Greed & Fear - Part 1

Very potent motivators. No, no – I’m sure as hell not going to launch into an entire textbook’s worth of psychological behavior . Me no expert. The only part I could identify with in terms of this entire body of study is psycho ;) In two days flat I’ve run through the entire depressing gamut of greed and fear two times over. Wanna sit down hear?

Cycle One

The first is pretty darn straight forward. We all know the Singaporean Stock market has gone a lil’stark, raving, mad the couple weeks. Well, I’m generally for safe investing – I’m not one of those risk-embracing-come-to-mama boys in Uni that contra-trades an entire years tuition income on a single transaction. Nor am I one of those that would buy a fast, low car with my winnings- um I mean returns.

So far so good. My safe type of investing has generated about a 30% return on average. Being around fast macho talking boys, that spout charting techniques by the milli-second does admittedly make you feel like - #1, a geriatric-type – too safe, too dull a Singaporean as they come. #2 Bloody Envious, #3 Impatient and Restless. I have to waiting over 3 months to actually see any kind of significant returns. So get this, I decide to trade on impulse. Don’t do my homework and decide to buy a stock, based on the flimsy ‘tip’ if you might want to call it - a day after the STI hits an all time record high of about 3150 points.

Well, I just wanted a quick buck. It would be thoroughly awesome to indulge in a new pair of skinny jeans or a pretty dress – or simply contribute to my tour-the-world fund. Plus, I figured that I could probably beat the granny investors, till I realized to my utmost chagrin that I was one myself. You know the kind the institutional investors whack to a juicy red-purple pulp.

Yeah – so I got whacked. It nose dived 5 cents down these two days. I could pull a pseudo Warren Buffet and go, “Oh no, this company is severely undervalued” and hold it till it rise again (if it EVER does rise) and claim tremendous skill and foresight in stock picking then. So I sold the piece-of-sh*t-lots of shares off, upon reading 2 days after I bought it that last year that people in this firm were hauled up for accounting irregularities. Also found out, that this was on of the market anomalies. The unexplained huge rise in stock price year wasn’t fueled by robust fundamentals. So that leaves irrational exuberance by the speculators and those that think they are.

So in great, trembling fear. I sold Auston off today.

In all repentance, I confess I’m nothing but a low level gambler.

Starbucks Adventures and Updates

Update Note:

Finally! I get some respite. Its mostly permanent this time. I’ve quit teaching 2 of my tuition students. The last 4 weeks, I must admit that I’ve been humbled. Even with a full self-imposed measure of time management, I wasn’t able to balance work on the side and academia. Bit off more than I could chew this time. Reached a point where I was stretched so thin – that even the maintenance of workload capacity boiled down to a zero-sum game of trade-offs. Well inadvertently, yours truly has been forced to prioritize. Extra kaching to blow on delicious Nine-West heels or nice meals at Dempsey or Rochester Park has been relegated. Alright, I exaggerate – but yes the money was absolutely necessary for just covering my monthly expenses since I refuse to take allowance money from my parents (bad financial situation).

I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that the money I earn from baby sitting and my sole remaining literature student + some gains on the stock market are enough to tide me through the rest of the term. Now at least I can focus on my studies a little bit more – the neglected GPA has been whining like a bitch again. Well, it makes it worse that I know with overwhelming certainty (and guilt) that it is thoroughly true. To my credit, major partying or slacking, certainly wasn’t in my vocabulary the past 6 months.

Now I have time to write – someone say whoopee.

Starbucks Adventures

Here I am at Starbucks, conducting an observational study of its patrons (for my Consumer Behavior Class). What’s been said is true – its difficult to pin-down precisely one specific characteristic that all of them have in common. Various strains of humanity. Below is a parody of stereotypes combined with my robust and ever overactive imagination. Well – I’m basically taking the piss outta things, don’t get too worked up you so happen to identify with the various people (and a bit of caricature) below ;) I repeat – taking the piss outta things.

New Money- Euro couple

Currently sharing my table, is a couple I could probably narrow down to eastern European or Russian. The lady sports a bowl-shaped haircut ( Similar to mine when I was 7, when my ma put a bowl over my head – make shift hair cutting template.) only that it suffered the miserable fate of being bathe in peroxide. Hubby on the other hand is decked out in a birds-of-paradise type of loud graphic shirt. Me thinks they think that they’re blowing their pension money on visiting a small piece of China. Either that or maybe one of them discovered a natural gas source in their backyard.

The MBAs
Across the other side of Starbucks, we’ve got the learned and oh-so-sophisticated MBAs. Ask me, how did I know that they were of that aspirational caliber. Well, cos the Indian one was wearing an Insead pullover! The other 3 comprised of 3 other Caucasian men. One obese and otherwise unnoticeable. The other wallpaper material as well. And the third, more carpet than wallpaper. He was probably your high school nerd who really made something out of his existence then, than the sorry losers who made him cry. Hah! Take that! I now earn monthly what you would earn for the rest of the next decade. That said, he wears the similar pair of hornrims, the same charisma and poise that made Igor seem charming and really dense hairy forearms. So it obviously didn’t come as a surprise, that an emergent tuft of it was billowing out from the collar of his chic AX shirt. Okay, it suddenly occurred to me that he also would seem the type to have a blow-up doll in his closet. Or maybe he had some weird kind of fetish or mission for vendetta that would in all eventually turn him into a serial ripper in Lil’ Ol’ Jackie’s league.

Bah, anyway – I’m pretty certain that they were all trying to out-boast each other.

Beer Belly Blue –collar Bloke ( Tourist)

Could have used a make-over in terms of dress-sense sense. His redeeming grace? His almost cute boyish face – that made him a pinch of eye-candy from neck-up. Seems like the only exercise he does – was flex his fingers when shoving chips into his mouth. Seems like an okay fella though. Then he has to go, push his hands up his shirt to scratch his back. Its almost as taboo as scratching your armpit in public. A transgression only orang utans can get away with.

Expat Kid and maybe-girlfriend

Floppy Blond hair and some facial hair about 17 probably from UWC. ( Woot I’m so glad you have enough testosterone to grow that patch ). Well, anyway he’s here with the chick he’s supposed to have a thing going on with. They having a talk. When I say talk, I mean taaaaaaaaalk. Sense the seriousness in that? The where-is-this-going talk. I can’t hear from where I’m sitting, but moi is your local lip-reading expert.

Girl: ( Twirls hair, chews gum with mouth really wide open )… Well, we need to talk. So- I mean like, do you like – like me or not?

FBH boy: Uh… yeah..um.duh. ( keeps quiet – major awkward silence)

Girl: ( Sulks) So how come you never call me anymore…

FBH Boy: ( Squirms) Uhh….I don’t know … I’m busy I guess.

Girl: So are we like together?

FBH Boy: Uhhh. (Okay never mind, I’ll do the translation for him: We’re pretty much together if the hottie in my calculus class says she ain’t into me.)

Aighties. I had a lag between people strolling in and out Starbucks – I was doing my observations! Killed Old Father Time, by writing some.