Welcome back to the weekly addition of me twiddling my thumbs in Puerto Rico. Next week I head to New York City for the first time in a few years (not including airport layovers), and I’m looking forward to a trip report with my current Andrew 5.0 perspective on things. After that, I only have a few weeks before I pack up and take off for the summer on the still unbooked itinerary of Stockholm, Bali, and Nepal, so I am currently working on getting my local affairs in order.
This past week I spent a lot of time drinking coffee and journaling about my current life course. Aspects of my life that I like start to drift, and eventually I have to figure out how correct them, or put them aside for the moment.
After talking with my friend Jeff who told me straight up, and more cups of coffee with my journal (I can’t tell if I really like journaling, or I just enjoy having something to procrastinate with as I get high on coffee), I realized that I have a pretty special window of opportunity right now with my trading.
This past month I finally felt the possibility for me to transition from amateur to pro. As an amateur, I’ve done well given my limited hours and mental resources spent. I was a pro at trading in my youth as an equity options market maker in Chicago, and I know the gap of effort necessary. It’s really just doing the things that you know you should do, but procrastinate on because you don’t have to. Finding ways to reduce fees even just a tiny bit, setting up more exchange accounts, automating more strategies, brainstorming new ideas regularly even if all of your money is tied up at the moment. Even when I was younger and working at the exchange full-time for years I was sloppy with details. My thinking was that I could come up with big ideas that would be so lucrative that I could afford to ignore the other aspects of my operation. This was true somewhat, but the feeling of lighting money on fire every month because I didn’t want to have uncomfortable negotiations with clearing firms, hiring programmers, etc. always left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. I enjoy some of the logistical aspects now. It’s like doing laundry and dishes: it’s not that fun, but it’s not that bad either, and the inner peace of having it done helps me push through.
I do apologize for the vague discussions of my trading operation. I can’t be more detailed because 1) I don’t want to divulge the specifics of my research, and 2) it wouldn’t make any sense and would probably be even more boring to you even if I did. I’m into the minutiae of making fewer API calls, saving .05% on trades, etc. It is a big part of my life though, so I do like to share even if it’s just me going through a perpetual circle of euphoria and despair.
Outside of trading and normal stuff, we entertained a friend the past week. My girlfriend and I have had people over almost the whole month, have another 1-2 week visitor(s) next month (I can’t even keep track now), and have people booking flights to visit us in Bali before I’ve even booked a flight! The hardest part is to not get caught up in eating badly when going out to restaurants (I’ve failed in this regard, but back on track starting today) when they’re on a vacation. Getting work done can be hard too, but I’m getting better about heading out of the house during the week, and people understand that.
A lot of our visitors talk about moving to Puerto Rico, and I hope I can slowly import my friends here over the next few years. I’ll have to figure out how to stay in better shape when there are regular dinner and drinking evenings, but it’s something I am happy to figure out in exchange for surrounding myself with good friends. The longer I’m in San Juan the more I appreciate living here. For me it’s the optimal mix of things to do, celebrations, warm weather, outdoor activities/warm ocean, and friendly culture. The fact that there are also the best tax incentives as an American in the world makes it that much more amazing.
I finished the second season of the television series “Justified”. It was another one of those shows (along with “Friday Night Lights” the tv series) that sounded really boring to me, but often appears in all-time lists of tv shows. It’s also free on Amazon Prime, so I started it a little while ago. Unsurprisingly (give that it makes critics all-time best lists) it’s really good. It’s also very simple to watch, and sometimes I go days or weeks without watching anything, and I can pick it up without being confused. The creators do an amazing job with witty dialogue, surprising plot twists, and putting the good and bad guys in a closed room in funny situations. I don’t feel the need to binge watch it like “The OA Season 2”, but I also like that it’s not a pressure cooker stressful show.
Next week should have some details of my New York excursion, and fingers crossed I have some good coffee and gym recommendations for you. Going to leave you with some pictures of street art that is on my street here in Puerto Rico. There’s a lot of talented artists in San Juan, and I enjoy being around that type of community.
Andrew Manser 