My weekend post is up now... and I'm going to bed as it is now 1am (EST). Important turn date listed, so be ready!

Posted a chart on PCLN at my blog. Appreciate others insight :-)

CME is worth watching here, I'm favoring the short side but either way it could be in for a nice move soon
CME - http://screencast.com/t/NWFjYTc5

It's shaping up to be quite a week in terms of earnings reports... Below is a taste

Tuesday

Before Market Open: C, PETS, AMTD
After Market Close: CREE, IBM

Wednesday (my b-day =)
BMO: USB, MS, WFC
AMC: EBAY, SBUX

Thursday
BMO: GS, UNH
AMC: AXP, COF, GOOG,

Friday
BMO: GE, MCD

Anna YGM

Wanted to post a comment from the normally surly and acerbic Humble1
from SOH that I found to be quite profound: from mkt. goggles thread..

1/15/10: i have posted about that date here and elsewhere over the last few weeks and also linked the worksheet at my silly little SI site. initially, i thought it would be a high. as with all the H1 dates, the tape must confirm.

well, this one looks more like a low of some sort. this type of action into my turn dates is what has kept me highly leveraged long for so long and from so much lower.

but i still sense we are not too far in time and price from a big dump, maybe a very big dump. i have recently developed an ideal and exact turning point in Price. as we get closer i will post it here and link the worksheet at my site.

as always, my comments and work are shared freely and fwiw and ocicbw - just as they have been for the now 13 plus years that i have been posting at trading sites.

I agree with this thought, BWDIK< Jack Schitt!!


http://jack.zunino.net/knowjack.htm

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to have a link to his site? Would like to see his other predictions.

not his site, just where he posts

http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/profile.aspx?u...

Thanks!

Good old humble1, always spoiling for a fight. :-)

We have filled all the gap downs on the indices so far since March 2009 and we have an unfilled gap at 1148 from yesterday. The gap downs were all filled within a few DAYS.

Above 1142- more upside (1160-1170)
Below 1115- possibility of 1150 being a top for the next two months

Then the real question is when will we fill all the up gaps? Thanks for the post.

Hi guys,

PRAM is looking at ISRG as an earnings play next week & asked for my thoughts which I am reposting at the top here as I thought this looked like a very interesting long in the short term, and then as an IHS play after that.

PRAM's done a writeup at his blog and has a fib target just below mine. His may well be the right one.

If we are hitting turbulence generally over the next couple of weeks, there is a chance that we might see a retracement to fan support at 300, and the 5,3,3 stochs suggest that we will see a small retracement over the next couple of days, but we may not make it that far and I am planning to buy in at $305 if that is reached.:

Hi PRAM,

I had a look at this and the charts were very interesting as well as very strong.

On the weekly I was seeing a lot of evidence that this stock channels strongly:

http://www.screencast.com/users/springheel_jack...

The current uptrend channel looks solid and I would see the key resistance at the two lines above on the red channel, at slighly above 320 and slightly above 340.

The key test will be at the upper line I think, and I have something to add there that I haven't marked on the chart. Consider how much that whole price movement looks like a building IHS, with the neckline at the upper line. If this continues to develop, I would expect a failed test of that upper red channel line, a retracement to perhaps the 260 to 300 level, and then a return to complete the RS. Just a hypothetical possibility at this stage, but nonetheless a real one.

I haven't read up in detail on ISRG, but what I have read suggests that it might have a very bright future indeed. That IHS could play out, I'll certainly be following progress on this one.

On the daily chart I have ignored the channels altogether to focus on something else interesting on the chart, which is a very strong fan:

http://www.screencast.com/users/springheel_jack...

This is very useful to have as it gives us key support levels and tells us that in the event that my IHS scenario has legs, then we are unlikely to see a retracement below fanline support before that upper red trendline on the weekly is reached. If fan support is breached on a daily close basis then it might be time to reconsider this as a long. As long as it is not breached then it puts a solid floor of support under this stock at the 300 level.

