to Have an Emergency Fund
While you're creating that spending plan, take note of emergency funds. This is the longest rainy day/period ever. For anyone who couldn't figure out why they needed an emergency fund before, I hope it all makes sense now.
Life lesson: You should have about 3-6 months' worth of living expenses put away, and it should be untouched except for in an emergency. This might seem like a lot. However, the purpose is to give you a cushion if you lose your job or need some time to transition between jobs. Going forward, this is also your pandemic relief fund. Basically, it's so that you don't go into debt or have to sell you prized possessions to get by.
6 – Career Back-Up Plans Are Important
So many people are suffering pay cuts or losing their jobs during this time. Unemployment is above 13%! A common theme to address this that I've noticed is advocating for multiple income streams or starting a side hustle. While I think that's a viable option, not everyone can do that. Either their skill sets don't allow them to, or they are already bogged down so much by their primary jobs or some other reason entirely.
Life Lesson: Yes, multiple sources of income are one way to cushion yourself in the future, but I think we should all also consider career back up plans going forward. This crisis has shown us that you never know what can happen; even healthcare is not a secure profession (many people in the frontlines are taking pay cuts, as are subspecialty services that only do elective procedures or outpatient care). We all should have an idea of what else we could do with our skills; or what areas we'd be willing to learn so that if we're forced to, we can pivot.
Times are changing, and more change is coming. We must adapt to these life-changing events and be prepared for any possibility.
7 – Social Media Exaggerates
How many are completely overwhelmed or frustrated by social media? There's only so much any brain can take. Now we all have so much time on our hands, and I'm sure much of it is spent online. But, as I'm sure you are finding out: it actually makes this worse.
Life lesson: There's a lot on social media that is exaggerated, falsified, or taken out of context. I had to stop reading stories because of all of these reasons. I hope that everything you read online, from here on out, you take with a large grain of salt.
Find trustworthy news outlets to understand the facts; trust the experts who are doing their best and working tirelessly to bring you updates; and most importantly, take a break from your phones. You don't have to always be connected.
8 – Our Teachers Are So So Important
How many parents are homeschooling right now? How many think that poking their eyes out with a hot stick would be less painful?
Life lesson: Our teachers are some of the most essential people in our society. They really work hard and deserve so much more respect and money than they currently get. When schools reopen, and we continue moving forward with life, let's give our teachers a huge shoutout and advocate for their support.
9 – We Need To Slow Down
We live in a world that is “go go go.” We are constantly under pressure to be productive, to compete and be better than our peers or ourselves, and to never take breaks. While this has resulted in many of us having successful careers, as I mentioned earlier, this isn't sustainable. We are burning out, we are getting tired, and we are hiding our depression. In essence, we have lost our work-life balance. We need to get it back and start living our best lives.
Life Lessons: Let's slow down. We need to live one day at a time and pay attention to where we are at. I know this is much easier said than done, and I'm not saying you shouldn't plan for the future. I just think that we need to do a better job of being present and being more mindful. We all know that life is short; let's wake up from this and try to really enjoy life and make every moment count.
10 – Mental Health is Important
What we're going through right now, dealing with being confined, coping with boredom, going crazy in our homes, learning to cope with our fears, and struggling to keep our sanity…. some people fight this battle every day, every week, every year. To simplify it further, life is made up of all kinds of nonsensical bullshit that we have to deal with, and now it's worse due to the pandemic.
Recent research is showing that over 1/3 of American's are suffering from depression and anxiety – an increase from before the pandemic.
Life Lesson: Mental health is an integral part of our health and needs to be continuously addressed, just like our physical health is. It's not taboo. It's real, and it's normal. I hope that this pandemic will bring to light for people the need to have regular mental health checks and care, not just during an epidemic.
11 – Who We Consider Essential Has Changed.
I'm sure our perspective has shifted in the last few weeks about who really matters for us to function as individuals and as a society.
Life Lesson: It's not the online influencers that matter most or the makeup artists that you can't live without. No, it's our healthcare workers – including everyone who works in a hospital – our minimum wage workers and labor force that do all the back end work that we never notice, and our banks and grocery stores that provide us with the core essentials we can't survive without.
Let's all take a minute to recognize these people, be grateful that they exist, and that we have access to them. As we come out of this quarantine, let's continue to show gratitude, compassion, and kindness for them and recognize their hard work. Let's change our mindset and take care of them as they care for us. Let's NOT take them for granted anymore.
12 – We Are All Equal
Illness and natural disasters are great equalizers, and they also highlight the disparities in our society.
Life Lesson: Money, status, fame, and looks have no bearing on what happens to you, nor does it protect you in any way. At the end of the day, we are all susceptible to the same human vices, illnesses, and consequences.
We need to remember that we are all human.
In Summary
The situation, hopefully, is helping you to reprioritize your time and your life purpose. I hope you can use this time to find yourself and realize what truly matters to you and allows you to live your best life.
Let's carry these lessons with us as we move forward so that we, as a society, are better as a whole because of this experience. Let's not make the same mistakes we have been making.
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S&P 500: 5 Dec 2017 (End of Day, EOD)
The Trend is: UP (Strength @ 100%)
Daily Price Action: The daily price action is bullish.
Remarks
Since the trend is UP; you should not short sell the S&P 500 index.
Since the Daily Price Action is bullish, it does not make sense to be in CASH.
So the only logical position at this point in time is to be LONG.
S&P 500 e-minis position based on data @ 21 Nov 2017 EOD: LONG
Current Stock holding: None. TSN and HD were sold on 5 Dec
—————————————-
The indicators used in my chart are quite sensitive. Meaning there is no point in preempting or front running potential changes in signals. It’s better to just wait for the signals to change and weigh up the weight of evidence.
This blog is a Work-in-progress. While every effort is made to maintain accuracy and consistency, you should expect unannounced edits, changes in format style and content. This blog will evolve as my thinking evolves in response to an ever changing stock market.
“My Thoughts About Technical Analysis” was posted on 4 June 2017, 19 July 2017
——————————————-
“ Technical Analysis is a windsock, not a crystal ball. “ - Carl Swenlin. (Editorial comment: We are using technical analysis to measure what the trend is doing today. We are not using it to predict what the trend will do tomorrow.)
