I don’t know if there’s a medical term for how my mind works, but the evidence of something significant going on thus far is irrefutable. My job used to consist of taking care of the boys by day, and going to school at night. Now my job is to go to work on weekdays and build up accomplishments to cash in when bonus season rolls around…get promoted, get my CFA certification, and build a future-telling model that will earn us some of that sweet Morningstar love. I’m locked-in everyday, like I used to be right here…only instead of the right words to describe one of the various clusterfucks helping to define this dark chapter in the history of our teenage republic, the engine purrs all day on a tank of glorious greed, in pursuit of answers to questions like…’what will lower prepayment speeds mean for the durations of FNMA 5.5s’ or ‘how artificially low is the 3 month LIBOR rate’?
The thing that I’ve found most striking is how the English language is used to its full potential by the financial brains who pump out analysis and the books I’ve had to read while learning about ‘Fixed Income Analysis’…while no where near as exciting as a Celtics playoff game (haven’t missed a single minute of any so far), it does get my adrenaline pumping to make a prediction and have it play out…this week has been especially joyful on that score, as before the opening bell on Monday I talked up Transocean (RIG), and the next afternoon called out a buy point on State Street Corporation (STT)…the latter was upgraded by Goldman Sachs this morning. Which means that someone else will have to write ‘The Murder of Jose Padilla’, along with the unfinished chapters of my Tolken-esque erotic story about an elf from a thus far unnamed land, and his epic journey in search of the magical three and a half entry sex doll that was stolen from him many years before.
There was a time, not too long ago, when the notion of going through a day without once obsessing over the minute details of this quest seemed impossible…and now I can’t even remember which hole the elf missed most…
If Obama wins I hope he will revisit the Paddilla case as it seems like a lot like one day in the life of Ivan Denosavich. As for the erotic elf story you might have to tell that one yourself.
I’ll post my partial manuscript here when I can get the time to revisit it…the work is something I’m very proud of, but the fact that it was never completed is something that makes me sad.
Now I’ve got to put in at least an hour a night to study for my first CFA exam in December…six thick books arrived on Wednesday, and the stark reality of what I’ve gotten myself into has definitely hit home. In this industry there’s a ceiling…I have to avoid smashing into it at some point!