Dear Jack,

Great charts! Thank you for you time. BTW, you have referred me as "her" in your comment. Actually, I am MALE :-)

Got it. Sorry! I've edited the text accordingly.:-)

I've updated the weekly chart a bit as well to show the IHS and mark the stochs showing that we may see a small retracement in the next trading days.

Thanks for mentioning this one PRAM. It really does look very interesting indeed. I'm going to play it myself as well. :-)

A drop to 220-240 could form a left shoulder of the IHS, right?

Well, that's the tricky bit PRAMOD, the next shoulder could bottom
anywhere between 200 to 300, though I'd expect to see it in the 220 -
280 range really.

Are you expecting a drop to 220 - 240? It is definitely in the target range.

The lower trendline in the second chart (at my blog) runs approximately at 235 but it needs to break the middle trendline approximately at 280 first. I hope it runs to 330's before earnings so that I can short it. If it stays at current level until earnings, I might just wait to see how the earnings reaction is and then position accordingly.

I was looking at the 60min and saw a small sloping IHS that looks about cooked:

http://www.screencast.com/users/springheel_jack...

Stochs are supportive. Might see that happen early next week.

Thank you :-)

No problem :-) Thank you once again.

Looks like a H&S pattern from mid day Dec 12 til now with a target of 1107 on the S&P. We will see.

BTW at least FX is open Monday :)

Sheesh this is going to be a long weekend tll Tuesday :)

nope nothing here.

ok thanks (wishful thinking hehehe)

take a look at the NQ futures though from the night before right at the open ... someone pushed a larger order through running quite a lot of stops for anyone that wanted to play INTC long via NQ.

ok thanks, I am giving you a forecast (private) hehehe Google comes out this coming week and I forecast the stock will sell off, not sure what the earnings pic will be, it seems this quarter that everyone is expecting the best (usually that means disappointment even if the co. does spectacular!
If you remember last earnings quarter everyone was more pessamisitic and most stocks soared because of low expectations :) just a thought :)

"last earnings quarter everyone was more pessamisitic and most stocks soared because of low expectations"

I think emotions are key at the moment. What REALLY concerns me still is that everyone's expectations now are "higher prices, higher prices". Its been so long since any bull had to experience real pain that it seems all you can do is keep on adding leverage and leverage to make even more money.

And AA - I think they beat the last 7 or 8 quarters, yet this time they missed? how is that possible? they even beat during the worst quarters possible. If that is any sign of things to come. Companies cannot sandbag anymore, they got away with it last year, now big growth is expected (because its priced in). If that does not happen we will see a lot more like Friday. Sentiment studies show extreme bullishness and few bears - such a large percentage of bulls - such a huge "bull pain factor" at key price levels. It can result in a domino effect when greed turns into instant fear. Why would greed turn into fear this quickly? we are seeing ourselves at extremes, either full out bulls or full out bears - there is a much smaller middle ground now. At extremes - emotions can change very quickly.

Again I am giving myself a lot of arguments yet again for a bearish case - we will have to see.

really? I was actually going through charts and goog appeared to be one that could be in for a nice swing long.

ON the daily bearish divergence, as well as on the weekly, it's been almost straight up in a 3 wave since the end of 2008 on the monthly (a bit mixed)
Google could easily do a 38.6 to 50% retracement this month...everyone expects a blowout quarter. hmmmmmmmmmmm

I didn't - where did you see it? Currencies or equities?

equities on CNBC so that told me to be suspect :)

I'm here guys - don't know if you are Dragon & Chaugner
Read and enjoyed your post Chaugner
I also like to play the "Where's the market headed game" but I do my best to not allow a bias to effect my trading (not always successful) - I try to let the numbers dictate my moves if you understand me
Anyway, puttering around with an indicator I've been testing using TOS - show's some promise and do plan on sharing it on HOB blog eventually

still here as well - a few more hours and then its dinner and pub time lol

I have to admit, during my entire trading time I always had a picture of the market in terms of longer term direction. Not saying it was always right but I generally tried to map out the next 3-6 months. This time around, I think I am going to change it up a bit and ignore market direction or beliefs. Its much easier said then done as you know but who knows maybe it works. I am all about rediscovering myself though that by itself can be bad.