“Good investment advice is repetitive and boring. There is nothing exciting about it.” – D. Muthukrishnan
“Everybody wants to win, of course. But not everybody wants to bet, and therein lies a difference of the greatest magnitude.” - Max Gunther
“Worry is not a sickness but a sign of health. If you are not worried, you are not risking enough.” - Max Gunther
“To make any kind of gain in life, … you must place some of your material and/or emotional capital at risk. That is the law of the universe. Except by blind chance, it cannot be circumvented. There are no appeals. It is the law. - Max Gunther
“Systems don’t need to be changed. The trick is for a trader to develop a system with which he is compatible.” - Ed Seykota
“I have never seen short term trading work over the long run.” - Anonymous
“Trends persist.” - Richard Donchian
“I’ve learned many things from [George Soros] but perhaps the most significant is that it’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong. Soros has taught me that when you have tremendous conviction on a trade, you have to go for the jugular. As far as Soros is concerned, when you’re right on something, you can’t own enough. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage.” - Stanley Druckenmiller
“And then all that is required is a willingness to bet heavily when the odds are extremely favorable, using resources available as a result of prudence and patience in the past. It’s not given to human beings to have such talent that they can just know everything about everything all the time. But it is given to human beings who work hard at it—who look and sift the world for a mispriced bet—that they can occasionally find one. And the wise ones bet heavily when the world offers them that opportunity. They bet big when they have the odds. And the rest of the time, they don’t. It’s just that simple.” - Charlie Munger
“The second piece, analytically, is bet size, which is once you have an edge, how much do you bet in your portfolio? That’s a second key component which is often overlooked.” - Michael Mauboussin
[[[ Priority #1 in Technical Analysis is to identify the direction of the primary trend. That’s all we’re doing here. Which way is the stock going? Up or down? Answering that is step one. Then we want to look for either signs of strength or signs of exhaustion.
Price is the most important technical indicator we have. Moving averages are therefore a supplement to price behavior in the trend identification process.
If prices are making higher highs and higher lows above an upward sloping 200 day moving average, it’s most likely not in a downtrend.
… my sole use for a moving average is to help identify the direction of the primary and/or secondary trend in a given market. This is not for buy and sell signals.
Something we want to avoid is when a stock (or any asset) is trading near a flat 200 period moving average. This is typically an environment that lacks any trend. ]]] - JC Parets
[[[ “There’s no such thing as overbought in an uptrend.” Technical analysis’ primary goal is to find stocks that are trending and then take advantage of that trend. Assuming you don’t short things (please don’t), then the only way to make money as an investor is to buy low and sell high - i.e., ride an uptrend.
Given that finding and riding uptrends is our primary mission, once you are riding an uptrend, why would you ever get off of it before it reverses? This is where the concept of “overbought” can work against you.
“Oscillators oscillate.” This brilliant insight reminds me that many technical indicators go up and down frequently - even if the stock is continuing to move higher. They can’t help it. They were designed to work that way. (In reality, they are meant to be used when a stock is moving sideways, not when it is in an uptrend.) ]]] - Chip Anderson
“In a bull market, buy fast and sell slow.” - Anonymous
“In a bull market, negative divergences (eg. momentum or breadth) tend to resolve themselves to the upside. This is called the bull market bias.” - Anonymous with hat tip to Carl Swenlin
“In a bull market, you buy the technically oversold condition. In a bear market, you short sell the over bought condition.” - Anonymous
“Daniel-san, trust quality of what you know, not quantity.” - Mr Miyagi, Karate Kid. ( It’s not how much you know. It’s how well you have mastered what you already know.)
“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain
“Complexity is your enemy. Anybody can make things complicated. It’s hard to keep things simple.” - Richard Branson
“Simplicity has a way of improving performance through enabling us to better understand what we are doing.” - Charlie Munger
“Simple is not always best. But best is always simple.” - Anonymous
“Build systems, not goals. When you set a goal, you can fail to reach it. But with a system you always win.” Real success comes from following a system – not a random assortment of good ideas. - Ramit Sethi
“The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” - Anonymous
“Your focus determines your reality.” - Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode 1 (Editor: So what do you want to go big on?)
“Focus—and true productivity—is not what we’re doing but what we’re not doing.” - Caroline Beaton
“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” — John Maxwell
“Instead of widening your options, narrow your priorities.” - Caroline Beaton (Editor: So what do you want to go big on?)
“Just because something is valuable doesn’t mean that we need it.” ― Elle Luna
“Not every decision we make is actually rational. We see what we want to see filtered through our inherent biases, and then we make decisions based on those biases. These biases are called cognitive biases and we all have them.” - Christine Comaford
“There is only one side of the market and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.” - Jesse Livermore (Editor: In the stock market, both bulls and bears can trade profitably. But pigs and mules tend to get slaughtered)
“I think it was a long step forward in my trading education when I realized at last that when old Mr. Partridge kept on telling other customers, “Well, you know this is a bull market!” he really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.” - Jesse Livermore
“The only way you can make money in the market is with a trend. Price has to trend (move) higher or lower or you just break even. This trend can be hours or months, smooth or choppy but it’s that trend, the movement of price that makes you money. The trend, indeed, is your friend. “ Unknown
(Editorial comment: The more stable [or less volatile] the trend, the easier it is to make money.)
“Trading is all about putting the odds in our favor, and we can increase our odds with one key assumption: The trend will remain in force until proven otherwise. In other words, a trend in motion is expected to stay in motion or assume that the trend will extend, and not end. - Arthur Hill
(Editorial comment: And my own favorite bullish quote “The trend is up until it is not.”)
“Isn’t it strange how you want to enter long positions during a bull market, but you want to wait on that “pullback”? Then the market pulls back and you think the selling has just begun and you don’t want to enter too early so you wait. Everyone goes through this mental game.” - Tom Bowley
“Corrections are tricky because nobody knows how long they will last, how far they will extend and what path they will take. … the bigger trend is up … timing a correction is difficult. … I prefer timing the end of the correction rather than the beginning.“ - Arthur Hill
“Don’t buy the dip. Buy after the dip, once it begins to turn higher again. You don’t want to buy weakness indiscriminately. If you wait for the evidence that the buyers are back in control, you have a much higher probability trade with lower risk and stress.” - Brian Shannon
“One of the biggest challenges in technical analysis is to distinguish between a mere correction and the start of a bigger downtrend.” - Arthur Hill
“It is said that while bottoms are events, but tops are processes. Translated, markets bottom out when panic sets in, and therefore they can be more easily identifiable. By contrast, market tops form when a series of conditions come together, but not necessarily all at the same time” - Cam Hui
“Man plans, and God laughs” - Yiddish Proverb
“Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the face. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.” - Mike Tyson
“In economics (and markets), things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.” - Rudiger Dornbusch
“You can’t prepare for everything, but the things you can prepare for can set you up for life.” - Ramit Sethi
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin
“Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those that know what they are doing.” - Warren Buffet
“I only focus on what is black or white and kind of sift out the gray area in my investing style.” - Stanley Druckenmiller
(Editor: Why invest in anything which you are unsure about when there are other options that you are more sure about? This is simple “opportunity cost” thinking.)
