Hello Malcolm, SARS JOURNAL 2004 & YEAR of the MONKEY VACATION DREAMING
<<having SARS-like symptoms>>
… Please allow me this long and un-PC post that may kick-off my SARS Journal 2004 following on to my SARS Chronicles 2003 achamchen.com and achamchen.com , and will be the start of my Year of the Monkey Vacation notes.
I do not want to be accused of seemingly to have enthusiasm only for disasters of a certain type and respond with alacrity only to chaos of other regions, based on the readers’ own bias and phobia, and the reader’s misunderstanding that investment is not about speculation, and speculation is not about survival.
Some SI-ers are stuffed full of nonsense about nationalities, drivel about ethnic groupings, and other krapola of irrelevancies.
I want to give every region and all human groupings equal opportunity ;0)
We are not in 2004 yet, and the world is once again not well and very conflicted. We are now forced, again, to try to make the best of a bad situation, for survival:
(a) US asset markets must be kept pumped up;
(b) Chinese economy must be cooled down;
(c) Japanese savings must be bled out;
(d) Iraqi carbon must be siphoned away;
(e) Saudi Arabia must not blow up;
(f) Venezuela regime must be changed;
(g) Taiwan must be not vote;
(h) Europe must remain sane;
(i) Russia must not take Yukos; and now
(j) Cows are going mad and people will again craze over SARS, even as
(k) Planes are being cancelled, pilot visas revoked, and whole cities are getting warnings to vacate.
I feel like the Predator in Arnie’s movie, in which achamchen.com rules, surveying the conflicted scene on the ground level, from the rooftop, ascertaining the juicy targets while keeping track of fatal traps.
What must I do in 2004?
You have known me long enough to know I am not a pessimist, and I am in fact a sunny party animal.
Remember this earlier post:
Message 16020847
<<July 2nd, 2001
… Those were truly magical days when money, women, wine, caviar, holidays, and more money just congealed in a collage of beautiful colors, splattering every where, releasing the endorphin brew relentlessly, attacking one’s senses and non-senses via the 24-hour video show (three time zone Softbank ticker watching)>>
I think in 2004, gold gamble, energy wager and China bet can all help to recreate those intoxicating days in 1999, but maybe after a serious ‘trial by fire’ correction first.
Maybe SARS and mad cows will be the triggers to the mother-of-all corrections. Who can know?
In the case of SARS, I have had some experience, and they were not unpleasant. If you remember, it was a period of successive Ground Hog days, over and again, to get just perfect:
Message 18800755
<<April 5th, 2003
Hello Maurice, Here I am, situated in the eye of the SARS storm … I am on the beach, dressed in non-descript laundry-day clothing, seated on the terrace of my neighborhood beach kiosk, waiting for my brunch of fried pork chops, sunny-side-up eggs, wheat toast, and Pocari sport drink.
Chung Hom Kok Bay is overcast today, cool, and dry.
The ocean is aqua-jade-green, and the water is very clear. The foliage along the cliff is vibrantly green, brightened by the polarized light filtered through the generous clouds and then reflected from the mirror-like ocean.
There is a wooden pleasure junk anchored out in the Bay, and there are 5 lifeguards busying themselves on sand with chitchat and equipment cleaning.
Today is a nice day, ending a relaxed week that saw the end of a war-anxiety and disease-worry filled month, and comforted by the reassuring (that the world still runs in accordance with logic) continuation of the recessionary decade.
I had always imagined that days of global war, planet-wide recession, and earth-enveloping disease to be quite relaxing compared to the hectic days and busy nights of money-grabbing boom times. I was right.
Some folks had commented that the times feel like retirement. The only missing ingredient is the always dreamt for 18% per annum interest rate.
This Chung Hom Kok Bay economy is a very strange one, where I sell put options on gold mining equities of properties located in far away places, to earn premiums from speculators throughout cyber universe, buy pork chop brunches from the beach kiosk, which then pays taxes that in turn is used to keep the beach clean and government employed lifeguards fed with instant noodles from the same kiosk.>>
Message 18958019
<<May 19th, 2003
Good Morning Pezz, I am pretending to work at home today, instead of faking work at the office. So, it will be a day of swimming, model making for HGT and SJT, and snacking on Italian olives, German Brie cheese, English crackers, Philippine mango salad, and sipping French Chateau Pouget Margaux ’83 (I know nothing about wine, only vague and clouded memories of wine tasting course at the hotel school in my university during my foolish days of, well, actually, wine, cheese, and lucking out on exams:0)
Message 18958271
<<May 20th, 2003
Hi DJ, the party started early today, wine, cheese, olives down, ready for noon swim in bay empty of people; paradisio.