Whats the saying, "do not change who you are just because of some extraordinary events" - the point is. Do I need to change my trade style or is it just a matter of ensuring I stay nimble enough across various markets and trade styles ... I am thinking its the later.

My trading style is the result of costly lessons years ago, so that's who I am.
Hey, you're in England? I was there about five years ago, have a brother who married a gal from Devon - town called Staverton just north of Totnes. Beautiful area.

lol @ costly lessons learned. I always told myself I am paying for an education. Well where the heck was the certificate that came with it? lol

At the moment staying in the UK an hour north of london. Nice and quiet place (compared to miami) and always a nice change. I travel quite a bit due to work but the one thing thats great about being in the UK is that you have exposure to all 3 markets, early morning asia, day for europe and night for US. Though that can also be negative since you stay glued to the computer lol.

So any plans on coming back here?

Not at the moment. Much more interested in Italy, have relatives there
I've never met - the brother who married in England went to Italy on his
honeymoon to the village my Grandfather was from and met all those folks
- also found out that my Grandpa (now deceased) owned land there which a
cousin has been using for decades but still in my Grandpa's name - the
cousin was quite generous to my brother and his new bride during their
visit, hmmmmmm......

I told you you should have packed me in your suitcase...:)

all the snow melted though ... sigh. 3 weeks worth gone on my second day. At least feb should be nice and cold this time around.

You working over there I assume. How's the mood there?

Europe is quite different in terms of the "common folk". The govt has a large hand in every day life from income to support so the recession does not appear as bad here. While you see similar things in terms of work force cuts etc - if your unemployment was high before, its a bit higher now, big deal, govt will help. Was back in Germany about a year ago and a friend there did not have a job. He got offered a job making good money and his response "do not think I will like this position, going to keep on looking". Easy to say when you get much higher unemployment support, free healthcare, etc.

People are used to paying a lot of money for everyday goods and having a lot less take home cash then in the states - that was the same way before the recession so europeans are a lot more versed in saving and living within your means.

Real estate prices are actually doing pretty good and have not seen the big drops like in the states. Most houses still cost as much as they did before, yeah a bit lower but nothing drastic.

So in summary - people know its a recession because everyone talks about it, some people are loosing jobs but overall things are not as bad as in the states. I consider my home america, and trust me, I have cut down on my spending substantially eventhough income has not changed. In the US its a lot more combined with human emotions.

[going to aa.com to buy anna a ticket to visit]

heheheheh :)

Where is everyone? Sheesh... 13 hours without a post? That's strange?

I am here lol

Whew... for a minute there, I thought there was something wrong the website or disqus? I guess everyone is out spending their profits from yesterday's sell off? Good to know that I'm not alone though...

hah yeap ... I was bored and put up a long post on my blog. Come over for a read if you bored (click my name).

Anna, delete if this is considered cross posting lol

I would never delete you you are one of my favs!

how shweet =)

Don't worry about Anna deleting it... it's fine. I'm going to visit now.

Everyone have a great weekend! I will post something this weekend, but for now I am off to have pasta and wine with a friend :)

imo, we ended the day in a iv of iii of (i).

also, might be worth noting that the futures did NOT make a new high yesterday like the cash. that could be a pretty bearish sign....could be....

Anna and gang,
Hope I will not regret this but I kept all my shorts until Tuesday. They are Feb Puts so I have 24 trading days for them to work. I missed getting out before the ramp at EOD (greed got me again, so I said what the hell let em work a few more days or weeks)

Lester I am keeping my short shorts on too, now go out drink beer and have a great weekend sweetbird :)

Why does everyone keep mentioning Tuesday? Is Monday a holiday or something?

