From playing with sand to...

7th AUG: Today I decided to build the Great Wall of China. And so I did. Nothing major happened. Just that it left me with a huge backache that lasted 3 days before it subsided.
14th AUG: I aspired to build/sculpt a model of the Effiel Tower. Inspired by Yin Har actually, one of my best university friends. Got me thinking about how to do something special for my gf, Miranda. But guess what? I didn't manage to get the sandpile up to my desired height. I wanted something around my waist. And before I could even reach that it COLLAPSED!!
There you see! The left (or is it right?) side collapsed. On hindsight, I could have still carved it. But I decided to go for something else.

And that something else is a classical buddhist hand symbol. It looks like an OK sign.
But according to Wikipedia (the worse academic resource to possibly quote from), "The Vitarka mudrā ("mudrā of discussion") is the gesture of discussion and transmission of Buddhist teaching." But my discussion, I mean the sculpture collapsed because I sensed the movement of the 3rd finger when I was carving some details, but didn't realise it's a sign of impending collapse. Which means my sculpture was structurally unsound. So by the time I thought of taking pictures, I'm just left with an amateurish index finger and thumb portion. This talk about understanding and reading signs seems to come from Paulo Coehlo.

21st AUG: I built 2 sandpiles TOO CLOSE to the water! Argh! And I had to abandon both in the end. But I discovered an interesting fact today. That the natural weight of the sand does a much better job at compressing and giving rise to the structural integrity of the sand below the surface level. So thus, when it rained, I went to an area when the sand was much coarser and dug. And wa-la! I dug deep enough to reach my waist with my feet in the hole.

My idea is to build a Chinese-styled roof and house a simple (read: I can't do a complex one) image of a Buddha inside.

This took me a lot of effort blowing! Blowing is done using a straw (duh!) to get rid of sand which cannot be gotten rid of using tools.

The abstract outline of a Buddha statue. Meant to be 2D.
The completed work looked impressive to me. (Allow me some self-boast, since I never thought i could finish this, especially the roof) The Buddha looks amateurish, I admit. And he has abs! Haha... Maybe it's my wish that I have abs too? In the midst of carving, I was interrupted by some staff of Sentosa. (They basically manage the island) And they kindly requested me to cover the hole when I'm done. Pretty sad isn't it? But as with many things in life, we must learn to let go. And so I did cover the big hole when i left. To at least 90% I think.
What is interesting is that I managed to do another piece. This one is basically a rudimentary and experimental sculpture of a castle with spiral stairs. It's not quite elegant. But a good try for a start. Lessons learnt!
7 AUG21st AUG
These 2 times when I build sandpiles too close to the water taught me one thing. LET GO! In some sense it's the concept of stoploss used in forex trading. When one knows the position is a bad one, one should cut losses as earlier as possible and look for another opportunity. Exactly what I did in these cases.

My sexy back view! (according to Miranda)
I really really enjoy sculpting! It's not so much about expression anymore. I started out doing this because I wanted to find some means of expression. It was and is in line with my idea of including some form of arts in my life.

But my work attracted people. Not many. But a handful. Usually tourists. In sculpting, I talked to people from India, Dubai, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, and Taiwan. And I bet that list will grow as I put more of my ideas on sand. I'm glad my work is appreciated by some, even if it's just a few. Thanks to all who gave me wonderful comments and noted my efforts!

I'm freaking late!

"Freaking" is a word I commonly use these days. And I guess it expresses a sense of exasperation. After all, things are moving as fast as I hope they can. Which really is my fault, since my effort in some aspects is either really lacking or non-existent.

But after opening the IBFX platform last friday, today I finally found the time and will to sit down and figure out which are the Support/Resistance lines for 5 pairs - GBPUSD, EURUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF AND AUDUSD. To be honest, I don't know why I put in the last one. It just seems like the aussie is an attractive pair to trade. I took slightly more than an hour to complete the SR lines for all 5 pairs using the monthly and weekly charts. Haven't managed to collect info like how many times the lines were tested respectively though.

