I had put my max difficulty/evil plot arc Fire Emblem playthrough on ice so that I had something to do on flights and layovers for our Jamaica trip.


2020 happened instead, but it turns out a turn-based game on Switch is pretty good for parenting. Plus I used Byleth as Dani's portrait for now, so I kind of have to.


The flyer strategy is working out well with pre-endgame battles. There have been some challenging paralogue quests, but the main story is pretty doable with a modest amount of pre-battle tinkering.


Over the weekend, some WSBers decided to take the "we're ape investors/strong together" meme and use it for good.


Donations eventually exceeded 300k and evoked a response from their main benificiary.

/u/IforgotmyAOLpassword This is so much better than the ass tattoos. Still waiting on the chest shitter tho.

/u/TheRealSamBell What about a tattoo of an adopted gorilla on the ass?

/u/AutumnCrystal There was mention of a green candle ..

/u/WillieDaWonka ah yes, the green candle. I'm still waiting for thid payment.

/u/TheRealSamBell That dude went awol. You can't find the chest shitter username anymore

Meanwhile, the standard practice of wagering nonmonetary photos/videos if a price target is hit has seen a few accounts disappear. And Huffman told congress that the sub was full of authentic people, smh my head.

Symbol	Qty	Cost	Proceeds	Gain	Notes
GME Jan 29 '21 $36 Put w	1	$130.51	$0.00	-$130.51	Protective
GME Feb 05 '21 $165 Call w	1	$0.00	$2,314.43	$2,314.43
GME Feb 05 '21 $38 Put w	1	$253.51	$0.00	-$253.51	Protective
GME Feb 12 '21 $69 Call w	1	$0.00	$499.47	$499.47
GME Feb 26 '21 $190 Call w	1	$0.00	$2,999.47	$2,999.47
GME Mar 05 '21 $150 Call w	1	$0.00	$774.48	$774.48
GME	300	$39,868.17	$40,901.48	$1,033.20
Total	-	-	-	$7,237.03

Being currently out of GME (CSP on Thursday maybe...), I think my action could be classified as "FOMO, not YOLO". Apologies for the spreadsheet dump that etrade provides.

Side note: to convert dollars to text in Excel:

JK more meme stonks

There are three more meme stocks that accompanied GME: AMC, Blackberry, and Nokia.

Symbol	Qty	Cost	Proceeds	Gain	Notes
AMC Jan 29 '21 $14 Call w	1	$0.00	$101.48	$101.48
AMC Feb 05 '21 $15 Call w	2	$0.00	$800.95	$800.95
AMC Feb 12 '21 $6.50 Call w	1	$0.00	$45.48	$45.48
AMC Feb 26 '21 $14 Call w	1	$0.00	$108.48	$108.48
AMC Feb 26 '21 $17.50 Call w	1	$0.00	$66.48	$66.48
AMC Mar 05 '21 $10 Call w	1	$0.00	$59.48	$59.48
AMC Mar 05 '21 $15 Call w	1	$0.00	$21.48	$21.48
AMC Mar 12 '21 $13.50 Call w	1	$0.00	$25.48	$25.48
AMC Mar 12 '21 $15 Call w	1	$0.00	$37.48	$37.48
AMC	100	$1,480.50	$1,147.48	-$333.02
Total	-	-	-	$933.77	Holding 200 more shares @ 12.62

AMC is currently a couple bucks above my purchase price.

Symbol	Qty	Cost	Proceeds	Gain	Notes
BB Jan 29 '21 $23 Call w	2	$0.00	$372.96	$372.96
BB Jan 29 '21 $25 Call w	1	$0.00	$279.48	$279.48
BB Jan 29 '21 $12.50 Put w	1	$8.01	$82.48	$74.47
BB Feb 05 '21 $13 Call w	3	$493.54	$721.43	$227.89
BB Feb 05 '21 $18 Call w	2	$0.00	$216.96	$216.96
BB Feb 12 '21 $15 Call w	3	$0.00	$88.44	$88.44
Total	-	-	-	$1260.20	Holding 300 shares @ 14.93

BB is currently a couple bucks below my purchase price.