MLK Holiday

Yes, US market closed Monday - Martin Luther King day

What country are you located in by the way?

I'm a homeless-bum/Jason-Bourne hybrid who has multiple citizenships. One of them is the Untied States. I should have known about Martin Luther King day for that reason, but I'm one of those don't-know-whether-Christmas-falls-on-the-25th-or-26th-of-December types.

Well, Lester, I did the same thing and that was always my plan.

Perhaps both of us should be scared...hahahaha! No, really, I think we'll hit a lower low Tuesday morning, at least. Maybe even a lower one than that EOD or Wed.

well luck to both of us then...I hope I can sleep this weekend...I am 100% short. Can I ask what % short you are?

Why do you need to be 100% committed? what if the market moves against you? Will you close out immediately, or rationalize that you'll be ok (and get burned if you hold on too long)?

I'm 28% of capital committed short at the moment, but that's because I'm hedged (another 28% of my capital is committed long in a 2:1 short to long hedged position). That way the remaining 44% can be committed freely short while I have something long going for me if things start to wreck me by melting higher.

I have cash to add if my entry was early, a hedge to provide me with a GOOD TRADE in case my plan fails (ESSENTIAL!), and a plan.

Talk me through your plan and escape/outs should things go against you. I'm not trying to chide you, just trying to challenge you... what % short do you think you should be and why?

I cannot see hedging myself. It just minimizes my gains. That said, I
am way overextended short. I think 50% invested should be max either
way. I remember Tuesday after MLK day two years ago in 2008. A real
bloodbath. Of course that was beginning of bear market and now we are
in a bull market.

What minimizes your gains more, hedging yourself or being overextended short?


... this moment of poignant thought, of epiphany, brought to you by Lester. (seriously!)


Seriously, though, historical precedent for a date is nothing. The conditions were (as you note) very different. You should analyze what works for you (profit) and what doesn't (loss) by both investment class (options v. stocks v. futures) and timeframe of investment. This can't be a 'winging it' sort of approach, or a half-assed technical analysis approach... this is the hardest market in the world, ESPECIALLY TO SHORT, and you're buying 3 strike OTM puts? (said this way to show how incredulous YOU should be about buying those options... you need a system that WORKS FOR YOUR STYLE OF TRADING)

There are many ways to approach trading but i can tell you that winging it does not come CLOSE to working. Only when you are good enough with technical analysis (I am nowhere near there) on a Zen-like master-class level, then you may 'wing it' and succeed. Until then you WILL BE DOOMED TO EVENTUAL (not immediate, but without question eventual) FAILURE. Do not lie to yourself about this any longer. You need a plan and a system or else this will never work.

Relax tonight but tomorrow and sunday, do your best to figure out how you DO trade effectively. Do more of that. Whatever costs you money, STOP doing that.

Great Advice!

Thanks for the advice, I know that I am making a ton of mistakes here.
And I am one more bad trade away from quitting. I am not kidding about
that by the way....if my hope for a down week next week does not happen,
I will exit my position on Tuesday after 10 AM and start over. I am not
gonna worry about this any more now.

A thought just occurred to me so I wanted to post it for your consideration (I really am up at weird times).

Do you ever watch the waves in the ocean? They're never perfectly predictable, but they do have a rhythm to them. Prior to a large wave, there's a turbulent sucking created by the wave building up enough momentum in the developing phases. Little waves come and go with their characteristic 'retreat, gather, woosh...' pattern, but the little and big waves have their own flow all together (ie, intertwined).

I bring this up because it seems to me you're looking for large moves at inopportune moments. Conditional on a decline Tuesday morning, you will close out your positions (ie, Unless gap down, close out) -- this is what you posted on Friday. While you should chalk this current trade up to experience no matter what (ie, close it out before it gets too nasty, if it turns higher come Tuesday), you should ask yourself where in the 'wave' you're taking trades.

