Valuable Lessons

I learnt a few valuable lessons today through the stock market.

1. Only buy stocks which are fundamentally sound
   
2. Decide your investment horizon (long term/short term)
3. Do not chase after stocks (a.k.a the Greater Fool game)
   
4. Exercise discipline and cut loss immediately once the level is reached
   

Although the stock I bought was of reasonably good fundamentals, I think I paid a premium for it. Definitely not worth it. Will not commit the same mistake again.

I'm usually in for the long haul. In fact, I have not done any short term trades since I started.

I'm still not good enough in terms of reading the market. Lack of practice. Point 4 is really not that easy to achieve. However, it tells me that I am more suited for long term investments rather than short term. Better stick with all the ratios and numbers at the moment.

Fiction for a Change

Of late, I am taking a break from reading non-fiction books. I have been focusing too much on the hard knowledge without balancing the need for soft skills. Too logical and cerebral. As such, the new flavour are fiction titles. Yes yes. You can see that my sentences are getting shorter, an indication that I haven't been exercising my imagination enough. Reading some imaginary stuffs could probably spark the engine again.

As coincidence would have it, a friend of mine recommended "The Eyre Affair" (NLB Call No.: FFO-[MY]). Not a particularly exciting story (you can find the plot summary here). But some parts are quite witty. For example, the protagonist is called Thursday Next. When other characters say "You're Next", they can mean either that Next is Next or Next is next. I must say I wasn't paying close attention to the captital lettered Next the first time round.

I'm about three quarters done with this title. This book is the first of a series. So I probably will go on reading the others, if I am still uninspired.

I used to think (erroneously) that fictionous stuffs are a waste of time. Although I can't say that I'm a convert, I admit that novels and stories bring on another dimension to the reader. A dimension which I probably will not be able to experience in the normal day circumstances. Having said that, I tend to like the bad and evil characters in the stories more. Happy endings are pretty boring, don't you think?

Commencement 2007

Finally, the day which my parents have been waiting for. I was a forced participant in this whole ceremony. But since I was there, I have to make the best out of it. Graduation from the university seemed pretty eventual to me.

On a separate note, Time does seem to fly by us on hindsight. I am thankful to be in the company of good friends (you know who you are) throughout the 4 years of study. I haven't taken every opportunity to get to know a number of you on a personal basis. But to those who know me, I hope we would have accumulated enough shared memories to carry on the friendship.

I was one of the last few to clear the area on the day. I only managed to say "bye" once. Though I do not know where all my ex-classmates went, and what other plans they have (be it in the near term or the future), I'm pretty sure they're leading their own meaningfully busy lives.