“Correlations on many assets go to one during a crisis.” - Unknown
“You can get in way more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea, because you forget that the good idea has limits.” – Ben Graham
“Not dead. Can’t quit.” - Richard Machowicz
“My goal is to build a life I don’t need a vacation from.” - Unknown
“The things that make life worth living cannot be thought in your head. It must be felt in your heart.” - Unknown
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New Post has been published on Superbike News
New Post has been published on http://superbike-news.co.uk/wordpress/race-race-press-conference-kicks-off-sanmarinogp/
Race by Race - Press Conference kicks off the SanMarinoGP
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Coming into the Gran Premio Tribul Mastercard di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, it’s home hero Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) leading the title fight with nine points over second placed Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and thirteen ahead of Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) in P3. Those three men were joined in the pre-event Press Conference at Misano by Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Tito Rabat (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Moto2™ Championship leader Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS). Talk centered a lot around the Championship fight with gaps so close together at the top, and also touched on the absence of home hero Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and the weather that is forecast for the weekend – with some rain seemingly on the horizon.
First to speak was points leader ‘DesmoDovi’, and the Italian says that arriving at Misano at the top seems ‘unreal’: “To be at my home GP at Misano and leader of the Championship is something we didn’t expect and unreal. I’m so happy about that, today when I drove from home the feeing was really good, and a new feeling. We’re really happy to be in this position but the Championship is very open. Unfortunately, Valentino isn’t here and that isn’t nice. There’s one less competitor but they’re really strong and I think it will be a nice battle to the end of the season. Our goal is to be on the podium, we never were here and we know on paper it’s not a good track for our bike, but this year already we’ve had good results where that was true. We have to try and manage the weekend like the last two – like in Silverstone we weren’t fastest before the race, but we did everything perfect for the race.”
Marquez was another who was strong in the British GP, but the race didn’t quite come to the same end as the rider from Cervera suffered a mechanical DNF. Keeping the same approach and mentality is Marquez’ goal in Round 13 – where he has a few good memories and the team recently had a good test: “Silverstone wasn’t the best finish, especially because that weekend I felt really strong. But now we’re in Misano and we want to keep the same mentality and the same level. We did a test here two weeks ago and I felt really good and was riding well, so we’ll try to understand the conditions and the grip, and try to improve session by session. Misano has been a good circuit in the past with good memories and moments, and we’ll try to finish on Sunday in the best way to make another good memory. It looks like the weather will be unstable, when in Silverstone it was so good and it looks like in Misano the weather will be tricky! But we’ll try to adapt. We know that in the dry and the wet our level is good so we need to go out convinced we have a good opportunity.”
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The Movistar Yamaha Team and Maverick Viñales also tested at Misano ahead of the British GP, and Viñales says the positive results of that test were borne out by the results at Silverstone. As ‘DesmoDovi’ looks to defend, Viñales will be on the attack: “Silverstone was really good, I was feeling great and especially in the last laps. I pushed 100% and the bike was there. We recovered a lot of feeling at Silverstone and that’s good motivation. The test here was really good, especially with the electronics, and we’re convinced we can have a good weekend. For sure it’s a shame that Valentino is not here, especially since it’s his home track and he’s fast here. It was also interesting to us to compare data to improve, but we’ll try to reduce the gap in the Championship and start well on Friday.”
Cal Crutchlow came into the weekend with a slightly different headline to some – slicing a tendon in his hand and requiring some surgery. But he’ll be riding, and the LCR rider explained the mishap…
“Cutting parmesan is a dangerous thing. I wish I could give you a story, like I had to fight a bear or something good, but no. I don’t cook, I’m a terrible cook. But I was cutting the cheese, the knife came out the cheese and went into my finger. I didn’t think too much of it, went to bed no problem, but it was still bleeding…the doctor said go to the hospital. They reattached the tendon, it was a bad day on Monday but I managed to ride on Tuesday in Barcelona. It’s difficult but I think it’s possible. It’s disappointing after a good weekend at Silverstone and I was hoping to come here after a good test and be strong – maybe it won’t cause problems or maybe it will.”
Back to the home heroes, Andrea Iannone was another in attendance getting ready for the second round on Italian soil. Sitting out the race last season due to injury, the ‘Maniac’ is back this year and wants to get a solid result in a difficult season: “It’s a very difficult season for us. I hope in these last six races we improve the performance a bit. It’s very difficult for me to talk about the situation, we always try our best, in the garage and on track – and me at home, in the gym I try every day to improve. But it’s difficult at the moment, the feeling with the bike for me, and I struggle a lot. But I think the priority is to never give up and improve race by race and day by day. And continue to believe. Misano for me is a special weekend. A home weekend, we have two races in Italy and I hope this race this weekend for me is one of the best come the end of Sunday. But we’ll see. We start tomorrow and it’s important to start well, then we’ll see the potential during the weekend.”
Next up was Tito Rabat, who announced earlier the same day his plans for 2018 as he moves to Reale Avintia Racing, and extended his thanks to his current team ahead of the move: “This season we’re doing a good job and taking points in every race, except the last couple but in Silverstone we came back to doing that. First of all, I want to say thank you to EG 0,0 Marc VDS for these two years in MotoGP, and to Marc van der Straten for the years with his team and winning a title. I think it’s time for a change, and I’m very happy to go to Reale Avintia next season, and I think it’s a great opportunity to show I can be a strong rider in the MotoGP class.”
Finally, Franco Morbidelli took to the floor as he heads into the San Marino and Rimini Riviera event as title favourite for the first time ever – and says he’ll be pushing even more than usual, determined to take a podium on home turf: “It’s not over yet! We still have to push a lot and keep focused. Misano is a different GP for me, I will try to give everything – well, I always do that but I’ll try to give a little more because I’ve never been fast here or fast in home GPs and I’d love to take a podium in a home GP. It helps to know what your bike and your future will be, I think it’s always helpful and it keeps you calm.”
Now the talking stops and the flag drops – for practice at least. Moto3™ lay down some rubber from 9:00 (GMT +2) on Friday, before MotoGP™ head out at 9:55 to begin their weekend. Then on Sunday, Dovizioso defends his lead from 14:00 in the San Marino GP.
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Things I wish you understood - Part six out of God knows how many.
