Money. I’ve been thinking lately about that fluid that we all try desperately to catch with our bank accounts, wallets, stocks, and other investments.
If I had a lot of money, what would I spend it on?
I am having a hard time coming up with worthy answers to this. I could travel. I could acquire better accomodations. Get a nice array of kitchen equipment. Upgrade my computer hardware to make it more fault-resistant.
And then what?
This inability to synthesize ways to spend my imaginary money bothers me.
When we’re kids we blurt out so many statements that begin: “if I had a million dollars…”. Candy, castles, jetpacks, racecars, spaceships, mansions, ball-pits, pet lions, etc. This type of mental perambulation is really just another form of Let’s Pretend—and kids are especially good at that game.
But when fantasy mixes with reality, what are we supposed to do? Go buy the world’s largest stromboli and turn it into a jacuzzi?
I have talked with Mark about this a lot. On my side, my conclusion was I would basically buy myself free time and peace of mind. I wouldn’t have to get a job just to pay bills. I wouldn’t have to worry about how many grad schools I can apply to based on how much it will cost me. I could afford to go look for a job in Japan, or even a part time job, and I wouldn’t have to worry about plane ticket fees, or how to pay for my housing or food while looking for a job, or how I’d pay for my college loans, or how I would buy a car or…
So, if I had all the money in the world, I’d prolly do the same thing I’ve been doing, but I’d worry less about it. But, I don’t know how to not worry about things, so maybe that wouldn’t be so good anyhow…
It’s funny that you mention spaceships. I was just thinking that I would like to buy one. It really is too bad that they will probably never make the list of things I can buy with all the money I will ever earn.
But, who says that you have to spend all of your imaginary money? Supposing, for a moment, that you did have too much money: Couldn’t you just save it or invest it or give it away? Why not make people do things your way with conditional donations? Couldn’t you use it to buy influence in government to change the laws you think are stupid? It seems as if you could make a pretty good start at reshaping the world to be more like the way you want it to be. And like Melanie said, you could always just stop TAing.