Might as well laugh

Well, no, I'm not really laughing all that much. However, there I was at work, purposely avoiding any peek at anything remotely able to tell me how "the market" was performing. But then at the end of the day, it was evident from the headline on my home page that we had a brand new record loss to deal with - the Dow headin' south to the tune of 777 points, which as I recall is supposed to be a nice number, Biblically speaking. I mean, if it went down 666, that would be almost more cause for worry in some quarters.

So I was poking around on the XM radio (love it!) driving home, flitting from Bloomburg financial news to CNN news, listening to the experts expound on this notable, indeed SEISMIC drop in the market, which if unchecked, will bring the domestic capital markets and, in short fashion, business as we know it, to a grinding halt, making it tough to send little Johnny and Sally to college, let alone finance Santa's scheduled visit in a mere three months.

So there I was, thinking about how maybe 7 percent of my retirement kitty had been vaporized by the closing bell, wondering how to commiserate with my life partner over dinner. I got in the house, and she went first.

"I went to that teacher in-service today and they had a great speaker, very motivational, talking about things to avoid, like STRESS, if you want a long life. She talked about how humor is important to longevity. Look at how long George Burns, Bob Hope, and many others lived. I mean, that Cloris Leachman is on Dancing with the Stars at age 82! How crazy is that?"

I'm glad she went first. It sort of put it all in perspective. Short of selling off and putting my millions (ha!) in gold, there is not much I can do, anyway. I continue to heed the "experts" who say if you have the time, just ride it out. And so I keep riding it out. You are welcome, Corporate America. Glad to help prop you up.

So now I am pondering the irony. Here's the thing: I'm sitting here feeling pretty good because I decided not to stress out just because our Congress can't figure out how to right the wrongs of a bunch of financiers gone wild, in order that I can live to a ripe old age - while I haven't a clue what's going to pay the bills in those extended golden years if things continue on the current track...which looks something like this:
But, hey, might as well laugh. It's good for you!