I wish you understood that I can honestly say that I feel like I’m never going to be enough. More so, I wish you understood that the scariest day of my life was the one I realised I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I was enough. And I know so many people would laugh at this and say that it’s all horseshit because I don’t give a shit what strangers think of me, and they’d be right. But just because I don’t care what strangers think anymore, doesn’t mean I can say the same for people I love. Because here’s the thing, I’ve never been secure enough to feel like the people who I love around me see me as enough, and that kills me.
Growing up, I was a bigger child who loved her food, and while I rarely felt bullied by my peers, my family never let me forget. I wan’t old enough to understand the situation at the time, but I still remember the time my grandfather, the one who everyone claimed made it clear that I was his favourite, called me garbage guts in front of my whole extended family, most of which laughed at the comment. My grandmother was the only one to call him out on it, causing an argument over whether it was a joke or not. Similarly, I just always felt my family always found me too loud, moody and just plain different from them.
Well, except for my dad (with the exception of moody), another man who said I was his favourite, but anyone who has known him long enough will tell you that his number one will always be himself and he’s willing to chuck anything, including his favourite things, away if need be for self gain. I learned that the hard way last year when he cut contact for no particular reason only to pick up contact when it suited him... months after he contacted my half brother who isn’t his and my sister who abused him and the rest of the family. And I want to make it clear that I have no beef with him having contacted my half brother, they were always the most alike so it made sense. But to contact me after my sister who abused us all? That stung.
My mum was different too. Like she would never openly say I was too anything, but whether intended or not, she’d have the same effect with the comparisons she’d make. Growing up just felt like a competition between me and my siblings with her as the judge. And don’t get me wrong, I know for a fact that my sister felt the same way, but it still felt personal. Because here’s the thing, when compared to my siblings, my strengths were things they could achieve given the effort was put in (school grades being the major one) while their strengths were personality traits and interests that contradict who I am as a person. I mean my half brother is just always going to be her baby despite being the oldest due to her quoting him as the thing that saved her from post pregnancy depression, so we’ll leave him out of the equation for now. My sister was outgoing, impulsive and loved cooking, shopping, dancing and the same music as my mother which made it really easy for them to spend time together. Meanwhile I liked different music and reading and writing, two things my mother hates, so I often got the ‘I wish you were more like your sister’ line.
And that alone would have been okay because like I could have been okay with knowing my mother was proud of my academics. But here’s the thing, I was never quite the best, even when I had straight As. Like depending on who I had in my classes, I would sometimes top some of the academic ones, but typically there was one girl in particular who would top everything, and she was the one my mum would compare me to academically. Now I want to say that I have absolutely nothing against this girl. She has earned every A she ever got. But I’d be lying if I said we were really ever on equal footing. This girl openly admitted to me that she had a really good family life, relatively good mental health and was wealthy with good contacts, none of which I have been blessed with at this point. And trust me, I get that these things don’t guarantee success, but anyone who tells you they don’t help is full of shit to be honest. Regardless though, I don’t think my mum really understood until recently what a difference it can make.
As well as this, in the last two years she’s also compared me a lot to my dad, probably because I look just like him. For those who don’t know, she hates everything to do with my dad. And honestly? Every word of that translates when she’s talking to me. The tone, the words. literally everything she says to me is just so different than when she talks to my half brother who looks like her. I don’t doubt she’d deny that it’s the similarities between my dad and I, especially looks wise, that has caused a lot of the furthering of the rift between us in a time where we should be at our closest, but it definitely feels like that on this end and probably always will.
Unfortunately for me, every one of these little instances and more stuck, and looking back, I’ve see how it bled into other aspects of my life. For a lot of my childhood, I somehow formed a superiority yet inferiority complex. I’m not really sure how to explain it, but I was insecure as fuck and yet I somehow felt that my academic grades made me superior because I was going to have a “better” life than those who didn’t stack up in that regard. Thankfully I took my head out of my ass at some point and realised I was being a prick, but it does mean I placed a lot of self worth on being “smart”, which was all well and good until I was placed in a bell curve system school at my worst mental illness wise and realised just how average at best I was. Honestly though, it hadn’t set in just how much this has affected me in the long run until a few weeks ago when that same girl from above got her bachelors in a single degree. Like I haven’t seen this girl for literal years, am doing a double degree course in two fields that are seen as more academic than the one she did (which I once again stress doesn’t make me better, but considering how much worth I have put on academics in the past logically should have made be feel better) and yet I felt so low knowing I’m only half way through my course and she’s ready to take on the world because I grew up putting so much emphasis on academics and keeping up with people like her that even the thought of not fucks me up emotionally. And once again, I would like to push that this has nothing to do with her, she has done nothing wrong, my thoughts have just been that severely skewed and I need to find a way to fix it.
Along with the push on academics, I’ve realised just how not feeling like enough has made me unhealthily insecure, jealous and clingy. These are all things I’ve worked on and can honestly say I’ve gotten better at with time, but I’ve still got a long way to go. They are also things I didn’t perfect early enough, and as a result, people got hurt. To be honest, there’s one person in particular I think about when I think of this, and while I won’t pretend all the fault was on me in that situation, my insecurity and perhaps clingy nature made me act in ways that were so out of line. I said things I perhaps shouldn’t have and made a lot of people think I don’t/didn’t like her, when really I was just hurt and lashed out. All because they broke off a friendship without saying goodbye. Similarly, I’ve also nearly broken friendships by being clingy, jealous and expecting to be certain people’s number one priority at all times.
But I think the most damaging area is the fact that I’ve become so insecure over losing people that I’ve psychologically forced myself to hold onto and be close to people, memories and things that I shouldn’t. Some people see it as being like the glue that holds everything together, but really it’s not. If anything, it’s like being blue tack. You hold everything together to an extent, but eventually you wear down or the things you’re holding onto get torn away from you, and when they do, they take a piece of you with them. And then one day you wake up and realise there’s close to nothing of you left and nothing or no one to show for it. But instead of stopping to find strengths in what I have left or making myself bigger by finding new parts of myself, I just cling onto the same things over and over in the same vicious cycle hoping they won’t take anymore of me even though I know they will.
And that’s the hardest part. Because time and time again I’ve had friends tell me that I need to let go or it’s all going to kill me, but I haven’t listened. I can’t. Because the truth of the matter is that while I’m scared that I’m not enough for those I love, I know I’m not enough for myself and I don’t know how to fix that and until I do, I can’t be alone, because that will kill me faster than holding on ever could.
0 notes
S&P 500: 4 Dec 2017 (End of Day, EOD)
The Trend is: UP (Strength @ 100%)
Daily Price Action: The daily price action is bullish.
Remarks
Since the trend is UP; you should not short sell the S&P 500 index.
Since the Daily Price Action is bullish, it does not make sense to be in CASH.
