Planet Earth is Blue There's Nothing I Can Do

That would be an excellent branch off the serenity prayer. The one every recovering alcoholic has memorized. God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, the courage to change things that must, and the wisdom to separate them. They are just words to some people. Not to me.

Words have never been, "just words." They are the conscious descendants of our primal sounds and songs. They resonate internally; a good lyric accompanies it's musical instrument like a soulmate. True, divine words are layered, and inspire our inner allegory. The twenty-third Psalm is infinitely more than an assemblage of words. The Parable of the Sower speaks to every endeavor. People who say 'sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you,' are sleep-walking. That's baby-talk.

The freight of words comes with it's own bill of lading. Today, the market is down, and my portfolio seems like a mess. As we close out the week from beyond imagination, I would like to take time and reflect and give thanks for past success. True, this week saw the P & L swing from ten percent up, to three percent down. We've been there before, and we'll be there again.

This was the week that realized my single best percentage trade. The $4.58 SunOpta shares turned in a nice 125% return in thirteen months. My newly opened short position there is already positive. Plus, I realized another short-term gain off Vical, Inc. I got in the upward-bound VICL on the first day of February, for that very same price, $4.58. Feeling slightly better than neutral about possibling swinging to a short position there.

I am grateful for several, expensive, investing lessons learned this week. Most of the gains and losses are beyond my control. I could not have foreseen Brightpoint announcing a 6 for 5 stock split, and diluting to a cool fifty million shares. I tried to be patient before making that trade, but I was only looking in the wrong direction. After waiting two weeks for the price to come back under thirty, I didn't even watch my limit order. An hour later, I was down a buck a share. Now I have to watch the stock more closely than others. The play here is to cut losses by selling and/or going short over twenty-five. Their gross margins grighten the gregarious out of me.

I am grateful just to have this liquidity. In the coming weeks, I can look forward to finally being on a level playing field, twelve hours a day. I can hedge existing gains and harvest good returns by inversing charts and selling short. The market is down? I could troll for bargains today. Go over my watch lists and see who is on sale. My next move may be to short Titanium Metals or some other over-heated commodity stock.

Peace Patience and Prosperity