Already looking forward to afternoon nap.
Will tomorrow be like today. Today feels like Saturday, and so tomorrow must be Friday, and then it will Thursday, which will feel like Friday, the day before Saturday :0) >>
Message 18976076
<<May 27th, 2003
Hi elmat, <<ABN Amro predict euro would $1.21 in six months>> ... may we count our blessings now, six months from now, and then again six months after that;0)
I am having yet another lazy day, this time lunching on sushi made jet fresh at the neighborhood market place, and I just got back from swimming.
The biggest decision I had to make today was whether I wanted to partake in wine before or after the swim. I decided to sip before and imbibe afterwards, so as to swim with a buzz, and nap with a bigger buzz :0)
The Chung Hom Kok Beach Bum Economy is operating as it always has, with the food chain right-side up. No inkling of redistributive revolution as yet.
I am always surprised how quickly such days go by, much faster than if I was doing work.>>
Message 18991522
<<June 1st, 2003
Hello Maurice, I have had my lazy lunch of fresh bread, duck and orange pate, olives, wine, cheese, garlic salami under the shade in the in-laws garden; I am done with the gentle float in the warm ocean; and I am satisfied with my languid nap in machine tempered air environment>>
I learned from my SARS experience, and have made preparations to survive in a more perfect way in 2004, if the situation repeats itself in a Ground Hog way:
Message 19288518
<<September 9th, 2003
Hi Pezz, Today's Report:
… I put in my order for 3 mixed cases of the following selected WINPAC 2003 award winning wines, readying for SARS return and my possible staying close to home for a few months, haunting the cheese board and the cold cuts counter at the neighborhood deli, and day after nights of swim, eat, make moolah, drink, reach for scratch, nap, swim, look for coins, reflexology, dig for gold, and sleep.
These could appreciate, I suppose, but I mean to drink them:0)
Jacob's Creek Riesling 2002 - Australia
Preece Sauvignon Blanc 2002 - Australia
Brookland Valley "Verse 1" Chardonnay 2002 - Australia
Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc 2002 - New Zealand
Frog Rock Shiraz 2001 - Australia
Lindemans "Reserve" Cabernet Merlot 1999 - Australia
Casa Rivas Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 - Chile
Geyser Peak Chardonnay 2001 - USA
Tyrrell's Pinot Noir 2002 - Australia
Seaview "Brut" Sparkling 2001 -Australia
Casa Lapostolle Merlot 2002 - Chile
Baron Philippe de Rothschild "Reserva" Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 - Chile >>
… and I have tested some recipes suitable for above mentioned trials (a) through (k) already:
Message 19297657
<<September 12th, 2003
Hello Pezz, Today’s Report:
Today is a public holiday. The wife did wake boarding in the morning and I read about what is supposedly happening in the world – the usual, wars, financial manias, debt alerts, political instabilities, currency chaos, and the inexorably relentless rise of the one money that rules over all cash.
… I prepared for the BBQ tonight for 8 by (a) cleaning up my in-law’s yard, (b) fix up the grill, (c) purchase, collate and assemble the ingredients:
- Greek salad
- Baby squid, mushrooms, prawns, scallop, green pepper, and garlic on skewer
- Australian steak (marinated in mix of red wine, basil, garlic, olive oil)
- Wild rice cooked in green tea
- Wingoonawarra Carernet Shiraz Merlot (Australia) 1999
- Ninquen Carbernet Sauvignon (Chile) 2000
- Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (Australia) 2001
- Jim Barry Watervale Riesling (Australia) 2002
- Mango slices w/ ice cream>>
To kick-off the SARS season and better start the Financial Reckoning epoch, I have made the preparations for one move in starting January 13th lasting to the end of the month, to decamp Hong Kong, to simultaneously side step at least a portion of the SARS episode 2004 and to better contemplate the ways of financial survival in the Year of the Monkey (see reference of Chinese Zodiac below).