So the only logical position at this point in time is to be LONG.
S&P 500 e-minis position based on data @ 21 Nov 2017 EOD: LONG
Current Stock holding: TSN, HD.
—————————————-
The indicators used in my chart are quite sensitive. Meaning there is no point in preempting or front running potential changes in signals. It’s better to just wait for the signals to change and weigh up the weight of evidence.
This blog is a Work-in-progress. While every effort is made to maintain accuracy and consistency, you should expect unannounced edits, changes in format style and content. This blog will evolve as my thinking evolves in response to an ever changing stock market.
“My Thoughts About Technical Analysis” was posted on 4 June 2017, 19 July 2017
——————————————-
“ Technical Analysis is a windsock, not a crystal ball. “ - Carl Swenlin. (Editorial comment: We are using technical analysis to measure what the trend is doing today. We are not using it to predict what the trend will do tomorrow.)
“Good investment advice is repetitive and boring. There is nothing exciting about it.” – D. Muthukrishnan
“Everybody wants to win, of course. But not everybody wants to bet, and therein lies a difference of the greatest magnitude.” - Max Gunther
“Worry is not a sickness but a sign of health. If you are not worried, you are not risking enough.” - Max Gunther
“To make any kind of gain in life, … you must place some of your material and/or emotional capital at risk. That is the law of the universe. Except by blind chance, it cannot be circumvented. There are no appeals. It is the law. - Max Gunther
“Systems don’t need to be changed. The trick is for a trader to develop a system with which he is compatible.” - Ed Seykota
“I have never seen short term trading work over the long run.” - Anonymous
“Trends persist.” - Richard Donchian
“I’ve learned many things from [George Soros] but perhaps the most significant is that it’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong. Soros has taught me that when you have tremendous conviction on a trade, you have to go for the jugular. As far as Soros is concerned, when you’re right on something, you can’t own enough. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage.” - Stanley Druckenmiller
“And then all that is required is a willingness to bet heavily when the odds are extremely favorable, using resources available as a result of prudence and patience in the past. It’s not given to human beings to have such talent that they can just know everything about everything all the time. But it is given to human beings who work hard at it—who look and sift the world for a mispriced bet—that they can occasionally find one. And the wise ones bet heavily when the world offers them that opportunity. They bet big when they have the odds. And the rest of the time, they don’t. It’s just that simple.” - Charlie Munger
“The second piece, analytically, is bet size, which is once you have an edge, how much do you bet in your portfolio? That’s a second key component which is often overlooked.” - Michael Mauboussin
[[[ Priority #1 in Technical Analysis is to identify the direction of the primary trend. That’s all we’re doing here. Which way is the stock going? Up or down? Answering that is step one. Then we want to look for either signs of strength or signs of exhaustion.
Price is the most important technical indicator we have. Moving averages are therefore a supplement to price behavior in the trend identification process.
If prices are making higher highs and higher lows above an upward sloping 200 day moving average, it’s most likely not in a downtrend.
… my sole use for a moving average is to help identify the direction of the primary and/or secondary trend in a given market. This is not for buy and sell signals.
Something we want to avoid is when a stock (or any asset) is trading near a flat 200 period moving average. This is typically an environment that lacks any trend. ]]] - JC Parets
[[[ “There’s no such thing as overbought in an uptrend.” Technical analysis’ primary goal is to find stocks that are trending and then take advantage of that trend. Assuming you don’t short things (please don’t), then the only way to make money as an investor is to buy low and sell high - i.e., ride an uptrend.
Given that finding and riding uptrends is our primary mission, once you are riding an uptrend, why would you ever get off of it before it reverses? This is where the concept of “overbought” can work against you.
“Oscillators oscillate.” This brilliant insight reminds me that many technical indicators go up and down frequently - even if the stock is continuing to move higher. They can’t help it. They were designed to work that way. (In reality, they are meant to be used when a stock is moving sideways, not when it is in an uptrend.) ]]] - Chip Anderson
“In a bull market, buy fast and sell slow.” - Anonymous
“In a bull market, negative divergences (eg. momentum or breadth) tend to resolve themselves to the upside. This is called the bull market bias.” - Anonymous with hat tip to Carl Swenlin
“In a bull market, you buy the technically oversold condition. In a bear market, you short sell the over bought condition.” - Anonymous
“Daniel-san, trust quality of what you know, not quantity.” - Mr Miyagi, Karate Kid. ( It’s not how much you know. It’s how well you have mastered what you already know.)
“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain
“Complexity is your enemy. Anybody can make things complicated. It’s hard to keep things simple.” - Richard Branson
“Simplicity has a way of improving performance through enabling us to better understand what we are doing.” - Charlie Munger
“Simple is not always best. But best is always simple.” - Anonymous
“Build systems, not goals. When you set a goal, you can fail to reach it. But with a system you always win.” Real success comes from following a system – not a random assortment of good ideas. - Ramit Sethi
“The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” - Anonymous
“Your focus determines your reality.” - Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode 1 (Editor: So what do you want to go big on?)
“Focus—and true productivity—is not what we’re doing but what we’re not doing.” - Caroline Beaton
“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” — John Maxwell
“Instead of widening your options, narrow your priorities.” - Caroline Beaton (Editor: So what do you want to go big on?)
“Just because something is valuable doesn’t mean that we need it.” ― Elle Luna
“Not every decision we make is actually rational. We see what we want to see filtered through our inherent biases, and then we make decisions based on those biases. These biases are called cognitive biases and we all have them.” - Christine Comaford
“There is only one side of the market and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.” - Jesse Livermore (Editor: In the stock market, both bulls and bears can trade profitably. But pigs and mules tend to get slaughtered)
“I think it was a long step forward in my trading education when I realized at last that when old Mr. Partridge kept on telling other customers, “Well, you know this is a bull market!” he really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.” - Jesse Livermore
“The only way you can make money in the market is with a trend. Price has to trend (move) higher or lower or you just break even. This trend can be hours or months, smooth or choppy but it’s that trend, the movement of price that makes you money. The trend, indeed, is your friend. “ Unknown
(Editorial comment: The more stable [or less volatile] the trend, the easier it is to make money.)
“Trading is all about putting the odds in our favor, and we can increase our odds with one key assumption: The trend will remain in force until proven otherwise. In other words, a trend in motion is expected to stay in motion or assume that the trend will extend, and not end. - Arthur Hill
(Editorial comment: And my own favorite bullish quote “The trend is up until it is not.”)
