February 3, 2006

• My left leg is throbbing.  A month ago, at one of those Wednesday night classes I attend at the herbal shop, I threw it out of whack doing qigong.  We did a rapid, repetitive kicking motion, thrusting the leg forward in order to release tension in the knee joint.  I released something all right.  The odd thing was I didn’t know it.  Maybe a week later it started to hurt, and I could think of no other way I might have done it.  

  
  

  Then, the other day I lost my balance and had to right myself using the bad leg.  This pain shot up my leg and I just about fell down.  Whatever hinging action was supposed to happen, didn’t.  It was just like when your back is out of alignment, I could tell whatever was wrong with my knee was something that might right itself.  So at the herb shop I picked up all kinds of stuff to help with inflammation.  I just happen to have one of my six-month follow-ups with the surgeon next Mon, so I can get a referral and an X-ray then.

  
  

  I was doing a lot better today until I put all my weight on that foot again, without thinking, and it was like a cable slipping out of its groove; that’s what it felt like.  Now I can barely walk and it hurts behind the knee, as well as down the back, left side of my calf.  Does this sound at all familiar?  I don’t know anything about knee injuries.

  
  

  So, today was a rough day.  The market was down and I came dangerously close to having to sell something at a loss.  Two things, actually.  Bob’s the only one I know who likes stocks but he’s got a busy career, a wife, and lives in another state.  So today I went looking for a stock buddy I could call.

  
  

  Bob suggested I start a stock club and in my hunt to find existing clubs in Portland I ended up on the phone with a woman who oversees  NAIC (National Assoc. of Investors Corp.) stock clubs in my area.  Things were going swimmingly until she mentioned something about the software they used.  I started asking questions and she fairly gasped, “Are you a daytrader?” 

  
  

  “No,” I said, “But, after a week like we’ve had, I’m beginning to feel like one.  I sell at an 8% loss or with a 30% gain, then 60% and on up, selling a sixth at a time”

  
  

  “Oh,” she said, and I could hear the scorn, “You’re a technical investor.”

  
  

  I had no idea what that was but I could tell it wasn’t what she was. 

  
  

  “There is a group here in Portland,” she said, “who deal only in growth stocks, where you’d be a better fit, except that you’re a woman and they only take men.”

  
  

  I tried to get off the phone at this point, thinking of the ad I was going to have to write up for the Willamette Week, our local rag. 

  
  

  Wanted:  Stock buddy.  Preferably a woman but a gay man would be nice.  Are you passionate about the stock market; love to talk about trading?  If you’ve made a profit in the last year, you’re not into hedge funds or options, and you are comfortable talking on the phone, at length, or reading my long Emails please contact me.

  
  

  She wanted me to come to their “wine and cheese,” so I could scope out the different clubs.  She assured me there were people who came, but who weren’t in a club; had their own strategy.  Then she told me about the Model Club I could attend, to see what their strategy was all about.  It ought to be interesting.  I just hope I don’t have to show up with a cane.

  • 12:22 am
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