That is to say I will take a vacation, and it needs to take care of Water so that I can benefit from Metal ;0)
We will get there by Message 19512275
<<November 17th, 2003
flight 11 hours
transit 3.5 hours
flight 5 hours
transit 12 hours
flight 50 minutes
boat 30 minutes>>
… and it is precisely within the intersection of four geographic circles, 3,852 miles from Los Angeles, 3,541 miles from Sydney, 5,468 miles from Tokyo and 4,660 miles from Santiago, Chile :0)
The holiday will also have to take care of these fantasies:
Message 19308346
<<September 15th, 2003
… and do not forget the scent of tea rose
the barefoot rump through the meadow
the beautiful smile
the shimmering sunshine against the water
the hike along the gorges
the shared picnic, and the private partaking of chilled wine
with the day ending at the skinny dipping place at the fall
followed by the embraced nap of warm dusk
and once again, the scent of tea rose
... ummmn
Oops, where was I supposed to be?>>
Message 19572846
<<December 8th, 2003
... yes, but for guys, there is also an element of fantasy - wine, woman, sun, and olives, and altogether in one place :0)
Message 19007874
<<June 5th, 2003
… The Hakka Chinese part of me is willing to wash dishes, participate in a revolt, and then make a run for it.
The French portion of me is willing to make some trouble for the English, sip some wine, chase some girls, and then make a run for it.
The African DNA in me is willing to sit around, watch the proceedings, have a good time, as long as the music is lively and the girls are hot, and then make a run for it.>>
As Maurice had pointed out already, Message 19619644 <<What should a time traveller carry?>>
… I must decide what to place in the survival kit and bring on the trip, knowing full well the TeoTwawKi due to SARS, WAT-WOT-whatnot, or Financial Reckoning can happen while I am away, inconveniently out of the loop, and then must be able to start a new life :0)
No, USD and American Express Card will not be it, and Maurice’s IT may not be entirely relevant ;0)
Chugs, Jay
Message 12404275
<<December 29th, 1999
... January does not concern me much, March does. We all become technicians first, science fiction writers later, soothsayers next, then, finally, astrologers. February is a month to start shorting until we feel margin poor, and August is for going long until we feel cash poor.>>
Reference: Year of the Monkey –
chinesefortunecalendar.com
2002 and 2003 were the years mixing Fire and Water, which are hostile each other. Past two years weren't peaceful for many areas in the world. World economics kept struggling for recovery. Many people worried about loosing their jobs. Basically, 2002 and 2003 are the cycle of Fire. Fire is the supporting element of Earth, any business something to do with to Fire or Earth had better luck during these years. For example, real estate (Earth) related business had a pretty good money luck in the past three years. The 2004 is the beginning of Metal cycle. Now it's the turn for the Metal business. Metal stands for gold, jewelry or money. Therefore the financial business will boom in these coming two years. You can see the mother nature is very fair. Everyone takes turn to share the luck.
The major elements in the Green Monkey are Wood and Metal. According to the Five Element Relationship chinesefortunecalendar.com , we know there is a conflict between Wood and Metal. So the disputes and arguments are there for many people in 2004. Fortunately, there are some Water inside the Monkey. Water is the key to make Wood and Metal get along peacefully. The reason is from Five Element relationships. Metal supports Water. Water supports Wood. A Water person is a good friend of a Metal and a Wood person. So Metal people and Wood people have the chance to shake hands. Water stands for wisdom in Chinese astrology. That means it always has a solution for the disagreement from Wood and Metal using your wisdom (Water) in 2004.
The prediction for people luck in this web site is using the Five Elements, not the yearly animal sign you were born chinesefortunecalendar.com . So you need to know your Lucky Element chinesefortunecalendar.com first to follow the following explanation.
If your lucky element is Wood, then your luck is good in the beginning of the year. For example, your business or relationship with people will go well in the first half of 2004, the second half of 2004 will slow down the progress by some kind of disagreement. If your lucky element is Metal, then you will have bad start and struggle with your work or with people relationships, but the result will turn out well in the end of year. Basically, many people have 50% luck in 2004. To know if you have complete good luck, you need to study the Green Monkey relationship with your birth chart using the Stem chinesefortunecalendar.com and Branch relationships chinesefortunecalendar.com , which is not always easy.
The following are the predictions of your luck in the year of Green Monkey using your Lucky Element chinesefortunecalendar.com and Major 10-year cycles chinesefortunecalendar.com . |
