In a prior life I was an accountant/manager on Wall Street. Long, stressful, workaholic hours for 12 years. Walked through the WTC every day back then and my gym was on the top floor of 3 WTC. Quit my day job in 1998 to trade stocks for myself fulltime. In 2000 moved to South Beach. So went from long days at the office plus commutes and supervising a staff of professionals to working for myself at home. Today, I am a lot more relaxed and appreciate life so.I say I have had three lives. The first one was a job I hated and it consumed so much of my time I had no personal interests. All my present interests & activities did not exist back in the early & mid 1990s - nada, not one! So my second life elminated so much of the old stress and I have several interests I now enjoy so. Hey, I lost my only sibling in 1990, ancestors (including a greatgrandpa)to the holocaust, and knew people who perished on 911. Agree, we all have to be practical at times and make a living but I have learned there is more than that & that one needs to smell the roses too as they say. Who knows, that lesson learned may have even saved my life. My blood pressure was 140/90 when I quit the rat race back in 1998 (way too high for a 36 year old) but an excellent 117/72 today! Feel better today than I did in my 20s
to mid 30s! Yes, I woke up before it was too late. Tragic events like 911, New Orleans, and Viginia Tech only reinforce my philosophy. We have to savor every moment, follow our dreams, and appreciate true friends for they are the rarest of gems.Recently, I began what I call "my third life". Not quite sure where this road will end up but I know I have begun the journey. Perhaps it started in late February, 2007 when I closed on the sale of my beach condo in SoBe. Or maybe it was a month or so later after recovering from a bad bout of flu / possibly walking pneumonia. Or maybe it began with my travels to other states spending 30 out of 40 days with an old friend going through some very difficult times. I thought those days would be a pause during my transition to a new life but perhaps that was actually the beginning. I learned a lot about myself during that time and what I am seeking. For that I thank my friend and can only hope I have helped her as much as she has helped me.Still work as a daytrader. Today, unlike the prior seven years, I consider it a serious fulltime career. But it does not consume my energy or stress me out as my job at Merrill Lynch once did. Still, it is a fulltime job most weekdays but one without an office commute, dress codes, or office politics.Oh, money is important but I savor my good health, friends, and family more. If I want to take a week off to visit a friend, I will. If practical trading by them and they do not mind it, I will some. Otherwise, not.South Beach was fun for 7 years but I outgrew it. I do not miss it. NYC was/is incredible and I miss it some. But I can live anywhere with the right people around me and there are many nice towns & cities in our great nation to live. Time will tell where I end up but right now I am traveling a bit with a home base in Tamarac. For those unfamiliar with Tamarac, I am about 1/2 a mile from the Coral Springs border and west of Ft Lauderdale."What lies behind us..what lies ahead of us...are small matters compared to what lies within us..."
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My favorite pizza - DiFara's Pizzeria - Aven J & E. 15th St in Midwood, BrooklynSometimes, even the best trader will "Have a Bad Day". But even bad days sometimes set you up for great ones:You've Got A Friend:If alive today, what would President Reagan say about the grave risks we now face? This 1964 speech might give you a clue to Reagan's opinion on budget deficits, the social security problem, and worlwide security threats & what the US must do. Yep, 1964. Amazing.Budweiser 9-11 Tribute:
Here is a commercial Budweiser produced after 9/11. They only aired it once so as not to benefit financially from it - they just wanted to acknowledge the tragic event.Shakira -hips dont lie
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Add to My Profile | More VideosShania Twain -from this moment on
Add to My Profile | More VideosShania Twain -UP
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Add to My Profile | More VideosShania Twain - Party for Two:Bonnie Tyler - It's A Heartache. Dedicated to my friend.
