I didn't want that beer until I realized it was free

[vicarz]

Once again staying in one of my preferred homewood suites. It's not one of the fancier ones, here in Albany, but the free food is better than average (greens salad, saranac on tap) and it has the mandatory cable channels (history, discovery, and cartoon network). I remember someone saying a class of people should be "forced" to stay in embassy suites to see how the other half lives.

I'm eating chocolate that is made here, at Krause's, that I suspect is not the highest quality whether it is made fresh or not - it's more doughnut flavored, but I love the stuff. I've known people that are choco-snobs, and I have higher than average choco-intelligence, but that doesn't mean I don't still like the taste of m&ms.

I tell people about my family vacations and many are jealous - we drove across the country, visiting state parks, camping, and hiking. I hated it. All that time I just wanted to play video games. It was cold, we slept on rocks, the food sucked, and after sitting in the car for days it all just smelled musty. I fantasized about being able to stay in hotels.

I've stayed in some not-good hotels, from the truck stop in Hooks Texas, to the poorly described "cabin" in Chincoteague that was actually a trailer (we upgraded to a motel when there was a vacancy).

I left the lobby and not for the first time I noticed a table of blue collar workers - nothing against people who build things for a living, but that tells me what I can't know from my experience as a poor kid and middle-class government employee as an alleged adult - that this is not the best of the best. That Graves601 hotel in Minneapolis I wrote about? That might be the best hotel I've ever been inside, unless you include a B&B or that resort in the Bahamas (plain, but the location might make it nice?)

I'm more than happy in a hotel of this caliber. I know there are better, with better furniture, better locations, fancier foods, higher prices, and even history to go with them...and I might appreciate them with exposure, but I'm fine here. I probably wouldn't pay for this with my own money - I'd be in a cheaper place if it wasn't for the government rate, so living on the road like this seems fine to me. I don't think it matters.

Say you win the lottery - what is your dream? Do you move, if so, how far? Do you support your friends and family, or not, and realize how much tension that causes? Do you eat in the same restaurants? More often? Do you watch different movies - or upscale to plays and performances? Do you get all your clothes custom-sewn? What clubs do you go to now? What car do you drive, and where can you park it?

For me, my needs are simple. I can appreciate nicer things, but am comfortable with simply comfortable. If I was rich I might not work, but I'd watch the same tv shows and movies. I'd listen to the same music. I'd probably eat the same food. I would move, but not far. I don't see significant wealth as being that different a life for me. Does that make me ghetto/trash? Why give me money if I can't appreciate it, or if it doesn't lift me up to better things?

I don't feel like that matters.

I don't feel...
The other night I watched part of a PBS broadcast of a course in legal ethics - they discussed the famous seamen and the cabin boy case. What caught me by surprise was the inability of the students to answer questions. Many simply stated how they felt - not using the words but almost making religious proclamations. They barely, if at all, answered the questions posed - when asked to alter the scenario and answer resultant questions, a scant few were able to handle the transition.

But I just spouted about a page about how I feel for no reason. If you ask me a question, do I try to respond, do I respond with how I feel already, or do I take your viewpoint as expressed - or even my own - and try to develop it into an interactive discourse?

When the hell did I start talking like this?

Comments

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Funny - reminds me of my concept of being rich: pretend to be middle class to poor, because middle isn't so bad, just to prevent the kids from growing up spoiled.

I told my parents in my 30s that I was well formed and if they wanted to reveal our secret wealth I thought I was ready.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

I like that perspective on spoiled - many of us, like I think I do, look quickly to money but as you note it's more about condcut and discipline (or just expectations).

Not in debt is a good place to be.

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

white trash? nope; you're just not the spoiled brat most of america seems to hold up as the perfect example of how to behave (at least until they get caught with drugs, beat up a photographer, go bankrupt, cheat their clients/bosses, have a public breakdown or affair, etc - then when those same badly behaving idiots apologize and say that they've now found god and been forgiven the public forgets the bad behavior - and i'm glad you're not one of them)

as for the lottery/having more $ means buying more stuff - you already know that expensive stuff is not the answer (as do i); that enjoying what you do, being challenged to grow, and having fun in life is much more important

and me? if i won the lottery i'd pay off all my debts, buy a mid-size house in west hollywood (and make sure it has a heated pool, room for a library with full height double deep shelves, and solar and wind power to minimize the environmental impact), donate some of the money for further research into my underlying health issues and more of it to artists and writers who need assistance, and probably spend time traveling with the people i love (hey, if i win the lotto why not spend some of that money to take a coach full of dc freaks to florida for a week at the amusement parks, or take b & j to germany, or take my mom and family to greece or fly you & other people i really miss here for a winter vacation) but travel at a leisurely pace so it doesn't fuck my system up as badly as my last trip east did

so yeah - not at all white trash to not buy into "the american dream" as most people define it; just smart

Abfab

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Oh but I wish I had the money to have problems like that!

[wantedonvoyage.livejournal.com]

I have higher than average choco-intelligence, but that doesn't mean I don't still like the taste of m&ms.

LOL it's still chocolate. How bad could it be?

Say you win the lottery - what is your dream? Do you move, if so, how far? Do you support your friends and family, or not, and realize how much tension that causes? Do you eat in the same restaurants? More often? Do you watch different movies - or upscale to plays and performances? Do you get all your clothes custom-sewn? What clubs do you go to now? What car do you drive, and where can you park it?

I wouldn't move far because I would still want to be near my family and friends. I may not live here because it has a lot of issues that make it workable but not ideal. A similarly-sized place with more privacy and harmony with the outdoors would work. I would like a deep front porch with shuttered french doors and a really private back yard, possibly but not necessarily with a pool. I'd be happy with a bunch of plants and a patio with a fountain.

I'd probably eat in restaurants less often. If I was able to do the work I enjoyed at the pace that felt healthy, I'd also be able to buy and cook food more responsibly.

I don't go to movies now... probably wouldn't start. Maybe more concerts, etc., but probably not expensive headliner ones. Most of the music I like is pretty obscure.

Custom-made clothes? Bah. I'd hire a very buff and well-qualified personal trainer and train with him every day, and then wear hardly any!

Cars? IDK. I do like the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, but it's insanely inefficient. Maybe when the electric version comes out.

As I get older I am less and less tempted by things... which is a relief because in my 20's I felt like my appetites kept up with my rising income. I think if I had money to burn I'd use most of it trying to make other people's lives easier.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Custom-made clothes? Bah...
LOVE IT

I think you might have trouble living in the same place - if known as rich you have issues with burglers, kidnapping (think Columbia), and charity solicitors on a regular basis. This is why the rich hide in exclusive penthouses and estates...they're harassed endlessly (I think, not being them).

[kelowna.livejournal.com]

I have an equal amount of great memories with both dumpy motels and high end joints.

I think if I had a tonne of money i'd want to try all those things that were out of my price bracket -- JUST to experience them. I don't know if they'd actually become habit tho. Mostly cause I would likely find the people around me there insufferable and the excessive luxury a waste.

Mostly I prefer a hotel/motel with no bed bugs.

Simple tastes :) Plastic wrap my plastic cups!

--k

[vicar.livejournal.com]

I use the glass - but I wash them myself first.