Another slow day in the market – the tao of the turtle

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No direction on the market yet. Just stuck a licked finger out and not even the slightest breeze. I figure most investors are looking for some direction before deciding to lock and load – the fish just ain’t biting – no doubt abt it, it’s a dry spell –  best thing to do under these conditions is to take your mind off the market.

This has always been one of my tried and tested strategies whenever the market is going around in ever diminishing circles – I just step right out of my skin and disappear hours on end doing absolutely fuck all. Literally, I do nothing.

May sound really irresponsible and callous. But,  I reckon learning to tune out has to be a really unrated skill these days; especially in an age when most are us are mentally conditioned to assume – you are only effective, so long as you’re doing something – besides the art of doing fuck all is not exactly something any self respecting faculty would ever teach you in Harvard Business School. 

The way I see it; it makes little or no sense to fight the market; not if it’s turned upside down, shaken and stirred like now – any mental activity at this point in time is like running your car engine full throttle without black oil. Or suddenly finding yourself smack right in a middle of a storm.

You change direction but she chases you. You tack another course, but there she is again. It’s a never ending nighmare.

Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death like a moth circling a naked flame. Why even bother with the grief?  

If the truth be known – this storm is you. And all the turmoil that you’re experiencing right now is simply a function of you deciding to step right inside it. The good news is that also means you can step right out of it. There’s no Da Vinci code to it – all you have to do is head for the exit; it doesn’t get easier than that.

Besides this gives me an opportunity to revive a book I’ve been working on – for the time being, I am just shovelling coal into the furnace, finished 6 chapters last night alone and by the looks I am going to burn the house down to a cinder after another day of pretending to work.

This is an excerpt from the book.

“I want to speak of well being; of sparkling morns; when you just know everything is going to be beautiful the moment you wake up.

 I want to speak of peace, like birds nesting in each other’s warmth; the quiet type; where two people speak mostly through their silence.

I want to speak of wholeness; the kind no one ever spoke or wrote about; the one that I heard sweeps ever so ponderously filling your heart with wonder and awe.

I want to speak of epiphany, the one that tugs ever so gently and when the truth just draws out like silk scarf through a ring; the type that makes a smile break at one corner of your mouth and spreads to unite the mind and heart.

I want to speak of serendipity; the kind that stretches the heart like a blanket over the soul; wrapping your core in a sense of warmth and comfort – in the calm assurance; it was always meant to be this way.

I want to speak of beginnings and endings; the beautiful kind; the sort that even holds out the promise of redemption; where two people may be apart, yet remain very much one of the same. “

Hope you all like it. “I am, I am, I am,” sells for 40 Imperial Shekelians and will be avaliable in 16 instalments.

Darkness 201o

This is an announcement by Aurora for the Brotherhood Press 2010.

“Gentlemen, there are three books you have to read if you wish to manage yourself and others effectively, the first is Tacticus – the lesson there is the importance of form and how it affects the function to determine the outcome in any conflict. The second is Sun Tzu, where deception forms the central linchpin of all warfare and last but not least is Clausewitz, where you will learn how war is simply a continuation of politics by other means – but lets us all not be in any doubt or illusion when we talk about war. As there is war and there are wars and though you can say everything under the sun about these three military classics, they all have one thing in common, that is to say, they all agree that it is impossible to win a decisive victory without the element of surprise. In warfare as in business surprise is everything. These are all very good for managing toxic teenagers, crazy housewife’s, dysfunctional teams and fucked up bosses.

So now you know why the secret agenda of Temasek Review or Wayang Party or the soon to be called the de facto online version of the Strait Times will find it very difficult to establish a beach head in the Singapore blogosphere from this point onwards. Because say what you wish of Darkness and his motley crew, but they have effectively let the cat out of the proverbial bag. So from this point onwards it is fair to say those even those planners must realize whatever they wish to accomplish can only be uphill all the way from this point onwards. The only benefit they can avail themselves is to leverage on the power to forget and count on reliability of the collective consciousness of the internet to have a memory as short as a house fly – I really do not believe that will happen even by the most forgiving standards of how this house may choose to regard human nature. Suffice to say what has been done has already been done, there is nothing else that needs doing any more. It’s finished. It’s kaput….Darkness has done the job….the Confederation has voted 93 in favor against 3 votes and added to this all the guilds have backed Darkness…it is best for the sake of all if the Council issues a retraction as soon as possible to save themselves from further embarassment… maybe I did not make myself clear – last night at 304890 Primus time parachutist successfully captured all communications outpost in Primus – based on our latest intelligence, the Ottomans and the Sardu-khans have imposed martial law on Primus….perhaps all of you should just commit suicide to save us all the trouble…or maybe we can begin negotiations on the ten point dicta that I have before me? Are we clear now Gentlemen?

Kadjal 2010″

Conversation between Kadjal and the Council of the Wise in Primus Aldentes Prime – captured by an auto-bot crawler – the brotherhood press 2010