It may be part of your chronic poor trading that you are simply trying to ride momentum too late (as well as catch too many directions within a move -- if you dont catch it the major direction, that is, you feel compelled to move and in doing so, you enter WAY too late, forcing yourself to stop out in the ensuing countermove). Thinking of the market as waves, large and small, which have independent and interrelated rhythms (small and large as well as small+large together), is easiest if analogizing it to the waves of the ocean. I don't know if you ever spent much time watching waves, but I highly recommend it. Nature, fibonacci, sociology, etc... it's all one with us and the stock market. I can't tell you how often in my life I see random activities or occurences exhibit this zen type of "two steps forward, one step backwards" aura (it's larger than a mentality, it's the Matrix, it's everything that is!). Seriously.

Ideally you should stage the trade when the wave is staging, ie, as the momentum is waning and we're at high prices (if you're shorting, that is). The water has rolled on out, gathering steam for the wave -- SPX failing to hold the 1140 level, slowly collapsing under its own weight -- and you hop on board to ride the wave. If you take the trade too late, ie, after the wave has crashed, you're doomed to get crushed under the next wave's sucking -- and woosh! when it actually hits -- so it's imperative to have good 'field/court vision' as athletes say.

I hope you've read my previous comment to you and considered my offering of a counselor should you desire to remove yourself from trading altogether. Personal life aside, this is a difficult profession and as I mentioned previously, if it's not working (numerically), then it's just an expensive hobby which you need to quit.

be well!

PRS Guitars,

Thank you for taking the time to write both this post and the previous.
You are actually pretty well spot on in your talk of waves in this post.
I think I have been jumping on the wave too late, sometimes right when
it reverses. I did this Friday and I have done it dozens of times in
the past two years. I have tried to resist the urge to jump into a
trade too late, and I thought I was doing better and making some
progress, but to be honest, I do not think I have gotten any better.
Regarding counseling, the only conseling I need is how the heck I am
going to tell my wife about my horrible trades that have cost me 99% of
our retirement accounts, and how to avoid divorce. Thankfully my day
job pays well enough that I can support a family of four. So my trading
losses do not mean immediate poverty, but will mean a reduced living in
retirement and delayed retirement (I am 52 now).

And yes I work in suburbs of Chicago about 30 mins from Evanston, so
maybe a beer someday is a possibility and I look forward to that if you
have time.

Lester

Please know that defeatism is no way to go about life. It is ok to admit
defeat at an activity, but focus on either what you learned -- even in
failure, we learn lessons, concrete or abstract, related to the activity or
thematic and symbolic in our real lives, etc.

* If you are really trying to succeed at trading, you need to change your
approach. Traderfeed.blogspot.com is the best place to start. Read the
entire site.

* If you are ok with stopping trading and beginning to rebuild the rest of
your life, I don't think anyone would argue with that approach, either.
This is an activity, Lester... like hang-gliding. If you aren't doing
well, stop -- don't feel terrible about yourself (and most importantly, lose
money doing so). IT'S JUST AN ACTIVITY right now. It's not a job. It's
not profitable. It's an expensive hobby that you need to give up. So close
your positions no matter what on Tuesday morning and never look back. Find
a way to forgive yourself and repair the losses somehow. If you need help,
there are people who can help you with this. I'd be happy to recommend some
(counselors, that is).

I wish you the best of luck. You have a special place in my trading heart
because you're in Evanston from what I've read (or at least IL) and my
girlfriend has worked in Evanston for two years now. Great place and
Chicago at large is likely where I'll be living when I move to be with her.
Perhaps you and I will have a beer someday...

-PRS/Zach

great advise as always. Cannot continue to praise your arguments and the way you present yourself to the community.

Now in regards to lester, many have tried, and I almost want to say all have failed to give advise, back in the days on ES, then slope, now here. We continue trying to help even if he continues ignoring us. Lester may read what we say and appreciate the advise, but nothing it seems nothing much has changed from today to when I first "heard" about him.