Source.

Nokia was pretty straightforward, I was up $110 and down $506 on a couple of speculative calls. I also bought 100 shares near the $7 peak. I'm somewhat bullish about their fortunes a year or two down the road as the need for mobile infrastructure continues to grow.

Okay back to wheels

Jon	I'm interested in your seminar on covered calls.

Ten weeks into 2021, here's how things look with the regular wheel action. Painfully absent from the information reported by etrade:

• Weekly money/shares fronted to make options premiums.
• Value of currently held stocks. Yes I could provide this as a separate table.

Symbol	Qty	Cost	Proceeds	Gain	Notes
AAPL Feb 12 '21 $135 Put w	1	$69.51	$107.48	$37.97
AAPL Mar 05 '21 $125 Call w	1	$0.00	$223.48	$223.48
AAPL Mar 12 '21 $123 Call w	1	$0.00	$110.48	$110.48
AKAM	100	$11,180.52	$9,646.36	-$1,534.16	Ouch
AMD Feb 05 '21 $89.50 Call w	1	$0.00	$85.48	$85.48
AMD Feb 05 '21 $87.50 Put w	1	$0.00	$89.48	$89.48
AMD Mar 05 '21 $86 Call w	1	$0.00	$118.48	$118.48
AMD	100	$8,895.52	$9,333.26	$437.74
CRSR Jan 15 '21 $35 Put	1	$7.01	$199.48	$192.47
CRSR Feb 19 '21 $40 Call	1	$0.00	$407.48	$407.48
CRSR Feb 19 '21 $35 Put	2	$0.00	$708.96	$708.96
ERIC Jan 21 '22 $12 Call	3	$573.54	$898.43	$324.89
ERIC	200	$1,882.00	$2,359.55	$477.55
INTC Jan 29 '21 $56.50 Call w	1	$0.00	$51.48	$51.48
INTC	100	$5,633.00	$5,652.86	$19.86
JETS Jan 15 '21 $18 Put	2	$109.03	$0.00	-$109.03
MJ Jan 15 '21 $14 Put	3	$15.04	$124.44	$109.40
MJ Feb 19 '21 $28 Call	1	$0.00	$74.48	$74.48
MJ Feb 19 '21 $31 Call	1	$0.00	$39.48	$39.48
MJ Feb 19 '21 $18 Put	4	$114.55	$437.92	$323.37
MJ Feb 26 '21 $26.50 Call w	1	$0.00	$34.48	$34.48
MJ Mar 05 '21 $24 Call w	1	$0.00	$54.48	$54.48
MJ Mar 05 '21 $25 Call w	1	$0.00	$29.48	$29.48
MJ Jul 16 '21 $22 Call	1	$160.51	$249.48	$88.97
MJ	200	$4,122.93	$4,690.96	$568.03
NVDA Jan 08 '21 $537.50 Call w	1	$0.00	$522.47	$522.47
NVDA Jan 15 '21 $540 Call	1	$0.00	$307.48	$307.48
NVDA Jan 15 '21 $560 Call	1	$35.51	$1,021.46	$985.95
NVDA	100	$51,810.52	$53,111.29	$1,300.77
PFE Jan 08 '21 $40 Call w	3	$538.54	$0.00	-$538.54	They save the world and this is how you treat them?
PFE Feb 05 '21 $37.50 Call w	4	$202.06	$0.00	-$202.06
PLTR Jan 15 '21 $24.50 Put	1	$20.51	$80.48	$59.97
PLTR Mar 12 '21 $21.50 Put w	2	$0.00	$112.96	$112.96
RKT Jan 15 '21 $27 Call	2	$0.00	$92.96	$92.96
RKT Jan 15 '21 $19.50 Put	1	$0.00	$52.48	$52.48
RKT Jan 29 '21 $19 Put w	1	$2.01	$48.48	$46.47
RKT Mar 05 '21 $27 Call w	2	$0.00	$82.96	$82.96
RKT Mar 12 '21 $27.39 Call w	1	$0.00	$150.48	$150.48
RKT Mar 12 '21 $28.89 Call w	1	$0.00	$134.48	$134.48
RKT	115	$3,312.30	$2,307.98	-$129.26	Sold some to free up funds
SPCE Jan 29 '21 $34 Put w	1	$2.01	$133.48	$131.47
SPCE Feb 05 '21 $44 Put w	1	$0.00	$111.48	$111.48
SPCE Feb 05 '21 $51 Put w	1	$0.00	$115.48	$115.48
SPCE Mar 12 '21 $35 Call w	1	$0.00	$34.48	$34.48
SPCE	200	$5,003.04	$5,038.82	$35.78
TSM Jan 29 '21 $133 Call w	1	$0.00	$131.48	$131.48
TSM Feb 05 '21 $132 Call w	1	$0.00	$63.48	$63.48
TSM Mar 05 '21 $132 Call w	1	$0.00	$76.48	$76.48
TSM	100	$13,107.00	$13,518.17	$411.17
TWTR Feb 12 '21 $56 Put w	1	$1.01	$248.48	$247.47
USO Apr 16 '21 $34 Call	2	$207.03	$474.95	$267.92
USO Jan 21 '22 $43 Call	2	$207.03	$318.96	$111.93
XOM Jan 15 '21 $47 Put	1	$18.51	$86.48	$67.97
YOLO Feb 19 '21 $27 Put	1	$0.00	$114.48	$114.48
Total	-	-	-	$7,865.42