Time for everyone to move on! Life is too precious & way too short for anything less.Walked through the WTC approximately 13,000 times in my life. I even put my first pair of rollerblades on in the lobby of 1 WTC. My gym was on the top floor of 3 WTC. I worked in the attached World Financial Center for 11 years. The terrorists may have taken the buildings down and the lives of people I knew, but they can never take the memories away. Where was I that morning? Physically, I was at my trading desk overlooking a 2 mile beach view in South Beach and crying like I had never cried before. Mentally, I was at Ground Zero. Among my many WTC momentos, I have a key to a door at the WTC. Yeah, a key that opens a door that no longer exists but it represents all that I remember from my days there, the memories of all whom perished, and the hope that we prevail and win this War on Terror before the ultimate destruction, nuclear holocaust. For the left wing naysayers, you need look no further than the al qaeda in Pakistan, a nuclear nation, to recognize that threat is real and not just paranoia. Or to the comments made by the President of Iran that the holocasut never happened. Lest we forget...I knew people lost on 911 and my greatgrandpa & other ancestors were murdered in the holocaust during WW2. We, the world, must do everything possible and spare no cost to ensure such tragedy, or worse, ever happens again. The Middle East must change this generation, here and now. Those who say the Middle East has been fighting for thousands of years, cannot be changed, it is not the US's place to be "policeman to the world", and that we cannot afford the war are wrong. Similar naivety existed in the 1930's in Europe and even pre Pearl Harbor in the US. Truth of the matter is that region must change and we cannot afford otherwise! Longer the world waits, the worst it will be. 911, as tragic as it was, was nothing compared to the dangers we face if we fail. Wait long enough and we will indeed see even more destruction than the hell of WW2. Damn right, we got every reason to be angry! Lest we forget.Angry American
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Add to My Profile | More VideosCeline Dion - Titanic - My Heart Will Go On ~music video~
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Add to My Profile | More VideosThe Lincoln Memorial has specific meaning for me as it was late one night in June of 2007 that I saw that spectacular statute for the first time in my life. As I stood in awe of the glowing Lincoln Memorial in the midnight light I suddenly turned around to witness another sight that instantly made me forget about Lincoln. It's a long story but, suffice it to say, I saw such intense inner emotion/drama from someone I cared so deeply about. At the time the moment hit me but it was over a year later before I realized the significance of that time of my life. Today I say I have had 3 lives: My workaholic corporate rat race life in NYC, my semi beach bum/amateur trader life in South Beach, and my life today as a fulltime daytrader who takes his business quite seriously & has probably learned more about trading this past year (I write this in late October of 2008) than my entire prior years since leaving Wall Street in 1998. But there was a rocky turbulent transition that lasted over a year between lives #2 & #3. It started with my desire to help an old friend and ended with me falling to the lowest emotional depths of my lifetime. Learned a lot about my friend and myself from the ordeal for that is what it was at the time but, in reality, it was a journey to get me here. I'm not sure if that night at the Lincoln Memorial was "the turning point". Probably not but it was one of five key events between the spring of 2007 and the spring of 2008 when my life was literally in limbo. I use to joke I would use that Lincoln Memorial scene in a movie called, "On the Road to Maryland", to obtain my closure. I may still write that movie but whether I do or not, I do not need to for myself for the script will forever be engrained in me and I can only hope all the participants have their own respective happy endings. I believe I am there. I pray that my friend gets there some day. Yeah, I realize this paragraph is a little ambiguous but it is really meant for four specific people who may read it here. Three are on my page and I thank them for they were each there for me when I needed the emotional support. Three people I met online between 1998-2001 and have never met in person but proud to call "true friends" that are there for you when you are down and out. I think you know whom you are - thank you! The fourth, of course, is the leading lady in that hypothetical movie. You know whom you are as well. While much was never said that I wanted to, including insight learned in retrospection since, my genuine advice remains as it was then. I hope some day you can talk about it all because that is the first step in escaping the world of despair... to be able to face it head on & kick it and move on to a far better life. So that you can laugh about it all as having been a transition period for you to a far superior life. Yeah, that's my best wish for your talk many decades from now on that creeky front porch swing. No more tears my friend - you already filled up the oceans. Time to live! As for me, I no longer need "that call" but if you ever should, I will be there for you as a friend. That is a promise as you will forever be part of "my dash"."Do not make someone a deep priority when they only consider you an option. True love has to be reciprocal. Do not settle for being someone's second choice or 'back-up plan.' When people can walk away from you let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left."Hopelessly Devoted
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Add to My Profile | More Videos"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth."
Elton John's Tribute to Princess Diana at her funeral:My friend, Composer Monja:
