No Tears, No Fears

Today's P&L: GBP -390.00

Today's Booze: 4 pints of Aspinall Cider

Today's Soundtrack: Prefab Sprout

No Tears, No Fears, it's the line most people remember from Liars Poker, a book about long defunct bank Salomon Brothers. Liars poker is a game almost every trader plays, betting on the serial numbers of bank notes. We used to do it to find out who had to buy the first round, but its mainly to kill time, (trading is often long periods of boredom with brief flashes of activity). The phrase "No Tears, No Fears" means no recrimination if you lose, in other words if you are worried about losing - don't play the game. I think life is like that. don't take risks, then whine about the outcome, (which seems odd as this blog is mostly a whining session about how hard my life is). Indulge me, I never said I was perfect.

Am I afraid of losing? I guess so, who isn't? I think I am more afraid of underachieving, which I know I have. This bothers me even more than letting down my family. My mother actually had a cab driver come around to check I was still alive, this is absurd, she can't protect me anymore - "No Tears, No Fears".

I lost five hundred pounds on the Brent Crude contract today, partially offset by a short position on the Dow. I think people haven't thought this BP thing through. An awful lot of oil companies had projected future earnings on deep offshore drilling off the American continental shelf, which seems unlikely now. We have had oil at over one hundred dollars a barrel in in the past and see no reason why it can't happen again. Trading oil is tricky though as it's margin requirements are high.

Today I was listening to Prefab Sprout. The top five songs I listened to:

The King Of Rock And Roll - How obvious that I would love this. Paddy McAloon claims to have written it in twenty minutes. Just long enough to walk down Lonely Street. "All my lazy teenage boasts are now high precision ghosts, and there coming round the track, to haunt me. When she looks at me and laughs, I remind her of the facts - I'm the king of rock and roll, completely".

Cars And Girls - Some things matter more than cars and girls, but try telling that to a teenage male.

When Love Breaks Down - It's true, "absence makes the heart lose weight". A song that reminds me of all the girls who swore they would never forget me and don't even recall my name anymore.

Life Of Surprises - Why do I feel there are no surprises left for me?

I Remember That - "Maybe words never spoken, aren't they the ones worth hearing"? I really have nothing more to say about this song.


In case I don't see 'ya...good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!