I'm so proud of my nation right now. It's truly an event of epic proportions. Fifty years ago, the man wouldn't have been allowed to vote. I was listening to the BBC broadcasting from London, England and the major news topic was our American election. There were interviewing people from England, Tanzania, France and more, who were watching this election.
On Nov. 4th, 2008, America was the center of attention. The World was watching Barack Obama win the presidency. The World, people. It really puts things into perspective for me, about the important role America has in the world.
Do you know Gordon Brown? I didn't until I started listening to the BBC. He's the Prime Minister of England, equivalent to the President of the U.S. I didn't hear anything about that election. But the World was watching ours. It's amazing.
I voted for Obama, and I'm happy. The American people finally stood up and said, "Enough! It's time for a change. This path isn't working, we need to walk a new one." David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst said, "[its] the passing of an old order." I feel so patriotic right now I could shit red, white and blue. I love America. Change is coming.
A very little known fact about my family. I have a cousin, who's married to a man by the name of Mike Aitken. Mike is a world renownd BMX rider. I'll say it again, "World Renownd BMX Rider". He does it for a living. He's good, really good. He lives in a big house with a wife and his son, Owen. He's doing so well for himself, the worst thing that could happen would be an accident.
It happened, with nightmarish results.
As of this post, Mike is in the hospital after suffering an accident, causing a brain stem injury. Due to his line of work, he's uninsurable and the hospital bills are expected to be in the hundreds of thousands. Please, help.
I'm going to try and buy Washington Mutual (WAMUQ) Stock for $0.06 per share. I'm going to try and buy 248 shares. Cost: $14.88 + fees. So, for just over $20.00 I'm going to own 248 shares of this stock.
Currently, Washington Mutual is in bankruptcy. There are "$32.9 billion in assets and $8 billion in debt" to be bought up, hopefully by the U.S. Government. If so, it could jump the price of the stock to and estimated $14.00 per share.
I spent just over $20. If I were in Las Vegas, this could be a single High Roller slot machine or a pretty large bet on Blackjack for a single game. But, my stock market odds are better. If the stock sells for even $10 per share, I'll have $2480 dollars for my $20 investment. Awesome! If it sells for $14, then $3472.00. But the gamble is dependent on the Feds. This is Big Boy gambling. If it looses, I'm out a mere, $20.
I've also bought a little in Deutsche Telekom (DT) which is the same company as T-Mobile. I bought some of their stock because in November, they'll be launching the new phone with the Google (GOOG) Android OS to compete with the iPhone. I was going to invest in Google itself, but didn't have enough. So, I bought DT at about $14.00 per share, it's now at $12.00 but I'm hopeful.
Finally, I bought a few shares of AT&T (T), because I believe in AT&T. I've been with them since before Cingular. I've got a loyalty to them. Plus, I have an iPhone.
As you've learned in the past, I'm currently studying to be an engineer, specifically Electronic. My college currently only provides APE's in Electrical. The difference between the two? Here's my version: Electrical Engineers are the engineers who can design huge substations and power grids for supporting large communities with electricity. They come up with new plans for generators, their possible outputs and maintenance. Electronic is much smaller. Like calculators, GPS tracking systems and electronic gadgets that fuel todays gadget addicted CIA, MI6 an KGB operatives. Fun stuff.
Why did I decide this? I don't know. I think I decided when a friend told me how much it's possible to make, or rather, his boss made doing this kind of stuff, but my friend himself isn't remotely close. Plus, it requires computers and a highly-detail oriented, inventive mind, which I have. So, why not?
Now, about 3 years into it and not even half way through a pre-engineering degree, I'm beginning to wonder if it's what I really want. Here's why:
I've been running out of stuff to do at work. So, in my moments of being idle, I've been dabbling with Photoshop. It might also be useful to know that I've always loved art: illustration, sculpture, painting ... you name it and I love it. Ever since I was 10 I've sketched, drawn, studied, watched and surrounded myself with all kinds of art. I've taken every possible art class offered in every possible school year I could and still maintain my minimum credits. All my electives have been art. So, when I'm idle, I naturally gravitate to it. It might also be of note to mention that my family has a history of artists.
So, I've been dabbling in photoshop and posted some stuff online, only about three pieces. But I see other stuff and think, wow ... I can do that. It's what I love, truely. In my heart of hearts, in the core of me, I find art. It beats with my life. But, I could never do it for a living. Because when you depend on it for survival, it no longer becomes fun. When you have to change yourself just so you can sell a piece and eat for a week, it changes everything. When someone pays you to do it, rather than pay you for what you've done, they become your art. You're freedom becomes bent, your vision becomes askew and it changes you. It's no longer your art.
I also think I would just be too afraid of starving to death.
So, I dabble. I make my own. But I'm tormented because I've always felt that, people create art as a form of expression. Like talking, to make others aware of you're presence. To incite emotion, the same emotion, you felt when you were making it, so that they could understand, and in doing so, relate to you, forming a connection. It's so breif and yet, so powerful, that they cannot help but fall in love with it, the connection. So, they buy the piece, and whenever they want to feel that again, all they have to do is open their eyes, and there it is.
I would surely starve.
But, I can't help but wonder, if being an Engineer is what I really want. If it's what I'm supposed to be doing to make my life complete.
Wheew. It was a good thing I didn't invest in Washington Mutual (WM). I would have lost a lot of money, like a friend of mine. He bought $2,000 worth of WM stock, hoping the bailout would stimulate some growth with them, but ... it didn't, resulting in the "largest bank failure in American History."
As the world knows, America's economy is in the turd basket. The U.S. dollar is at it's lowest level, banks and mortgage companies are filing for bankruptcy protection and homeowners are foreclosing like crazy. It's such a crisis, the federal government in pumping over $700 BILLION (possibly $1 TRILLION) into the economy to try and give it a jump start towards stabilization. Why am I mentioning this?
Giving money to banks will only make the banks richer and how can you lose with that? So, I opened an E*Trade account with intent to buy some failing bank shares, knowing the government will help them out to stay afloat and keep business going, whereby causing the price to rise. Friday, September 19th, one of the Freddie Mac stocks opened at $0.20 and closed at $1.49. If I had $1,000, I could have bought 5,000 shares. At the end of closing, I would have had $7,450 worth of shares, up 7449%.
On the same day, Washington Mutual "WaMu" (WM) opened at about $2, and closed above $4, a 200% profit. Finally, the same day, American International Group (AIG), which was selling around $65 three years ago, opened around $2 and closed at just over $3. Currently, at 11:00 am today, Sept. 22nd, 2008, it's sitting at $5.02. Why am I mentioning this? Because since I opened my E*Trade account, I'm forced to wait 7 days before I can start buying shares. In 7 days, these stocks are going to be back up about half their normal levels and I will have missed the wave.