I think with his trading attitude, even a small improvement still means a money loosing situation. He needs a drastic change in attitude, trade style, money and risk management. I fear the main reason for his current exposure is the "I have to get it back" attitude which means less and less capital, higher and higher leverage and the calculations of "if I buy this and the market does this I will get x money back".

I remember those calculations myself - always being in a position and calculating at what price level the position will give me back my money AND not calculation where the market may move and what happens if it moves against me.

I went long T,BBY

do US futures trade on monday?

if not, there will be noone to pump asia and europe on monday. DAX free to correct.

The New Moon Trade is off to a roaring start, with a $0.40 gain (4.6%) in 1 day on TZA.

Holding over the long weekend. Wish I had bought more yesterday before this big run up.

Great trade, Earl. So -- what if there was an indicator that predicted today's high on TZA?

http://www.screencast.com/users/dreadwin/folder...

Look at today's candle on my rodent band chart. The low was 5.72, and the rodent BB was 5.71. If you had real-time stockcharts (which I don't), you might have expected a bounce and sold TZA there.

Looks like there is some downside left in $RUT. I'm wary of the Slow STO closing the hook, though. Make sure you've got a stop to protect your gains.

Dreadwin, Nice looking chart. How do I set up these rodent bands up.

Set up bollinger bands according to the numbers in the chart. Chart your favorite instrument against GLD (the : between the $RUT:GLD means a ratio). Then stand back and try to figure what it all means. I'm still working on that last part :)

What it is useful for, however, is seeing how the bands are respected -- sometimes the inner, sometimes the outer. Usually, a move sticks to the band, then moves back towards the 20.

dreadwin,

At one point today, I sold my TZA to protect my gains. I didn't actually own TZA when it hit it's high today. I was trading TNA off its low.

I was lucky to get back in TZA lower at EOD, and now it's up from there.

Good point on the stops. Of course, there is no stop that works over night, which is why I'm sorely tempted to get it all sold in the AH session. Correction: just sold it.

I looked at your chart. I think trading TZA off a $RUT:GLD chart with bollinger bands is out of my comfort zone :)

Or at least beyond my toolset.

$RUT vs. GLD is suggesting that Russell is correcting sideways to down with constricting bollinger bands. For the billionth time, "a big move in price" is coming. IWM touched the 20 day MA precisely, which is probably what triggered the bounce. In early Dec., $RUT found support at the 20, after blowing right through it in August, September, October, and November. I think we'll know next week if $RUT is going to respect the 20 MA or not.

dreadwin,

Another view of all this -- all below comes from looking at a 3 month chart of TNA with daily bars (my simple world).


When the last full moon trade started, TNA gapped up
from a close of 42.73 on Dec 31st
to an low of $44.63 on Jan 4th.
Nearly a $2 gap.

In the next 10 trading days, 5 days came down near the $44.63 area of the gap and bounced back.

$44.60 was the peak high of Nov 16th and the area of this old peak high now looks to be strong support for TNA.

There was a lot of chatter in HOB today about the beginning of a big market fall starting today (at least it sounded that way to me), but in the TNA chart, while the down move was huge, established support (the area of $44.60 & the top of the gap) was not violated.

Something big could happen Tuesday morning (either way, I guess), but what I see seems supportive of TNA.

Earl, I actually had an order to sell at 9.20 and it was at it and I cancelled it before it went off. I decided that I am going to hold on a while longer as I am still in the red. Sounds like you had a good day. Congrates. I had a less bad day. Have a nice weekend.

gcocks,

Thanks. I hope it works out for you. I'm all cash, which is supposed to be calming, but I don't feel calmed yet. Probably been reading and watching too much disaster news.

Earl, I can't believe you are holding over the weekend! Is the sky falling.

gcocks,

I have an order to sell after hours at $9.25.

If that doesn't happen, I plan to manually sell right before the AH session closes if I can get $9.20.