“Isn’t it strange how you want to enter long positions during a bull market, but you want to wait on that “pullback”? Then the market pulls back and you think the selling has just begun and you don’t want to enter too early so you wait. Everyone goes through this mental game.” - Tom Bowley
“Corrections are tricky because nobody knows how long they will last, how far they will extend and what path they will take. … the bigger trend is up … timing a correction is difficult. … I prefer timing the end of the correction rather than the beginning.“ - Arthur Hill
“Don’t buy the dip. Buy after the dip, once it begins to turn higher again. You don’t want to buy weakness indiscriminately. If you wait for the evidence that the buyers are back in control, you have a much higher probability trade with lower risk and stress.” - Brian Shannon
“One of the biggest challenges in technical analysis is to distinguish between a mere correction and the start of a bigger downtrend.” - Arthur Hill
“It is said that while bottoms are events, but tops are processes. Translated, markets bottom out when panic sets in, and therefore they can be more easily identifiable. By contrast, market tops form when a series of conditions come together, but not necessarily all at the same time” - Cam Hui
“Man plans, and God laughs” - Yiddish Proverb
“Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the face. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.” - Mike Tyson
“In economics (and markets), things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.” - Rudiger Dornbusch
“You can’t prepare for everything, but the things you can prepare for can set you up for life.” - Ramit Sethi
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin
“Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those that know what they are doing.” - Warren Buffet
“I only focus on what is black or white and kind of sift out the gray area in my investing style.” - Stanley Druckenmiller
(Editor: Why invest in anything which you are unsure about when there are other options that you are more sure about? This is simple “opportunity cost” thinking.)
“Correlations on many assets go to one during a crisis.” - Unknown
“You can get in way more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea, because you forget that the good idea has limits.” – Ben Graham
“Not dead. Can’t quit.” - Richard Machowicz
“My goal is to build a life I don’t need a vacation from.” - Unknown
“The things that make life worth living cannot be thought in your head. It must be felt in your heart.” - Unknown
0 notes
S&P 500: 30 Nov 2017 (End of Day, EOD)
The Trend is: UP (Strength @ 100%)
Daily Price Action: The daily price action is bullish.
Remarks
Since the trend is UP; you should not short sell the S&P 500 index.
Since the Daily Price Action is bullish, it does not make sense to be in CASH.
So the only logical position at this point in time is to be LONG.
S&P 500 e-minis position based on data @ 21 Nov 2017 EOD: LONG
Current Stock holding: TSN, HD.
—————————————-
Experiment #3
Strength of buy signal on the S&P 500: 8 out of 9 (Another experiment. Charts not included.)
Experiment #4
Strength of buy signal on the S&P 500: 5 out of 6. (This uses a different set of criteria from Experiment #3 above.) Yet another experiment. Charts not included.
Experiment #5 - S&P 500 Intra-day charts:
This experiment was started on hindsight on 1st Oct. Charts not included.
S&P 500 Intra-day (10 Minute) Chart #1:
Long Tem MA’s: Bullish (EOD 16 Nov)
S&P 500 Intra-day (60 minute) Chart #2:
Short Term MA’s: Bullish (EOD 17 Nov)
Long Tem MA’s: Bullish (EOD 6 Sep)
Experiment #7 (New)
Charts not included.
Daily S&P 500 D-5 Indicator: Trending Bullish
Weekly S&P 500 D-5 Indicator: Trending Bullish
Monthly S&P 500 D-5 Indicator: Trending Bullish
Experiment #8 (New)
XLB - Bullish signal
XLE - Bullish signal
XLF - Bullish signal
XLI - Bullish signal
XLK - Bearish signal <------------
XLP - Bullish signal
XLU - Bullish signal
XLV - Bullish signal
XLY - Bullish signal
SPY - Bullish signal
RSP - Bullish signal
$XVG - Bullish signal
EQAL - Bullish signal
EQWS - Bullish signal
$VIX - Bearish signal <-------------
——————————————
The indicators used in my chart are quite sensitive. Meaning there is no point in preempting or front running potential changes in signals. It’s better to just wait for the signals to change and weigh up the weight of evidence.
This blog is a Work-in-progress. While every effort is made to maintain accuracy and consistency, you should expect unannounced edits, changes in format style and content. This blog will evolve as my thinking evolves in response to an ever changing stock market.
“My Thoughts About Technical Analysis” was posted on 4 June 2017, 19 July 2017
——————————————-
“ Technical Analysis is a windsock, not a crystal ball. “ - Carl Swenlin. (Editorial comment: We are using technical analysis to measure what the trend is doing today. We are not using it to predict what the trend will do tomorrow.)
“Good investment advice is repetitive and boring. There is nothing exciting about it.” – D. Muthukrishnan
“Everybody wants to win, of course. But not everybody wants to bet, and therein lies a difference of the greatest magnitude.” - Max Gunther
“To make any kind of gain in life, ... you must place some of your material and/or emotional capital at risk. That is the law of the universe. Except by blind chance, it cannot be circumvented. There are no appeals. It is the law. - Max Gunther
“Worry is not a sickness but a sign of health. If you are not worried, you are not risking enough.” - Max Gunther
“I’ve learned many things from [George Soros] but perhaps the most significant is that it’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong. Soros has taught me that when you have tremendous conviction on a trade, you have to go for the jugular. As far as Soros is concerned, when you’re right on something, you can’t own enough. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage.” - Stanley Druckenmiller
“And then all that is required is a willingness to bet heavily when the odds are extremely favorable, using resources available as a result of prudence and patience in the past. It’s not given to human beings to have such talent that they can just know everything about everything all the time. But it is given to human beings who work hard at it—who look and sift the world for a mispriced bet—that they can occasionally find one. And the wise ones bet heavily when the world offers them that opportunity. They bet big when they have the odds. And the rest of the time, they don’t. It’s just that simple.” - Charlie Munger
“The second piece, analytically, is bet size, which is once you have an edge, how much do you bet in your portfolio? That’s a second key component which is often overlooked.” - Michael Mauboussin
[[[ “There’s no such thing as overbought in an uptrend.” Technical analysis’ primary goal is to find stocks that are trending and then take advantage of that trend. Assuming you don’t short things (please don’t), then the only way to make money as an investor is to buy low and sell high - i.e., ride an uptrend.
Given that finding and riding uptrends is our primary mission, once you are riding an uptrend, why would you ever get off of it before it reverses? This is where the concept of “overbought” can work against you.
