Why Finance?

That's a conversation for another time entirely, but here's a couple of my most trivial reasons. Not only do you get to witness/participate in the most epic fights, but you also get to work with your childhood heroes!

Last week, on Friday, right before the close, 5 seconds before the bell started to ring, this broker ran down into the pit and tried to trade with the boss. There was some misunderstanding about the markets, and when the bell stopped ringing, the boss refused to do the trade. As soon as he heard the word "No," the broker lost it. He started screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs, and the entire building got very quiet very quickly.

So, when you're swearing, say at an airline employee who's just given your seat away, you're supposed to start low, with a slightly angry normal voice, and escalate from there to yelling. This broker started with screaming (louder than yelling!) and somehow managed to keep it up for a full 5 minutes. It was (simultaneously) the most badass and the most frightening experience I've had. I was sure he was going batter the boss (we had passed assault a full 3 minutes back). Then, after the matter was resolved, he came by and asked us if we "enjoyed the show." Yes, very much, Mr. Angry Broker.

I've also run into a surprising number of people I really, really admired as a kid (and still do!) On Saturday, I had dinner at Tailor (their miso butterscotch pork belly is divine) with JJ, who was the high school hero who motivated me to get into Scibowl. Turns out he's working (at Goldman) with AC, who's been one of my heroes ever since I met him back in 2003. Then, on Sunday, I had dinner with JQ in K-town (where I had my first Pinkberry :D) He's a childhood hero who happens to be working with one of his childhood heroes, who also happens to be one of my childhood heroes.

As if that weren't awesome enough, after closing today, we had a class with Sandor Lehoczky (hero!!) who coauthored the seminal middle school math books. This guy is pretty much responsible (however indirectly) for me getting into college. During class, I actually discovered another hero. This guy was just sitting there, learning about Power Laws, and his veins were literally popping out of his forehead. You know how tennis players use their arms so much that their arm veins pop out? This guy uses his brain so much that his forehead veins are popping out. My hero. If anyone has a valid medical reason or an alternate explanation for this, shut it! I don't want to hear.