The Day After
Daily Ramble
It’s hard to write when I’m feeling sad. Yesterday, I had a video call with my family back in the States. I appreciate that my family made the effort to try and include me in the Thanksgiving holiday. But it’s something they don’t tell you when you decide to plant roots in a foreign country — you’re going to miss the holiday and family traditions you grew up with. Of course, I knew this signing up for life abroad, but it’s one thing to know it and another to experience it.
For the last two years, I’ve thrown Thanksgiving celebrations to keep the tradition alive. This year, I flirted with the idea but ultimately decided not to for multiple reasons. Lesson learned, I’ll keep the holiday traditions alive for myself, even if no one in Portugal can understand beyond enjoying a tasty, oddly-timed meal together.
There’s no pity party going on here. Just a candid reflection that there’s a lot of challenges to living abroad once the 6 month honeymoon period of living in a new culture fades: I’m an immigrant, there’s a language barrier, the economy and potential for earnings is less, social interactions are different. It’s just a different life. Knowing all this ahead of time, I still would have chosen to live here and raise my family. There’s been a lot of incredible things that have come out of this experience, but on the social medias, where peacocking is the norm, it’s worth mentioning that foreign living is not always a bowl full of cherries.
Favorite Thing on the Interwebs Today
In honor of all turkey fryers, because somewhere, this happened to someone yesterday.
Bitcoin
Yesterday’s price range prediction: $15.8k - $18.9k
Today’s price range prediction: $18.3k - $15.8k
Reaching a low of $16.2k yesterday, the pullback was met with sheer disbelief and gnashing of teeth by many market participants confusing the idea Number Go Up, with the idea Number ALWAYS Go Up. The fact that this pullback occurred before testing the all-time high at $20k is a good thing as it allows more time and momentum to be built. I don’t believe we’re done with this pullback yet and anticipate it going as low as $13k before a floor is found. One of the clearest indicators it’s time to enter the market is when fear of sub $10k prices reaches a crescendo. It’s worth remembering that it’s not been since 2017 that we’ve seen prices above $15k. Volatility is normal. Keep your hands steady.
Continuing Ed
Decentralization. It’s a word tossed around the campfire and everyone nods knowingly I’m not sure they do though. Superficially, Bitcoin’s decentralization sounds simple enough: there’s no one person or entity in control. It functions because everyone using it is selfishly motivated — either to send and receive Bitcoin or to mine Bitcoin and earn it. Bitcoin magically self-regulates these functions without anyone being in control. That bit of magic I’ll handwave away by saying it’s a topic for another day.
Tomorrow, I’ll take the concept of Bitcoin’s decentralization a bit deeper by answering the question: who decided Bitcoin was a store of value like gold?
Thanks for reading,
Kent