From Bo Tidwell - a friend of mine

Thoughts  For The Day "I went to the woods because I wished  to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.    I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest term    Henry David Thoreau

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda    I was reminded the other day     of a decision I made long ago about how I wanted to conduct my life.  I was about to turn 30 years old when I saw an interview with the late singer/songwriter, Harry Chapin.  Something he said struck a chord in me that had been lying dormant my entire life.    Chapin said that when he got to the end of his life, he didn't want to look back with regret about the things he didn't do, and wonder how things might have been different, if only he'd had the gumption to take a risk at the time. When I heard those words, I realized that I had spent the better part of my life avoiding certain choices and opportunities because I was afraid of what someone else might think or say, or whether I might fail.      I made up my mind that minute that I would not waste another day living in that self imposed cage; that I would embrace every opportunity that came my way with no regard for anything except whether I wanted to do it and it was legal, moral, and ethical; that no one else would run my life but me. Since that day, any time that I hear someone say that something cannot be done, I usually take that as a challenge to prove them wrong.    A few endeavors that I have tried through the years include owning a toy distributorship in Florida, partnering with my wife in a retail shop in Charleston, trading Options, including but not limited to writing Covered Calls and selling Naked Puts; trading Futures in  Pork Bellies, Live Hogs, Feeder Cattle, Soy Beans, Soy Bean Meal, Soy Bean Oil, Lumber, Sugar, Coffee, Orange Juice, T Bills, Swiss Francs, British Pounds, German Marks, Canadian Dollars, Gold, Silver and Copper; buying, restoring and selling cars, writing a  newsletter that's a little off the beaten path, and  going on Blind Dates. As I write this, I am now at beautiful Keuka Lake in New York wine country, attending an intense  3 day workshop with Steve Bigalow, one of the  leading  Candlestick Charting experts in the world, trying once again to prove I can do something that I was told is impossible.  Joining me in this quest are  4 other kindred spirits: an Engineer from Canada, a female MD from Lake Tahoe,  a retired businessman from Oregon, and a Landscape Contractor from New Jersey. Insanity likes company. There was a young woman who worked at the nursery once, who was living in a tent on the Flint River when we hired her. She had been around the block a few times and had the tattoos to prove it. One of her famous quotes was, "There ain't much I ain't did." I can identify. I've gotten my share of bumps and bruises along this path I've chosen, but at least I got my uniform dirty and I can be proud that I have lived the last thirty years of my life on the playing field and not in the stands.            How about you? Have you been living your life in the stands or have you ever gotten your uniform dirty?