A Month of Work

I’ve been on yet another extended hiatus from my blog.  Today (Sunday) and yesterday are the first days I haven’t worked until exhaustion on my latest trading project in the past month.  Fortunately I’m coming down from the manic work phase, and have only a moderate amount this week left to do.  I hate being in the middle of my compulsive work binges, but when it comes to this type of work, I find it’s better for me to balance periods of extreme work with relaxation.  

These definitely seem like the best trading algorithms I’ve built to date.  I guess they always are and should be if I’m getting better at my craft.  I’ve tricked myself plenty of times in the past, but I’ve never had this quick and consistent of results in actual trading.  I made money trading four out of the first five days with only half of them running (I should be done with the other half this week).  I made several mistakes too (which cost me that fifth day) as expected when trading in brand new markets.  

Outside of my overload of trading/programming I’m happy to say that I actually improved my health during this work burst.  I’m not sure that I ever haven’t gained a few pounds while working until I’m burnt out for any period of time.  I lost about 3 lbs this past month and got stronger on some of my strength metrics (pullups, squat, press, sled push).  I ate a lot of carbs (mostly fruits and coconut water) although I still lost weight which was odd to me.  I did make a huge effort to cut out any products that have seed oils (soy/peanut/safflower/sunflower/corn/sesame/etc) thanks to my friend recommending this great podcast: https://dranthonygustin.libsyn.com/144-tucker-goodrich-the-science-behind-vegetable-oils-and-why-theyre-terrible-for-you

I started making bone broth and drinking a lot before every meal (as I make big batches and try to drink it before it goes bad) which is the only other change I made, but otherwise I’ve tried to be diligent about cutting out processed foods.  I don’t eat out as much because of this as well, but I want to feel/look/perform better.  

Another recommendation from my friend Jeff (from perhaps 10 to 15 years ago that I secretly and surprisingly remembered) was the book “Perfume: The Story of a Murder” by Patrick Suskind.  I embarrassingly have about 10 books that I’m 40% through on my Kindle owing to my A.D.D. habit of reading bits and pieces of different books depending on my mood, but I finished “Perfume”, so that’s one of the strongest recommending factors I can give.  

“Perfume” was published in 1985, but the story takes place in France in the 1700’s so it’s timeless.  I’ve never read anything quite like it.  It’s a pure love letter written to the sense of smell and how powerful it can be.  It also shows the violent, amoral, and dark sides of humanity, but I enjoy that too personally.  I thought I was a big fan of colognes, fragrances, etc. but the main character in this book takes it to another level. 

With that I’m going to prepare for my week, and leave you with a pic from Sonambulo, the coffee shop I go to before the gym in CMDX.  Until next time!