“Oscillators oscillate.” This brilliant insight reminds me that many technical indicators go up and down frequently - even if the stock is continuing to move higher. They can’t help it. They were designed to work that way. (In reality, they are meant to be used when a stock is moving sideways, not when it is in an uptrend.) ]]] - Chip Anderson
“In a bull market, buy fast and sell slow.” - Anonymous
“In a bull market, negative divergences (eg. momentum or breadth) tend to resolve themselves to the upside. This is called the bull market bias.” - Anonymous with hat tip to Carl Swenlin
“In a bull market, you buy the technically oversold condition. In a bear market, you short sell the over bought condition.” - Anonymous
“Daniel-san, trust quality of what you know, not quantity.” - Mr Miyagi, Karate Kid. ( It’s not how much you know. It’s how well you have mastered what you already know.)
“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain
“Complexity is your enemy. Anybody can make things complicated. It’s hard to keep things simple.” - Richard Branson
“Simplicity has a way of improving performance through enabling us to better understand what we are doing.” - Charlie Munger
“Simple is not always best. But best is always simple.” - Anonymous
“Build systems, not goals. When you set a goal, you can fail to reach it. But with a system you always win.” Real success comes from following a system – not a random assortment of good ideas. - Ramit Sethi
“The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” - Anonymous
“Your focus determines your reality.” - Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode 1 (Editor: So what do you want to go big on?)
“Focus—and true productivity—is not what we’re doing but what we’re not doing.” - Caroline Beaton
“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” — John Maxwell
“Instead of widening your options, narrow your priorities.” - Caroline Beaton (Editor: So what do you want to go big on?)
“Just because something is valuable doesn’t mean that we need it.” ― Elle Luna
“Not every decision we make is actually rational. We see what we want to see filtered through our inherent biases, and then we make decisions based on those biases. These biases are called cognitive biases and we all have them.” - Christine Comaford
“There is only one side of the market and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.” - Jesse Livermore (Editor: In the stock market, both bulls and bears can trade profitably. But pigs and mules tend to get slaughtered)
“I think it was a long step forward in my trading education when I realized at last that when old Mr. Partridge kept on telling other customers, “Well, you know this is a bull market!” he really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.” - Jesse Livermore
“The only way you can make money in the market is with a trend. Price has to trend (move) higher or lower or you just break even. This trend can be hours or months, smooth or choppy but it’s that trend, the movement of price that makes you money. The trend, indeed, is your friend. “ Unknown
(Editorial comment: The more stable [or less volatile] the trend, the easier it is to make money.)
“Trading is all about putting the odds in our favor, and we can increase our odds with one key assumption: The trend will remain in force until proven otherwise. In other words, a trend in motion is expected to stay in motion or assume that the trend will extend, and not end. - Arthur Hill
(Editorial comment: And my own favorite bullish quote “The trend is up until it is not.”)
“Isn’t it strange how you want to enter long positions during a bull market, but you want to wait on that “pullback”? Then the market pulls back and you think the selling has just begun and you don’t want to enter too early so you wait. Everyone goes through this mental game.” - Tom Bowley
“Corrections are tricky because nobody knows how long they will last, how far they will extend and what path they will take. … the bigger trend is up … timing a correction is difficult. … I prefer timing the end of the correction rather than the beginning.“ - Arthur Hill
“Don’t buy the dip. Buy after the dip, once it begins to turn higher again. You don’t want to buy weakness indiscriminately. If you wait for the evidence that the buyers are back in control, you have a much higher probability trade with lower risk and stress.” - Brian Shannon
“One of the biggest challenges in technical analysis is to distinguish between a mere correction and the start of a bigger downtrend.” - Arthur Hill
“It is said that while bottoms are events, but tops are processes. Translated, markets bottom out when panic sets in, and therefore they can be more easily identifiable. By contrast, market tops form when a series of conditions come together, but not necessarily all at the same time” - Cam Hui
“Man plans, and God laughs” - Yiddish Proverb
“Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the face. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.” - Mike Tyson
“In economics (and markets), things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.” - Rudiger Dornbusch
“You can’t prepare for everything, but the things you can prepare for can set you up for life.” - Ramit Sethi
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin
“Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those that know what they are doing.” - Warren Buffet
“I only focus on what is black or white and kind of sift out the gray area in my investing style.” - Stanley Druckenmiller
(Editor: Why invest in anything which you are unsure about when there are other options that you are more sure about? This is simple “opportunity cost” thinking.)
“Correlations on many assets go to one during a crisis.” - Unknown
“You can get in way more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea, because you forget that the good idea has limits.” – Ben Graham
“Not dead. Can’t quit.” - Richard Machowicz
“My goal is to build a life I don’t need a vacation from.” - Unknown
“The things that make life worth living cannot be thought in your head. It must be felt in your heart.” - Unknown
0 notes
S&P 500: 28 Nov 2017 (End of Day, EOD)
The Trend is: UP (Strength @ 100%)
Daily Price Action: The daily price action is bullish.
Remarks
Since the trend is UP; you should not short sell the S&P 500 index.
Since the Daily Price Action is bullish, it does not make sense to be in CASH.
So the only logical position at this point in time is to be LONG.
S&P 500 e-minis position based on data @ 21 Nov 2017 EOD: LONG
Current Stock holding: TSN, MA, HD
—————————————-
Experiment #3
Strength of buy signal on the S&P 500: 7 out of 9 (Another experiment. Charts not included.)
Experiment #4
Strength of buy signal on the S&P 500: 6 out of 6. (This uses a different set of criteria from Experiment #3 above.) Yet another experiment. Charts not included.
Experiment #5 - Intra-day charts:
This experiment was started on hindsight on 1st Oct. Charts not included.
Intra-day (10 Minute) Chart #1:
Long Tem MA’s: Bullish (EOD 16 Nov)
Intra-day (60 minute) Chart #2:
Short Term MA’s: Bullish (EOD 17 Nov)
Long Tem MA’s: Bullish (EOD 6 Sep)
Experiment #7 (New)
Charts not included.
Daily D-5 Indicator: Trending Bullish
Weekly D-5 Indicator: Trending Bullish
Monthly D-5 Indicator: Trending Bullish
——————————————
The indicators used in my chart are quite sensitive. Meaning there is no point in preempting or front running potential changes in signals. It’s better to just wait for the signals to change and weigh up the weight of evidence.
This blog is a Work-in-progress. While every effort is made to maintain accuracy and consistency, you should expect unannounced edits, changes in format style and content. This blog will evolve as my thinking evolves in response to an ever changing stock market.
“My Thoughts About Technical Analysis” was posted on 4 June 2017, 19 July 2017
——————————————-
“ Technical Analysis is a windsock, not a crystal ball. “ - Carl Swenlin. (Editorial comment: We are using technical analysis to measure what the trend is doing today. We are not using it to predict what the trend will do tomorrow.)
