Life can seem meaningless at times. Pacing around scanning your mind for purpose. Work is a way for many to define themselves. So is writing. Writing is a serious matter. If you cannot code then writing is your only whack at leaving behind something that shows future generations how you ticked.
My uncle passed away last night. He worked nearly his entire life. 35 years at big telecom. He liked his job. Just last Wednesday he decided he’d had enough and was going to retire. On Thursday he brought home an assortment of odd trinkets from his desk including several pens and cassette tapes. He was a gifted musician who recorded 100s of his own songs. We all went to dinner Friday night and celebrated. He was driving my aunt mad with cockamamie plans of spending all his retirement money fast. He set aside nearly a million dollars.
And for what? He was sold on the American dream they pitched to baby boomers—put in your 30 years and you’re free—to live out your golden years loafing about town doing old people things.
I am shaken. The black ‘flowers of death’ bloomed in front of my house on Tuesday and I’ve been too busy to tell anyone. They have portended a fast and hard down move in the stock market two years in a row. I could chalk it up to seasonality, but the blooms happen on slightly different dates every year. This year they portended actual death.
And the Exodus strategy session I prepared this morning has 666 words. I didn’t notice it until after it was submitted. I have been reading and studying Pontius Pilate all month. I have been listening to Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet album over-and-over again all week. I have been reading stories about the devil and wrapping my mind around the black magician’s ways and the philisophic purpose of such a character. I am shaken.
I don’t like these black flowers. A pest always chews up the foliage and I let it. But I won’t kill the unnerving perennial. I don’t have the stomach for killing plants.
The strategy session flipped neutral after four weeks of being bullish. I won’t be trading this week but I will be around the interwebs if any of you need anything. Because that is why I blog and take speaking engagements and organize these silly meetups in the city. I am creating my own playground, with more talented speculators around who I can ask questions, and less talented speculators that I can give answers to. This is a powerful learning position to be in and I think I have been clear with my intentions for a long time. I intend to be the finest speculator that ever existed. So if you have any questions, ask away.
RIP LAZARD AND LAZARD, A DACTLE CORPORATION
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
The Golden Years are many times not golden. Take it from a 72 year old. I am sorry for your loss, I used to be amused at the ” live for the moment” crowd- no longer amused but a believer. I am a devoted follower.
Sorry for your loss. I’m lucky to have an awesome wife and two healthy kids with another bun in oven. Everything I do I do with purpose. I work as hard as I can so that I can give the best to my family and set a good example/legacy for my kids. It’s really easy if you like what your doing. That’s the hard part for most people I think because they want it handed to them. Most people I know who have things handed to them either fuck it up or are not happy. Sounds like your uncle did things with a purpose. There is nothing wrong with the way he lived life. I guess the flip side is money is not everything, but it sure helps. I dunno. Just keep smiling and helping people dude. Seems like that is your purpose.
Sorry to hear about your loss.
It does make you think about purpose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um1Kxewx-_s
Sorry for your loss. You can waste all the money you want and make more. But time. That is the only thing we can’t get more of. And it’s the asset we waste the most carelessly. It can all be over – in an instant. And forever.
Hang in there man, happy to hear you got to spend time with him before his sudden passing.
Powerful post, Raul. I tell everyone, take the opportunity to enjoy your money. Saving is good. Hoarding is folly. You can’t take it with you when you go.