And it really is some sort of art trying to figure out which lines should be drawn. As with sculpturing, I'm starting from scratch. I'm just trying out the tools and trying to learn the ropes (or rules). I'm sure I've drawn too many lines. But that doesn't matter I think.

Anyway, using the lines I've drawn. I'm gonna embark on my backtesting of 1000 trades. An outline of what to do have been drawn up. I'm basically gonna test some hypothesis. And my testing will tell me whether my hypothesis stands and how well they perform. I'm doing some basic math modules that deal with uncertainty and risk, and I wonder if I can use the knowledge to analysis my methodologies and results. But that aside, my first hypothesis is that SR lines A)are strong supports when price tests the line from above, and B)they are strong resistance when price tests the line from below. Effectively that means this hypothesis is that whenever price tests any SR line, it should bounce off the line and return in the direction it was coming from.

This one is pretty easy to test, and probably will be proven wrong in no time. My backtesting will have to be to long whenever (A) occurs and short whenever (B) occurs.

My second hypothesis involves the use of trend indicators to establish the strength of the SR lines. Basically if the trend indicator indicates a downward trend, and price is testing a SR line from above, then the SR line's strength as a support is uncertain. If however, the price was testing a SR line from below, then it is that the SR line would be strong as a resistance. The opposite also is possibly true.

So the testing for this hypothesis is as follows:
1. Long if a support is tested from above and trend is up.
2. Short if a resistance is tested from below and the trend is down.

Third hypothesis. By using momentum/strength indicators(MSI) (eg. Stochastic/Relative Strength Index etc), we can tell the strength of the trend relative to the strength of SR lines. The testing will take the form of:-
1. Long when price approaches either C)support line when MSI points to a weak trend
or D)resistance lines when MSI points to a strong trend
2. Short when price approaches either E)support line when MSI points to a strong trend
or F)resistance lines when MSI points to a weak trend

FOR FITNESS, I think I've gotten better. I made plans to run about 3 times a week. But weather wasn't too good yesterday. And I still some strain from my slightly sprained ankle. I was thinking I was just making more excuses. But I seriously don't want to worsen any injury (if mine can even be considered one). I'll start next week.

Back on track (pun unintended)!

Haha, following my last post, today is the "post (about my forex plan) later today"...which is really a "tomorrow" by yesterday's standards.

For fitness, nope, I still haven't ran a single bit since I last lost the war against IPPT. But I did go back to doing chin ups and sit ups. For the record, I can safely say I am now able to achieve the pass standard for IPPT - 6 chin ups. I'm thinking of doing some charts on a piece of mahjong paper and putting them up on the wall. To remind me of what has been achieved and what more can be. In fact, that sounds like a good exercise for anything major in life. So there's financial, academics, love, social, etc etc

Anyway, I'm ultra late in executing my plan to pull my socks up as a forex trader. Oh wait, to sidetrack a little, I lost all my data on my expenditure which I've been recording in my hp since 12 days ago (which is the start of August). I guess that teaches me about backing up data. Especially when I have a laptop which seems affected by either a worm or virus.

Anyway, on to my detailed forex plan. First the timeline.

8 Aug Finalise Forex plan
9 Aug - 8 Sept Test method 1
9 Sept - 8 Oct Test method 2
9 Oct - 8 Nov Test method 3

In the midst of typing this post, I thought I had already done this sometime back. I checked, twice. And I realised I am way behind in my blogging. MANY things and incidents that I think is worthy of mention is left out. Mostly unintentionally.

Anyway, the approaches I'm taking is going to be very foundational and traditional tools of technical analysis. Support and Resistance lines, Triangles and Channels. I haven't figured how to trade all of those. But I have quite a detailed test plan out for the first. (That again warrants another post - it's way to long to subsume under this one) But one thing is certain, I need to be doing at least 1000 backtested trades per window of 1 mth.

So that's that, I got a few of my friends to passively check my progress, which means they won't hound me if I don't do anything which I plan to do, but I would send some reports or reflections to them at the end of each period. Serves as a motivation to me. I (hopefully) tend to work harder when we think I need to disclose how much I've accomplished.