“Good investment advice is repetitive and boring. There is nothing exciting about it.” – D. Muthukrishnan
“Everybody wants to win, of course. But not everybody wants to bet, and therein lies a difference of the greatest magnitude.” - Max Gunther
“To make any kind of gain in life, … you must place some of your material and/or emotional capital at risk. That is the law of the universe. Except by blind chance, it cannot be circumvented. There are no appeals. It is the law. - Max Gunther
“Worry is not a sickness but a sign of health. If you are not worried, you are not risking enough.” - Max Gunther
“I’ve learned many things from [George Soros] but perhaps the most significant is that it’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong. Soros has taught me that when you have tremendous conviction on a trade, you have to go for the jugular. As far as Soros is concerned, when you’re right on something, you can’t own enough. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage.” - Stanley Druckenmiller
“And then all that is required is a willingness to bet heavily when the odds are extremely favorable, using resources available as a result of prudence and patience in the past. It’s not given to human beings to have such talent that they can just know everything about everything all the time. But it is given to human beings who work hard at it—who look and sift the world for a mispriced bet—that they can occasionally find one. And the wise ones bet heavily when the world offers them that opportunity. They bet big when they have the odds. And the rest of the time, they don’t. It’s just that simple.” - Charlie Munger
“The second piece, analytically, is bet size, which is once you have an edge, how much do you bet in your portfolio? That’s a second key component which is often overlooked.” - Michael Mauboussin
[[[ “There’s no such thing as overbought in an uptrend.” Technical analysis’ primary goal is to find stocks that are trending and then take advantage of that trend. Assuming you don’t short things (please don’t), then the only way to make money as an investor is to buy low and sell high - i.e., ride an uptrend.
Given that finding and riding uptrends is our primary mission, once you are riding an uptrend, why would you ever get off of it before it reverses? This is where the concept of “overbought” can work against you.
“Oscillators oscillate.” This brilliant insight reminds me that many technical indicators go up and down frequently - even if the stock is continuing to move higher. They can’t help it. They were designed to work that way. (In reality, they are meant to be used when a stock is moving sideways, not when it is in an uptrend.) ]]] - Chip Anderson
“In a bull market, buy fast and sell slow.” - Anonymous
“In a bull market, negative divergences (eg. momentum or breadth) tend to resolve themselves to the upside. This is called the bull market bias.” - Annonymous with hat tip to Carl Swenlin
“In a bull market, you buy the technically oversold condition. In a bear market, you short sell the over bought condition.” - Annonymous
“Daniel-san, trust quality of what you know, not quantity.” - Mr Miyagi, Karate Kid. ( It’s not how much you know. It’s how well you have mastered what you already know.)
“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain
“Complexity is your enemy. Anybody can make things complicated. It’s hard to keep things simple.” - Richard Branson
“Simplicity has a way of improving performance through enabling us to better understand what we are doing.” - Charlie Munger
“Simple is not always best. But best is always simple.” - Anonymous
“Build systems, not goals. When you set a goal, you can fail to reach it. But with a system you always win.” Real success comes from following a system – not a random assortment of good ideas. - Ramit Sethi
“The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” - Anonymous
“Your focus determines your reality.” - Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode 1 (Editor: So what do you want to go big on?)
“Focus—and true productivity—is not what we’re doing but what we’re not doing.” - Caroline Beaton
“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” — John Maxwell
“Instead of widening your options, narrow your priorities.” - Caroline Beaton (Editor: So what do you want to go big on?)
“Just because something is valuable doesn’t mean that we need it.” ― Elle Luna
“Not every decision we make is actually rational. We see what we want to see filtered through our inherent biases, and then we make decisions based on those biases. These biases are called cognitive biases and we all have them.” - Christine Comaford
“There is only one side of the market and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.” - Jesse Livermore (Editor: In the stock market, both bulls and bears can trade profitably. But pigs and mules tend to get slaughtered)
“I think it was a long step forward in my trading education when I realized at last that when old Mr. Partridge kept on telling other customers, “Well, you know this is a bull market!” he really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.” - Jesse Livermore
“The only way you can make money in the market is with a trend. Price has to trend (move) higher or lower or you just break even. This trend can be hours or months, smooth or choppy but it’s that trend, the movement of price that makes you money. The trend, indeed, is your friend. “ Unknown
(Editorial comment: The more stable [or less volatile] the trend, the easier it is to make money.)
“Trading is all about putting the odds in our favor, and we can increase our odds with one key assumption: The trend will remain in force until proven otherwise. In other words, a trend in motion is expected to stay in motion or assume that the trend will extend, and not end. - Arthur Hill
(Editorial comment: And my own favorite bullish quote “The trend is up until it is not.”)
“Isn’t it strange how you want to enter long positions during a bull market, but you want to wait on that “pullback”? Then the market pulls back and you think the selling has just begun and you don’t want to enter too early so you wait. Everyone goes through this mental game.” - Tom Bowley
“Corrections are tricky because nobody knows how long they will last, how far they will extend and what path they will take. … the bigger trend is up … timing a correction is difficult. … I prefer timing the end of the correction rather than the beginning.“ - Arthur Hill
“Don’t buy the dip. Buy after the dip, once it begins to turn higher again. You don’t want to buy weakness indiscriminately. If you wait for the evidence that the buyers are back in control, you have a much higher probability trade with lower risk and stress.” - Brian Shannon
“One of the biggest challenges in technical analysis is to distinguish between a mere correction and the start of a bigger downtrend.” - Arthur Hill
“It is said that while bottoms are events, but tops are processes. Translated, markets bottom out when panic sets in, and therefore they can be more easily identifiable. By contrast, market tops form when a series of conditions come together, but not necessarily all at the same time” - Cam Hui
“Man plans, and God laughs” - Yiddish Proverb
“Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the face. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.” - Mike Tyson
“In economics (and markets), things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.” - Rudiger Dornbusch
“You can’t prepare for everything, but the things you can prepare for can set you up for life.” - Ramit Sethi
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin
“Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those that know what they are doing.” - Warren Buffet
“I only focus on what is black or white and kind of sift out the gray area in my investing style.” - Stanley Druckenmiller
(Editor: Why invest in anything which you are unsure about when there are other options that you are more sure about? This is simple “opportunity cost” thinking.)
“Correlations on many assets go to one during a crisis.” - Unknown
“You can get in way more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea, because you forget that the good idea has limits.” – Ben Graham
“Not dead. Can’t quit.” - Richard Machowicz
“My goal is to build a life I don’t need a vacation from.” - Unknown
“The things that make life worth living cannot be thought in your head. It must be felt in your heart.” - Unknown
0 notes