To address the aforementioned current holdings issue, I'm $5-20 per share down on CRSR, PFE, SPCE, TSM. I've continued to sell calls and won't be dissatisfied if I take a small loss on any of these positions.

A semi-meme outlier here is the $40 RKT call I sold for $625. I counted it here because I consider RKT to be a growth stock.


My co-op Bloodborne adventure ended in, well, appropriate fashion. J was waiting for me to come online and explored ahead a little. He had a conversation with a dude who, I guess, bypasses the final boss and ends the game. Since I hadn't beaten the second-to-final boss and probably couldn't manage without a carry, I decided my ending was about as good as J's.



With Nioh 2 coming up, we decided to take a diversion into one of the PS+ games for this month, Remnant: From the Ashes.


It quickly feels like a The Last of Us-like setting mixed with some Fallout gear and technology.


There's also a bit of a Half-Lifey supernatural element that (two sessions in) I'm not sure I totally understand.


The action mechanics are like The Division or Gears of War without the cover-shooting aspect. Firearms and enemies have elemental effects, one of which was very similar to Bloodborne's frenzy.


Action skills can be applied to each of your two equipped firearms. Pictured above is the enemy highlight/prime mechanic, there's also incendiary ammo, healing pools, and so forth.


The bosses, even down to the fog door, are souls-inspired. They aren't easy.


The gear system is neither deep nor shallow. There are a bunch of firearms available, each of which can be upgraded with currency. Same for armor that has matching set bonuses. Jewelry has some interesting effects including ones that buff certain traits at the cost of others.


To be entirely honest, the first few hours of Remnant gave me the impression it was an indie game punching above its weight. The story, dialogue, and initial few environments feel heavily borrowed and some graphics elements such as character models felt a generation behind. While there's truth to all of that, the moment we hit the crazy alien desert I realized that there is more to this game than cutting and pasting tried and true shooter/souls elements. The claustrophobic streetscape turned into a (still on wide rails) I-don't-know-the-lore alien desert ruins that with thoughtful environment design.


I should also say there's a fundamental element of randomization to both the maps and the enemy encounters. This is all second hand so I'm not sure the full story, but director/procedural generation is a neat way to make a game feel less scripted and more replayable. It can also make a playthrough seem generic. We'll see how this one goes.

Rob	I don't understand why I'm legally allowed near software.

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