If none of that happens, I will throw caution to the wind and carry over the weekend.

Unless I can get 9.19 or maybe 9.18 -- then I have to dump coins on the table and count the heads & tails to decide.

Have a nice weekend :)

What is the new moon trade earl ?

New Moon Trade: buy TZA at market close before the new moon (which was 7AM this morning). Sell at last market close before the full moon (coming up at 6AM Jan 30th).

Way offtopic...

On tradersaudio TOS feed (via the marketcast channel), the microphone remains on for a few minutes while the squawk area clears at the end of the day. Pretty sure it goes off at 4:30 pm EST every day.

The guy had just finished commenting and the guys were shooting the shit, signing off, etc... then he walks away barely a few steps, (presumably turns to his buddy), and says, still VERY audibly (the microphone is high-caliber), "MAN! I just wanted to ask all day, 'Is it 4:20 yet?'"

This certainly could be referencing that they end at 4:15 pm EST and spend approximately five minutes wrapping up the market.

Too bad they're located in the Chicago pits, from what I heard. Think they're talking blaze? Hilarious. With the speed, intensity, and precision with which those guys operate, it's hysterical to imagine them relaxing with some marijuana.

They have to get wound up pretty tight during the day...it would make sense!

not to be confused with sinsemellia....

I took my SATs sober and got a 1470 (out of 1600; aka the old way... the new SAT is out of 2400).

I took them a second time, high (smoked in my car en route to the test @ 6:45 am), and got a 1520. 800 math (hilarious), 720 verbal.

I've never been a stereotypical stoner. Different strokes, different folks...

Rock on, Guitars!

Here's my story: I was failing my math class junior year. I was manufacturing my own drugs, wasn't doing my homework, and didn't know how to rotate conics. When I took the SAT, I scored 700 on the math portion, outperforming most of my math-class-passing peers. Go figure.

As a public service, it may be worth noting that some people who use altering substances lose their minds and become incapable of independent living.

So, kids, if you're reading this thread, do not go out and do drugs to raise your grades. We are strange and lucky folk with oddly wired brains. You may not be.

Kids, listen to dark1p instead of me, because I'm too much of a nihilist for anyone's good. The first question, I'd ask you: "Is your life even worth living?" The second and third: "Are you sure about that? How do you know?"

"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

"And then, something happened. I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom."

"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."

Hit me as hard as you can.

On a different side note dear RBW, I seem to be locked out of HOB as in my passkey doesn't work. Did I get the sterling boot? hmmm?

Addressing that different side note first, how can you be locked out of HOB when you successfully posted just now?

"Let me tell you a little bit about Tyler Durden. Tyler was a night person. While the rest of us slept, he worked. . . ."

I'm coming to you live from disqus via reply. Last couple of days here at the work pc, the site won't load aka timeout. maybe they are on to me and "hotoptionbabe" is being mistaken for something else on their IT worklist?

What's your power animal...

Your explanation is probably the correct one.

As for power animals . . . besides Jimi Hendrix, wolves, Marla Singer, and that penguin that just slide by, I'd have to say that my power animal is the leopard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVhFmmYI_VA

Yours, TD?

What if Anna did mistake us for the same person? :-) With RBW being located in **-** and TD being located in US-OH, it shouldn't be too difficult to prove that we're not one and the same. During trading hours tomorrow, er Monday, er Tuesday, we could also do a 1-2-3-post! thing where we comment simultaneously. There was always a 30 second delay between RBW and EB while I logged out and logged in under the different username. Damn me and my tomfoolery. There, I said it for you. ;-)

hahaha! That's great.

I took a Victorian Lit final my junior year in college under the influence. Kept giggling at how easy the essay questions were, to the annoyance of my neighbors. Aced that one. All about creative b.s.-ing, couldn't miss!

Every year in college, I attended fewer and fewer classes and used more and more substances. My GPA went from 3.2 as a freshman to 3.8 as a senior.

hahahaha!