Magazines, Scortzishoara, Challenges, Wall-E and Stocks

Lots of things have been going on lately. With myself too, but especially in the stock market.

Today, I came back from the mountains to discover that Lehman filed for bankruptcy and no other bank offered to acquire them. Their stock went down 75% in three days, after a bad earnings release last week. I wouldn't have expected bankruptcy, though... I probably put emotions ahead of reason too much on this one.

Then! Bank of America purchased Merrill, instead of buying Lehman, as people thought initially. The Dow is now under 11,000 and the commodities' price did not increase at all, to hedge the fall in stocks; crude oil fell to $94 per barrel. Basically, it sucks. This whole sub-prime-backed-mispriced-high-risk-derivatives-combined-with-unrealistic-expectations-
to-cause-a-domino-effect-in-a-not-so-efficient-market thingie.

I count on the thought that people will understand: those who take on more risk than they can handle will - sooner or later - get hurt. And that the whole market tends to return to an efficient, more balanced mean in the longer run. So, in a way, I support the government for not pumping any money to save Lehman. On the other hand, I worry about the people who work in these troubled institutions and who will be fired, and I worry even more about the young, enthusiastic ones who just got job offers there. Some of my friends included. Sadly, the internship prospects for next year go hand in hand with this "let's fire people to reduce costs" mechanism.

Apart from the financial happenings that I am more or less addicted to, I haven't been able to follow the news as closely. This kept me away from both the global wonders and suffering. Can't wait to get to school, get a stable address and some magazine and newspaper subscriptions attached to it. Then I'll find out in fashionable time about hurricanes, people and peoples, conflicts and the inability of governments to solve them, infamous presidents, new books and places to explore around the world.

Random thoughts:

#1. One of the things that I miss from Vassar is Scortzishoara (Cinnamon). My guitar, that I played neither well nor often, but dearly.

#2. Each individual has something to offer. It is important to wake up every day with an open, non-judgmental mind. It is also important that I remember this, regardless of my surroundings.

#3. The last few weeks have been, in some ways, challenging. One challenge, that I failed to overcome, was the fear of bungee jumping. Another challenge was to understand actively that when one feels vulnerable, one is more likely to react violently.

#4. At present, none of the parts of my body are misplaced.

#5. I went to a random check last week, and the doctor seemed to measure all the quantities in "spoons of", even if he talked about honey, polenta or cereals. I couldn't stop laughing - but the doctor was young.

#6. To all of the people who thought (b/c of the bad television programs in my home country, combined with the lack of general knowledge of those who watch them) that they might die, as the end of the world was coming: please write your will, and put my name on it.

#7. Don't talk, just let me look at you.

Background voices going on in my head have been saying lately:

"Wall-ee?"
"Eeeee-vaaa!"

I finally watched Wall-E. I absolutely and completely loved it. And I would never sleep through it, if sleep were a function of my will exclusively.

Today, I loved you all.

Good night!

Happy Bubble Burst

I got very excited today as I came back from my grandparents and checked how things are going on on Bloomberg.

As I predicted, oil was in a bubble. It fell all the way to $108 from its $145 peak in July. That's under the $110 limit that I was expecting - even if the Dow is just partially stable. Congrats to all of those who were shorting it! We'll see what's going to happen next.

Small things like this make me so happy sometimes :))