October 29, 2010

So this will be my first post in maybe half a year or so. Every time I want to make a post, I never know how to say what I want to say so I just don’t. Plus, I really have not had much time to just sit around and write my thoughts. It’s probably a bad thing that I’m doing this rather than doing homework or studying or planning or applying, but time off is a necessity and it’s nice to write out some of my random thoughts. So this post is literally going to be a bullet point list of thoughts and curiosities of mine from over the summer up to now… so here goes:

• I got incredibly lucky over the summer working for Peregrine Acquisitions. Because it was such a small start-up company, it really gave me the chance to delve deep into specific projects and actually do things that were significant towards the success of the company. Some of the work that I did required some good problem solving skills and using whatever resources I had to come up with a solution. I was surprised by how the technical knowledge from basic accounting skills (financial statement analysis) to computer programming (writing macros in Excel) came in handy. Also, due to the fact that it was such a small company, I was never thrown into one specific project and told to spend all my time on one thing. I was given the opportunity to diversify my knowledge of how forming different businesses in different industries worked. Also, it was a great experience in that it was an opportunity for me to get a feel for what it was like working on a full-time basis. Forty hour work weeks seem pretty hefty when you have never experienced it, but I came to realize that because I enjoyed what I did and was passionate about putting in my best effort to be successful (beyond the really boring tedious things that comes with every job), the eight hours a day flew by.
• Passion, ambition, and drive can take you a long way. People recognize it. Those you work with will appreciate it and even if it’s not greatly rewarded, it’s nice to know what you’ve gained that much respect of your coworkers. It also makes whatever you do so much easier to get through.
• I don’t understand people who choose what they do based on other peoples’ opinions or based on what they can do to make the most money. Do what you like. Successes can hardly be considered as such if it comes painfully.
• I’ve always been one to stress practicality. I go about life making sure that every step I take has a purpose and will ultimately lead me somewhere. Is this the right approach? Who knows. I sure hope so.
• As I get older, I have been feeling more and more of an urgency to do well. There’s no joking around when it comes to the things that need to get done. And at this point in life, a few of the things that are priorities are learning as much as I can about as many things as possible and then finding ways to apply this knowledge.
• It’s not really that hard to learn things once you commit to it. What I do find hard, however, is figuring out what should be learned. If I don’t know something, then how am I supposed to know to read into that specific thing. For example, in terms of trading, I’ve always know what options were and that they existed. What I didn’t know is how powerful they can be to hedge risks. I wouldn’t have known to look deeper into this if I hadn’t gone to a seminar on investment strategies a few days ago. I’m always afraid that despite the readings that I do and the work I put into understanding things, I’m missing important things that I just didn’t know existed.
• Reading newspapers seems like something old people do. You never really see younger folks sitting on a bench reading a newspaper. It’s always old people. After maybe fifth grade or so, when I stopped doing those weekly current event presentations, I stopped reading newspapers. They just never occurred to me to be a source to turn to for information. Even last year, when I had my own subscription to The Wall Street Journal, I rarely read the paper comprehensively. I guess I’ve finally come to my senses about the newspaper and its old-fashioned-ness. I have been reading the Journal almost every day, as comprehensively as my day would allow. It’s refreshing how much more I know about the world and how things work and different perspectives and just knowledge in general. It’s great. Despite the fact that I’m subscribed to maybe twenty or so finance blogs that are updated on to-the-minute market events on Google Reader that I will try to read thoroughly, I definitely learn more about what’s going on from the Journal.
• Speaking of Google Reader, I’m currently subscribed to about fifty blogs. Seventeen are related to baseball, mostly Yankees. Seven are on technology. Two are on cars. Two are on tennis. Eleven are friends’ blogs. Twenty are finance. Sadly enough, that kind of summarizes my interests…
• I insist that by the end of this school year, I will have a working financial model for securities. Over the summer, I tried working with models using purely technical analysis to forecast future prices. That was kind of a fail. Apparently, I was taking a pretty incorrect approach. As I learn more throughout the year, I’ll try to build more and more of that knowledge into the model. It’s tough, but I’m determined to get it working. We’ll see how this goes.
• School started about six weeks ago. It’s kind of been a sucky six weeks. There hasn’t been that much school work, but I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself to do really, really well on everything. Some of the approaches I’m taking towards achieving that goal is really time consuming, but I really hope it will be worth the extra work. I have not really done anything particularly exciting and I think that’s just how the rest of my college career is going to be: more focus-oriented. Honestly, there is not much exciting and interesting things around that are worth being considered a distraction.
• I really dislike the people at this school. More and more so. Last year, it was just kind of just a lack of desire to be associated with anyone here. Now that I have to live with more people and encounter more people, I’ve come to realize that people here in general, not everyone, are just douchebags.
• There are maybe two or three people at school who I actually enjoy spending my time with. The others all just seem like a nuisance.
• Living in a suite with seven other guys is hell. I hate that there are people around all the time. I hate that certain people think they’re welcome in my room and to my stuff whenever they please. I hate the immature and grossness that comes with typical college guys. I want a single in the future. So I can live my goddamn life without having to deal with these people. Ugh.
• It amazes me how some people’s egos can get so big that they don’t’ realize how big of a piece of shit they are. Not saying that I’m not somewhat cocky and have big expectations of myself. But it just seems different when I’m setting a goal for myself while they’re just being unreasonable about where they are now. Whatever.

Okay that’s all the complaining and bitching I have for now. This took a lot more time than I thought it would. Anyway, I’ll hopefully be posting a lot more often again,