That One Night

Gross: +$244.66
Net: +$156.80
Trades: 67

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
AT&T Inc. (T): +$270.47
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU): +$95.15
EMC Corp (EMC): +$75.91
ConocoPhillips (COP): +$45.99
Micron Technology Inc. (MU): -$9.20
Mylan Laboratories Inc. (MYL): -$20.85
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT): -$31.48
Pfizer Inc. (PFE): -$33.35
Boston Scientific Corp (BSX): -$48.77
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX): -$86.11
Lennar Corporation (LEN): -$100.95

This evening after the trading day I treated my wife to a night out with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (hence this late post).

Tonight the Orchestra performed scores from several Hollywood epics.

They performed scores from such classics as "Gone With The Wind", "Ben-Hur", and "2001: A Space Odyssey" among others.

They also performed scores from several more current films including "Titanic" and "Schindler's List".

And what better way to end the evening than with several scores from the "Star Wars" movies (both old and current) and from the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy.

It was a very enjoyable evening and I would highly recommend it.

Honestly?

After today's trading day, I was still quite frustrated with where everything was going....today in particular was extremely frustrating as I just couldn't get any traction in terms of profits and nothing seemed to be going my way. Needless to say, I wasn't very pleased with today and with the month in general.

BUT, tonight was the first time in a very long time that all my worries, all my problems, and all my trading difficulties disappeared and for those two hours during the performance, I had never felt more at ease.

I was there, enjoying the music and living the moment. I was truly enjoying life and I was so relaxed that it seemed as though nothing else in this world mattered.

Folks, I'd like to tell you that that is one of the best feelings in the world.

And I haven't felt that way in a long time......and I really miss it.

In a way, those two hours were very Zen-like.

I will admit that over the weekend I was reading some books about Zen (just to discover ways to put my mind at ease and to discover ways to relieve some stress), and it may have helped me enjoy the evening a little bit more than usual.

You know, I'd really like to live my life like that. To be worry free. To live the moment. To enjoy life.

Obviously if I were pulling in mad money from the markets, I could probably achieve this a little easier (I wouldn't have to worry about paying bills and the mortgage).

But I think if I were to think and feel more like I did tonight more often, I think the quality of life will improve, so from here on in, I'll strive for a shift in my mindset and hopefully with this shift, there will be positives that result from it.

Anyways, like I said, today was just frustrating overall, but honestly after this evenings performance, it's all forgotten in the past and I didn't really remember what I was all frustrated about.

No good trades nor any bad trades.

I think we'll be attending more "Evening At The Pops" series put on by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra....if you're not into classic music (and we aren't), then attending a "Pops" performance is your best bet.

AND, if your living in the Toronto area and if you're under 29 years of age, you can attend these wonderful concerts for only $12 (checkout the TSOSoundCheck site for more details)....I think it's a great idea to get the younger folks to the concerts.

I was somewhat disappointed by the turnout at tonight's performance....there were still plenty of seats available and I would very much encourage folks to go out and support your local performing arts.

Anyways, I'm hoping that tonight will be remembered as that one night that changed my perspective and the way I look at things....as that one night that opened my eyes to really see what I'm doing and how I'm doing it....

Good Trades
(trades in which I make $200 or more)

• None
  

Bad Trades
(trades in which I lose $150 or more)

• None