On Monday, I finally got my work and mental worlds focused enough to get really motivated to do some paper trading…and the new computer I bought in April did not boot, not even in Safe Mode. I still haven’t figured it out but should soon. It’s funny, that’s happened several times in this fall when I got all set to trade – one time my internet was down, another time a cold really started to get kick my butt (I laid down on my office floor and fell asleep for an hour between 11am and noon!). Maybe it’s a sign.
When I do get my computer running again, my intention is to make 1 real trade every day with 100 shares and using a hard stop loss order all the time. I just can’t muster any interest in paper trading alone. When I think about trading with money, there is at least a spark of excitement. Having a little skin in the game will help me to get going again. And the limits above will make it hard to lose significant amounts of money. After I make my one trade for the day, I will try to get some simulated trading in too.
I know this is like my 27th plan of action, change of direction and shift in gears I have announced on this blog over the last year, but I am NOT ready to walk away from trading yet. However, if I don’t get back into things, I’m going to have to eliminate all my trading expenses (screening service, data feeds, higher speed and back up web access, etc.)
In the meanwhile over the last couple months, I have gotten really busy on house projects. I have restored 3 of the 11 old windows in the house. The three that are done are in the kids rooms, so the children are no longer exposed to the tons of paint chips that were so nasty anytime you opened or closed the windows . And nothing I have renovated (other than refinishing hard wood floors) has had such a profound effect visually inside and out! See photos below.
Somehow, I have lost 20 pounds since August too, I think because of the weekend warrior home improvement kick I have been on, between the physical work and keeping real busy so I forget to over-eat! I still want to resume the 5ks (and I have another 20 lbs to drop) that I blogged about earlier in the year as that’s when I felt the most mentally fit and ready to trade.
