A few years ago I decided to learn the Python programming language. Before I retired I knew and taught a few other languages but had never learned Python. I did have a book that I read a few pages of but the coding style was so different that I didn’t pursue it. I got really annoyed when the IDE complained about wrong number of indents. Just give me the braces anytime.
After I retired my motivation for learning Python was a strong interest in trading crypto, and the fact that quantitative strategies seemed a lot more sensible to one who lacks any kind of intuition. It became clear that the best language for this sort of thing is Python. So I bit the bullet and these days incorrect indentation is rarely a problem. I put a lot of work into it, a lot of time and quite a bit of money taking courses, buying books, etc. It kept me pretty busy.
Anyone familiar with my recent posts will know that I have become very disenchanted with trading crypto, except the the extremely simple buy and hold strategy for BTC. This doesn’t engage much of my attention, even if I do have the BTC/USDT price chart on my computer most of the time I’m awake.
However, I get bored, very bored. Having a bit of money on the line does wonders for ‘engagement’. Studying ML, for instance, with no actual intention to use it, is just not cutting it. There was a time in my life when I spent a lot of time learning about things with no expectation of any application or reward. Just interest. But that doesn’t seem to work for me anymore. I guess nothing is really new anymore, just variations on familiar themes. I like the big ideas, and implementation details don’t really interest me. Probably why I was never good at languages at school. Learning vocab was just boring, and I had no desire to actually communicate with anyone in, say, French, which I studied for five years in secondary school. Or Latin, which I studied for six.
Anyway, I’m thinking of doing a bit of trading again, not to make any money but just to keep boredom at bay. My grandparents (on my father’s side) used to bet on the horses. I doubt they made any profit doing that. They were working class, there were no books in the house, this was before television, I guess it helped pass the time.