Lagging... I'm slacking...

ARGH! I am freaking slow! My life which was so filled with direction and aims and goals and programs stopped completely for the past 2 days. Haven't gone ahead to fulfil schedules for my forex trading, fitness etc etc.

But today's a good day to start again. After all, school's starting! I don't quite know if I welcome the sem. Well, I do, but I just have my concerns. (But who doesn't yeah?) Arranged to meet my academic advisor for the very first time today! And that's after email exchanges since 2 months ago I think.

Plus I'll go back to seeing my nus mates with much greater frequency. Haha, but I'm gonna be such an econs-freak this sem because I am taking 4 major modules. But I'll still keep my sanity with 2 usp mods. The new one costs me A LOT of points! Just bidpoints though.

And I would like to welcome all freshies that I have met, no matter how brief that meeting was, to NUS Fac of Arts and Social Sciences. I hope you guys and girls have lotsa fun and find learning and exams not too much a bore. Learning definitely isn't if it's taken in the right spirit. But I totally can't say the same for exams.

I guess I'll talk about my forex plans later today. Alright, have fun till then!

Playing with sand!

A few days back I was at the beach with my best secondary school friends. Just 4 guys who were really bored and ended up on sentosa's beach. After having tried my hand at sandsculpting (of sorts) during an earlier trip with the beach with Miranda and friends, I brought my tools (garden spades) again to see if I have the chance to have some fun.

And guess what? My friends were game for it and even sculpted some of their own stuff. We tried (and failed) to make a watch tower. And I thought we could make it a part of the Great Wall of China thing. That was when I learnt that my ability to stack sand to a decent height is not decent at all.

Looking closely, we actually did pretty well - if we were trying to make a volcano.

But later we (at least I did) still got our tan, and in our last hour on the beach, I sculpted a squarish watch tower by going subterrain - digging into the existing sandbed, rather than building upwards.

And here's how it looked like.


But I think the prize for the best sculpture surely goes to Zhidong, who carved a nice turtle out! (there should have been eggs)


And as the story goes, the turtle swam from the water to the shore towards to mountains!

Anyway, after a very fun day, we ended up with this!


And I figured out that I wanted to learn more about sand sculpting. Guess I'll go back to the beach more often to have fun while tanning!

Fitness plans

Just a very short update. And I hope this doesn't bore you. Part of my intention of more intensive blogging is to provide material for reference and reflection when I need them in future. So some posts might really seem pretty useless, boring, or even annoying. ("WHY DID HE HAVE TO BLOG ABOUT THAT SILLY THING??")

Anyway, in line with the requirements of the Ministry of Defence, I am to pass my IPPT (physical fitness test) in 2 months. Judging by my performance during my last test, I need to buck up on mainly my pull-ups (did 5 out of the 6 required) and running (didn't finish even half of the required 2.4km distance).

Also, I want to strengthen my sit-ups, so thus I launch a three-pronged approach to passing. I'm already in the midst of applying the first and third aspect. I do pull-ups whenever I go to Miranda's place (since there's a fitness station nearby) and when I don't get to do any in a day, I do 30 push-ups.

As for sit-ups, I started off with doing 40 sit-ups every night when I get home or before I sleep. But I realised I didn't have any reaction from my body (in terms of aches during the following day). So I tried doing 2 sets of 40 sit-ups, still no response. I realised the problem is that doing sit-ups do not target my abdomen muscles directly. So after some thought and consulting a friend, I switched to crunches today. I wonder what the effect will be, but it sure seemed more difficult to do 50 crunches. I'm considering if I should hold and count to eight/ten rather than just contracting my abs momentarily on every count.

As for runs, I really haven't decided how to go about it. I was thinking I should run twice a week. Maybe even thrice, even though I don't quite enjoy running. The short term goal is certainly to complete 2.4km in 12 minutes. But the long term goal is to join my friend at Standard Chartered Bank's Marathon. I was told it's 10km. That probably qualifies as a fun run as compared to the full-fledged 42km marathon. So that would mean I need to do endurance training too.